By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 31

Chapter 2 Episode 31: Working in the Abandoned Mine

I arrived at the abandoned mine and mobilized all my slimes aside from the cleaners. After I patrolled the mine shafts, I cleaned up the shaft situated at the highest point in the mine and turned it into a work space. All that really entailed was using earth magic to create some work stands in an already large area, so it wasn’t much of a challenge. I stacked up bricks across an area as long as an outstretched strip of cloth, then dug trenches by each side of the stand. I got out some sticks the size of the trenches and used those to fix them in place. By covering the sticks in the sticky slime fluid, I could paste them to each end of the cloth. All I had to do was repeat this 45 times.

Once all the cloths were stuck in place, I ordered the sticky slimes to smear them with their fluids. I just had to watch out for any bugs or monsters that might show up throughout the process. I considered getting a door installed at some point. As I thought about possible renovations, I delivered orders to the stickies. I watched for a while, and the stands seemed to function as intended. The slimes were also diligent. That being the case, there was nothing for me to do. Had I been at the store, there would at least be some business I could attend to. Left with nothing else worth doing, I decided to train.

■ ■ ■

Three hours later...

I practiced all my hand-to-hand fighting skills and tried meditating, but the cloths still hadn’t fully dried. I then decided to train the slimes as well. I used alchemy to dry the wood outside, then used a buzz saw and polish to create tons of sticks and practice spears. Now I could work on the staff and spear skills I learned the other day.

■ ■ ■

My training with the slimes reached a natural end, but the cloths looked like they needed a bit more time to dry. Maybe the cloth was too absorbent. This was the first time I tested it on such large cloths, so I didn’t know.

I had nothing to do again, so I figured I would check out my status board. My magic recovery speed level had increased by one, reaching Level 3. Putting my store together took a lot of magic, so that might have been why. My taming magic, alchemy, wind magic, and lightning magic levels had also gone up by one. I used those a fair bit too. That reminded me that Eliaria wanted to see a doll I made. Maybe I could make one now. I could just use some dirt lying around and make whatever I felt like.

“Create Block, Rock, Break Rock,” I chanted, preparing some rocks and simple tools. I used Break Rock to roughly shape the core of the doll from stone. Then I cast Playing Clay to give the dirt the consistency of clay and use it as putty to make the figure. I covered the core with it and used the tools to work on the details. That reminded me that I had some lime left over. I used it to coat the doll before I moved on to the coloring stage.

I cast Light to illuminate the mine shaft, using magic as necessary as I killed time making a bland doll. At least, that was my intention.

“All right! I ended up making a bunch of these,” I remarked. Next thing I knew, the doll was surrounded by more dolls. “What time is it? Wait, ack!”

It was almost sunset. I scrambled to collect all the dolls and dried cloths, then headed home. I expended too much magic energy, so it was a bit agonizing, but I had to hurry to get back before the sun set. I decided not to get too engrossed in my work while at the mine in the future. It was easy to forget the time as it was, and the passage of time wasn’t obvious from inside the mine. I reflected on my poor choices as the sun sank lower by the second. I ran toward town and repeatedly cast space magic.

■ ■ ■

“I’m exhausted,” I muttered. I somehow made it to the inn before the sun had set completely. After some brief rest, I went to give a report to Eliaria and the others. When I visited their room, Araune led me inside.

“Welcome, Ryoma.”

“It’s not often that you come to our room. Did something happen?”

“Nothing much, but I’ll start by talking about work,” I said, then described my deal with Serge. “I successfully produced 45 strips of waterproof cloth today, and it’s already been delivered to Serge’s store. I had my hands free for a lot of the time, so I’ll try gradually producing more each day to see how far I can take it.”

“I see, it sounds like there are no problems producing the waterproof cloth, then. Anything else?”

“My Lady wanted to see a doll, so I made some while waiting for the cloths to dry.”

“Really? Show me, please!”

I opened my item box and took out various types of dolls. First, there was a bear that resembled a famous souvenir in my old world, but this was made of stone rather than wood.

“A black bear ornament, eh? And it looks like it’s in the middle of catching a fish.”

“These ones are so little and adorable!” Eliaria said of a set of cave bats, cave mantises, small rats, and other monsters that I designed as miniatures.

“Also, there’s these, the first ones I made,” I said and took out some ordinary human figures. I couldn’t think of anything else to base them on, so I modeled them after the four members of the duke’s family, as well as Sebas and the maids.

“Is this one me?”

“This is me.”

“I’m here too!”

“I, Sebas, Araune, and Lilian are here as well.”

“These dolls are quite elaborate. I knew that you made divine statues, but I must say your skills are magnificent.”

Seeing them so overjoyed was a bit new and exciting. In my old world, I never made anyone happy aside from Tabuchi. That reminded me that Tabuchi might have asked me for a figure before I died. I had no memory of what came of that.

“I didn’t have anyone else to model them after. I’m honored that you like them.”

“Ryoma, may I have this?”

“Take as many as you like.”

“Thank you!”

All this joy made these figures worth making. I considered trying to create something else sometime.

“If I ever have the chance to again, I’ll make more.”

“Please do.”

I chatted with them for a while, then returned to my room. When I headed back, Sebas said he would pay me for the dolls and presented ten medium gold coins, but that was more than I could accept for this work, so I rejected the offer. I only did it to kill time, the materials were cheap, and most of all, I couldn’t take a whole ten medium gold coins for a bunch of dolls. In the end, I accepted a fifth of that at two medium gold coins, but I didn’t feel quite right about that either.

“Quite a number of nobles would like statues of themselves to place in their homes or around town,” Sebas said. “If you made statues for them, I believe you’ll find that this money I’m paying you now is a paltry sum. You have enough talent to find work in that field, no doubt.”

That sounded hard to believe, but when I got back to my room, I thought about what I should make while waiting for the cloths to dry tomorrow. I kept considering different ideas until I fell asleep.