CH 223

Chapter 223 : Ground Leveling Work

As soon as we got to Tori-san’s house, I knocked on the entrance door which was slightly worn out.

As a result of visiting him several times, I learned that he rarely comes out and sees the visitors, so I opened the door and came in without hesitation.

As usual, Tori-san was sitting on his chair, working on a magic tool on his workbench.

Noticing our presence, Tori-san turned his face toward the entrance.

「Oh, Mark and… Ester? Hoho~ Seems like you’ve gotten closer with each other than when the last time you both visited my house.」(Tori)

Tori-san grinned while looking at my and Ester’s hands which were holding each other.

「Yup! We became friends! Tori-sensei, you often told me to make friends with anyone other than Celine, right?」(Ester)

Tori-san was teasing us but Ester didn’t seem to get the joke.

She replied to him with her energetic, refreshing smile.

「I, I see… I’m glad for you!」(Tori)

Seeing Ester’s innocent smile, Tori-san seemed at a loss for words. He probably felt a bit guilty for trying to tease her.

He then scratched his head and tried to change the subject.

「So, what brings you guys here today? You want to buy some magic tools?」(Tori)

「No, I came to fulfill my promise.」(Mark)

「Ah, you want to build a playground for the children?」(Tori)

「Yup. So, where should I build it?」(Mark)

「I usually test my magic tool in my background. I don’t want the children to get hurt by my magic tool, so it’s best to make the playground away from my house. Follow me.」(Tori)

Tori-san stopped working and stretched his body, cracking his old bones while groaning. He looked like a tired middle-aged man.

After putting aside the half-finished magic tool on his workbench, he guided us outside.

Ester and I followed Tori-san to the woods nearby.

There were no animal paths here, so it was kinda hard to walk on.

After walking for a few minutes, Tori-san suddenly stopped and turned around.

「Alright. Let’s make the playground here. I’d like it to be wider than my background. Can you do it?」(Tori)

「Don’t worry. I’ll get it done. First, I need to remove all the trees in this area.」(Mark)

「So, how will you do it?」(Tori)

Tori-san asked curiously while rubbing his chin.

Ester who was standing next to me also looked at me curiously.

Without answering, I chose a tree as an example and I began working.

Just like when I built my house a while ago, first, I softened the soil under the tree and stored it in my Item Box so that the roots of the tree were exposed.

Then, I made a sword with earth magic and wrapped it with the wind that moved at high speed on the edge of the blade like a chainsaw. I cut the roots with it and put the tree in my Item Box.

After that, I returned the soil I once stored in my Item Box to the ground to fill the hole.

It seemed a lot of work but it only took me about ten seconds to remove one tree and fix the ground.

「Just like that.」(Mark)

I turned to Tori-san and put my hands on my waist as I answered him.

「Whoa… That was ridiculously fast… So your Item Box can also be used to remove trees, huh? What a convenient Gift.」(Tori)

「Yeah. I removed hundreds of trees with this method when I built my house. Umm… the trees in this forest belong to the village, right? Should I return them all to the village so that people can use them?」(Mark)

「Nah, you don’t have to. We have tons of trees here, so we can just take them whenever we need wood. By the way, where do you keep all the trees you’ve removed?」(Tori)

「Hm? Of course, in my Item Box.」(Mark)

「Hold on… So… You have hundreds of trees in your Item Box!? You didn’t take out the trees after removing them!?」(Tori)

「Yeah. Why would I take the trouble to take out the trees after removing them?」(Mark)

「Uhh… Normally, Item Boxes can’t even fit more than five trees, you know? Just how large your Item Box is?」(Tori)

「I don’t know, but it’s quite spacious.」(Mark)

「Even the owner himself doesn’t know, huh? …Mark, I feel like the more I know about you, the more I lose track of what common sense is…」(Tori)

From my point of view, half-elves are also quite out of the ordinary though.

When Tori-san let out a big sigh and dropped his shoulders, Ester poked my back.

「Mark, can I help you cut the roots? Can I, can I~?」(Ester)

She looked at me with sparkling eyes.

Looks like she really wants to do it.

Certainly, cutting roots with a sword can be good practice. Besides, it will make my work easier. There’s no way I would refuse.

「Of course. Here, you can use my sword. It’s a bit longer than yours.」(Mark)

I handed the sword I made with earth magic to Ester.

She then swung it around and knocked it with her fingers.

「Hee~ It’s hard yet so light. I can’t believe you made it with earth magic. Mark, you’re amazing!」(Ester)

「It’s indeed hard but it’s not that sharp, so you should use it with wind magic.」(Mark)

「Got it! I’m good at wind magic!」(Ester)

Ester nodded and lightly slid her hand from the tip to the hilt of the sword, applying her wind-attributed mana to it.

The blade then glowed in green, showing that it had been reinforced with wind magic.

After confirming that we can work by ourselves, Tori-san wiped his glasses with his clothes and smiled at us.

「Well then, I need to continue making magic tools, so I’ll leave it to you guys. I’ll be at home, so let me know if you need anything. I’ll come to see you guys later.」(Tori)

「Alright.」(Mark)

「Okay~」(Ester)

After we replied to him, he turned around and left us behind.

「Alright then. Let’s do our best!」(Mark)

「Un!」(Ester)