22 The road is still half way off.




 The next day, after breakfast, me and Rike were at the place where I had loaded the lumber two weeks ago. Samija was out hunting with her lunch. I'm hoping for a buck today," he said.

Well, today I'm going to start using this lumber to build more rooms. However, it will definitely take a lot of time, so half the day will be spent building the room and the other half will be spent blacksmithing.
"Okay.
Let's get started.
"Yes, sir!
 "Yes, sir!" Rike replied cheerfully. Let's get to work.

 Samija told me that there are few earthquakes here, and not much rain. In fact, we've been here for a while now, and we haven't had any rain. I wonder if the climate is similar to that of Germany in the previous world. The name of this forest is also "Kuro Forest" - in German, it is Schwarzwald (Kuro Forest).
 Anyway, it doesn't seem to be too humid, so I'm going to build more rooms by burying pillars directly without laying foundation stones. As for the previous world, considering that even in humid Japan, the shikinen sengu of Ise Jingu Shrine is held once every 20 years, the pillars themselves should last as long as or longer than the houses here, even though there is a difference in whether they are houses to live in or not. Therefore, I thought that this method would be fine.

 I dug a hole for the pillar with the handle of the hoe I had made before, modified so that it was parallel to the blade rather than at right angles to it. I forgot to ask Samija if it was only the ground around here or the whole forest, but the soil was quite hard.
 This hardness would be quite difficult without a good hoe and strengthened muscles. I'm glad I had those, and I'm really grateful to the guy who made me move.

 Eventually, we were able to dig deep enough so that the ends of the timbers that would become the pillars could be placed there, and then we tied the timbers together with ropes and pulled them out. As we pulled hard, the end of the lumber caught on the edge of the hole, and the lumber stood up and fell into the hole.
 I held the lumber, which was standing up as a pillar, and slammed it down several times to solidify the bottom. After that, I held the lumber and asked Rike to backfill the hole, and we were able to build the pillar.
 After repeating the same process all morning, we had enough posts for two rooms. But it's still a bit wobbly, so we'll have to reinforce it tomorrow.

 In the afternoon, it's time for the blacksmithing that Rike has been waiting for. In the meantime, I'll have him work on the longsword alongside me. I don't have any of the "general models" in stock. So, I'll make two molds before lunch. After lunch, I'll melt the iron and cast it into the molds, but this time I'll just do the firing and the bellows (when I'm alone, I use magic to blow the air), and let Rike do the casting. As he was trying to broaden his knowledge outside, his hands were not sluggish. Soon we had finished pouring the iron into the two molds.

 While waiting for it to cool down, I made a stock of knives. I'll try my hand at this first, and then ask Rike to do it.
 There's no way I can teach him, because my smithing skills are "cheat". And since this is a "general model", I can't put too much effort into it, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to use the "watch and learn" method, but for now, this is what you'll learn.
 After taking out the sheet metal and heating it on the fire pit, hammer it into shape, but not too hard, just enough to form a shape. All the while, Rike was trying not to miss a single moment.
How's it going? Did you get anything out of it?
"Yes. Master, you're amazing. It's like I can hear the iron. But you're not serious, are you?
Do you understand?
Of course not. I didn't put any effort into it. It's just a shot compared to the longsword you showed me.
 Oh, right, he's looking at a high-end model.
"That's all I can show you today. Tomorrow I'll show you another one.
Are you sure about this?
Yeah. There's no point in showing off to your apprentice. I'm only doing this because I'm making inventory to sell.
Thank you, sir! Master!
 "Thank you, master!" Rike rejoiced, as if he was about to jump.
"Now let's see.
"Yes!
 Rike heats and hammers the sheet metal on the fire, just as I do. Perhaps it was because he was a Dwarf, but there was a power in his appearance.

 Eventually the sheet metal took the shape of a knife. He lifted it from his grasp and looked at me.
"What do you think?
 I took a look at it and found that it was comparable to my "general model". However, during the heating and beating process, there was a slight variation. It's as if the iron structure is just different there. This may be the difference between me (the cheat) and Rike, but what I'm sure of is that Rike will be able to make my "high-end model" for sure.
It's good. But he can still go further. I'm not very good at teaching, so I can only tell you to watch and learn, but you'll definitely be able to hit the longsword you showed me yesterday.
 When I praised him, he said
Yes! I'll do my best!
 I'll do my best!" he replied with a bright smile.