Kael had waited for almost two hours before the leather bottle was filled with the Sunbathed Liquid to the brim. It also meant that he had nearly finished all the Sunbathed Liquid the tree had produced.
Now, he would need to wait for at least six months before the tree would return to the same state. But he was fine with that, as he already had more than enough for now.
Just one bottle would suffice to make a lot of the Sunbathed paste he needed.
Holding the bottle in his hand, he felt as if he was holding a priceless treasure. He smiled and turned around to face the woman who had been protecting him for the past two hours.
Of course, she hadn’t even moved from her spot, so Kael had no idea how she protected him at all.
"Let’s return."
Rias nodded silently and brought him back to their base at the Great Storm Tree. By then, Kiona had already completed the first part of her task.
Kael was surprised to see the land before him entirely flattened with a lot of materials gathered to the side, which mostly included roots, unstable rocks, and many other things that might have caused them problems later on.
As if sensing him, a red-headed woman came running toward him, her lioness ears twitching above her head and her tail wagging in an excited manner.
She wore a pleasant smile on her face as she stopped right before him and said, "I’ve already completed the underground work, Master, and I also made the sewer system."
"You did?" Kael was surprised, as that had completely slipped his mind.
Kiona nodded. "Yes, I had the thought of making it when I was clearing the underground, and I also left enough space to expand it when it’s needed. The knowledge you gave me helped a lot."
Kael smiled and stretched his hand, but Kiona backed away reluctantly. She forced a smile onto her face and said, "Master, I’m not really in a good condition..."
Before she could finish her sentence, Kael had already closed the distance between them and chopped her lightly on the head. Then, he roughly rubbed her head and said, "Since when did you become so self-conscious, eh?"
He stopped and then gently patted her head, catching the rapid wagging of her tail from the corner of his eye. With a soft smile, he said, "Don’t worry about small stuff. If you’re dirty, then so am I. Also, we literally slept smelling like shit yesterday—did you complain then?"
Kiona fell silent—or more like she had stopped listening entirely—as she just enjoyed his pats and even moved closer so Kael could have easier access to her head and ears.
Kael rolled his eyes and said, "Alright, let’s get back to work. It’s already noon, so I hope we can at least lay the framework before sunset."
When he pulled back his hand, he noticed Kiona’s blissful expression turning into one of full disappointment. He ignored it for the moment and asked, "Do we have a big container or something?"
Kiona quickly recovered from her daze and came to his side, speaking in an excited tone, "I found a few boulders that were unstable, so I turned them into big containers."
She led him to the side where wooden logs were stacked and showed him a total of five stone containers. It was clear that they had been carved out of large boulders, each one resembling a small swimming pool.
She pointed at the sides and said, "I’ve also made tops for them and ensured there are no leaks."
Kael touched one of the containers and thought, Hmm, it’ll be tough to bring water from the river here. I guess I’ll just have to make the mix there and carry it back.
Just then, Rias arrived beside him and touched the container’s edge, saying, "Small work."
Then, she vanished along with the container. Before either Kiona or Kael could make sense of the situation, she reappeared back in the same spot as if she had never left at all.
And before her stood the same stone container, but it wasn’t empty now. Instead, it was filled with clear, cold, fresh water from the river.
Kael was left speechless, and Kiona couldn’t believe her eyes for a second. Even though she had already experienced teleportation once, it was still bizarre to see it happening like this.
Rias gave a small thumbs-up to Kael and said, "Make the house quickly."
Ah! She wants me to build it quickly so she doesn’t have to go back to the City tonight, Kael understood her thoughts and chuckled to himself, finding her incredibly cute—even though she was a Demi-God.
Alright then. Let’s do this. Kael took out the leather bottle and poured its contents into the stone container. The red liquid floated on top of the water, refusing to mix, but Kael wasn’t worried about it.
Once the leather bottle was empty, he washed it in the container water and then used it to stir and mix the water.
Then, he went to the side and picked up the stone lid that Kiona had prepared and slid it over the container, sealing it completely.
"Let’s give it some time to mix properly, then we can use it later on," Kael said, dusting off his hands. "We can prepare the rods in the meantime, since I’ve already prepared the bricks."
"I will guard this, then," Rias said as she gracefully floated in the air and sat casually on the container.
Kael had no issue with that, so he went to the other side with Kiona where Rias had delivered the metal rods.
"Are you having fun?" Kael asked, noticing the subtle smile that hadn’t left her face even for a second.
"Yes, it was actually something I always dreamt of in my childhood, but the dream slowly died as I grew up," Kiona replied with a still look in her eyes. "My teacher often told me about her hometown, and I yearned for it. I wanted to make a similar town for my tribe where we could all live happily."
She paused before a wide smile broke out on her face. "And now I’m building a home for my family—the people I love and care about the most. It will be our home, so of course I’m excited."