Warehouse Construction

After waiting for the Village Head and the others to finish their meager meal, I immediately set to work on the reconstruction.

“First... a warehouse,” I muttered. “We managed to hunt a massive haul of Wolves. It would be a waste to let them rot.”

“Meat is perishable,” Fritz interjected, his voice sharp with caution. “By the time you finish building a warehouse, the haul will be spoiled.”

“That won’t be a problem. Just watch.”

I focused, channeling my Earth Magic. Stone walls erupted from the dirt, shifting and molding in the blink of an eye into a massive, box-shaped structure.

“A... a magic house?” Fritz stammered. “But things created with magic disappear after a while, don’t they?”

“Not this. I’m simply taking stones already on the ground and compressing them into a new shape. Since I’m physically altering existing matter, it won’t vanish when the magic fades. It’s a massive drain on my Magic Power, but it’s the most efficient way to build a structure instantly.”

I had discovered this technique while struggling to find a way to build a refrigerator. At first, I had tried to conjure a box from nothing using literal magic, but it would inevitably dissolve into nothingness. However, when I experimented by reshaping a nearby tree into a container, it remained stable.

Furthermore, the process seemed to reinforce the material, making it significantly stronger than standard wood. I hadn't figured out the theory behind it yet, but in a village on the brink of death, results mattered more than reasons. Sturdiness was all I cared about.

Fritz, witnessing the feat firsthand, couldn't keep the shock out of his voice. “If you can do this, can’t you build anything in an instant?”

“There are limits. The more precise the construction, the faster my Magic Power hits zero. For a simple warehouse, however, it’s manageable.”

The finished product was a monolithic stone box, roughly ten meters square. The interior was a single, cavernous room. For bulk storage, it was more than enough.

The moment I stepped back, my vision swam. My body wobbled.

“Easy there...”

Fee was already at my side, supporting my weight. “Yuri-sama, you’re overdoing it again.”

“It’s the food supply, Fee. It has to be stored before it spoils. All I need to do now is install the Magic Stones infused with Ice Magic Power at regular intervals...”

Fee reached up and gave my head a sharp poke. “The Wolves haven't even been moved yet. Fee and the others will handle the hauling. Until then, Yuri-sama is going to rest.”

“But there’s so much left to do—”

“If you collapse, it’s all for nothing! There will always be more work, which is exactly why you have to rest when you can!”

“Lord,” the Village Head said, stepping forward with a thin, threadbare futon—there was hardly any down left in it. “If you mean to rest, please use this.”

“Are you sure? Isn't this yours?”

“It belonged to someone who lived here long ago. They left it behind when they fled.”

“I see. I’ll make use of it, then. Thank you.”

I spread the futon inside the cool stone warehouse and let my eyes drift shut.

◇　◆　◇

Once she was certain Yuri had fallen asleep, Fee grabbed Fritz by the hand.

“Wh-what are you doing?” he asked, startled.

“We’re hauling the Wolves. You’re going to help.”

“I never said a word about helping—”

“You said you’d be his apprentice.”

“I did, but... that was before I knew he was the Lord.”

Fritz bit his lip. His hesitation ran deep, rooted in a past he couldn't forget. He had eventually learned that the bandits who had once destroyed his life were being controlled from the shadows by the local Lord. In his experience, Lords were wicked men who bled the people dry to fund their own luxury.

The heavy taxation was proof enough. Alf Village had once been a thriving community, but the previous Lord, Balan Lousouth, had withdrawn the protective garrison—claiming they were a waste of resources—and then imposed a crushing fifty-percent tax rate.

Trusting a Lord was a luxury Fritz couldn't afford. Especially when Yuri was the third son of that very same man. He couldn't help but wonder if the distributed food was merely bait for some darker scheme.

“Being a Lord doesn’t change anything,” Fee said firmly. “Yuri-sama is Yuri-sama. He is a truly kind person.”

Fritz blinked, Fee’s conviction striking him like a physical blow. It was true that Yuri hadn't done anything wrong. In fact, he had saved Fritz’s life from the pack of Wolves.

The sheer scale of Yuri's Magic Power didn't matter. Facing a pack of monsters was always dangerous, yet Yuri had dove in to save a stranger. Fritz didn't know that Yuri had actually dove in for the Magic Stones and hadn't noticed him at first; all he saw was the result.

“...Perhaps my eyes were simply clouded by the past,” Fritz conceded.

“As long as you understand. Now, help me move these Wolves. I can't budge them on my own.”

“Leave it to me! I might not look it, but I’m confident in my strength. I’ll haul ten or twenty of these things without breaking a sweat.”

Fritz rolled up his sleeves, his posture shifting into something far more reliable.

◇　◆　◇

I had only intended to take a short nap, but I ended up out cold for hours. By the time I woke, the world outside was beginning to dim.

Fee and the others must have been hauling the carcasses. There were quite a few of them; they wouldn't be able to finish in one go. I should have made a cart before I laid down. Efficiency is everything.

I looked toward the back of the warehouse and saw a small pile of Wolves already neatly arranged.

Magic Power... is fully recovered. Good.

I pulled out a Magic Stone and filled it with Ice Magic Power, mounting it to the wall near the meat. I decided to experiment with a new theory: creating a conduit to link the stones.

It proved unexpectedly simple. I began drawing a Magic Stone Line between the units. When I channeled power into a single stone, the energy flowed through the line, activating the next one in the chain. It required a larger initial output to power the whole circuit, but it saved me the tedious manual labor of charging every stone individually.

I immediately implemented the Magic Stone Line throughout the entire warehouse. I placed a cooling stone roughly every meter and linked them all together. Once I ran the lines across the walls and the ceiling, the giant freezer was complete.

The temperature plummeted.

“Gah—f-freezing!”

I scrambled out of the warehouse, shivering. Note to self: always charge the circuit from the outside. That was a mistake.

I embedded a final stone into the door to seal the circuit, and the warehouse was officially finished. Now, I just had to wait for the rest of the haul to arrive.

With time on my hands, I decided to build a small prefab shack for temporary housing. I couldn't exactly sleep in the freezer; I’d likely never wake up. I kept it simple—a modest one-room structure just to get us through the night.

However, looking at the bare stone interior made me feel restless. It was a dwelling, but it was empty.

Fee and the others aren't back yet... right?

If she caught me burning through my reserves again, she’d have my head. Then again, with the warehouse already finished, it was too late for excuses.

The stone floor was too hard for a proper bed, so I wanted to use wood. That meant I needed an axe. I could use magic to fell trees, but I had other tasks to attend to, and I needed tools the others could use.

A stone axe was easy enough. It followed the same logic as the Daggers I made for Fee—compress the earth into a sharp, durable edge. To make sure it bit into the wood properly, I added a tiny dash of Enchantment Magic as a finishing touch.

“Wait, what?”

My Magic Power bottomed out much faster than I anticipated. The stone axe was finished, and though I felt a bit drained, I didn't get the usual dizzy spell. The tool looked perfect—better than any iron axe I’d seen.

“Ah! Yuri-sama! You’re using magic again!”

“N-no, this is just like the Daggers. We’re going to need timber for the reconstruction.”

I held up the single axe, hoping she wouldn't notice the new shack behind me.

“You built an entire house! That’s it! You’re done for today!”

Fee began shoving me toward the shack.

“Wait, just a second. I want to see if the axe actually works.”

“Then Fee will do it—”

“No, I’ve got this. Physical labor is my job,” Fritz said, stepping in. He grabbed the stone axe from the ground and took a swing at a nearby tree.

Swoosh!

“...Eh?” Fritz muttered.

With a sound that was entirely wrong for an axe, the tree was severed. It didn't just fall; it was sliced clean through in a single stroke.

“Perfect,” I said. “It cuts.”

“Are you satisfied now?” Fee huffed. “Then get inside and stay there!”

“No, no, wait! Hold on! This is wrong!” Fritz shouted, his voice rising in panic as we turned to leave.

“What’s wrong? It cut the tree, didn't it?”

“Yeah, it cut it! It went ‘swoosh’! Axes are supposed to go ‘thwack’! You’re supposed to hack at it until it falls!”

I didn't see the problem. Efficiency was the goal, wasn't it? If it took one swing instead of twenty, that was a success.

But then, the axe in Fritz’s hand shattered into a million pieces.

“I see,” I mused. “A durability issue, then.”

“THAT’S NOT THE PROBLEM!”

Fritz’s scream echoed through the darkening woods, a frantic sound in the quiet of the dying village.