Chapter: 406 Design
「I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to avoid crossing paths with those heroes as long as I diligently contract more spirits and become stronger than the heroes over all ー I mean, if the spirits around me become more powerful than Lightball then it’ll work out in my favor since there’s less chance of encountering them. 」
No matter how I try, I just can’t take the heroes seriously. I’ve already decided to have nothing to do with them, so I simply won’t be involved.
I whipped out the trump card.
「Yes, make contracts with as many spirits as you can… Yes, that’s right, that’s the solution you’ll come up with, huh… Ugh. 」
Hauron pinched the bridge of his nose.
「Although I don’t really understand what the spirits had got to do with this, Jean’s way seems to be the most peaceful option out there. Ahh, I really don’t know how all of this is connected to the spirit’s power. 」
Retze.
「You don’t have to emphasize that. The Spirit Realm might be chaotic, but we can’t deny that the Human Realm is relatively peaceful. Well, thanks to Jean’s indiscriminate naming, things aren’t as extreme as they used to be in the Spirit Realm, though. My goodness, he doesn’t even try to proactively control and order them around, so everything is peaceful! Ugh, it’s peaceful, you know… 」
「It appears to me that the only casualty in this affair is the disarray of our knowledge.」
Butler’s eyes glazed all over without meeting anyone’s gaze.
「The more you know about the spirits, the more it’s all shaken up. 」
Khan mumbled under his breath.
「That’s not all, we’re the only ones who know that spirits are being named one after the other. 」
Dinosso.
「Can’t do anything about that point, just give up. 」
Retze.
「As someone blessed with Sight, I can’t imagine what it’d be like being in a world where you can’t See spirits, yet here I am thinking it must be nice . 」
Hauron quipped while staring at Retze’s lap.
Daifuku was sprawled all over Retze’s lap looking like he’s gonna fall off anytime, but he must’ve sensed Hauron’s gaze on him because he stretched his front paws and yawned before curling into a ball again.
Hey, Daifuku, you can come to my lap too, you know?
「Peace, peace. 」
I started dealing the cards.
「You might as well wake up and find that you already have half of the Spirit Realm in your palm… what are we playing? 」
「51 」
‘51’ is a game where you count the face cards as 10, aces as 11 or 1, and the winner is the one who gets closest to 51. There are variations in the rules, like aces always being 11 or adding jokers to spice things up, but that’s generally how it goes.
The game is adapted from the one that I vaguely remember from my past life. We also play tic-tac-toe, submarine, and other games.
I also considered making shogi chess pieces, but I’d probably lose if tactics and strategies are involved… Well, is there even a game I could win?
Everyone checked their cards and the game started. Peaceful, so peaceful, right.
◇ ◆ ◇
I returned to the Northern Continent today to process the ebony given to me.
My mountain isn’t that huge so it’s kinda hard finding a flat area ー oh, the house and the barn are standing on flat land, but the ebonies are gigantic, so…
With that said, I went to a desolate plain in the north and took the ebony out, hacked the branches away with 『Zanzenken』, and dried them out.
I belatedly realized that the arid and dehydrating spirits had increased. Actually, it’s more specific ー wood drying spirits were born.
Uh, I mean, it’s all good, but does that also mean I have to regularly dry wood or else they’ll disappear? Oh, maybe I can just sustain them with my mana, pretty much the same way Khan sustains Bayliss when in Canum, huh.
I wanted to paint the kennel walls white and the roof red, but Doggo must’ve wanted it black given that he specifically requested ebony.
Hmm, maybe it’s better to make it huge enough so a person can also lie down inside?
……
Maybe I can add railings on the pedestal and place a futon on top of it, like a shrine? I can also add some gold leaves to make it more flashy ー uh, it’ll turn out into a Buddhist shrine, huh. No, I only have one chance to make this shrine design right!
While mulling over these things, I ‘chopped’ the wood to lumber and planks with 『Zanzenken』 to make it easier to process.
Maybe I can just make a normal kennel even if it’s made of ebony? Okay, it won’t take too many materials to build a kennel for Doggo in canine form, so let’s do both.
Let’s ask the Earthkins to do the fretwork and the balustrades ー they’re currently bustling with the lumber and spirit iron that I gave them, but I bet they’ll be more than happy to help me with the ebony since they have something new to work on.
And so, I finished the plan, discussed it with Gamri of the Black Steel Pit, then he introduced me to the experts in fittings and furniture and carving. I entrusted the work to them.
As for me, I studied the architecture and construction methods of this world for a bit… Eh, they use the timber as it is, without even planing it? The expertise on woodwork is honed by your experience, is it? I see, I see.
I also recalled and taught them the Japanese engineering techniques that I remember.
I can easily recreate any dish that I’ve tasted before and even those that I almost forgot hearing about while in Japan, thanks to 【Complete Cookery】. I thought it’d be the same with whatever obscure memory I had about manufacturing and production because I have 【Manufacturing Ability】but boy was I mistaken.
「Mm, is it like this? 」
「Ooh, it’s finally straight… 」
「It’s true! I didn’t know you could connect wood like this. The joints are beautiful too. 」
The size of the kennel was about one twentieth of an ebony tree, and the Earthkin carpenters and architects oohed and ahhed over it. I shared whatever memory about Japanese homes and engineering I could dredge up from my mind.
My IQ, or should I say memory, seemed to have become sharper too, so I successfully impart the knowledge I gained from watching a video about the Japanese carpenters craft ー although it was a program about carpenters building shrines.
Several experimental pieces were scattered around us, and the failures look like chopsticks made of plain wood. They’ve been repeatedly doing what they learned so that they’ll remember the steps, and the pieces with unknown purpose also littered the ground.
In the midst of those clutter, right in the center on top of the table stood a partially completed dollhouse ー uh, I guess it might be a tad too big to call it that? Anyway, it was a miniature of Doggo’s kennel.
I only prepared a sample decoration for the kennel, but since there are folks diligently working on that too, I bet this kennel will turn out amazing. It’s just that I don’t know what to use it for after it’s done.
And yup, that’s right, thanks to the inspirations taken from the shinto shrines and temples mixed with construction techniques and decor of this world, the design turned out to be chaotic, as expected. I successfully failed in reproducing Japan’s technology and design.
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 80 hours
Thanks for the treat.