Ch76: Rethinking the Renovations
The faint sound of stone grinding against stone accompanies one of the short stools being slid across the floor. In just a matter of moments it has been moved to a spot that is close, but not too close, to where the Dwarf is sitting by the fire. “[Did you enjoy the hot spring?]” Krvavy casually asks, taking her seat.
“[Yes. The water was rather pleasant for what it is.]” Inanna replies with a nod, pulling her rather intense gaze away from the flames. “[Do you have a brush or a comb that I may use? I am having some difficulties drying my hair]”
“[Oh. Here.]” Krvavy leans to the side and reaches down, grabbing onto a freshly sculpted stone comb just as it disconnects from the ground.
Rather than take the offered comb, the Dwarf simply raises an eyebrow and gestures back to her hair. “[Do you mind giving me a hand?]”
“[Sure, no problem.]” Krvavy easily responds, sliding off of her seat to kneel behind Inanna.
This Dwarf has a lot of hair. It rises up from her head before cascading all the way down to the ground, spreading out to the sides as it does so, completely and utterly obscuring Inanna from behind as she sits on that stool. The barbarian can’t see even a little bit of skin past this coal-black mass that she is carefully combing through. Not as long as she stays directly behind Inanna, at least.
Honestly, if it wasn’t for the Dwarf’s massive tits, then Krvavy would be willing to bet that there is more volume to this thick mane than the rest of her short but incredibly stacked body...
“[It is... a cultural practice.]” Inanna slowly speaks up.
“[Huh?]”
“[My hair.]” The short grey-skinned woman clarifies. “[We Dwarves take pride in our hair. Men let their beards grow out as they age, and we women do the same with the hair atop our heads.]”
Krvavy glances down to where a considerable amount of it is resting on the floor. “[Doesn’t that get a bit... impractical?]”
“[Yes.]” The Dwarf replies without even a moments hesitation. “[But I enjoy having long hair, even if it can be a lot of work. I am still a Dwarf. I still have pride in it. Though it is getting to a length where I am considering braiding it up.]”
“[Not going to give it a trim?]”
“[No.]” Inanna coldly responds, before taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling. Which makes her massive breasts rise and fall in such a wonderful way... “[Cutting hair is a punishment for crimes, with the more severe charges removing more hair. While I know that doesn’t matter here, I still find myself holding that belief in my mind.]”
“[So... you think Beryl is a criminal?]” Krvavy playfully asks, glancing over to the tanned Wood Elf and her chin length hair.
“[She is an Elf. And a Wood Elf at that.]” The faintest bit of mirth fills the Dwarf’s voice, though it quickly fades away as she return to her usual completely neutral tone. “[But no. That is only how we see fellow Dwarves. It is difficult to judge other races on that when they often have trouble growing proper beards in the first place.]”
“[Fair enough.]” Krvavy simply shrugs her shoulders, falling silent as a comfortable quiet descends on the room. Running this comb through Inanna’s hair is... quite relaxing. Repetitive, in a good way. On top of that... this huge mass of hair has surprisingly few tangled knots, and the ones that the barbarian does find are fairly easy to undo. So this isn’t a difficult or frustrating job in any way.
But as nice as Inanna’s hair is, it will definitely be a nightmare when they get the bathroom built. It would probably take just one or two long strands of this thick hair to clog up any shower drain. Hopefully this Dwarf will know some way to keep that from happening, with a specialized drain or something of the sort...
After all, she will be the one designing all that bathroom stuff, for the most part.
“Are you going to spend all day doing that?” Thea asks, impatience and annoyance clear in her voice.
“She has a lot of hair.” The barbarian idly responds, still combing through the thick mass of Inanna’s hair.
“Ugh! You said that she can help build our home! So get on with it!”
“Yeah... about that...” Krvavy slowly begins, causing Thea to rather grumpily glare at her. “She can help us with the plumbing. The actual building will still take just as long, as it is still just me moving these bricks around. But if I had more mana...”
The silver-blonde brat narrows her eyes and crosses her arms as Krvavy trails off on that implication. It seems that, despite how much she wants the house to be finished, Thea still doesn’t like the idea of being used simply to recharge Krvavy’s mana.
“Alright then. Fine.” The barbarian clicks her tongue in mock disappointment. She knew that her brat would respond like that. “Guess we’ll have to stick with this slow pace as I tear down these walls.”
“What?” Thea coldly asks, her eye twitching slightly.
“Now that we can have an actual bathroom, well, I’m rethinking the floor plan a little bit.” Krvavy states, ignoring her brat’s clear annoyance. “That room is no longer going to be your closet. You’ll still get one, don’t worry, but not right here. Instead, I want to make that the master bathroom. Which means that I’ll need to move the walls around to make it a bit bigger.”
“And how long will that take?” The silver-blonde brat icily asks.
Krvavy simply shrugs her shoulders.
“I demand tha–”
“Relax.” The barbarian cuts the girl off. “We’ll have an actual bathroom set up before I get around to that. I don’t want to experiment with making toilets right next to where we eat and sleep. That’s just asking for trouble.”
Thea slowly exhales, trying to calm herself down. “Where will that be then?”
“No idea.” Krvavy responds, immediately getting another glare from her girl. “It’ll be wherever Inanna wants it to be. She’s the one who knows what to do.”
The Dwarf slightly turns her head upon hearing her name, though she remains silent.
“Then get on with it already!”
“Alright, if that’s what you want.” The barbarian shrugs. A teasing smile plays at her lips as she meets the beautiful brat’s soft-blue eyes. “Have fun balancing arrows, or whatever it is that Beryl is making you do~.”
Thea makes a pouting noise before indignantly crossing her arms and turning away.
Krvavy’s heart flutters as she watches that girl exaggeratedly storm off. After a moment, she gently shakes her head. “[Inanna,]” she directly addresses the Dwarf, “[are you ready to help build our home? Thea is getting a bit... impatient.]”
“[You need help with the plumbing, correct?]” Inanna asks, looking back over her shoulder to see the barbarian nod. “[Then yes, we can begin. But do not get your hopes up. This isn’t something that can be done in a day. At least not with the limited resources you have on hand.]”
“[I know.]” Krvavy responds as the Dwarf turns around to face her.
“[Now, where are the sources of water you wish to use? There is another beyond the hot springs, I presume?]”
“[Well, we get our drinking water from a stream further up the path.]” The Drakling tilts her head in the direction of her hoard, even though there is currently a wall in the way. “[I have been thinking about diverting some of it down here, but it is kind of small.]”
“[We would need a water tank, a reservoir, anyway. But that is something to consider. It doesn’t hurt to have a separate line for drinking water.]” Inanna responds with a thoughtful nod. She slowly rotates on the spot, staying on her stool but now facing the barbarian that she is conversing with. “[There are some benefits to using the hot spring water, but there could also be some potential issues. Mineral buildup is my main concern.]”
“[Oh? I’m not sure how mineral...ly the water is. I’ve never felt crusty or anything after drying off.]”
The Dwarf subtly shakes her head. “[It could be such a small amount that it is imperceptible to people, but over time it can still be an issue. Though I suppose your magic may mitigate that...]”
After a few seconds of thinking, Inanna abruptly stands up. Krvavy has to quickly lean back to avoid getting her face buried in the Dwarf’s massive breasts, though a part of her immediately regrets that. It would have been nice to have those huge, soft yet firm–
“[Would you accompany me to the hot springs?]” Inanna’s question cuts through Krvavy’s thoughts. “[I focused more on cleaning myself than having a look around when I was down there.]”
“[Sure.]” The barbarian immediately answers, quickly rising to her feet and trying to ignore the slight bit of lust flowing through her. She isn’t exactly in the mood after all that happened yesterday, but more than that... she is trying to be professional and polite.
Inanna nods and turns away, acting like she didn’t notice the semi-hard cock hovering in front of her face.
Krvavy maintains a slow pace as she walks alongside the Dwarf, making sure to keep a little bit of distance between them to avoid any unwanted contact. A part of her is rather thankful for the sheer amount of hair that Inanna has, as it helps to hide the fact that the Dwarf is naked. Kind of. Krvavy still has a perfect view of Inanna’s huge tits, staring down at them from above, but at least this short woman’s ass is hidden. No need to flaunt that extra bit of temptation...
“[I presume that you would like to leave the hot springs intact and not simply pump water from them?]” The Dwarf asks as she approaches the first pool of water along the path.
“[Of course.]” Krvavy answers almost immediately.
“[Then you will most certainly need to build a well.]”
“[That shouldn’t be a problem.]” The barbarian confidently declares.
“[Mmm.]” Inanna idly hums as she slowly walks around the edge of the hot spring pool, looking down at the water.
Krvavy simply stands back and watches as the Dwarf gradually makes her way over to the cave wall.
“[In here would be best, I believe.]” Inanna raps her knuckles against the stone.
The barbarian curiously raises an eyebrow. “[In the wall?]”
“[Mhm. You’ll need a room for the pumps. Unless you want the constant noise to ruin the ambience of this hot spring?]”
“[Alright.]” Krvavy says with a nod. “[Guess I’d better get to work then.]”
Inanna steps back and watches curiously as Krvavy uses Sculpt Stone to pull a brick straight out of the wall. “[So this is how you built your home...]” She idly states as the brick gently thuds onto the ground.
“[Hmm?]” The barbarian makes a slightly confused noise and glances back at the Dwarf. Krvavy has used this spell in front of Inanna before, as she couldn’t be bothered to find enough stones for all the campfires she had to make on the journey home. Not to mention the comb she made just a bit ago, though the Dwarf wasn’t entirely looking at her when she did that...
“[Do not mind me. Just thinking aloud.]” Inanna slowly waves her hand, before turning her eyes to the stone brick. “[Though, if you would like, I could give you a hand to help move these.]”
“[Sure.]” Krvavy shrugs and raises her hands back up to the wall, ready to pull out another brick.
Level Up! You have reached Level 13. As a Drakling blessed by a divine power, you have 5 attribute points to allocate and have gained +2 to Might & Toughness. If not allocated by the time you fall asleep it will be done automatically.
+1 Divine Favour, for growing in strength.
“Oh.” Krvavy mutters out as those notifications pop up into her vision. She didn’t expect to level up from this, but she isn’t complaining either.
“[Do you mind if I take a break?]” Inanna asks as she takes the stone brick from Krvavy’s hands. “[My arms are starting to get sore.]”
“[Go ahead. I could probably use one as well.]” The barbarian replies. She isn’t even close to getting tired, as Inanna has saved her from having to constantly crouch down, but she does have a level up to deal with. All five points are going into Insight, which means that she is getting a new trait.
Intuition & Insight I: Increases Insight by 5%, strengthens the effect it has on Total Stamina & Total Mana, and it now slightly affects Mana Regeneration. Associated attribute = Insight.
Well, it’s an improvement, that’s for sure. It isn’t the most exciting trait, but it did what Krvavy wanted it to: it gave her more mana. She would love to invest her next few levels into Rationality, as that would boost her mana by quite a bit, but she needs to get her Composure up next. So it looks like her next few levels aren’t going to be the most exciting either... But at least her self control should improve...?
With a shake of her head Krvavy puts those thoughts aside and steps back, exiting the hole that she has been digging into the wall.
The barbarian takes a minute to look at her progress, and even though it doesn’t look like much a bit of pride still wells up inside of her. Not having to use mana to meld these bricks back together has let her remove even more than she would normally be able to, though it also means that she has a large pile of them right next to the hot spring...
And sitting on that stacked pile of bricks is Inanna. She doesn’t seem tired or anything, and considering the fact that she has almost as much stamina as Krvavy does it is likely that the Dwarf is simply being prudent in taking this break. Granted, she has been moving around a lot more than the barbarian. And they are surrounded by hot steamy mist. Not the best conditions to work in, to be honest.
“[So... What do you think?]” The question simply causes Inanna to raise an eyebrow, forcing Krvavy to elaborate. “[How hard will it be to get running water and proper plumbing set up?]”
“[Mmm. Normally it would be a fairly simple affair.]” The Dwarf slowly replies. “[But the material constraint will make it much more difficult. I will have to get creative to build a functional pump completely out of stone. Not to mention that the pipes will need regular maintenance to ensure that they are not eroding away.]”
Krvavy frowns ever so slightly at that. To be completely honest, she hadn’t really thought about how only being able to use stone could be an issue, even though it seems pretty obvious. Well, its not like they have much of a choice right now. She’ll have to look into getting some actual pipes at some point, but that is more of a distant future thing.
“[Beyond that, there aren’t any other pressing issues.]” Inanna states with a shrug. “[The elevation we’ll need to pump the water up isn’t too much that it’ll cause any problems. And the same can be said for it’s proximity to your home.]”
“[That’s... good. I guess.]”
“[Mhm.]” The Dwarf hums in agreement, before deeply breathing out and rising from her impromptu seat on the neatly stacked pile of bricks. “[I am ready to get back to work if you are.]”
“[Alright.]” Krvavy replies, rolling her shoulders as she turns back to the wall. That was a rather short break, but if that was all Inanna needed then she isn’t going to complain. Krvavy doesn’t have enough mana to get this all done today, but there is still a lot that she can do. So she’d best get back to work.
With a bit of mana, Krvavy pulls another brick free from the wall.