"Nah…it's patience. If the hunter is impatient and makes a mistake, the prey gets alerted and the hunt becomes increasingly difficult. Even the hunter with a blunt weapon can take down a beast as long as he is patient enough and waits for the right opportunity."
…
Zach was slowly getting used to the life in this place. He was usually busy working on the Greenland restoration project with the help of the Smith family. Thankfully, the project hadn't revealed any unsurpassable obstacle yet. Unlike the scope of the project, there weren't as much problems as he had anticipated. The clearing of the surrounding space proved to be easier than he had imagined.
The inhabited land was slowly becoming devoid of monsters. The beasts were moving towards the periphery of the island as if it was their natural instinct. The Alpha was entitled to stay at the center which was the prime location.
But Zach couldn't help but be slightly dissatisfied still.
There were too many reasons for him to be happy but Zach couldn't help but frown whenever he looked at the local coffee. The people in this world didn't even know how to sweeten the coffee they drank.
Therefore, the taste buds of these people had developed a bit differently. They were quite used to the local coffee even though it was too bitter and was usually capable of keeping one awake for long duration of times just because of the extent of its bitterness. The after taste of the coffee was very strong and the bitterness didn't leave the tongue even after a long time.
Zach had been a coffee lover in his past world but he couldn't have imagined that the taste of this world would be so different from his past world. The coffee was always so bitter that it made him want to spit it all out in one swift motion.
He missed the sweet and frothy cappuccinos and lattes. Even in the previous world he hated espresso and black coffee the most. But now he could dream about them at night. The coffee made here was just that bad.
Zach just wanted to drink regular coffee sweetened with sugar unlike the sweetening agent used in this world which was far from the sucrose he was used to. The locals here extracted their 'sugar' from honey which was far from being able to replace sucrose effectively.
This world was so far behind that they hadn't even understood the process of sugar extraction. He cursed the ancestors of these people for being lazy bums who passed their time without wondering about all the things in the world.
There was no curiosity left in this generation because their imagination had been limited to the bounds of magic. They believed their fantasies could only come true through magic and their own hard work and intellect wasn't worth a damn.
But some baristas did work out their own recipes making use of whatever was available to them. But instead of using a sweetening agent to curb the bitterness of the coffee, they used various spices and salt to flavor it instead. Zach still could not understand how the locals could dub such an abomination 'genius'. He wanted to throw up the moment he heard of such a concoction.
Bruce and Diana on the other hand were not averse to this concoction. They even looked excited as if it was a drink that they could hardly ever come by.
Not long after they began drinking the coffee as if it was the best drink in the world. Even their demeanors changed as soon as they held the cup of coffee in their hands. The aristocratic grace that was hidden in their bones surfaced on their faces making them look regal as they took small sips of the coffee due to the high temperature. They tasted it to savor the flavor of the roasted coffee beans that had been strengthened by the barista by grinding them until it was fine powder bursting with the characteristic bitterness of the coffee beans.
"Why aren't you drinking your coffee? Drink it while it's hot. It won't taste as good after it cools down." advised Diana as she saw Zach making a face while putting his own coffee away like it was the plague.
"I don't want to."
Zach made a face as if he was disgusted by what was in front of him. He couldn't imagine what the horrible abomination would taste like and he didn't want to try it either. Just looking at Bruce and Diana's faces as they sipped their coffees made him want to gag instantly but he held his disgust in so as to not ruin it for them.
"I know that the strong flavor of the coffee might take some getting used to but once you do it is so much better than the regular coffee. You might not believe it but it is the drink of the aristocrats. Not just anyone has the privilege to drink this. You should give it a try too. I am sure you will like it." suggested Bruce with a kind expression that was akin to an older brother giving out advice to his younger one.
"I don't think that I can match the regality of the aristocrats who drink this kind of coffee. It is better if I keep away from it now and in the future so as to not mar the social etiquettes of the high society by my humble background. Moreover, I would very much like to keep my taste buds intact please." Zach wanted to sarcastically convey his viewpoint but he merely thought of saying it all. He couldn't criticize Diana and Bruce for their lack of knowledge since they knew of nothing better than this.
"It's just not to my taste. I will try to stay far from this one I think."
Zach was afraid that if he stayed in this place any longer, his taste buds might be affected as well. He vowed in his heart to do something to make his coffee taste closer to what he was used to and to never give in to the taste standards of this world.
…
The development of the island he had leased from the government was taking place at expedited pace nowadays with the introduction of heavy machinery and sophisticated construction equipment that helped pave the wild lands with ease.
Of course Zach had emptied his inventory just so the servants and the soldiers wouldn't have a hard time working on the land that would be their future home. There wasn't a single man who wanted to shy away from the hard work especially after Zach made it look so easy with the help of his machines.
Before letting the servants handle these machines on their own, Zach believed that some sort of training was in order so that they would be able to understand how these items worked. Previously they had been lying about in their inventory since Zach didn't think that they would have any use for him in the near future. He believed that he didn't need to create infrastructure for himself as long as he stayed in the city. But his beliefs were turned upside down by single prince.
The training took an entire week but the people were all well versed in the modern machinery and were able to handle the magical machines very easily to clear the land and build the foundation for their home.
The best among the trainees didn't surprise Zach at all. It was Diana again. She seemed to have a unique talent and the matching intellect to understand the inner workings of the machinery he introduced her to. She could not only understand the theory behind the complicated machines but was also able to operate them like a professional after a few days of tinkering with them.
Her latent talent didn't just stop at the small and uncomplicated machines like guns. She was able to learn and handle the complex and mega sized machines such as cranes and excavators with ease. In just a few hours, she was using the crane and excavator just as well as Zach. The land development project took up its pace as soon as the heavy construction machinery came into play. Dian led her team of construction workers and turned the land upside down. She dug out the roots of the trees from underneath the ground with the help of excavators and ordered the crane operators to carry away the fallen trees in an orderly manner. After all; the trees were going to be their construction material for their home.
Zach was extremely proud of her achievements. There was no doubt that after him, she was the most tech savvy person in the group. She could basically manage the entire construction crew on her own but Zach didn't want to burden her. Even more than that, he didn't want to appear useless in front of his people. Just giving them the right tools wasn't enough. He believed that in order to build up trust, he should be involved in the construction process as well.
However he couldn't deny how good it was that Diana could act as his substitute whenever he wasn't available. Thanks to her, he was now dispensable and the construction crew could keep working even without him to guide them.
…
Zach was lounging around at an elevated location as he watched the servants and the soldiers busily working to prepare the land. He was wearing an intercom in order to communicate with the workers at all times.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶