In the break of dawn, there was a figure that was returning from the Beast Forest. He was dragging around fifty timber and around thirty beast corpses on top of it. Judging from his trail, it took him quite a long while to reach this place.
This was Dylan Vastocean who went to the Beast Forest in search for construction materials and ingredients.
Since his house was in the edge of the town, he was able to avoid the hassle of going through the streets of the town and immediately went straight to his residence.
After another hour spent on dragging his gathered materials, Dylan had finally returned to his house.
"Finally, I'm home!" Dylan stretched his entire body after carrying a truckload of lumber and a mountain of dead mystical beasts and wild beasts on top of it.
"That was a nice workout hahaha. It feels like I was reaching close to my limits." He was of course, sweating bullets from all those arduous work he's done. Yet, to him, it was just a normal workout which was absurd since each of those weigh a ridiculous amount.
"Time to get to work!" Dylan proceeded with further processing the goods that he had. Bringing the dead bodies inside, he left the timber over at the backyard of the house in the meanwhile.
First, he prioritized the food and the herbs as he went inside the kitchen. After he skinned and gutted the dead animals, he masterfully cut the carcass into manageable portions, separating the prime cuts of meat from the organs and connective tissues.
With the precision of a seasoned butcher, his knife skills and movements efficient and fluid despite the fatigue lingering in his muscles. This was due to the fact that he has been doing this trade for almost a decade at this point.
"I think I hunted too much haha." Dylan could only wryly laugh as he witnessed the amount of meat that was in front of him.
But, he then proceeded to the preservation of the meat as well. Since there was too much meat to go through, all of Dylan's natural preservatives like salt and pepper had been expended.
He made use of the storage room's naturally icy environment. Hanging the remaining cuts directly beside the salted meats near the damp, vaulted stone walls where cold slate shelves continuously absorbed the ambient chill. The constant draft blowing through the mesh window kept the cool air circulating over the hanging meat, helping to dry the surface and slow decay without needing extra salt.
Despite his storage room being filled to its absolute brim, he ensured the generous yield from his hunts wouldn't go to waste.
Once the meat was properly prepared, he moved on to the herbs. He washed and removed any leftover dirt that these herbs and spices had. Carefully sorting them based on their usages and shelf life, he set aside the spices for immediate use while hanging the hardier stalks to dry. He put them into containers and labeled them accordingly.
By the time he finished, the kitchen table was organized with rows of neatly prepared ingredients, ready to be transformed into meals that would fuel their business.
"Done with the food! I should cook a quick meal while I'm at it." After tidying up, Dylan cooked some of his favorite dishes first which were just different roasted meat, before moving forward with the renovations.
Due to the aromatic scent of the food, Scarlet who had already woken up joined Dylan with his meal.
Although while eating Scarlet commented, "I liked the food you cooked yesterday far better. It was waaay more delicious. Every bite was so flavorfuuul!"
"You little rascal. I just wanted to cook my favorites! If you don't want to eat, then don't!" Dylan's eyebrow twitched as he snapped. He could only shake his head since he would not be able the match the level of skill that Dylan Ford has in cooking.
"Hahaha, someone's angry! Bleeeh!" Scarlet joyously laughed. Despite her complaints, she still happily gorged the food that was on the table.
...
After the meal and washing the dishes, Dylan returned outside with a bucket, a saw, scythe, a hammer and a bunch of nails that he had.
"Ford told me to start with the landscaping first." Dylan picked up his scythe and began clearing the overgrown grass across his property. He methodically and meticulously worked on grass cutting until the entire area was neat and tidy an hour later.
"Onto the renovations, then!" Dylan started cleaning up the mold and dirt all over the wooden exterior of the house.
Armed with a stiff wire brush, an iron hide-scraper, and a bucket of wood-ash lye, Dylan cleaned the abandoned manor's exterior. He scrubbed the walls diligently with even sweeping strokes, shaving off decades of flaking paint and water-logged grime down to the raw granite underneath.
Then, he proceeded to dig his scraper into the stone joints, gouging out thick patches of black mold and tearing away persistent moss until the dark oak timbers were fully exposed.
Moving to the front porch, he hauled heavy buckets of river water, doused the stone facade, and ground away thick rust from the iron lanterns. Using a coarse stone dipped in animal fat, he swept the debris clear with a broom.
It was mid-afternoon by the time Dylan had finished cleaning up the debris. He was able to clean up the entire house!
Now, the old abandoned manor looked cleaner and tidier. Due to the cleaning exposing the bare wooden exterior of the house without paint, it surprisingly looked more welcoming. It became akin to wooden safehouse that breathed a clean and noble charm.
The manor now had a rustic, natural charm aligned with the concept of the Garden Ford tavern they had in mind.
"Looking good!" Dylan commented as he looked over his work.
With the grounds prepared, he turned his attention back to working on the lumber. He cut down the lumber into smaller pieces both horizontally and vertically.
He was a very handy man so he started creating table sets. It was either a round table with four chairs or two chairs.
"Hup!" Without specialized carpenter's planes, adzes, or fine chisels, Dylan relied entirely on his iron axe, saw, and raw muscle. To split the logs into flat planks, he drove wooden wedges into the grain using the blunt back of his axe.
Where an experienced craftsman would carefully plane the surface smooth, Dylan simply shaved off the worst splinters with his hunting knife and called it a day.
"Not bad." He said.
He drilled rough holes using an old, rusted hand auger he found in his shed, then hammered hand-cut wooden pegs and bent iron nails into the joints to hold the frames together.
When a joint didn't fit flush, he didn't re-measure. He simply used his terrifying grip strength to force the hardwood into place until it groaned and stayed put. "Hahaha, there you go!"
By evening, he had built four complete table sets. The trestle tables were massive and undeniably solid but they were hilariously uneven. For example, in one of the tables one corner of the largest table sat nearly two inches higher than the rest, causing a round wooden cup to slowly roll off the edge. The other tables also had some level of asymmetry due to Dylan's poor craftsmanship
The matching benches were so rough that anyone sitting on them without a thick wool blanket was guaranteed to snag their tunic on fresh splinters.
"Why does it look weird? Well, at least we have tables now!" Dylan said smilingly as he continued on with his work.
Lastly, he carved a prototype trencher using his iron knife to hollow out a thick slab of wood. It looked less like fine tableware and more like a shallow trough chopped out of a firewood log.
"Phew! Not bad for a day's work!" Dylan wiped his brow with his forearm, admiring the massive pile of heavy, lopsided furniture with a grin of pure satisfaction.
After the table sets, he went ahead and started making the pergola and a wooden block signage for the restaurant.
Dylan dug deep post holes in the dirt using an old iron spade. He dragged four thick, unpeeled logs into position and shoved them into the ground, packing the soil down with his heavy boots.
Without a builder's square or plumb line to guide him, he estimated every right angle by eye. To secure the overhead crossbeams, he lashed them together using thick utility rope tied in simple farm knots, reinforced with a few crooked iron nails.
The resulting structure was structurally sound enough to survive a storm, but it leaned subtly to the left...
For the dining nooks, he slapped together crude trellises using crisscrossed saplings tied off with twine. Rather than carefully weaving the forest vines through the lattice so they could grow naturally over time, Dylan simply draped the heavy, tangled masses of wild ivy over the frames like wet laundry, tying them down in clumps.
For the window boxes, he nailed together rough pine boards, filled them with spadefuls of dark garden soil, and crammed the herbs inside. The lavender bushes were packed so tightly against the mint that the stems were practically bent in half.
Standing back to survey his work, Dylan clapped his dusty hands together. "There! Instant private nooks and fresh herbs, just like Ford wanted!"
The three moons above the night sky could be clearly seen now as its light bathed Dylan who wiped the sweat from his forehead and proudly slapped his hands onto his hips.
"Done!" he announced to the empty yard.
Scarlet peeked her head out from the back door, holding a half-eaten apple. "He cleaned the entire day? He didn't go to work?"
She walked over to Dylan as she commented, "Hey, Big Bro! What are you doing?"
"Oh, hello, Scarlet." Dylan greeted. "I am making a set-up for a business! We will be making a restaurant! Isn't that exciting?!"
"Whoa! That's awesome, Big bro! People will definitely come over once they get a taste of your cooking especially the meals you made yesterday!" Scarlet was overjoyed and supported the idea wholeheartedly.
'That means I could eat those delicious dishes everyday!' Scarlet's mouth watered as she thought.
"Hmmm..." Then, she noticed what Dylan had been working all day. She looked at the messy set-up that Dylan had finished the thick, lopsided tables, the splintery benches, the leaning pergola held together by rough farm rope, and a deeply gouged wooden block sign and blinked twice.
"Big Bro..." Scarlet said slowly, pointing her apple toward the nearest set. "Why is that bench taller than the table next to it?"
"Err... it's c-custom-made for specific customers!" Dylan defended proudly, crossing his arms. "Some patrons have long legs! It's called being thoughtful!"
"And why is the big wooden ceiling leaning like it's trying to dodge the sun?" she asked, walking over and poking one of the unpeeled log posts. The whole pergola gave a slight, ominous creak.
*Creak*
"It's not falling, it's... angled for dynamic shade!" Dylan coughed into his hand, quickly turning away. "Besides, look at how much I finished in just a few hours!"
Scarlet picked up a rough wooden trencher he had carved, which was unevenly hollowed out and still smelled faintly of tree sap. She couldn't help but giggle. "Hahaha, this restaurant of yours looks very interesting, Big Bro!"
"..." Due to Scarlet's probing, Dylan had realized the faultiness of his craftsmanship.
As he looked over his finished products, he was then able to acknowledge, "Maybe... I'm not cut out for this..."
"Yup, you aren't. The tables you made are tilting too, HAHAHA!" Scarlet mocked him further.
"..."