I Grow Crops with a System

"Welcome, human!"

Several Minotaur guards greeted them enthusiastically at the gate.

Ethan noticed they were holding the very combat stone axes he had repaired yesterday. It seemed they were more than satisfied with his handiwork.

"I heard a clever and deft human had arrived, but I didn’t expect you to be so young."

As they entered the village, an aged voice called out. Ethan turned to see a white-haired, elderly Minotaur leaning on a walking stick, slowly making his way over.

"Hello. My name is Ethan."

"Hello, my name is Lombiat, and I am the chief of this village. Welcome."

"Thank you for your hospitality. May I ask why you invited me here?"

"I heard you’re very skilled at repairing things, so I wanted to ask for your help with some of the village’s facilities. Of course, we won’t make you work for nothing — rest assured."

"Then I’d be happy to oblige. What needs repairing?"

"Follow me."

Lombiat led him to a well. Beside it sat several wooden buckets, clearly used for drawing water — and clearly on their last legs. Some parts were rotting; others bore deep cracks.

"Could you fix these buckets first?"

"These are beyond repair," Ethan said, shaking his head.

"Hmm... then what should we do?"

"They just need to be remade. I’ll need some materials, though."

"What materials?"

"First, wood. Then..."

Ethan listed the required materials one by one, and Lombiat immediately brought him to a storage room piled high with all manner of odds and ends.

"Oh..."

"Use anything you please. It’s all things our village has accumulated over the years."

"Are there any good things, meow?" Pearl asked curiously.

"Let me see... oh, this is beeswax!"

"To be exact, it’s Firebee beeswax, meow!"

"Firebees?"

"A Firebee is a type of bee whose wings burn with fire, meow! Everyone loves to sneak a taste of their honey, meow! But the Firebees severely punish those thieves, meow!"

"How do they punish them?"

"With fire stingers, meow! One sting and your whole body feels like it’s burning, meow!"

’So, pretty much like bees on Earth.’

Ethan tucked the beeswax away. He gathered some nails scattered around the storage room too — and then his eyes lit up.

"I can use this!"

"What is it, meow?!"

A saw, sized for human hands. It had been well maintained, its teeth still sharp.

Ethan picked it up, found a wooden plank of suitable size, and rolled up his sleeves. "Alright, let’s start crafting."

He sawed the plank to the right dimensions, treated the wood with beeswax to waterproof it, then brought the boards, nails, and iron bands together and activated his Crafting skill.

[Well-crafted Purifying Wooden Bucket]

[A bucket made of wood. Can be used to hold water or other items. Treated with beeswax for waterproofing, making it resistant to warping and far more durable.]

[Well-crafted: Durability increased.]

[Well-crafted: Water resistance increased.]

[Hammer of Gaia effect triggered: Purify effect added.]

[Crafting Difficulty: ★★]

’So crafting with the Hammer of Gaia makes special effects much easier to trigger.’

Ethan examined the bucket curiously, then called Draugor over to test it at the well.

"It works great! And the water seems to taste even better!"

He crafted a second bucket afterward. This one came out ordinary — no special effects.

"Are they all done?"

"Two for now. That should last you a while."

"Mm, wonderful! Truly worthy of a human — so clever and deft. Although... this one looks a bit better."

Lombiat compared the two buckets, and in the end, chose the ordinary one.

"We’ll leave the better one with you. An ordinary bucket is all we need."

For Ethan, a Purify bucket was genuinely useful. He accepted gladly.

"Right — I have a few other things that need your help."

Lombiat led him to a small house. A massive hole gaped in the roof, leaving it completely unlivable.

"A while ago, a typhoon blew through..."

"You get typhoons here?!"

"Of course. It’s not typhoon season now, but there will certainly be more next year."

’Then I need to prepare for that too.’

The weather had been kind lately, so his shelter had held up fine. But if a real typhoon hit, that crude little tent would be gone in an instant. Even a wooden roof had been torn off here — what hope did his tent have?

"Could you fix the roof? We’ve tried many times, but we couldn’t manage it."

"That hole is..."

"Yes. Some of the young ones said they’d give it a try. They ended up breaking the roof even more."

These Minotaurs really were hopeless at manual labor.

Ethan sighed, climbed onto the roof, and inspected it carefully. The damage was worse than he’d imagined — it needed a complete overhaul.

"I need wooden planks."

"Go chop some trees!"

At Lombiat’s command, a few young Minotaurs grabbed their stone axes and charged into the forest. Before long, they returned with thick logs across their shoulders. Ethan had them cut the logs into planks — clumsy as the Minotaurs were, their sheer strength sawed through the wood in no time.

"Pass the planks up to me!" Ethan called from the roof.

One by one, the planks came up, and he nailed them into place.

"This is only a temporary fix, though. I don’t recommend wood for a roof — it absorbs moisture and warps. If possible, clay tiles are best."

"Tiles? What are tiles?"

"Hmm... they’re made of fired clay, like pottery. Do you have materials for pottery?"

"We have some right over there."

Lombiat led him to an open clearing, where a rudimentary earthen kiln stood beside a large pile of clay.

Ethan studied the setup, then fashioned a wooden mold, packed clay into it, and pressed down firmly.

"We make a lot of these tiles, then stack them layer by layer, like this..."

"...T-that’s too complicated..."

"It’s not complicated at all."

It was mere manual labor. But one look at Lombiat’s deeply troubled face told Ethan that, for these Minotaurs, tile-making was anything but easy.

"I’ll come back and help you make them when I have time."

"Thank you so much!"

"Let’s stop here for today. It’s getting late."

Before he knew it, the sun was nearly down.

"As your reward, take whatever you want from the storage room. By the way — is there anything in particular you’re after?"

"Do you have any crops?"

He needed more crops to plant.

Lombiat smiled and nodded. He stepped away for a moment, then returned and handed Ethan a sack.

"What is this?"

Lombiat’s voice swelled with pride.

"These are Honey Sweet Potatoes. It took us a great deal of effort to find them."

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