Apinsig
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Chapter 168 Homesteading in a fantasy world
🕑 Added 2023-02-17 18:41:57 +0000 UTCI slept for a few hours and woke up before the sun rose. After making some breakfast for myself I went outside. I saw that the wolves were still sleeping where they fell yesterday. I was not going to wake them up, so I just started to walk around inspecting the fields and the saplings that I have planted. I had a large mug of tea with me which I slowly slipped as I planned for the next few days.
I was most worried about all the saplings that were going to grow into bushes. They were small and a lot of things could go wrong. I was most afraid of predators but currently, everything was still under control. I guess I had to thank Goose for that as he’s been keeping the skies clear of all the birds who would want to eat seeds. I made it back to the farmhouse and I walked around it, then I went to the root cellar and the raised beds passed that. Somewhere around here, I was going to have to fit the greenhouse.
Directly behind the house towards the river was the place where I celebrated the last summer solstice with the bonfire so I didn’t want to make it there so I could celebrate it again this year but perhaps I could find another place for the bonfire. I walked around a bit but found the house to be too close. It would block the kitchen windows from a nice view of the river and the forest beyond that. “I guess that will not work.”
Perhaps next to the raised beds towards the river but I kind of wanted to make a small pond there or perhaps even a big one so I wouldn’t have to walk so much to get water for all the plants. I could always put it behind the root cellar but then it would not get the evening sunlight although I could just build it further towards the river. There was quite a lot of real estate towards there that was free.
There was still room between the barn and the main house although there was the road and the watchtower there which would block a lot of the sun as well. Which reminded me that I needed to build some ballistae for the watchtower and for the village. “Much to do, much to do.” The sun was finally starting to come up and I chose to climb the watchtower so I could see the land with my eyes at a better vantage point.
The view up here was amazing, and I drank the last of my tea watching the sun slowly rise. I looked at the road that led to the bridge and thought about making the greenhouse somewhere along the road but I kind of wanted more industrial things towards there. From up here the smithy also looked kind shoddy and I will need to build a proper one in the correct position.
Even if I helped my apprentices and did all my duties to the nation, I should still have time to do everything here that needs doing but I have a sneaking suspicion I will need to do some extra things mainly in the killing department which will take a lot of time.
This was not a peaceful world and if you wanted your corner of the world you needed to get bloody. As time goes by, I’m starting to suspect that this might actually be my heaven as everything seems to fit me quite well but I’m pretty sure it's not, it's just an awful place for most others.
I know for certain that if you picked 100 people randomly from Earth before the war, I’m quite sure that 98 would be dead within one year. They just wouldn’t be able to adjust to life here. But the question remained, where the hell was I going to build my greenhouse?
Perhaps I shouldn’t have made the field so close to the road that led to the village. If I had just left more room that would have been perfect. I looked towards the potato field, and I guess that would be the only acceptable option although it would limit my expansion of that field. But then again having 42 acres of fields was already quite a lot, perhaps I wouldn’t need to expand for quite a while.
Decision made I climbed down and walk towards the place that I wanted to build. I would need to dig but not a lot. I will just remove the top layer of soil and then fill it with a bit of sand to make it level then cover everything with stone slabs. I will have two doors at both ends just in case I wanted to add a small furnace into the middle so if needed I could keep the temperature high enough so the plants wouldn’t die.
I will need 12 pillars that must be driven into the earth then I can use them to support the frame of the greenhouse. Stone would need to be quarried but it would also be a good opportunity to teach my apprentices as they would need to do that work so they could make their own foundations for their buildings. But currently, I can go and start selecting the wood that I need.
Finding the pillars was the easiest as I only needed to make one end a bit pointier, and it was done. I took out my journal so I could do some calculations and planning before I started to find the rest of the wood needed. I looked for strong wood and now that the logs were dry, I could see the cracks so I could search for pieces that I could actually use and wouldn’t warp after construction.
I didn’t pull out the logs that I choose I just marked them for my own use. I looked at the sun and noticed how high up it was. I was a bit disappointed that my apprentices weren't here yet. I had time to make another mug of tea before I went outside and waited for their arrival.
The wolves had already gotten up and were playfighting which was now a lot scarier as they were a lot stronger and used abilities. Fortunately, they had a healer, but I had to reprimand them once when their play got a little bit too dangerous.
I finally saw my apprentices as they were leisurely walking towards here and chatting casually but when they saw me and noticed that my right foot was tapping, they all stopped and swore. Their leisurely attitude made a 180 as they started to quite quickly move towards me.
I can see the panic in their eyes and when they got close enough, I used my voice that had trained thousands of soldiers. “You are late. We have a lot to do. Follow and prepare for long days of constant work.”
My intimidating figure was probably disrupted by me holding a mug of tea which I occasionally sipped. But they weren't soldiers, and they already knew that they had messed up, so I dialled myself down a bit. I stopped in front of the smithy and turned around and saw all three of them stopped immediately and I was glad to see the eagerness in their eyes.
“You are all starting your final task before you can upgrade your class and will stop being my apprentices. This is a long task involving many different things. The first is to do with this smithy here. You will all be building your own homes and to do that you will need tools. Making those tools is your first goal. This will teach you to make everything you need so you would know how to make or repair your tools when they break, and they will break all tools eventually break nothing wrong with that you just need to know how to fix that situation.” I stopped for a moment sipping a bit of tea and continued.
“I’m always here if you need any advice. While you need to be self-sufficient there is no fault in asking for what you don't know. That being said not everything can be made by yourself. Sometimes you would need other people to make the work faster or for it to be even possible and sometimes you will need tools that only people with specific skills can make. What I’m trying to say is that you must always know your limits and while you must always try to surpass them you must also know sometimes you can’t.”
“Now can you please list for me the needed tools to make a house?” There was a small pause before they hesitantly started to answer. I have never been a teacher if you don't count teaching people to kill each other but I think I would have been a decent teacher. Although I would have needed to teach either young kids or almost adults. Anyone in between would have made me too angry.
I was glad that between the three of them, they were able to name all tools needed although they did give two unnecessary tools that would make building a house easier but wasn’t technically needed. Next, we headed into the smithy so I could hear their plans on how they would tackle making the tools needed. I sipped more of my tea and was quite pleased with the decision to bring it, it made teaching a lot more pleasant.
Comments
Straven
Looking foreword to the students succeeding in completing there apps. Thanks for the another read.
