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Chapter 190: Glass Tiles

Spirits brimming with curiosity flocked around me as I started working on the glass tiles for the mosaics.

Break the sapphire then crush, crush, crush.
Break the tanzanite then crush, crush, crush.
Break the blue moonstone crush, crush, crush.

The sapphire varies in color, from a shade lighter than cornflower blue to a deep azure that’s almost black. It feels a bit of a waste doing this to the gem, but I still pulverized them to powder then put one to two drops of extract from similarly-colored flower petals on it. If the amount of mana isn’t right, the mixture might clump or else the magic stones will lose their power so I have to be careful.

Right after mixing it, spirits with all shades of blue, like cyan hair or cerulean skin or donned in ultramarine clothes gather around, as if saying it’s their turn. The rest of the spirits seem a bit disappointed.

I remember blue cornflowers were in bloom a bit earlier, so I went to gather them up north. Violets also have purplish blue blooms, so I also went deep into the forest with late seasons to gather a little bit of violets with different shades.

Halfway through, I also spotted some blue opium poppies growing on top of the mountain, but it might cause a terrible effect so I stopped. I hurriedly crammed the flowers I gathered into 【Storage】. Fruits are also okay, but very few fruits have blue hues and it’ll be troublesome if the skin and the flesh are colored differently.

Still, aren’t tanzanites named that way because they’re mined from Tanzania? Is it being auto translated so I can understand it easily? It’s making me curious so I checked 【Appraisal】, and yup, it does have a different name in this world. How convenient,【Language】-san.

「Yes, yes, I also need a spirit that can help me sterilize the water please. 」
I call out to the spirits while pouring the magic stone mixture into the container containing the other ingredients for making glass.

「Ah, please feel free to come to this last pot, there’s no need to sterilize it. It’s for raising plants and also for fish to live in. 」
Some of the spirits look dejected, so I also call out to them.

All the rest of the spirits swarm there!! And as for me, I didn’t see anything!

…Will this be okay? Well, I guess it’ll be fine. It’s not about the glass, but the effect it’ll have on the water that we’re gonna pump out after all.
「What, glass again? That’s so boring. 」
Van appeared while I’m putting the materials into the melting pot.

「I’m thinking of making a mosaic with this. I bought some diamonds as thanks for yesterday, so please help yourself. 」

I make the glass under Van’s watchful eyes. Eh, don’t tell me he’s coming here whenever I light the fireplace of this workshop shed? And maybe waiting for me to smith a sword?

Back when I made my first glass, he did seem interested when I told him I smithed a sword. I might cave in from this pressure at this rate and smith a sword, but somebody will get really angry for sure. Ah, but maybe it’ll be fine if I don’t take it out?

Van picks a diamond, raises the temperature with his fingertips, then pops it into his mouth right before it lights up and disappears. He looks totally bored.

I continue my work, pouring the molten glass to make glass plates. Once they’re cool enough, I form into diamonds, hexagons, triangles and stars. I request the spirits to help me. The plate crackles and breaks when they touch it.

I ask the fire spirits to melt the corners to make them more rounded, and it’s done. It’s quite boisterous with the spirits lifting the small glass shapes and peering in them; some of them even rub their cheeks on it

Spirits can’t pass through glass, but they love sparkly things so it’s a given that they also love the glass. A few don’t like it that much; they’re probably the ones who crash onto the glass and hurt themselves from time to time.

「Hmm~ it turned out to be quite a beauty, huh. I don’t like the color, though. 」
Van picked a piece and just when I thought he’s holding it up to the light, he suddenly squeezed it.

Flames swirled around his fist.

When he opened his hand, the shard of glass had transformed into a beautiful shade of orange. Ah, no, more like white covered in orange? It makes me imagine blazing flames.

「It’s more gorgeous. 」
「Hmpf. Can’t compare to an elixir, but I’ll give it to you. 」
Van dropped the color changed glass shard onto my hand.

「Thanks. 」
「Heh… 」
Van smirked before vanishing.

Aarrrghhhhh!!! I thanked him calmly, but ouch ouch, what the heck, it’s insanely hot, Van!!
I’m wearing my heat resistant gloves for work, but it’s still so flipping hoooottttt!!!!

I hurriedly chuck the shard into 【Storage】 then cool my hands.

I’m already done with my work, so I thank the spirits and leave freshly drawn water and flowers in the workshop and call it a day. I proactively sought their help this time around, so I also have more water and flowers outside the workshop. This really feels good. Alright, let’s make more flower gardens.

Let’s take a bath to wash off the sweat, yeah, I’m dripping… That glass shard earlier.. Can I use it to make a bathtub that always has hot water in it? Oohh, a bath overlooking the sea!

Humming and feeling ecstatic, I reviewed my design plan for the tower on the island while taking my bath.

Originally, the design from top floor to bottom starts with a combat zone with a terrace, an armory, a residential floor, kitchen, a floor dedicated for office, a hall, storeroom, then another storeroom, then a lookout area. You can see the hall on the second floor from the courtyard outside the tower, and folks have to use the stairs to access it. There’s a hole on the office floor. The kitchen would boil water then they would block their enemies by pouring that into that hole, apparently..

Other towers apparently have some things built differently like having dungeon-like basements, but the general design is roughly the same. Some towers also have fewer floors. My tower extends below, as if the overall building is clinging to the wharf. It’s designed that way so that they can keep an eye on the shoal route towards the island’s docking area, apparently. The several window slits for firing arrows in the room on the lowest floor are proof of that.

The hall used to be connected to the top of the castle walls, but I had that part blocked off so that the city walls will be accessible from outside instead. The door leading to the city walls is still there, but it’s bolted with a huge bar.

The hall can still remain as a hall, guess. The lowest room will be the room where I can lounge while looking at the sea, the floor above it will have the entrance to the secret pathway, and maybe a workshop too? The floors above it are empty, it’s supposed to be storerooms.

For the office, I also added a dining hall for the guests, while the kitchen is left as is. The residential floor will house the pantry, while the armory will be converted to sleeping quarters. The tower is actually as narrow as a staircase, so it feels like it’s one room per floor. It’s actually narrower inside than what it looks like outside. If you install a window, you’ll create enough space to put things on despite the window not being a bay one.

So where should I put the bath? I want to add a window, but the balance might be off if it’s littered with windows everywhere… What to do?