Chapter 33
Ossan, goes to his part-time job
Middle-aged magician, Zeros, was troubled. He had been doing nothing but making tools since he returned from the mine.
There was a round pillar-like structure three times bigger than the metal barrels installed in the basement. Three of them stood side-by-side, they were the desiccator silos that Zeros built.
The temperature can be smoothly adjusted using the existent magic formula, making it possible to store rice at the most optimal temperature. However…
“Why is there no rice!?”
That’s right. No matter how fast it grows, or that it can be harvested seven times within a year, right now the rice has only grown at ankle height. There are still several weeks left before it can be reaped.
It was good that he was motivated to the extent of making the tools he needed in a flash, but he won’t be able to use them for the time being. There was really no need to make them in such a hurry.
Initially, he appeared to be in quite high spirits after discovering rice.
“It can’t be helped then… Should I start searching for kouji, too?”
Kouji is a fermentative bacteria indispensable to make things like miso and soy sauce, and in addition, it’s also used in the production of yeast starter, for which there’s a trick, that consists of having it always at hand to be able to nurture it so it doesn’t die.
Incidentally, kouji acts in the same way as yeast fungi in the fermentation process, and Zeros had already been testing such methods to make ramen noodles. And, because bread was already being made in the orphanage, increasing the amount of yeast was an easy thing to do, however, he still couldn’t find the essential koji mold.
Zeros opens his house’s front-door with only the thought of finding the koji mold in his mind.
“… The hell you doing?”
“Y-Yes!?”
Standing in front of the door was the carpenter Naguri… No, to be precise, he wasn’t merely a carpenter, he was a professional in the construction industry, capable of making all sorts of things.
“What ya mean with ‘y-yes?’! I’m sure I asked you to come to work today.”
“…Ah… Right, if I’m not mistaken, you needed someone for the foundation work of a bridge pier, right? It was today?”
“I told ya it was the next week!”
“Please decide and tell me the exact date beforehand, if you vaguely say ‘next week’ there’s no way I would get it, you know?”
“… Didn’t I say that?”
“Not that I remember.”
There was a difference in the way the two communicated with each other. When craftsmen say to start next week, most times they would be referring to Monday unless there were another day they would frequently refer as such. However, that common sense didn’t apply to salarymen. They wouldn’t get which day even if the other party said to come next week.
A craftsman with a rough sense of time, and a salaryman who measured time to the exact minute, had two completely different ways of thinking and understanding words.
“Aight then, nevermind. But you said you were gonna help us out a bit, so you’ll come with me now, won’t ya?”
“W-Wait, today… I was going to look for ko…”
“Ou, let’s get started with the construction work. And work properly, aight? It’s a big job, after all.”
“Even though words are the same…… the meanings are different, huh…?”
And thus, like Donna Donna*, this uncle was led away… unfortunately for him.
(*T.N: song about a calf being led to the slaughter; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dona,_Dona)
Most craftsmen are self-willed. As long as there aren’t any kinds of on-site accidents, they will always complete the work they were paid to do. They make absolutely no compromises and that’s what makes them professionals.
Incidentally, the site’s foreman was the person in question, Naguri. And so, they, along with Hanba Constructions, prepare to tackle today’s HOT site. Though, one person, a middle-aged man was dragged into it as well…
―――Gaaaaaahh……
As it uses the last bit of strength it had, the Forest Grizzly draws its final breath. It’s a bear with a huge body standing over three meters of height[9.8 feet], however, with its four legs, it can be said to be a true monster.
In this country, it’s an intermediate-class monster, but only four mercenaries managed to defeat this gigantic bear.
“This is exhausting!…… My belly’s rumblin’!”
“Seriously. But, I’ve lost belly fat recently… A bit too much, though.”
“Ain’t that right. I feel hungry lately, no matter how much I eat…”
“And this item has an incredible effect, you know? But, to be able to lose fat…”
These mercenaries have received several subjugation requests in the last few days, all of which have been successfully completed. Their skill as mercenaries was never that great to begin with, but the situation has changed recently.
They accepted requests that were said to be dangerous with only four people, such as the subjugation of Orcs and Armored Lizards’ nests, and managed to completely subdue them all.
The Mercenaries’ Guild was also astonished at their newfound strength, and today as well, they asked them to take on more subjugation requests.
As their financial situation improved, they’ve also replaced their equipment with a new one. The reason is, the amulet they received from the magician at the tavern some time ago. It was a dull black stone affixed on silver, metal hardware, in other words, a truly plain article. However, when it absorbs mana, an incredible amount of power boils up within it.
Originally, amulets are protective magic items, and most frequently they would grant attribute resistance or deploy magic barriers. However, these amulets provide them with extraordinary power. But in exchange, an uncontrollable hunger seems to assail them, and no matter how much they ate, they weren’t able to quench it. Rather, it was getting worse.
“I’m hungry…”
“Ahhh, this is really hell…”
“I wanna eat…”
“Huh? That thing looks really delicious, don’t ya think?”
They couldn’t overcome the hunger that was assaulting them, as their eyes caught the sight of the dead Forest Grizzly.
The four approach it all at once, biting into the carcass without even dismantling it.
Flesh being ripped apart, blood being slurped, bones being crunched, they didn’t know when will their appetite subside.
In a short amount of time, the Forest Grizzly’s corpse disappeared, only leaving bloodstains on the ground as the only trace it ever existed.
“Not enough… not… enough.”
“Ain’t enou…gh… Eat, I wanna eat…”
“Anything… I’ll eat anything, I just wanna eat something…”
“Food… Fooood!!”
The four have started to go insane. At the same time, their muscles swelled inside their clothes, ripping them apart and exposing their bristle-covered arms, as veins started to pop out all the way to their faces… no, to their whole bodies, and transforming into something completely different.
What was there was no longer human. They were different from humans.
Each of them, who had been humans, started to move towards a certain direction. It was the small village that had placed the request for the subjugation of the Forest Grizzly.
One of the beasts charged into a house while drenching in its own saliva. Eventually, a scream echoes through the small village.
A grotesque creature that lusted insatiably for dead flesh, attacked everything that moved one after the other. It was a monster driven by a ravenous hunger.
That day, the village, which had nearly 200 inhabitants, was attacked by unknown beasts, and less than 20 people managed to survive. Most villagers were attacked and eaten, even as they fled, by the other 3 beasts that accompanied the first one.
The shadows of suspicious people could be seen in the middle of the forest. There were two men wearing the same black attire.
On top of a tree, one of them continues to look towards a certain direction with his binoculars and writing down detailed information as he does so.
They were observing a certain group of four mercenaries.
“How’s the situation looking?”
“About the same, except that they seem to be getting stronger in addition to an abnormal appetite.”
“Fumu. Is it within the expected range?”
“Wait! The hell? That’s…”
The man observing through the binoculars was greatly taken aback by what he saw at that moment.
“What happened?”
“They’re eating the Forest Grizzly…… No, aren’t they assimilating it?”
“Spit it already.”
“H-Human… A human being turned into a monster…”
“What!?”
The man holding the binoculars was shaking. He’s terrified by the hideous sight.
“Damn it! They’re coming this way!”
“H-How!? No way, did they smell us from here!?”
“Run! There’s no way we can win!”
They began to withdraw in a hurry while spraying a forbidden substance known as ‘Holy Water’*, which works by inhibiting the monsters’ ability to distinguish between humans and other beasts.
(*T.N: 『邪香水』kanji reads ‘wickedness purifying water/perfume’, so, Holy Water.)
Shortly thereafter, the monsters began to gather at that place, and a fierce carnage ensued. And on the other hand, the mysterious people responsible for this situation disappeared without a hitch.
“You know… I wanted to take a couple of days off…”
“I understand. So the people in this kind of business are quite carefree, huh? They only accurately keep track of the delivery dates, but nothing else, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, that’s how it is… And before this, I was gonna make my favorite dish, ‘Mekkara Beans’ and accompanying it with a little drink when the boss sent me flying with a single punch, I tell ya…”
“And you were on the carriage before you realized? Damn, that’s harsh…”
“I know right? I went through the pain of having to simmer the beans in water before boiling them. All that effort only to be struck down the very same moment. The boss is a demon[oni].”
A rare beardless dwarf was making small-talk on a shaking carriage, it was the middle-aged uncle, Zeros.
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After three days of being mercilessly rocked by the carriage, Zeros and the dwarves from Hanba Constructions arrived at the bridge’s construction site. But, as he was dragged away without being able to make any sort of preparations, he was unbelievably bored.
The building materials seemed to be already on the construction site, but the problem was that they couldn’t build the bridge without building the piers first.
And thus, Zeros was hired to aid in said task as the dwarves were currently having difficulties in using the civil engineering magic ‘Gaia Control.’
“It was a bad idea to not decide my work schedule beforehand, but dragging me with you guys all of a sudden is a bit…”
“Well, that’s because it’s a troublesome place that even companies from other territories have failed to build a bridge time and time again. After the country publicly announced it and made such a big deal out of it, the can’t just go and say ‘oops, it turns out there wasn’t any bridge to cross’ afterward, right?”
“And so, they placed their last hope in Hanba Constructions, choosing you guys as a human sacrifice. It’s an awful story, isn’t it? …They have zero planning ability.”
“Ahhh… ‘Mekkara Beans’, my soul food.*”
(*T.N: said in engrish)
“What kind of dish is that?”
Mekkara Beans is a dish similar to ‘Chili Beans’[chili con carne]. It’s a rustic, country dish that perfectly harmonizes the spiciness of chili with the sweetness of beans. It’s renowned as a dish to have a beer with, using chicken meat, several kinds of herbs and other kinds of high-grade ingredients mixed together in the form of a stew, giving it a deep and rich flavor.
“I’ve heard vegetables grow fast, but is it really true to that extent?”
“Yeah, it’s because this area is close to Far-flung forest. According to the magicians, the vegetables’ growth is accelerated by the mana flowing through the earth.”
“But, you know… It’s quite unusual for a magician to carry a sword. Ordinary magicians use wands, right?”
“Magic isn’t almighty. There are monsters with the ability to nullify damage, and when it comes to that there’s no choice but to fight up close.”
“Isn’t it fine to withdraw then? Even if they run out of magic, if they temporarily retreat they might be able to settle things next time, right?”
“It would be great if you could always retreat from a battle. In the first place, it’s impossible to hold a conversation in the middle of a battle. It’s a war, after all, right?”
In a war, there are only clear rules amongst people like nobles and royalty. That is not the case for the likes of commoners and mercenaries. The latter, for example, look to perform meritorious deeds as their rewards depend on them, targetting mainly magicians and noble officers in a battle, committing many barbaric acts whenever they assault a town.
Rules and military discipline only exist for those serving the country, like the regular army. No such thing exists for the people hired to do so, and even if said things had happened before, most of the times it’s due to them acquiescing because of pressing circumstances.
While waiting at the airport to board the airplane, he was caught in a shooting between a terrorist organization and a certain country’s army, causing him to be stranded on said country for about three days.
And, when trying to seek refuge at the hotel that had been designated as an evacuation place, a stray bullet flew through the window and nearly killed him. It was sheer luck that it went a little over his shoulder, but since then, Zeros[Osako Satoshi] refused to go on any overseas business trips anywhere near warzones like that country.
A battle doesn’t care about inconveniencing others, and in that place, there are no rules as well.
Either continuously harassing the enemy or attacking upfront are both valid means of attacking, spewing claims and principles to condemn someone guilty of a crime is only an afterthought used as a pretense.
In the name of justice, it’s possible to abduct children and women, rape them, make them into soldiers, or otherwise do whatever they want to with them.
Although this world is more primitive than his former one, royalty and titled nobility seem to have a strong sense of things like pride and honor. But, in the world of politics, where war seems so easy to break out, for how long can a person remain level-headed?
Since there are people who have been at war for a long time even in his former world, and as it seems that this world was fundamentally the same, it’s also possible that it would be engulfed in the flames of war just the same. Thereupon, it was a scary thought that if such a war is provoked, those with an already conflictive and violent tendency will plunge the world into chaos even further.
Not only knights fight in a war, but also commoners and mercenaries are sent out as well, so in actuality, knights and magicians make up a small fraction of the combatants. Because of that reason, it was impossible for the Chivalric Order to train and discipline them all.
Most of the ones who commit barbaric acts fall into that category. It’s alright when they’re allies, but when they’re the enemies, they’ll relentlessly come to attack. After all, they seek to produce achievements to obtain rewards.
Therefore, it was never safe to retreat.
“You’re saying some difficult things… but, aren’t you being kinda cynical?”
“Yeah, I’m often told that. Or that I’m being biased, or that I’m plainly crazy.”
“But, isn’t this country peaceful? Well, the magicians are a bit too self-important, though.”
“Half the nobles are magicians, after all. People tend to rot when there’s only peace. I pray that their idiocy doesn’t end up affecting us all.”
(For some reason, a section of the magicians are hellbent in doing stupid shit. Like the old Japanese Army…)
He can’t help but think that the world itself is strange, and Zeros might not have the composure to accept it all. In actuality, what he’s doing may be completely irrational, and closer to ‘destroying it because it’s scary’ rather than ‘defeating the enemy.’
But no matter how strong he is, on the inside, he’s just a regular middle-aged uncle.
It was very likely that the Duke’s House was scared of him saying ‘they’re looking down and taking advantage of me.’ But the problem is whether the person in question is aware of it or not. Currently, he’s just living his life by going with the flow.
(*T.N: I literally have no idea why this paragraph exists or how did the author come to this. Also, it wasn’t clear whether the narrator is talking from Zeros’ perspective or it’s talking in a broad and general meaning.)
“Oh, I can see it now, that’s the site.”
“Speaking of which, I haven’t heard your name. My apologies for asking so late.”
“Mine? My name is Bawling.”
The scene of bowling pins being struck down by a bowling ball came to his mind. It’s the scene he usually saw in a bowling show on TV. Nevertheless, Bawling and Bowling may sound similar but mean completely different things. It was a misunderstanding from this middle-aged uncle.
(*T.N: This is some sort of pun that only makes sense in Japanese because they have no distinction between the ‘R’ and the ‘L’ sound. His name is ボーリング[booringu] which in this case, is the word ‘Boring’, as in drilling a hole. What Zeros then thought of was the word ボウリング[boUringu], which is what often bowling is called. But, tbh both words are completely interchangeable it’s just that according to jisho, only ボーリング can mean boring.)
“Were you thinking something rude just now?”
“Not at all, it’s just your imagination. I’m…”
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“I heard from the boss. Zeros-anchan, right?”[*T.N: young man, sonny, lad]
“Anchan!?”
“Humans don’t live too long, you’re still a young man from my point of view.”
Apparently, he was an elderly person. It was hard to guess the age of spirit races, such as dwarves.
The site was a wide highway upstream of the Grand Auras River, paved with cobblestones but interrupted midway by the river’s stream, wherein the bridge was likely to be built, however, the problem was the foundations.
The sound of water flowing through the riverbed could be heard, except that it looked more like a raging stream rather than a calm river. Approaching near the river to look at the actual situation, below the small cliff a raging stream with a terrifying intensity could be seen.
(I wonder if my magic would actually work here, it looks like quite the torrent.)
“It seems like two rivers are converging upstream, and the stream is fairly quick too. What can we do?”
“Naguri-san… You guys really got the short end of the stick here. If the piers are not properly built, they’ll definitely get shaven off by this raging stream here.”
“The government’s budget was really tempting, ya know? Besides, it’s a request from the country, we can’t back out now.”
“Didn’t you beat up some nobles before?”
“If we were the first ones to get this job, that’s what we would’ve done, but ya know, we weren’t the only ones that accepted this job.”
The dwarves from Hanba Constructions alone would have beaten up the government officials and even the King himself, however, if other construction companies are involved, then the responsibility will be redirected to them instead.
Even if they’re craftsmen from different companies, they have a strong sense of camaraderie with each other, and will always try to help each other out whenever it was possible.
(How do I do this… Even if I make the piers, isn’t the current too fast? The sand and soil collected will be washed by the stream before I could use 『GAIA CONTROL』 and 『ROCK FORMING』, right? First of all, we’d need to completely affix the foundations to the hard bedrock, but unfortunately, the current is too fast.)
“This will be impossible without creating a compound magic. But there will be no one who could use it…”
“Can it be done? I know it’s an unreasonable thing to ask, but please, do something!”
“Give me three days. I’ll find a way to somehow improve this spell.”
(There aren’t any PCs and I don’t have any acquaintances in this world, so I have to make do with existing techniques, in which case, I will have to find a way to combine several different spells into a single, unified process.
I don’t have the time to be tapping on a keyboard, should I pull an all-nighter tonight? Ahh… What should I do…)
As expected, he was at his wit’s end before the fury of mother nature. But if he doesn’t do something, the craftsmen will be punished.
“I’d like to hit the person who proposed this impossible job…”
“He’s the feudal lord of all the region opposite to this side of the river, Count Jacbuckham[ヨクブケーノ]. The man even tried to haggle down the construction costs. But this time it’s also a royal decree, so…”
“Does it even make sense to build a bridge here? If you want a trading route it’s enough to take a ship from the Duchy of Solisthea, right?”
“Actually, it doesn’t make sense at all. Merchants will have to take a large detour to pass through this place, and even if they do, they’ll just be easy prey for bandits.”
“Aren’t they embezzling the construction costs then? If they’re caught they blame will simply fall onto you guys…”
“Yeah, it might be that way. But, you reckon we’re gonna be in the red after the completion of the bridge? It’s a good thing that the Count is gonna take over the management and security of the bridge afterward.”
At the place on the opposite shore of the County of Jacbuckham, there seems to be a gray area between the Duchy of Solisthea and an abandoned land that’s not under the management of any noble house.
Going upstream from there, a part of that area falls into direct contact with Far-flung forest, wherein monsters possess a completely different strength.
The risk of being attacked by powerful monsters would increase with the completion of the bridge in the area.
“It’s also possible that they’re only thinking in the immediate profits and nothing else beyond that.”
“Either way, that guy already said we can’t quit.”
“He’s the worst no matter how you look at it. To throw unreasonable demands at you guys…”
“Totally…”
The past aside, in the present time, there were no convenient civil engineering magics. Apart from the spell created by Zeros, magic is only used for attacking and defending. That is why the so-called aristocratic nobles only seek to wield powerful magic and have formed factions for the only purpose of studying attack magics, which led to this disappointing situation.
The development of magic requires a fair amount of knowledge, but in this world where magic has the same value as gunpowder, there hasn’t been any development of spells that could spread amongst the general public. What’s more, they’ve simply truncated all of those efforts for the sake of pursuing powerful magics to use on the battlefield.
Ordinary magicians also learn Alchemy to make a living or serve the country seeking only a stable salary. It’s only the aristocratic magicians who are actively pursuing magic research, whereas the rest of the magicians pay little to none attention to its progress.
This situation doesn’t help advance the development of magical science and it’s akin to going with the flow by inertia.
“So, how do you plan on doing the construction work?”
“Ah, right. I’m going to cast magic on the riverbed’s bedrock and erect elliptical-shaped piers, but with their sides edged, so the current doesn’t put too much of a strain on them.”
“Hoh, how interesting. But, wouldn’t they end up being too thin? We’ve done similar works in the past, so I know it’s all over the moment they get washed away by the current.”
“How many piers were originally planned to be built?”
“Two… Ah, I see. We increase the number of piers to reduce the strain that the current puts on them.”
While writing the stages of the construction process on the ground, a review of the initial designs began. In the meantime, other craftsmen gathered around them, so the work progressed rapidly, and they even began to calculate the strength of the new piers on the spot in order to make them more robust than in the previous design.
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It goes without saying that the construction plans meeting lasted until nightfall.
In the original design, the bridge had an eyeglass-shaped structure supported by two piers on its foundation. On top of that, an arch-shaped base was placed to divide the center of gravity, and in turn, the main body of the bridge was to be built on top of it.
However, there was no way only two piers would be enough for a bridge that had to be at least around 250 meters long to reach the opposite shore of the river. At least four piers were needed to support the structure, and furthermore, based on the technology of Zeros’ former world, the sides of the piers had to be edged vertically.
The purpose of this was to disturb the water flow as little as possible as the fast-paced river stream would clash against the unevenness of the edged sides of the piers. An at the same time, the strain on the bridge is equally distributed prolonging its useful life.
In addition, it was possible to somewhat reduce the flood damage downstream.
It was possible for the dwarves to build the bridge foundations on top of the piers, but this time it was the middle-aged uncle who built the piers themselves on this occasion. He had a heavy responsibility on his shoulders.
—
“On the opposite shore as well, we need similar-looking foundations to stir the water flow. Maybe it would be easier if they were directly affixed.”
“Is it possible to do that? Maybe we should research that after the piers are built.”
“Right, so you use the stream itself to control the water current. As expected of a magician, he’s a bright one.”
“Hmph, what magician-sama. I ain’t seeing anyone like that.”
“We have to choose and use the most appropriate magic for this, and we have to be careful of not using the magics that fit us the worst.”
While the rest of the dwarves were having a conversation while drinking, Zeros and Naguri were working elsewhere.
—
“How deep is the water?”
“I’d say about 5 gil (meters).”
“And on the deeper end… Maybe around 6 or 7 gil, though I don’t know at what depth the bedrock is.”
“I understand the gist of the work process, but it’s my first time trying. If I don’t go at it carefully, it might collapse and if possible I have to make them all in one go, right? It’s quite the hard work.”
“Yeah, it’s gonna take a long time, isn’t it? Well, it was an unreasonable job from the beginning.”
The spell to be created had already been decided.
To build the piers, first, it was necessary to cover the place where they would be built with steel plates, and next, iron stakes needed to be drilled all the way up to the bedrock to serve as the support of the piers.
After that, the water was to be drained and the iron stakes were to be secured in place with a metallic frame, and finally, the cement had to be poured in.
However, this time none of the above were present, so everything had to be done with magic.
An elliptical magical barrier blocks the water flow, and at the same time, the piers are constructed using the bedrock and surrounding sediment and are fixed in order from the bottom by using the 『Rock Forming』 spell. It was hard to know if he could build the piers before his mana was depleted.
(Double deployment of 『Silver God’s Arms』 and simultaneous use of 『Rock Forming』and 『Gaia Control』…)
“Simultaneous invocation of three different spells at the same time is no joke… It’s not that I can’t do it, but it’s going to be tough.”
“That much? I don’t know much about magic, to be honest.”
“I have to use magic barriers to build up both the formworks and the piers themselves, but it’s annoying to not know how much pressure will actually be exerted by the water current. Because, taking that into account, I’m not sure if my mana will last.”
The greater the power of the physical force exerted onto the magic barrier, the more mana is used to withstand it, and the faster it runs out. Most of the times it’s only the impact of an arrow or an enemy magician’s attack, which last only for a moment, however, it wasn’t that easy anymore when the opponent was the raging water current of a river. Even if the mana consumption is kept to a minimum, it’s still consumed at a constant rate. So, even taking into consideration the usage of the external mana, the depletion rate was still a big factor as he had to maintain two other spells at the same time.
“I’ll make the piers as sturdy as possible, but they will probably end up looking very jagged and unpolished, is that fine?”
“As a craftsman, I can’t accept that, but why is it that?”
“Because I don’t have the leeway to use too much of my own mana. The stones and sediment flowing through the river can be used to build the piers themselves, but when it comes to both make them sturdy enough and give them a pleasant appearance…”
“It can’t be helped then… Magic isn’t almighty it seems.”
“It would be helpful to have heavy machinery, though that kind of thing doesn’t exist here and I don’t know if there’s anyone capable of making them…”
It was a tedious and difficult task. It’s easy to use a PC to do the calculations, but this time, he had to compose the magic formula himself with the existing magic characters.
It was a good thing that he already had all the magic formulas he needed to compose the spell in his possession, but he didn’t know what kind of adverse effect it would bring to reconnect already completed magic formulas.
He had constructed attack magics with the aforementioned characters before, but now the number of magic formulas was so big that he wasn’t sure he could control them all.
(I could only try three times after pulling an allnighter making prototypes and experiments, and making further corrections. I might be able to reduce the burden a little if the water flow is stirred upstream… Should I just crunch next time…?)
“I’m asking you, please. You’re our last hope.”
“Please don’t put more pressure on me.”
“Where is it!”
Looking from the outside, he seemed to be lively and well, however, he was incredibly anxious in the inside.
Living in another world put a lot of pressure on his spirit.
While complaining about it, the middle-aged uncle concentrates on creating the magic formula in his mind.