Vol 2 Chapter 19: Darkened Rain part 2

Foin carefully pulled out a single, well-burning piece of wood from the fire; with haste, he brought it over to the boiler. He had previously made an empty space for it under the boiler, where the fire would touch the boiler from three sides perfectly: from right, left, and, of course, the bottom of that part of the boiler. That small compartment was a sizable square of empty space, which was quite long so that he could push the ashes back should they pile up too much.

"Énilo, while I am observing the boiler, could you roast some potatoes and peppers on the other fire? Also, don't forget to collect the seeds."

He asked as he pulled out a sizable pile of peppers and potatoes from his inventory. The plant girl eagerly nodded and flew over to the vegetables. Meanwhile, Foin walked into the wood storage and brought another handful of larger logs and sticks for Énilo to use for the food.

He put the sticks beside the piles of products, and then he sat back down next to the fire. He had slightly lowered the area around the fire so that it was just about as high as his head when he was sitting. Foin waited patiently for the fire to grow a bit larger before he put a larger log beside it.

As the two fires cracked, almost in tandem, Foin smiled. He felt the heat radiating from the growing flame in front of him, which in the cold water was quite a pleasant experience. He had noticed that his heart resistance had increased considerably, as back on the surface, there were times when his breath was visible, yet he was not overly cold in his flimsy, ragged and thin clothes.

As he was just staring blankly at the fire, he was thinking about his clothes. He had been using these for quite some time, and they would eventually be worn out to the point where they were no longer usable. He needed some sort of new clothes soon. As he pondered, he could smell the mixed smell of the potato and pepper being roasted by Énilo not far from him.

"Maybe she could make new clothes... Hmm..."

He thought as he glanced behind him over his shoulders to see Énilo grilling the products with a wide smile, and although it was barely audible, she was humming in delight.

"Erm... Lord... I have brought some more logs for the fire... I hope you don't mind."

A shy and feint voice spoke up, which instantly brought Foin back to reality. The goblin stood next to him, holding a large number of logs. 

"Oh, I see, thank you!"

Foin replied with a smile. The goblin put the logs beside the ones Foin had brought. And after a brief moment, she sat down beside him.

"Erm.. Would you mind if I stayed here?"

"Hm? Oh, not at all; I know it is quite cold, but soon, once the boiler is hotter, we will no longer be cold!"

Foin replied as he dropped another log onto the now larger fire. And then he slightly leaned back. As for the goblin, she slid closer to him carefully and then extended her arms towards the fire to warm them up. However, soon, she tensed up and started shaking. She slowly looked behind her to see Énilo glaring at her. 

The plant girl had her hand raised and moved her extended index finger from side to side quickly. But then stopped as put her arms akimbo and slightly tilted her head.

Seeing Énilo's expression, the goblin slightly slid away from Foin but kept her hands extended. At that, Énilo nodded and continued working and watching over the grilled vegetables.

"Hey, Énilo... Do you think you'd be able to make some clothes from grass?"

"Of course, master! Please leave it to me!"

The girl replied without a moment's delay; she had a broad smile on her face as she kept grilling more vegetables. As for Foin, he sighed in relief and dropped another piece of wood onto the fire. Then he touched the massive boiler above the fire. 

It was already somewhat warm but was still a long way from being able to heat the whole base, but of course, the fire was just beginning to burn. Seeing how well it was burning, Foin finally stood up.

"I am going to take a look at the plants; please watch over the fires while I am gone."

He said as he slowly walked to the second room in the underground base, which was just opposite the wood storage. It was a smaller room as it was used to store everything else. His bag, plastic bottles, the half-drunk alcoholic beverage, the metal rods, and the sword he had acquired were all stored here, as well as the tools that were not currently being used.

In the room, there were the two pots in which Foin had planted the two new seeds. Despite being underground, both have grown, but their growth was quite slow, probably because of the lack of light. Since a few days had gone by, they were already quite large, but no products were visible to them yet.

The one which looked like a nut was much taller and was expanding upwards. The plant resembled a tree, but it was just about as tall as his palm and barely had any leaves just yet. Unlike the peteach tree, it was not that solid; with a gentle touch, Foin could move it. His gaze then shifted to the other plant right next to this tree.

In terms of size, it was much larger, but it was not spreading upwards but instead sideways. It had four main appendages which were touching the ground already. This one was full of extremely tiny leaves, smaller than Foin's finger, and this one seemed to have yielded a single fruit, but compared to the one Foin had planted, it was tiny, so Foin just left it on for the time being.

Once he had examined them, he grabbed one of the cups, filled it with water from his inventory and then watered these two plants. He was excited to see what these actually are and how well he can utilise them. Once they were watered, Foin walked back to the main room.

Énilo had already finished cooking and was carefully collecting the seeds, as she had requested. Foin put the cup down, and the two of them put every single seed into it. While he was sorting the seeds, he noticed that it was slightly warmer, which meant that the boiler was working.

"Phew, now, let us eat!"

He said with a broad smile.