It took the entire day to collect all the stone and transport it back to the build site.

  Sven in the meantime had set up a few pegs tied with string to show where the outside of the walls would be. He had also designed a few other smaller things such as windows while Calavia and myself had brought over stone.

  “Is that everything you could find?” Sven frowned as he looked upon the pile of rough stone blocks we had made just a few meters from the build site.

  “It is. Do you think it will be enough for the basement?” I asked.

  “Perhaps, but it will be a very close call if so. And that isn’t counting the fact we will need additional stone deeper below the basement to stabilize the tower. In total we will need it to go roughly five or six meters when the basement is about three meters deep.”

  “So we are going to need to buy some stone from that quarry after all.”

  “I am afraid so sir mage. I have prepared rough calculations for you to consult.”

  Sven handed me a piece of paper that was covered with all sorts of calculations. Most were regarding the amount of building material, but at the very end he calculated the amount the stone itself would cost assuming a stable price.

  “That is a very large number.” I muttered as I thought back to the amount of money Calavia and I had saved up. “We don’t need to buy this all at once, do we?”

  “I wouldn’t assume so. We will need time to put everything together, and then we will need more time to allow the carpenters to work and add their parts. So we should be able to buy the stone in smaller sizes for each floor and the basement.”

  “Could you give me a calculation for that? Then I can go to the quarry first thing tomorrow and pay for the first amount.”

  “Of course just give me a few minutes and I can calculate the exact amount of stone you will need to finish the basement and the underground support.”

  **********

  Days passed as the stone came from the quarry and we finally broke ground.

  The first objective was to dig out where the basement and the underground support would be. It was a relatively simple task given that geomancy was my specialization, but it was rather time consuming and repetitive. But by four hours after noon it was done and we had a big hole in the ground as well as a big pile of dirt and small stone.

  “Wow, that is really deep.” Calavia commented as she peered over the edge into the six meter deep sections. “Makes you wonder what would happen if you jumped down.”

  “You would most likely break your legs and need to be carried out.” I quickly answered with my back to her as I looked upon the big pile of stone blocks several meters away. “Would you mind helping me carry these blocks over here? I don’t know if I will be able to carry them all without any help.”

  “Sure thing, just let me know when you are going to start.”

  For two more hours we carried the stone blocks over to the hole and slowly started filling the sides up. By far the worst part was actually bringing the blocks down into the hole and placing them at the bottom. One of us needed to be in the hole, (it was me), and the other needed to help keep the blocks from descending too fast to avoid any accidental head trauma. Combine the difficult work with the fact we needed to add something called mortar which was made of burned limestone, water, and sand to keep the blocks together, (which again was done by me). By the time we were done with just a few rows two hours had passed and it was dinner time.

  Slowly I managed to climb my way back up and out where Calavia was laying completely spent. Slowly I walked to and back from the wagon with a prepared chicken dinner we had made the night before with the intent of eating on the way back into Lindum.

  I handed Calavia her portion and started warming up mine with a small conjured flame as Calavia did the same. For around an hour the two of us sat there slowly eating as we regained the physical and mental energy to make the trip home.

  Eventually we had rested enough and we boarded the wagon and rode back to our little room in that tavern for a good night of sleep before doing it all again the next day.

  *********

  Several more days passed as we hauled stone blocks, placed them down, and added the mortar. The basement when finished was quite literally just a square hole in the ground made entirely out of stone blocks with nothing else inside.

  “That was awful.” Calavia proclaimed as she sprawled herself out on the ground.

  “And we are going to do it several more times before the damned thing is done.” I replied as I laid down next to her.

  For a while the two of us just stayed there with our eyes closed, the only distinguishable nearby sound was the sound of Sven’s quill as he worked on something else.

  “Are we even going to have the money to finish this thing?” Calavia suddenly asked.

  I quickly turned my head and found that she was looking back at me.

  “What makes you ask that?” I asked back.

  “This was no doubt very expensive with how little we have already done. I was just thinking how expensive it would be to add three floors.”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Don’t worry, we still have a good amount of money saved up. And we haven’t even spent any of your money, just what I have earned through my alchemy.”

  “I have been helping with your alchemy, I collected a bunch of those plants you were using.” Calavia said with a slight pout in her face.

  “I was talking about what I earned before we moved into Lindum, we still have everything we earned since then. We also have a good stockpile of ingredients and a few potions we can sell when we need the money.”

  Suddenly the two of us heard a set of footprints running towards us interrupting our conversation. “I am sorry to interrupt you two, but I have important details regarding the construction that should be addressed sooner than later.”

  Calavia and I looked at each other for only a moment before quickly scrambling to our feet. We quickly gave Sven our full attention and waited for his explanation.

  “You see, if you want any halfway decent wooden floorings in your tower you will require to hire a carpenter or two to work. Now I doubt they will be working for very long but they will likely require a handful of copper pieces before they start working, and since you are the ones funding the operation we will need to go out of our way to find one or two.”

  “I don’t suppose you have any suggestions given your prior experience as the locator of the land?” I asked after a moment of thinking as I knew nothing of carpentry.

  “I do know of a handful, however they are currently employed by others at the moment. Our best chance would be to ask around at the carpenters guild in town.”

  I looked up and saw it wasn’t quite noon yet. “We should still have time to go back to town and check it out.” I looked to Calavia and Sven who both nodded in agreement.

  “Then I see no reason to delay. I shall drive.” Calavia proclaimed before quickly running off towards the wagon leaving Sven and myself behind at the build site.

  **********

  A little over an hour later we were riding through town in a small section dedicated to the crafts as Sven guided us to the carpenters guild.

  “It is right there, just two buildings down on the right.” He said as he pointed to a rather small and simple building. Calavia quickly parked the wagon in front while Sven and myself jumped off and walked towards the entrance.

  My eyes wandered around the exterior of the building as we walked closer, like from a distance it had a very simple design. There was very little that distinguished it from any other residence that you could find in the city other than the sign out by the road.

  Sven entered the guild first and I quickly followed. Inside was a very simple waiting area with a handful of chairs that reminded me of my time working as a healer in Antium. At the other side of the room was a desk and a door to somewhere else.

  Sven walked right up to the desk where a woman in what looked to be a carpenter's outfit was sitting and looking rather bored.

  “Good afternoon Vesnia. How are you on this fine day?”

  “Good afternoon to you as well, Sven. I take it you have another project you need the guilds help with?”

  “That is correct. I need one or two skilled carpenters to help with wooden flooring. Do you know of anyone who might be interested?”

  “Well most of the guild is currently busy with other work, but I can put the word out that you are looking for someone. Who exactly is the one paying the bills this time? It isn’t that fool Marcius again is it? I doubt anyone would be willing to work for him again after last time.”

  “Actually it is a new client, this young man right here.” Sven said as he turned halfway and gestured his left arm towards where I stood. This Vesnia looked me up and down, taking a good look at me before she said anything.

  “Are you some sort of mage? I hope you won’t be doing any sort of weird magic while members of the guild are working for you.”

  “That isn’t something you will need to worry about. I am a geomancer, I specialize in the manipulation of earth, stone, and other minerals in the ground. I also dabble in restoration magic, also known as healing magic. I assure you your fellow guild members will be in safe hands.” I noticed her eyes widened ever so slightly when she heard me say healing magic, though she did a good job of hiding it.

  “Very well then, I will see who is interested in working for you. However I will need a bit more information about the work you need done, it would be best to inform them ahead of time what is expected of them so they know what they are getting into.”

  “That works for me.” I gave a small smile before I reached into my bag and pulled out a small piece of paper and a bottle of ink to write out what I needed. It took only a half minute before I handed over a small list detailing what exactly I and Calavia needed.

  “Skilled carpenters, cutting wood, wooden flooring on multiple levels, wooden staircases, possibly a wooden roof, all outside of the city. Are you building a house outside of the city?”

  “A tower actually.” I quickly corrected her. “We have the basement all built, we just need a carpenter or two to build a proper wooden floor for the first floor for now. In the future when we have built more we will be looking for other things like stairways and perhaps a wooden rooftop when we get to it.”

  “Hmmm, that works out. Come see me tomorrow afternoon, I will let you know if I have found anybody then.”

  “And if you haven’t?”

  “Then I will tell you to come back in another day's time.”

  I looked to Sven who gave me a nod. “Thank you Vesnia, we shall see you again tomorrow.”

  ***********

  One day later five of us were riding to the build site. There was of course myself, Calavia and Sven, but there were also two new faces traveling with us in the wagon.

  The first was a middle aged dwarven carpenter named Skanor, one of the few dwarves I had seen within the city, along with his young human apprentice named Lucius.

  The duo were rather quiet as we rode to the site, only asking Sven a handful of questions regarding the size of the job and how much they would be paid. When we eventually arrived at the build site at around an hour after noon Sven quickly hurried them over to his table where he laid out his plans for them to look over.

  “Now see here, we need a wooden floor for the first floor of the tower and then a stairway down to the basement.” Sven pulled a large blueprint from his bag and opened it on the table like some sort of map before rotating it so the carpenters could see.

  They didn’t respond right away, instead they looked over the blueprints and muttered a few things between themselves while occasionally pointing at the drawings. Eventually they stopped and Skanor cleared his throat.

  “We will see to it that this is done, but before that we would like to discuss payment with the gentleman.” Skanor gestured towards me and Sven nodded before stepping away where I took his place at the opposite side of the table.

  “I shall cut right to the case.” Skanor said with a gruff voice as he leaned on the table, his thick unkempt beard a small distraction to both myself and his apprentice. “For the both of us to work on this we will be requiring one silver and five copper pieces each. In exchange we will have it done in five days time rather than the seven that any other carpenter in this city would need.”

  “That is a little more than I was expecting, but it isn’t out of the question. But I do have one question. Why are you only asking for five days to do the work? Sven as I recall stated it would require a carpenter or two around a week to do what I need.”

  “For anyone else in this city that might be the case. But I am a dwarf and I have been teaching Lucius exactly the same way I have been taught for several years now, he might as well be a dwarf himself with how skilled he is, and any skilled dwarf could do the job in five days like we are going to.”