Vol 2 Chapter 14: Un-Base

Foin just stared at the unconscious goblin as the dragon dropped her down. Then, his gaze shifted to the dragon.

"Why is she here... in this state? She is so malnourished..."

He mumbled as he looked back down at the goblin.

"The cold season is fast approaching, it seems... I have heard that goblins banish the weakest ones one or two weeks before the cold weather so that the tribe can survive... It seems this one was starving for quite some time now..."

These new pieces of information hit Foin hard. His eyes widened, but he quickly regained his composure by shaking his head. The mention of cold weather was the one I was most worried about. Although he had started planning for it, if it is within a few weeks, then he is nowhere ready for that, especially since he knows nothing about how cold it would be and how long it would last. So, after taking one long and deep breath, he glares into the eyes of the dragon, slightly startling her.

"How cold would this cold weather be?"

"Erm... Very... This river next to you would turn into a massive piece of ice in one... though thanks to my scales, I am quite resistant to the cold, but even I tend to feel quite cold in the coldest of the days."

She slightly lowered her head as she felt slightly embarrassed as she was unable to provide sufficient information, and she still felt uneasy from Foin's gaze; that is the reason why she only looked at the ground instead of returning Foin's gaze.

"I see...Keep an eye on the goblin girl! Énilo, increase the number of plants. We must have food for the winter! I will chop the trees for firewood..."

Foin declared so that everyone could hear it perfectly. This was the first time he had made a declaration. Ever since he arrived, he has been quite submissive, trying to avoid confrontation, but now, something has changed. He was so determined that not even he himself believed that he said that.

Both the plant girl and the dragon nodded in sync. So he grabbed his axe and walked over to the trees the dragon had brought over. Each was quite massive, so he started things off by debrenching the very first one. He only cut off the largest branches at first so that he could move them around more easily. Once he cut off the larger branches, he started copping them into smaller and smaller pieces.

His aim was to make each piece at most about twenty to forty centimetres log, as he believed that was the size he could still work with. As time went on, he grew quite accustomed to the axe in a short span of time. It surprised him, as he was not exactly a quick learner, but then he remembered that it might be thanks to the system.

After the branches were done, he started focusing on the massive body of the tree. Although it was quite gritty, he managed to chop it with relative ease. By the time he managed to finish most of the sectioning on the first tree, it was already quite late. He knew that although he only needed to chop the slices into easily movable and usable pieces, he knew that that would be the most time-consuming.

"Master! It seems the ant has finished working on its nest! It seems it wants you to take a look at it."

Énilo said as she flew over to Foin's side at an incredible speed. Hearing it, Foin looked behind him. Behind him stood the ant, which had grown considerably. Previously, it was about as tall as his knees, but the black ant standing behind him was about as tall as his leg. The ant moved its antennas, almost as if a human being waving its palm to invite someone to follow them.

"What do you mean by that?"

Foin asked as he kept looking at the man who stepped closer to him, gently grabbed his hand with its mouth, and started pulling him. He had no choice but to follow the ant, which led him to a hole not far from his house. The hole was just big enough for him to go down. He expected that he would be barely able to see anything; however, even in the darkness, he was able to see things relatively clearly.

Although his vision was limited, how much he could see was still stunning, not that there was anything important to see. The ant dragged him to the hole, which led to a chamber a few meters underground. It was quite a massive room, as he could easily stand up, and his head still did not reach the ceiling. From the chamber, three tunnels lead to a different way. Two seemed to maintain the same height, but one went lower.

These underground areas gave Foin a new idea. Seeing how massive it was, and it was just next to his house, he could survive the winter here instead of using his house for the time being. Also, he would be able to implement a basic, crude radiator to keep the place warmer. He could use his peteach liquid to form a reservoir, which he could just heat up to make the underground area hotter.

"Alright, Énoli, Could you bring down my wooden shovel and all the peteach fruits... we are going to make this underground cave livable during the cold weather... As for you, good work."

Foin said, and he gently yet firmly patted the ant, at which it only nodded.

"Right away, master!"

Énilo quickly flew out of the cave and started preparing. Foin just stared at the wall. He was envisioning how to do it. He had no prior knowledge of how it would work; he only knew that the one he could make was nowhere near safe enough to be left unattended. He would need a valve that would let out the steam should it be that hot, and also, it would need an area where he would be able to heat it.

Once the plant girl brought down his shovel, he started carrying the basic shape of his plan into the wall. He knew that he needed to make it have a massive surface so that it would give off more heat. However, he knew that the other side would also lose quite a lot of heat as well. And, of course, he needed it to contain enough water so that it wouldn't cool down so easily, but then came the problem of heating it and where to fuel the smoke. As he was thinking about his plans, he found himself grinning. It was both challenging, fun and exciting for him.