Chapter 438 - Roof Repairs and Snack Time
Saturday
It was past noon on Saturday.
Mion was, as usual, absent for her voice training lesson.
I imagine she's working hard for tomorrow's recording.
As for me, I continued with the mansion renovation.
First, in the sanctuary, I replenished the mana of the Jade Goddess Statue and offered a prayer.
"May tomorrow's recording go well…"
Hmm? Am I asking her for something related to herself? Well, whatever.
Also, I'm about to fix the broken part of the roof, so I'll pray that I don't have any accidents or injuries.
Pan, behind me, clasped his hands in prayer, just like me. Raz, sitting on my right shoulder, also held an Ocher Nut Fruit and prayed.
"Alright, let's start."
"Ryu!"
"Kururu~"
There were three members.
Lupi was sulking because she couldn't participate in the roof work, but I'd asked her to patrol with Leda and Roy.
I stepped out the main entrance and first leaned a ladder against the roof.
I had made it during the test period, thinking I'd need it eventually.
"Alright. Then…"
"Ryu"
"Ah, Pan?"
Before I could stop him, Pan swiftly climbed up. In fact, I was surprised he climbed without using his hands.
"Ryuu~"
"Ah, yes."
He signaled me to come up, so I also… steadily climbed one rung at a time.
The mansion only has one floor, but the ceilings are high, so the roof is quite high up too…
"Phew"
When I reached the top, I turned around and…
Yep, this is definitely high enough to get injured if I fall.
"Kururu~"
Raz, who had been on my shoulder, hopped down onto the roof and went over to Pan, who was checking the hole.
I also cautiously approached, half-crouching. The area near the hole might be brittle.
"Hmm, it looks like the roof tiles shifted, and rain blew in through there."
"Ryu"
Pan skillfully used a nail puller to remove one of the remaining tiles next to the hole and handed it to me.
"This might be slate? It's perfectly molded, so perhaps it was made with magic."
It's debatable whether I could make the exact same thing with Stone Wall magic. But I could probably make something of the same shape by baking Red Clay.
However, thinking about the effort involved…
"Ryu?" "Kuru?"
"Oh, sorry. First, let's remove the roof tiles around this hole. And Raz, could you go take a look inside for a bit?"
"Kururu~"
Raz gracefully landed on a beam visible through the hole and looked left and right.
If there were any brittle parts, we'd have to reinforce them, or at worst, replace them with new ones…
"Alright, let's remove the surrounding roof tiles then. Uh, from about here, to over there."
"Ryu!"
We removed all the tiles about a meter outwards from the hole.
Below that was the roof boarding, with no signs of waterproofing sheets.
"Alright, next let's remove the damaged roof boarding."
"Ryu"
Four boards were cracked or broken. Pan and I removed two each.
Holding them, they were about 1 cm thick. It seemed they used wood that dries easily, but even so, the damage worsened because the roof had opened up.
"Kururu~♪"
"Welcome back, Raz. How was it?"
Raz scampered up my outstretched right hand and ran to my shoulder.
"Kuru~♪"
No problems with the pillars or beams.
Alright, I guess I'll have to remove the ceiling too…
"Ryu!"
"Yeah, please. You can drop the removed ceiling panels to the ground."
Pan climbed down to the beam and removed the broken ceiling panels.
We'll just let them fall to the ground and collect them later. Well, we'll probably just burn them.
"Ryu ryuu~♪"
Pan, humming cheerfully as he works, is very reliable.
True also catches fish so easily when he goes into the sea, I'm starting to feel like I'm the one being taken care of more and more…
"Ryu!"
The ceiling panel he tapped pakon fell straight to the ground.
If we replace the removed ceiling, roof boarding, and tiles with new ones, this repair should be complete.
I just hope the roof above the bedroom is similarly manageable.
"Alright, let's go down for a bit and prepare replacements."
"Ryuu~" "Kuruu~"
And, descending a ladder is scarier, isn't it…
...
...
...
"Alright, I think this side is good to go!"
The repair above the main hall was complete.
The ceiling panels and roof boarding were made from wood felled yesterday, and the tiles were replicated using Stone Wall magic and then refined with Granulation magic.
The weight felt almost the same, so this should be fine for a while.
"Kururu~?"
"Next, we need to fix the roof above the bedroom, but before that, let's take a break and have some snacks."
"Ryuu~♪" "Kururu~♪"
In the backyard, Sweee and the Fairies were chatting around a newly made flowerbed.
I wanted to call Lupi's group and the Urisks, but…
"Woof!"
"Oh, just in time!"
I caught Lupi as she ran towards me!
Leda, Roy, and Shal followed behind her.
The Urisks, carbuncles, and Cait Sith were also there, so I guess everyone came back for snack time.
"~~~♪"
"Alright, alright. I'm baking cookies today, so just a moment."
I took out cookie dough from my inventory, made from Kohaku flour, Ecryu butter, Sky Sugar, and Yakokko eggs. This was also prepared during the test period.
"~~~!"
"Ah, the Zenjaa from yesterday. Right, right."
However, if I add too much, it might taste bitter. Especially for the Fairies.
So, I added just a tiny bit of grated, dried powder, just enough for flavor. The main flavor would be the savory Ocher Nut Fruit.
"Ryuu~?"
"Can you help me?"
"""Ryu!"""
I'll leave the cookie cutting to the Urisks, who seemed interested.
In the meantime, I…
"Please."
A spark of fire, flying from the Fire Spirit Stone, ignited the firewood—the old roof boarding and ceiling panels—that I had shoved into the Stone Kiln.
I adjusted the kiln's temperature for a while so it wouldn't get too hot…
"""Ryuu~♪"""
"Thank you."
Into the kiln went the baking sheet with the neatly cut dough.
Now, all that's left is to wait for them to finish baking.
"Kururu~♪"
As expected, Raz was the first to react, followed by the carbuncles, who couldn't wait and hopped onto the table.
Yeah, the smell of these baking cookies is truly irresistible.
I don't want them to burn, so I'll check carefully… Perfect!
"They're done! But they're hot, so wait a moment…"
"~~~♪"
"Ah, yeah. Thanks."
The Queen is the type who spares no effort to eat sweets.
The Wind Spirit quickly cooled them down, so,
"~~~?" "Ryu" "Nya!"
"Oh, I'm first, am I?"
They're really proper about that.
I carefully picked one up; it was perfectly baked. Chomp.
"Oh, delicious! Come on, everyone, have some."
Yep. I'll have to bake another batch soon, or these will disappear in a flash.