Chapter 47
Chapter 47
Clatter, clatter.
A separate carriage that had set out late was racing along the rough dirt road.
Evelyn kept her body steady in the swaying carriage and glared out the window.
Her name had originally been marked absent on the Legion Tour roster.
The reason was simple.
The humiliation she had suffered a few days earlier in Professor Iris's laboratory.
To wash away that shame, she had locked herself in her room and thrown herself into magical mathematics like a madwoman.
'Don’t touch anything unless it’s important. The moment you break my concentration, I won’t forgive you, no matter who you are.'
Her personal maid Yelena, frightened by the razor-sharp order she had given in the process and driven half by loyalty, half by fear, had even classified the Legion Tour as an "unimportant schedule" and arbitrarily marked her absent.
She was now racing over there after belatedly learning the truth.
"Lift your head."
Evelyn said coldly.
The maid across from her, who had been shrinking back and watching her nervously, flinched, her shoulders jerking.
"I already scolded you, so stop hemming and hawing. That attitude is dismissing my forgiveness."
"S-sorry, Your Highness the Princess! I won't…."
"Enough. Quiet."
Evelyn waved a hand irritably.
It wasn't the maid's fault.
She had been the one acting overly sensitive.
She turned her gaze back out the window.
Watching the dense forest rush backward made her feel as if her insides were rotting away.
I just can't… catch up.
She was a genius.
Even setting aside her imperial bloodline, her talent was unmatched.
But she had never been arrogant for even an instant.
She read books while others slept, and calculated mana while others played.
She could say with confidence that she had spent her whole life working harder and more ruthlessly than anyone else, without ever stopping.
That was her duty as a princess and the pride of a genius.
But.
'Cassian del Farne.'
After dealing with that man, Evelyn had come to a painful realization.
No matter how fast she was, she was still running on the ground, while that man had been flying from birth.
That was a gap no amount of effort could close.
An intuition that saw straight through to the essence.
He knew without being taught and answered without needing to think.
'It's unfair, but.'
She couldn't even dare say that aloud.
Because her philosophy was that the world is unfair, and that was simply its unavoidable nature.
Evelyn bit her lip.
She tasted the metallic tang of blood.
She had to swallow the dark inferiority and frustration rotting behind her perfectly set poker face.
It had been easy enough to laugh off someone else's envy, jealousy, and anger laced with inferiority and frustration.
But when she was the one feeling it, it was painfully difficult.
Creeeak.
The carriage came to a stop.
They had arrived at their destination.
The door opened, and a foul stench rushed in.
"…Hah."
Evelyn frowned and unfolded her fan.
What was she supposed to learn in a place like this?
But she had no intention of running away.
Because that man was here.
She had to see what he saw and feel what he felt.
Only then did it seem like she might be able to wash away even a little of this defeat.
* * *
The village square was an utter mess.
The noble young ladies were pinching their noses and screaming, while the young masters stood there blankly, unable to do anything.
In the middle of that chaos, a woman was silently working.
It was Lily.
"Ugh… heave-ho!"
She staggered as she tried to lift a pot as big as herself, but she absolutely refused to give up.
Her face was covered in sweat and dirt, but her clear eyes kept steadily carrying out her task.
"…"
I stared at her for a moment, then turned my head away.
Lucius, who was beside me, asked in confusion.
"Shouldn't we help her? She looks pretty strained."
"No."
I said firmly.
"She's doing fine on her own anyway, so why bother? If we go over there pretending to help, we'll only get in each other's way."
"But…"
"That woman can handle herself just fine."
I believed in Lily's self-reliance.
She handled things well in the original, too.
Even aside from that, she was the kind of girl who could go without eating even on weekends, then, the moment she got to school, drag up every last scrap of energy she had and clean like a pro.
If it's a clear-headed Lily, I don't need to worry.
"Let's just do our own jobs. Come on, let's gather the laborers."
"Laborers? Here?"
"There are plenty of them. Spare labor standing around with nothing to do."
I pointed with my chin toward the corner of the square.
A male student crouched there after he'd earlier gone, "Cruelty, boo-hoo!" at Professor Wilhelm and been utterly flattened.
It was the guy who'd talked nonsense in Intro to Military Studies.
I strode over and stood in front of him.
As my shadow fell over him, the guy looked up.
"Hey, you. The one taking Intro to Military Studies with me."
"…Me?"
Man, this guy's really lost it.
Wilhelm's rebuke had clearly shattered his mental state.
I clicked my tongue.
"Is being embarrassed still that important to you, even after seeing this mess?"
"…!"
"You were going on about noble dignity and all that, and now you’re sitting down just because it smells a little? Is that the noblesse oblige you were talking about?"
The male student's pupils trembled.
He had always been the type to spout noble decorum, but he looked like the words "noblesse something-or-other" had finally snapped him back to his senses.
He looked around.
Suffering commoners.
A sweating saint.
And even a barbarian looking down at him with pity.
"…I made a fool of myself."
He got to his feet unsteadily.
He wiped the dirt from his face and looked at me with determined eyes.
"State your business. I'll do anything."
Oh.
So he can understand what I'm saying.
I grinned and appointed him head of the water-fetching team.
"From now on, drag in every idle bastard and bring back plenty of water. From the stream or the well, as long as it's clean."
"Water? You mean water for boiling the soup."
"That too, but we also need water if we're going to do anything at all. A lot of it."
Now came the technical discussion.
I asked Lucius, who had been following along and was still standing behind me.
"We've got the water secured, but will plain water do? Or does it need to be boiled?"
"Hmm."
Lucius stroked his chin and thought it over.
"Boiling it is practically essential, but… that'd be difficult under the circumstances. We can't boil all this much water."
He took another reagent bottle out of his bag.
"I'll solve it by mixing in an additional chemical that triggers an exothermic reaction. If I use a little more catalyst, it should work. It'll cost some money, though, but you did say you'd treat me to an expensive meal."
As expected.
Alchemy was said to rank above magic to the point that only rich kids could even dream of it.
But there was no need to make me spend any more unnecessary money than that.
Because I just wanted to splurge on one meal and be done with it.
"Then don't spend the money. I have a way to handle the boiling on my end."
"…A way? Out here in the open?"
"Yeah. By any chance, does the process require it to be mixed with boiling water? Is the order important?"
"Hmm…"
Lucius stared at me intently.
"I'm not entirely sure why you're asking that, though the exact principle isn't very clear to me."
As if trying to discern my intention, his eyes gleamed sharply.
"If you're asking whether you can mix the ingredients first and apply heat later, it doesn't matter."
"Oh."
I was impressed.
Wow, his reading of the room is basically off the charts.
He gets it without me even saying it.
Unlike a fake like me, this guy absolutely reeks of true genius.
Then on to the next problem.
"I don't have a proper vessel for boiling water."
I looked around with my arms crossed.
The thing that looked best suited for boiling something was the pot Lily was using, but I couldn't exactly snatch the one she'd brought to boil soup.
And if I tried to find a usable container in this cesspit?
Impossible.
For construction work, we'd practically need a drum.
An oak barrel?
An oak barrel would be a problem.
How were we supposed to boil that?
'Should I just fleece Lucius after all?'
Just then, Lucius's eyes sparkled and he spoke up.
"If it doesn't have to go over a fire, then…"
"Pardon?"
"How about digging out a wide patch of ground and coating the surface with the hardening agent I have, so we can use it like an artificial well? After all, we only need to mix things."
"…!"
Holy shit.
For sure.
This bastard really is a genius.
"We'll go with that. Sounds good. It's mud here, so digging will be easy too."
If we dug deep, the ground would get harder and there'd be rocks mixed in, but digging wide and shallow shouldn't be much trouble.
'Should I just do it myself? It's land I’m digging anyway.'
I seriously thought about it for a moment.
No.
If I did everything myself, I might hog the credit later, but I'd also end up taking on all the jealousy, resentment, and the 'you do it next time' burden.
It was less stressful if I made it something we did together with the others.
That's why I make them haul the water too, busting their asses for it.
The harder it is, the more these noble wannabes here will remember it not as "that guy did it," but as "we did it, and I was at the center of it."
That's politics, and that's how you get by socially.
"Good. Then Lucius, you handle the digging and container work."
"Understood. That much will be quick."
The dimwit from Intro to Military Studies who had been listening from the side was staring blankly at our conversation.
He seemed unable to keep up with the fast ping-pong pace of the conversation.
I took a step to move to another spot.
Then Lucius hurriedly stopped me.
"Wait, Lord Cassian."
"Yes?"
"Aren't you taking any people with you?"
He gestured with his chin at the male students standing around blankly.
The students nearby looked like they'd come running the moment I called.
As if I'd call them.
"I don't need any on my end."
"Huh? Digging drainage channels will be harder, though."
"They'd just get in the way."
I want this over with quickly.
This place really is unfortunate, though.
I really, really don't want to camp here tonight.
Set up a tent and sleep while breathing this smell?
I'd rather bite my tongue off and die.
I'm going to finish fast and pitch a tent in a pleasant forest, damn it.
"Lucius, you handle all the manpower."
I turned my gaze to the dim-witted male student standing beside me.
"What's your name?"
"…Karls von Zayrek."
Zayrek?
That's a count's family, isn't it?
A prominent house with a lot of clout in the East.
Nice backing.
He had more than enough justification to order people around, and his family name would be perfect for keeping the others in line.
I assigned him a role with a satisfied smile.
"Now then, Mr. Karls von Zayrek."
"…Yes."
"From now on, you'll oversee the people bringing water, just as you said. Once they've hauled it back, ask Lucius whether it should go to the cooking side or our side."
Of course, while we're digging, it'll all have to go to the cooking side anyway, but there's no need to make the decision process complicated.
If a sharp guy with a good head on his shoulders is going to handle it for us, why bother?
"Understood."
"Good. Then let's begin at once."
"But…"
Karls glanced around.
"I don't know where the water source is, though."
"…"
Tch.
Finding that out is part of the supervisor's job, too.
Anyway, what a scatterbrain.
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