With supplies provided by the Batasing Merchant Guild, construction and decoration of Treasure Bay Casino went very smoothly over the next few days. Old Huo had mobilized the entire village, offering two meals a day in exchange for the villagers' enthusiastic help with the cleanup.
They might not have been able to handle any delicate work, but sweeping and tidying were simple enough for anyone with a pair of hands.
On the night before the trial opening, Pink Cat Rabbit, the village chief of "Lion's Pride," personally escorted several wagons carrying machinery back from the Andmar Hills to Treasure Bay, where work was still underway.
The entire village was still awake. Old Huo had put in overtime tonight, providing the villagers with another late-night meal—and adding meat, too. Several large pots had been set up beside the construction site to cook on the spot, and the atmosphere of collective labor was lively.
Under the guidance of Shen Yu, Luo Yan, and several civil servants, the nimble-fingered women were putting the finishing touches on the casino and cleaning it up. Meanwhile, the men dismantled the scaffolding and carefully painted the gray coating onto the exterior walls of the three-story building.
The coating was a special product purchased from Madam Triss's alchemy cottage. Once applied, it would dry completely overnight, ensure a smooth finish that wouldn't crack, and provide powerful waterproofing.
At Old Huo's request, Triss had also added fragrance to the coating so it wouldn't give off an unpleasant smell.
If you stood close enough, you could even catch the sweet scent of roses. That was sure to delight those fussy rich folk.
Of course, this magical coating had cost a "beautiful" sum of money. Its expense was probably its only drawback. More than half of the forty gold bars Little