Chapter 4

I am currently in one of the only bookstores in Shokuyasi village, and I am staring at a carpentry book for idiots which costs ฿400, and I am thinking. Still, whether to buy it or not since I could just find some planks of wood and nail them onto the walls to cover the holes, which would make shoddy repairs. I also have to think about my money situation, yesterday Mummy Mee gave me my stipend for this month, which was ฿10,000, which I thought was a lot of money, but that was only because I had never had to buy things for myself.

After a bit of exploration today, I discovered that things are not as easy as I thought they were. After visiting all the shops and finding everything I would need to live through the month, I made a few calculations in my head and discovered that I would not have much extra money left over at the end of the month. The things I would need to buy are a loaf of bread for breakfast, some apples or other fruit for lunch, some meat and flavourings for dinner, and I would also need to purchase water for all my meals as well as I can't drink seawater. Finally, I would buy some new things for the house.

A loaf of bread costs ฿100, and it would last about a week, which means I need to buy four loaves for the month. A bunch of apples or fruit costs ฿60, and I would be eating a bunch a day, meaning 7 bunches a week which is ฿420. I would be buying some fresh meat along with seasoning every day to eat so I grow up big and strong with the proper nutrients so that would mean ฿250 for a day and ฿1,750 for a week. Finally, I would need to buy some water for the week, which is thankfully cheap at ฿155 since we are literally surrounded by the stuff.

All in all, when considering the costs and then stretching out the calculations to cover an entire month, it would result in ฿400 a month for the loaves of bread, ฿1,680 for the fruits a month, ฿7,000 a month for the meat and seasoning and finally ฿620 for enough water to last the month which all adds up to a sum of ฿9,700 which leaves just ฿300 for my own personal use but right now I need ฿400 just to buy the beginners guide to carpentry so that I can start to fix up my home which I will be living in for the foreseeable future.

I guess while I do need all the food I can get to grow up big and strong, I can just buy fewer bunches of fruits as the bread and meat will provide most of my sustenance. The fruit was just to be healthy, and I could use the extra money to buy the other things I needed. If I eat just 3 fruits a day instead of 4, I can cut down my monthly cost of fruit by ฿420, which would make my outcome a month ฿9,280 and leave me ฿720 for my own spending, which means I can buy this book and then still have ฿320 left over to buy some other stuff.

"You have been staring pretty hard at the book in your hands for quite some time, young'un. Why would a child like you be thinking about learning carpentry?" An old man wearing glasses and generic nice old guy clothes appears out of nowhere with a bushy moustache and a kind smile on his face. as he looks down at me and as I look back at him, the word 'Flanders' flashes through my mind, which must be from my previous life and this guy, and his atmosphere just reminds me of a Flanders whatever the hell one of those things are.

"Ah, I just wanted to try fixing some stuff at my home. There are a few broken things, and I want to fix them and to fix them I need this book so that I can figure out how to fix them. Still, I just wondered if I had enough money as it is quite expensive for a child like me," I say to him while looking down at the book and resolving myself to buy this book and start learning about this stuff so I can turn this shoddy little wooden house by the beach into a great home. Maybe if I turn out good at this, I can make a career out of this and renovate and flip houses in the future since the world might change, but appearance, greed, and profit do not.

"Oh ho, and here I thought all the kids in this village were more bothered about playing pirates and marines and goofing around. To think there would actually be a diligent and thoughtful child in this village brings an old man joy. Because of that, I am willing to sell that book to you at a discounted price of 75%, and then in a few years, there will be a new carpenter around to come make new shelves for my books and fix things around my home, at least I hope so." He says, and I am quick to respond with a yes as this 75% price means it will cost only ฿300, which is the exact amount of money I had leftover in my first calculation.

But even so, I will stick to the new estimates as I may need to buy more stuff in the future. So I go to reach into my pockets for the money before I realise that I don't have any on me and I can tell the old man realises that as well by the look on my face but I quickly pass him the book and tell him to hold it for me as I am going to run back home to get my money.

I run through the village all the way to the outskirts and then through the open fields till I get to my home and quickly fish out the key from my pocket and unlock the door before closing and locking it behind me and then reaching under my bed that is still in the middle of the room and removing one of the wooden planks and fishing out my money, making some quick calculations of what I need I take ฿1,120 which should pay for all my food for the week and my meat for the day as well as that book that I desperately need.

Quickly hiding my stash of money under the wooden planks again and locking the house up, I run back through the village with my money safely stored inside my pants pocket and avoiding people as much as possible scared that I may bump into them and the money will fall out, or someone will swipe the money from my pocket, and I finally make it back to the bookstore which I enter with excitement and spot the old man sitting behind the counter.

"I am back. Here is the ฿300 for the book. I can't wait to read it and then get to fixing the house. Just watch. I am going to make it into a mansion." I blurt out excitedly as I dig into my pocket and whip out the bundle of cash before counting out ฿300 and handing it over to the man, and then pushing the rest of the money back into my pocket and waiting for the old man to hand over the book to me.

"Ha, you sure are excited, aren't ya? A mansion, ya say? I'll wait till I see it. That's also a lot of money you got there. Do you want to buy more than one book? Because if so, I have a lot of good books that I think will serve a good lad like you well." He says, taking the money from me, pulling out the book from inside his desk, and putting it into a bag before handing it over to me. I get a bit worried when he questions the amount of money I have in my possession, but then I remember that this man gave me a discount and he was also helpful, so he is a good person.

"Ah, this money isn't for more books. It is for all my groceries for this week. I need to buy a lot of food to last the week, which is why I am glad that you gave me a discounted price. Otherwise, I would not have been able to buy the book. Thanks, Oji-San." I say to him with a happy smile on my face as I take the bag with the book inside. This book is the key to starting fixing up my house and turning the home that Mummy Mee and Daddy Dee bought for me into something magnificent.

"Haha, is that so? Then feel free to come around often, and you can sit around and read some books. I could do with some company as this old shop can get quite lonely sometimes. But you will have to buy any books you want to take back home. see ya later, young'un." Saying so, he waves me goodbye as I walk out of the door and go on my way to buy my groceries for the day and source some fresh meat to cook for dinner when I get home.

And then, after eating, I can start reading my book. One thing for sure is that I am gonna take that old man up on his offer and begin reading books at his shop because I don't really have much else to do all day, and I can learn even more instead of buying loads of books. Right now, though, I am going to have to start shopping for food and then, after that, carry it all home. So it isn't that hard to live by yourself.

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Right now, I am at home in bed and reading my newly bought book in my bed after a long day of shopping and cooking my dinner, which was just some beef that I managed to procure from one of the farmers and which I burned quite a bit on my oven which I am grateful for working considering that I forget to check that and if it didn't I would have just had some raw meat and been able to do nothing with it.

Buying the seasonings was a great call because even if I burnt the food so much so that it basically tasted like charcoal, I was able to season and flavour it, which made the taste much better in my mouth. However, it still wasn't as good as what was served at the orphanage.

After that, I went and explored the surroundings of my house for a while, but there were only some woods close by. So the rest of it was pretty deserted, which was just great for me as it meant that I could easily bathe myself in the sea instead of looking at other possibly expensive options. This way, all I had to do was make sure I stayed in the shallow waters and kept a watch out for any fish or dangerous aquatic creatures. Then when it was getting dark, I decided to go to bed early and read my book by candlelight.

Still, I realised that I had made a mistake when I was freezing in my bed, having forgotten how cold my home was. So it was a blessing that it was not raining right now, which I comforted myself with as I huddled up under the duvet and resolved to learn everything in this book so that I could sleep well at night.

I am really learning a lot from this book, and I am feeling very optimistic about the future and just how many repairs I am going to make on this structure starting tomorrow. I am going to use a hammer and some wood to start fixing up those holes and nailing some wood in.

I am going to use a saw to cut some wood exactly to create some new skirting boards to put around the room to protect the bottom of the wall, as I am liable to kick it in with my occasional bouts of clumsiness. I am going to replace all the wood in the structure little by little and get rid of the rotting wood, I am gonna make new drawers and cupboards for all the excellent possessions I am going to have in the future, and I am going to use a ham-

I don't have a hammer, I don't have any equipment, and I don't have any material or nails either. I don't have anything I need to repair this building, and I most likely don't have enough money to buy it with my current stipend. I can't get equipment or material to improve my home without money. I only get ฿10,000 a month which primarily covers my food leaving only a little left for other things, which means to make any sort of improvement on this home, I am going to have to figure out how to get more money.

Then it is settled. I am going to go to sleep, and then tomorrow morning, I am going to try and figure out a way to acquire more money so that I can fix up my home and no longer be so cold at night. I am going to make something out of this shoddy house. I won't give up, no matter how difficult it might seem.