Chapter 93. Measure twice

Who could I even ask about crafting magical items?

Zeldi was not going to have any idea.

Tarakona had no use for them.

Maybe Voras or Dríade?

Apart from them having a violent past I knew very little about them. Would either of them have any skills we could use?

Can an Alchemist use it?

"If I was to go about turning your antlers into items, how would I do that?" I brought her antler back out of my inventory and stared at it hoping a notification from the system answered my question.

It did not.

"I had a personal friend work with them so that I could keep there effectiveness a secret so I am unsure myself." Tilty flinched like I was going to hit her.

"So need some specialist skills. Got it." I hummed. What are the chances I could get someone with those skills.

I'd stopped right in front of the automatic butcher as I said that. My mind trying to come up with ways to use Tilty's antlers as well as trying to figure out my automatic butcher situation.

Eventually I gave up on the antlers as it wasn't something I could do right now, the automatic butcher however was. So I went to one side and put my feet directly in front of one another to measure out the size of the thing after putting the antler back into my inventory.

Tarakona would be the fastest way to dig the hole but I could still get the size of the celler needed without her. It also gave me something to do that I felt was contributing towards the farm.

You really need to spend more time investigating my rewards for you.

Zeldi (Centaur milk D-)

Tarakona (Dragon eggs F-)

Voras (Arachnid silk C+)

Dríade (Dryad fruit B-)

Tilty (Fawn antlers F-)

The last reward appeared unprompted in my sight.

Ummm. And what exactly am I supposed to see? It's a great way of keeping track of the girls rarities but doesn't do much else.

I swear. You have some of the strangest ideas but miss what is right in front of you. Here, this reward was meant to make it easier for you to keep track of all your Livestocks current tasks and abilities.

Zeldi (Centaur milk D-)

Tarakona (Dragon eggs F-)

Voras (Arachnid silk C+)

Dríade (Dryad fruit B-)

Tilty (Fawn antlers F-)

There, you were ment to investigate each of your Livestock in this when you got it. Now you don't need to keep asking them every time you need to know something.

What about their rewards for their quests?

... Your priority is the quests themselves not the reward.

You forgot to add it didn't you?

If you so desperately want it I will add it as another quest reward.

I almost laughed at how, human? It was for the Deed to make a mistake. It also gave me a little insight into how it was structuring my quests and rewards. Even though I knew it was just making a lot of it up as it went. My own sleep with Voras quest was evidence of that.

Tilty was still watching as I counted out the feet lengths of the automatic butcher and began to trace an outline a little bit further away. This gave me a rough outline of how big the hole needed to be and I added a second right beside it.

Now how do I actually want it to go?

I would need some way to be able to access both butchers so I could either make space on either side or have a gap in the middle.

The middle was the better option at that would allow me to touch both without having to go very far.

That reminds me.

I went back over to the one I already had and placed the meat it had already made into my inventory. I then experimented and tried a few different types of meat but it was all the same in terms of quantity. One kilogram every hour. So I left it on eye fillet because it was my personal favorite cut. Need to ask Tarakona what hers is if it's all pretty much going to her.

It was a little bit of a struggle not to salivate at the meat especially because I wasn't going to have any... Okay maybe I was going to have some. If Tarakona has a successful hunt today.

To distract myself I returned to planning out the bunker by expanding the sides by just over a meter. I could give it more room if it was easy to do later but for now it was enough.

Unless there was something else I wanted to put in here?

I mean if there were some equally ugly looking buildings that I needed but didn't want to look at.

That was hard to determine without buying a few of them first and even if I did make it big I lack the knowledge to make a strong, ceiling? I guess.

I couldn't make it strong enough for Tarakona to stand on is what I'm trying to get at. And telling my Dragon that she couldn't stand somewhere when she was already so limited in terms of space wasn't the best idea.

So small bunker for just the butchers would do the trick.

I gave the outline a bit more distance on one side to account for stairs then took a step back to see how it looked.

It wasn't bad and would do the trick but little else. It was not to far from the house so if it was raining I wouldn't get very wet.

I could add a roof over the gap at a later date.

Dríade took this opportunity to join us and gave my outline a mock glare. "Soooo, not to be a complete bitch but please tell me you are burying that ugly thing at the next opportunity. Because if you're not can I ask the blue Dragon to throw it somewhere I can't see?"

I scoffed at her words but couldn't deny it. "Yeah definitely putting it in the hole when it's dug, but unless you want said Dragon to go hungry we need it. Plus a few more."

Dríade huffed before flying over and sitting on the silver box. "Bloody hell, it's not even soft to sit on. Hey Deed owner! How big of an ass do you think I need to actually want to sit on it?"

"Big enough that it looks fake." I replied back rechecking my measurements. Once I was sure everything was right I asked the Dryad about what she wanted. "Hey Dríade?"

"Yeesssss." She drew out as she flew up and started to walk on top of the butcher with her wings fluttering around. She was pretty I'd give her that.

"Did you want your own orchard or something? It wouldn't be anything fancy but I've been thinking we should add some fruit to our diet and with you being a Dryad and all." I let my sentence trail off as I thought back to the apple seeds I'd planted. They'd started to grow at least.

"What type of orchard?" Dríade snapped her attention back to me with such speed I felt the strain on her neck.

"Umm a fruit one?" I questioned before clarifying. "This contraption is my plan for meat and a simple farming plot would cover vegetables so a orchid would give us fruits. At least that's my plan for now and since you are here I thought why not give you the option to run it?"

I left out the part in my head that basically said 'because you are a tree' as that might not have ended well.

Dríade seemed frozen by the question until something seemed to reset in her brain. She then hopped off the automatic butcher and walked right up to me only stopping when her chest was pushing against my abdomen. She was wearing another orange one piece swimsuit that seemed to be common for her but it was sheer enough that her nipples were both visible and pokey.

Dríade stared at me for a long moment as I returned her gaze. Neither of us moved backwards as I didn't want to seem like a pushover just because she started throwing her tits around.

"A Dryad one." She finally said as if I knew what she ment.

"A Dryad orchard?" I questioned flexing the muscles in my chest so she knew what was touching me.

"A Dryad Grove." Dríade corrected and took a step back and for the first time I saw a faint bit of red coating her cheeks.

"Forgive me but what is a Dryad's Grove?"  The one to answer my question was not Dríade but Tilty.

"It's one of the rarest and most valuable things anyone can find." The Fawn gasped and came up towards us after staying on the sides. "It's a community of Dryad's all working together."

Dríade nodded to that but stayed quiet. Something about her seemed to have broken.

"Again please explain more to me, because no offense but I hardly see a bunch of Dryad's being more valuable than Livestock on this farm."

"Well from a magical point you are correct but a Dryad Grove normally has around one hundred or more Dryad's in it." Tilty explained.

Again I non verbally asked her to continue.

"What she's trying to say is that if that many Dryad's were in one place it would provide enough food to feed a nation." Dríade took over. "And it would attract many. And I do mean many different species such as pollinators and fey folk who would love the opportunity to live close to us."

"Still not quite seeing the big deal here. The food would be nice but more people especially on my farm means more problems." I challenged.

Dríade seemed to smile at that. "Dryad's, myself included are fiercely loyal to those they trust. If a certain Deed owner was to offer them protection on his farm and in return only ask for enough food to feed his Livestock and himself. It wouldn't be hard to see them wanting to make sure there is as little drama as possible. No one can enter your farm without permission after all."

"And you would have an army that couldn't die." Tilty finished offering a shiver at the realization.

That... Okay that sounds awesome.

"And I would be the Grove mother." Dríade continued as her eyes seemed to shine before snapping back to me. "When can I begin?"