by Eric Vall
“Of course,” Balabar scoffed. “Easy.”
“But have you ever used a chisel like this?” Nicola held up the modern chisel I’d received, and the gnomish man raised his eyebrows.
“No, not exactly,” he muttered. “Still, it doesn’t look that hard.”
“Be humble, Balabar,” Nissa scolded her husband as she patted the baby on her chest.
“Okay, let’s get started!” the brunette cut in. “Why don’t we collect the first batch of sand from the stream?”
“Thank you for your leadership, Nicola,” Wilfrim said as he grinned at the brunette. “I like when a woman tells me what to do.”
“Wilfrim, I swear.” Elowise rolled her eyes. “You never do what I tell you, so I hope you’ll listen to Nicola a little better.”
“So, to the stream!” the old gnome man announced as if he hadn’t heard his wife. “Nicola, what do you have to carry the sand in?”
“We have the pots you gave us, but they’re back in the garden,” the brunette explained. “If you’d like to get them, Wilfrim, that would be wonderful.”
“Of course, my dear,” the gnome responded. “Balabar, come with me. See you soon, everyone.”
Wilfrim and Balabar walked off toward the garden, and Elowise looked at Nicola with merry eyes.
“I’m sorry, sweetie,” the old gnome woman laughed. “I know he’s gotten a little out of control lately. I can’t seem to stop him, anyway.”
“It’s fine,” the brunette assured Elowise. “I can handle it.”
“You don’t mind when he… talks to other women?” Penelope asked with wide eyes.
“Wilfrim and I have been married for eighty years,” the old woman explained. “He’s always been a flirt, but he’s stayed loyal to me all this time, and that’s worth a lot.”
“Eighty years…” Aleia repeated as her eyes misted over. “That’s so romantic.”
I was dying to have one of the priestesses ask the gnomes how old they were, but I didn’t think that would be polite. They appeared to have plenty of life left in them, in any case.
“It’s been a long time since our wedding day,” Elowise responded with a smile. “Do you girls ever want to get married?”
Both Aleia and Nicola had told me they wanted to marry me as of late, but I wasn’t sure they wanted to talk about that kind of marriage with the gnome woman.
“Of course,” Penelope replied with shining eyes. “Now that I am pregnant with our lord’s baby, I would love nothing more than to marry him.”
“And how would that work, dear?” Elowise asked in a mildly curious tone.
“You’re not surprised she said that?” Nicola asked with her brow furrowed.
“I’m just trying to be open to all possibilities.” The old gnome woman shrugged. “I have to admit, our days have brightened since we met the three of you, and Jack clearly adds a lot to your lives.”
“Our days have brightened, too,” Penelope responded with a smile.
“Here are the pots,” Wilfrim said as he walked up to the group of women. “Should we go get some sand?”
“Yes, let’s get started,” Nicola agreed as she reached out her hand for a container. “I’ll work on getting sand all day, and you can build. You will do a good job, right?”
“Of course!” Balabar scoffed.
“Good!” the brunette said with a big smile, and she patted the younger gnome on his shoulder and tilted his pointed hat slightly to the side. “That’s what I like to hear.”
The dark-haired woman began to walk down the hill toward the creek with Wilfrim, and Balabar adjusted his cap and grunted with frustration before he followed the pair.
“I need to go to the garden and make mortar,” Penelope said to the group. “Would anyone like to join me?”
“Why don’t you let me do that?” Elowise offered. “I’m familiar with the process. You can come with me, and we can chat, but I’d like to let you rest a little.”
I wondered if the naiad would argue, but the blue woman nodded her head.
“Thank you, Elowise,” Penelope said in a grateful voice. “I don’t think I’m going to let you do all the work, but I’d appreciate the company.”
“What should I do?” Nissa pondered. “I have to be honest that digging while I held Roza yesterday wasn’t easy, but I would like to help out. Penelope, would you like to watch the baby for me? I should warn you, she is a little fussy today.”
“It might be a tooth,” Elowise said in an all-knowing voice.
“Oh, poor Roza,” Penelope cooed as the blonde gnome held out the small baby. “Of course I want to hold you. You don’t feel good today? Can Aunt Penelope help?”
“Aunt Penelope, that’s cute,” Nissa laughed, but then her expression turned to a bashful smile. “I’ve always wanted my children to have a big family.”
“It’s been just us for a long time, that’s for sure,” Wilfrim sighed as he walked up to the group of women with a large pot of sand in his arms. He set the container on the ground and wiped his forehead with the back of his arm, which left a big stripe of sweat on his white shirt.
“Alright,” Nicola said to the group as she came up hoisting a huge container of sand over her shoulder. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but I’ve got a lot of sand here, and I’d like to pour it into the trench so I can go get more.”
“Of course, Nicola, let me get out of your way.” Wilfrim held out an arm in the direction of the ditch, and the brunette dumped out her sand.
“It didn’t fill very much,” Nicola pouted. “I was hoping it would look like more.”
“Well, let me add mine to the trench, too, and you do yours, Balabar,” the old gnome man instructed his son.
Once the two gnomish men had poured their sand in, Nicola peered into the ditch and scratched her head.
“It still doesn’t look like very much,” the brunette said as she scrunched up her face. “I wish we had Aleia helping us…”
“What do you need?” the fairy asked as she glided down next to the other priestess with an armful of limestone.
“Oh, help with the sand.” Nicola waved her hand in the air. “You’re probably too busy.”
“I think Aleia should help,” I told the women. “It will go much faster with the two of you carrying the sand, Nicola, and the gnomes can build. They say they can do it, so let’s have them try.”
“Who’s going to teach them how we want it made?” the brunette asked.
“Do you understand the basics?” I asked. “I’m happy to explain it to you.”
“It’s too bad they can’t hear you directly, Jack,” Penelope said.
“What is it like to hear your god’s voice in your head?” Balabar asked. “I don’t know if I’d like that.”
“It’s just like speaking with a kind being you can’t see,” the naiad explained with a mysterious smile on her lips, and she patted Roza on the back. “Should we go to the garden, Elowise?”
The two women walked away, and Nicola looked up at the sky.
“Well, Jack?” the dark-haired woman asked.
“Why are you asking him?” Balabar scoffed. “It’s as if you don’t trust we know what we are doing.”
“Balabar, you’re just slowing everything down,” Nissa chided her husband as she put her hands on her hips. “Stop complaining all the time.”
“Oh, fine,” the gnome man sighed. “Why don’t we go get more sand so we can get all this work out of the way?”
“Why don’t you let me do a load along with Balabar and Wilfrim, and you can stay here with Nissa, Nicola?” Aleia offered. “It can’t hurt for you to take a little break, sister.”
“Thank you, Aleia,,” the brunette said in a grateful voice as everyone else but Nissa walked away. “Jack, is he right about laying the larger stones for the base?”
“He is,” I confirmed. “And then you can fit smaller stones on top of those and cover it with a layer of mortar, and then you’ll keep building upward. You can use th
e new mallet to tamp the stones down.”
“That sounds easy enough,” the dark-haired woman said with pursed lips. “I’ve never built a wall, but I can picture how it’s all going to fit together. Thank you, Jack.”
“Nicola, do you wish to marry your god as well?” Nissa asked the brunette with wide eyes. “Something about the way you speak to him…”
“Why would you ask that?” The dark-haired woman flushed and coughed. “That’s a personal question.”
“Because it seems like you love him so much,” the blonde gnome sighed as she looked down at the ground. “Maybe we don’t know each other well enough to talk about it…”
“I’m sorry, Nissa,” Nicola apologized. “Of course we’re friends. I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s only that I’m more… private than Penelope in some respects.”
“I was too direct with you,” the gnome woman responded with a shrug. “I wasn’t trying to be rude, either.”
“Alright, more sand,” Aleia panted as she flew up to the other women and dumped her haul into the trench.
“You’re so fast,” Nissa commented. “You’re way ahead of my father-in-law and Balabar.”
The two gnome men had grimaces on their faces as they trudged slowly up the hill with loads of sand in their arms.
“Aleia is the fastest.” Nicola nodded. “Are your husband and Wilfrim okay?”
“I guess,” Nissa replied in a doubtful tone of voice. “They’re strong, but they just don’t move that fast. Maybe they’d be better at building… That they seem eager to handle.”
“I think she’s right,” I told the three women. “Aleia, you keep getting sand, and they can start on the wall itself. It’s going to take them long enough to move rocks.”
“That sounds good, my lord,” the fairy responded with a nod. “Nissa, I’m going to get more sand. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
As I watched the strawberry-blonde fly away, I couldn’t believe how fast she was moving. The gnomes were quick, too, as they sorted through the pile of limestone and began to organize rocks into different shapes and sizes.
Penelope and Elowise returned with a sleeping baby Roza on her grandmother’s chest and a large pot of mortar in the naiad’s arms. The blue woman handed off the mortar to the gnomes, and Balabar, Nissa, and Wilfrim began to fit pieces of limestone on top of the base stones.
The gnomes’ surprisingly fast fingers easily shaped the stone using the chisel and mallet, and when they got to a part of the wall they couldn’t reach with the ladder, Nicola stopped hauling sand to work on the upper parts.
“Wow, this is going fast,” I remarked to Penelope after an hour or two. The naiad had taken on the job of hanging out in the sun with Elowise and selecting the next stone for the gnomes to use. “I can’t believe how much they’ve built already.”
“They’re going to need to take a break soon,” the blue woman suggested. “They can’t just work forever, can they?”
“Aleia can,” I laughed. “Everyone else, probably not.”
“Let them keep working until they drop,” Elowise said in a dry voice. “They can handle it. I’d really like to get this project completed sooner so we don’t have to worry about getting up so early anymore.”
The old gnome woman wasn’t the only one. As the wall came together, I was obsessing more and more about leveling up.
After a few more hours, I couldn’t help but admire the gnomes’ work ethic and cheerful spirits even more. The group had managed to complete a stone boundary at least two feet high around the entire perimeter, and I was more than happy with their progress.
The gnomes finally shuffled home on their little legs with slumped, tired shoulders, proud smiles, and a promise to return.
My women were just as tired and proud, and they crawled into bed in one exhausted heap after filling their tummies with two whole trouts. They were so tired, they could hardly mumble their goodnights to me, but I didn’t mind. I loved seeing them so pleased and cuddled up after a long day’s work, and I needed to decide on a tool for the night as well.
I knew someone was going to have to dig holes for the gate posts, and I decided an auger would be more efficient than the stick the women had used when they built the gate.
I generally tried to spend equal time with the women, but my decision to choose a dream visit with Aleia again was partially pragmatic because it never hurt for the small, strong woman to be even more powerful. The more I played with the shy fairy’s wings, the more she begged me to fuck her over and over again. I’d never felt a pussy so wet and tight in my life, and trying to meet her seemingly endless needs brought me almost to the point of insanity.
The gnomes returned the next morning as promised with renewed energy and a willingness to keep on building. Even Balabar’s mood was more enthusiastic, and I had a feeling it was going to be a good day.
I hadn’t known it was possible for the team to work even harder than they had been, but the wall just grew and grew as the day went on.
Aleia went out to the forest to find the wood for the gates, and the gnomes installed the simple wooden doors with ease using the iron hinges they’d brought. The gnomes had come prepared with a stone hammer, but Wilfrim was interested in the women’s more modern tool, and he adapted to using the priestesses’ hammer with ease.
“I didn’t think they could keep going,” Penelope remarked after a couple more hours, “but I guess I was wrong. They might actually finish today.”
Just then, Roza opened her eyes and began to scream, and Penelope bounced the baby up and down and rubbed her on the back.
“I think she needs her mama,” Elowise commented, and she reached out for Roza. “I’ll have Nissa feed her.”
“Well, I’m hungry,” Penelope sighed once the older gnome woman was gone. “All I’ve had is fruit since this morning. I want to help them complete the wall, but I have to eat first.”
“Eh, you should relax,” I told the naiad. “They seem to be doing fine on their own, and you’re helping choose stones, anyway.”
“I just want to be important,” the naiad pouted.
“You’re the mother of my child,” I told the blue woman. “How much more important could you be?”
“Thank you, my lord,” Penelope said as her eyes grew bright with happy tears. “I’m glad you said that. Hey, look! I think they’re about to put the final stones in place.”
Nicola stood proudly at the top of the wall and put in the last rock, and suddenly one of my favorite messages flashed in front of my eyes.
Level Up!
Chapter 13
“We did it, Jack!” Nicola called out as she raised her trowel in the air with pride. “We have a wall!”
“You’re amazing,” I praised the priestesses. “Please tell the gnomes I think they’ve done an incredible job, too.”
“I hope we’ve met your expectations,” Wilfrim said before Penelope could give him my compliment, and he tugged on his long, white beard as he observed the wall. “You’ll clearly be a lot safer this way.”
“Oh, Wilfrim, maybe we should build a wall,” Elowise fretted. “But I’m happy these girls are going to be more protected, at least. This is no place to be a beautiful young woman, alone out in the wilderness.”
“We have Jack,” Penelope reminded her. “And speaking of our lord, he wanted me to tell you how much he admires your work.”
“Thank you kindly, Jack,” Wilfrim said with a tip of his hat, and then he glanced up at the deep blue sky, where the stars were just starting to come out. “Well, we should be going for the night. We don’t want to keep you up, as I’m sure you have another big day tomorrow. Your god certainly seems to keep you busy!”
What did we have to do tomorrow? I hadn’t even checked my display yet to see what my new quest was going to be, so I opened the interface while the women continued saying their farewells to the gnomes.
Follower Insight Achieved!
Convent: Level 7
Next Tow
n Quest: Discover and explore old cellar
Reward upon Quest Completion: Learn to read and speak all languages
I had a feeling the old cellar was under the trap door the women found in the kitchen. I was glad the next quest sounded relatively fun and not like backbreaking labor, too, but I wasn’t sure which of us were more excited about what was waiting underground. The women had been so determined to open the trap door the other day, but since I knew so little about this land, I was becoming more and more eager to learn as much as I could.
If this cellar was important enough to gain me a reward of this level, then whatever was waiting down there had to be good.
I was eager to check out my new Follower Insight, too, but I decided to look at the women’s stats first to see how the days of building affected them.
I started with Aleia, who still had a boost due to the dream sex the night before.
Strength: 9
Endurance: 3
Intelligence: 3
Perception: 3
Agility: 4
Special Ability: Crafting: Develops into Alchemy: Level 7
The fairy had gotten a boost to Endurance, and I knew why. She’d flown back and forth between the convent and the quarry so many times I’d lost count.
I checked Nicola next.
Strength: 5
Endurance: 3
Intelligence: 1
Perception: 1
Agility: 3
Hunting/Animal Husbandry: Develops into Animal Communication: Level 7
It appeared Nicola had received an Endurance boost as well, and it was likely because of the hours and hours of building she’d done. The brunette’s combined Strength and Endurance stats were quite impressive.
There was a chance Penelope would get an Endurance boost again because she was pregnant, and in that case, all the women would have increased in that category. It was time to check the naiad’s stats.
