Chapter 79 is here!
Anyway, here"s chapter 79, I hope you"ll enjoy it!
Chapter 79
『You"re still too green!』
Bernst started criticizing Kurats" method with a triumphant-look on his face- Not that Kurats could see his face, but he could tell from his tone.
『All you did was force your way through the dirt. For sure, you were lucky and somehow managed to create a proper slope as you dug the path… However! That is not enough to maintain a water channel!』
(What do you mean?)
『Not only will the water soak in the dirt, but the dirt will also impede the current. That is inevitable. Besides, there is nothing to stop aquatic monsters from infesting the water.』
(I see.)
『But I have a solution! Through the means of alchemy, you can make a special coating that will make this channel last for years and years to come. But wait, there is more! If you combine the alchemy with a magic formation, you can completely chase out any weak monsters that might show up!』
"How is that?!" Bernst seemed to be saying with the smug look on his face. But that did not last under the fatal blow of Kurats" calm reponse.
【"…That"s so lame."】
『AAAAAAAAAGH!』
As he watched the children gazing with great interest at the water filling the pond he had built, Kurats fell in his thoughts.
These children had probably never gotten to swim or fish in a river like he did at their age.
And so, using earth magic, Kurats generated a pool on the spot.
Although they were a bit scared and timid around the water at first, they still had fun dipping their feet inside it.
Even though they had never known the concept of playing around in water, they were still children.
It was not surprising that after some time, they suddenly began cheering and playing by splashing the water around.
【"My lord, are you sure this is alright? Can we really afford to waste water like this…"】
【"Waste? I never knew letting children have fun was a waste."】
The pond containing the water that was carried to Narak"s fields through yet another channel was not affected in any way.
Despite not bothering to spare any water the whole day, the pond still contained more than enough of it.
【"Who would have thought we"d get to witness such a scene here in Bashtar…"】
【"Well, now that we have this, we"re going to take a bath!"】
Kurats" words brought a whole new shade to the eyes of Lunaria and Frigga.
As princesses, they were used to a life of luxury. No matter their experiences, being unable to take a bath for a long while put a big stress on them.
【"R-really? Please tell me you"re not lying."】
【"Master, if you intend to go through the effort of building us a bath, may I go in with you…?"】
【"Kurats, you"ll really make a bath? You won"t disappoint your sister, right?"】
【"Y-yeah."】
Pressured by the hopeful gazes of the three women, Kurats made a bathhouse through the power of alchemy, using mud.
He first made a bathtub of about 2 meters squared and then surrounded it with mud walls.
Then, he added water and heated it up with a fire spell.
He also secretly added a peep-hole.
【"This alchemy thing is more convenient than I thought."】
There was no way for Kurats to replicate the alchemy"s effects through physical strength alone.
『THAT"S— RIGHT!』
The moment he heard Kurats" words, Bernst shouted triumphantly.
(You startled me! Don"t scream in my head.)
『Alchemy truly is the clearest way to show the power of magic outside of battle!』
( Is your notoriety that important to you? Why do you have to make such a big deal out of this?!)
『Take that! YOUR MUSCLES LOST TO MY MAGIC!』
That shout sounded like it was coming from Bernst"s very soul.
【"Kurats! Can we get in the bath already?"】
Kurats smiled kindly towards Cornelia and the other girls, who were holding tightly to their changes of clothes and towels, eagerly waiting for him to finish building the bathhouse.
【"Please change your clothes in the dressing room on this side. If you want to switch the water"s temperature, just tell me."】
【"Yessss!"】
Though they were fighters, Lunaria and Frigga were still young maidens, coming of age.
Their feelings would be hurt if they had to stay in the presence of the man they loved with dusty hair, and smelling of sweat.
【"…Master, can you see?"】
Frigga slowly exposed her upper-body.
【"Don"t involve me in your antics! Stupid!"】
Lunaria turned crimson red as she pulled Frigga away by the neck.
There was a saying: "When women gather in a room, prepare for it to become noisy". Kurats felt like maybe this was what it meant.
『Oh! That is also a possibility!』
Just when the conversation between the three women was settling down, Bernst started shouting once again.
(What are you shouting about now?)
『Hahaha… I have an idea that will make everyone understand the greatness of magic with a single look! We will make a rampart that will protect this village, no- the three surrounding villages from monsters!』
Up to now, the only cover the village had had was a fence that partly protected it.
Building a rampart that could physically block any monster invasion would have a tremendous effect.
Although some members of the Guard force were still here, there were far from enough of them to protect Bashtar.
『It needs to be solid enough that even a red-eyed bear will not be able to break through it, and high enough to prevent large monsters like rock tortoises from climbing over it… So I would say at least about 5 meters high.』
(Hey, hold on, that"s way too much!)
『If you can build a water channel with muscles, why wouldn"t you be able to build a wall with magic?!』
Bernst was apparently burning with a sense of compet.i.tiveness after Kurats completed a water channel of more than 20 kilometers in length in a day.
It was unclear how building a rampart would make him feel better, as Kurats would still be the one doing it, but that did not seem to matter…
『Behold! The power of my magic!』
(Yeah, yeah. So, we"re doing the same as usual?)
At this point, Kurats was very mistaken as to how serious and pa.s.sionate Bernst was about this matter.
From the events that unfolded at the battle in Lapland all the way to the digging of the water channel, Bernst had reached point where he wanted to cry at the mere thought of muscles.
But what had planted that seed of dissatisfaction even deeper in him was the support that Kurats" meatheaded ways were getting in this worl, due to how easy it was to understand and perceive his strength.
The underdeveloped state of magic in this world made it so no one was able to truly understand the superiority of Bernst"s techniques.
But if they were barbarians who could not grasp the greatness of his magic, then he was going to show them something very visual. Something even barbarians like them could understand.
『In my name, the name of the ruler of everything in existence, I shall make atoms bend to my wishes!』
【"Kurats・Hans・Almadianos commands you. Come, rampart!"】
Very quickly, a gigantic rampart appeared.
This five meters-high rampart was stretched far beyond the horizon. It had many small windows to allow for crossbow attacks, as well as 1.5 meters-wide paths, connected by stairs, so that soldiers could move inside. It even had sortie gates.
When they witnessed the sudden appearance of this grandiose but eerie gated-rampart, the villagers fell into a panic. That did not exclude Gilbert and Lucas, who rushed to look for Kurats to ask him if this was the work of monsters.
However, Kurats was in no state to care about that at the moment.
He felt a great sense of discomfort, like an invisible hand had tempered directly with his brain.
This feeling was accompanied by an extreme lethargy, so bad that he couldn"t move a finger as his consciousness began fading.
This may have been his first time truly fearing death.
『I apologize, I may have forgotten about your magic power supply.』
(How did you forget about that?!)
『I apologized already.』
Alter-ego or not, Kurats had neither the talent nor the magic-power capacity of Bernst.
The spell fad consumed his power far more than antic.i.p.ate, to the point where his supply of magic power had been completely emptied out.
Once he had no magic left, his monstrous strength was targeted and taken away as a subst.i.tue for magic power.
While the villagers were moving left and right in panic all around, everything in Kurats" eyes faded into darkness.
He had lost consciousness.
Meanwhile, within the woods, a monster was looking at the rampart that had suddenly appeared.
【"…I have to inform master Triestela of this."】
Humans were just prey, but when they had these kinds of man-made defenses on their side, they could be troublesome to deal with.
If they had become conceited and thought something of this level was enough to obtain victory against the monsters, then they were going to have to once again learn the lesson from 70 years ago.