Cellestra fell silent after that and drank her tea in peace as we all watched Elira literally play with fire. My spiderlings were captivated by the show of magic but at the same time, were smart enough to keep their distance.

Not too much later, the small window to the kitchen opened and my mother notified us that dinner was almost ready. My dad, like the gentleman he was, immediately headed inside to help.

Dinner was simple, consisting of veggies and potatoes but it didn’t take away from the fact that it was still delicious. During it, we caught my mom up on Elira’s progression, which filled her with pride and gratefulness. I could read that much in her eyes.

“So,” My dad started after dinner was finished. “What are your plans for tomorrow if I may ask?”

“I’m not sure. We found a key that grants access to the fourth floor of the dungeon, but I don’t know if we want to go there quite yet. We’ve been thinking about visiting the other dungeon sometime soon. I’m curious what creatures lurk inside, and moreover, what abilities we can obtain from them. Expanding our arsenal is our main goal, and I think we’ll continue doing that tomorrow. At the same time, we’re making good money, though, we appear to be spending it just as quickly.”

“And here I was hoping to have some helping hands tomorrow,” He joked.

“Do you have that much work to do in the fields?”

“Not at all. In fact, we did several days of work in one the other day. The landowner has been more than happy about all of this. So much in fact that he’s given us a raise.”

“That’s amazing to hear.”

My mother returned after cleaning the table and I took a deep breath, preparing myself to ask a question that had been on my mind for a while. Elira was already back to playing with the spiders leaving me free to talk about the more serious things.

“Mom, dad,” I started, pausing momentarily until I had their full attention. “Do you think there’s a chance you can, you know, own this place?”

“You mean, the building and land?” My father replied, his expression changing to one of utmost seriousness while placing a hand on his chin. “That is something we’d like to work to. Despite being given quite a lot of freedom, it’s not quite the same as owning it all. It’s not quite the same as what we had before.”

“Do you know if he’s willing to sell it?”

“I don’t know about that. He’d have to get a really good offer to even consider doing such a thing. Don’t tell me you were planning on buying it.”

“You know damn well that’s why I’m asking.”

He leaned back in his chair and heaved a deep sigh.

“I’m not talking about the near future,” I clarified. “Our money is going to go to several more pressing short-term investments first, but you know, maybe somewhere down the line…”

“I get it,” He said. “And I would like to respond with ‘you should buy a house for yourself first’ but you are in an extraordinary position in that regard. I’ll ask. I have the feeling that’s what we’re getting towards anyway.”

“Thanks, dad,” I replied with a warm smile, before knocking on the table. “How much does a table like this cost?”

“Couple of silvers, at most.”

“Great,” I replied. “Cellestra, let’s give them our cash and start from a clean sheet again. Let’s focus on that tomorrow and,” I turned to my parents again. “Could you perhaps arrange a conversation with Soranir sometime soon?”

“We’ll visit him tomorrow morning. Work’s done for the week anyway, so we have plenty of time.”

“Thank you.”

Cellestra placed the four gold coins in my father’s hand. He was left staring at it before he sighed once more while slightly shaking his head.

“Just get something nice, okay?” I said.

“That won’t be an issue with this much money.”

“Eh, it’s whatever. Thank you both so much for dinner. I think it’s safe to say that Cellestra and I both are looking forward to what you’ll get.”

My father chuckled, and my mother merely nodded, looking for words.

“Can we help you with moving this one?” She finally asked.

“We just need to get it on my back. I don’t foresee the rest being an issue. Even this shouldn’t be hard with legs this flexible.”

Cellestra grinned as I used my powerful tools to lift the object and place it on my giant abdomen.

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“See? Easy as that.”

“Well,” My father said before chuckling. “Take good care of it.”

“Oh, we most certainly will. Thank you so much.”

We bid them goodbye for the day and promised to be back in the morning the following day. As we left, Cellestra and I both couldn’t help but giggle at the large eyes that Elira was giving us, with the table being the reason.

I had to admit, it did look quite funny.

“You wanted the table to be dug in right?” I asked when we were almost home.

“Yeah, I’ll use one of the pelts to sit on. At least, that was my plan.”

“Alright.”

And thus started another afternoon of improving our living conditions. It started by assigning the spiderlings their task again of working on the second floor of the nest while I prepared the table and then went on to wash myself.

I was relieved to see the orange mess get out of my hair without leaving any trace behind. I had been worried about leaving it in for so long, but fortunately, it was no match for pressurized, warm water. Once I was fully freed, I allowed it to dry in the warm sun while preparing to work on the wall.

And by prepare, I meant watching Cellestra place all kinds of paper-wrapped instruments on the table.

Okay, I was distracted, and rightfully so. I had seen her backpack bulge, but I had no idea there was this much. Few items I recognized such as empty potions, several candles, books, and some ingredients which she had with her. Then, there were incredibly weird shapes of glassware with long necks and tubes coming from them. I was sure there was a reason behind their design and figured I’d find out sooner or later.

“So is this what those laboratories look like? That’s what they call them, right? Where they make potions and do alchemical research.”

“Hah!” She let out loud, in a manner that was so unlike her that it even caught her off guard. “No. I don’t think so at least. I don’t know. I’ve never been in one. I was told they have much more delicate equipment, but these are the instruments that I know how to operate.”

“I see. Well, don’t hesitate to talk about what you are doing step by step. I’ll make sure to keep an eye on you… maybe more than one.”

She snickered softly at my bad attempt at a joke and continued preparing things while I did my own work on the wall.

“Well, if you want to know, I want to make a salve, the same one that I used on you all the way back when we’d just met. It’s quite simple and one of the herbs I need grows nearby. I’m just preparing the other thing I need. Could I get a bit of water from you?”

She held up an empty glass, which I filled when she got to me, and then placed it on a metal burner stand over the small flame.

“We wait until it boils, and then we add a bunch of dried herbs I took with me from home.” She pulled out a small pouch from her backpack and added the contents as soon as the water reached the desired temperature. “And then we collect the fresh herbs that I mentioned before.”

She waited a few seconds, staring at the concoction, before she made her way over to the plants and grass surrounding the clearing. It didn’t take long for her to return with several large leaves, which she tore into small pieces before adding them to the water.

As it was cooking, she brought out another reagent I’d never seen before. It looked like some kind of long, thin candle. She broke off a little off the tip and let it drop into the mix.

“And then we add a bit of thickener so we’ll end up with an actual ointment when it is cooled down.”

“And that’s it?”

“That’s it,” She said. “Simple as that. You just need to know what ingredients to use and in what quantities, but for this simple mixture you are allowed some leniency for it to still have the desired effect.”

“That’s much easier than I expected. Do you have any recipes for things that are useful in combat?”

“One thing at a time, Kea. I knew you’d ask that, so I got a book with recipes for that purpose. I’ll dig into it soon, but first, I wanted to look into the tome about enchanting.”

“Just take your time, Cel. Don’t feel pushed.”

She nodded and smiled as she mixed the mixture with a steel pin. At the same time, I looked at how far I’d come. Another segment of the wall was finished, but there was still plenty to do.

I paused only briefly before I went back to work.