Chương 9: Chapter eight

It had been a few days since the village gathered to discuss the arrival of their guest turned resident. And while most of the novelty of his presence had worn off, there sweet still some, mostly children, who watched him carefully, weary that he may suddenly sprout fangs and suck out their blood.

Construction had been started on his house, from their storehouse, many spare parts of the village houses were pulled together to build it.

As it was, there was currently a trench being dug out where the foundation was being laid with supports for ceramic pipes that would carry heat through the floors. Stones of different shades of grey were being pilled to the side to finish the rest of the foundation as well as build the bottom layer of the house's walls. There was also some wooden beams that would not match the rest of the house due to being from different types of wood, but Terrance wouldn't complain, beggers can't be choosers, and with the modular approach the Sheikah took to building their houses, he could replace those mismatched parts later if it was too problematic.

After the foundation was made, the wooden support beams were erected and a platform that would be the floor of the house was being built.

Terrance helped out where he could, mostly by helping cut wood to lengths the other villagers had marked out for him and helping hold pieces of wood in place while they were fixed into place. The way the pieces were cut, it was like building a cabinet from IKEA, except instead of a medium sized form of clothing storage, it was a large construction made to store people and their stuff.

As he took a break, Terrance walked over to see what a few men were doing in front of a large cauldron. In the large pot, they were tossing many large chunks of a yellow material that was melting into a translucent yellow color.

"Beeswax." Said one of the men when he noticed Terrance's gaze.

"Most of the buildings here have thatch roofs, we coat the bottom layers with wax to add to their water resistance." He continued as Terrance looked confused.

Nodding his head Terrance let the men continue their work uninterrupted and looked for other things he could help with.

He walked over to the side of his future home, where a large area had been covered in stones, with not a speck of vegetation to be seen, this was where his forge would be.

Heading over to the pile of carved bricks, he helped the villagers carry them over to an individual who was laying some sort of mortar between them and building a foundry that he would use to heat the metal he worked with. An older man was standing to his side overseeing the construction, guiding the builder's construction.

Around the foundry, an old iron anvil had been placed, alongside a well used grindstone. In a 25 foot square around the forge, posts has been planted, there would be a roof and weatherproof storage connected to Terrance's home built to prevent rain from interfering with the equipment.

There were also plans for a sliding set of doors that would keep the wind out of let air flow more easily into the work area depending on the weather.

For now, they were focusing on building the forge's chimney so smoke would not build up inside the workroom.

After construction for the day had been finished, Terrance wandered around helping the villagers with their daily tasks as a thank you for their help. He helped pull weeds from several of his neighbor's gardens, gathered the loose Cucoos that had escaped their pen. As evening approached, he walked into the inn he had been staying at and helped the innkeeper Ms. Haru dust the empty rooms and clean the halls.

Going back to his room he layed on his bed and thought about going into his gate. He wanted to practice his skills, but he felt like he was still likely being observed. He didn't sense anyone around him except Ms. Haru, but giving the lore around the sensing abilities of the Sheikah, he wouldn't put it past them to have sensed his magic sense and find a way to circumvent it. For all he knew Ms. Haru was also talked with observing him and was able to hear his every movement.

No, it would be better to build trust with the villagers first before potentially having to expose his abilities if he was caught disappearing and reappearing. As it was now, they would likely see it as him meeting with an enemy to plot invading the village, and kick him out at the very least.

If anything happened, he was sure his [Trace] ability from Gate of Blade Works would be able to protect him from most dangers. If he could borrow a blade from one of the guards, he might even be able to learn new skills.

Terrance had been surprised when he used [Trace] on the various weapons in his storage that were able to be used. If he welded them long enough and copied the movements of the previous owner, he could permanently learn some of their mastery, allowing him to use that skill even when he was no longer using [Trace] on that particular weapon. The downside, is that he would also pick up any bad habits that the previous owner had when welding their weapon, such as leaving his flank exposed when lunging with his spear, or swinging too wide when welding his axe.

Thankfully having access to many different weapons, who's owners had different fighting styles, Terrance was able to adapt and learn to cover the gaps in his defense that he learned from a few of the more sloppy fighters who owned his weapons previously. He was no battle master by any means, but for someone who had only started using these weapons a week and some change ago, he was making some good progress.

Terrance went to sleep and waited for the next day.

Terrance had a similar schedule for the following days as well. Wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, help construct his house and workshop, help around the village, eat dinner, head back to the inn, go to sleep.

An interesting thing he had noticed was that due to his Predator skill, Terrance did not need to use the restroom as much, because even when he ate through his mouth, the skill made it so he could digest and use almost everything he ate to the last molecule, something he was thankful for since the outhouse used by the villagers stank so bad he could barely stand using it.

After a few days the platform of his house had been built, and the walls were nearly complete. The area where his forge would be was also nearly complete, only needing a thatch roof to be made.

As he walked around town, he overheard gossip that the Village Chief, Impa, was feeling worried, or under the weather. Some asked Terrance if he knew what was going on, as he had been outside the village the most recently of the majority of the village, was there a potential invasion force on its way? Was it dealing with complaints about Terrance. Nobody was quite sure.

Seeing as he already needed to talk to Impa about what the village needed, as well as to inquire about the known areas to look for metal to mine, Terrance decided to look into the rumors to see if there were any validity behind them.

Walking over to the guards, they let him pass, saying that Lady Impa was open for appointments with villagers.

As he walked in, Terrance found Impa holding a feather duster, cleaning some of the artifacts held on the shelves around the room.

"Lady Impa, apologies for the interruption, I just wanted to verify a few things regarding my future work as a blacksmith for the village."

"Hmm? As yes, please give me a moment to finish up." Said Impa. There was definitely something different in her voice, was it tension? Terrance wasn't sure.

Impa finished cleaning the dust off of the pot she was in front of, then she walked over to the red cushion and sat cross legged facing Terrance waiting for him to speak. Looking at her face, there was an almost imperceptible crease in her eyebrows. It was like she was trying hard not to think of something.

After some discussion regarding what the village needed in regards to metal working, and where he could go to find material, Terrance carefully tried to bring up the subject.

".. Lady Impa, if I may some of the villagers have noticed that you seem to be preoccupied or under the weather at the moment. If it is the latter, I am sure most of the village would agree that you should take some time off to care for your health. If it is the former, I know that I am an outsider, but I would be willing to help in any way I can. He said.

Impa looked at Terrance thoughtfully before responding. "Mr. Grayson, thank you for the kind words, I am afraid there is not much for you to do. I am not ill, just slightly worried for my sister."

"You have a sister Village Chief? Apologies for the question, but nobody mentioned her around the village." Replied Terrance.

"Yes, her name is Purah, and she is an avid researcher of our ancestors' and other technologies." Said Impa.

Terrance took a moment to process what Impa had just said. He was used to Impa being the last of the Sheikah and whatnot that he had forgotten that she had a sister in this version of Hyrule. He nodded along to Impa's words as she continued.

"Unfortunately the great calamity 20 years ago did not dampen her spirits and urge to research the technology. She seems obsessed with trying to find a silver arrow that would turn the rides back in our favor. And she keeps leading expeditions into Hyrule castle. She started one a few weeks ago, she was scheduled to arrive back here yesterday. And yet she isn't here, I am worried that something might have happened."

Nodding his head, Terrance could now understand why Impa had been downcast to the point the other villagers had noticed. If he had a sibling that was poteyin danger he would have been upset too.

"Are you planning on sending a search and rescue party?" Asked Terrance. He was sure Purah would be ok, she did appear in the game after all so this must be just something in her backstory. Right?

"We do not have enough warriors to spare at the moment, there is a bokoblin camp that I am worried is getting to large and close to the path to the village. However, should she not arrive by next sunset, I was planning on sending a search party to figure out what happened."

Nodding his head Terrance said, "thank you for indulging my curiosity Village Chief. If you would have me, I would be more than willing to assist in the search efforts."

"Thank you for your kind words Mr. Grayson, I'll keep them in mind." Replied Impa

Terrance said his goodbyes and left to go see what else he could do to help the village before night fell.

-To be continued