Chapter – 20
Wooden Wheels Racing Through the Forest and a New Path.
The brickmaking was finally complete, and around the cabin, neat stacks of reddish-brown bricks stood in rows. They were the crystallization of the family’s hard work — a foundation that would enrich their lives from here on.
But a new problem had begun to weigh on Akio’s mind. How could they transport all these bricks — or firewood, or clay — efficiently to where they were needed?
“Carrying all this by hand every day would be exhausting… and it’d take far too long,”
Akio muttered, arms crossed as he gazed at the mountain of bricks. Silvia nodded quietly beside him.
“Indeed. There’s a limit to what muscle alone can achieve. Life in the forest is always a battle against inefficiency.”
“Exactly,” Akio said, raising his head and looking around at his family. “That’s why I’m thinking of building a cart — something with two wheels that we can pull by hand.”
He drew a simple sketch of a handcart in the dirt with a stick. The children’s eyes lit up.
“A cart? Like the ones horses pull?” Kenta asked excitedly.
“Not quite that fancy,” Akio laughed. “We’ll be the ones pulling it — but even then, it’ll let us carry several times more stuff with far less effort.”
The greatest challenge in building the cart would, of course, be the wheels and the axle.
Without metal, everything had to be made of wood — a tricky task requiring strength, symmetry, and smooth rotation.
“The right kind of wood for wheels…” Silvia murmured, then clapped her hands as a thought struck her.
“There’s an old elven legend about the ‘Moon Tree.’ It’s said to shine silvery white under moonlight, and it’s both exceptionally hard and oddly easy to shape into a perfect circle. I believe such a tree may exist somewhere in this forest.”
She added,
“As for reducing friction on the axle, there’s a certain tree that produces a thick, sticky resin — perfect for lubrication. I can recognize it when I see it.”
“The Moon Tree and special resin…! If we can find both, we might just be able to make strong, smooth-turning wheels!”
Akio’s face brightened with renewed determination.
A few days later, Akio, Silvia, and Alto — who had eagerly volunteered to join — set out once more into the forest in search of these materials. Guided by Silvia’s ancient elven memory and her ability to sense the forest’s presence, they explored for several days until, under the soft moonlight, they discovered a towering, pale tree that glowed faintly white — dense-grained and hard as stone — surely the fabled Moon Tree. Nearby, they also found plants exuding a clear, viscous resin just as Silvia had described.
Back at home, Akio stood before the thick trunk of the Moon Tree, his craftsman’s spirit ignited.
He hewed out rough shapes with his axe, sliced them into disks with a saw, and then, using chisels and stone files, slowly but surely carved two sturdy wooden wheels. To achieve a near-perfect circle, he even built a makeshift turning stand, spinning each wheel while refining its shape with meticulous care.
His focus and skill left Silvia and Alto speechless with admiration.
The axle was likewise carved from Moon Tree wood, and Akio spent hours adjusting the joints until the fit was flawless. Finally, Silvia carefully coated the axle and wheel holes with the special resin — and to their amazement, the wheels spun with smooth, effortless motion.
With the wheels and axle complete, the next step was the cargo bed.
This was the culmination of all the woodworking techniques Akio had honed so far: a sturdy floorboard, side panels to prevent loads from spilling out, and a single long handle angled for easy pulling.
The whole family joined in — the children sanding the boards and fetching materials under Akio’s direction, while Ayane brought cool spring water and nut cookies to keep everyone’s spirits up.
Several days later, their first-ever vehicle — a wooden handcart — was complete.
Two powerful wheels. A strong cargo bed. A smooth, graceful handle.
Primitive though it was, it embodied their ingenuity and perseverance.
“We did it… It’s finally finished!”
Akio’s voice rang out, followed by cheers from the children. Silvia gazed at the cart with deep satisfaction.
“A magnificent creation, Akio. It will serve us well, even on the forest paths,” she said warmly.
To test it, they loaded several bricks onto the bed.
Akio gripped the handle and began to pull — awkwardly at first, but then with surprising ease. The wheels rolled smoothly without a single creak, and what once took countless exhausting trips could now be done in one.
“Wow! Akio, let me try next!” cried Kenta, eyes sparkling.
Alto ran circles around the cart in excitement, while Yume and Miko clambered into the empty bed, squealing,
“Whee! It’s like a little boat!”
The completion of this first cart marked a revolution in their forest life.
Transporting clay, firewood, and harvests would now be far more efficient, making future construction and exploration vastly easier.
This success filled Akio with both pride and fresh ambition.
As he looked over the finished cart — solid and gleaming in the sunlight — he began to envision what came next.
“With this, we can finally build the new stove… and maybe that bread oven Ayane’s been dreaming of,” he thought.
“And beyond that… the red-black stones. Ironworking — the next great challenge.”
The summer sun streamed down through the trees, as if blessing the family’s new path forward — one marked by ingenuity, progress, and the promise of creation yet to come.
