Chương 14: Farm Work Never Ends

When I woke up that morning, after washing up and giving Smoke his breakfast, I had not expected to find Haita and the other two idiots standing to attention behind my gate. Part of me had wanted to just ignore them, but it would have been unnerving to do my daily chores with them just... standing there, silently like a pack of well trained sentinels.

"What in damnation are you three doing here?" I asked, venturing over with my thumbs hooked in my belt.

"We're here to work, Aniki!" Haita barked. Most of his injuries had healed by now, but there was still a little discolouration around his eye, and thin scars that had not fully faded. He should have considered himself lucky. I stared at him, my mouth set in a grim little frown.

"You want to what?"

"Work, Aniki," Takeda said, lifting his pointed chin up proudly. A large part of me wanted to tell them to take a hike, but... well, when I glanced back I could see large stacks of wooden planks and bundles of clay bricks that hadn't yet been put to use. I had a lot left to do, between building coops, finishing the fence, and laying the groundwork for an extension of the house. Moreover I had the distinct feeling they wouldn't leave me alone, and killing them was still more trouble than it was worth.

For now, at least.

"Do any of you idiots know how to work with wood?" Yun raised a hand.

"My old man is the blacksmith. He taught me all about working with wood and metal," he said.

"Then congratulations, you get to be the foreman. Keep these two from doing anything stupid." I sighed and motioned them in, "Come on then. Don't make me regret this." I'd give them some credit, as we got into the work itself, that they may have been stupid but they were fast learners. Empty heads are good for that sort of thing. And whenever they made a mistake, or looked like they were going to, Yun was on hand to correct them." Measure twice, cut once! We don't have unlimited wood!""

You're not gonna saw properly at that angle, you need to get the blade... yes, like that!"" Please try to keep the position of your thumbs in mind when you hammer the nails." And, bit by bit, they worked on the skeleton of the first coop. I'd planned to make a second, in due time, but there was no point in rushing this sort of thing. Eventually I could trust them to do the work on their own (or at least trust Yun to keep an eye on them), and so I set about laying the groundwork for an extension to the house.

The old bastard who had owned the land before me, while Ryuga had called him wealthy, had not invested in making a particularly large house. Maybe he had intended to expand it himself at some point and never got around to it. Whatever the case I needed more than what he had left me and had kept that in mind when I started on the fields, giving a decent amount of room for expansion. I'd need a storehouse for one thing, and a workroom big enough to fit a cauldron.

I wasn't much of an alchemist, but I had learned a few things from Novos along with the basic sorcerous arts he had imparted unto me. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Not that I planned on doing too much, but... well, you never knew when you'd need to create a scrying eye. Some time had passed since my dealing with those Snake Flower brats, and I was shocked to find that there had been no reprisal.

But I couldn't relax and assume no attack from them would ever come.

"Er... Aniki?" Takeda said, a hint of nervousness quavering at his voice. I'd been in the process of marking the land I wanted to put the extension on, using branches and a spool of thread I had bought from Mikan.

"Eh?" I asked without looking up.

"You er... you got a hellcat... on your um... your land." That made me look up. Smoke was resting on his haunches a few paces from the trio, who had paused their work in their shock. He wasn't a kitten, so I could not fault them for their worry, but neither was Smoke fully grown by my reckoning. These days he was built like a hunting dog, his head level with my waist when he sat that way.

"Oh, that's just Smoke. Don't worry about him." Smoke's mouth opened wide and let out a long meow. And it sounded almost like he was saying 'yes.' Funny creature. Sometimes he looked at me so intently that I could swear there was a bit of intelligence behind those eyes of his.

"You don't bother him and he won't bother you. He might even let you pet him, if he likes you," I said. I watched the hellcat briefly. Seemed almost like he was keeping an eye the trio, like a foreman overseeing his workers. It was getting on in the day, nearly sundown, when I told them they had done enough for the day. They were sweaty, a little tired, but none of the trio seemed displeased by the day's work. And as I roamed about the skeleton of the coop, I would admit they had done a good job.

The frame was sturdy, balanced, the interior components stable and placed perfectly. It just needed the outer walls. And the poultry, of course.

"Thanks for today Aniki!" Yun said.

"We'll be here to help whenever! You say the word and we'll come running!" I gave a small sigh.

"Of course you will," I said.

"You... did good work today. My thanks." It saved me some trouble, at least.

"Anytime!" Takeda called, a broad grin breaking out across his face.

"And uh... maybe next time you could teach us your cultivator techniques?" Yun glared at him, giving him a sharp elbow in the ribs that made the other lad grunt.

"Don't just ask him that, oxbrain!" I rolled my eyes. Of course that was what this was about.

"I ain't got 'cultivator techniques.' Whatever you think I am, you're wrong."

"But..." Takeda raised a brow "you fought the-""I didn't fight anyone. You didn't see anything. Remember?" The Great Judge, of all gods, is the one who likes to play japes on men. Particularly by giving them the exact opposite of what they ask for. I had no doubt some rumours were probably circulating about by now. Still... perhaps those other idiots from the Snake Flower had taken my recommendation to heart. Certainly, nobody else had come sniffing around about me.

But I knew better than to let my guard down, especially in a situation like this.

"Ah... right," said Takeda. The lads went on their way, but Haita lingered. He grimaced, giving me a slight look over his shoulder.

"Thanks," he said, "for saving Mikan." I gave him a small nod.

"Yeah." I didn't want to make a habit of saving people but there were time when a man had to go against his sense of self preservation. And that girl had been good to me, far more than a bastard like me deserved.

"She uh... she's a good friend. I'd like... I wanted to protect her, too."

"I figured." It didn't take a genius scholar to see that he was sweet on the girl. He was just a hotheaded fool about it, a common affliction among young men. Some were even able to grow out of it as they got older.

"No shame in wanting to protect those you care for." And I knew better than most what it felt like to fail in that. I let out a small sigh, glancing about.

"I don't think you'll magically become stronger by coming around here, but I suppose you're welcome to try. Not everyday, though. I cannot stress that enough. Do not come here every day." Haita smiled at me.

"You got it, Aniki." And then he jogged off toward Tiode, a happy spring in his step. I grumbled to myself in annoyance, rubbing my brow with one hand. Perhaps I'd just made an error, encouraging the idiot, but... protecting loved ones was something of a weakness of mine. Plus I couldn't turn down free labour.

"What do you think, Smoke? Did I make a mistake doing that?" I asked as the hellcat padded over to me. Smoke stared up at me with his luminous, slitted eyes.

"Nyooooo," the cat drawled. I stared at him with a flat, uncomprehending gaze. Well, that... did not sound like a normal feline noise.