Chapter 61: Heating

"No problem, but as you know, I don’t really have any craftsmanship skills," Zharok said.

"I just need you to help me chop down trees."

"That’s no problem."

"We can help too! Is there anything else you need us to do?!" Draugor stepped forward, urgency written all over his face, to the Minotaurs, Ethan was a friend, and friends helped.

"I was actually just about to ask you to help me plow the fields," Ethan said with a smile.

"Leave it to us!" Draugor thumped his chest and flexed.

Ethan used the fruits he had brought back from the south to make some juice, the Elven Yogurt was almost gone; he would need to find time to trade with the elves again.

He spoke to Draugor, who was drinking the juice. "Then let’s begin."

"Ahem, what about me? What can I help with?" Walter asked.

"Hmm, if you insist on helping..." Ethan scratched his cheek and snapped his fingers.

"Please keep the elves safe when they come here to trade."

"A trivial matter, I shall designate this area as my territory," Walter said.

That settled the elves’ safety, Ethan smiled and picked up his crystal ball.

—"Hello, it has been a long time, Mr. Ethan."

"Is this Mr. Leon? I’d like to discuss some trade with you," Ethan said.

—"Please go ahead."

"I would like to trade Honey Sweet Potatoes, Sweet Beets, Vitality Cabbage, and Rock Potatoes with you."

—"Understood. I will make a note of it."

"I also obtained Mana Grass seeds, after some time, I should be able to trade Mana Grass with you as well."

—"...Mana Grass?!"

An exclamation of shock came from the crystal ball.

Ever since humanity vanished, Mana Grass was believed to be extinct, Leon hadn’t expected Ethan to actually be able to provide it, no matter the cost, he had to secure this trade.

—"What is it that you want?!"

"I need winter clothing, Elven Yogurt, and seasonings, as for trading the Mana Grass, let’s wait a bit before discussing it, I’m not entirely sure I can successfully grow it yet."

He had the seeds, but he didn’t know how to cultivate them, he still needed to do some research before he could guarantee enough to trade.

"Do you have any materials regarding the cultivation of Mana Grass on your end?"

—"When we traded with humans in the past, we collected some books, perhaps they will be useful to you, I will bring them along when I visit this time."

"Thank you, then let’s discuss the trade further next time."

—"I wish you all the best!"

Leon ended the communication in an excited tone.

Ethan placed the crystal ball back inside and stood up. "Alright, let’s get to work."

The farmland hadn’t been tended in a long time, weeds choked every row, and the soil had turned rock-hard, even with his abilities, growing crops in this kind of ground would be a struggle.

"Do you still remember how to do it from last time?" Ethan asked Draugor.

"Leave it to me!" Draugor said.

Ethan replaced the blade of the stone plow with Trisel’s scale and nodded.

Just like last time, Draugor pulled the plow and broke into a sprint, the hard earth turned over with ease.

"Oh, pretty good, isn’t it?! I’m speeding up!"

Trisel’s scale was razor-sharp, making the plowing far easier than before, Draugor flipped the weeds and soil completely upside down without breaking a sweat, he eyed the neatly leveled farmland and grinned.

"Is there more?!"

"I want to expand the area, plow over there too," Ethan said, pointing to another patch of land.

"Got it!!"

They doubled the size of the farmland, by then the sun was slanting toward the horizon.

The two of them returned to the shelter dripping with sweat, but the others hadn’t come back yet.

"Are Zharok and Pearl still not back?" Ethan asked.

"Moo~! Didn’t they go chop trees?! Moo~!" Draugor answered.

They needed timber to build the cabin, and Zharok’s sharp claws could easily cut trees into planks, Pearl, on the other hand, had a perfect grasp of the quantity of timber they needed, that was why Ethan had sent them off together.

’Did something happen?’ Ethan looked worriedly toward the forest.

After a while, Zharok walked out of the tree line.

"Did you finish chopping them all?" Ethan asked.

"Not yet, meow~" Pearl, perched on Zharok’s shoulder, jumped over to Ethan.

’Just how many trees are they trying to chop down?’ Ethan looked at Zharok in confusion. Zharok simply shrugged.

"There’s too little good timber."

"Ordinary timber is fine," Ethan said.

"Of course we have to use good timber, meow! Besides, Zharok said he’ll come stay overnight sometimes, so we have to build it bigger, meow~" Pearl explained.

"Haha, I see!"

Ethan had originally planned a small cabin of about ten square meters, just enough for him and Pearl, but if Zharok was staying over too, he would need a guest room, and the whole thing had to be bigger.

Ethan pondered for a moment and nodded. "Since we’re building it, we might as well build a separate kitchen outside, we also need to build a stove to hold the cauldron, if possible, I also want to install an underfloor heating system."

"Meow? Underfloor heating?" Pearl asked, confused.

"It works like this." Ethan crouched down and began drawing on the ground, he sketched out a heating system built using stone and cement.

"Then you’ll need stones too, right?" Zharok asked.

"Exactly."

They needed broad, flat stones for the underfloor heating, Ethan took a stroll by the river, found a suitable rock, and pointed at it. "That one should do."

"Then let’s cut it up, we can have Walter use magic to slice it," Zharok suggested.

"Alright, let’s do that..."

Ethan looked up, the sun had set entirely, and the moon hung in the night sky, Luminous pearls scattered around the camp cast their soft glow.

He turned to Zharok and Draugor. "Are you two eating dinner here?"

"Moo~! If you’re treating, of course I won’t refuse!" Draugor laughed.

"But of course, then wait just a moment."

The next day, the busy work continued.

Establishing the farmland was only the first step; there were still many things to do.

"Phew..."

Next, he had to cultivate the seedlings, this task was tedious and couldn’t be delegated to anyone else.

"Let’s begin."

Ethan sorted the seeds and headed to the farmland, although the field had been plowed, there was still a lot to do, he needed to clear away the remaining weeds and use a hoe to turn the soil over again in certain spots.

He worked from dawn, and before he knew it, the sun had fully risen.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

Chopping echoed from deep in the forest, Ethan smiled, Zharok had worked with Pearl yesterday, stayed overnight, and started again at first light.

Ethan returned to the shelter, stretched, and began preparing breakfast.

"The timber is all ready, meow~"

Pearl’s cheerful voice rang out from the trees. It ran up to Ethan, jumped onto his shoulder, and rubbed against his cheek, Ethan scratched behind its ears.

Then he handed a cup of juice to Zharok, who had just emerged from the forest. "Good work, have some juice."

"Oh, thanks."

Ethan had used the fruits from the southern region to make the juice., while Zharok rested, Ethan and Pearl headed into the forest, deep inside, stacks of neatly arranged timber waited.

"You chopped this much," Ethan said, surprised.

"It never hurts to be overly prepared, meow! We still have to build a warehouse, meow~" Pearl explained.

"True, it’s about time we built one, good job."

"Meow-meow~!" Pearl purred under Ethan’s hand.

After inspecting the timber, Ethan and Pearl returned to the shelter, besides Zharok, there were others present, Draugor and several muscular Minotaurs.

Draugor grinned. "We heard you’re building a cabin today, so we came to help!"