The next day we once again boarded the carriages and headed to the mines. However, today unlike yesterday we were going solo. Or rather, just our group without any help from the higher ranked adventurers.
As I already had over thirty Kobolds tamed, today was only about extermination.
"Uh, and there. That makes for number forty six," Blanche smiled as she finished skinning the last Kobold we hunted today. As the proof of subjugation for regular kobolds were a pair of fangs, so we had no problem taking their skin, which could be used for equipment. Once the body was drenched of blood and the skin was peeled, the rest went to the Grime, Bloody and Corpse slimes.
As they say, strike iron while it's hot. Most of the kobolds have some kind of usefulness to them. Their fur makes for good padding in armor as it is heat resistant and provides good protection for cold environments as well. While I can't see myself using it, I'm sure I could sell it to some smithy. Mean isn't edible for humans as it carries terrible taste and even worse aftertaste. Fangs and bones can be grinded into powder and used as a whitening agent as well as fertilizer for succulents, which grow past southern mountains of Kassana forest, where lies the Great sea of Stones.
"How many slimes do you have now?"
"After the recent split of the Grime slimes, the number is 970."
"That's quite an absurd number, you know that?"
"Yeah, they are the most numerous monsters I have. I guess I have no limit on the number or strength of tamed monsters."
"And kind of monster too. You have a lot of variations."
"Well, I don't have that many undead. Only Romi and her vampire kin. Though they follow my orders only because Romi follows them."
"I see. Did you tame any other undead?" Lena asked as she rolled the last skin after my Acid and Collagen slimes were done with it and threw it to my Dimension home.
"Nope. But the first bandit that I slew turned into undead. That was a pain."
"Yeah, that guy turned quite a few monsters into undead too. Even one Skull Bear got turned into a zombie."
"Cleaning up that mess was a serious pain…"
"Right?" Blanche laughed softly as she carried Hogo, the Bearded Naga, over to me. I was just done feeding all my monsters, and the orphaned kids, so I could continue digging like yesterday. As it turned out one of the girls we had on our hands was spinning wool she got from the Wooly Wolf. I secretly asked Mozz to get me a shuttle loom for our atelier and he already prepared tools for spinning too. I wonder how surprised she will be.
"We still have time before the afternoon hunt so do you want to take a look at our new base?"
"YES!!!" Blanche's eyes sparkled brilliantly.
I took the two of them to the mine and showed them the still empty rooms.
"Hmm… this layout looks similar to the one back in the forest."
"Yeah, I wanted to make it as comfortable as possible by making it similar. There are some variations though. The kitchen and bedroom are both bigger. I also made the storage room around five times bigger."
"I see, then could you leave me in charge of equipping the bedroom?" Blanche's eyes sparkled as she looked at me with anticipation.
"Are you sure? The equipment isn't that easy to manipulate."
"It's fine! Just drop off the bed and the rest of the furniture as it was before and I will take care of the rest!" Blanche was really enthusiastic about this.
"Okay, suit yourself," I said with a smile and took out everything from my Dimension home and placed it as I remembered it.
As I was done with that, I went to continue digging out the rest of the rooms. I decided to dig on the opposite side of the place we had our bedroom and make the Storage room and Cold Storage room. I used one of the even tunnels to dig alongside the main shaft, even out the floor with earth magic and start placing racks to hold the various items. In the back were things we used the least amount, i.e. the bandit equipment and some monster materials. After them we had precious materials we either dug up or procured from the bandits. Maybe I could sell some of it to the different merchants throughout the city, I would save on space…
As I got distracted by the thought, I started cleaning up the Item box. I placed all the metals I had here into storage and once I finished, I found myself with more than half of the Item box empty. "It talks about all the effort Chika put in, I guess I should reward her somehow for the work… and make some ingots already…"
"Right. I should spread out the lights too," I was carrying a lamp with me and given I had great night vision, I didn't really need that much light, but it would be better if I could see here. For lighting in caves like in the forest cave and here, I used magic stones which I connected with magic stone imbued rope I made myself when I was experimenting with alchemy way back. I stuck this rope to the ceiling and connected it with magic stones at even intervals. Additionally, there was a stone plate placed at the doors which was connected to the rope. By sending magic power into the stone tablet, I could light up the entire room thanks to Magic Circles for the 'Light' spell engraved into magic stones fused onto the rope.
"Okay, but now what? I'm done with work here so all I need is to get the wood, but I can't leave the girls here alone… what should I do…"
As I was setting up the kitchen, I was hard at thinking about what to do. I looked at the big empty wall before me and muttered, "This place would perfectly fit a big aquarium… wait… I could definitely do that!"
As the idea struck me, I instantly started thinking about how to make it.
"I could design the wall with wood and hide the entry to the top by placing it in the storage room. Hmm… but what to do about filtration? There are some monsters that could help with that, right? What was its name again, Filter sponge or something? I believe that was its name… I could have the Octolocks swim there and when they multiply, I could use some of the older ones as food for me and the Ink slimes…"
As it turned out, the Octolocks are really tasty when grilled, boiled or even smoked. Sadly, I couldn't get anyone aside from Lena to come to like them. I guess that is the difference in culture, I used to love octopus back on earth…
I dug up the hole for the aquarium and had the Resin slimes layered the bottom and remaining three sides with their hardened sap. The bottom had no need for concern about any misscolorations, as they wouldn't be seen when layered with layers of sand.
"Arito? What are you doing?" Blanche asked me when she walked out of the bedroom with Lena.
"Oh, I just thought I would live up the place a little."
"Live up the place?"
"I thought it would be nice if we could watch something here while eating. Like fish for example."
"So it's an Aquarium?!" Lena caught up instantly.
"Pretty much."
"Oh wow… that would really be nice, but what do you want to keep there?"
"I was thinking of Octolocks, Filter Sponges and some kind of fish."
"Amazing, and you already have this much done?"
"Well, I was thinking of stopping for today. I still need to get the wood, after all."
"Ah! We completely forgot time!" Blanche went pale, but I comforted her that we still had about two hours before the meet up was scheduled for the afternoon hunt.
With that I went and cut some trees, cleaned them of branches and leaves, sucked out the moisture with magic and placed said moisture into five stone containers before sending it to the Dimension home to feed it to the Resin Slime. On this dried wood I used wind magic of my own creation called
Once this was done, we returned to the meet up place and went back into the mines where we hunted thirty more Kobolds. As it turns out, we will reach our quota for rank up to F rank before noon tomorrow.
We returned to the town later and headed to the Gemma merchant company, where I would drop off the rough diamonds. The Coal slime got a little too heated up in the process of making them and I ended up with thirty gems in my pocket, each up to two centimeters in diameter.
"Oh, what an amazing time to see you, Mr. Arito, have you brought the goods?"
"Yes. I've had a hard time deciding on my logo, but I finally decided. Here, take a look."
"I certainly shall. So it's a Cogwheel with slime inside it? …the name is MonsterWork? Why that?"
"Because I will be dealing with monster materials, and items made from them too, of course. Also, could you look into this thread?" I handed him the wool thread from the Wooly Wolf that the Catfolk girl, Alma, made for me.
"I shall… oh, Wooly Wolf, eh? That's certainly a rarity in these parts. There used to be a pack a few months ago, but they were hunted by adventurers, a shame, but that's life. The thread is of a great quality too. Have you made it yourself, or was it the work of Miss Blanche?"
"Neither, this was made by a Catfolk girl I picked up in the slums."
"Oh, I've heard you are building a magnificent building, so it will be an orphanage, I see."
"There shouldn't be a problem with that, right?" Lena asked.
"With the backing of your father, Miss Lena, there will be no problem. The church has an orphanage already full to the brim and there are many street urchins living in the slums picking up trash around town. Many of them live together in old half broken houses, or squating on the streets, which isn't really safe," Mozz added with a bitter look.
"Yeah. I was planning to take in other kids, if they wish for it, though I won't be forcing anyone. If they think living in the streets will be better for them, then I have no problem with that. However, those who decide to stay with us will have certain perks, like learning how to make things and protect themselves."
"Protect themselves?"
"Some kids showed willingness to learn from Arito martial arts," Blanche explained.
"That definitely sounds like a good thing for them."
"I couldn't say it better," I smiled happily.
"Just don't push them like you did with me, please…" Blanche smiled bitterly at her memory of our training in the forest.
"Oh, please! You are my first pupil, of course I would be a little harsher on you. After all, I don't want you to be bested by some run-of-the-mill martial artist," I said with my nose a little too high.
"Let's leave it at that, for now, then," Blanche said defeatedly with a little blush.
"Yes. Now for the reason I wanted to see you, Mr. Arito. I've got my hands on the Rappo and Arappo berry seedlings."
"Oh? That was really fast."
"After we separated last time, I send right away a courier pigeon to my branch store in Macedia city and had them purchase the seedlings there before sending them here."
"So they can be bought there?! Oh man, and I came from that place…" I smiled a little bitterly, but a smile creeped on my lips, "How much do I owe you?"
"Let's say, 1,200 Alba. It's sixty Alba per seedling."
"That sounds pretty cheap, are you sure?"
"Of course. The seedlings are ready to bear their respective berries in a few months, but I believe someone with your abilities will surely be able to harvest from them much sooner," Mozz smiled with a wink directed at me as he handed me the receipt.
"One can't know until they try, right?" I smiled at him and signed the paper after reading through it.
"It's always great to do business with you, Mr. Arito. On that note, here, this is your share for that diamond you left here last time. One Pentagonal small Platinum coin."
"What?!" That's five million Alba!!!
"I see you are confused, but trust me, that gem was well worth it."
"I see. It makes me happy. I actually already managed to make five additional gems that are little smaller than the first one."
"Truly? Oh my, what a treat for sore eyes. Hmm? This one is different though, why is it red?"
"Oh that? It's because it's not as pure as the remaining ones. This one has equally distributed other types of metal inside that gives it this color. Don't even have me start on how hard it was to combine it in a way that would allow for perfect clarity. But since I have managed to make it, I thought you would be interested."
"So, you want to say that this diamond is even more precious than the others?"
"Yes, I'm glad you caught on quick," I smiled at him.
"Hahahah, you certainly have a knack for being a merchant, Mr. Arito. Could you make other colors as well?"
"If I have the material, then sure, but for now I can only make the Red one, maybe green one, but that one still hasn't got through the testing, sorry."
"It's quite alright. But to be able to get different kinds of colors too, and so vibrant as well…"
"Well, I will make more once I get my hands on material needed."
"I would appreciate it."
We shook hands firmly and I went to build the first and second floors of the orphanage. I only did the outer shell with holes for windows beams holding it together at level of floors and placed a temporary ceiling on top of it. I would place water tanks in which the rain water would be stored slightly below the attic and the attic itself could be used as storage or place to dry clothes. Now that I think about it, I need something to filter the rainwater as well… I guess I will be going on a hunt for Filter Sponges anyway.
Given it was getting late, I returned to the inn and had a talk with the ducal family.
"So you are about done with the orphanage? Great work, Arito," Henry praised me.
"Thank you, I already have an outer shell so I will now only concentrate on the floors and setting the house up for living."
"You build only the shell? And how will you add the floors now?" Blanche asked me.
"I left there stumps at the separation between floors on which I will place the stone beams forming the floor, plus I already have some beams there holding the structure together. With the provisional ceiling, I can work out the indoor space, even during rain."
"Ah, I see."
"That being said, I need to combine them with the resin from Resin slimes beforehand to make it extra sturdy, so I will be skipping the afternoon hunt for making them."
"Okay, we will give it our all and some more then!" Lena pushed up her little fists.
"Are you okay with that, Arito?" Laina asked me worriedly.
"It's fine. I talked it through with the guildmaster and he agreed. He said that the sooner I finish the orphanage, the sooner the streets will get cleaner. I could sense that he was worried about those kids too. I heard most of the kids become adventurers in order to support themselves as fast as they can, which most of the time leads to their early deaths."
"Indeed. The mortality of young adventurers is rather high because the monsters are growing in numbers and strength more rapidly than in previous years," Kalvig added.
This world is a dangerous place, I was lucky that I had enough combat experience to survive those first few days on my own, and when Blanche came around, my life eased up enough to give me time to study monsters as a hobby. Not to mention all those things I could only dream about in my previous world like magic, alchemy and other such things. I really own Blanche a lot, huh?
"They will be in safe hands, I will send Romi with them too. It would be great if she had enough blood to evolve too."
"Is she about to evolve?"
"Yes. She explained to me that after becoming a Vampire, the next step is High Vampire, Vampire Lord, Vampire Count, Vampire Marquis, Vampire Duke and lastly the Ancestor Vampire."
"Is that the entire vampire evolutionary line? Interesting."
"Well, she apparently only made it to the level of Vampire Duke previously." Not to mention that she needs her servants to rank up too.
Basically, drink a lot of blood, make a lot of offspring vampires, let them drink a lot of blood and make their own offspring and you will continue to grow stronger and stronger. You just can't get stronger than the vampire who either created you or turned you into a vampire. There is also apparently a bloodpact between her and her offspring that makes them unable to attack her.
"I see, then you two will be in safe hands," Henry smiled and patted his daughter.
"Honestly, Arito can be such a worrywart," Lena puffed up her cheeks as she let her father pat her.
***
The next day after the morning hunt we were granted the F-rank and I went to the cave in order to plant the grape seedlings and prepare everything needed there. I started with building room for the goblin trio and ogres and setting up the bathroom with a bigger tub and a few Cleaning slimes.
Following that, I had the Resin slime combine their hardening sap with some of the excavated rocks to make the beams for the orphanage and after that, I went down to the second underground level, where the orchard would be placed. I first used magic to raise the ceiling and used a
"Nice, now that we have nice grasslands here, I can plant the seedlings."
The Rappo berries and Arappo berries are this world's variation of Red and White grapes respectively. Their taste and shape is about the same as those on earth. They even grow on similar looking bushes.
I started planting them into the grass covered dirt and I quickly made two rows of the berry bushes, though they looked more like tiny trees missing support. Once I planted all of them, I took out wooden racks and stuck them in the ground before placing wires between them.
"Okay, now all that is left to do is use the magic.
"Great! Now I can get to planting those trees I have prepared before… Maybe I could build a farm outside and plant potatoes and some vegetables there… I'm sure that with the Resin slimes I could make a fine greenhouse, too…" taking out Appo, Plun and Peench tree saplings I started planting them on the other side of the room compared to the Grape bushes. Once again I used
"Okay guys. This will be your home from now on. Down this path is the orchard so in the morning go light up the device like you are used to, okay?"
"Understood, master," Urza bowed and went to set up her and her sister's room. The ogres did the same after saluting me.
With that done, I went above ground and cut down some more trees and processed them into fine lumber. Of course I could not let the place be so barren all of a sudden, so I used the Earth magic spell
"Oh, you seem to be enjoying yerself," the guildmaster walked up to me from behind.
"Oh, Guildmaster. What brings you here?"
"Well, I wanna see what yer doin ova 'ere," the guildmaster started talking with his dwarvish accent.
"I was using Wood and Earth magic to restore the look of the forest and expand it a little."
"So ye done with collectin' wood?"
"Yes. I plan to go collect some clay tomorrow to make roof tiles."
"A good idea. Ima send ye to der Fishermen's guild with delivery. It will give ya a reason for missin' the round call. Dem Kobolds are bouta get wiped soon anyway," the guildmaster waved his hand and went on his way.
"Thank you very much, Guildmaster."
"And call me Graldi, when it's justa the two o' us. Bein' polite all da time will cost ya dearly when dealin' with adventurers!" the guildmaster —that is Graldi— warned me with a laugh.
"Tha—I understand, Graldi," I nodded and went behind him back to the mines.
"Glad ya do!"
When we returned back to the plaza, we were met with a group of men lying on the ground with Lena and Blanche giving them cold looks. Romi was standing to the side, licking blood from her fists.
"Those morons deserved it." That was all Romi said in her defense.
Apparently, the adventurers mistaken her for an elf girl and wanted to go on a hunt with her (which would most likely end up with them attacking her), but when she turned them down, they attacked with knives. Sadly for them, Romi is a Vampire, so even if you stab her, she will survive, she is undead, after all. She took their assault and delivered her fists in return. No need to say that thanks to her superhuman strength it was one hit KO for every single one of them.
"Honestly… I'm tired from using too much magic so I'm going home…"
"Take the carriage. The first group is 'about to leave as well," Graldi said without any accent, which I didn't call out upon as I was not going to not take that offer. I hopped on the first carriage and once I seated myself, my eyes fell closed.