Slimes & Magic

25. A house and the guild

After the meeting had concluded Alex went with Thrym to the location that he had picked out for Alex's house. Taking measurements of the foundation together Alex spends the rest of the day with Thrym, making the plans for the house. The final plan is made up of two floors, on the ground floor a large entry way with a staircase leading up, the the living room connecting to the kitchen on the side. In the upstairs area Alex wants to have a big bathroom with an extra large bath, as well as two extra bedrooms next to the masters for special guests.

The following morning Alex meets up with Thrym again to collect the materials that had been put aside to build the house. Having discussed the construction method they want to use the previous day they had agreed on using the rubble by turning it in to bricks, as well as logs from the tall jungle trees. Heading back to the site of the house Alex first cleans up the remaining rubble, removing some of the standing foundation so that it fits with their floorplan, storing everything nicely in their stomach. Using devour they dig holes at the important support points in the houses walls, to put logs in to. With devour Alex is able to summon the logs from their stomach straight in to the holes they had just dug, completely avoiding any heavy carrying work, "***Devour really is the best. Though I think I'll be quite tired by the end of today.***" To repair the current stone foundations Alex uses a bit of magic and rubble from their stomach, filling in the cracks and squaring the edges. The walls on the ground floor will all be made out of the stone bricks, so Alex turns the remaining rubble in to bricks inside their stomach. For the floor at the bottom they remove a 15 cm layer of dirt, then fill it in with large rocks. Between the gaps in the rocks Alex uses magic to create a mixture of clay and sand, that would harden over the course of a couple days to create a strong floor. On top of those eventually will come some wooden planks as the permanent floor. The working up from the bottom, layer by layer, Alex lays down a row of bricks, creating the sand and clay mixture on top, and repeating it until it reaches around 2.5 meters high. Having left gaps for doors and windows Alex walks around the inside once more to check that everything looks good according to the plan that they made. The ceiling and the base of the second floor would be made out of logs lain over the top of the walls. Just as Alex placed in the first few logs Mel comes up to them walking from the plaza. "*Hey Alex! got a minute?*" Having been perched on one of the corner pillars as a falcon for a better view Alex jumps down turning in to a tiger to go and greet her, "*Hi hi, what's up.*" Mel looks at the house quite amazed by the progress Alex had made, "*Wow you work fast. Anyway I came because the guild just contacted us through the crystal ball. They said that the two people have arrived, so it would be great if you could go and pick them up tomorrow*."
"*Oh good. If I get up early I can get there well before noon. Thanks for letting me know Mel.*" Alex says happily. Mel pats Alex on the head, "*No problem. Don't forget to join us for dinner in two hours, kay? You've been working all day.*" She says and waves as she walks back to the plaza. "***Hmpf, time moves fast. Alright I'll finish up laying down the logs for the ceiling and leave it there for today.***"

As the sun is just rising above the line of trees Alex takes off in to the sky back towards Azura. This time Alex isn't leaving a small part behind, they agreed with the others that it be best to be able to fight at full strength when escorting the two persons from the guild. Flying once again using the air manipulation skill Alex arrives in town just over an hour after Leaving from Zonia. This time Alex knows that the guild will have let the villagers know that Alex is flying in again, so they don't need to worry about causing a commotion. Flying straight in to town Alex makes sure to shrink down to a normal size before going down to the roofs. Landing in front of the guild there isn't anyone outside who could help with the door so Alex decides to turn in to a bigger wolf and try pushing the door open. "***Hopefully the armour will be enough not to scare anyone the moment I step inside.***" In front of the door Alex stands up slightly to push the door with their front paws, opening the door with relative ease. Inside a couple adventurers seem to be waiting, among them a couple demi-humans as well, slightly surprising Alex, not having seen them in town before. A few stand up in surprise from seeing a dire-wolf, half drawing their weapons, but quickly sit back down again after seeing Alex wearing creature armour. Relieved Alex goes to the front desk and grows a bit bigger so they can see over the counter while standing, "*Good morning*", Alex says happy to see Barbra at the counter again. "*Oh Alex, good morning. You're quite early, I hope you didn't wake up at the crack of dawn.*" She replies suddenly looking worried. "*Oh don't worry about that. Flying at full speed I got here in just over an hour.*" Alex reassures her. "*That's quite impressive. Come I'll introduce you to the two who will be joining you to Zonia.*" She walks over to the door leading to the room in the back, "*How's things going there?*"
"*Oh it's great, I've learned a heck of a lot. Started rebuilding the ruins, and I'm even building my own house.*" Alex says joining her at the door, which she opens and they enter the room. Inside two people are waiting with large backpacks leaning against the wall. One of them is a human man with a large build, broad shoulders and strong looking muscles. The other is a bird like demi-human woman, feathers covering her arms like wings, her legs covered in feathers too until the knees where her feet are like a falcon's talons. On her forehead there is a little crown of feathers as well before it transitions in to her hair, her colourings almost the same as Alex's falcon form. "*Hey guys, I'll do the introductions*" Barbra says as she leads Alex in to the room, "*This harpy is Iris, and this big guy is Gerald*" She says speaking to Alex indicating the other two, "*And this is Alex the Slime.*" She says now speaking to the other two. Alex turns in to a slime and jumps on to the table as she introduces them. "*Nice to meet you guys, I don't have a form with actual hands yet so this is the best I can do for now.*" Alex says as they reach out with a slime arm, greeting Iris and Gerald next to her. They both greet Alex as well, "*So it really is true...*" Iris mumbles after taking in the sight of Alex. "*Alright Alex, let me tell you what the guild had in mind.*" Barbra says as she sits down opposite of the two sitting on the couch, "*Once these two confirm that Zonia is indeed real, they have been asked to set up and run the guild there seeing as you said you are rebuilding the city. Once adventurers arrive in Zonia by themselves they would also take care of handling them so you won't have to worry to much about that. Sound good?*"
"*Yep, pretty much what I was expecting actually. So, how are we traveling? I can take you on my back in the air or on the ground.*" Alex answers and asks the two in front of them. "*I can fly myself as well, but this guy isn't good with heights*" Iris answers, jabbing her thumb at Gerald who's looking slightly green at the thought of flying, "*I'm just wondering, how would you have flown us there?*" To answer her Alex transforms in to a falcon about twice its usual size, "*I can get big enough to carry the two of you on my back in this form. The special armour that I have is able to change it's shape to include a saddle as well.*" Impressed, Gerald leans forward to look at the armour, "*Just how big can you get?*"
"*Uhm well, after my second evolution If I grow to full height in wolf or falcon form I would be too tall to fit in this room, around 5 meters tall in my slime form...*" Alex trails off the end of their sentence as they look back at the expressions on their faces, "*Yeah... I think I got mistaken for a dragon the last time I flew here...*" Both in disbelief Iris is the first to close her mouth and rub her eyes, "*I'll have to see that for myself. You are some slime Mr Alex.*" Slightly flustered by her words Alex thanks her, "*Are we all set to go then?*" they ask, "*Yep, all packed to go*" Gerald says standing up and starts to pull his backpack over his shoulder. "*Oh wait, you won't have to carry the backpacks, I'll store them away in my stomach.*" Alex quickly stops him. "*In your stomach?*" He asks, suspicious. "*Yeah it's a slime skill, doesn't harm anything that I put away so not to worry.*" trying to reassure them that their things wont get damaged Alex pulls out one of the scrolls that they had kept with them. Reluctantly they put their backpacks down in front of Alex, who stores them safely away after telling them to keep their weapons and things on them. "*I think I'll take you two in my tiger form then*" Alex says as they jump down from the table and transform, "*Should be a bit better for getting through the jungle quickly.*" Going outside Alex grows in size to be around two meters tall and crouches down transforming the armour in to a saddle. Instructing the two of them to strap in their legs to the saddle Barbra waves them off as Alex walks towards the edge of the village. With several strange parting looks from the people in town they head towards the forest.