Seeing Bell almost pass out again Ukala stifled a chuckle before clearing up the confusion.

''I'm going to help you train, build up some proper muscle for your body first.''

''But won't leveling up make me stronger?'' Bell asked as he walked over, needing to pull a chair over to join them, Ukala turning the page she was writing on around to show him the routine.

''Sure, it will make you stronger, but building actual muscle and a foundation for your body for the excelia to take place in. Think if it like this, if you have a cup of water, you can only put so much water into that cup before it overflows.'' 

Ukala drew a little cup on the page. ''Since you don't want the excelia, or water in this case to go to waste, what do you do?''

''You get a bigger container... So if I work out and get a stronger body, it will increase how much excelia I can hold?''

''So to speak, it will more so increase how 'well' you can hold it. How much it benefits you.'' Ukala answered Bell's question before she pointed to herself.

''I descended from Evil Mountain, so I have plenty of experience with fighting monsters, and my people are all strong. Even the weakest amongst us can crush stone with their bare hands.''

''That... Thats impressive, I noticed the yard was cleaned up, was that you?'' Bell asked, getting a nod from Ukala.

''She was lifting the pillar in the back when I came home.'' Hestia added, making Bell's eyes widen a bit.

''Your stronger then I thought you would be... It's almost like you're a level 2 adventurer already.''

Ukala raised her shoulders in a shrug.

''Oh... I just realized I don't have enough to feed three people...'' Hestia muttered, even combining the money she had, and the normal money Bell brought back from the dungeon, they wouldn't have enough to order anything, not this late at least.

''Don't worry about it, I can go four days without a meal, and I just ate before entering the city so I'll be fine until tomorrow, eat what you can you two. It'll get better with me around.''

Hestia smiled, not being able to sense a lie, meaning Ukala genuinely believed in herself which caused Hestia to nod before Ukala stood.

''I'm going to go put in some more work clearing debris, for now you to rest for the day and eat.'' Ukala smiled to the both of them before she left them there, taking her axe with her.

''Is it really okay, for us to eat without her?'' Bell asked, looking at the portion of Jagamarukun for himself.

''She wasn't lying when she said she would be fine. Nor was she lying about having said she already ate before entering the city, so for now we can believe in her.''

Bell nodded before he began to eat, still feeling bad about the situation, promising himself he would work harder so he could better provide for the growing familia.

About an hour later as the sun was setting did they here a loud thump sound, some dirt shaking loose from places because of it, the one hanging magic light swaying softly.

Both Bell and Hestia looked up before towards each other.

Heading up the stairs and out the hidden passage way into the basement, they found Ukala whoe had made a large pile of not only scrap metals and wood, but also an actual lumber pile of full on logs.

''Ukala, what are you doing?'' Hestia asked as she wondered over, having long since changed from her work clothes to her casual ones, along with Bell doing the same as he had been doing pushups like the journal Ukala had started making told him to.

''Supplies for crafting, going to build better furniture, fix the walls, ceiling and all the openings. If it's chilly now, I can only imagine how bad it is in winter. So before then I will put some work into fixing the place up, make it into a proper home, at least until we can move.''

''Move?'' Bell asked, surprised that hadn't even crossed his mind.

''From the dungeon, to here is almost 30 minutes, that's an hour trip back and forth. I'm also sure it isn't easy for Hestia to set up her stand almost the same amount of time away either, it's also annoying to get provisions, groceries and other things here constantly because of the distance to anything close. Even if it is just an apartment in the city, it would be more expensive, but better in the long run since we'd be able to have everything closer.''

Bell nodded, it was sound logic in his mind, and Hestia already knew this, the only reason why she hadn't considered moving yet, was because it was free to live here. No one else around also made it nice as well, as even beggars seldom came around here.

''But why put so much work into it, if we're just going to leave it then?'' Bell asked.

''Well, because 1: it might be awhile before we move anyway, so it's better to use what we can to make it more comfortable while we have to stay here. 2: Because if we ever need to come back, it will be in better condition, or can even act as a hideout. 3: If we decide not to move and instead just get a way to travel faster that will also solve our problem and we won't need to move. 4: If we do move, we could rent this place out, get some extra income on the side to help lessen the costs of living closer to the dungeon.''

Bell rubbed at his chin, now questioning everything about their situation, he knew real estate was a thing, but he had no idea how to fix places up, or even start that so he never thought about it.

Hestia on the other hand was almost embarrassed of her having never thought about this all before, even if it was just slowly working on the place to make it better. Her friend Hephaestus definitely knew some people better at craftmanship for it, and was sure she could've gone onto a payment plan or something, or if she begged hard enough, free.

''The biggest problem, no matter what. Is those.'' Ukala sighed as she looked up at the two large buildings leaned against each other that hovered almost ominously above the church.

Both Bell and Hestia looked up.

''Actually, those will forever remain there... I had a friend place a warding stone in the church, so even if they do one day fall, it will leave the church unharmed.'' Hestia spoke with confidence, pushing her chest out.

''That's good, but wouldn't it be nice to have a garden? We could gro vegetables and herbs, maybe even make our own potions...'' Ukala rumbled, scratching her cheek. ''Actually, I'm sure I could find a secluded place in the forest behind the church to start one as well, I'll look into that.''

''Talking about potions!'' Hestia spoke up, running into the church only to soon return with a note. Showing it to Ukala and Bell.

''This is directions to Miach's place! Miach is a friend of mine who sells potions, even if their store looks a little shadey, there good people who make quality work!''

Ukala grinned, that solved a problem she was thinking about, by the note it said he wasn't more then 5 minutes away.

''Another reason to think about having a garden, we might be able to make a deal with them. If they sell potions, they'll be looking for ingredients. We might be able to get potions for cheap, since the land around the church is incredibly fertile... We might even be able to make mana herbs grow.''

Ukala smiled at that, magic was another widely new thing to her, so she hoped she could at least learn about it, having already seen some small displays of it around town as she traveled.

''Mana herbs?'' Bell asked, he knew what they were, but was there a special way to grow them?

''The ground needs to be enriched with mana, skilled magic users can do it themselves, but having a place naturally saturated with magic is good as well.''

''I can help with the garden! When I lived with grandpa, we had a little farm and I learned a lot about farming, I even know how to use animal manure to enrich the land!''

Ukala chuckled to herself. Of course, Zeus would be good at seeding a field.

Like it? Add to library!
Looking to support me?
paypal.me/BeaulenSmith
https://www.patreon.com/BeauSmith
Check out my Webnovel
https://www.webnovel.com/profile/4313773437?appId=10