The clay dolls worked quickly, and within three days the floors were finished, without a single misaligned gap to be seen.
Is it just my imagination, or does the flooring look a lot nicer now than when I was doing it? Yeah... It’s not my imagination, is it?
The clay dolls were even more capable than I could have possibly imagined. Floorboards covered every millimeter of the ground. They’d even filled in the gaps at the edges of the rooms and around the circular columns, using a sharp stone to make minuscule cuts to the planks. While I’d been a little mystified as to where they’d learned the technique, I hadn’t seen any potential issues arising from their newly acquired knowledge, so I’d made them a couple of knives out of the silvery ore to make their work a little easier.
After finishing the final room, the clay dolls had made their way back to the bedroom and lined up along the wall, like soldiers awaiting orders. On a whim, I’d made them their own shelf instead. Looking at the neatly organized dolls gave me an oddly satisfied feeling.
And after waking up in the middle of the night to find ten glowing eyes staring back at me like something from some horror movie, I’d also revised their design slightly so that their eyes no longer glowed when they weren’t moving.
My own fault for basing them on goblins, but still.
Now that the floors were finished, I wanted to do a bit of remodeling. First, I shrank the size of the entrance rooms on the first and fourth levels and outfitted both with an inbuilt cleaning spell to prevent any dirt from getting inside the house. Now I could finally take my shoes off before going inside, which I promptly did.
So much better... There’s no greater feeling than freeing your feet after a hard day’s work.
Next on my list was a bed. Right now, we were still all sleeping in a huddle on the floor, but I wanted a specific place to sleep. Of course, Koa and the others would need beds too. I went out to the forest and transformed some planks, a task that took no time at all thanks to all the practice I’d gotten while transforming enough flooring for the whole house. I could now polish the planks as I made them too, giving them a glossy, elegant finish. I teleported the planks into the bedroom and called the clay dolls to attention. After seeing their handiwork with the flooring, there was no point trying to make a bed myself.
I cleared my throat and held out my hand.
“Make a bed.”
The clay dolls started moving, but it wasn’t in their usual, energetic way. Instead, they bumbled around, seeming kind of confused.
Huh? Maybe they don’t know what a bed is... Or maybe they can’t make anything apart from floors?
I decided to take another shot at it, visualizing the process of building a bed a little more clearly this time. Unfortunately, it turned out that it wasn’t the easiest thing to do.
Who would’ve guessed it’d be so hard to imagine a bed? Okay, lemme think. Imagine a wooden rectangle... Let’s see, about two hundred centimeters long and one hundred sixty centimeters wide. That’s queen-sized, I’m pretty sure. Yep, just like a big wooden picture frame. Add some legs, so it’s around sixty centimeters tall... And then there’s a lot of wooden slats on top, slightly lower than the sides—oh, and a plank or two down the middle for support.
I managed to string together a perfunctory image of a slatted bed frame, albeit without much confidence. Shrugging, I transformed the planks into a more suitable size.
It’d be nice if the clay dolls could think for themselves... I’m pretty sure they could adjust my blueprint to make it work. Oh well. Time for attempt number two.
“Make a bed.”
The dolls sprang into action.
Guess I can’t just tell them what to do—I need to visualize it too. Good to know. Hopefully my crappy image is gonna be good enough... Well, the first bed can be for me. If it somehow turns out well, I’ll get them to make more for the wolves. Good luck, guys!
I looked again at the clay dolls, who, despite their more energetic movements, still seemed vaguely disoriented.
Seriously... Good luck.
I all but fled from the bedroom, figuring that the clay dolls would probably work better alone. That’s what I told myself anyway.
With them working on the beds, guess I’ll head into the forest and enjoy a little escapism—I mean, exploring.
I picked a direction I hadn’t ventured in before and set off. I was hoping to find something I could use for thread, preferably sooner rather than later. The clothes I’d been wearing since arriving were pretty worn out by now. Washing them every day would only make them wear out faster, so I’d been casting Clean on them instead. Still, they weren’t going to hold up for much longer.
My guide-slash-chaperone for today was Spider Boss, who was jumping through the trees at a slightly more confident pace than the baby spiders had the previous day.
Not sure “pace” is the right word, though... Gait? No, that’s even more wrong, somehow...
Anyway, Spider Boss was leading the way. As we’d set off, I’d told it I wanted to find thread, gesturing to a frayed strand dangling from one of my sleeves.
I hope it understood what I meant...
I don’t think it understood what I meant.
I surveyed our destination: a nest of giant, squirming worms.
Why did you bring me here, Spider Boss?!