Chapter 37: Chapter 37: Foundations of the New family
Tor stood shivering in the cold, his fists clenched tight at his sides as his bloodshot eyes locked onto Kellar.
"You think you won boy...?" muttered Tor, his swollen lip splitting open again as he spoke.
Kellar stopped, adjusting the bundle of furs on his shoulder, his eyes cold and unfazed.
"Get out of the way, Tor," said Kellar.
Two large hunters stepped out from behind the corner of the log hut, moving to stand right at Tor’s flanks. They sneered, their hands resting on the pommels of their iron axes.
"It seems nobody has shown you your place boy," said the hunter on the left.
Maya stepped in front of Kellar, her face pale as she held her hands out.
"This isn’t right, Tor," said Maya. "The laws of the tribe protect the hunters from internal blood feuds."
"Shut up, you fucking whore," said Tor, spitting blood onto the white snow. "The laws don’t protect trash like you. And he isn’t a child anymore for us to stop."
Kellar reached out, his hand gripping Maya’s shoulder and pulling her behind his back.
"You are right," said Kellar. "I am not a child anymore, and neither are you three."
Kellar let the bags of furs drop to the dirt floor, the snow puffing up around them. His hand extended down to his waist, his fingers wrapping around the hilt of his hunting dagger before he drew the dark iron blade with a sharp hiss.
"Last time," said Kellar. "Move out of my way, or there will be no more warnings."
Tor stared at Kellar’s eyes. The weak, frightened boy they used to abuse and push around was gone. Kellar’s gaze was steady, deadly, and his system-enhanced frame seemed twice as large as it did yesterday. The three of them hesitated, their knuckles turning white over their weapons as the silence stretched between them.
"If we see you outside the village grounds, you are a dead man," said Tor, taking a step back.
"If I see you outside the village, it will be the last thing you see in this life," said Kellar.
"You must be careful with them, Kellar," said Maya, her voice tight as they left the village borders behind. "They are treacherous. They won’t fight you honorably."
"It will be better for them if I never catch them out there," said Kellar. "Or I will slaughter them where they stand. Let’s get Mila and Meli. We have too much work to do today to waste time on dead men."
They quickened their pace until they reached the vicinity of Mila’s old hut. Mila and Meli were already waiting outside, having wrapped up the last of their meager belongings. They carried only a few spare tunics, some basic wooden utensils, and the remainder of the cured meat and dried grain they had managed to store up for the season.
"Did everything go well at your hut, boy?" asked Meli, slinging a sack over her pale, sturdy shoulder.
"We had a small disagreement with Tor," said Kellar. "Nothing to worry about. Let’s get this back to the house."
The weight of their packs was nothing compared to the relief of leaving the cramped, drafty village behind.
When they finally stepped back into the cabin’s main hall, the contrast was immediate. The interior was still dry, insulated, and holding the residual warmth from the night before. Kellar dropped his bundles of furs onto the floorboards, his engineering mind shifting into high gear as he scanned the empty central space.
"Drop the food in the corner for now," said Kellar. "Today, we secure this place properly so we never have to freeze inside these walls again."
"I wouldn’t really mind spending another night like the last one," said Meli, a knowing smirk flashing across her mature face as she dropped her small sack of grain.
"There will definitely be more nights like that," said Kellar. "But they will be much more comfortable."
Kellar didn’t waste time. He immediately went to work in the center of the main hall, setting up the layout for a central chimney. Instead of mixing regular mortar, he used the fire-resistant timber blocks fitting them together with interlocking notches.
"I need a proper foundation block," said Kellar.
He stepped outside into the snow, his eyes locking onto a solid boulder sitting near the tree line. With his system-enhanced strength, Kellar hauled the stone back into the cabin without breaking a sweat, dropping it right into the middle of the wooden frame.
Drawing his dagger, Kellar went to work. The blade carved through the hard rock as if it were soft clay, his engineering mind guiding his hand to hollow out a perfect basin where the logs would sit. He carved out deep vents and precise grooves into the surrounding timber, creating a clean thermal ventilation network that would channel the heat through the walls while keeping the smoke rising straight out the roof.
By the time the structure of the hearth was complete, the sun was high in the sky. Mila walked over, holding a piece of dried, salted meat.
"Eat something, Kellar," said Mila. "You have been working since dawn."
Kellar took the meat, chewing on the tough, salted strips as he leaned against the new stone chimney.
"We have a problem," said Kellar. "Water."
"The river is just down the slope, boy," said Meli, wiping sweat from her forehead. "We can just walk down with the clay jars."
Kellar looked out the window. The river was close, but his modern mind began calculating a proper pipeline—a closed thermal conduit system that could channel running water straight into the cabin without freezing over. It would save them the daily trek through the snow.
But then he looked up at his shoulder. Freyja wasn’t there at the moment, but her mental warning from the morning echoed in his mind.
If he built a pipeline all the way down to the water source, he would have to spend days out in the open, exposed, or leave a vulnerability leading straight to their home. Walking out in a tight group to fetch water was dangerous enough with a beast stalking the treeline; a permanent construction layout out there was a bad idea for now.
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