Chapter 46
Chapter 46
"Anyway, we need drainage ditches. That's the only answer."
I said firmly.
"The road is wide, so dig along both sides, and between the houses here and there open up smaller waterways like pruning branches...."
As I spoke, an error occurred in my mental simulation.
The problem was the soil.
The ground here was already a mire soaked through with filth.
If we just dug it with shovels, would the drainage ditch even hold?
'No way.'
One rainstorm and it would collapse like a burst embankment, and the channels we'd managed to dig would be filled back in with mud.
I remembered how, back in my army days, I'd watched the guys from the neighboring company repair a collapsed drainage ditch.
I turned and stared straight at Lucius, who was standing beside me.
Staring so hard it was downright uncomfortable.
"...Why are you looking at me like that?"
Lucius asked, taking a step back.
I pointed at the bag slung over his shoulder with a jerk of my chin.
"You're an alchemist, right?"
"Yes, but..."
"You heard my grand plan, so don't you have anything that could help? Aren't alchemists supposed to have all sorts of amazing stuff in their bags?"
Lucius gave an incredulous laugh at my shameless request.
"It may be hard for you to pay the price. My material costs are quite high."
"Come on, why so stingy?"
I put on a hurt expression and draped an arm over his shoulder.
"If you're going to become a noble and not use that little talent of yours for relief efforts for imperial citizens, then what are you saving it for? To make soup?"
"...I felt it earlier too, but you're rather unrestrained."
"Good is good, isn't it? I'll spend big when I buy you a meal later. A really lavish one."
"Lavish, huh."
"I promise on my name."
I was a homeowner.
I was a future 40-billion-won tycoon.
If it were going into my belly, my aversion to anything free would've been maxed out.
But since I wasn't doing it for myself, I could shake him down without hesitation.
That's what you call requisition for the public good.
Lucius stared at me for a moment, then let out a snort of a laugh as if he couldn't help himself.
"You'll have to be prepared to pay for that meal."
Rustle.
He opened the leather bag slung on his back and rummaged around inside, pulling something out.
It was a transparent glass flask about the size of a fist.
The sloshing silver liquid gave off a mysterious glow.
"This will do."
"What's that?"
"It's an alchemical hardening agent that turns soil as hard as stone. It was originally developed for repairing castle walls, but if you spray it on earth, it turns to rock in an instant."
"...!"
My eyes widened.
Holy shit.
This is a straight-up cheat item—no concrete needed.
No need to pour cement, cure it, and all that crap—just spray it on and it hardens?
Fantasy really is magnificent.
I was about to take the flask in admiration, then hesitated.
"But..."
"Yes?"
"Isn't the amount too small? It's barely fist-sized."
This wouldn't even come close.
To lay drainage ditches for the whole village, we'd need at least several barrels' worth.
"Even spread paper-thin, that wouldn't pave even half of it. Don't you have more?"
At my complaint, Lucius shook his head and smiled easily.
"It's fine. This is the stock solution."
"Stock solution?"
"Yes. You dilute it with water. Even mixed at a 1:3000 ratio, it'll still work perfectly well."
"...1 to 3,000?"
Crazy.
The calculator in my head started spinning fast.
That bottle looked to be about 500 milliliters. Times 3,000.
'1,500 liters?'
I wasn't sure, but that much should be enough to fill a concrete mixer drum, right?
...Or not, whatever.
It didn't seem quite right, but anyway, with one flask, that meant we could make 1,500 liters of hardening solution... which sounds a little messy, so let's call it hardening water.
At that point, we could pave the entire road and still have some left, couldn't we?
"Oh... that's fucking amazing."
"Thank you for the compliment."
"How is that even possible? Are you ignoring things like the law of conservation of mass?"
"The formulas for alchemical mixtures and amplification are confidential even among family. They're trade secrets."
"Ah, right."
That was a stupid question.
Even the old lady at a famous restaurant doesn't tell her daughter-in-law the secret of the broth.
I nodded without a word.
Fantasy-world alchemy really was at a level that slapped modern science across the face.
"Yes. Then that'll do. More than enough."
I smiled in satisfaction and clapped my hands.
Clap!
"All right, we've got the equipment and the materials."
"So where do we start? Do we begin work right away?"
Lucius rolled up his sleeves with enthusiasm.
But I shook my head firmly.
"No."
"Huh?"
"We need to get the professor's permission first."
"Professor Wilhelm?"
"Of course."
If I actually went and did whatever I wanted just because he told me to, I'd be the one taking the fall later when problems came up.
What if we dug the drainage ditch and the house next door collapsed?
What if we sprayed the hardening solution and the smell got even worse?
Then who's going to take responsibility?
Me? Am I crazy?
'We absolutely need to get approval stamped.'
If something blows up later, I need an excuse ready like, "You told us to do it, Professor!" That's how I can protect my precious life and well-being.
"Let's go. To get approval."
* * *
Pandemonium.
It was a mess that could be described by no other word.
Wilhelm von Kreuz looked down at the future of the empire as they staggered about retching, arms folded.
His mouth tasted bitter.
'This is the essence of the intellect that will one day lead the empire.'
So rotten with peace that they knew nothing of the real world, just shells flaunting bookish knowledge.
They can rattle off swordsmanship and magical theory all day, yet can't even fend for themselves because they can't stand a little stink.
How could anyone call them the nation's ruling class like this?
The reason he had deliberately not called laborers or experts, and instead pushed only the students into this sewer, was clear.
If the experts laid everything out for them?
These brats would just piggyback on it, say, "Ah, we did it! Noblesse oblige!" and get high on themselves before taking pictures and leaving.
Better that they go back having accomplished nothing, full of helplessness and shock.
Because that defeat, that shame, would become the real fertilizer for their growth.
'Even if it's sadistic, I don't care.'
Wilhelm's gaze grew cold.
'If the only way for people to become human is to pay the price for having spent their whole lives turning a blind eye, then I'll gladly play the villain.'
Still.
Even amid that pitch-black disappointment, there was one person he still had hopes for.
Among the screwball nobles, perhaps the only young man who truly shone.
Cassian del Parne.
The moment he arrived, he didn't hesitate and disappeared into the village with an alchemy student named Lucius in tow.
He didn't cover his nose, nor did he wrinkle his brow.
Like a veteran returning to a familiar battlefield, he walked into the hellscape, taking it in calmly.
'He's different after all.'
Wilhelm let a faint smile touch his lips.
This brutal reality would be a spur to him, not a hardship.
Of course, he didn't expect the boy to solve anything right away.
What could just two students possibly do?
He only hoped that this experience would, in the future, become the seed of a resolution to change the country when he rose to a high position.
And then.
Surprisingly, Cassian del Parne was not the only one shining here.
Wilhelm turned his head and looked at another miracle.
In the middle of the mud.
A small girl standing alone and quietly holding her ground while the other girls screamed and recoiled, terrified of getting their clean school dresses dirty.
It was Saint Lily.
"..."
She spread a filthy tarp on the ground to make space, then shouted at the students staring blankly at the rotten buckets filled with rainwater.
With a trembling voice, yet firm resolve.
"For people who've been starving for a long time, solid food or dried rations loaded on carts are practically poison! You have to mix them with water, boil them, and make soup! We need a lot of clean water—would anyone come with me to fetch some?"
"B-but where would we get water...?"
"If there's a forest nearby and the village is settled here, it definitely means the water source can't be far away!"
Her eyes were desperate.
"And I saw a large pot in the wagon. Could someone help me move it? It's too much for me alone!"
At her practical instructions, several conscientious students who had been frozen in place began to gather their courage and move.
"I- I'll help!"
"Me too!"
One by one, students began to gather around her.
In the chaotic clearing, a small but definite order began to take shape.
Wilhelm couldn't help but admire it.
'I thought she was just a propaganda saint sent by the temple... but she was the real thing.'
She was a true saint, not a fake one.
That girl really knew how to save people.
Then, at that moment.
Step, step.
The students' gazes all turned toward the village at once.
Wilhelm also turned his head.
Far off, two men were walking across the muddy ground.
It was Cassian and Lucius.
Cassian approached with a lopsided stride, hands shoved in his pockets like someone who'd just taken a stroll around the neighborhood.
Then he stopped right in front of Wilhelm and asked abruptly.
"Professor."
"Yes. What is it?"
"I came because there's something I want permission for."
"Permission?"
Wilhelm raised an eyebrow.
"I told you to do anything you wanted. Did you take my words as a joke?"
"Hmm."
Cassian didn't look intimidated at all.
In fact, he seemed to be slightly dissatisfied with the professor.
"That's because you said it not expecting us to actually do construction, right? You figured we'd just end up half-assing it for show."
"...Hm?"
"We're thinking of doing some serious digging—can we really just dig up the ground however we want without reporting it? No backing out later, okay?"
"Serious digging, huh."
Wilhelm's eyes narrowed.
There was life in that gaze.
People like this were usually the ones who got things done.
"You look quite dissatisfied. What's the reason?"
"You're sure I can really say it?"
Cassian asked back.
'Heh, this kid...'
Wilhelm nodded.
"Speak honestly. No matter what you say here, as long as you don't lie, I'll forgive it and let it pass on my honor as a soldier."
"...Haah."
Cassian let out a deep sigh.
He scratched the back of his neck and, sounding thoroughly annoyed, let it all spill out.
"Since you say I won't be punished even if I'm honest, I'll say it."
He nodded toward the villagers.
Skinny old folks and children watching the nobles with uneasy eyes.
"Using these village people as a spectacle like they're zoo monkeys, just to teach a bunch of daft kids a lesson..."
"...!"
"I can tell you're a general through and through, Professor. I know you're a good person, but separate from that, you kind of have this subtle way of not seeing people as people."
In an instant, the air around them froze.
Lucius gasped and stumbled backward.
To think he would dare criticize Wilhelm, a hero of the empire and a professor, like that to his face.
This was an insult that went beyond insubordination.
Cassian continued without caring.
"They're not nobles, as you said, but they're still imperial citizens. They have pride and lives of their own. If you put their lives on display like that just to educate us and make them watch people vomiting and acting like idiots, how do you think they feel?"
"..."
"At the very least, you should pay for the meal. If you've watched, it's only right to pay admission, isn't it? So I'm going to make a bit of a scene and earn my meal."
A sharp and accurate criticism of the habit of consuming the lives of the poor as teaching materials.
"...Heh, heh-heh-heh."
Wilhelm's shoulders shook.
The corners of his mouth twisted, and a strange smile spread across his face.
'...This guy is the real deal.'
In a world overrun with fakes, a genuine article had rolled in.
He grabbed Cassian by the shoulders.
"Yes! You're right! I was careless!"
"Huh?"
"Admission fee! Excellent! Absolutely excellent! Yes, do as you please! Dig up the ground, tear down the houses! Do whatever you want! I'll handle the aftermath!"
Wilhelm laughed heartily and thumped Cassian on the back.
Thump! Thump!
"Ah, it hurts, Professor! You'll break my bones!"
"Don't be so dramatic! Now go and do it in a grand, dashing way!"
"Seriously, why do generals love expressions like 'grand' and 'dashing' so much?"
Cassian wriggled free from Wilhelm's grasp with disgust.
"Anyway, I'll get it done."
He grumbled and motioned to Lucius.
"Let's go. Time to dig."
"...Yes."
Lucius followed after Cassian with a dazed expression, though his eyes were shining.
Wilhelm watched the two men receding in the distance and clenched his fist tightly.
His heart raced.
Harder than when he went out onto the battlefield.