Dao Divinity 2 Chapter 9 (Patreon)

Dar blinked and realized he was once again inside his inner world. Overall, it stayed the same with every visit. But this time there was one new addition.

The orange tree sat in the center of the clearing. Cherry was walking excitedly around it, inspecting the new arrival.

“Are we going to plant this in here?” She asked.

“That was the plan.” Dar admitted.

He paused for a moment, trying to decide if he wanted to broach the subject with Cherry then or later, finally deciding on then. “Cherry, Sasha told me that the rate at which I was accepting new girls was bothering you.”

She studied the orange bush a little longer before looking up and meeting his eyes.

“Dar, I want you to be comfortable with what you decide. You didn’t seem like you’d react very well to being pushed.” Cherry tore herself away from the tree.

“I think ignoring the problem doesn’t solve anything.”

She blew her tongue out. “There’s a difference between waiting and letting a problem solve itself. Mika wasn’t going to ignore you, so I figured it just needed a little more time. And then tonight, you more or less gave her and Amelia permission to pursue you, too. What changed?”

“Neko. I realized that if I started including her without giving Mika a fair shot, there would be trouble.”

Cherry started laughing. “Yeah. I think that’s true. Mika was close to putting her in her place when you first came back with Neko. She knew right there and then that the catgirl was going to stick with you.”

“Why is that?”

“She’s a jaguar, or was, right? It just goes back to their animal nature. Neko is going to steer towards a man that can beat her.”

Dar nodded, but he didn’t necessarily like that his main attractive point for Neko at present was that he could beat her to a pulp and hold her down. He’d have to work on getting to know her more and making sure it was a good fit for both of them.

Dar returned back to the initial target. “Beyond the other women, I want to make sure you tell me if something is bothering you next time, Cherry.”

“Alright.” Cherry bobbed her head. “Now, can we talk about this tree?” Her eyes lit up.

“That’s what I wanted to ask you. We have two options. We could either plant it here and see what becomes of it or start an orchard in town.”

“How would you explain suddenly pulling trees out of your gut and planting them in the village?” Cherry grinned. “We can take some seeds in the spring, and I can give them a nice little boost, but they’ll have to mature on their own.”

Dar nodded. Cherry was right. He could try to lie and say he’d carried it in from the forest, but the lie could easily break down.

Moving over, Dar started positioning the orange tree to be near a few seedlings that had sprouted from Cherry’s original cherry tree. Despite the tree being withered and dried out, she’d managed to coax a few trimmings into starting to sprout. They had to have been nearly dead, and Dar had been amazed her dao could still bring them back to life.

Dar picked up the shovel he’d brought into his inner world before to bury corpses for the little dao tree and started to dig a new hole for the orange tree.

Cherry helped manipulate the tree’s roots into the soil, working to grow back a few spots that Dar’s less than delicate removal had damaged. She grumbled a few times about butchery as she tended to the plant, and Dar couldn’t help but smile.

As they finished, Cherry stepped back to inspect their work and gave it a nod.

Once they finished, Dar began strolling around to check on everything in his inner world.

The large dark keep still dominated the inner world, its walls making up the boundaries. Dar looked through the black iron portcullis that blocked him from entering. He’d wondered if the gate would eventually open, but so far he’d had no luck. He’d tried to break it open or find some sort of latch a number of times with no success. Eying it once more, Dar continued past to his dao tree.

While the little dao tree had grown slightly since he’d last visited, the fruits remained frozen in the same state. A number of half-ripe fruits pulsing with various dao hung from the branches. A few of them were duplicated of dao he had already mastered, but some were new. He’d have to find other devils or wild beasts with that dao and bury them in the ground beneath the tree before the fruits would grow further.

“There’s been no change Dar. I think if you really want to grow stronger, we need to find something for you to kill and feed the dao tree.” Cherry interrupted him as he was sifting through the leaves, looking for anything new.

“Greedy little tree.”

“Dar! This tree is a miracle. The way it produces those fruits is amazing.” She held one of the half grown fruits. “Even with your new found meditation skill, these fruits could birth new demons with ease.”

“Or other immortals.” Dar added.

Cherry paused, looking up at him in surprise. “Is that what you are planning to do with them?”

“I’m not entirely sure. I think it would be easier than a demon. They would be conscious and able to make the decision, and I’d be able to judge their worth prior to giving them a fruit. But… yeah it has been a thought.” Dar admitted.

“They are yours to do with.” Cherry stated, nodding and stepping away from the tree, her lips turning up into a smile. “And so am I.”

***

Dar woke from his dream in his inner world with a smile. He found himself in bed with his arms wrapped comfortably around Sasha.

For once, she was already awake. “You were grunting quite a bit in your sleep.”

“Sorry, blame Cherry later.”

She gave a soft snort. “No, it’s fine. Just makes me a little jealous that she gets you alone every night.”

“Then take my morning. She’s still sleeping.” Dar got up, moving over to Sasha’s side of the bed, and Sasha used her dao to cloth him in perfectly fitting clothes.

“I’m not sure that’s going to get old.” Dar smirked and headed out to snag breakfast.

Only Neko was lurking nearby the hut. The second he emerged, she pounced on him. “Neko. Dar. Yes.”

He stumbled but caught her and picked her up, carrying her to breakfast.

“So much for alone.” Sasha gave a playful sigh. “Morning, Neko.”

“Sasha.”

“Sorry, Milord, she’s been lurking near your hut since sunrise.” Amber appeared with a bowl of steaming oats.

“Thank you.” Dar put Neko down and took the bowl with a smile.

Neko glared at the bowl angrily, like it had stolen her moment. She huffed and prowled towards the center, seeming like she was on the hunt.

Dar laughed and sat down. “Did you sleep well Amber?”

“Yes, though we’ll be happy when you have a larger place.”

It didn’t miss Dar’s eyes that she looked scared for a moment. He wondered if the people of Hearthway weren’t feeling quite as safe as he thought.

Working through his oats, Dar noticed a group of men carrying axes moving out into the woods with the light of dawn. Ejecting a sleepy Cherry and handing her off to Sasha, he hurried to catch up to the woodsmen.

“Morning. Where are we heading?” He asked the man leading the group as he caught up.

“Not too far. The woods thicken up pretty quickly. I’m Frank.” He gave a short salute to Dar and kept going.

Getting the message loud and clear, Dar kept quiet and walked with the woodcutters into the woods. There were about twenty of them in all, making up about a fifth of the village’s work force.

With the limited size of their workforce, they had to be strategic about how they divided up their priorities. For this task, they’d leaned largely human. There were only a handful of demons, and only one of them was male. His name was Terick, and he generally kept to himself. Dar instantly liked him more for it.

Terick was part of a family that was led by a female spirit, which made them unusual. But Terick seemed plenty content.

As they walked through the woods, Dar could see the stumps of prior timber scattered among smaller trees, thinning out the woods but not clear cutting them.

They passed by a massive tree, the trunk almost big enough for three to four men to wrap their arms around, and Dar stopped and asked Terick, “Why is this one still standing?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s too big. It would be too hard for us to cut that big boy down safely.” Terick looked up and down the tree with a faint whistle. “And can you imagine how much trouble that would be to fit with other timber? Not very uniform.”

Dar looked again and acknowledged the man was right. It wouldn’t work for their current uses given that it was so large. But he realized it could be used for something else where its size was beneficial. A boat, for example. Dar’s face spread with a smile as he thought about the solid wood boat they could make if they could bring the tree down.

Making a mental note, Dar realized most of the woodworkers had passed him and were continuing down the trail. His ax bounced on his shoulder as he strode quickly to catch up and found them fanned out around a tree.

“This is the one we are going to take down next.” Frank looked around. “Simon, Mark, take your groups in for the next tree.”

The group split into three, though Frank’s was much larger. Each of the groups was working far apart, chopping away. Dar guessed the added distance was to prevent an accident with a falling tree.

“So, do you want to try and cut the first tree?” Frank asked.

Dar knew how to do it with a chainsaw, but this would be his first time working to cut down a tree with an ax. “Sure. I’m no woodcutter, but I’m happy to help. Show me the ropes?”

Frank nodded, looking pleased with the honesty, and Dar had a feeling that he’d just won a small dose of the man’s respect.

“You cut the wedge first.” Frank explained, stepping back and swinging his ax over his head, bringing it down hard into the side of the tree. As it hit, he cut a steep angle that went with the grain of the wood.

After several more chops, and he pried out a doorstop-shaped wedge.

“We want it to fall in that direction.” Frank nodded towards the side he had just cut into. “So now we move to the other side and finish the job.” Frank picked up the wedge and walked around the tree. “This part is harder. We have to cut against the grain at a sharp angle. We’ll take turns.”

Frank swung with his full strength for maybe a dozen strokes before stepping back. Another man then stepped in, continuing to hit in the same spot. Together, they hacked a sharp, narrow cut into the other side of the tree. It took a few minutes, but overall Dar had a feeling they made it look easier than it would be.

“Now the fun part.” Frank took the wedge he had made on the other side of the tree and trimmed the tip off with his ax, then jammed it into the sharp cut they’d been working on. “We hammer this in while two guys take turns hacking into the first cut.”

One of the demons and another man stepped up to where the wedge had been taken out. At Frank’s nod, they started hacking into the base of the missing wedge.

Meanwhile, Frank started hammering his wedge into the narrow cut. “Want to take a turn?” He asked, stepping back.

Dar shrugged. Seemed simple enough. “Can I put my full strength into this? Or is the goal to go slow?”

“Go ahead and give it your all. You are trying to move several hundred pounds of tree.”

The two workers on the other side of the tree watched him as he wound back, preparing to use the back of his ax like a hammer.

He tapped into his daos of hardness and strength to reinforce his ax and his body as he swung for the fences. He hadn’t cut down a tree before, but he had plenty of experience swinging a hammer in his past life. Knowing not to aim for the where he hit, Dar continued his hit like he was going to move straight through the tree.

A low roar emerged from his throat as he slammed the ax into the wedge. As the ax made contact, the wood shattered, and the ax continued sliding through the tree.

CRACK

The tree started to tip.

“Timber.” Frank said before yelling louder. “Timber!” He and everyone else dropped what they were holding and ran.

Dar dropped his own ax and ran clear of the tree with Frank.

It tottered, seeming unsure which way to fall before tilting the towards the wedge side. Several more cracks echoed through the woods as the tree broke free from the stump and fell onto the forest floor with a boom.

Frank gave Dar a completely unamused glare. “That was dangerous. Next time, go slower. Not controlling the fall of a tree is the most dangerous thing you can do out here.”

Dar nodded, feeling a bit guilty as he scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, sorry about that. I hadn’t realized it would be quite so effective. I’ll be more careful.”

Frank only grunted as he waved the men back to the tree. “Now the really fun part.” He said, his voice flat. “Trimming the tree.”

Several of the others grunted and moved over to the felled tree, immediately hacking away limbs. Dar joined them and took the lowest and largest branches, squaring where they joined between his feet and started hacking them off with heavy over handed swings.

“Good, but be careful not to split the trunk. You see here where the grain changes from vertical on the trunk to horizontal with the branch? You want to stay on the horizontal grain and cut against it, or you risk splintering the trunk.” Terick pointed out.

“Thank you.” Dar meant it. Doing everything manually like this was a bit of a shock to the system. It was definitely making him appreciate the technology he’d once had around him. But despite the exhaustion, there was something satisfying in what they were doing.

“No problem.” Terick went back to his own work, hacking at the limbs.

All of them worked together until about halfway through trimming the limbs. The large ones were all clear and just the upper branches needed to be scraped off. At that point, Frank reconvened the group and started on the next tree while a few continued to trim branches.

“This time, I’ll let you give it a try.” Frank gave Dar the floor.

Making sure to remember all he’d watched, Dar stepped forward. He angled the first cut to remove the wedge well enough, then started on the back. He dialed back his strength as he started to hack the thin cut in the tree.

Given his strength, he was moderating himself not to slam the tree so hard that he might topple it unexpectedly.

His ax bit far deeper than Frank’s had, but no matter how much strength he used, it wasn’t quite sharp enough.

Or maybe, the tree was too hard.

Trying again, Dar focused on his Dao of softness and kept one hand on the tree while he brought back the ax for another swing, though with far less power without his torso to pivot with.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying something.” Dar swung and his ax bit far deeper than last time, and that time it sank all the way to the shaft. He couldn’t help but grin.

Two more swings like the first, and he already had a space big enough for the wedge, which Frank had already trimmed for him.

“Maybe we should all stand back while you try this next one.” Frank teased, but Dar didn’t miss the couple steps back Frank and the others still seemed to take.

Setting the wedge, Dar tapped it in about halfway. “Okay, next one will be a big swing. Are you all ready?” He checked to make sure everybody still trimming the last tree was clear before he swung for all he was worth, once again using his dao.

This time, Dar knew that first crack was a sign it was going to come down and jogged away to stand with the rest.

“Well, this is certainly going faster.” Frank stated, staring at the downed tree with the others. Everybody stood for a moment in silence, seeming shocked. “Well? What are you all waiting for? Get to trimming.”

Dar wiped the grin off his face with the second comment and joined the rest in trimming. He was excited about his discovery. If he could get a few charms from Sasha to soften the trees, they could speed up felling by quite a bit for everybody.

But he wasn’t sure how to solve for trimming. The majority of the branches came off with one or two swings. It wasn’t an issue of effort to break through; it was the limitation of how many smaller branches there were on the tree.

The modern idea of a delimber wasn’t going to work here. It would require moving entire tree trunks through a hoop, and even he wasn’t sure he could do that very well with his strength.

Dar considered something like a hand plainer. A sharp-bladed hand tool might be able to scrape along the side of the tree and get all the smaller branches in a long scrape, rather than cutting them each free. But it would take a bit of effort to move it through them.

Trying it out with his ax, it was only mildly successful. He’d need to figure out some sort of enchantment to enhance the process to really work.

“Ready for another one, boss?” Frank interrupted his musings with the trimming process.

“Of course.” Dar got up, and Frank pointed him to the next tree worthy enough to become building material.

Dar was partway through the new tree when shouting arose deeper in the woods. Wanting to check it out, Dar looked to Frank. “Is it safe for me to leave this part way?”

Frank eyed the tree from top to bottom and shrugged. “It isn’t great, but I don’t think it is going to fall just yet.”

The rest of their work crew was looking up from their work deeper into the forest and grabbing their axes.

“Do you often get trouble?” Dar asked.

“No, not so much as a peep since we’ve started. But after logging back in Bellhaven, you always had to be careful. The forest doesn’t like it when you take her trees.”

Dar grabbed his ax just under the head and hoofed it deeper into the forest, towards the sound of the shouting.

The voices seemed to be coming from an outcropping nearby. Dar leapt up on top of the rocks, finding himself just over the work crew. They had been backed into a corner.

Splayed out in front of them was a hideous manspider. It looked like someone had tried to graph the traits of a spider onto a human. Eight eyes shifted from the work crew upwards, taking in Dar. It clicked its mandibles as it watched him, carefully crouched on a branch with his humanoid body.

But the manspider wasn’t alone; it had a small pack of large spiders with it that were as big as a dog.

“What is that?” Dar was going to be sick from the sight of them.

“Ettercaps.” Frank said as he caught up. “Nasty devils.”