The dragon's harem

Chapter 1479: How Many Sticks Can A Man Carry

Arad looked at his tools behind the cottage, his smile quickly turning into a frown. He only has axes, saws, and a few hatchets. That isn’t enough to build anything.

After he and Tina explored the sect’s outer garden, they found out that no one can enter the sect until all of the selections are over. So, with nothing else to do for six days, the two of them returned to the cottage.

Arad had wanted to build a decent toilet, and Tina wanted to clean the place, so they had plenty to do.

”Tina! Did you find the money?” He called, and Tina took a few seconds to reply, ”No, there isn’t even a single copper around here. I don’t even know what currency they even use.”

”I guess, it is up to me.” Arad looked at a few massive, old trees. ”I’ll cut a few trees and go sell them. I’m sure I saw a mill somewhere at the outskirts of the city.”

”Make sure they won’t scam you.” She looked at him out of the window, and he smiled, ”I can read thoughts, remember?”

Tina smiled, ”What am I thinking now?”

Arad looked at her with a smile, ”I usually don’t read the minds of those I know, but if you want.” He looked at her eyes for a second, ”A chicken, potatoes, carrots, whatever that black egg thing is, and some spices.”

”You can even see what I’m thinking about. That is convenient. Just make sure you come at least a few hours before sunset, so I can have enough time to cook.”

Arad looked at the tree, ”Aren’t you asking a bit much? I have to cut the tree, clean it, drag it all the way to the city, sell it, and hopefully get enough money to buy all of those things, then make it home before dusk.”

Tina smiled, ”My job as a maid is to clean, cook, and take care of the house. Your job is to provide everything I need to do that. You can’t blame the poor maid when the master doesn’t keep the supply room stocked.”

Arad lifted his axe and looked at it with a smile. In Merlin’s world, he did end up as a lumberjack as well, but at least now, he has all of his power back.

”You can pull those things from your stomach if you want.”

Tina was right, Arad had all of his power, access to everything in his stomach, and quickly ticked out of this place.

”It is better to play our roles well. The people would get suspicious if I weren’t selling logs. So let’s play by the rules.” He winked, ”If we lack anything, I’ll just pull it out.”

Arad approached one of the trees near the cottage, a massive old one with a meter-thick trunk. He lifted his axe and looked at the base, covering the blade with a barrier that makes the axe head stronger.

Arad then made the whole axe a bit stronger by making the shaft stronger as well. He could just chop the trees with his bare hands, but that would leave a weird mark, something that you don’t see on a tree that is cut with an axe.

When the axe was strong enough that Arad could reasonably abuse it a bit without it shattering, he started swinging, throwing five to ten chops a second. Even though he was using an axe, the thing sounded like a chainsaw, revving rapidly as Arad swung faster and faster.

In half a second, the tree was cut, and Arad held it in place with his gravity magic, forcing it to drop away from the cottage.

When the tree fell, Arad went around it and chopped all of the extra branches. He was going to use those later and leave some for himself and Tina to use as firewood. Firewood usually needs time to dry, but since it is Arad, he’ll find a way to dry it quickly.

After cleaning the log, Arad went on and cut a few more trees, opening a space to build a small garden right behind the cottage. When his six massive tree trunks were all down and ready, he looked at them, then at the cottage.

”Tina! How many sticks can a man carry?”

She didn’t look out as she was busy cleaning, but she replied, shouting from inside the house. ”Depends on how big they are, three or four in one hand.”

Arad looked at the six logs, each being at least a meter thick. He had a feeling in the back of his head that what Tina said wouldn’t work here, so he decided to only carry one long above each shoulder.

Arad picked two trunks, each of which was about fifty meters long and a meter thick, meaning they weighed around 30,000 kg, each.

Tina luckily looked out as she heard the wood creek and saw Arad hoisting the two gigantic trunks on his shoulders. ”What are you doing? Put them down!”

Arad looked back at her with a confused face. ”Taking the wood to sell it?”

”Take half, quarter, even less, and drag it with a rope or use a cart or something. A normal man can’t even carry a tenth of one of those logs.” Arad looked at the logs with a sad face. How many trips would he have to make?

Arad looked at his axe, and then at the logs as he slowly put them down. He had thought that making three trips back and forth would take a long time, but now, he might need to make more than twenty.

”I’ll just take one and drag it on the ground behind me so it looks easier.” Arad lifted one long from its tip, rested it on his shoulder, and dragged its other side behind him. ”This looks better, I’m huge, so this has to make some sense, right?”

”I don’t know...” Tina rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath. ”Just pretend it is exhausting.”

”Got it!” Arad waved his hand to her and dragged the massive log away, passing through the last stretch of the forest and then through the open fields.

The mill was located outside the city, just beside the river, where a tall and muscular old man was cutting logs. He had just started taking a short rest, drinking a cup of tea brought to him by his beautiful daughter. As he looked up, he spat his drink all over her as he saw Arad dragging the massive log like it were nothing.

”Father!” She cried and looked back, freezing as she saw the giant Arad dragging an even bigger tree on one shoulder. She rubbed her eyes. ”Father, how much does that weigh?”

”That massive piece of wood? Wet? About fifty horses.” He stood and rushed down from the mill. Maybe he was seeing it wrong, but he wasn’t. When Arad arrived, the miller’s jaw dropped to the floor, finding himself half as tall as Arad was.

”Where do I put this?” Arad asked with a smile, and the miller remained silent for a few seconds before pointing at the stack of wood. ”Over there.”