Claude returned to his room with a belly full of rage. Logically speaking, he couldn't blame Zahirak for what he did. After all, there were two old and two young children in his house, a man and three women. There was nothing wrong with building a door on the stairs to strengthen the defenses.
But Claude had to admit that the old man didn't show any respect for him, the lodger, at all. Instead, he treated him as someone he was wary of. That made him feel rebellious.
Aren't you going to keep your guard up against me? Do you really think I'm someone you can guard against? Claude was considering who he should seduce first. After comparing Doris and Halbena, he didn't hesitate to target Doris. Based on his experience in his past life, Doris was obviously easier to seduce. Halbena, on the other hand, was a girl. Once he seduced her, things might get a little troublesome later on.
Compared to the gluttonous Halbena, Doris was superior in terms of looks and figure. Additionally, Claude already knew that Doris would console herself when she was lonely at night. All he had to do was test her to see if he would seduce her.
Claude spent the afternoon in bed planning how he would go about seducing her. Soon, it was time for dinner. It was Doris who returned with a tray.
Claude glanced behind her and saw that Zahirak wasn't monitoring her from behind. So, he muttered as he looked at his dinner, "Does this old man think he'll be safe just by building a door?
If I really want to, I can just dig a hole in the floor and go up. "
Doris snickered at the sight of Claude's disgruntled expression and said, "Then, why don't you dig a hole and go up there?"
Claude said with a bitter expression, "No, I'm afraid you'll scream if I go up."
Doris covered her mouth and giggled. "Come up if you dare. I promise I won't scream."
Claude shook his head. "No, women love to lie. If I go up and you scream, I'll be so embarrassed that I'll end up in the military academy."
Doris turned around and left. "Ptui!
Coward! "
Haha, it worked. But I'll have to be careful. Women are fickle. Perhaps she was just joking.
Dinner wasn't sumptuous, but it wasn't shabby either. It consisted of mashed potatoes with wax minced meat, black bread with bacon, a roasted sausage, a fried steak and a glass of rye wine.
Claude guessed that the steak was salted meat from the end of last year. It still felt a little salty after being soaked in water for a whole day. But with the rye wine, he could still eat it.
Half an hour after dinner, Doris came to clean the dishes again.
Claude looked at her and said, "Then I'll dig a hole and go up."
Doris rolled her eyes at him. "Let's go. Who's afraid of who …"
She packed all the dishes into the basket she brought and left without looking back. Just as he was about to close the door, he heard Nathalie ask Doris if she said anything about the dinner.
She didn't ask, nor did she speak to Claude. She only cleared the dishes and returned.
Sure enough, Auntie Natalie complained about Doris's unreliability as she walked along the eaves.
Claude sat back down at the table and started reading again. Soon, Natalie came in and asked Claude how the dinner was with a smile on her face and whether it was to his liking or not.
Claude naturally praised it politely and said that the fried meat was a little salty. Everything else was delicious.
At the same time, he said that he didn't expect the old man to have such craftsmanship when he saw Zahirak working on the door during the day.
So, he asked Zahirak if he could make a wooden bathtub for him to bathe in. He said that he usually bathed in a bathtub at home and that he wasn't used to standing and bathing in the open air.
Of course, Claude was willing to pay for the bathtub. He also hoped that Natalie could buy him a small stove to put at the door.
He had been spending most of his time in his room reading and writing. It was rather troublesome to go to the kitchen to boil water for tea when he was thirsty. Having a small stove was much more convenient. Not to mention, he could use the stove to boil water for himself if he wanted to take a bath.
Since Claude was willing to pay, Natalie was naturally willing to help. However, she hesitantly mentioned the cost of charcoal for the stove.
Claude said that it was fine. He could go to the military academy to get a big bag of charcoal and leave the rest for them to use.
So, Natalie happily took the thale Claude gave her and promised that she would get the old man to make a bathtub for Claude the next morning.
As for the stove, there was a spare one in the kitchen. She would bring it over later for Claude to use.
Soon, Doris brought the stove over and placed it under the eaves of Claude's room. It would provide ventilation and shelter from the rain. It also wouldn't affect the flow of people in the hallway.
Natalie even started a fire for the stove and brought over a small copper kettle for Claude to use to boil some tea.
If Claude wanted to take a bath at night, he would go to the kitchen and get a big pot to boil water on the stove.
After taking care of everything, Claude closed the door and started on his own.
He first used a silence spell in the room before choosing a spot to dig a hole in the floorboards.
That was very important. He couldn't do it in the middle of the room. That way, people would notice the abnormality of the floorboards the moment they entered the room and find a huge hole in the floorboards. That would expose everything.
Considering that the furniture in Doris's room was similar to Claude's room downstairs, the best and most secluded passage would be under the bed, or in other words, the ceiling above Claude's bed.
Since the bed was against the wall, Claude decided to go for the few floorboards in the corner.
There was only one floor between the upper and lower floors. However, the beams on the upper floors were very close together. The distance between each beam was only about 50 centimeters. That was a common sight in wooden buildings in this world. Most people believed that the beams had to be close together to be able to bear more weight.
The better floors were usually four to five meters long and stretched from one end of the room to the other. That way, people wouldn't feel any vibrations when moving on them.
However, Zahirak probably wanted to save money and materials, so he only used 60 centimeters long wooden planks to make the upper floors.
That gave Claude an opportunity to use Magus' Hands to push against the few floorboards he had his eyes on and slowly pushed them up.
A series of unpleasant creaking sounds rang out, and the four slabs of the floor slowly rose up.
Only then did Claude understand why there was only one floor for the upper floors and not the ceiling.
The floorboards were as thick as a thumb. Claude didn't know how the builders decided on that. One floor was too thick, but two was too thin.
It was no wonder the nails nailed to the beams were as long as a middle finger. The sound they made when they were pushed up by Magus' Hands was really unpleasant and loud.
Claude had used a mute spell on the lower floors so that no one outside could hear anything.
There was no one upstairs. He saw that Natalie's family of four were in the kitchen. If someone were to go upstairs, the sound of the wooden stairs would alert him. Additionally, the sound of the rain was quite loud and it perfectly covered up the sound of the floorboards being pushed up.
The four floorboards that were 15 centimeters wide were pushed open and each one was nailed with three nails that were as long as a middle finger and half a centimeter wide.
Now, there was a 50-centimeter by 50-centimeter hole above Claude's head that led to the room on the second floor. All he had to do was put the chair in front of the table on the bed and step onto the chair. Then, he would be able to climb up to the second floor through the hole.
What was even more amazing was that the hole was under the bed on the second floor and most people wouldn't be able to notice it.
Claude cast Appraisal Eye and entered the hole to take a closer look at the room on the second floor.
The bottom of the bed was very clean and there wasn't a single speck of dust. There was also a large wooden box that seemed to be used to store clothes. It was placed closer to the front and he could move it to the hole to block his line of sight in the future.
However, he didn't plan to leave the hole there. If someone in the room looked up, they might notice it.
What Claude had to do now was fix the nails on the four boards and cover the holes with the wooden planks. That way, no one would notice anything amiss when looking up from below.
All he had to do was go up and lift it up lightly.
If Doris could be seduced by him, she would naturally cover it up for him without him needing to use any spells.
Someone knocked on the door. Claude jumped in fright. Fortunately, the floorboards above were already covered and he couldn't see anything.
He pretended to doze off and went to open the door. Standing outside was the cold-faced old man, Zahirak. He said stiffly, "Let me measure. How big do you want the bathtub to be?
Also, I have to see if it can be moved into the bathroom. "
Claude yawned and pretended not to mind. "As long as it can be moved in, I'll make it as big as I can.
I've always liked bathing since I was young. Cold baths are the best in the summer.
By the way, Uncle Zahirak, I really don't know how to do this. Can you help me measure how big it can be? "
Perhaps in Zahirak's eyes, Claude was just a lazy rich boy toy. He didn't know how he managed to get into the kingdom's army.
So, he was wary of Claude. But that didn't stop him from making some money off him.
Since he was willing to spend money to make a bathtub for the sake of taking a bath, would he be able to take it away when he left? Wouldn't he just leave it there?
Thinking about that, the old man felt that Claude was a perfect example of a wastrel.
After the old man finished measuring, he pushed the door open and left without saying a word. Claude didn't say anything and closed the door. He then lay on the bed and waited for the person upstairs to return.
Another hour or so later, Doris returned to her room.
For some reason, she purposely stomped heavily on the ground, as if she was mocking Claude for digging a hole and not doing anything. She had the heart but no guts.
For example, she purposely stomped her feet twice in front of the bed, which caused Claude to cough loudly. Then, she purposely stomped her feet again.
Claude yelled upstairs, "Stop stomping. I'll dig the floor later!"
Hearing Claude's words, a giggle came from upstairs. Doris said, "Alright, I'll wait for you. If you don't come up, you're a puppy."
Footsteps and tremors could be heard from the stairs in the kitchen, followed by the sound of the newly made wooden door being closed and bolted.
Zahirak's shouts could be heard from the corridor upstairs. He was basically telling Doris and Halbena to go to bed early and not to waste oil.
The light from the crack on the floor above him suddenly dimmed. Doris had blown out the oil lamp upstairs. Then, Doris seemed to be lying on the floor and whispering to the crack, "Hey, when are you coming up? Don't make me fall asleep while I'm waiting... Haha..."
Perhaps she took it as a tease and found it amusing, so she covered her mouth and giggled.
Claude whispered back, "Wait here, I'll be up soon."
Claude then moved a chair to the bed and stood on it. He raised his fist and gave it a light push. With a few creaks, the four pieces of the floor were pushed up. Claude pushed them to the side and stuck his head out, just in time to see the dumbfounded Doris lying on the floor with her hand covering her mouth.
The light from upstairs shone directly under the bed. Claude didn't expect Doris to be lying on the floor in front of the bed. The two of them were less than a meter apart.
"Ugh, look, I said I'd dig a hole, so I'll dig a hole. I didn't lie to you, did I?" Claude smiled awkwardly, but he still waved at Doris.
Doris grabbed Claude's hand and pulled him up. "Quick, come up …" she said anxiously.
Just like that, Claude was pulled up and pushed onto the bed by Doris. She leaped into Claude's arms and kissed him as she took off their clothes.
It wasn't until Claude entered her body that she let out a long moan of satisfaction and hugged him tightly.
All Claude could do was cast a Silence spell.
The next morning, it was Halbena who knocked on the door loudly. Claude dragged his weak legs to open the door and saw that she was there to deliver breakfast.
"Huh? Why is it you and not your sister-in-law?" Claude yawned as he walked towards the bed.
"My sister-in-law seems to have caught a cold and can't get out of bed in the morning. My mother went to brew some medicine for her," said Halbena.
She deserved it. It was her fault for asking for it again and again last night. She was practically a human juicer. Claude almost didn't have the strength to climb down the stairs in the wee hours of the morning.
"Leave the things on the table first. I'm going to sleep for a while. I read until midnight last night and you woke me up."
Claude lay back on the bed and closed his eyes. What he needed now was to recover his energy. "By the way, you can take the box of candies. You don't have to sneak around anymore.
Also, don't knock on the door before I open it in the morning. I don't want to wake me up again. "
The moment she heard that the box of candies was hers, Halbena hurriedly nodded and placed the breakfast on the table. She took the small metal box from the bag and left, considerately closing the door behind her.
However, Claude only managed to nap for another hour or so before he was woken up by the banging sounds outside. It was Zahirak making a bathtub.
He regretted his decision to take a bath.
Doris came to deliver lunch again. Her cold didn't seem too bad.
Even though the two of them didn't speak as Zahirak was standing right under the roof, her gaze towards Claude was filled with affection.
Claude decided to sleep early and get a good rest.
However, the four slabs above him opened up, revealing Doris's beaming face. "Do you want to come up tonight?"
Claude shook his head, indicating that he didn't want to go up.
Doris shrunk back and not long after, a bedsheet was thrown down from above.
Claude turned his head and saw that the bedsheet was tied to the bed. He had a bad feeling.
As expected, Doris climbed down from the hole on the second floor along the bedsheet.
"Wait, wh-what are you doing?" Claude panicked.
Doris burrowed into Claude's blankets and said cheekily, "If you're not coming up, I'll be the one coming down."
Oh, no, help … Claude cried helplessly in his heart.