My Pokémon Story of Seasons

Chapter 334 The Difficult Young Lady

The next day, early in the morning, Tong Hua carried her toolbox to the treehouse library.

It was already late July, and the outdoor temperature had been rather muggy since early morning.

Fortunately, there is a treehouse library, where the lush foliage acts like a giant open umbrella, providing a refreshing shade.

"Phew—it's still cooler under the shade of the tree."

Tong Hua wiped the fine sweat from his forehead as he looked up at the enormous tree canopy.

To build the library, most of the tree's interior space was hollowed out, but even so, the tree still thrives.

Just like the treehouse in the windswept forest that guards the entire forest, the treehouse library also guards the fairytale ranch.

Tong Hua walked around the tree trunk, following the surface texture and touching the rough bark with his hands.

"Because it was ripened by the shrine, it only took one day for it to grow from a seedling into a towering tree."

I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing for trees, but for people, it's probably like growing from an infant to a grown adult in a single day.

Thinking about it that way, it might not be such a bad thing. After all, the most vulnerable time in life is skipped, meaning you're born with the ability to explore the whole world.

After walking around the tree once, Tong Hua stopped and looked up at the lush canopy of trees again.

Many wild bird Pokémon have already built nests in the tree canopy again.

What should have been a noisy, chattering sound actually has a unique charm when listened to attentively.

Although Celebi has its own secret base in the canopy, she doesn't seem to mind other Pokémon living there.

"Let's draw inspiration from there after all."

As Tong Hua spoke, she pushed open the library door and stepped inside, where light streamed softly through the specially left skylight.

The air was filled with the unique scent of paper, ink, and wood, creating a tranquil and peaceful atmosphere.

The library was piled high with books, and the space on the shelves was far from enough.

Books were piled up on the floor, the stairs, and even the windowsills.

Despite her family's expertise in spatial magic, Tibrim, the librarian, seems rather uninterested in organizing spatial elements.

"What a mess————

The room was so clean—

Tong Hua managed to find a place to stand amidst the piles of books and walked step by step up the stairs leading to the second floor.

"I remember when we were building the library, we collected a lot of wood to hollow it out."

I think I just casually put the last batch in the second-floor warehouse.

Following her memory, Tong Hua went up to the second floor, pushed open the creaking wooden door of the warehouse, and dust danced in the slanting sunlight.

Sure enough, a lot of wood was neatly piled up in the corner, all leftover scraps from when the second floor was hollowed out.

Tong Hua squatted down and began to carefully select the pieces. Although these pieces of wood were just "scraps," they were dense in texture and had clear grain.

"Fortunately, it's about making puppets, so we can choose some small pieces of wood to make parts and then assemble them."

If you're making a wood carving, the raw material must be larger than the finished product. To make a complete wood carving of an adult's figure, you'd need at least two meters of wood.

Tong Hua pondered to himself, and for some reason, he thought of the two lifelike circle bear wood carvings used as decorations outside the Chicory Wood Hall.

According to Master Xiangshi, those two wood carvings were hand-carved by Tong Hua's grandfather and given to his apprentice, Xiangshi, as a business opening gift.

That wood carving is at least two meters tall, and the wood used in its creation must have been even taller.

To carve such an exquisite piece from such a massive amount of raw material, Tong Hua's grandfather must have been a professional craftsman who had been skilled in this craft his entire life.

"It's a pity that after the original owner returned to Almia, she didn't learn the exquisite wood carving skills from her grandfather, but at least the craft should have been passed down."

Lost in thought, Tong Hua suddenly heard a faint noise downstairs. She immediately stopped what she was doing and listened intently.

The sound was very soft, like something sweeping across the floor and the pages of a book.

"Chino squirrel? Something doesn't seem right—"

Chinchilla was taught a lesson by Tibriam last time, so it shouldn't usually come to the library, otherwise it wouldn't be in such a mess.

This should be Tibrim.

Tong Hua walked out of the warehouse and stood at the top of the stairs to take a look.

As expected, it was Tibrim who came to supervise the work. At this moment, she was floating above a mountain of books, her little eyebrows furrowed, using her telekinesis to reassemble several large books that had slipped to the ground.

Her movements looked a bit clumsy, clearly indicating that she wasn't used to tidying up.

That's understandable, since she walks with her feet barely touching the ground, so she doesn't need to care about the floor.

"Hey!" Tong Hua called out downstairs.

Tibrim was startled; the books she had just tidied up were knocked over again by Nian's shock.

"Are you out of your mind, kid? What are you yelling about all of a sudden!" She floated up a little, hands on her hips, "Have you found the materials?"

Why are you moving so slowly?

"We're picking them out now," Tong Hua said, pointing to the warehouse. "Want to come help?"

"Very well, I'm looking forward to the puppet being finished soon, Brie."

Tibrim drifted into the warehouse. As soon as she entered, she couldn't help but frown. She disdainfully fanned away the dust in the air, and her ahoge (cowlick) stood up alertly in the dust.

"Bree—how long has it been since this place was cleaned?"

"Shouldn't you be asking yourself that question?"

Tong Hua was somewhat speechless. "Managing the library is your job, so of course you're responsible for cleaning as well."

He picked up a piece of finely textured wood, weighed it in his hand, and said, "Besides, don't you know magic? Don't you have any magic for cleaning?"

Tibrim's ahoge (cowlick) instantly straightened, popping up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"Who says I can't! Mere life-related magic? I can master it in no time if I wanted to!"

While she was being stubborn, she secretly used her telekinetic powers to clean up, but accidentally bumped into another pile of wood, and with a crash, several pieces of wood rolled down.

Tong Hua caught it quickly, then sighed helplessly. "Miss, forget I said anything. You can just watch from the side. I can handle this kind of rough work."

He put the wood back in its place, his movements practiced and steady. "With you helping like this," I said, "I'm afraid the library will be dismantled before the puppets are even finished."

Tibrim's face flushed slightly, and she sullenly drifted to the side without arguing. She watched as Tong Hua carefully searched and compared among the piles of wood, her gaze gradually becoming focused.

Before long, Tong Hua had selected a bunch of materials of suitable size, and only the final torso part was left to be found.

"Um----"

Tong Hua lifted a piece of wood about half a meter long from the deepest part of the warehouse. The wood had a warm color and dense texture.

"This one has the most uniform texture and the best resilience."

With all the materials gathered, Tibrim, who had been sitting quietly to the side, was finally able to help. She easily lifted the pile of selected wood on the ground with her telekinesis and left the library with Tong Hua.

"Let's go straight to the alchemy workshop. Once the puppets are made, we can set up the ritual for Brie."

Fairy Tale didn't say much. After following Tibrim back to the alchemy workshop, she laid out the selected pieces of wood one by one on the workbench.

Tong Hua roughly categorized the wood by part, and basically had three or four chances to try and fail for each part.

"To do woodworking, the first step is to draw up a design." Tong Hua said, turning to look at Tibrim beside him.

"What kind of puppet do you want? Do you have any reference drawings or anything like that?"

"Of course, there is Abuli."

As soon as Tibrim finished speaking, a yellowed photograph that had been prepared beforehand appeared in front of Tong Hua.

What is shown above is none other than Tibris's former human form.