Chapter 29
Yenica Failover (2)
It smells like gold coins.
Lortel’s sense of smell mercilessly detects the scent of money.
The location is the Trix Hall where the core staff of the Bachelor’s Department resides… In fact it is the heart of the faculty area.
The exterior walls are neatly stacked with black and red bricks and marbles decorate the exterior in an old-fashioned way.
The windows are shiny and shiny no matter what time of day you come and the entrance is so magnificent that there are two people on duty at the back door of the main gate.
It was a place where those who wielded all final decision-making power at the top of Sylvania’s administrative system gathered including academic financial management educational schedule management student complaint review and final academic policy direction decisions. Principal Obel and Vice Principal Rachel’s office is also located here.
There are very few students who come and go here. If you look at the people walking around most of them are general staff professors or outsourced workers. Students who are busy learning have no reason to go to the administrative buildings on the outskirts of the teaching building.
Lortel smiled at the staff guarding the entrance and headed towards the lobby.
The smell of gold coins is extremely irritating to the nose. The source has finally been revealed.
The school’s roots and treasures are carefully displayed in a glass display case in the center of the main lobby of the Trix Building.
If you look at the exterior alone it’s not that flashy. It’s just a book with a lot of wear and tear here and there.
However anyone who mentions the name ‘Sage’s Seal’ will end up swallowing dry saliva.
A record of Sylvania Robester the great sage who founded this school exploring and discussing ‘aspect magic’.
Astrology which predicts the flow of stars and uses its power to twist the providence of the world itself is known to be the most incomprehensible and profound among the realms of magic.
Numerous researchers have attempted to interpret and reproduce the records of the Book of Blessings but the research is not yet complete. In short this is a book that remains the ultimate challenge for academia.
Aside from its academic value that book is like a symbol of Sylvania Academy.
There is a certain time when a book comes out of that glass display case. Except when it is necessary for research on gender status it is only held when there are public events representing the school such as the entrance ceremony for new students the inauguration of the student council president or principal and the year-end graduation ceremony.
“Hmm~.”
Lortel stood in front of the display case looked at the wise man’s seal and took a deep breath.
“As expected it smells like money.”
Lortel whispered softly with a natural smile.
That book was the trigger that started all events the heart of Sylvania Academy and the first target purchase of Elte Company.
* [Life skills details]
Grade: Novice Artisan Specialty: Woodworking Dexterity Lv 10 Design Lv 4 Gathering Lv 8 Woodworking Lv 10 Hunting Lv 7 Fishing Lv 6 Cooking Lv 5 Mending Lv 5 Saw Hammer Fine-edged Ax Shovel A sword to use as a machete Lots of spikes etc. I threw the box I was holding on the floor. The amount was slightly less than one gold coin.
Sylvania is an educational facility. I was a little worried about whether these woodworking supplies would be sold in a living area in Sylvania but I was able to get a lot of good quality items from Elte Trading Company which has everything.
So I sat down on the log bench in the camp and bent my body this way and that.
The final scene of Act 1 is over and nothing important has happened in the scenario for the time being.
Now that I no longer have to worry about tuition until next semester I have a lot of time to train my body and make efforts to improve my standard of living.
The proper second act begins in the second semester. There was an end-of-semester evaluation episode before that but nothing major happened.
Tailie begins to make serious progress and learns skills such as wind cutting and elemental cutting… It’s just such a passing episode. Originally it should have been held before the Glaskan subjugation war.
After that it’s vacation after the closing ceremony. Once the first semester is over the time lost in classes can be used to take care of my camp so I can’t waste this golden time.
Above all else housing stability must be addressed first.
I nodded and reviewed the cabin design I had drawn in my head. It would have been nice to be able to draw a proper blueprint but even if you plan it there is no way it will be built the way it is. The only way to solve the problems we face is to improvise and build something similar.
I’m not going to sell it anywhere anyway so it’s no problem if it’s a little crude. This body seems to have a natural talent for production so I can’t help but think it will work out somehow.
For the time being life will be much more difficult than when we first started living in the wild. The good news is that each and every piece of hard work will become the foundation for my growth so there is no need to suffer in vain.
It’s not a huge consolation but… Because it’s right to build up your skills as much as possible…
Thinking like that I picked up my sword and stood up.
He then made a mark by drawing a horizontal stroke on the trunk of a large oak tree nearby. It looks like one letter (一).
The construction of the cabin begins today the first day.
1 day.
I chose a place to build a cabin.
It was a bit awkward to build it so close to the river. If the river waters rise it will be a catastrophe. I selected a space that was sufficiently shady spacious and inconspicuous and began the leveling process.
We removed all kinds of weeds and removed all large stones. The slightly sloping part was made flat by digging with a shovel.
After finishing the land leveling work it was already time to sleep. I checked how much food was left. I had to supplement it little by little. After deciding to spend more time hunting tomorrow I went to sleep memorizing major events in the history of magic for the written exam.
3 days.
We started securing wood. It was easy because I had quite a bit of skill with the Wind Blade. However if I used too much magic power it would start to affect my stamina so I used it in moderation.
The only thing more difficult than cutting down a tree was trimming it. Since there was no way to mass-produce neatly standardized pieces of wood or wooden boards the bark was peeled off and cut by hand.
It took more than two hours just to cut off all the twigs and peel the bark from one fallen tree and turn it into lumber. It seemed like I would just continue working on this for the time being.
Other things worth noting are… I met Yenika in the class building but I was ignored again. Watching Jenika run away without noticing me her friends Clara and Anis made a cheerful expression on her face. She smiles evilly as if telling her not to go near Yenika anymore. She didn’t even want to do that in the first place.
6th.
After I started working with wood I started experiencing muscle pain for the first time in a while. It’s been quite a while since I first started living in the northern forest.
I thought I was used to walking every morning and exercising my body every day but when I tried to build a cabin on top of that my body started screaming. I decided to endure this as it was all about becoming flesh and blood.
11th.
There was a lot of wood piled up. But it still seems like a long way off.
As I was walking through the forest with a saw I came across a low-ranking wind spirit that looked like a sparrow. I asked Merilda if she felt uncomfortable with my recent cutting down of trees perhaps out of concern. Then he shook his head again. I guess he’s more generous than I thought.
I was thinking about making a contract with this guy but I skipped it because I didn’t want to waste my spirit slots carelessly.
14th.
As the end-of-semester evaluation approached I stopped working on wood for now.
Most of my night time was spent studying. Although I was quite confident in the written part I still feel the need to improve my practical skills.
Still it is a huge improvement compared to the beginning when there were no magical abilities at all. His skills were much better than the average of first-year students.
I met Yenika again in front of the exam room in the teaching building but I was ignored again. Clara and Anis as expected looked satisfied when they saw me being completely ignored.
18th.
The wood work has been roughly completed. It seems like it won’t be enough but I think I’ll have to cut more at that point.
The academic schedule was ahead of the closing ceremony. Anyway I got good grades. It wasn’t enough to receive a scholarship but if I continue to grow at this pace I can aim for a scholarship next semester.
The mastery of the wind blade has risen one level further. The required skill level has gradually increased significantly and after using it to cut down trees and remove twigs on an old blade it seems that I have become somewhat trained.
Since we didn’t have the means to move the wood we borrowed a simple cart with wheels from the student center renovation site. Of course it wasn’t free. I gave him some money and he readily allowed me to spend it as I pleased during times when construction was not in progress.
So the wood was shipped one by one near the camp.
20th.
Vacation has begun. For the time being you can only spend the whole day at camp.
Most students returned to their hometowns for vacation. I have no hometown to return to and I plan to create one from now on. First we started by splitting the log in two using a wind blade and using the flat side to make beams. After working all day I was about halfway done.
It was time to secure food again. When I checked the noose trap that had been set up in advance Lucy was caught and was sleeping comfortably. It was a mistake to use beef jerky as bait.
I just threw Lucy into the wooden shelter and continued working on the beam.
23rd.
Ziggs has arrived in the forest. He was also running around like he was training.
When I asked him if he wasn’t going home because it was vacation he answered that he didn’t go either because he had to attend a conference. She is also very consistent.
He saw me building a house in a desperate situation and asked if I could help him.
After all building a hut is something you do for discipline so I thought it would be better to just get some help for things I couldn’t handle on my own even though I was tempted to just refuse.
We received help in erecting and fixing one central pillar and four outer pillars. The work of adding beams has also been completely completed.
After finishing everything it was so hard that we both fell to the floor sweating profusely. Ziggs returned to Ofilis Hall as it was getting dark telling him to let me know if he needed any help again.
27th.
It rained. The wood consumed water and became so heavy that it was impossible to work on it. It won’t dry out in a day or two but I think I’ll have to focus on survival activities for the time being.
At night senior maid Belle Maia came and handed out some herbs and mushrooms. Then she vaguely asked how Yenny Kar was doing these days and she answered honestly that she seemed to hate him.
Belle returned to Ofilis Hall while tilting her head. Listening to the story it seems that Yenika and her best friends also stayed at school this vacation.
30 days.
Once the beam and pillar work was completed the rough shape began to emerge. Now it was time to build an exterior wall by stacking logs.
Since it couldn’t be fixed just by stacking it up I had to dig out a space at the edge of each piece of wood to make a joint.
This was truly hell. I felt like I was going crazy as I was using a saw and a draw hammer to dig out the joints so that the pieces of wood could fit together. Still it ended well.
32nd.
The wooden exterior wall collapsed around one pillar. I realized that just making the joints and fitting them together wasn’t strong enough.
It’s like a dog.
34th.
He came up with the idea of drilling holes in the wood using a hand-cranked manual drill and then driving strong iron rods into each joint. To buy the necessary supplies I went to the general store that Elte Trading Co. is responsible for distribution.
I ran into a group of Yenika again at the bakery in the living area. As soon as Jenica’s eyes met hers she ran away. The two best friends were still smiling with satisfaction but among them Anise was the only one smiling.
Clara looked back and forth between me and Yenika for a moment then suddenly began to break out into a cold sweat. It looks like he had a stomach ache.
37th.
“Just like you said Tailley was a better guy than I thought.”
The work of stacking logs in the high part and working on the roof was too difficult to do alone so I ended up calling over Ziggs who was jogging.
These days I’ve changed my mind a bit but it’s better not to get too involved with important characters in the scenario… On the other hand if you get too far away you won’t be able to tell whether the story is progressing properly. We cannot repeat the same mistakes we made during the Glaskan subjugation war. I decided to get the first graders’ stories out of Ziggs while also doing some work.
We were sitting on the roof of a half-finished cabin hammering nails into each joint.
“We sparred during the end-of-semester evaluation and even at that moment we didn’t give up and continued to get stronger. Of course he’s not my opponent yet but he might become a very useful swordsman in the future.”
“Is that so?”
I was able to confirm that Act 1 Scene 9 proceeded without any problems.
“Are you going to nail everything here too?”
“Leave that side alone. That’s where the chimney goes.”
Although it’s a bit clumsy I’m also planning to build a chimney for the fireplace. In order to heat the interior of a hut a space for smoke to escape was essential. Of course I think I’ll need other materials besides logs but I’ll have to think about that later.
40 days.
The vacation was approaching the middle of the year. It was so hot that I thought I would get heat stroke so I took a day off.
42 days.
It was so hot that I worked without my top on. The fine muscles covering the body have now reached a level where they can be called just muscles. Whenever it was hot I doused myself with river water and filled the gaps between the logs with mud.
Also since the roof could leak from rain I brought a lot of the wide leaves that were used to make the wooden shelter and covered it with the netting that was left over from making the fish farm and secured it with twine.
The vague remaining netting was roughly tied to a nearby tree to create a hammock. If there is another use you can release it and use it.
45 days.
.
.
.
When I first started I had drawn a single stroke with a sword but before I knew it I had drawn 9 jeong (正) characters for cutting.
I raised my head and looked ahead.
A well-finished log cabin was welcoming me.
[New finished product]
The log cabin was made by trimming logs to the same size as possible and then stacking them to fit the pillars and beams. It has only the outer walls and roof and nothing inside.
Production Difficulty: ●●●●○ [The production skill has increased. ]
[The production skill has increased. ]
[The production skill has increased. ]
[The production skill has increased. ]
[The production skill has increased. ]
“Whoa… .”
I sighed once and roughly threw down the hatchet I was holding.
And then I walked towards the cabin. It doesn’t have a door but if you make good use of hinges you can make something similar.
I went straight through the entrance and sat in the middle of the hut.
At first glance I think it’s more than 5 pyeong. It was built larger than expected due to the large size of the tree but there is nothing wrong with being spacious. Heating efficiency may deteriorate slightly but it is acceptable.
A hole for the window has been drilled but there is no window installed yet. There was space for a fireplace but there was no material to make a fireplace so it was empty for now.
Neither the floor nor the wall materials are applied. There isn’t even a single piece of furniture. It was a cabin made entirely of rough logs.
However there are exterior walls and a roof.
If you close the door bugs won’t come in. If you have something that can provide lighting you can study more comfortably at night. It would be great if you could find or make a desk or chair.
I just wiped my face once.
I have a house.
What I find particularly touching about that fact is… . It was proof of how difficult life had been.
As I was trying so hard to survive I completely forgot about that fact.
It wasn’t until I had my own living space that I realized this fact so I decided not to push myself any further and just sit still and finish the day.
[Living skills details]
Grade: Novice Craftsman Specialty: Woodworking Dexterity Lv 13 Design Lv 8 Gathering Lv 11 Woodworking Lv 12 Hunting Lv 8 Fishing Lv 6 Cooking Lv 6 Repairing Lv 5 This is a level 4 finished product.
I decided to postpone checking my living skills proficiency and talent stats which were rising like crazy and my physical strength stats which had risen significantly due to doing physical labor. Advanced crafting skills will be unlocked gradually but I don’t feel like checking that out right away.
There is still a long way to go.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to put up some walls flooring furniture fireplace finishing and a fence. We need to replenish some food supplies and it would be nice to have a small warehouse to store firewood and other miscellaneous things. We also need to install doors and windows.
But now… I just want to be under this exterior wall and roof.
So I lay still in the middle of the hut for a long time.
“Oooooh!!”
When I arrived Lucy was hanging from the window hole flailing her feet stars shooting out of her eyes.
In her eyes this cabin the product of my hard work appears to be nothing more than a huge cat tower. I get so excited that I try to climb here and there.
I thought about kicking them out but… I also wanted to be intoxicated with this sense of accomplishment for a while.
The sun was setting late at night.