Published: January 12, 2026
While taking breaks, Espada worked on creating a tributary to draw water from the river.
However, to avoid interference with the work, they built a wall right next to the river and dug the tributary section beyond that.
Espada dug through several dozen meters in one go, and during breaks, Dee and Kamushin dug relentlessly. Til and I followed behind, reinforcing the ground and walls.
Considering the distance from the river, we all said, "This is going to be a huge task," but surprisingly, progress was smooth.
I was amazed not only by Espada’s seemingly endless mana but also by Dee’s boundless stamina.
“Nuuaa ha ha ha ha!”
While Arb, Row, and Kamushin, exhausted, sat down, Dee kept digging vigorously with the shovel I made.
For some reason, laughter flowed continuously from Dee’s mouth.
“…Still energetic for a man in his forties,” Espada said with an exasperated expression. Dee is in his forties? That’s impressive.
Half a day passed working on the river diversion project, thinking such strange things, and suddenly the village came into sight. The pace was ridiculously fast.
We had walked quite a bit for about an hour and reached the river, which should be nearly four kilometers away.
Digging through that distance and coming back took about eight hours. We were probably about a kilometer away from our village.
“All right, that’s it for today,” I announced.
Dee and Espada looked at me puzzled. But look at Arb, Row, and Kamushin—they’re gasping for breath.
“Hmm, I thought I found a good training method after a long time… but yeah, maybe it’s best not to push too hard,” Dee said, making a comment full of punchlines, but no one said a word. Does Dee still have energy left? What a fool.
I couldn’t help but curse him silently, unable to believe it.
By the way, Espada was looking calm and composed. Ah, frightening. It was a day to realize the strength of veterans and elders.
Ort and the others weren’t interested in the river work, so they stocked up on a lot of iron ore. But utterly exhausted, I declined to make swords.
The next day, we reached the village moat by morning. Controlling my impatience, I made a water drainage path behind the village.
A little further ahead, we built a small but deep reservoir.
It was designed to overflow here in case of increased water volume.
Ideally, the water would circulate back to the river in the end, but that will be for next time.
For now, I just wanted to see the water being drawn in quickly.
This time, we took a carriage and returned to the river. We left the carriage on the road and continued on foot.
Upon reaching the river, I praised everyone.
“Thanks to everyone’s tremendous efforts, the water diversion project is finally complete. It must have been a tough day and a half. Truly, thank you all. Now, opening!”
As soon as I finished my words of appreciation, we broke down the wall blocking the river and the tributary.
Water immediately began flowing into the new tributary from the river.
“Oh! Wonderful!”
I couldn’t help but applaud the rapidly flowing river water. Everyone joined in with cheers.
Watching the water flow excited me.
Ah, so much fun. Following the water’s flow, we elegantly headed toward the village in the carriage.
Perhaps because the waterway was well reinforced, the water’s force showed no sign of weakening. The flow was so good it actually made me a bit worried.
I’ll check the moat later.
As we returned to the village, the villagers noticed us and lowered the bridge, opening the gate.
“Oh! Water!”
“Water really came from the river...!”
The villagers poured out, marveling as they watched the water flow into the moat.
“Amazing, amazing!”
Children ran around the moat, chasing the rising water with excited squeals. I wanted to join them too.
“Now we can get water easily,” Ronda said with awe as she walked over, but I shook my head.
“Until now, drinking water was pretty rough. We want to filter and boil it properly. So, we need to build equipment for that.”