Eliron picked out a saw from a sack of items and walked up to a nice-looking tree, one that appeared perfect enough to form the body of the carriage.
Then he rolled the log to a nice location and began cutting it, his muscles tensing as he pushed the blade back and forth.
Scrr scrr scrrr!
The shrill of the saw rang through the forest as Eliron continued his back-and-forth motion.
Ash, on the other hand, was hovering over him, watching Eliron with unhinged curiosity.
"My lord, might I ask what you are doing?"
Eliron shoved his foot into the log of wood, parting it at the end, then pushed it to the side, already sawing into the next one.
"I'm going to build a carriage… something strong enough to carry all these trees."
"A carriage?" Ash could barely contain his surprise. "But my lord, I don't think a carriage will be strong enough to move wood." He looked around him and sighed.
"Even if it is strong enough, the forest terrain is sure to ruin its wheels."
Eliron smirked as another log was split in half. He could already feel the effects on his muscles.
Then he turned to Ash. "Do you think I haven't already thought about all that?"
Ash cleared his throat. "I guess you would have…"
"Don't worry about it, I have a plan, and I'm pretty darn sure it is going to work. Besides… this won't only be for carrying wood."
Eliron went on to explain just how important the carriage truly was.
They were to go on a hunting expedition in some days' time, so having a carriage would make it even easier to move the game they would kill.
"I didn't even think about that, I guess it really is important. In that case, please allow me to assist you, my lord!" Ash said boldly.
Eliron watched him with narrow eyes.
"Huh? You want to help me?"
"Yes!"
"Hmm…" Eliron hummed as he watched Ash. He was not terribly built, that was for sure, but you could not easily do construction work because you were well strong.
"Can you handle it? It's not as easy as it looks, you know…"
While swordsmen were indeed strong, their muscles were more adapted to fighting, not manual labour.
Ash held his bicep and smiled proudly. "Of course, my lord!"
Eliron nodded, then he pulled out another saw from the bag, his face turning serious.
"Alright, let's see what you've got."
•••
"Oh heavy goddess Alteria! I feel like my arms are going to melt!" Ash screamed, his voice strained as he moved his arms back and forth, the saw heating up from friction.
Eliron frowned. "Is that all a chief guard like you can do? You can't cut a flimsy piece of wood?!"
"Forgive me, my lord! I'll work even faster!"
"Huh? What was that? I couldn't hear you over your weak ass cutting!"
"I'll work even faster, my lord!"
"That's the type of attitude I want! Double up, double up!"
Eliron smirked, the axe resting on his shoulder as Ash worked without rest, beads of sweat gushing down his face.
'That's more like it…'
Seeing Ash reminded him of how working at construction sites used to be. Now he knew why his seniors back then loved to bark orders.
'It feels so great!'
But Ash's assistance did not mean Eliron was taking things lightly. He too was under a lot of strain, and had just finished cutting multiple trees.
He lifted the axe and drove it right into one of the logs in a precise manner, leaving a large dent in it, before finishing off the relatively small log with one more shot.
At the same time…
Snap!
Ash fell back flat, taking in heavy breaths as he gasped for air, his face pink from exhaustion.
Eliron smirked. "Good job, kid."
Ash blinked. "Kid?" he asked breathlessly.
With the wood needed to build the carriage ready, it was time to go on to the more intricate parts of the carriage.
The wheel was the first part, and after that were the more complex structures, one of them being what determined if his plan would work or fail miserably…
The suspension system.
The reason cars, trucks and even trains were able to carry so much load back on earth without the axle snapping was because of the genius of the modern-day suspension.
Shock absorbers, ball joints, springs, bushings and many other mechanical parts coming together to create magic.
But of course…
Eliron's expression fell. 'We have none of that here.'
And even if they did, he was not a mechanical engineer, so it's not like he could even do it if he had the parts.
But Eliron was a polymath, meaning he knew a little too much for his own good. And with that knowledge, he would build the medieval version of a modern-day suspension system.
A suspension system so great that it would plough through the rough forest terrain like it was nothing!
Not too far away from Eliron, Ash had caught his breath and rose to his feet, his arms still aching from the intense workout.
He was slowly walking towards a shade where a water skin was lying beautifully. Right now, to him, it was the most desirable thing in the world.
He smiled as he reached for it, but just as his fingers were inches away from a refreshing gulp, Eliron grabbed him by the collar and pulled him along with him.
"What are you doing? We have work to do…"
Ash watched the water with blurred eyes as the distance between them continued to grow.
•••
"Alright, let's begin," Eliron said, tapping a block of charcoal on his chin as he stared at a flat wooden slate.
'The wheels need to be large enough to withstand the weight of the wood, and tough enough to not snap when it makes contact with rocks…'
He picked up the measuring tape and measured a diameter of 48 inches.
'Yeah, that should do…'
Then he calculated the circumference of the wheel to determine how large it would be.
When he was done, Eliron began to mark out the measurements for them.
Ash stared at him in awe. "My lord, how are you so good at this?"
Eliron continued looking at the wood as he worked. "Hmm? I read it in a book."
"Oh, that makes sense…" Ash smiled.
Then he paused. 'Wait, do we have that type of book in the village?' he wondered.
At the other side of their clearing, Yennefer stumbled to her feet and glared at Eliron, her hands tightening by her sides.
'That greedy elf…' she thought as she stormed towards him, her approach promising trouble.