Chapter 20.2: Fishermen guild and Roof tile procuring

We had a quick lunch and after it, I decided to place a wooden floor on the top two floors, with which the kids offered their help.

"Oh wow! There are so many slimes!" The new kids were surprised by seeing the Acid slimes.

"Heh-heh-heh! And you only saw the Acid slimes, wait till you see the rest of them!" Lopi laughed confidently, her wings fluttering behind her.

"Okay everyone! Here you have planks so start making the floor after me!"

"Oooooooh!!!!!"

With the extra help, we quickly managed to fix the floors of the two floors, so I asked the kids to start filling pillows (Which could also work as bags) with the shedding of the Fluff slimes. Alma and some more skillful girls took it upon themselves to stitch the pillows to close them, which I was thankful for, as it gave me more breathing space and I could fix the window shutters before I could make the actual glass windows. Now that I think about it, there aren't any glass windows anywhere in the city. It's kinda funny that the first house to have them would be an orphanage on slums grounds.

I first fixed the second floor shutters and then on the first floor. The base floor where the dining room and kitchen were located had shutters from the first day, though.

"It's starting to get late…"

"Indeed. You will have to go to Duke, right, boy?" Rieva asked me.

"Yeah, I don't want them to be too worried."

"Right. Hey kiddos! Who wants to stay here?"

"Meeeee!!!" The newcomers raised their hands as well as Paul did, albeit a little timidly.

"Kay! In that case, I will see myself out," Rieva waved goodbye and was fast to leave.

"W-wait! …and he's gone… really, what's his problem? He's so fast on his feet too," I muttered and turned to the kids, "Well, it seems like you're staying with me now."

"Hey, Aniki, Aniki. When will we move in?"

"Well, I have to make the beds so given that you guys finished the beddings today, I think in two days you will be sleeping here."

"Hm? Now that I think about it, why are you all calling him Aniki?" one of the new girls asked with a confused look.

"Because Aniki is the strongest!"

"He's the best!"

"He's the coolest!"

The rest of the kids started chanting as if they were trying to embarrass me.

"Arito saved us from kidnapers."

"We also went to the beach together!"

"And ate a lot of meat!"

"I'm getting hungry…" Venti tugged on my sleeve.

"Right, we should eat something before we go."

"""""Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy!!!!"""" the kids cheered up and went to the dining room and I followed them.

For dinner, I decided to go with some meat to make the kids happy. For the diner, I decided to make Emeraldscale Anaconda soup with mushrooms I grew in my experimental garden back in the forest. I also added some magically created salt and other spices (those were grown naturally).

I chopped the anaconda meat into bite sized pieces and simmered them with some onion on oil before adding the salt, pepper and paprika. Next I poured soup stock, made from Red Deer meat, over the simmered meat and added potatoes with herbs and mushrooms.

"Alright! Take bowls and make a line! I have enough for everyone so don't be worried you won't get any!" I called out the kids and they did as I asked them.

"That smells nice, could we get some too?"

The voice belonged to Lena who came in with her family in tow.

"Sorry for the intrusion, Arito."

"We thought we would take a look at how you are doing, here."

"It's nice to see you everyone. I still have some soup left, do you want to eat some?"

"You are really kind. Today was really hectic for us, so we would love some good food," Laina smiled bitterly.

"Was it really that bad?"

"You have no idea. We were carrying out the investigation about the embezzlement, but weren't able to find anything. So it was either a hoax or they became really scared due to what happened in the Macedia city and became a lot of secretive."

"That sounds rough," I smiled weakly at Henry as I handed him back the bowl.

"Aaaaah, what a pleasant smell," his tired face eased up when he smelled the soup. The kids were a little scared of the adults, but seeing Lena and me interacting with them normally, they were kind enough to not stare at them.

Once everyone had their bowl, I took one myself and started eating. The taste was exquisite, the meat was falling apart when it entered my mouth and together with the onion and paprika it made the deer soup stock mellow and easy on the tongue.

"Wow, this soup is amazing."

"This meat, is Emeraldscale anaconda, correct?"

"Yes, you are correct Mr. Edgar."

"I see, but this aftertaste is slightly different from usual soup made with this meat, have you used different kinds of meat?"

"I made soup stock from Red deer bones."

"A soup stock? I see, so this is a taste of soup that Lady Lena proposed…"

I looked at Lena who was stuffing her face with meat and mushrooms, as I did, our eyes met and she smiled softly.

"Now that I look around, I don't see Blanche here," Laina looked over the room and then at me.

"She went to the mines to check on the farm I set up there with Romi."

"I'm here!" The moment I said where she went, Blanche came back.

"Good work out there, would you like some soup?"

"I will get it myself so don't worry," Blanche smiled at me and hopped over to the kitchen where I left the pot with remaining soup. Once she filled her bowl, she went back and seated herself between me and Lena with a warm smile.

"So how was your day?"

"It was great honestly. The Ogres were doing what you assigned them, so I just used some Wood Magic to grow them a little more. We might be able to harvest some Rappo berries in a few days."

"Really?!" Henry practically jumped up.

"Calm down dear, you are scaring the children," Laina chidded her husband, "And don't forget about that thing."

"Oh… I'm sorry about that… Anyway, we got a letter from the Summoner's guild that they have finished preparing for Taming aptitude tests."

"Really?" Lena looked up at her father with a happy smile.

"Arito, you are free to join us, I believe that would be good for you."

"I would love to join you, when do you plan to go?"

"In three days time, I'd say. We still need to look into the Town hall business and Lena needs to continue her training," Laina said with a finger placed against her chin.

"Okay, what about you Blanche? Will you try making another contract?"

"I guess I could go make one, but I will need a crystal to hold my summoned beast."

The crystal in which her Wind Wyrm was stored was tied to a leather string around her neck. To summon it, she needed to send enough magic to it and call out the name of the summon.

"You can get those from the mines so there should be quite some for sale."

"Um, are they perchance Magic Crystal?"

"Yes. Usually the bigger and brighter they are, the stronger monsters you can summon."

"I see, thank you for explaining that to me."

"Aniki, what are we supposed to do with the bowls?" Rifa whispered next to me.

"I left Cleaning slime in the sink, so place it next to it and the slime will take and clean them," I whispered back.

"Brotheeeeeeer~" a weak voice came from another room and Paul practically blurred out and disappeared behind the doors.

"Are there other kids?"

"Just one girl with a Land Curse. I already gave her some medicine, but to be fully healed, she will need time."

"Land Curse? That's not your common sickness. Is she gifted with an earth element?"

"She appears to be a Half-Gnoma."

"A Half-Gnoma, eh? For a race closely related to Dwarves, they are highly susceptible to this sickness, though they build quite a strong resistance when they survive it."

"Um, if you excuse me, I will bring her some food," I excused myself and went to the other room with a bowl of soup from which I took out the bigger pieces that could be hard for her to eat.

I walked over to the room and knocked on the doors. Once I heard Paul respond to me I entered the room. In the simple bed I saw the girl lying in bed looking at me with Paul next to her.

"I brought some soup."

"Thannnkk youuu…" the girl breathed heavily and tried to smile at me.

"Hmm… you look better than before, I guess you have more severe symptoms than I originally thought. But don't worry. Eat well, sleep well and you will be running around in no time," I smiled at the girl and patted her head. Surprisingly, her skin had a sand-like feel. It was really coarse and it felt as if her skin was made of thousands of tiny grains.

"Is this how skin is supposed to feel?"

"Yeah, she feels like sand, it always was like this," Paul confirmed.

"Okay, then. Here is a vial of the Earthly potion. Once she is finished eating, have her drink it. Okay Misha, your big brother will take care of you and once everyone is done with eating, I will take you to my Dimension home so you are always warm."

"Thank you… hero…"

"How did you call me?" I was a little surprised.

"You are… really… nice… and you… help us… like a hero in stories…"

"I see, now is it okay to eat something okay?"

I saw myself out and went to collect all the dishes and spoons from the Cleaning slimes, who already started piling them on next to the sink.

"I must say, these wooden bowls are exquisitely done. Have you carved them by hand?" Laina asked me as she watched me over from the take out place.

"More or less, I'd say. I fastened the log to a metal holder and had it spin at high speed during which I carved it. So You could say I did carve it, but I did it in less than ten minutes."

"Really? Did you use some kind of magic item?"

"Well, there was a toy enchanted with Null magic <Spin> spell. I used this toy as a centerpiece of the tool I made."

"I see, I guess we should introduce you to our First grade Specialist in Magitool crafting."

"First grade Specialist?"

"Specialists are people we employ who specialize in a certain field of study. The grades are divided into five groups and the higher grade you are, the higher your paycheck is. Though, you need to show your worth at least once a year. Also, we have to be informed of any new discoveries you make. Fifth and the Fourth grades have monetary compensations. Third and second grades are allowed to have assistants and special facilities. And from Second grade up, you are also allowed to have guards paid by us."

"I see, that sounds interesting. And this person is a Specialist in Magitool crafting?"

"Yes, be it Spring Pouches, Magimobiles and many other things. We have some magic tools he made for protection, as well as some to boast about to other nobles, though that hardly happens as we don't really enjoy the company of too many of them," Laina added with a bitter smile.

The magi-mobiles sounded interesting, but I better keep my mind occupied with this thing first.

"He seems like a great person."

"He definitely is one of the best there is."

With the conversation finished, I put the dishes to my Item box, ushered the kids to my Dimension home and returned with the ducal family to the inn. Hmm, Blanche looks quite tired. Hmm… Maybe I should take her for a date tomorrow. I can delegate most of the work to Acid slimes and Venti, after all.

Right! Let's go on a date tomorrow!