Chapter 18 – Crafting is cool, right? Nothing could possibly go wrong!

🙞❤︎🙜

Forget about leveling up my skills. It was time for me to eat meat! I rushed back to the house and saw that the staff were cutting up and cooking the demon pig I had entrusted to them. They had set up tables, wood fires, and large woks in the outer courtyard.

I smiled a little at the sight. It was just like back on Earth, where Asian people who had perfectly good indoor kitchens still preferred to cook outdoors most of the time. My dad, who also preferred outdoor cooking, explained to me that it just felt better to cook outside.

“Oh my gosh, it smells so delicious,” I said to Fengying. “This ‘demon pig’ looks just like a regular pig, but with red skin. Does it taste the same?”

“It does, but unlike pig or wild boar, the meat is very good for your health,” she said.

Being in a fantasy world was really the best. To think that I could pig out on pork belly as much as I wanted without risking my health!

“Because it’s a ‘demon’ animal?” I asked.

“Yes, these demons from the southern land are powerful, and their flesh is infused with qi.”

Fengying further explained to me that they had taken the lard from the pig and rendered it down to produce cooking oil, which Deming’s assistant, Haoran, was using right now to fry the pork belly. Once he was finished, the pork pieces would then be put inside a large jar and covered with the oil to preserve them for later eating.

Seeing that I was already drooling, Haoran got a plate and offered me a piece of fried pork belly and a small saucer of soy sauce.

The fried pork belly looked so good that I didn’t even bother to find a chair to sit down before I started eating. Having eaten only vegetarian dishes for such a long time, I couldn’t wait to try it. I dipped a slice into the soy sauce and took a bite. The juicy, meaty flavor was incredible, and I couldn’t get enough of the crunchy skin. I was in pork belly heaven.

“This is perfect,” I said. “Another?”

Haoran silently handed me another piece. I offered it to Fengying, but she said that she had already eaten.

The next piece was even better than the first one. I had to turn away from them because I was afraid that I was making a weird face while I was eating.

“I look forward to my next meal,” I said to Fengying.

Deming was inside the kitchen working on something, but I didn’t have the courage to check on the Demon Chef.

The smell of the cooking food decided my task for me. There was no way I was going to go out to fish, forage, or cut wood.

Herblaw it was, then.

I went to the east side of the courtyard that I had reserved for my future apprentices’ bedrooms and set up my herblaw working space there. All I needed was one big table and a comfortable chair. I piled up the herbs, vials of water, and assorted ingredients on one side and started casting the “Clean Herb” spell. Once I had finished cleaning all the herbs, I cast the Create Potion spell.

Herblaw was quite slow to level, but I didn’t mind because I was making a lot of useful items. The Blight Magic potions will be given to Prince Baiyu while the Dewy Glow potions were for my personal use. They were definitely helping me achieve flawless rosy skin despite the fact that I was out in the sun for most of the day.

The excess potions could be sold or given away.

I worked without a break until noon, when lunch was ready. The smell of the cooking food had been making my stomach rumble throughout the morning.

I put all the herblaw items back in my inventory to clear the table for all the dishes Fengying herself served to me. They all had fancy-sounding names like “Butterflies Among the Peonies” or “Powdered Gold and Minced Jade.”

No matter what they were called, they were all mouthwatering. I started off with the demon chicken soup with wild spring onions, carrots, and mushrooms, followed by pork belly with leeks that was served with a light soy sauce. There was also a plate of braised minced pork, stir-fried vegetables and, of course, plain steamed rice. Dessert was simply sliced fruit drizzled with a sweet honey syrup.

I ate and ate and ate until I was full. I could get used to this!

***

I woke up after a refreshing dream of taking care of a cute little dragon. The sun was slowly rising above the horizon, casting a beautiful orange and pink light across in the sky. Outside at the farm, the potato flowers were in bloom and the honeybees were buzzing around collecting nectar. The air was fresh and clean, and the smell of the forest was intoxicating. Sunlight was filtering through the trees, dappling the ground. It was a perfect spring morning.

The staff had settled in very nicely, and now that I had tasted the Demon Chef’s cooking, I could no longer imagine living without proper food.

Now that my situation had improved so much, I was excited to take the next step in expanding my farm: hiring farmhands a.k.a. apprentices.

I told Shuye that he could go ahead and tell the Prince’s people to start the process of hiring apprentices from the orphanage.

Meanwhile, I had to make money since I was now responsible for my household’s daily needs and their salaries. My plan to demolish the mill and put up my ranch house was on hold for now while I prepared some gold.

Deming, Fengying, and the others had gathered outside to watch me since I had informed them I was replacing the mill with another building.

A bright green magic circle appeared on the ground below the mill, and it flashed twice. On the first flash, the mill disappeared and on the second flash, a new building appeared.

“Did you really have to do that?” asked Fengying. They all seemed disappointed that we wouldn’t be getting three sacks of spirit rice every day.

“Yes. We have enough rice anyway, right? It’s not like we’re going to starve,” I said.

“I’m sure you know best,” said Fengying.

On their first day, Deming and Fengying had worn rather elaborate silk robes, but as the days passed, their clothing had become plainer and plainer until today, Fengying was wearing a simple cotton robe with long, loose sleeves and a long skirt belted at the waist.

I felt a little sorry for them since they were probably more used to the much wealthier Duke’s household rather than my humble farm. This job must be a big downgrade for them.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. This time, I made sure to set the building to the [Private] setting, with no visitors allowed. “I’ll see you later at lunch.”

They took the hint and went back to the house while I entered the new building. I reckoned that the easiest way to make a lot of money in the shortest amount of time was to smelt the ores in my inventory, so I had built a smelting facility.

Inside, there was one huge smelter.

[Smelter:

A machine used to melt down metal ore to extract the valuable metals from within. It consists of a large chamber with a furnace at one end and a series of pipes and filters at the other. The furnace is used to heat the metal ore to a high temperature, while the pipes and filters extract the metals from the ore. The extracted metals are then collected in a crucible, where they are poured into molds.]

I loaded up the smelter with as much gold ore as I could, then I filled the furnace with wood for burning. When it was full, I pressed the big red [Start/Stop] button.

The smelter heated up until it was too hot to touch, and in about half an hour, it started producing gold ingots. The process was a lot faster than the mill, which was a good thing because Blacksmithing was a huge part of Adventure Incarnate. I would be in trouble if the smelter could only produce three bars every twenty-four hours.

I spent the rest of the day inside and made an immense pile of gold. With this, my money problems were over.

Or so I thought.

LinMeili

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