Chapter 62: Guest Room

"We might not have much craftsmanship, but we have plenty of strength!"

"What do you need us to do? Just give the order!!"

The Minotaurs volunteered one after another.

Ethan looked at their robust muscles and thought, ’Looks like we’ll be able to finish building the cabin today.’

Leaving the task of carrying heavy objects to the Minotaurs couldn’t be more appropriate, he nodded in satisfaction and gathered them together.

"There’s a lot of timber in the forest, could you help me carry it over?"

"Understood!!"

Draugor took the lead, and the Minotaurs sprang into action, they could carry several logs at once, making them incredibly efficient, the timber piled up in the forest was quickly moved near the shelter.

"Have you started already?" It was Walter, he was taking a leisurely stroll and, seeing the Minotaurs working, said with a smile, "If there’s anything you need my help with, just ask."

"Hmm... it doesn’t seem like there’s anything I need your help with..." Ethan said.

"Building a cabin definitely requires cutting wood, right? My blood magic can cut timber precisely." Walter raised his hand, and a mass of blood-red light condensed into a sharp blade in his grasp, he swung it at a pile of timber.

The timber was cut neatly. Ethan nodded in admiration. "Then I’ll have to trouble you, building a wooden cabin requires cutting a lot of wood."

"No problem," Walter agreed.

That made things far easier, Ethan began clearing items from the old shelter, he dismantled the tent he had been living in, moved everything out, then started stacking stones on the leveled clearing.

"Meow? Do we need to move these stones over there, meow?" Pearl asked.

"Mhm."

"I’ll help, meow!" Pearl picked up stones in its mouth and placed them alongside Ethan’s.

They arranged the stones neatly on the ground. Zharok walked over carrying a large boulder. "Will this one do?"

This was the stone for the underfloor heating. Ethan looked at it and sighed. "It’s not flat enough."

"My blood magic can cut stones too, let me see... Hah!" Walter activated his blood magic, and the large boulder was neatly sliced in half, Zharok placed the cut stone in the position Pearl had designated.

By this time, all the timber from the forest had been brought over.

"What’s next?!" Draugor asked.

"First, lay the logs here, and also here." Ethan pointed at the ground.

"Got it! Wait just a moment!!"

The Minotaurs moved fast, they laid the logs out in no time, Ethan picked up a stone axe and scored marks on the wood, semi-circular grooves and interlocking notches. "Please cut here."

Walter studied the marks carefully and then rapidly activated his blood magic.

"Alright, now stack them up, layer by layer."

"Understood!" the Minotaurs said in unison.

He would leave the rest to them, Ethan started mixing cement, preparing to build the underfloor heating.

"We’ve stacked them up!"

He was in the middle of installing the fireplace, hearing the shout, he turned to look, the logs had already been stacked to his height, he inspected them carefully and found that although there were a few gaps, it wasn’t a big deal, he could fill them with cement.

"Good job," Ethan said.

The Minotaurs huddled together, beaming, although they lacked craftsmanship, being able to receive acknowledgment from the highly skilled Ethan still made them very happy.

Ethan used a piece of charcoal to draw a mark on the wall and said to Walter, "Please cut here."

"A window?" Walter asked.

"Yes."

"Understood, hah!" A few bursts of blood magic, and the shape of a window appeared in the wall.

Ethan opened up a doorway and called Zharok over. "I’m thinking of making this space a guest room, what do you think?"

"Oh, it’s quite spacious, not bad," Zharok said.

"Good, we’ll build the walls for it later..."

Next came the roof, Ethan took two thick logs as crossbeams and placed them across the top, then he stacked two thin wooden planks together and stood them upright, he secured the planks with nails, and together with the Minotaurs, lifted them onto the roof to complete the framework.

"Next, we’ll piece the planks together to make the roof, I’ll do this part, you guys just hand them up to me from below," Ethan said.

The Minotaurs began passing the wooden planks up, Ethan took each one and rapidly assembled the roof, he left a hole for the chimney and then climbed down.

"Please trim the edges."

"Understood." Walter used his blood magic to trim away the excess logs and planks, the rough shape of the wooden cabin gradually emerged.

The Minotaurs looked at the cabin with curiosity, they knocked on the walls and smiled in satisfaction. "It seems we could build this kind of house too!"

"When you decide to build one, call me, I’ll come help you," Ethan said with a smile.

Some parts required nails, and other parts needed trimming, interior decoration would demand a skilled pair of hands even more, Ethan had received a lot of help from them, so naturally he would return the favor.

Draugor nodded hard. "Then what do we do now?!"

"The rest is mostly my own work, it’s almost lunchtime, let’s eat first."

They had started at dawn and worked through the morning, yet the cabin still wasn’t done.

Ethan looked at the Minotaurs, Walter, Zharok, and Pearl tidying up, then picked up the Cauldron of Blessing, he cooked a pot of porridge for the Minotaurs and roasted fish and meat for Walter, Zharok, and Pearl.

"Time for lunch."

"Thanks for the meal!"

"Mhm, it looks delicious, meow."

Everyone had been working since morning, they were starving, and they ate with excitement. Ethan had anticipated this and made extra.

He looked at the cabin and ran through the upcoming work. ’First, I need to finish the underfloor heating... then make window frames and windows, I’ll need some shelves, and also...’

There was actually quite a lot left to do, it shouldn’t be a major problem, though.

"What’s wrong, meow?" Pearl asked.

Ever since coming to this world, Ethan had been sleeping in the open and eating whatever he could find, but now things were different, he finally had a home of his own.

That brought with it something he hadn’t felt in a long time, an incomparable sense of peace and security.

"It’s nothing, I just feel like... I finally have a home."