Chapter 61: Housekeeping

  “Howdy, pardner, Jensen, Ploughman Jensen, that’s me, nice to meet’ya, likin’ the place so far so good, know what’m sayin’? Whoo, dis place gon’ be some fuuuyne farmland on’er these days, you betcha! Gon’ get the sheppies rollin’ an’ them bovodines comfy now, pleasure to meet ‘ya, toot later!”

  The man somehow greeted Theo and Wen, complimented the town or the fields, told them his plans for the night and said his goodbyes all in one breath, and Theo only caught half of what he was saying.

  “A southerner.”

  Wen’s voice showed disinterest.

  “Is that bad?”

  “There are rumours about them, but I’ve never met one in person. I was told they had the devil’s tongue, but I guess something got mixed up. Maybe they just…talk like that?”

  “He seems a good feller,” Theo said, eyeing the new farmer’s disappearing form along with the sheppies and bovodines—Aera’s equivalent of Theo’s world’s sheep and cows—traipsing along with him towards the farm.

  Wen’s hand crushed down on his shoulder, steering his attention towards her with an iron grip. “Don’t! Just in case, you know, don’t let his tongue infect you.”

  Theo would’ve thought she was kidding if not for the deadpan stare. Why would a localised way of speaking be likened to the devil? Theo didn’t even realise there was a ‘devil’ in Aera. And why would Wen, of all people, be prejudiced against someone else’s accent? The woman switched the moment something didn’t go her way. She might as well be keeping the devil locked up inside her the way she spoke when her fury rose.

  “I’ll stop,” Theo chuckled. “I’d like to see Willam’s reaction to that man interrupting his songfest, though.”

  “Oh, is he and Julie…?”

  “Very much so. We decided to let them be.”

  “At least someone’s getting something,” Wen muttered to herself.

  “Hm?”

  “Maybe we should’ve stopped him, then? What was his name again? Jensen?”

  “I thought it was Plough-something? Or was that his profession? It’s hard to adapt to this place with all the profession-esque names most of you seem to have.”

  “Ploughman. Yes, that was it. Should we stop him?”

  A loud ‘Howdy’ echoed across the distance between the Barge and the fields just then.

  “Too late. We should probably help Lady with the mattresses and beddings, instead.”

  Having been bombarded the moment the pair stepped out of the Barge by the new farmer, they’d veered off course as to their primary goal, which was getting every bedroom sorted and ready before the villagers started heading to bed.

  Theo and Wen turned to the wagon just as Lady stepped out after her first round-trip. Somehow the pile of mattresses had almost vanished. Lady hopped up onto the wagon with an effortless and graceful leap, vanishing the rest of the pile along with some covers and headed back inside.

  “Right. That’s a thing some people seem able to do.”

  “A somewhat common bonus effect of certain Skills. Usually, it’s limited to certain categories of items. Guessing Lady can hold most household items.”

  “Huh. Never thought it’d be Skill-related. Why don’t I know this?”

  “Because you put very few of your internal musings into words, dummy. You’re trying to take everything in stride even though there’s no reason you should understand all this.”

  Theo helped Wen up by balancing her as she climbed up the back of the wagon. She lifted a large sack and threw it down at him. Despite her effortless throw, the sack proved too much for Theo and landed on top of him after it knocked him down on the ground.

  “Oh! Sorry!”

  “Ugh.” Theo rolled to the side, shoving the dead weight pressing him down to the side before inching out from under it. “How strong are you? I thought I was catching up.”

  Wen let a laugh slip but suppressed it an instant later. “Sorry. Even if we had a similar number of Skills—and I’m guessing I’ve got far more Level Twos and Level Threes than you do—then I’ve still got a big physical multiplier. That’s something you don’t have. All other things being equal, my 1.5 multiplier still makes me fifty percent stronger than you are.”

  “Fifty?”

  “Hey, brewing and tending to an inn is physically tiresome work, I’ll have you know!”

  “Okay, okay,” Theo smiled, waving his hands like a white flag. “What is even in this?” He looked to the sack that had defeated him so easily. He opened its strings and revealed a highly compressed mound of beddings.

  “What’re these made of, steel? No chance these pillows and blankets are that heavy!”

  Wen jumped down, another sack in her hands, yet still landed light as a feather on the ground. Theo hadn’t seen Wen do anything so impressive before.

  “Silly man. Learn the lesson, will you?”

  “Uh…there’s a skill?”

  “Not that, the lesson I just tried teaching you about you asking.”

  Wen’s hands were placed on her hips as her foot was tapping the ground impatiently, a scowl on her face.

  “Right. How, fair maiden, could it be so, that these items, once thought light, could be so horribly…heavy?”

  Congratulations! You have earned the Level One skill Poetry.

  Poetry (Level One): Best of luck next time, with this, your new pastime. All stats +5.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  Wen giggled, the laugh flirtatious and not at all forced…maybe. “Less of an attitude next time, but good enough. The Trader packed it, so he must have a skill with an effect to make more room. There are usually not very complicated reasons behind most things being as they are.”

  “See, you say that…”

  She ruffled his hair with a playful hand. “Come on. You can take this one; it’s lighter. Lady seems an amiable lady, but something tells me she’s the impatient sort.

  Theo took the emasculating sack from Wen and allowed her to take the heavier one, which she did, again, effortlessly. They headed inside and climbed up the stairs, reaching the circular hallway with passages to all the bedrooms. It seemed like all the doors were open, and within one Theo could hear some thumping. They peeked inside, finding Lady placing the mattress onto the second bed, making sure it was immaculate before heading back outside to meet them.

  “Sheets first, pillows and duvets inside their covers and flat on top of the bed. Don’t worry about making it pretty, I will be going over everything before we open the rooms to the guests—villagers.”

  Wen shook her head in the affirmative and dashed into the room. Lady smiled an unreadable smile, and Theo snuck past her to help Wen finish up the room.

  The next hour rushed by, Theo getting into the groove of digging out pillows of his own sack along with white covers, inserting the pillow before wrapping the loose string in the cover around a series of sewn-on buttons, which would lock the pillow in place. It was like a prototype of a zipper, and he approved of its design and ease of use.

  Sherblanc stumbled into the last room he and Wen put together, and despite his bruised head—he seemed fine—Theo and Wen pushed him out.

  “Closed for inspection!”

  Lady stepped inside, Theo audibly gulping while holding a beaten magical instructor at bay. The last few rooms had been done in a hurry as people had come inside in droves, and Lady did not approve of the sloppy work that had been done. Theo had never been more frightened. Never once had she done more than stare at them; no shouting, no disciplining, nothing…except that stare. It was an explosion of motherly disappointment, a sisterly ‘um, you’re so, like, helpless’, a professional demotion in all but name wrapped into one uncomfortable look.

  This room would be perfect, though. While Lady had first instructed them to put things where they should be and not worry about putting the final touches in, that had changed the moment people started coming in. Lady introduced herself to everyone, getting the feel of her fellow residents and paired them up in rooms herself. She made sure everyone knew it was a temporary solution until a better system, one that would take everyone’s wishes into consideration, was put in place. Until then, she would be the system.

  She eyed the beds, inspecting them closely and stroking them with a light hand so as not to disturb the sheets she knew were already perfect. She headed towards the door where Theo, Sherblanc, and Wen stood, two of them agape, drowning in nerves, while the other stood observing the feminine being in front of them.

  She opened her mouth. Theo’s butt clenched.

  “Lady. Pleasant to meet you,” she said, holding out her hand for Sherblanc to take. He took it.

  “Sherblanc.”

  Their hands split.

  “You will share rooms with Oakley for the night. I understand you’ve had your bell rung, but there’s no dilation in your eyes and no smell of blood on you. I assume you will be fine?”

  “Yes, Lady. Just a bump.”

  “Marvellous. Let me show you to your room.”

  Lady stepped between the three of them, exiting the room and heading down the hallway. Sherblanc followed without another word.

  “This is so odd,” Theo whispered, afraid she’d hear them even while out of sight.

  “Do you think she approved?”

  “What?”

  “Of the room!”

  “I don’t feel like a child scolded for eating my ice cream too fast, so it couldn’t be worse than the last few. I even got a skill for it.”

  Congratulations! You have earned the Level One skill Laundry.

  Laundry (Level One): Wet them, wash them, stick’em in the bin. Laundry helps keep things as clean as they’ve been. All stats +5.

  “Laundry, huh? Didn’t think I was holding you back with offering to wash your clothes for you,” Wen said with a playful, teasing grin. “You’ve even got Cleaning and Serving from our time in the old Barge, haven’t you? Maybe you’re considering apprenticing under Lady?”

  “Absolutely not! Oh, about that, I’ve already been slacking with my homework. I could also use a bath, so I’ll just do both together.”

  “A mysterious nighttime bath while doing homework? Just what kind of instructions is Sherblanc giving you?”

  Theo laughed. “Just trying to do the right thing in the right place. It’d be too wet to do anywhere else.”

  “Colour me intrigued. It’s not something shameful, is it? If I asked to watch, I wouldn’t be considered a perv or anything?”

  “I’m just casting spells. Nothing perverted about it.”

  Wen giggled in disagreement. “You never with magic. Poor bumpkins like me wouldn’t understand, I suppose.”

  “You’re anything but a bumpkin,” Theo said, his smile shortening a fraction as his words came out more earnestly than he’d expected.

  She looked at him, a gentle flush rising in her cheeks. “Who, uh, are you sharing rooms with?”

  “Haven’t heard yet. Lady will probably tell us, but I can wait until after a short swim. Speaking of, it’s past midnight already—better go drain the piping!”

  Wen’s face grimaced questioningly.

  “The, uh, magical piping. My mana, that is. I thought it’d sound funnier. Sorry.”

  Her face relented, turning into a smile once more. “See you later, then. Good night, if we won’t be sharing rooms.”

  “You think that’s an option?” Theo asked. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

  “I think Hank and Bella are sharing—”

  “They’re married.”

  “—and Willam and Julie.”

  “That’s…good for them,” Theo said, chuckling before adding, “Must be another bed available in both their rooms, then!”

  “Theo!” Wen laughed, her flush growing pinker. “Go cool down. You seem to be needing it!”

  With that, he dashed down the stairs and headed straight toward the lake. The air still had the warmth of summer, but the nights were growing darker. Theo’s mind rumbled with several questions, like how long a year was and how harsh the winters were, when Wen’s scolding words popped into his head. “Stop taking things in stride, just ask, dammit.” That must’ve been how she said it, right? Yeah, sounded like her, with just a twang of a wider accent.

  Theo undressed and jumped into the water in a rush, the temperate water embracing him, washing off the day’s events. Just today, he had tasted his first violetberries, grown by his own hand. He’d met Sherblanc, who braved Grace’s past with a razor edge, somehow ticking her off without her taking it out on him. He’d then trained under Sherblanc’s instruction, sort of learning a new spell and more techniques to master more. Then, there was the whole Drian and Durian ordeal, where Julie’s past came rushing back to bite her in the proverbial ass, though somehow brought her and Willam closer together. Another three villagers arrived, totalling five new residents in a single day—with Alvin, who seemed uninterested in Sigil Lake, Lady, the keeper and caretaker with the steely gaze, and, uh…Ploughman, the southern farmer? He also learned that the queen herself was coming for Sigil Lake.

  It had been quite the day, and after swimming a few laps around an imaginary boundary, ignoring how he was potentially scaring off the fish for Hunter’s morning fishing, Theo stopped closer to the lake’s edge, standing on the sandy lakebed with just his head above water.

  Congratulations! You have earned the Level One skill Swimming.

  Swimming (Level One): Best of luck next time, with this, your new pastime. All stats +5.

  Perfect, he thought with a grin stuck on his wet face. With that, his mana had increased to a hundred and sixty-nine. He could cast over a hundred-fifty loops of ‘Create’ ‘Water’.

  A light glimmered to life under the water as he made his first attempt at weaving in such a place. Besides the increased resistance limiting his movement, there seemed to be no change in how the sigils worked, as even underwater, they locked in place with a familiar chime. After finishing the third sigil, hoping his symbols for 150 were correct, a rather basic ‘CL’, he underscored the order given to the world.

  The water roiled around him, sending up puffs of large bubbles as if the lake were boiling. Instead, the temperature shifted colder as the sun hadn’t warmed Theo’s generated water all month. His mana faded into single digits, and the water settled. Four mana to spare. Not enough to do anything with, but not so much that he bothered complicating the iteration number. Drained of mana and waiting just a moment hoping to get his first Level Three skill, Theo soon enough headed to shore, drying himself off with his shirt and heading back inside. He was ready for a new day.