Homesteading in a fantasy world

With so much snow, it was difficult to keep in contact with the new villages and towns towards the east. The one that was connected with the portal was easy to contact and helped them prepare for the winter solstice like we were doing in the capital. Yet, the villages were quite far away, and getting to them would require at least first-rank people.

The choice of who to send was hard; we didn't want to send people who had fought directly against their soldiers. We also didn't want to separate families, as this was one of the most important celebrations in this world.

We did eventually find enough people, and they were also designated to visit those places every so often to get more on-the-ground reports and not just the ones written into the connected books every one of the village and town leaders were given.

Of course, we had some bugs that looked after our new holdings, but even they were affected by the weather. What also didn’t help was Mirhit's focus on the Queen's domain. We should still have a score to settle with her, but we needed to be careful and work from the shadows on that front.

The morning of the winter solstice came late, but that was to be expected as this was the darkest day of the year. But when the sun did shine, it was truly a winter wonderland. The snow had been cleared from the town, but everything was still white, especially the rooftops.

In the air, there was a scent of baked sweets and bread. It was a delightfully mixed aroma, yet every so often, as the winds changed, you could smell wonderful foods being cooked.

Multiple music groups, located in different locations, provided constant background music, and for a moment, I could imagine myself back on Earth, bringing my children to a Christmas festival not too far off from what was currently around. Of course, then someone used some sort of ability that was flashy enough to get my attention, and the fantasy broke.

What was a bit funny, although also scary, was that the walls currently weren't providing any defense, as outside the town the snow was almost level with the top of the wall.

The snow was soft enough that it could only support a few kilograms before something would break through and fall quite deep. If I could push my energy right now into making myself as light as possible, I could walk on the snow.

When I discovered that I could do this, it really opened up the winter season to me, and I felt quite limited without being able to do this safely. But fortunately, it was only for this winter. As for the next, I shouldn’t have any problems once again walking on snow.

That made me realize that I hadn’t seen skis. There were definitely sleds, and many children were currently pulling other children on small sleds, but I hadn't actually seen skis. That was something that I needed to fix, especially for the army, as I did remember how much that helped Finland in the Winter War.

What about ice skates? Yet, when I thought back, I didn’t actually know how they worked. There was no way that just metal would work; it would have too much friction. Now, I did remember that they were sharpened, but they never looked like the edge was like a sword edge.

Well, that’s kind of disappointing. Still, I had got my notebook and made an entry to bring this up in a meeting sometime in the future. Perhaps we could figure this out, as I felt it would be a nice pastime and perhaps a hobby for some.

As time continued to march forward, the different foods started to get ready, and the stalls one by one started to open. I stayed back for a little while as the first stalls to open were quite crowded, but eventually, things settled down a bit, and it was time to start taste-testing all the wonderful food. Of course, I only took a little bit. Couldn’t be the one to break the rule of not consuming too much.

The speech was nice and thoughtful. Fortunately, I didn’t need to give one, but I clapped and cheered along with everyone else. The music groups that had been spread around before were now on the stage, giving a combined concert for everyone gathered. I didn’t know any of the music pieces, but they were lovely enough, although I did kind of start missing the music I liked, the old classics, and the ancient ones.

When it started to get dark, many lanterns and other light-giving devices were activated that made the entire town look even more magical. It was a wonderful time, and as the night continued, more stalls started to give out hot beverages, and they truly were wonderful. Yet, it was time for me to leave. When I got home, I needed to make quite a few fires in the main home and in the sauna.

Tim joined me a few hours later, as he had also been in the capital but also stepped into the inn for a little while. "Val will be joining us a bit later. He’s currently with his own family," Tim said when he walked into the sauna to find me sitting on the bench in the resting room and reading. We just talked about easy topics and played some cards. Eventually, Val joined, but he also brought his oldest son.

"I thought he should also be shown the wonders of a sauna," he said, and I couldn’t agree more. It was another wonderful evening, but this time there was no jumping into the river; the snow was a good second choice.

Goose, unfortunately, couldn't come inside as it would be too hot for him, but the resting room was just right. Eventually, Val’s son got too tired, and Val took him home. It was already quite late, and after another half an hour, it was finally midnight. The next day would finally have a little bit more daylight than the previous one.

After that, we all went to sleep, and it was honestly one of the most pleasant nights I have ever had. The next morning, however, it was time to get some chores done and then continue crafting with bones, as I only had two more levels before I ranked it up and got a choice of three abilities. This sort of system truly makes you want to push forward.

It took me another month, but I did it. By the end of it, I wasn’t making bone arrowheads but bone combs. The process was a little bit more involved. Using steam and pressure, you could flatten the horn. Afterwards, making larger items was possible.

The choices I got were not the best, and from the three, I chose natural preservation. I couldn’t test this thing out fully, but what it did was make natural materials have a longer lifespan. Not by infusing energy into them to keep them more stable, it just made them deteriorate slower in some other way.

It was weird, but the abilities given by the system didn't always work like you thought they would. I knew that there should be a way to learn how the ability actually did something, but currently, it was going over my head.

Whatever the case, I was still quite pleased, especially when I found out I could use it on simple things like straw and make it last even longer. With this finished, it was time to find another goal. But before that, it was time to start shoveling snow again, as it simply doesn’t stop coming down.