Being able to process the hides led to another problem: I didn’t have a place to dry them. Rather, I didn’t have a space large enough to string up dozens of hides to dry for days on end. The ground-level exit from the cave led directly into the dense forest, and the near-vertical mountain itself obviously wasn’t suitable terrain for clotheslines.
It was time to start landscaping.
I’d needed a lot of planks for my various DIY projects, but with how big most of the trees were, I’d only ended up cutting down around fifteen of the larger ancient behemoths. A thick wall of trees still surrounded the mountain on every side. I’d stumbled across a few tiny clearings, but nothing even remotely large enough for my purposes.
Well, this is a forest, after all. They’re not typically known for being wide open spaces.
I glanced around, trying to decide where to begin. I wouldn’t need to clear every inch of the forest, of course. For starters, I decided to make a bit more space immediately around the entrance to the cave, which was also the area I used to butcher my daily delivery of monsters. Even that was a struggle at times when the wolves brought back more than five or so carcasses. Ideally, I wanted a space with enough room to process all the monsters at once, as well as to dry all the hides.
I started cutting down the trees and transforming them into planks. Cut. Transform. Cut. Transform. Cut... Transform... This is boring.
I teleported pile after pile of planks to the first basement level, and when it was full, to the still-unused third floor. When I went to check that my teleporting had worked as intended, I stumbled across a group of One Eyes in front of the planks, gesturing excitedly to one another.
Getting ready to build something again? I’m looking forward to it! Even if I am a little nervous...
I went back outside to continue working, only to find the Gremlins marking out what I assumed was how much space they needed for drying the hides. I shrugged and finished clearing the space as indicated—figuring they probably knew better than me at this point—only to end up with a far wider space than I would have thought necessary.
Uh... Are you sure you need this much space?
Once the Gremlins seemed content, I kept expanding the area around the entrance. Koa, for some reason, was helping out. She ran from one tree to the next, growling happily when I cut each one down as per her indication.
I’m grateful for your help, but—I mean, isn’t this going a bit overboard?
A massive clearing stretched out around the entrance by the time she seemed satisfied. Stumps jutted out of the ground left, right, and center. I’d have to remove them too before the space would be of much use—a space that was much, much wider than I’d set out to clear. I’d been so focused on following Koa’s instructions that I hadn’t realized just how many trees I’d removed, but now, taking a good look around, I could see that it nearly extended just as far to the left and right as the mountain did itself.
But the mountain’s gotta be, like, two hundred meters wide! As if I cleared two hundred meters of forest without realizing! Ha ha ha... As if, right?
Exhausted—in more ways than one—I decided to call it a day and headed inside. The entryway—which had definitely had stone walls when I’d gone outside earlier—now featured wood panelling on the walls. I looked up to find a matching ceiling, with small square sections of the stone left exposed at regular intervals to allow the rock’s natural glow to shine through.
I think the One Eyes are trying to convert the whole house to wood... Seriously, I don’t get what’s up with them. Still, the place does look much nicer without all the dull stone...
Either way, standing around gaping at the entryway wasn’t going to give me any answers, so I shrugged and headed for the dining room.
They’d been in here too. Newly built shelves held plates and cups, and a neat pile of furs now cushioned the corner where the wolves usually relaxed. A few more comfy-looking chairs dotted the living section, including—for some reason—a rocking chair. I thought I remembered seeing several pieces of this furniture before in a magazine I’d read a long time ago.
But I definitely didn’t remember them this well—especially not to this level of detail.
And yet, there they were, perfect recreations of memories I didn’t realize I had. A shiver ran down my spine, and I frantically shook my head.
Nope, not a problem! It’s just because the One Eyes are so good at what they do! No problems here! I don’t care if there’s a cool hanging chair in the corner, not even if it is identical to the one I wanted in high school! Really identical... Ha ha ha... I’m not scared. Nope.
The hanging chair was extremely comfortable.