Crystal Magic Adventure: A Tale of Discovery

Chapter 14: Sweat, Tears and Blood

"Hurry up!"

"Yes, yes, I know," Lila said in her mind.

She was too winded to speak aloud even if she wanted to. Her face was wet with sweat and water. She had been working at Roland's shop for two weeks by now, and this was the first time she woke up late. Well, it wasn't entirely her own fault. For a long time, she could only sleep with one eye open, and she always woke up whenever a sound, no matter how big or small, came from the hall. Now that she had been here for half a month with nothing dangerous happening, she was finally starting to feel safe. However, lack of sleep coupled with tiredness from hard work finally caught up to her today. If Crystal hadn't splashed her with water, she probably would have slept until noon. She might have cussed at Crystal due to being woken up in such a way. When she realized what time it was, she quickly forgot her anger in favor of getting ready for the day and then blazed through the streets of Cimia. By the time she reached the shop, the sun was fully up, and Roland had already started his daily routine.

"What do you think you're doing? These logs aren't going to carve themselves. Get to work, you slacker!" Roland yelled at Lila when she entered.

"I-I'm s... I'm sorry for being..." Lila panted, "For being late. I was—"

"It doesn't matter; grab them tools and get to that log! Hurry, hurry, hurry. Come on, chop chop!"

Hearing Roland's command to stop wasting more time, Lila took off her hat and went over to the counter, grabbing the peeling spud and the dull knife. When she first started working, she proved Roland right because she was too weak to lift the huge logs off the ground, which almost got her fired on the spot. She asked him to let her prove that she knew what she was doing, even if she didn't have the arm strength to raise the logs. She debarked the logs and cut them with a saw to get them roughly into the needed shape. Roland then smoothed them out with the wood planer and did the final touches with a chisel. He still had to do the heavy lifting himself, but her help made making wooden beams much faster. Roland gave her a raise too after her first week since he managed to deliver his orders faster than expected, all thanks to Lila's efforts.

For Lila, using metal equipment was an eye-opener. They made things so much easier and more accurate compared to their flint counterparts. Compared to the amount of labor and time she spent on a single log with the equipment back at Gladeside, this was nothing. Also, since she was eating well and working at the carpenter, along with her private magic training with Crystal, she built considerable muscle mass in just two weeks. Her entire body was getting toned at an unprecedented pace. She suspected that it was due to her faster digestion since she spent mana on top of carpentry.

After grabbing the tools, Lila immediately got to work. She might have been hot-headed and rebellious but she didn't dare to make Roland grumpier than his usual self. She quickly debarked the log, and Roland came over to draw the required shape with a piece of charcoal. She then grabbed the whaleback saw and cut the log accordingly, making sure to stay outside the lines.

"You're still lacking accuracy, greenhorn. These are all slightly curved," Roland said after taking a look at the pieces she made.

"How can you be sure? You didn't even check them properly."

"I don't need to. When you get to my level, you can tell just by looking," he continued, "Now, help me get them on the table and roll another one."

This process went on for hours until Lila was too exhausted to continue. Her muscles were tired, and her limbs felt like they were about to fall off. Roland was still good to go but decided to call a break to let the girl catch her breath.

"Before you leave for lunch, we gotta talk," Roland said.

Lila got curious. What could he possibly talk about? It's not like they knew each other very well, and Roland wasn't talkative at all. Oh no, he was going to fire her, wasn't he? He probably found someone with much better skills for much less.