3 bar menu

Chapter 229: Each Floor of the Tower

「Goodmorning, MiLord. 」
「The boatmen who came carrying goods early before daybreak are all rushing at us. What did you do this time? 」

Someone hit the knocker on the door, so I opened the front door only to find a beaming Auro and a sullen Kiel. Oh, and there’s also Soleil, who seemed on the verge of death while being supported by Faramir.

I requested the spirits to help me make the knocker into a wolf-shaped loop. It’s cute. The doors here don’t have any knobs; you need to use a key to open and close it — I don’t mean unlocking it with a key, but inserting one then… using that as a knob to pull the door open. Yup, I want a real knob.

「Oh yeah, maybe it’s because I installed the windows? 」
「Windows? 」
Auro dubiously asked.

「Wanna see? 」
「Please. 」
He replied in a flash.

「But I’m scared to come in. 」
「It’s fine, it’s fine, I made it quite bright in here. 」

Ghost stories are an indispensable part of towers, but rest assured, I didn’t put any moving dolls in here.

「I don’t get what ‘brightness’ has to do with ‘being fine’. Ah, I’m feeling even more nervous now. 」
「Brother-sama, Soleil-sama isn’t scared of ghosts; she’s afraid of knowing the actual state of the tower. 」
Famarir translated Soleil’s words for me, kinda like what Snow Leopard does for Divine Beast Deer, huh.

「Okay, let’s start with this hall. 」
It’s a spacious facade with nothing in it but the stairs.

「I’m not surprised about the spirit lanterns, I won’t be surprised, but the craftsmanship… 」
「Thanks? 」
Soleil is so skillful, she looks deathly pale yet she still managed to look enraptured.

「Just how many light spirits are in this place, huh? 」
Kiel suspiciously looks around.

「Upstairs or downstairs, where do you want to go first? 」
「The floor above this is the dining hall, I believe? 」
Auro said so, so we’re going upstairs for me to showcase the dining hall.

「It’s not fully furnished yet. 」
It’s ordinary, the tables and other stuff are temporary. I’m planning to commission some furniture once I mustered the courage to endure the suffocating dwarves, so I hadn’t done anything much to this floor. I’m considering matching the furniture to the walls and floor.

「What a relief, everything’s normal other than the spirit lanterns. 」
Soleil seems relieved.

Too many windows and it’ll no longer look like a proper window, so there’s only three square holes on the sea side of the wall for ventilation and lights.They were already there even before I got this tower.

「You put up the lace? 」
「Yup, insect repellent. 」
「Wha-wha!? Hey, don’t expose something as delicate like this to the sea breeze!! 」
Soleil shrieked when I answered Auro, probably just noticing the item in question.

The lace is so brilliantly made that the threads are almost invisible in parts that don’t have any pattern, making the design look like it’s floating in air. Some are gorgeously flashy with every inch having a pattern on it. Both designs are dainty, delicate and lovely. I also have them in the halls, though.

「That’s a spider web. 」
I requested the spirit spider to make its nest there.

「Huh? 」
「…. 」
Kiel muttered, while Soleil completely froze.

「S-S-Spider 」
「Soleil-sama, it’s simply a web.. There are no spiders in it, apparently. Besides, I believe that it’s not actually a spider at all. 」
Faramir checked them and relayed her findings to Soleil. She’s probably scared of spiders.

「Yeah, it’s impossible for an ordinary spider to make a web like this, no matter how you think of it. 」
Kiel followed up.

「Next, let’s move on. 」
I hurriedly climbed up the stairs. The changelings weren’t that taken up with the lace due to their nature; they quickly lose interest in anything other than what they’re obsessed with after all. Only Soleil remained fixated on it.

「Ahh, I wonder how much it will fetch if we are to sell it in the market… 」
Soleil doesn’t easily change her nature too.

The kitchen is upstairs. The equipment is all huge despite the tower being narrow because I’ll be making huge batches of snacks in here. Spacious work table, huge oven, a sink that has continuous flow of water.

「Although we have some pieces here that are unusual, there are ordinary ones too. 」
Faramir seemed relieved.

「These thin white dishes were recently produced in the northern parts of the continent. It’s actually amazing that you have this many here. 」
As expected of Soleil, she’s really knowledgeable about new things that can bring money.

There’s a box that has a magic circle for cooling the entire food, including the bowls, drawn on it and another box for warming. They look like ordinary boxes so I think there’s no problem with them. I’ll be using them to make ice cream and for melting butter too.

There’s a huge oven so I installed a chilly plate on the spot where I’ll stand while cooking. Ah, It’s not working yet because I haven’t cooked anything here.

「This is the pantry. 」
The floor above the kitchen is a food storage area with firewood and bags of wheat piled up. I don’t really need it because of 【Storage】, but there’s an extra room so…

「The bedroom and bathroom are upstairs so no entry from here on. Let’s go downstairs. 」
We returned to the hall and went down.

「Ehhhh. 」
「No need to mind the smoke here while eating, huh. 」
The concept is a seafood barbecue area with a view of the ocean, so I removed most of the walls facing the ocean, leaving only the side attached to the cliff.

The steel frame, which is actually spirit iron, stretched over the walls and the entire floor of the upper floors, and also over the lower part of the tower. Actually, I don’t think it’s limited to the stairs, but that there’s some sort of fusion between the cliff boulders and the stones of the buildings.

I was oddly fired up in the middle of the night and ended up excitedly calling out to the spirits to help me. I hadn’t stopped them at all, so yep, you can imagine the result. It did end up like this, but I don’t have any regrets.

Far distant memories of me smashing the arches in the fortress because I didn’t have any idea how important they are and several walls collapsing while I attempted to add some windows before the contractors finally arrived to rebuild the fortress flashed in my mind, but that’s all in the past.

I should’ve learned from that experience, but it was useless — ah no, I believe the spirits tried to help me based on my thoughts of ‘this is nice’, ‘that seems unstable’, ‘it’d be nice if only I could do it like this or that’. It’s important that I gain more knowledge because of this. If I didn’t know something, they won’t be able to help me with it, and I might even end up collapsing the wall, no, the entire tower at this rate.

I’m going to plant more greenery and flowers because the spirits that helped me requested it. The barbecue room is spacious and breezy, and there’s a grill surrounded by stones. Alright, let’s grill some huge prawns later.

「I don’t know how the heck you managed to do all this in a single night, but it’s roomy and nice. The stairs are narrow so it’s comfortable to walk on it too. 」
Soleil seems surprised, but still within safe limits based on her standards.

「Eh, wait, how is this entire floor holding up…? 」
Kiel is the one acting suspicious this time around.

「MiLord, all the things you make are so refined. 」
Why does Auro look so thrilled? If it’s something refined that I made then you already have the horse mackerel sashimi for yesterday’s dinner, right.

「Next is the workshop. 」
「…It’s cool. 」
Faramir mumbled the instant she stepped inside the room.

「I don’t like it when it’s hot while I work. 」
「Wait a sec, isn’t this too weird? 」
Kiel threw a jab, but I ignored him.

「Wait, the floor… 」
Everyone looked down in response to Soleil’s words.

「This is also splendid. 」
「…Why, why can’t I see any seams? 」

「That’s because it’s made from a single piece. It’s just a thin layer, though. 」
It’s a board from the huge tree I got from Dogu.

「Wahh, isn’t wood of this caliber supposed to be used for furniture or for musical instruments!? It’s not something you can just tread on! Ahh, the scratches, the scrattcchhheees!! 」
「Ah, right, I have some room slippers too. 」
「That’s not the issue here! 」
I never thought the wooden floor would break Soleil’s heart like this.

The main room has rows of simple shelves while the tinier, modest room is the actual work area. The windows in the small room are covered with wooden panels to hide the spirit iron frame. Ah, there’s also a hidden passageway, you know!

「Yes, yes, next, next. 」
「Hey, don’t gloss over it! 」
I can’t change the floor by now so just let it be, okay!

「So, this is the lounge, a place to chill. 」
「Marvelous. 」
Auro’s simple praise.

The entire floor is also made from a single piece of wood the same as the workshop. The large glass windows are supported by the black spirit iron in the form of ivy, and the glass door also has the same design. The lightings are a combined set of Es’s pendant lamps with metal shades and also spirit lamps. Tapestries hung on the stone wall side, and there’s plenty of white goose feather cushions.

「How was this window made? How did the glass fit the window frame? And just look how delicate it is, I can’t believe it’s metal casted. 」
Soleil drew closer until there’s only a 10cm gap between her and the window as she scrutinized it.

「You can touch it but make sure to wipe your fingerprints off, okay. 」
Cleaning is the most troublesome thing to do of all.

「Milord, is this also spirit iron? 」
「Yup. 」
Ah, there’s a flower blooming at the tip of the ivy even though it was just a bud last night. How meticulous of your craft, Spirit Iron.

「It’s not ‘yup’, you shouldn’t be saying ‘yup’! Ackk can you imagine how expensive this is, with this much spirit iron!? And this craftsmanship! The glass! How many months and years did the artisan spend to make this!? Don’t handle it so sloppily!! 」
Soleil broke into tears while screaming.