Chapter 150

When they got back while carrying the pot for collecting tar as well as the press and the spacial bag filled with seeds, Ben quickly sent Skoe back to get the rest of the sticks he’d gathered while Fontesh went to ask her friends and neighbours if any of them wanted their enchanted items improved.In the meantime Ben got to work to collect the tar from what he had on hand, digging a small hole for the pot it would drain into to sit in and placing the container filled with sticks on top, caking the lid with mud before lighting a fire around it.

Once that was started, all there was to do was wait until they had the finished products, the tar he was looking for and charcoal as a side product he could give to the village for use. While that was going through he set up the oil press, placing another container under it to catch any of the oil he managed to produce and filled the main chamber with some of the many seeds they’d collected.

He wasn’t sure how much it would take to get enough oil for not only treating all the houses in the village, but also their fences and anything else they’d need, but the two dryads had gone above and beyond in collecting it all. At the very least, it would be a good start.

He grabbed onto the handle and began twisting, applying force and assuming it works, breaking down the seeds and extracting the oils within. Even if his strength had cracked the top end of average and the screw-like design was to reduce the amount of effort that was needed, it was still going to take ages.

He worked at it for an hour squeezing out a trickle of oil, as well as more water than he hoped would be present, by the time Skoe was done running back and forth bringing all of the sticks he’d gathered.

“Oh thank god, take over will you?”

“What?”

“Come on, you’re a warrior, you definitely have the strength to make this easy. There’s plenty of other stuff I need to do as a craftsman to help the village. Think of this as earning your keep since you’re staying here for free.”

“I’m sleeping in a shed!”

“Yes, instead of outside. Plus you got blankets to keep you warm. If you do it for a few hours you can get back to sleep. Maybe mind the fire too so nothing goes out of control.”

The warrior backed down before Ben did, and with a sigh took over at the press, immediately having more success than Ben had as more liquid began pouring from the tool.

As Skoe got to that, Ben took the time to examine the fence and the house, figuring out just how much just how much wood it was going to take to fix both. Luckily, while the house had plenty of areas of visible rot and decay he was confident that the wood was thick enough that he could scrap it away without risking the house's integrity and apply the sealant. It wasn’t perfect, but short of rebuilding the house it was the best he was going to do to fix the place up.

When he’d completed his little inspection he went back to the front of the house and found Fontesh had come back with four other dryads.

Seeing he’d have some work he put on his best smile as he walked up to them. “Hello there!” He called out cheerfully. “I’m sure you’ve heard from Fontesh, but I’m the apostle of the god Myriad, since it seems like I’ll be here for a week or two I was looking to improve the enchantments of any items you have, as well as help with any maintenance around if you need it.”

Three of them were immediately nervous of him, but the fourth seemed prepared to engage. “We’ve been told. We brought our lights, but these aren’t cheap, are you prepared to compensate us if you break them?”

“Of course,” He said confidently, not in the slightest concerned. “I won’t even touch them if I don’t think I can improve the enchantments on them, but if I do and mess up then I’ll pay to have them replaced immediately.”

She looked to Fontesh who gave her a nod before cautiously handing over the one she carried with her. He took it, not making any sudden moves since they all seemed uncomfortable with him and gave it a lookover.

From his experience he was certain it was no more than a third level light enchantment, and a clumsy one at that. It seemed like a partial enchantment had been attempted, but it was still so much bigger than it needed to be, he was positive the mana cost could be cut in half at least so he got to work unraveling the current one to replace with his own.

The women stood by to watch curiously, but if they didn’t have a decent mana sense that could pick up on his way of using it then it would only look like he’d been staring at the tool for a few minutes before handing it back.

“All done.”

“That’s it?” He was asked suspiciously, but he just indicated that she should test it for herself. The dryad looked hesitant but began pouring her mana into it to power the enchantment and her eyes widened at the glow. While it had previously been only good enough to leave a room in dim light, it was now positively radiant, and she could feel it had taken far less of her mana to power it.

The other three seemed just as impressed, and with less hesitation handed their own over one after the other.

He was able to get them done in quick order and finished with a smile, trying to keep showing off a friendly attitude the entire time to put them all at ease. It wasn’t like he would be rude to them if he wasn’t trying to make his god look good, but with how uncomfortable they seemed he might normally come off as more put off by the interaction as well.

Still, he needed to tear down whatever sort of emotional barriers the people of the village had to earn some faith for his god.

“Since I got all that done rather quickly, would any of you like me to see if I can improve the enchantments on any of your other items?” He got the impression they were interested but hesitant, so he gave it one last push. “Of course, I understand you might not be comfortable having a stranger come into your home. Fontesh, would you be willing to join us to put your friends' minds at ease?”

“Alright, I’m sure Delair will be fine for a bit, but what about everything you have going on?” She asked, looking at the fire he had going and Skoe pressing oil.

“It will be fine, Skoe knows what to do and he’ll put the fire out if anything starts looking out of hand. If I’m gone for a few hours he’ll manage.”

Her concerns covered, they made their way from one house to another, each time Ben examined the enchantments available and redid them when he thought necessary, occasionally adding different effects as well if the owners approved, such as when he’d added the time enchantment to Fontesh’s cold box. It took a few hours and by the time he left each house he felt the residents warmed up to him a bit, but there was still a distance he couldn’t escape no matter how friendly he was. Instead of just accepting it, he decided to seek some answers from the only dryad who didn’t seem bothered by him or the others.

“So what does this village have against outsiders anyway?”

“Hmm? I would think any dryad would be cautious of outsiders, from this village or not.”

“Okay cool, but why?”

Instead of answering she just chuckled and gave a question of her own. “You’re rather ignorant of history, aren’t you?”

“I’m ignorant about a lot of things when it comes to this world, mind making things easy and just filling me in?”

“Sure, it’s probably better if you know if you’re going to be here for a while. Centuries ago, my species and our forests were almost hunted to extinction to be used for parts.”