As expected, it took us over an hour to reach the edge of the forest. After that, it was only a few minutes until we found a suitable spruce. And by we, I mean our lumberjack. Since he is the only one here who knows what he is doing.

He explained to us that spruces have excellent wood. No matter if you want to build a house or make a piece of furniture. Who am I to argue with an expert?

The spruce is about 25 meters high and half a meter in diameter. I have clearly underestimated the height of trees. Of course, I have been in forests before, but it is different when you want to cut down a tree.

And after just 15 minutes the tree falls with a big creaking and cracking noise. The tree must weigh several tons. Because when it hits the ground, you can feel the vibrations.

The next step is to remove the branches. At least Siegward and I can help here. While the woodcutter starts to cut the trunk into smaller pieces. For the beginning, we only work on a fraction of the whole tree. Otherwise, the entire thing would take far too long.

Then we split the shortened trunk. Hopefully, I will be able to conserve my mana this way. I have decided to build a single-axle cart. It's easier to steer. And currently, we have no cattle to pull it. So it will be a smaller model.

The lumberjack tells me that you usually let the logs dry on site. This makes them lighter and easier to transport. A luxury that we cannot afford at the moment.

I start with the production of an axle. I decide on a length of 1.5m here. I have chosen this measure for a simple reason. 1m seemed to me to be too narrow and 2m too wide. As diameter I use 5cm. The wheels get a diameter of 1.5m.

By the way, the whole thing became much easier after I made a scale. Siegward had to serve here as a template. Though it is more complex, I choose real wheels with spokes instead of wooden discs. Unfortunately, however, I have no iron to strengthen them.

I wish I had a cartwright. He would at least know what he is doing. And wouldn't have to figure everything out for himself. The wheel hub should actually also be made of iron to reduce the friction. I'm improvising here, using stone. Thanks to magic, I'm able to do that.

All that's missing now is the cart itself. Again, I try to do nothing special. With the help of some boards, I create a U-shaped loading area. That was all quite simple. Now I only hope that the axle won't break later on...

In between, I noticed a hazelnut tree or shrub. It's either a small tree or a large shrub, I'm not sure. But the branches look useful. They're not even 10 cm thick. And I wonder if I could use them to make bows.

Probably more important, though, is the bowstring. Again, I have to improvise. For this, I collect some roots and tendrils. If I split them up, I should be able to get to the fibres. From this, I should be able to make a string. But it will take me some time to find the right length and thickness...

After we have something to eat, we load the wood onto the cart. Which sounds easier than it actually is. Luckily, the logger gets a colleague in a few hours. But everything's just not up to scratch yet. Which is why I have no choice but to help out personally.

The way back takes a lot longer. The cart is working as it should. But we have to pull the cart with us. And even though I've magically fortified the path a bit. It doesn't mean we have a road. Actually, I've only slightly compacted the earth. It would have done that on its own after a few trips with the cart.

In fact, it was probably a complete waste of time. But so what? At least I got to practice a little magic...

We'll drop the wood at the edge of my territory. And leave the cart at a distance. Until we have a village, there's no reason to lead anyone straight to the cave entrance. And once there are houses here, no one will suspect a hidden cave.

When we arrive home, the new woodcutter is already waiting for us. And finally, someone smaller than me! I have no idea how big female dwarves usually get. But Isgard is as tall as her brother. And of the two humans, we don't even have to start.

First of all, I start to create another dwarf again. This time I choose a hunter. He can fulfil several tasks at once. He can hunt for meat and furs. Scouting the surroundings and in case of emergency, he is still an archer.

The two lumberjacks are now doing their own thing. I think they started carving little things out of wood. And also, I get to work. I start splitting the tendrils I've collected. The aim is to get a lot of fibres and weave them into a thin rope.

Which sounds much easier than it actually is. You have to make sure that you always split in the middle. Otherwise, you get only short fibres. And my first 10 or so attempts have failed me every time.

After Siegfried understood what I was trying to do. He decided to help me. And apparently, he is a natural talent, since he was successful the first time. Am I too impatient for such fine work?

At some point, our hunting party returned. And while Chloe's plucking the feathers for the arrows, Paula is helping me braid the bowstring. Okay, I'll be honest. Actually, she does all the work.

It seems like she's done this kind of work before. Maybe a requirement if you want to be an archer? Apparently, you take two strands of multiple fibres and twist them. In fact, you twist them both in one direction, and then you cross them over in the other direction. Over and over again.

Somehow, she also managed to make a little loop at one end. It doesn't take me long to lose track. And while she uses her own bowstring as a measure of length, I take her bow.

Paula explains to me that usually, you have to dry the wood first. I'm helping myself out with my magic here. I trim one of the hazelnut branches to the length of her bow. Then I try to copy its shape and structure using magic. And more importantly, to remove the moisture.

Luckily, she doesn't use a longbow. Otherwise, it would be far too big to be used by a dwarf. Although, for me, it would almost count as such.

The design of the bow is not that surprising. I start by sealing the two ends so that they don't fray. The grip in the middle is a bit thinner at the sides, but deeper. I test here a little bit around until it lies comfortably in my hand. Later I will wrap the handle with leather for better grip.

The rest of the bow is a bit wider, but flatter. And at both ends there is a notch, so you can attach the bowstring.

Then I cut some more branches in the same length. But put them aside except one. For the moment I will make two bows. The rest I let dry so that a real bowyer can make something out of it later.

Since Chloe has plucked enough feathers in the meantime, I turn to the arrows next. I use the same wood as for the bows. And again, I use an already existing arrow as a template.

So, I shorten some branches to about 80cm. In contrast to the bows, however, I can make several arrows from one branch. Probably it would be easier to use thinner branches. But why do I have magic? If I can't use it for fighting anyway.

The finished arrow blanks are about half as thick as a finger. And only now do I realise how much thicker the branches are compared to the arrows. I could make 50 arrows from a single branch!

I wanted to use tree resin to glue the arrow tips and feathers together. And that's when the new lumberjack jumped in for the rescue. Apparently, the resin from the spruce we had felled was actually suitable for that. However, it must first be carefully heated over a fire to make it a real glue.

You can even make a clear varnish from the resin, but you need alcohol in addition. Which brings another item on my shopping list. And no, I don't say that because dwarfs love to drink...

So, I create a thin bowl of stone with which she can first collect the resin and then process it. In the meantime, I create more stone arrowheads, so that I don't have to rely on Chloe and Paula's replacement tips. Again, I simply copy the already existing design.

After we trimmed the feathers, we fixed three of them at the back end of each arrow with our new glue. This arrangement also helps to grip the arrows correctly. Because you know where the nock is. Afterwards, we attach our arrowheads also with glue to the front end of the shaft.

And once Paula is done with the bowstrings, we go outside to test the new weapons. Since we don't have a target, and the trees around here are also sparse, our new cart has to serve for it.

It seems that the two professional archers are surprised by the result. Even Chloe appears to be satisfied with my work.

"Not bad, not a masterpiece. But I'm sure it's up there with the work of an average bowmaker."

"I'm flattered. I hope, however, that soon I will have someone else who actually knows how to make a bow."