novelraw Chapter 189
Chapter 189
Back at the farm, Leon tossed all the Void Essence into the shipping bin, then flopped down in the cabin. There was nothing left for him to do.
It was getting close to evening, so he didn’t bother checking the TV for his luck forecast or heading into the mines. Fishing didn’t sound appealing either, and after watering the crops, there was nothing else on the farm that needed attention.
Leon was in full idle mode.
Not that idleness was bad. For the past while, Leon had been running around non-stop, his life nothing like the tranquil, pastoral days he once imagined. Now that things had quieted down, he found he actually enjoyed lying around and letting his mind drift.
Still, staying cooped up indoors felt a bit like being in prison. So he headed outside and wandered to the nearby cave to see how far Demetrius had gotten with his renovation project.
Leon’s arrival made Demetrius feel as though he were sitting on pins and needles. After all, no one likes being stared at while working, especially by someone looming behind them with wide, curious eyes.
Demetrius had just finished installing the sixth mycelium culture slot. Under Leon’s silent gaze for a full ten minutes, he finally couldn’t take it anymore. Turning around, he snapped, “Don’t you have anything better to do?”
“Nope.” Leon spread his hands. If only he had a watermelon, he’d have offered Demetrius a slice just for the fun of it.
Demetrius was left speechless. He wanted to tell Leon to help out if he was so free, but after telling him that morning not to interfere, he could only grit his teeth and keep working.
Not that Leon could tell he was flustered. The cave was dim, and with Demetrius’s darker complexion, any blush went completely unnoticed.Leon didn’t stick around for long—he was too bored. And watching Demetrius’s rather clumsy carpentry only made him wonder if Robin had ever let him help with her own projects. Judging by his trouble fitting a simple partition, probably not.
But the brief observation gave Leon an idea: maybe he could use his free time to make some improvements to his own farm.
Like building a temporary kitchen. Rainy days made cooking a headache, and the open-air firepit was far from ideal.
Of course, that meant he’d need some tools.
So Leon hopped on his bike and rode into Pelican Town, where he bought a set of carpentry tools at Joja Mart.
Back at the farm, he picked the open space behind his cabin and got to work.
The materials were already on hand—wood chopped with his system’s axe was conveniently uniform in size. While narrower than planks, the standardized dimensions made building frames and walls much easier. Shorter pieces could be joined with mortise and tenon joints, and narrower ones could be nailed together. Since it was only a temporary kitchen, Leon kept it small, using a sloped shelter design with three open sides.
In the center, he cleared a patch of dirt, digging out a pit and lining its walls and bottom with stones to create a firepit.
Above it, he built a frame from wood and packed it with a mixture of clay, mud, and fiber, shaping it into a traditional earthen stove.
Leon lit kindling in the pit, letting the flames dry out the moisture in the clay. He stayed nearby, ready to patch any cracks or collapses with leftover clay mixture.
To his surprise, the stove held up well. Even as the damp clay hardened in the heat, no major cracks appeared. The only real issue was the poor ventilation—smoke filled the area around the stove.
So he put out the fire and made some adjustments. The fix was simple: he cut a smoke vent into the stove and attached a wooden frame, extending it upward into a sloped roof to keep rain out. He plastered the frame with clay, creating a makeshift chimney.
It wasn’t pretty, but it worked. When he lit the stove again, most of the smoke rose cleanly through the chimney, with only a little escaping from imperfect seals. But with three walls open to the wind, that small amount of smoke dispersed easily.
Admiring his handiwork, Leon decided to test it out. He grabbed a frying pan and some ingredients from his cabin and made himself dinner right there.
The earthen stove’s heat was far more reliable than the old firepit. If the frying pan had been a proper round-bottom wok, Leon might have even tried a flashy stir-fry toss.
Dinner was simple: stir-fried seasonal vegetables with white rice. Cooking for one meant no need for a bowl—he dumped the rice straight into the pan with the vegetables and ate it together.
Halfway through, he remembered Demetrius was still somewhere on his farm, working without a break. Regretting not inviting the man for a meal, Leon finished quickly, washed both his frying and cooking pans, and wiped the oil from his mouth and face.
If Demetrius didn’t know he had already eaten, he couldn’t complain about being forgotten.
Right on cue, as Leon finished cleaning up, Demetrius came knocking.
Opening the door, Leon saw him covered in dust and looking utterly drained.
“Mr. Demetrius, are you done for the day?” Leon asked.
Demetrius’s mouth twitched—after insisting earlier that Leon didn’t need to worry about him, this felt a bit ironic—but he still replied, “Yes. I should head back and rest.”
“Is there anything I should be aware of?” Leon asked quickly. He didn’t know much about the renovations, and it was better to ask in person.
“I’ll send you a letter,” Demetrius said, wanting nothing more than a hot meal, a bath, and a long sleep.
“I think it’d be better to just tell me now. That way you save the time writing a letter—and one less sheet of paper means one less tree harmed. As a geologist and botanist, surely you care about protecting nature, right?” Leon said, determined not to let him escape without answers.
“…”
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