Now that it’s winter, blizzards have become a common sight outside the Great Forest.
I don’t go to the Adventurers’ Guild on windy days. I’d look awfully suspicious if I showed up with a pristine bundle of herbs.
Besides, am I… unpopular at the Carlton guild? Ever since I tied up that idiot, whenever I walk in, all eyes are on me, followed by hushed whispers.
I’m seriously considering transferring to Raymond City before spring arrives.
I pick a day when the weather seems calm to turn in my high-grade herbs, and just like that, I’m an Iron-rank, star three. Just a little more and I’ll be Copper-rank!
I sell high-grade herbs to the apothecary on the back street about once a week.
As for Maggie’s food shop, I only stop by occasionally to buy things. The liquor store is where I get my wine.
On blizzardy days, I keep myself busy felling trees. I also make a habit of collecting the stumps left behind by other loggers in the area.
I’ve expanded the clearing where I keep the lumber. Stacking the logs too high is dangerous in case they topple over.
I’ve also cleared quite a few trees from around the cabin. It’ll give the garden more sunlight and makes the place feel much less gloomy than being deep in the dense forest.
A quality of life improvement!
It’s not quite an orchard, but I’ve planted a few apple and pear trees here and there.
They’re near the clearing, I suppose! The sunny area has gotten much bigger.
Fruit seems to be a favorite of Big Boars and the like, so I expect they’ll be drawn here. Because of that, I’ve expanded the Barrier a little.
I know fruit is supposed to have a season, but here in the Great Forest—whether it’s thanks to all the mana, or because I occasionally play a little Cornucopia on my harp in the garden—the trees bear fruit without any regard for the time of year.
Selina is completely uninterested in agriculture. She’ll eat the fruit, but she never questions why it’s growing out of season.
Is it because she was raised as a noble? Does she have no common sense? Maybe because she was so gifted with magic, she neglected everything else?
It probably wasn’t because I was busy dissing her in my head, but Selina suddenly appeared in the clearing where I was stacking the logs.
“It looks like you can afford a used wagon and a horse now. Make sure you dry the wood and strip the bark so it’s easier to sell. I suppose you don’t need to mill it.”
Ugh, she’s dumping the whole job on me!
I wanna complain, but I know it’s useless.
For the next three days, I worked nonstop, drying the logs and peeling off the bark. And the whole time, Selina just lazed about on the sofa in front of the fireplace!
Finally, I was done!
“Alright then, I’ll be gone for a few days!”
In an instant, the entire pile of logs in the clearing vanished. Selina’s Storage is so much bigger than mine.
Hmph. I’ll surpass her one day! I just gotta absorb more mana and work on my magic control!
But that’ll have to wait until Selina gets back.
While she’s gone, I plan to relax on that sofa in front of the fire.
I might even go to the guild once. And I could treat myself to some delicious stew at a diner in Carlton.
I’m finally an Iron-rank, star three! It would be great if I could make it to Copper-rank by spring. Even if I don’t, I’m still planning to move to Raymond City.
Most of the Copper-rank quests in Carlton are related to logging—guarding loggers, escorting lumber transports. There are monster-slaying quests, too, but only for the kind of creatures you find on the forest’s edge.
Well, once I hit Copper-rank, I can finally sell off all the magic stones and pelts in my Storage, so I don’t really care what the quests are.
I just wanna see a bigger city!
Just as I was waiting for Selina to stow the logs and teleport away, she gave me a homework assignment.
“Make sure you get that fertilizer made while I’m gone. See you!”
“You’re awful!” I shout into the empty space where she vanished.
She gets to spend three days lazing around in front of a toasty fireplace, and I get this!
But, to be honest, I’d been wanting to make the fertilizer anyway.
The big pit I dug is already overflowing with ground-up roots. I’ve been mixing in monster bones, chicken and cow manure, and used straw bedding, but it’s still mostly root dust.
“At this rate, it’s less like fertilizer and more like wood chips.”
Should I let it decompose more? Maybe fermenting it would work?
I use my Storage to dig another large pit.
I can dig holes with Earth Magic, but I’m still terrible at it.
I’m best at Spatial Magic and Wind Magic. I’m okay with Water Magic and Utility Magic. I’m awful at Fire Magic and Earth Magic.
Plowing fields is probably a job for Earth Magic, but I find it’s faster to just use an application of Spatial Magic.
I start filling the new pit, mixing the excavated soil with the pile of wood chips.
“This feels like nice, fluffy soil, doesn’t it? Is that different from fertilizer?”
Now that I’ve added all that soil, the volume has increased, so maybe it’s not ideal for spreading as pure fertilizer. But if I mix this into the garden in the spring, won’t that make for really good soil?
“The soil from the Great Forest has lots of mana in it, so this should be fine!”
Besides, I can’t imagine Selina being able to make fertilizer.
Maybe she could ferment it, but I highly doubt she’d be willing to grind up tree roots or touch bird droppings.
I’m saving the monster pelts and magic stones to sell.
We eat the meat, and the bones get ground up for fertilizer! That’s a pretty good system, don’t you think?
“First things first, I’m gonna go warm up by the fire! And I’ll take a bath!”
Right now, my only option for a bath is a washtub. In the winter, I’d love to take it in front of the fire, but Selina is always hogging the sofa there.
While Selina’s away, I’m gonna enjoy my own version of a lazy life to the fullest!