Lil, who had learned to use magic, showed her magic to Ian and the others when they returned. Ian praised her, patting her head and saying, “That’s amazing!” Lil felt incredibly happy to be praised by everyone.

Since Gloria had told her not to use magic when alone, Lil knew she couldn’t practice every day. Still, she hoped that one day she would become a great magician.

That evening, Lil was able to eat an astonishing amount of food. According to Gloria, using magic makes you hungry.

Thinking back, Lil remembered that Gloria ate about as much as a grown man every day.

“If I use magic every day and eat a lot, maybe I’ll grow big faster,” Lil thought.

After dinner, Ian spoke to Lil.

“By the way, we got permission to build a watering place for the divine beasts.”

Lil was thrilled but quickly realized she had no idea how to build one.

Maynard came to the rescue.

“If you’re building it in the square in front of the entrance, a pond-like design would be better than trying to draw water directly. Using a magic tool to keep the water clean at all times would be ideal.”

Lil was amazed that such a convenient magic tool existed. Everyone began brainstorming ideas for the watering place.

Maynard drew up a design.

“Instead of digging into the ground, let’s build it like a bathtub above the surface. We’ll add three low steps so that even the smaller ones can climb in. We’ll separate the drinking area from the bathing area and bury the bathing section into the ground.”

The blueprint came together like magic. It seemed Maynard had a talent for carpentry as well.

Lil couldn’t wait to see it finished.

“Maynard, are you planning to build it yourself?”

Ian sounded exasperated. Normally, a carpenter would be hired for such work, but Maynard spoke as if he intended to do it himself.

“Ah… Right. I didn’t realize,” Maynard said, looking a little awkward.

“Isn’t that fine? If Maynard builds it, it’s better than hiring a carpenter right now,” Martin said, subtly referencing Lil’s situation. Ian thought for a moment and decided to leave it to Maynard.

Maynard looked delighted. Lil wondered why, if Maynard enjoyed carpentry so much, he had become a knight.

The next morning, the watering place construction began. Lil was so excited that she woke up early.

When she went outside with Kohaku, a large cart was waiting there.

The men seemed to be heading out to gather materials, and the actual work would start in the afternoon.

The divine beasts visiting that day watched them with keen interest.

There were a leopard, a tiger, a squirrel, a tanuki, a rabbit, and some birds.

Since the tanuki happened to be nearby, Lil explained that they were building a watering place. The tanuki spun around in circles, letting out joyful cries.

‘We can come here to drink water?’

The rabbit jumped happily as well.

Lil played with the squirrel, rabbit, and tanuki until Ian and the others returned. She tried to invite the birds to join them, but they seemed too focused on singing.

The leopard and tiger were napping in the sunlight.

Just when Lil was getting tired from playing and hugging all the fluffy animals, Ian and the others returned.

“Welcome back, Dad!”

Lil jumped onto Ian’s leg and peeked into the cart. It was filled with stones. The tanuki rushed over and started spinning in circles again.

“Watering place! Watering place!”

“Mr. Tanuki’s been looking forward to it,” Lil interpreted. Everyone chuckled.

They decided to have breakfast first, so they all went inside. The tanuki and the others waited by the entrance.

After breakfast, they returned to the entrance, where Maynard asked Gloria to cut the stones.

Lil wondered how she would do it, and to her amazement, Gloria easily cut the stones with magic.

Lil was so impressed that she vowed to become a magician as cool as Gloria one day. For now, she carefully observed her mentor’s magic. After all, as Michiru once said, “A disciple must learn by watching.”

“Having Gloria here really speeds things up,” Maynard said.

Following Gloria’s cuts, Maynard quickly pieced the stones together with some adhesive, and the drinking area was complete in no time.

Lil and the divine beasts watched with fascination. When Lil clapped her hands, the squirrel and rabbit copied her, tapping their front paws together.

Next came the bathing area. Following Maynard’s instructions, Gloria dug into the ground, and Maynard laid the stones in place.

Upon closer inspection, Lil noticed that the water from the drinking area would flow into the bathing area, then drain out through a proper outlet.

The adhesive dried quickly—within an hour. When Lil asked why it was so fast, Maynard explained that it was an expensive magic adhesive, granted due to the divine beast-related project. He seemed quite pleased about it.

While they waited, Maynard used the leftover stones to create stepping stones—more like a hopping staircase—for small animals to play on.

The smaller divine beasts charged toward it with glee. Even just climbing the steps seemed fun to them.

Soon, the adhesive had dried. Finally, they installed the magic tool that would control the water flow.

When Maynard activated the switch, water burst forth, flowing strongly from the drinking area to the bathing area. The divine beasts jumped right in, splashing around joyfully.

The bathing area was large enough for even the bigger divine beasts to enjoy. For the tanuki and the others, it was practically a lake.

At some point, the leopard and tiger had woken up and were quietly drinking from the watering place side by side.

Lil stroked their soft fur as they drank. Their fluffy coats were incredibly comforting.

Lil hadn’t expected the watering place to be finished so quickly, so she decided to ask for one more thing:

“Could you build a big playground for Kohaku?”

Ever since Kohaku had become Lil’s guardian, he hadn’t been able to run around freely in the forest. Lil wanted to give him a chance to play to his heart’s content.

Maynard eagerly began sketching plans and then rushed to Ian, who had just returned from his patrol, to ask for permission.

“He really looks like he’s having fun,” Lil thought with a smile.