The Dry Clap of a Hand
A sharp smack echoed through the area.
“Still, this place is short on water too, nya~”
The day after the crab party, while I was busily using alchemy magic to remove salt from the soil, Carol came over.
Since she said “too,” it was probably the same in the Cat-roux village.
“Is the Cat-roux village built around an oasis or something?”
“That’s right, nya. But over at our place, the amount of water in the oasis has been decreasing over the past few years. It’s gotten low enough that you can see the shrimp, nya.”
“Shrimp? Huh? But yesterday you said there weren’t any shrimp!?”
“In the oasis, not the desert, nya~”
That’s basically the same thing!
“The shrimp living in the oasis aren’t for eating, nya. There aren’t many of them, and we use them as an indicator when the water level starts dropping.”
“An indicator?”
“Yep. If you can see the shrimp from above, it means the water level’s gone down, nya.”
Doesn’t that work with something other than shrimp...? Well, never mind.
Still, the oasis losing water was a serious problem too. Was the annual rainfall decreasing year by year?
“But doesn’t this village get rainwater flowing down from that mountain?”
Orman-san, Carol’s attendant, looked up toward the mountain to the west.
That was what the village chief and Chico’s father had told me too.
But apparently the amount of water had clearly been decreasing every year.
The mountain, the desert… the frontier just kept losing water.
At this rate, a few decades from now, people might genuinely become unable to live here.
If only there were some guarantee that the southern barbarians would never attack, there wouldn’t even be a need to maintain a village here.
No, realistically, this shouldn’t be a village at all. It should be a fortress.
The reason that wasn’t possible was overwhelmingly due to food.
Delivering food to soldiers stationed at a fortress every few days simply wasn’t practical.
Without an environment capable of self-sufficiency, constructing a fortress was impossible.
And with the current water shortage, it was even more unrealistic.
“The mountain, huh...”
“If there used to be more water flowing here, then maybe the problem is somewhere up in the mountain, nya?”
A problem up in the mountain...
“Speaking of water problems, there are lords dealing with the exact opposite issue, flood damage. With how short we are on water, I know it’s improper to say, but I can’t help feeling a little jealous.”
“Floods, huh. Those are terrible too, though. Even if nobody gets hurt, the land itself suffers.”
Land swept away by flooding didn’t simply return to normal once the water receded. I’d seen things like that on television in my previous life.
In a world without heavy machinery, clearing away mudslides and rebuilding collapsed embankments or bridges would be incredibly difficult too.
That said, I understood what Fitcher meant.
If they had enough water to cause flooding, then even half of it… no, even twenty or thirty percent of it… if it could somehow flow over here, both sides would benefit.
“Then just go look, nya.”
“Go look? Where?”
“At the mountain, nya.”
… I see.
We really should go look.
---
“So how exactly are we supposed to climb this cliff?”
“Ummm...”
The Boss and I looked up at the sheer cliff face.
It was probably less than a hundred meters tall.
But definitely over fifty. Somewhere around there.
“We can climb it.”
“Please don’t assume everyone can keep up with your physical abilities, Sir Robert.”
Father seemed concerned about the water issue as well, so he gave permission for the trip on the condition that Sir Robert accompanied us.
Several dwarf men would be joining us too.
“Heeey, Der Niichan!”
“Chico?”
Chico came running from the village, accompanied by another man, Allen-san.
Personally, I thought Allen-san was the most muscular man in the village.
“I heard you were going to the mountain, so I told Uncle Allen about it.”
“You told Allen-san? Umm, do you know something about the mountain?”
When I asked, Allen-san nodded.
He was a quiet man. I’d hardly ever seen him talking with people.
But today was different.
“If you travel through the mountain for about three days, you’ll come across a waterfall. At the bottom of the basin beneath it is a hole. That connects to an underground waterway that carries water all the way to the village.”
“Three days, huh? Which direction is it?”
“I’ll guide you. In the entire village, only three people besides me know where that place is.”
That was a relief. At least we wouldn’t get lost.
A waterfall. And an underground waterway.
“Boss, we should probably bring some tools.”
“Yeah. We might end up having to dig underground. Hey, you lot. Bring that. You know, that.”
“I’m coming too, Der Niichan.”
“Did you get your mother’s permission?”
“O-Of course I did!”
Then why was Chico’s mother coming this way from the village with such a terrifying expression?
“Chico!! You skipped your water-carrying duty again! Take a lesson from Young Master Dermont for once!”
So he had come without permission.
“Ka-Kaachan!? I-I’m taking lessons from him! That’s why I’m going to the mountain!”
“There you go again! How many times do I have to tell you not to cause trouble for everyone?”
“I’m a man! Instead of carrying water, I’m gonna do something big and save the village!”
The moment Chico said that, my hand moved before I knew it.
A sharp smack echoed through the area.
“Something big? What exactly is ‘big’? You think someone who can’t even help his own mother is going to save the village? Don’t make me laugh.”
“Urgh... D-Der Niichan...”
“Chico, you don’t actually want to save anyone. You just want attention. You want to play the hero.”
“T-That’s not true! I-I care about the village too!”
“So you care about the village, but not your mother?”
When I said that, Chico froze and looked toward his mother.
At that age, it was natural to dream of becoming a hero or a legendary warrior.
What had I admired when I was that age?
Hmm… I think it was heroes. Heroes who defeated villains.
I wanted to become a hero and defeat my father and mother.
I didn’t think that way anymore.
If anything, my heroes now were Father and Mother.
“Chico. Stay here and help your mother. Become her hero. Until you can do that, you’ll never become the village’s hero.”
“Guh... B-but Der Niichan, you too!”
“I have magic! I can do things with alchemy magic that you can’t! That’s an undeniable fact, and that power lets me help with Chichiue’s work. I... I’m not doing this for the village. I’m doing it for my family.”
The thing most important to me wasn’t the village. It was my family.
Maybe that sounded wrong coming from a lord’s son, but it was the truth.
I wanted my family to live comfortably.
The fact that it happened to contribute to the village’s development was simply the result.
“Chico. You’re a child without magic. That means you have to work hard.”
“Work hard...”
“That’s right. Training comes first. Training so you can learn to wield a sword.”
The moment I said that, Chico’s eyes lit up. The rest would be handled by Sir Robert.
“Chico. My knight order conducts training in the cool hours of the early morning. We practice in the mansion courtyard. Come observe first. I’ll inform the Vice-Commander myself.”
“R-Really!?”
“Observe only, at first. Understood? Control your impatience. Learning to master your emotions is an important quality for a knight.”
“Got it! I’ll just watch first!”
“And be sure to keep your promises to your mother. Someone who cannot even keep a promise to their parents will never keep promises to their comrades. Such a person can become neither knight nor warrior.”
“O-Okay! Kaachan, I’m gonna fetch water!!”
Sir Robert was good at this.
Chico grabbed his mother’s hand and practically dragged her back toward the village.
What do you think about this chapter?
