The Slime Farmer

Turq was in his arms, because he needed to be cheered up by that inexplicably comforting squishy firmness of the slime.

Digging holes by himself yesterday had fully brought to light how poor the tools in the old warehouse were. Even after he got one of the builders to fix the old tools to serviceable quality, they were still old.

It would be better to just sell all the old things for sc.r.a.p metal.

Now that the builders were finis.h.i.+ng up, he couldn"t keep relying on them to fix up the old tools from the Garge homestead.

Really, how had Kern and Leraine coped all these years with worn-down tools? Wasn"t farming their main source of income?

He flexed his fingers, grimacing slightly at their still faintly numb state. The haphazardly repaired spade had caused slight blisters to form on his palms.

It was clearly time for new spades and hoes. Also, a new axe, since Karles had offhandedly mentioned that the sc.r.a.p wood had been placed in a shed for firewood. Clearly the man had seen that there was no firewood in his central hall, nearing winter as it was.

Since Defi had been relying on Emblems to warm up, he"d neglected the hearth in the large hall. It was too large to simply light up every day on a whim, and he was away from the house most of the day.

If he kept embers burning in the fireplace, what if some spark got out of the hearth and burned the central hall down.

That would certainly have Aire be decidedly more despairing at the kind of "hospitality" implied by burning down his own receiving hall, wouldn"t it?

His lips curled up slightly.

Thinking about what winter would be like in these chilly mountains, Defi lost his amus.e.m.e.nt. Had he been too busy feeling sorry for himself and lamenting all he lost that he neglected such an important consideration?

This empire beyond the Gate functioned on Emblems. If he really wanted to light the hearth, then there should be Emblems to keep embers burning so that it would be easy to make a fire at any time, Emblems to keep the fire from leaping out the grate, Emblems for safety and convenience.

He had not thought of it.

Even if winter in Ontrea was so short that the water in the irrigation ditches barely iced over, even if he was not used to making such preparations for a snowy winter, it was too large an oversight for him.

His fingers clenched into fists.

He finally admitted to himself that even with his firm resolution to live in this world, he had been avoiding thinking too much about the future.

It was the end of the month of Rainfall, and there were three months of Autumn in the Ascharonian calendar before the month of Snowfall dawned.

The reminder from Karles, a whole three months before snow actually fell, meant that the Lowpool winters must be difficult. From the names of the months, he could tentatively confirm such a supposition.

After Snowfall, there was the month of Icewerth, then the month of Snowmelt before the first of the three months of Spring. The month of Snowmelt was the first of the thirteen months of the Ascharonian calendar and according to Farbar was when people started to ready the fields for the next planting season.

The year would only grow colder from the present, which Defi was not looking forward to. He could feel his limbs almost shrivel at the thought of the impending icy future.

He squeezed Turq tightly to himself.

He shook his head. He had one or two months to get ready for the winter yet. That was enough time, wasn"t it?

Defi had entered the smith"s shop for tools, not to worry himself thinking of his very first winter.

He should be excited for the experience, yes? He was in a wondrous new world! A snowy winter was something he had never seen before. 

Surely come spring, he would be all the better for having experienced it! 

Come spring, he would be all the happier for the warming weather, and he definitely would not be a frozen corpse in the corner of his cold central hall because he ran out of firewood…

"Young sir, are you well?"

Defi jolted out of his thoughts at the question.

There was a middle-aged man looking at him in concern, with black hair curling around his shoulders and a small neatly-kept moustache. It was not Charol, who had been minding the shop the last time Defi came.

He looked somewhat familiar, but Defi could not remember where he saw the man.

"Certainly," Defi said calmly, his tight hug on Turq not loosening. "Why should I not be?"

The man hesitated, then smiled in the way that shopkeepers smiled when they were forcibly ignoring a customer"s eccentricities. "Of course there would be no reason. May I help you? Are you interested in…builder"s nails?"

Defi glanced in the direction the man had looked. Defi had indeed stopped to brood beside a barrel of wrought iron nails.

Beside the barrel of nails were several boxes of various types of small metallic hook-and-eye sets. Weren"t those the sort used in delicate clothing?

How strange that they were sold next to builder"s equipment.

A hand patted his shoulder, and Defi looked up to see a rather intense gaze set on him. "Fasteners, young one, just one crescent a kilogar. I guarantee they will keep for years without rusting, and if you buy multiple types, you can match them with any sort of…project."

"Ah." Defi moved out from under the man"s hand, slightly bewildered. Then he put the pieces together, and nearly hit the man.

Did this shopkeep just imply that Defi was the sort to wear women"s undergarments?

Men"s undergarments used the fasteners too!

The inane thought, of how many men came to a blacksmith shop to buy fasteners so they can make "alternate" underclothing, crossed Defi"s mind.

He pushed it away and made a note to take care where he brooded in the future. "I"d like to buy four spades, two shovels, and a good axe."

The man nodded knowingly at the words. "Of course, of course, young sir. Our spades are merely two klaud and forty each, our shovels the same. Our wood-axes cost four klauds. I a.s.sure you, you"ll find no better price anywhere within a hundred kilomar!"

The man was oozing pride at the words. Defi nodded, ignoring the sly looks.

 "I am Fraise, young sir," continued the man. "With your large purchase, I can ask one of my many nephews to send them to your residence. If I may?"

Defi nodded. "Garge homestead."

The man froze. He looked at Turq, who was in Defi"s arms, then narrowed his eyes on Defi"s face.

"You…" His face contorted. "You"re the whelp of a farmboy that is the reason little Agreine left town in tears!"

Oh. Now he remembered. This was one of the people standing with Calor Ducan the first time Defi met Agreine in the town hall.

"She left because of me?" Defi put on a surprised face. "How strange. We had little to do with each other, after all."

Fraise"s moustache quivered in outrage, and he leaned threateningly close. "You little mutt—"

Turq chose that moment to interrupt with an explosion, unable to endure Defi"s tight hug anymore.

A drop of liquid slid off the rather sharp point of a now drooping moustache.

"Ah." Defi commented faintly. He loosened his arms from around Turq.

Fraise"s eyes were blankly bulging.

Needless to say, Defi did not manage to acquire tools from the blacksmith shop that day.

**

Chapter End

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