The next morning I went to get some more materials for building the atelier in the mines. Thanks to Chika this was much faster as she was mining the entire time I was running around with Blanche and the ducal family.
While I was at it, I finished the fish tank and filled it with water magic to do a water test. If the pane holds, I will be able to make some landscape and the Octolocks.
With that done I returned to the town and started building the atelier. Unlike with the main building however, I only had to build the ground floor and attic. For safety measures, I had the windows only face the plot of land inside. I also prepared a gate to lead in here and had the slimes put it in place for me.
"I don't have enough wood for roof beams…"
"Aniki! Will you train with us?" Rifa waved me over when I was just about finishing the ceiling of the atelier.
"I'll be there right away!" I waved back and had the resin slimes finish things that didn't need my supervision. I took the stairs down as they were the only thing finished. Apparently, when I was building the main building of the orphanage, some people had a heart attack when they saw me jump down before I used Teleport to arrive in front of the building. I guess the thrill of jumping with a parachute still lingers somewhere inside me…
Once I was down on the ground, I met up with Rifa, Alma, Venti, Carlos, Xalopeh and Aldo. The group who was acting as the protectors of the younger kids as they were the oldest here. Though, they are still only between ten and thirteen, so there isn't that big of an age gap
"So you guys want to learn my combat style?"
"Yessir!!!" the six of them enthusiastically saluted with a left hand on their hearts and right next to their head.
Yeah, this salute is definitely Romi's fault. I gotta scold her for that…
"Heheh, they have no idea what awaits them…" Blanche was sitting on a bench under a tree, which I grew with wood magic, and was reading a Wind magic spell book on higher rank spells. Given her pitying smile and almost empty eyes, she must've been remembering the time I was teaching her.
"Okay, first show me what you can do, from there I will get a grip on what I should teach you. Also, no magic today. I want to only see your physical prowess. I have some wooden weapons here. Aldo, you take these arrows with cloth on the tip."
I say that, but I will first need to teach them Energy manipulation. Their posture needs correcting too. I guess they only learn by mimicking the others around them.
Everyone picked weapons the most suitable to them. Rifa took gloves, most likely trying to fight with his bare hands. Alma took two daggers. Venti picked a war hammer. I guess she knows a short hammer will not help her.
Carlos took gloves too, but his face told me he would much rather use magic instead. I believe he has Water magic skill, right? He's a scalemen who lived in a village upstream from here, but had to run away after his parents passed, because the people of the village were not nice and were only allowing his family to live there due to the magic his father and mother had. His dad was apparently a healer with Healing and Water magic spells.
Aldo had a bow and arrows, just like you would imagine any elf and lastly Xalopeh picked a shield and a short sword.
"Come at me however you want," I spread my arms and the six kids spread around me.
Good. They are trying to surround me.
"Haah!!!" Xalopeh tried to rush me with her shield and deliver a stab with her shortsword. However, given she was in my blind spot, she shouldn't have yelled out like that.
At the same time Aldo shoots his arrow from the opposite side. I however caught it with my hand and redirected it at approaching Carlos in Xalopeh's shadow.
Xalopeh tried to bash me, but I moved to the side where she couldn't hit me with her sword and pushed her shield down, making her lose her balance.
"Good try, but not quite there yet."
As I murmured that, Alma attacked from my blind spot with her daggers. Sadly for her, I noticed her shadow approaching so I managed to dodge, grab her hand and throw her at Rifa.
Rifa on the other hand dodged and used his running momentum to tackle me down or immobile me with a grapple. Alto behind him was trying to get a shot in, but was too afraid to shoot his comrades. Alma spun in the air when she passed Rifa and landed on all four, just like a cat would do.
"Haaaaaaaah!" Rifa didn't jump like Alma, but his yell was really similar to Xalopeh's, so it was easy to get ready and set him off balance. I moved towards him and delivered a quick jab to his unguarded side. Another arrow came whistling at me, but I caught it with one hand before dropping it to the ground. Next I hit Carlos and Alma who recovered in the meantime and were trying to charge me again.
Some time later, I called it quits as I got a good idea of their quirks and current strength.
"Well, this was good practice. Gather around and sit," I smiled at the six kids on the ground.
"Damn it…"
"It hurts…"
The kids were slightly depressed, but Blanche's next words grounded them even more.
"You went too easy on them, Arito. With this they won't even develop the Physical pain resistance skill."
"Oh please, you just leveled it up a little, It's not the worst."
"So we are that weak…" Rifa said in a low depressed voice.
"It was actually pretty good. You tried to surround me from the get go, but it all came down to the insufficient training. I guess I will first try to teach you Energy manipulation. Have any of you ever heard of it?"
"No."
"Me neither."
One by one the kids shook their heads.
"Energy manipulation is a skill that allows you to use Physical energy. Your Physical Prowess stat is for this and it also represents your stamina. Energy Manipulation will allow you to learn more advanced techniques that will make you stronger while also taking less stamina."
"I see!" Rifa's face lightened as he heard me say that. The kids took out their status cards and were looking them over.
"Okay, put those cards away and listen to me for now. First thing you need to do is find the energy inside you. Those of you who can use magic will have a little harder time distinguishing it from magic, but try your best."
"How are we supposed to do that?" Alma's hand went up in the blink of an eye.
"First close your eyes. Then try noticing your blood flow, you might feel tingling in your skin while you do. That is magic energy, so try to ignore it and look deeper. Concentrate and when you get a feeling like something vapor-like is rising from your skin, try to stop it. This way you will be able to get the Energy manipulation skill in the blink of an eye. You might even pick up a skill called Energy shield, but that one is really hard to get."
I was only able to do it, because I saw a hobgoblin do it before me, though. Blanche was not able to pick it up so far, and she is still only able to strengthen her bow and daggers, not her own body.
With the kids trying hard to get the skill, I watched over them for the rest of the day, picking up on their ticks and correcting them. In the evening, I told the ducal family about my day and about the roof problem. As if to crush my worries, they offered to send a word to the carpenters they knew of in the city. It's a good feeling to know I have people I can count on. Right. I should make a plan for the shop too…
***
The next day a group of carpenters came to the orphanage and took a look at the atelier building.
"I musta s'y ya got some crazy building skills kid. Ya really build tis by yerself?" the leader of the carpenters asked me as he wrote down how much lumber we would need for the roof construction. I was providing the tiles I made at the lake, so the cost was slightly lower than it usually would be.
"Yes sir. I plan to hold classes in this building for the kids to learn what they would need for life."
"Dem kids are all yer age, ya sure they can't learn justa by watchin' ya?"
"There's a little too much for that. I'm already teaching them how to protect themselves, so if they also learn how to make money other ways then just by fighting, then only good for them."
"Ya sound like ma ol'man! Itsa kinda creepy."
"Sorry for being creepy. I had to act like a grown up from an early age," I said with a frown.
Probably feeling my irritation, the boss showed me how much I would need and it turned out that I would pay around three round silver coins, i.e. three thousand Alba.
"Sorry for that, it just slipped…" the boss nodded his head in apology before leaving.
"It's fine, don't worry about it," I smiled weakly before heading my own way. I was taking Alma and Blanche to the shop I bought. Once there, Blanche took Alma across the street to the shop where I bought the ring and where the lady offered to take the two under their wings and teach them about fashion and other things I did not dare to poke my nose in. I'm more of the practical type of guy. Even on earth, I did not always really manage to follow the trends and mainly wore clothes that were practical above fashionable.
With the girls gone, I started the reconstruction. I had the Cleaning and Grime slimes collect the debris and clean the floor and all other places. I had the Acid slimes melt the highly damaged wooden attic and first floor. Once this was done, I took out some papers and started drawing. The ground floor would have the general store while the first floor would have the liquor store. The basement could hold the merchandise… I could use this part for a lift to take things up and down. With entrance only from the employee only side of the building, I should make sure the employees are trustworthy.
"Okay, I will use the wooden mash to disperse the weight… Well, let's strengthen the lower part first.
Then I had the Resin slimes make a layer of their solution on the floor. While it was an amazing adhesive, it also made for a good protective layer when hardened in the correct ratio. However, the look wasn't really that pretty, it had this yellowish white color that was really hard to look at.
When the solution hardened enough, I placed over it wooden blocks, which made for quite a nice decor. I placed them in a zig-zag fashion, which made for quite a nice decor. I finished it off by polishing them with Acid slimes and Resin slimes hardening solution, giving them a nice and even look. With that I went out of the shop and found out that there was a group of people already watching what was going on.
"Um, excuse me, but what is this with this place? This place looked completely different when I was here last time," one merchant asked me, voicing concern of the entire group.
"Oh, I was just in the middle of renovation. I'm Arito Aruze, an adventurer and owner of MonsterWork company. We are dealing in monster parts and monster produced items. This place will be our branch so I will be in your hands," I bowed politely before the crowd.
"Ah, so renovation? This place looked so ugly that many people chose to walk by different roads rather than to have to look at this thing."
"Hahah, I understand that very well, it was such a poor sight I actually was surprised someone would even be willing to use it as an inn," I laughed back softly.
"I see. Will you be buying out monster parts? I'm a butcher so I end up with a lot of useless parts, but a monster smithy might have some use for them. The guild considers them a low pay though, so they are staying in my hands most of the time."
"It would depend on the type of material, but I believe I will be buying out some materials. I have not decided which yet, though."
This world has three ways to make weapons. One is identical to that of medieval Earth. Second uses metals and magic to grant weapons special effects and third way to make weapons here is by using monster body parts. Monster Smithy refers to specialized smithies that work only with monster materials and make magic weapons and armor from them. This leads to them being highly active near Dungeons and Dimension rifts, where strong monsters reside.
To be honest, making weapons from monster parts has me a little excited as I always tried to make good use of them in my works. Heck, I even went to traditional smithies to get some knowledge for my books, way back on Earth… I would love to make some cool arms, but I guess I would have to learn from someone first just like that time. I could turn fur into clothes at the very least, but making swords or daggers is above me.
"I understand! My shop is on fifteenth north west street, sixth house from the main street," the butcher told me the location of his shop.
The way they decide the name of the street, is completely based on its location from the city center, i.e. plaza with most of the guilds. Also, the [North west] part means: Northern half of the city, west district. The main street is considered the North-south road, which connects all the southern nobles with the royal capital. Coincidentally, this is the last town you will visit before entering lands owned by the royal family, so ninety nine percent of all southern nobles pass this city on their way to the capital. This means that the mayor have special right to deal with nobles as equals when crime is involved. This was to make it possible for him to imprison them if needed be, but this is getting off topic. The address of the streets…
For example, the correct directions to my shop would be tenth north east street, first house from the main street. The orphanage's address would be second south east street, thirty fourth and thirty fifth house from the main street.
I chatted with the store owners and other residents for quite some time, then I picked up Blanche with Alma, who we walked to the orphanage.
"I'm back, Woochi!" Alma patted the Wooly Wolf, as if he was already her tamed monster and gave him a stylish blue collar, which the girls apparently made together today.
***
The next day was the Red moon. From the moment I opened the window a terrible migraine hit me. As it turned out, this inn was using a special kind of paint that made it more resistant to Blue and Red moons, but opening the shutters and windows would lessen the effect. Somehow, the Red moon, which lowers the magic power flowing through the air, affects me quite badly even with my Mental Pain Resistance skill and it was just morning! What will happen when night hits!
I need to get this paint for the shop and orphanage…
"How are you feeling, Arito? You don't look well," Laina asked worriedly.
"I'm fine, thank you," I smiled weakly.
"Arito is bad at dealing with the Red moon. So I will take him to the mines for today," Blanche offered readily.
"Thank you…" I smiled and started eating my breakfast.
Once that was done, we went to the orphanage, where Laina offered herself to look over the children and teach magic to the willing ones. As it turned out, Misha, Paul and Carlos were more than just interested and had aptitudes that align with Laina, so she could teach them quite easily. While this was happening, Kalvig and Henry watched over the construction of the atelier's roof. I have to thank them later... Maybe I could give Henry some Blue liquor once I make more of it. What for the rest of them, though… Maybe I could make a cake with some honey I have in an Item box… Yeah! Let's make honey cake. I should have everything for it, but first…
I need to get this migraine to die down!!!
***
"Aaaaaah, this is better… Now then, the water tank is holding quite nicely, so I can start by landscaping it.
Inside the cave, the effect of the Red moon was so feeble, that I could barely feel it, though it was still a lot like a hangover. I moved to the first floor and started working on the aquarium. I spread sand all over the bottom and placed several rocks to form an arc before fixing them together with earth magic. Once that was done, I filled the tank with water again. Thanks to magic, I was able to clear the water almost instantly. Sadly, due to the Red Moon, it was harder to use than normally.
When this was done, I placed Filter sponges inside first and they started taking the water in and out. Following the sponges were poison needle clams and Realf clams and lastly the Octolocks.
With the Aquarium set up, I went to the lower floors with the farms, where I set up the Kobolds. I already had their sleeping quarters done thanks to the help of the goblin trio, so I could set them out whenever I wished. Before that though, I had to plant potato plants. In this world, they are called Popats, but because I was forgetting it over and over again, our household was already calling them Potatoes, like anyone back on Earth.
"Alright, this should do it." I smiled while watching the potatoes grow with wood magic. I was using plenty of Grime slimes' fertilizer. I wished to use Magifertilizer, a type of fertilizer the Grime slimes were spewing during the Blue moon, but this one tended to magify plants when used, and once it even made a Treant out of a regular tree.
That was a real fiasco, back there… I could only laugh weakly at the memory.
"Alright you guys! Time to work!"
"Yes boss!"
The kobolds formed two lines before me and saluted. This was clearly Romi's fault again.
"As you can see there are many plants around here! You will be taking care of them, so listen up as I told you what to do!"
"As you wish my lord! We were instructed on farming by lady Romi already, so please tell us the details."
I knew that the vampire vixen was behind this…
"Good. Then, once the potatoes grow, you will take them out of the dirt, and clean them. Once that is done, you will take a part of them upstairs to make booze and food out of them. The goblins and ogres upstairs will show the ropes for that. Also, always remember that after each harvest you have to swap the plants between fields for a different kind!"
"Understood!"
After my speech I had to show them the entire process, which while tiring, was actually a good practice. My Fermenting slimes were eating fruits and because I forbid them from expelling the alcohol from their bodies, their numbers grew by the day, same as their Alcohol Resistance skill. Since the day I submitted their numbers at the farm, their numbers raised six times. Their total already moved over three hundred. I still haven't feeded them any grapes, though. They were ready to be eaten, but I still haven't find Fermenting slime that would prefer grapes. I found ten that preferred potatoes and grains, though. After setting them aside, I expect them to evolve in a way different from other slimes. Also, they became capable of making 98% pure alcohol unlike the regular Fermenting slimes, who makes 72% at best.
Speaking of slimes, during feeding time, new species appeared from the slimes I captured at the lake. First were the Water slimes. All five of them had the same set of skills as Dark slimes, except they exchanged the dark attribute for water. In other words, their skills were: Water magic, Water magic resistance and Water magic absorption. The second new species is called Earth slime and they are the same as the Water, Space and Dark slimes with the same base skills and magic skills of their element.
My theory is that the Magic Elemental slimes absorb the magic energy from their surroundings, which in turn causes their evolution. This theory can be proven by the evolution of Water and Earth slimes, but the lack of other elemental slimes is hindering it. I will have to tame slimes of other elements to further my analysis.
"Hey Arito! The cocoon is hatching!" Blanche suddenly called me out from the place where I built a beehive the size of a doghouse. I was expecting the Demon Bees to be quite big, given the Queen egg was as big as my hand.
"
Devil Bee Queen
Devil bee queen is a high class type of monster with high intellect and even higher ego. Given they can use its stinger multiple times, they tend to bully other monsters into submission. It uses its leadership skills to lead an army of bees against anything that could be considered enemies to the colony. When tamed, this monster shows great loyalty to the first person it sees, hence transfering taming contract is impossible. Honey this monster produces is desired for its extremely smooth and pleasing taste, making it highly sought after and pricey. While it is considered bad luck when the honey turns into mead, the mead has mana restorative capabilities. Poison magic 1, Poison Resistance 1, Fly 1, Egg Production 1, Honey Production 1, Regeneration 1
"Zeeeeee…Zeeeeee" The bee flapped its wings as it was looking at me. I extended my hand and once it climbed on it, I used taming magic.
"Taming is success. Welcome aboard, Queen of Bees," I patted its head and brought it to the beehive, which she immediately clawed her way into.
"I prepared… flowers…"
"Thank you, Shizu, I'm sure the Bee Queen will love them," I smiled at Shizu who brought an amazing amount of flowers. Given how her basket was full with so little flowers, there must've been whole flowers with roots too. Shizu probably planned to plant the flowers here. What a sweet and thoughtful girl…
***
Given that today was the Red moon, I was thinking that the Blue Moon Viper might have some troubles, but as it turned out, Cie was completely fine. So fine in fact that I felt terrible just remembering my morning migraine.
Anyway…
I had Cie produce some of her venom for me and appraised it.
Blue Moon Viper's venom
Highly potent venom which causes internal paralysis. If no antidote is administered, death will surely arrive in two hours at the longest. Poison resistance skill's level needed for complete nullification: 8; Highly rich in mana; 13 milliliters
"It has a lot of mana inside, eh? I wonder if I could do something with it… Ah! I could try crystalizing it. If it's rich in mana, then making it into Poison Magic Crystal should be doable. The antidote I tried out last time was longer lasting than previous attempts, but just by a few days..."
With that, I prepared a special container made from the Resin slimes' glass-like resin and carefully poured the venom inside. Once it was done, I placed it on an alchemy circle of separation and activated it. What I was separating liquid from poison and magic power while trying my hardest to condense it. The process took an enormous amount of magic power, but this was something I was willing to do. Especially because having less magic in my body during the Red Moon helps my migraines.
Magic Crystal (Poison)
Magic crystal made from venom of Blue Moon Viper. Because it was made during the Red moon, the magic power inside it is of the highest quality.
"Ha, haha… Highest quality… you gotta be kidding me…"
Okay, let's take deep breaths… Iiiiiiinhaaalee... Eeeexxhaaalee… Good.
What in the ever burning hell is this?! Highest quality?! Really?! How is this happening?!
"Caaaaaaaaaaaaaaallmmm doooooooooooooooooownn!!!!!" Blanche slapped me with all her might, probably realizing what my internal monologue was about.
"Huh?!"
"Good. You finally regained your senses. I could see in your eyes those internal screams and had to wake you out from it."
"Y-yeah… thanks…"
"So? What is it about?"
"Well… I tried making Cie's venom into Magic Crystal and it worked… It's just that it became the highest quality Magic Crystal," I said while showing her the light green rounded stone in the resin container.
"Oh wow… what are you going to do with it?"
"How should I know? I didn't even think it would work in the beginning… Maybe I could use it for the Schtaffe, but given I could most likely make more of these scares me."
"Can you make a lot of them?"
"I could make lower quality, I guess. The Appraisal says it's thanks to the Red moon that it is of such a high quality."
"I see. Maybe because of the low natural magic power it could not absorb magic power from outside and your supply helped the purity…" Blanche muttered and I could only stare blankly at her.
"What? I listened to your muttering for quite a while, of course I would pick up something," she smiled at me, "Just don't be too reserved and ask me if you want help with anything. I might not know much about alchemy, but I can move my Magic power really well!"
"Haha… Okay, I hear you. Let's do some alchemy together, shall we?"
"Yes! But… I have a little favor I want to ask. Could we make dinner together today?"
Now that I think about it, ever since we hit the road with the ducal family I never cooked for us…
"Okay, you have a deal. I'll make a Skull bear's leg with Citon and honey marinade, what do you say?"
"Eh? We still have honey?"
"Well, just for the two of us," I smiled at the practically drooling Blanche and started cooking. First I picked some Citons I bought in the town and extracted the juice. Then I put in an equal amount of honey, mixed the two together and let it sit for a while. Following that, I mixed together some herbs, salt and other spices before I mixed in the oil.
"Now that I remember, last time I made this, the smell lured bandits to us…"
"Heheh, yeah. I took Romi and her servants to deal with them and you leisurely cooked in the background," Blanche retorted.
"True, but remember what Romi said? 'Some weaklings can't interrupt master's divine cooking! I shall dispose of them before you finish!'"
"Hehehehehehe, that was a poor acting! She sounded more like this~♥"
"Yeah! Just like that! The tone was perfect! I had to send you out with the slimes to help clean up and collect loot…"
"It was a much simpler time…" Blanche smiled as she finished preparing the meat.
"That's definitely true…"
"But… I don't mind the hectic stuff. This kind of life has its own charm. The ducal family is nice and their servants too. I am sometimes stared at, but one look at Arito and the stars disappear."
"Hey, do you want to say I'm scary?" I said half jokingly.
"Only when you try to protect me," Blanche's head fell on my shoulder and she snuggled against me, "and I like it."
"Oh, what should I do with you," I snuggled at her too, making sure I would not dirty her clothes with my dirty hands.
"Right, let's get back to the cooking."
"Yeah, let's do that," we smiled at each other and continued cooking. At this stage, I mixed the citon-honey mix with the herbs and oil and placed the meat cut slightly thinner into this mix one by one. Now, we could let it sit and prepare the fire.
When I made a chimney, I let the outside look like a tree trunk, that way, even though someone was walking by, they never thought there was something out of place. I even hide the air shafts with similar design. Though, that was after a bird died in one of them and the smell was making me run crazy. No matter how much I had the slimes deodorize the place, the smell always returned. In the end I used a spell called Wind blast to clean the shafts.
The fire started nicely and I added more and more wood, making the heat rise.
"Aaah, the wood is still too moist, it doesn't burn well…"
"What are we going to do?"
"It's still too early to add charcoal, so I'm not sure… hm?" My eyes fell on a Carbon slime that was just passing by.
I remember charcoal being good at absorbing moisture from the air… maybe… it has the Heat up skill, so it might be doable.
I ordered the slime to use its Heat up skill on a piece of wood I gave him and he took it inside. Soon, the Carbon slime turned Red from its previous black color. Wait, don't tell me…
The Carbon slime all of a sudden spit out the wood, which was charged black, steam was rising from it and I could see it was turning red at some places. It looked like a piece of wood you might see falling out of the fireplace.
"So he made charcoal, who would have thought…" Blanche looked impressed. I thanked the slime and sent him away before putting the charred wood into the fireplace. Well, at least I know now I can make charcoal with these guys, even though it's a little unsafe.
With that, we continued preparing our food and spent the night lively in our de facto new base.