Chapter 22
Chapter 22
At the moment we collided, something scattered from the man’s hand.
“I’m sorry.”
I quickly apologized and picked up the beads that had fallen.
“……”
Meanwhile, the man did nothing and simply stared at me.
Did he drop them because of me, so he expects me to pick them all up?
It was true that I hadn’t been watching where I was going, but the man also shared some fault. Wasn’t he being a bit shameless?
Even though I found it ridiculous, I didn’t want to get into a pointless argument, so I silently gathered the beads.
“Here. Please check if the number is correct.”
Instead of taking the beads, the man suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“What color is it?”
“Excuse me?”
“What color does this look like to you?”
The man pointed at the beads in my hand and asked again.
Depending on the angle, the beads shimmered in several colors, but if I had to pick the color that appeared the most…
“Red… I think.”
At my answer, the man’s blue eyes—which had looked somewhat unfocused—suddenly sparkled as if stars had been embedded in them.
What’s with him? That’s creepy.
A bad feeling ran down my spine.
I wanted to run away, but he was gripping my wrist so tightly that I couldn’t move.
“Excuse me, could you please let go of my hand?”
“Which organization do you belong to?”
Even though I had asked him to let go, he tightened his grip instead.
“Under whom are you studying? I don’t sense anything special. Don’t tell me you keep a shield up all the time?”
Then he started saying things I couldn’t understand.
“Tell me who your master is. Or would you like to come with us instead? I’ll treat you better.”
I had no idea what he was talking about, but one thing was certain—he wasn’t normal.
It felt like running into a cultist in the modern world who went around asking people if they believed in some mysterious path.
What a waste of a handsome face.
His face was beautiful, standing somewhere between boy and young man, with ocean-blue eyes and mysterious silver hair.
It was the kind of face that any woman would find attractive, yet here he was acting like a cult recruiter.
“Oh—look, there’s a red bead over there.”
When I pointed behind him, the man turned his head.
I didn’t miss the opportunity and shoved him with all my strength.
The beads fell again, but I didn’t care.
I simply ran away as quickly as I could to avoid being caught again.
“…Ah, wait.”
The hand that reached out a moment too late waved helplessly through the air.
As Aileen disappeared into the distance, the bright sparkle in his eyes gradually faded back into a dull haze.
“This is the first time.”
He stared blankly at the beads scattered on the ground.
“It’s the first time someone other than me has seen this as red…”
Muttering to himself, the man nudged the beads with the tip of his foot.
“Lord Rael! There you are!”
At that moment, another man came running over in a hurry.
“What are we supposed to do if you suddenly disappear like that? I’ve been searching everywhere—ah! What is this!”
The man gasped when he saw the beads on the ground.
“You threw these precious Arcana onto the road?!”
“…I didn’t.”
Rael replied sulkily, but the man didn’t listen at all.
“Oh dear, even just one of these could feed a commoner family for half a year. Oh dear…”
As the man lamented and began picking up the Arcana from the ground, Rael wrinkled the bridge of his nose and flicked his fingers.
“Ah!”
Mud shot upward and splattered all over the man’s face.
“Why are you doing this?!”
“I didn’t.”
“Don’t lie! This time you definitely did it, Lord Rael!”
“So you knew and ignored my words, Zephyr.”
When Rael flicked his fingers again, both of Zephyr’s feet sank into the ground.
“I’m sorry, Lord Rael! I overstepped my place and dared to challenge you!”
Only after Zephyr raised both hands and shouted his apology did Rael release him.
Relieved to be freed, Zephyr immediately picked up the Arcana that had fallen.
“One, two, three… fifteen.”
Only after confirming the count was correct did Zephyr breathe a deep sigh of relief.
If even one had been lost, the strict elders would never have let it go.
Meanwhile, Lord Rael himself doesn’t care at all.
Clicking his tongue inwardly, Zephyr glanced at his master, Raellion Silbert—the lord of the Magic Tower.
Even though Zephyr was usually good at reading people’s thoughts—so much so that others joked he could read minds—he could never understand what Rael was thinking.
It’s strange that he suddenly came to Belheim.
At first, Zephyr thought he had come to meet Calix Krauvel.
But that wasn’t it.
He never once went near the lord’s castle.
Instead, he wandered around only in the areas where commoners lived.
No matter how many times Zephyr asked why they had come here, Rael never answered.
Then suddenly he vanished, saying someone had called him.
Zephyr had been so startled at the time.
Fortunately, Rael had left behind traces of mana, which allowed Zephyr to track him down.
“Let’s return to the Magic Tower now, Lord Rael. The elders will be worried.”
“…I want to meet her again.”
“Pardon? What did you say?”
Zephyr asked again, but Rael didn’t answer.
Instead, he stared in the direction where Aileen had disappeared.
His gaze looked strangely wistful.
“Is there something over there?”
Zephyr looked in the same direction but saw nothing.
“If we don’t leave soon, we’ll miss the train.”
“…Let’s go see Calix before we leave.”
“What? What do you mean suddenly—where are you going, Lord Rael!”
Already accustomed to Rael’s impulsive behavior yet still flustered by it, Zephyr hurried after him.
I had worried that the cultist might stubbornly chase after me, but fortunately that didn’t happen.
I hadn’t managed to inspect all of District 9, but I had already found the biggest cause of the problem.
Since it would be a disaster if I ran into that cultist again, I returned to the multi-family housing in District 8.
“It looks much better now.”
When I first came here, it had been such a mess that it wouldn’t have been strange if a ghost appeared.
Now that it had been repaired, it looked far better.
“It probably needs a fresh coat of paint too.”
But did paint even exist in this era?
There seemed to be pigments, at least…
“Aileen, you’re back.”
Tabin, who had been cleaning up trash near the entrance, greeted me warmly.
“Where are the Urban Development Department employees?”
Hopefully they hadn’t skipped out.
“They’re removing mold from the first-floor corridor right now.”
So they did come.
“Did they help a lot?”
“Yes. Their hands are quite skilled—the mold disappeared quickly.”
“That’s a relief.”
I had worried they might slack off, but that concern turned out to be unnecessary.
“You’ll finish the corridor tomorrow, right?”
“No. I’m planning to finish the remaining apartments first, then work on the corridor.”
“Then the residents who use the corridor will be inconvenienced.”
“I’ll just have to tell them to endure it for one more day.”
After that, I needed to build and install the triangular roofs.
Ah, and this place also needed a drainage channel.
I stepped outside the building and checked the long alleyway.
As expected, this district also had terrain where rainwater pooled, so a drainage path was necessary.
The other areas with severe monsoon damage must be similar.
If we had to dig drainage channels in all those districts, two months would definitely not be enough.
What should I do?
“Mr. Cranter.”
Just then, I stopped Allen Cranter, who had just finished his work and come outside.
“I worked hard!”
Allen Cranter said proudly while showing me his swollen hands.
“I really worked hard!”
I hadn’t said anything, yet he was already defending himself. It was so amusing that I let out a small laugh.
“Alright. By the way, are there any magical tools used for digging the ground?”
“Huh? You dig the ground with a shovel.”
I had asked just in case, but it seemed there really wasn’t such a thing.
“Then if we dig a path from here to the river outside the city gate, how long would it take?”
“Hm… let me think.”
I expected him to say he didn’t know, but surprisingly he thought seriously before answering.
“It depends on how many laborers you mobilize, but on average… about three weeks.”
I had expected it to take at least a month, but it was actually faster than I thought.
More importantly, the fact that he could calculate something like that meant he wasn’t completely incompetent.
Well, he was still an employee of the Urban Development Department.
“Why? Are you planning to make a new road?”
“Yes. A path for rainwater to flow.”
“Huh? A path for rainwater?”
Allen Cranter asked again as if he didn’t understand.
“There is such a thing.”
It would be difficult to explain it to him, and there was no need to.
The only person who needed to understand was the lord.
As long as Calix Krauvel understood.