Monarch of Solitude: Daily Quest System

Chapter 172 - Hit The Highway

The after-party for the harvesting project was very lively, but Rino excused himself. He had big plans to work on now that he had powerful monsters under his command, mana depletion and new blueprints.

The monster rabbit clan worked very quickly, and according to the drows sent to follow them, they worked even quicker than the gnomes. It might be due to their numbers but The genesis fairies sent to lay the mana web network lagged behind so far that there was no light in the newest section of the tunnel.

Thankfully, the rabbits seemed very experienced with tunnelling and added earth columns in the tunnel they dug. The excess dirt was surprisingly eaten, and the drow who had night vision suffered some mental trauma knowing that these monster rabbits ate their excretion several times to create the best dry pellet poop used to explode tough rocks in the way.

Their unique way of mining and proficiency in earth magic made the highway construction so quick that Rino was forced to admit that the gnomes would soon be out of jobs in Town Zera. 

"What are the earth gnomes doing?" Rino asked Sheila, who was busy coordinating checking on the mushroom cave.

After a while, the drow leader reported that they were back in the abandoned mines working on something that could help the trolls plough the new rice fields faster. 

As expected, all gnomes were great designers, and Rino had the perfect task for them now that they were no longer needed for underground constructions.

The abandoned mines remained confusing to Rino, and judging from how much work he still had left, exploring this maze had to wait. The lich waited for one of his adopted sons to appear at the cave entrance. It was evening now, and Rino felt a little dizzy from exhausted his already depleted mana supply trying to teleport over from his study. Walking under the sun in such a condition would be a disaster. Rino would easily be toppled in one hit even if nobody knew it.

"Maybe I should have summoned them over to the study instead," he grumbled but brushed it aside. There was no use in pondering over what was done.

Not long after, the earth gnomes welcomed Rino into their research lab. It was exactly how Rino imagined it to be - one organised chaos.

"How many gnomes are working on that farming tool project?"

Bink looked at the chaotic workshop and counted the gnomes present, excluding two who were simply looking at some type of map.

"About five are working on the farming project. Three are working on the underground lighting, two are working on mapping the mushroom living cave, and the rest are tinkering with new materials, experimenting on the newly grown crops to see if we could make something out of it."

From the brief explanation, Rino had a feeling everyone found themselves some kind of project to work on. How unfortunate!

"What about Deezer?" 

If there was one idle gnome, Rino bet that Deezer's name would be on top of that list.

"Oh, he's talking to the trolls and helping them to build that barn quicker. Who knows what that gnome is up to. After the soul bond, he must be very happy to spend his eternity with Sheila."

Bink's grumbling reminded Rino about his agreement to create a soul bond with any gnome who desires it. Thankfully, many of Town Zera's social problems were resolved. The harvest festival and the birth of new baby animals brought everyone together. That monster rabbit invasion gave these different species a reason to work even more closely than before.

"I see. Is there any gnome I could borrow who is good at designing big machinery and buildings? I received an oracle in my dream, but this is beyond me to comprehend."

When Bink heard "machinery", his eyes lit up like the stars in the night sky.

"Me! I'm not working on any important projects at the moment, so I could help. Actually, maybe Deezer, too, if he isn't too busy flirting. Deezer is better at the architecture stuff, but I work better with gears and parts."

That settled it. Rino had the experts he needed to create one of mankind's greatest inventions.

"Call Deezer over and meet me in the study," Rino instructed before summoning Mutt to take him back to his study. He was so low on mana that it was dizzying. Thankfully, the sun had set, and his loyal mount cost less mana than it would take to teleport back.

Giving the earth gnome leader a lift back to the town partway, Mutt howled and sniffed the air. They arrived back at Rino's study fairly quickly, and Rino was about to send Mutt back to the shadows when his hound spoke up.

"Master, should I fetch Deezer with Bink?"

Surprised that Mutt was now taking the initiative to offer help and make himself useful, Rino wondered if his increased intelligence was related to Rino's mass monster rabbit summoning. It wasn't a bad change, but Rino wondered just how powerful the monsters in living dungeons were compared to roaming ones.

"Go, bring them back hastily."

Mutt left to do his bidding, and Rino settled into his study, pulling out books, sketches and organising his material as he cleared some space for the earth gnomes.

There were simply too many questions about this new world, but Rino ignored it. There were more important projects to be done, and by tonight, he would soon find out what the crappy gods need him to do. It was either the windmill or waterwheel first. However, the most difficult to create had to be the grindstone and mill. As a court magician, Rino knew nothing about what the millers did.

Even the royal family was at the mercy of the millers, who were hailed as possibly the most important occupation among civilians. Back then, several occupations such as blacksmiths, tanners, and millers were paid very highly because of their skills that were not easily mastered. Other occupations such as tailor, cobbler and roof tilers and bakers were only found in cities. Those in smaller towns and villages were mostly farmers, with a few exceptions. Only the capital of the empire or wealthy nobles or guilds would employ adventurers, soldiers and mercenaries. Rino did not think that Town Zera would soon see the need for more job types.

With a windmill, Rino would need to gather more manpower to manage the mill. In addition, the waterwheel could be used to power the hammer for the smithing workshop. He saw a design his dwarven friend used in his previous life, but the idea remained vague. Rino doubted that any of his summons were skilful enough to smith things, and those who had the finesse did not have the power.

"Master, they've arrived."

Just as Rino put away his research journal, the shadow mount reappeared at the entrance of his study. Rino let them in and patted Mutt on the head before dismissing the sabre tooth wolf.

Making Bink and Deezer comfortable in the study, Rino cast an illusion at the study's entrance. Ordinarily, he would seal it off. However, the earth gnomes would find it too stuffy if they discussed the new project for hours.

"This is the design I saw and sketched out. Please take a look."

Deezer and Bink poured over the rough sketch of Rino's windmill schematic and started to discuss among themselves excitedly. The idea of harnessing wind power to move things never occurred to them before, and Bink asked what this building was used for.

"I was thinking of doubling it as a granary for Taro and rice. We could also store other dry grain harvests in it. However, the main purpose of this wooden panel design on the top is for this. I did not see the design clearly in my dream, but from what I know, these stones are meant to turn small grains into powdered dust."

The grindstone diagram was overly simple. Rino only drew what he knew from looking at others using a smaller version of the big mill. The stone hand grinder used by the poorer villagers was a very simple design. Rino only knew how the bottom grindstone was fixed in place while the top grindstone was fitted over it to be turned by hand.

The grindstone did not make a noise when turned if nothing was poured into the centre of the top grindstone's hole. It led Rino to think that the two stone plates were not actually touching. However, he still had no idea how turning two stone plates could transform wheat grains into wheat powder used to make bread.

Bink and Deezer studied the puzzling grindstone design and asked what it was used for.

"Why must we turn harvested grain into powder?" Bink asked. "So far, we tested the different ways of cooking the grains. Boiling them for about half an hour in the water cooks them."

Rino hummed. Ordinarily, this was good enough. In a world like this, where food was scarce, having anything to eat at all was a gift. However, Rino couldn't simply be satisfied with this level of gastronomy. Kragami complained about taste all the time, and if Rino was honest, he just missed the taste of freshly baked pizza.

"Grains easily spoil. Powder grains store better for longer."

Hearing the reason Rino just made up on the spot, Bink and Deezer became completely convinced that the monarch of solitude had good foresight. Rino retained his poker face and tried not to feel guilty at tricking his adopted sons into thinking of a solution to build something meant to indulge in his guilty pleasure.