Volume 1 - CH 9.1

Chapter 1-9 : Which I Will Start From? (part 1)

Which I will start from?

If I wanted to open the store, I should be making products first.

There was nothing I could do if there was nothing to sell.

But, I couldn’t ignore the front yard.

It looked terrible.

I don’t think anyone would come in after seeing my front yard.

Oh, right. I can use the herbs growing in the front yard to make products to sell.

The remaining tasks are : improve the well, operate the baths, and make a magic stove.

These can wait until I open the store.

「Alright, if I do the front yard first, I need to do something about the fences. I can make products later even after the sun goes down.」

I went to the front yard and looked at the fences.

Hmm… what if I kick it lightly?

I kicked it andー

ーPeko,

*/thud

It fell.

……It fell off so easily.

I need new fences I guess…

I think I can make simple fences by driving stakes into the ground and then put crossbars between the stakes.

So maybe I don’t have to ask Geberg-san to do this?

Hmm, should I do this myself? I can save money if I do it myself.

Because an alchemist’s job is crafting artifacts, I can also do some woodworking.

But, hmm, I don’t have any carpentry tools.

Perhaps I should buy them?

I’ll definitely need some tools in this house.

Alright, let’s go to the general store then.

Therefore, I went to Lorea-san’s house, the general store.

「Good afternoon~」(Sarasa)

「Ah, Sarasa-san! I’m sorry about my dad. Yesterday, as soon as I was home, Dad immediately appraised the price of the cloth and…」(Lorea)

Seeing me coming, Lorea-san panicked while apologizing.

I replied to her while waving my hands.

「Ah, it’s okay. Me too, I’m sorry. I gave you the cloth to thank you, but it seems it was too expensive to give it casually. Thanks to that, I got a lot of cloth and cotton from your dad, but… is it okay if I got so much?」(Sarasa)

「It’s okayー No, please receive it! Dad said the cloth and cotton he gave you didn’t even cover the price of your cloth. If you didn’t receive it, we will feel sorry to use the cloth you gave us.」(Lorea)

Ahh, I can understand that.

「I see. Okay, I’ll gratefully use the cloth and the cotton then.」(Sarasa)

「Yes, please. By the way, do you want to buy something today?」(Lorea)

「Ah, yes. Do you have carpentry tools?」(Sarasa)

「Yes. We have tools that are normally used for normal house purposes. If you want tools with higher quality, you should ask Jizd-san to make it for you. What are you going to do with the tools by the way?」(Lorea)

「I’m going to make fences for the yard.」(Sarasa)

「Eh? By yourself? You don’t ask Geberg-san to do it?」(Lorea)

Lorea-san was surprised, but… is it that surprising if I do it myself?

Making a fence is easy, right?

「Umm~ If it’s only making fences, I think I can do it myself」(Sarasa)

「Heeー Carpentry is pretty difficult, you know? Sarasa-san, have you ever done it?」(Lorea)

「Well, more or less?」(Sarasa)

I haven’t made big and complicated things, but I learned woodworking at school because it was necessary for crafting artifacts sometimes.

Even before I entered school, at the orphanage, we basically did everything by ourselves.

So, if there was furniture or part of the building that was damaged, we would do what we could to fix it.

Because I was always studying, I rarely helped the orphanage with usual things like preparing food or laundy, but if there were sudden things like broken furniture, I did my best to fix it.

Therefore, I understood the difficulty of carpentry to some extent.

Even cutting a board straight is quite difficult, you know?

If you cut it with even a slight angle, the result would be skewed.

However, this time, I would just make a simple fence.

All I had to do was just drive stakes into the ground and attach crossbars between the stakes, so I thought I could do it myself.

「Sarasa-san, how about you ask for advice from Geberg-san before you do it. He might look like a grumpy old man, but he is a kind person」(Lorea)

「Un. I know he is a kind person. And, yeah, you’re right, Lorea-san. I should ask Geberg-san for advice first. I also want to ask him to repair some parts of my store building, so… I’ll go visit him then….. Ah! Almost forgot. Lorea-san, the tools!」(Sarasa)

「Ah! Wait a minute…….. Here. Thank you for shopping~」(Lorea)

「Well then, I’m going. Thank you, Lorea-san」(Sarasa)

The carpentry tools I bought from Lorea-san were heavier than I expected, so I returned home first, left them at home, and then headed to Geberg-san’s house.

Unlike the general store, Geberg-san’s workshop looked like a private house, so it was kind of awkward to enter.

「Excuse me… Geberg-san…?」(Sarasa)

When I thought maybe my voice was a little low, Geberg-san came out from the back.

「Hm? Ah, ojou-chan. Do you need something?」(Geberg)

「Actually, I want to ask for your advice… I’m thinking of fixing the fences around my house. Do you think it’s too difficult for a girl like me to do it myself? Ah, also, I need some timbers, would you like to sell me some?」(Sarasa)

「You want to do it yourself? If you want to do it yourself, that means you have done carpentry before, right? I can sell you timbers, but… I need to see your old fences first. Let’s go to your house.」(Geberg)

「Understood.」(Sarasa)

Heading for my house, I followed Geberg-san who was walking steadfastly for his age.

After we arrived at the front of my houseー

「Hmm… It’s pretty damaged. It will be better to make new fences. But… ojou-chan, are you going to do this all by yourself?」(Geberg)

While saying that, Geberg-san pointed around all the fences around the house.

Now that he mentioned it, the backyard is also quite large.

The fence might be several tens of meters long…

Uhh… maybe it will be a little hard to do it alone.

「…..Will it be a little hard for me?」(Sarasa)

「”A little”, huh? I don’t know how good ojou-chan is at carpentry, but it will take a long time if you do it alone, you know? Wouldn’t it more profitable to use your time to work as an alchemist?」(Geberg)

「That’s… Hmm… Maybe you’re right.」(Sarasa)

If I think about it carefully, it would be better if I left the fences to Geberg-san so I could open the store earlier.

From the time I was at the orphanage, it has become my habit to avoid spending money on things that I could do myself.

I thought about fixing everything myself, but I just realized that I’m a full-fledged alchemist right now.

Yes. I’m an alchemist. An alchemist-sama!

I have a job that everyone is jealous of!

I did my best to become what I am now!

In society, I’m in the group of people who win at life!

……..Wait, wait. Calm down, me…

What I tried to say wasー from now on, I could just leave the work that wasn’t my specialty to the professionals.

If I left it to the professionals, I could concentrate on alchemy.

「Un! You’re right! Well then, Geberg-san, I will be counting on you. Oh, right. Can you also repair the signboard and the outer wall?」(Sarasa)

Geberg-san looked at the almost-fallen signboard I was pointing at, and nodded.

「Sure. And for the fences, do you want me to make it different or the same like it is now?」(Geberg)

「Umm… I think a low fence like this is good for the front of the store, but can you make 2 meter high board fences for the sides and the back of the house?」(Sarasa)

「I can, but.. why board fences?」(Geberg)

「Ahh, well, I’m planning to hang my laundry in the backyard, and you see… I’m a girl, so… it will be better if no one can see my laundry…」(Sarasa)

「Eh? Hahaha! No one cares about such a thing in this small village, you know? First of all, the next house over is quite far away, right? Well, if it’s the customer’s order, I’ll make it though.」(Geberg)

Well, actually, I also didn’t think there would be people looking at my laundry in the backyard.

Even Ells-san’s house, the nearest house from here, was quite far away.

There were also trees around the backyard, so actually, it was quite hard to see my backyard from a distance.

Still, well, you know… it’s the matter of feelings.

Besides, board fences could prevent small animals from entering and damaging the herb field that I would make later in the backyard.

On the contrary, the fence in front of the shop would be simple so that customers could easily enter.

After discussing with Geberg-san for a while, it was decided that for the sides and the back of the house, Geberg-san would make knee-high stone walls and then make board fences on top of them. And he would make a simple fence that emphasized openness for the front of the store.

In addition, I asked him to make a simple gate in the side passage leading to the backyard so that the access to the backyard could be restricted.

Also, I asked him to make a door in the board fences surrounding the backyard so I could go outside from the backyard.

And since I didn’t know how to repair the walls, I completely left it to Geberg-san.

Also, the signboard too. I left the details to him.

When I told him soー

「Are you sure to leave the design of the signboard to me?」(Geberg)

「Yes! I’m sure Geberg-san will make a dope signboard!」(Sarasa)

「Fu, Fuuun~」(Geberg)

Eh? Is it just me, or did Geberg-san look embarrassed for a moment?

「Alright then, I’ll start the construction tomorrow.」(Geberg)

After saying that, Geberg-san went home.

「……..He was embarrassed just now… right? I never thought he could be embarrassed like that. I hope he wasn’t offended…」(Sarasa)

Uhh… his embarrassed face didn’t leave my mind…

Geberg-san made me a bed in just one day, so maybe the construction will also finish quickly.

He said he would start tomorrow, so……. Wait… tomorrow!?

Then, I have to collect the money (herbs) in the front yard quickly!

Or else it would be damaged once he started construction!

「I have to collect them now!」

I brought a basket from the house and started pulling out the herbs growing along the fences.

「Oops, I should be careful. These are precious herbs」

It would be a waste if I just picked them, so I dug the soil up and took the herbs whole with the roots so I could replant them later in the field in the backyard.

「I can just ignore the weeds, right?」

Geberg-san would make stone walls, so he should be dug up the soil anyway, so I didn’t need to pull the weeds out.

I kept picking the herbs around the fences while ignoring the weeds.

After I’ve circled the house once, now it’s time to deal with the inside part of the yard.

For the inside, I couldn’t ignore the weeds, so I also pulled them out while collecting herbs.

By the way, I used physical strengthening magic while doing such work until the evening.

I only took a rest at lunch and when I got thirsty.

It was very very tiring, but when I saw the yard of the house tidy now, I felt like it was worth it.

「Ahh~ To be honest, I feel like I’m trying too hard today.」

I still have to make products after this.

I can store the herbs I just picked up for now, but I can’t ignore the herbs I had picked when I got here on the first day, because if I don’t use them soon, the effectiveness of the herbs will drop.

I’ve done a simple preservation process on the herbs, so they would be good until tomorrow, but I wanted to do something else tomorrow.

「I’m happy I got so many precious herbs, but… it’s just too many for me to handle…」

There were many kinds of herbs growing in the yard, and they were quite expensive.

Of course, it was thanks to the previous owner who planted them.

But honestly, I was surprised that the herbs still remained even after a long time.

The value of these herbs is different from ordinary herbs, so of course I collected them all, and I will replant them in a proper cultivated field later.

With this, I can make potions for free.

Yes, free!

Ahh~ what a pleasant word to hear.

「But, uhh… I should take a break for now. I’m really tired…」

I entered the house and wiped my body.

After that, I went to the cafeteria for a hot and delicious dinner.