I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 706

As everyone knows, I don’t have a deep knowledge of architecture or construction.

In the first place, I’ve never learned anything about it, and even the buildings I’ve erected now were built exactly as the dwarf told me.

Even that dwarf only knew the basics. Because of that, it’s a bit ambiguous to call the house we built a proper building.

It would be more accurate to describe it as just a normally sturdy brick house. Still, we’ve been using it consistently well.

Since I meticulously maintained and repaired it to make sure nothing was wrong here and there, I had no complaints about living like this.

The same went for structures other than the house. Since they were just built wherever there was space, they were slightly inconvenient, but redevelopment? I wondered if it was really necessary.

But perhaps from the perspective of the ruler of Alvenheim, who runs a country beyond just a fief, it didn’t look very good.

"Should I speak honestly?"

"Tell me."

"It feels like looking at a slum."

"...."

She just fired a barrage of hard facts at the home my companions and I had built together.

If it were anyone else, I would have said, ’What do you know?’ but since it was Elia, I had nothing to say.

Because in the Gallery, she was known as a ruler who frequently went on local inspections.

She said she had no choice, as the Senate was the one allocating the budget. In terms of Korea, they were basically the National Assembly.

But because they went beyond fucking around with the budget and even committed embezzlement, she had to check everything herself.

In particular, the part Elia focused on the most was slum redevelopment, but it seemed the Senate wasn’t too pleased about it.

"Are there slums in Alvenheim too?"

"Of course there are! Isn’t it stranger for a place where people live to not have slums?"

"It just feels a bit unfitting."

I might just be prejudiced. Honestly, maybe if they were the Demon Race, but ’elves’ and ’slums’ were words that didn’t seem to go together.

Although the image of elves in this world was at rock bottom, how should I put it? Because of my usual preconceptions, it was hard to easily picture it.

"Are the slums of Alvenheim a collection of dilapidated shantytowns like in other places?"

"No? It’s just a place where they live as one with nature."

"...Would you care to explain a bit more?"

"It’s exactly as it sounds. It’s easiest if you think of the image of elves from the distant past. They are people who live without harming nature at all."

"Aren’t they just people maintaining tradition, rather than a slum?"

"Even though they relieve themselves on the ground, calling it fertilizer?"

"...."

Well. I feel like the image of elves in my head is being thoroughly shattered.

If it was to that extent, it was certainly worthy of being called a slum. On top of that, even their houses were made by forcibly piling up and stuffing fallen branches from the ground.

"We are bulldozing those places completely! We’re redeveloping them so they can at least farm! I’ve even helped out with the work myself!"

"Is a leader allowed to do things like that?"

"The place where we first started was my hometown. You have no idea how happy I was when we cleared everything out and erected buildings."

"...."

Once again, I lost my words.

I heard she started from the bottom, but she really did start from the absolute bottom.

I’m even more curious about what kind of journey she went through in that short span of time to ascend to the throne as the Elf Queen.

Anyway, putting this aside, I logged into the Gallery to support her in earnest.

Because rather than doing it in a slipshod manner, we needed to have some level of professionalism.

[Wild Grylls: So, do you have any paper or tools used for architecture or construction?]

[Passing Dwarf: Why bother with that? Just live with what you have.]

[Wild Grylls: I want to do that too, but there’s nothing to do during the winter, and Elia wants to do it, so I’m going to.]

[Passing Dwarf: You’re just looking for trouble. Alright, I’ll see if I can find some.]

[Wild Grylls: Oh. By the way, what happened to you getting conscripted? Did the recipe I gave you work?]

The reason I risked danger to rescue Elia was because of the dwarf.

Also, to buy him some time, I handed him Lucas’s recipe.

Now that I had rescued Elia, I couldn’t help but wonder about the situation in Mountain.

[Passing Dwarf: It’s not confirmed yet, but they’re actually acting more sensitive. Because the Senate might go crazy and declare war.]

[Wild Grylls: It didn’t have much of an effect?]

[Passing Dwarf: IDK. My friend said it’s not the stage to let our guard down yet. They said a semi-civil war might break out in Alvenheim.]

Since ancient times, when internal chaos occurs, the best method is to divert attention outward.

Therefore, Alvenheim—specifically, the Senate—might go crazy and declare war on Mountain.

Realizing this, I asked her to wait a moment and then asked Elia for her opinion.

"Those people can’t do such a thing."

"Why are you so sure?"Read the latest chapters at n‌ovelping.com.

"They only gathered their opinions because they had a public enemy like me. Normally, they’re a dysfunctional mess. The Senate, that is."

"So, because they can’t coordinate their opinions, they can’t even think of going to war. Is that it?"

"Pretty much. They’re probably too busy trying to seize the power left behind by my disappearance."

And thanks to Elia’s speech, the people supporting her are blocking the Senate.

Therefore, the possibility of Alvenheim going to war with Mountain is low.

Hearing this, I told the dwarf exactly what she said, and then heard about the next important thing: the recipe situation.

[Passing Dwarf: The recipe is probably going to take a long time.]

[Wild Grylls: Why? Is it hard to get the ingredients?]

[Passing Dwarf: No, the ingredients themselves are easy to get. But the patent process is a bit tough. It might take up to a year at longest.]

[Wild Grylls: It takes as long as a year? Why?]

[Passing Dwarf: That’s just how it is. Especially for brewing-related things, they say it’s to prevent every Tom, Dick, and Harry from filing patents.]

Dwarves are a race that doesn’t just love alcohol—they worship it. Accordingly, the related laws are extremely strict.

Even from what I roughly know, there’s moonshine. Just making alcohol doesn’t immediately make it moonshine. Alcohol only becomes ’moonshine’ the moment it is sold.

But just like kimchi refrigerators in the Republic of Korea, every household in Mountain has a small brewery.

Because of this, applying the law is extremely tricky, and they actually spent a very long time crafting the laws with great care.

So, registering a recipe would probably be similar.

[Wild Grylls: Then what happens? Will it take a long time?]

[Passing Dwarf: For now, I plan to gather guys suffering from kidney stones or gout and have them drink it. They say if the effect is proven, it’ll go faster. And since it’s related to our race’s chronic illness, it could also be used as a cure.]

[Wild Grylls: Isn’t that a clinical trial...?]

[Passing Dwarf: If you tell them you’re giving out free alcohol, there are tons of guys who’ll happily drink it lol]

What a crazy race. To think they would drink alcohol even when they have kidney stones and gout.

Is there truly nothing more painful in this world than the pain of not being able to drink alcohol?

In fact, I know that by Mountain’s standards, one of the ’severe punishments’ is a one-month ban on drinking.

I let out a hollow laugh and then received paper and various tools from the dwarf.

Even though they were clearly tools that looked simple or that I had seen somewhere before, they somehow felt complicated.

"Here. It’s here. What are we going to do first?"

"First, we will design the house where we sleep last. What we need right now is the foundation."

The foundation—meaning, not the house, but the settlement itself.

Elia compared the maps I had drawn so far and began to sketch out a blueprint.

It felt less like drawing a house blueprint and more like drawing a city structure. And with the World Tree at the center, at that.

’...Is she perhaps using Alvenheim as a motif?’

Alvenheim was also formed with the World Tree at its center. It wasn’t particularly strange.

Elia herself was an elf, and there was no point in nitpicking.

"First, it would be good to put the forge here, and the warehouse here. It would be best to connect the toilet to the river, right? That way, we can dispose of things immediately."

"That might not be a very good choice. I don’t go far away to dump it for no reason."

"If you dump it here, the fish will jump right out and cause a ruckus."

"Hmm... then let’s install a temporary sewer! It will be easier if we connect it to the drainage channel!"

The river in front of our house was strictly for drinking water supply. Feces and food waste had to be dumped in the river further upstream.

But Elia even designed a temporary sewer system, making it possible to live a more convenient life.

After that, she worked hard, taking into account the shitty climate unique to the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Having only seen her engrossed in planting trees until now, seeing her focus on work felt refreshing.

Her ability as a noble Elf Queen stood out. Since her face was naturally beautiful, it felt even more so.

"There! This should do. I left a reasonable amount of empty space since we might install more buildings later."

"Oh..."

[Impressive. Did this structure really come straight out of your head?]

Not only me, but even Cain let out an exclamation of admiration as he looked at the design Elia had drawn.

Even to a layman like me, it was much cleaner than before. What stood out in particular, more than anything else, was the drainage channel.

The drainage channel I had constructed currently lacked professionalism, so it often collapsed here and there.

On top of that, it was designed strictly to prevent water from leaking, so it was far from perfect.

’At this rate, there won’t be any problems even if a torrential downpour hits.’

It wasn’t just a level of no problems; it was enough even if creatures like beavers lived nearby.

Of course, beavers were practically a disaster, so let’s move on.New chapters come out on novelping . com first.

Anyway, now that we’ve resolved our settlement’s structure, what remains are the details.

That is, how to build each building efficiently. First and foremost are the forge and the warehouse.

Since it went beyond remodeling to the level of completely tearing down and rebuilding, a lot of Elia’s advice was incorporated.

"It would be better to make separate food warehouses and general supply warehouses. We can’t keep leaving tools scattered around the forge forever, can we?"

"Isn’t that more convenient?"

"I almost had a heart attack when I saw the Mythricon axe that was left in the forge yesterday embedded in a tree today. What if you lose it?"

"I can just make another one, right?"

"No. No. You can’t do that. That kind of habit is not good."

I got a sharp scolding for answering needlessly. In the end, we decided to build a separate supply warehouse as well.

We decided to build not only a supply warehouse but also a new drying yard. The drying yard wasn’t just for drying food.

"If you dry the wood, you can use it usefully. Up until now, you’ve just been crafting with raw wood, right?"

"It couldn’t be helped. The climate changes every week."

"Still, it’s good to gather wood consistently. It can be used for firewood, and for other purposes as well."

Somehow, we ended up making a large drying yard as well. Hearing the explanation, it really seemed necessary, so I nodded.

Thus, the groundwork for completely tearing down and rebuilding our entire house structure was finished, and all that was left was the building design.

Building design is something where the level of completion changes depending on whether there is a blueprint or not. The worker’s capability is extremely important.

The forge, warehouse, drying yard, laundry area, bathhouse, guest residential buildings, and so on. Under Elia’s leadership, numerous building blueprints were completed.

Among them, as everyone knows, the most important was our house. Cain aside, it was the place where the majority of our companions stayed.

"First, it would be good to make separate rooms for each of us."

"Because you’re a woman?"

"That doesn’t really matter. I can live together with you if you want, Grylls-nim."

"...."

Looking at her expression, she really seemed like she wouldn’t mind, so I lost my words.

It wasn’t that she had romantic feelings for me, but rather closer to ’I’m just following because it’s your command.’

"Master. That female is in he—"

"Shut your mouth."

I lightly dismissed Dolsoe’s nagging.

Moreover, the reason Elia was making my room so large wasn’t simply for dignity.

"Since the children follow you so well, wouldn’t it be best for them to stay with you, Grylls-nim? And Bbareumbo-nim is there too, after all."

"I suppose... so?"

In fact, just the companions staying in my room alone were quite numerous.

Starting with Bbareumbo, who was always hanging onto my back, to Wonmo, Tyranno, Cheongseol, Heukgu, and finally Maengkkongi.

"Hmph. I don’t care if I’m outside. There’s no reason for me to be in a room."

"Then we’ll have to make a doghouse too."

"You insolent wretch!!! How dare you say a doghouse!!!"

"Aren’t you a dog?"

At Elia’s innocent reply, Heukgu foamed at the mouth and threw a fit.

In the end, it was decided that he would stay in my room. I don’t know if it was because of his pride or some other reason.

Also, since we needed rooms for Lackey and Dolsoe, and furthermore Elia, the size of the house had grown quite large before I knew it.

It seemed like the work would take longer than expected, but as long as we had the laborers needed for the job, there shouldn’t be any problem.

"Once winter ends, I should visit the Hobgoblins. We can just bring laborers from there."

"Mhm! Then on the way, we should check the roads as well!"

"Not checking the places to plant trees?"

"...."

Elia didn’t answer my words immediately and turned her gaze aside.

Following that, she gathered her hands neatly, glanced at me a few times to gauge my reaction, and then spoke cautiously.

"...Am I not allowed to?"

"...Do as you wish."

Thus, winter passed, and spring approached once again.

"Let me introduce her. This is Elia, who will be staying at our house from now on."

"Kura-ku?"

"He’s asking if she’s the lady of the house, Master."

"...."

Accompanied by the Hobgoblins, we entered into full-scale redevelopment.