Chapter 194 : Container House

After confirming that Ester agreed to hire Nicola, I decided to continue building my house.

「I’m going to build my house over there. Don’t mind me. You can continue playing with that wall.」(Mark)

「Ah, wait. I’m thinking of taking a break, so can I watch you build a house?」(Ester)

Ester’s long ears twitched a few times as she asked.

She really likes watching someone using magic, huh?

She reminds me of Sanmina somehow. They both love watching me use magic.

「Sure.」(Mark)

After replying to her, I walked toward the center of the open area. Ester was following behind me.

I consumed quite a lot of mana to use Resonance Stone to call Mom earlier, so it would be difficult to build a big house.

I decided to build a small one for now and I would expand it little by little.

I have three months in this village. That’s a lot of time, so I can modify my house anytime I want later.

Alright, for now, I think I’m gonna make a simple house like a container house or something so that I can easily expand it later.

I used earth magic to create 10m x 5m walls in the center of the open area, made a hole for the entrance, hardened the ground, made the floor, and lastly made the roof.

Next, I’m gonna make a door, but before that, I need to make some hinges.

Normally, hinges are made of steel, but I will make them with my earth magic.

I made a couple of earthen hinges and hardened them, making them as hard as steel.

This task consumed quite a lot of mana, by the way. I’m starting to get tired…

After that, I made a door and set it up on the hole I had prepared.

A medium-sized container house was finished in about fifteen minutes.

「Whoaa… I never thought you could build a house so easily… Normally, you need several people and it takes at least a week to complete a house… Earth magic is amazing…」(Ester)

Ester, who had been silently watching from the side, looked at the newly built house with her eyes wide open.

「Wanna see the inside?」(Mark)

「Un!」(Ester)

I opened the door, and then we peeked into the house.

Obviously, it was dark inside.

I was thinking of making square holes around the walls for windows at first but then I thought that insects might enter the house. This is in the middle of the forest after all, so there’s a lot of insects.

「Say, Ester, is there anyone in this village who can make glass?」(Mark)

「Tori-sensei can make it. You want to make windows for this house?」(Ester)

「Yup. So, Tori-san can make glass, huh? That’s great. I can just give him some of my magic stones as payment.」(Mark)

I think I will go to his place tomorrow.

For now, I’m going to at least make some small ventilations.

I entered the house, created a light ball with light magic, and let it float near the ceiling.

The walls, the ceiling, and the floor are all gray. The house looks a bit gloomy but I will put some decoration later to make it more lively.

「Hmm… It’s looking good for now.」(Mark)

「Mark, can I come in?」(Ester)

「Of courー Ah, wait a minute!」(Mark)

Suddenly, a good idea popped into my head.

I think I’m gonna make my house like Japanese houses where you have to take off your shoes at the entrance.

I used earth magic to dig the ground about twenty centimeters deep at the entrance to make a ‘tataki’.

*The place where you take off your shoes before entering the house.

「Please take off your shoes and leave them here before entering.」(Mark)

「Hee~ Alright!」(Ester)

Ester crouched down and took off her shoes, but not only that. She also took off her socks. Normally, you only have to take off your shoes.

She lifted her right leg and showed her white foot to me.

「Am I good to go?」(Ester)

「Yup.」(Mark)

Ester put her shoes in the corner of the tataki and stepped up onto the stone floor.

「Hoo~ This floor is cool and feels good to step on!」(Ester)

She was stomping on the floor while circling around, enjoying the sensation of the stone floor on her feet.

In the meantime, I crouched down on the tataki, took off my shoes, and put them in the corner.

After that, I walked to the middle of the house and made a table and chairs.

I also made a bed frame in the corner and put a mattress on it.

「Hmm… I don’t need much furniture but it feels so empty…」(Mark)

「You have an Item Box, after all, so you don’t need a drawer or a cupboard, right?」(Ester)

「Yeah, but I need something to fill this house. Hmm…」(Mark)

「That’s right! How about flowers? They can be a good decoration.」(Ester)

Ester turned around and showed me the white flower barrette on her braided hair as she said that.

「That’s a good idea! Would you bring me some next time?」(Mark)

「Alright~ I’ll bring some flowers tomorrow. In exchange, I would be happy if you let me play with that weird wall again.」(Ester)

She really likes bouldering, it seems.

I made that wall on a whim but it makes me happy when someone is enjoying something that I made.

「Of course. You can play with it anytime you want.」(Mark)

「Thank you, Mark! By the way, you reminded me of myself when I was about your age. You know, I once built a secret base in the forest with scrap wood. Ahh~ How nostalgic. Back then, I decorated the base with flowers and it looked really good!」(Ester)

「Hee… So the children in this village play like that too. In my town, I and my friends also made a secret base in a vacant lot.」(Mark)

To be exact, it was the hideout of the Moonlight Wolf Team, but I was the one who built it.

「I see. Umm… The thing is, because I always played with Celine, I hardly made any friends, so… I was the only one hanging out at my secret base. Haha…」(Ester)

While saying that, Ester glanced sideways and smiled awkwardly.

Woops… Did I just step on a landmine…?

This is bad. I need to cheer her up quickly!

「U, Umm… But, look! You’re no longer friendless! We have played together a couple of times, right? That means we’re already friends!」(Mark)

「Eh…? We… We are friends…?」(Ester)

「Un!」(Mark)

When Ester looked at me with blank eyes, looking a bit confused, I nodded and smiled at her.

「Re, Really!?」(Ester)

「Of course!」(Mark)

「Yaayy! I finally have a friend other than Celine! Thank you, Mark!」(Ester)

Ester suddenly jumped and hugged me.

She seemed to be very happy.

She is hugging me tightly… So tightly… No, she puts too much strength in her arms! I can’t breathe!

「E, Ester… I can’t… breathe… Ughh…」(Mark)

「Aa! I’m sorry! I was too happy, hehe~ Are you okay?」(Ester)

Ester immediately let go of me and looked at me worriedly.

Her arms are very strong. No wonder she could climb the bouldering wall easily with only her hands.

Honestly, my neck hurts… She almost broke it with her gorilla arms… But I tried to act like I was fine.

「I, I’m good. Don’t worry… So you always wanted friends, huh? I’m sure Nicola will gladly be your friend as well.」(Mark)

「Eh? Nicola? Umm… I never had friends other than Celine until now. I’m very happy that you want to be my friend, but… My heart is not ready to have one more new friend…」(Ester)

Saying that, Ester scratched her cheek apologetically.

The maximum number of friends she can have at once is too freaking low!

Well… Sorry, Nicola. Looks like our circle is currently full now…