Construction Mage - Chapter 50: Nuisance & Looking Up

AN: Thank you for your patience. Bit of a delay from sudden dinner plans haha. Should've expected it, seeing its my birthday this month. Enjoy.

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A spear thrust out in an attempt to thwart the charging earth elemental. It worked—or at least it was supposed to. An inch of the metal tip successfully pierced into the earthen body before the monster wielding the spear dove out of the way, averting the fate of having its bones shattered by the earth elemental’s kick.

Hmm, it can fight decently by itself now, but its movements are too slow and clunky against kobolds in an open space. The ooze may have been at a much higher level, but it was a slow-moving acid sprayer. No matter how much weaker the Kobold Sentries are, it doesn’t matter if the elemental can’t land an attack.

The fight continued, but it didn’t progress much as the weaponless kobold darted around, uselessly trying to lash out at the summon with its claws and fangs. It barely scratched the earthen body of the elemental, but the summon, in turn, couldn’t land a hit on the kobold either.

Seeing that it was going nowhere, Clay had had enough. He pointed his hand at the kobold and fired off an Earth Blast.

“Spirits, hear my call,

By Lestionora’s name, rise from your thrall.

Awaken from slumber, heed my plea,

Shape to my will, come forth as I decree—Earth Blast!”

Within three seconds, a ball of hardened earth appeared from thin air and reshaped itself into a rough rod shape before propelling rapidly at the little kobold. It smacked the monster’s shoulder from the side, making it stagger to its side. It didn’t manage to eliminate it, but it was enough. The moment it lost its balance, its fate was sealed. There was no more time for it to dodge away from the earth elemental’s arm. 

[Ding—Level 5 Kobold Sentry slain.]

[Ding—Skill: Meditate(I) has leveled up!]

[Ding—Skill: Earth Blast(I) has leveled up!]

“That’s awesome, sir!” Malik dashed onto the scene the moment the fight finished. “You can cast while having your summon fight for you now!”

“Yes, but I can’t move while casting. In fact, even if I’m not trying to use another spell, it’s best if I stay still as much as possible.”

While Clay could move around while the elemental was doing its own thing, it would remove the meditative state, shortening the summon’s uptime. For now, it wasn’t that much of a problem, as their fights never lasted that long. However, that would change the further in they went.

“Still, it’s like having another party member with us now!”

“Yes, it’s not bad at all,” Clay mindlessly muttered as he recalled how far along he had come within his short career as a Delver.

He frowned when he got to the part where he somehow ended up intruding on Garrick and Thalia, something he had avoided doing during his first few months. Imposing for a day or two was fine, but any more than that weighed on his mind. He couldn’t help but want to get back to work on his house again.

That’s why he called it once Malik was done going over the loot.

“Let’s head back. This should be enough for today.”

*** 

The days went by as Clay focused on completing the outer walls and the one central column to support the wooden beams so he could reinstall the roofing. He would get on it as soon as the morning Delve was over and work all the way until sunset. Then, he would return to Garrick’s place, where he would have supper with his gracious hosts before working on the toilets at night.

It was only possible to work in the dark thanks to his light crystal, but his material supply was still limited. With his focus on his home, he funneled all the earthen bricks he made into the project, which left nothing for the toilets. Instead, he focused on the parts he could work on, which were the toilet seats. 

As something meant for royalty, he couldn’t cut any corners. Not only did he have to cut out the correct quarter crescent shapes and then attach them together, but he also had to file them down so there weren’t any splinters and the surface was nice and smooth.

With quite a bit of ooze membrane still left as well, he considered using it, but stopped after remembering comments about the way the texture felt. Instead, he took some of the money left over from the down payment to a tailor and commissioned a toilet seat cover, which cost him another gold coin.

In total, he now had seven gold coins and change left. They were to be his war chest if the prince would agree to the request that he would ask once he turned in the toilet.

After a week of tackling both these major projects, Clay eventually completed the outer walls and central support column—the bare minimum for the place to be liveable. With its completion, the need for bricks lessened, allowing him to finally work on the toilet while he waited for Garrick to come help with installing the roof.

Previously, Clay had thought to purchase higher-quality materials for the toilet meant for the prince. He considered either metal or consulting with the pottery shop, whether it was possible to commission one made entirely of ceramic, but with some ooze membrane on hand, there was no need. Ooze membrane was a more durable and easier-to-clean material that could endure the wear of transport. While people didn’t favor its texture, coating it with the frame of the toilet itself should be fine. As the Third Prince wasn’t likely to stay in Ravenhold for long, using ceramic would only make his journeys more difficult when the risk of breaking was so high.

There was still one problem left with this method, though. Earthen bricks looked dull and cheap. It didn’t resemble anything worthy of royalty at all. That’s why Clay purchased some paint, which was a primitive blend of pigments and binders that the church and artists made plentiful use of, to uplift its appearance.

The earth elemental continued to produce more bricks while Clay stacked the bricks to form the base of the toilet. Every so often, he would have to ensure the mortar hadn’t dried out too much, stirring and adding water when needed.

Just as he slathered another layer of mortar on top of his pile, a figure dashed across the edge of his vision, startling him. 

A wave? Again?

He instantly commanded the elemental to defend him while he scanned the area for any movement. No matter whether he searched left or right, he found nothing. Just as he was considering whether he had imagined it, something leaped down from above, landing straight onto the half-complete toilet, knocking a few layers of bricks that hadn’t dried down.

Snapping toward the culprit, he came face to face with a familiar orange cat, snarling at him.

This cat again! I thought it left after the house was flooded, and now it has decided to come back to cause trouble?

Determined to kick out the little fur ball so it couldn’t interfere with his work again, the towering man, nearing two meters, dove at the cat. As if expecting it, the feline gracefully used his head as a springboard and leapt away. It landed perfectly on the earth elemental’s shoulder and let out what Clay perceived as a taunting victory cry.

“Why, you…” 

For a moment, Clay wished his Spell Manipulation skill was at a much higher level. Perhaps then, he could turn his Earth Blast into a wide net of some sort to capture the uninvited houseguest. Unfortunately, he could barely reshape the ball of hardened earth into a rod currently. He was still a bit off from being able to shape it into a sharp spike to increase the spell’s lethality. 

During his moment of hesitation, the cat jumped off the golem and swiftly ran out of the main doorway.

No matter how it happened, Clay let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the cat flee. He could return to his work in peace now—or so he thought!

“Aaaaargh! Get away from me!” a voice soon cried out.

Having spent so much time with the man in the past few days, it was almost impossible for Clay not to recognize his voice. As a result, he turned his gaze away from the doorway to focus on fixing the mess the cat had made.

The mortar had yet to set, and he still had a chance to fix the bricks back into place, so he hurried.

While he worked, the commotion outside never stopped until it finally grew closer.

“Clay, are you here? You must be. I see your summon right there. How dare you ignore my cries for help?” the man with a red mane called out indignantly. 

“That menace knocked the toilet I’m making apart. Had to patch it up before the mortar sets.”

“So that’s all I mean to ya? Yer so-called toilet is more important to you than me?”

“Relax. A small cat like that never killed anyone.”

“Yeah, right. Those little menaces are always out to get ya. I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you.”

As the two men bantered, the toilet slowly came into shape. Occasionally, the golem would step in to adjust the dimensions, giving it the curve Clay was familiar with. After all, it wouldn’t do to present royalty with something so dull-looking, so he tried to recreate it to resemble a modern toilet as closely as possible. It was only possible because the elemental could so easily shape entire sections of the earthen bricks with only a brush of the hand.

With the main framework complete, Clay carefully slotted the toilet seat in and took a step back.

“Nice. Ya going to coat it in ooze membrane now? That stuff works miracles. It won’t hinder the mortar from drying at all,” the foreman said.

“After painting it, yes, but I can do that tonight. Anyway, sorry about the wait. Let’s get started on the roof, shall we?”

“Yeah, but are you sure you want to continue using a thatch finish? Ya have some coin to spare, right? It might not be a bad idea to invest in some wooden shingles.”

“With that Ironbark stuff, I presume? That’ll cost too much. I have other uses for my money, and besides, it’s easy to swap out the thatch for shingles later on.”

“Yer da boss.”

Repeating their efforts from the previous time, the two reused the same thick wooden beams and installed them against the wall and central pillar. They spent the rest of the day slotting the beams in place, erecting the rafters, and installing the thatch roof.

“Thank you again. I can finally move in tomorrow and not bother you guys any longer,” Clay commented as they marveled at their day’s hard work.

“No bother at all. You can stay longer if ya like—but I reckon you’d prefer yer own place.”

Answering with a nod, the two then silently stood there for a few minutes before they turned to return to the third ring. Tomorrow, they would return with some basic furniture, but more importantly, Clay would be bringing the toilet to the prince.

With that in mind, he carefully nestled the toilet against his chest as he trekked through the city.

Things are looking up again. Tomorrow I move in and then head for the first ring to see the prince. But wait a minute. How do I get in touch with the prince anyway? They didn’t tell me where to find them before they left—I don’t suppose I should just stride in there and ask for an audience with the prince, should I?

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