Chapter 52
Chapter 52
After the metal ring incident, Calix Krauvel stopped assigning me miscellaneous tasks.
As overtime and weekend work naturally disappeared, my daily life finally regained a sense of peace.
Of course, I couldn’t completely relax since I never knew when Calix Krauvel might change his attitude again.
And the metal ring on my wrist kept bothering me as well.
“Why on earth did he make me wear this?”
On the stagecoach ride to work, I muttered while looking down at the metal ring on my wrist.
Calix Krauvel had said it was a magical device that prevented strange people from approaching me, but I didn’t believe that.
There was no way that man would prepare something like this for my sake.
More importantly, from my perspective, the strangest and most dangerous person was Calix Krauvel himself.
Clatter—
Just then, the stagecoach that had been running smoothly suddenly came to a stop.
“Ah!”
My head slammed straight into the window, and I cried out.
Other passengers must have been thrown forward as well, because groans rose from various corners as people clutched their bodies.
“What are you doing stopping so suddenly!”
A burly man opened the small window connected to the driver’s seat and shouted angrily.
“It’s not like I wanted to! The carriages ahead are lined up, so I had no choice!”
Just as the driver said, the road ahead was filled with a long line of carriages, stretching out like a train.
“Move aside!”
“Back the carriage up right now!”
City guards trying to manage the situation and curious onlookers who had gathered to see what was happening were visible as well.
“What happened?”
I opened the carriage window and asked someone nearby.
“There was a carriage accident. Looks like it slipped on the icy road.”
It had rained briefly last night, so the road must have frozen afterward.
Then they should scatter something like sodium chloride… ah, right. Something like that probably didn’t exist in this world.
I scrunched my nose and looked ahead again.
At this rate, the road wouldn’t clear before work started.
So I decided it would be faster to walk and got off the carriage.
Several other passengers seemed to have the same idea and began getting off as well.
As I walked along the road, I naturally passed the accident site.
Two carriages were overturned and tangled together in the middle of the stone road.
Their wheels spun uselessly in the air, while the horses lay collapsed on the frozen road, breathing heavily.
“Ugh…!”
“Just hang on a little longer. A rescue carriage will arrive soon.”
On one side, a man who appeared to be a driver trembled in pain, his face and clothes soaked in blood.
On the other side, an older man clutched his leg, trying to suppress his groans.
Ugh… that’s horrible.
Not wanting to look any longer, I hurried away.
Even though I walked as fast as possible to avoid being late, I still ended up arriving about thirty minutes late.
“I’m sorry I’m late!”
“The stagecoach suddenly stopped running…”
Fortunately, many others were late as well.
Even Anton Brown arrived an hour late.
Apparently, freezing accidents had occurred all over the city.
“Still, there are fewer accidents this year.”
“Yeah. Last year there were accidents almost every day.”
What was going on?
Why were they talking about this like they were casually discussing today’s lunch menu?
I felt both puzzled and uneasy, but soon learned the reason.
In Belheim, accidents caused by frozen roads happened extremely often every winter.
“Then shouldn’t we come up with a countermeasure?”
This didn’t seem like something people should simply laugh off as just another accident.
“We tried melting the ice and experimenting with different methods, but everything failed.”
As Anton Brown spoke, the other employees nodded in agreement.
“Natural disasters can’t really be helped. Of course, if the roads were protected by magic like in certain places, the problem would be solved cleanly—but that costs too much.”
It sounded familiar.
I had heard similar things during the summer and autumn monsoon seasons.
Because magic was so highly developed, civil engineering and construction techniques had stagnated to a bizarre degree.
That was why a large city like this originally had no drainage systems.
When heavy rain fell, powerful nobles simply used magical barriers to block the rain around their homes.
If the road froze, they used fire magic to melt the area directly in front of their own houses.
For them, researching drainage systems or anti-freezing technology was just a waste of time and money.
As a result, it was always the poor commoners who suffered.
Then I should help.
[Surprise Quest Appeared!]
As if the system had read my thoughts, a quest window appeared before my eyes.
[Q. Reduce the probability of freezing accidents.]
[Reward: Up to 100,000p (0/100%)]
[※ Points will be awarded according to the completion percentage. D-7]
It had been a while since I saw a Surprise Quest.
I liked both the quest content and the reward, so I pressed the accept button immediately.
Alright then, how should I do this?
The first thing that came to mind was scattering salt.
But in this era, salt was as expensive and precious as gold.
If the road froze again after melting, it could become even more dangerous.
It could also cause road corrosion.
I need another method.
As I thought about what would work, I remembered something from when I volunteered in rural villages in my previous life.
It was a method elderly villagers often used.
That could work here too!
“Team Leader, please prepare everything written here by tomorrow morning.”
I wrote down the necessary materials on a note and handed it to Anton Brown.
He turned to go prepare them immediately but suddenly stopped.
“…Wait. Is it really appropriate for the team leader to be doing this kind of errand?”
“Errand?”
I wrapped both hands firmly around the hand holding the note.
“This is extremely important work. That’s why I’m trusting you with it, Team Leader.”
“You trust me…”
After repeating my words to himself, he nodded resolutely.
“I’ll take responsibility for preparing everything, so don’t worry.”
The next morning.
Anton Brown had prepared everything I asked for.
“But what are you planning to do with this?”
“What else? We’re going to prevent the roads from freezing.”
“…What? With this?”
Anton Brown looked down at the contents of the boxes with a puzzled expression.
Inside were ashes from cleaned fireplaces, broken charcoal pieces, and dried straw left over from the stables.
“Of course it will work. That’s why I asked you to get them. Now let’s carry these to the city gate.”
The area near the city gate had heavy carriage traffic, so freezing accidents occurred there particularly often.
Together with the employees of the Urban Development Department, I carried the materials toward the gate.
But unfortunately, another accident had already occurred.
This time it involved a cargo wagon.
A barrel had shattered beside the overturned wagon, and milk spilled everywhere.
“Oh no… oh no. This business is ruined.”
The wagon’s owner stood nearby crying in despair.
At least no one seems seriously injured.
We needed to begin the work quickly so accidents like this wouldn’t keep happening.
“Alright, everyone.”
I clapped my hands to gather the employees’ attention.
“Please scatter the materials here across the road as I instruct.”
“You’re really going to scatter this on the street? People will probably accuse us of dumping trash…”
Anton Brown asked worriedly, and the other employees nodded in agreement.
“Don’t worry. Just follow my instructions.”
I placed my hands on my hips and looked at them.
“Have I ever been wrong so far?”
“Well… that’s true.”
“Let’s just try it.”
The employees each picked up a box, and I began giving instructions.
“First, scatter a thin layer of ash and charcoal over the frozen road. Then break up the straw and spread it as well. Focus on the areas where carriages pass.”
The employees immediately began moving as instructed.
“What are they doing over there?”
“Who knows. They’re spreading strange things on the road…”
People nearby whispered among themselves.
Just like Anton Brown had predicted, some even criticized us for dumping trash.
But I ignored them and continued working.
After working for more than half a day, the effects gradually began to appear.
“Huh? It’s much less slippery than before.”
“You’re right. Earlier it was so slippery that walking was difficult. What happened?”
“Are those strange things actually working?”
People really only believe something once they see it with their own eyes.
I told myself their opinions didn’t matter.
But seeing their pleased reactions made my shoulders lift with pride.
“Miss Aileen, should we scatter some over there too?”
“Let’s spread it in the nearby districts as well.”
The employees who had seemed hesitant earlier now enthusiastically began offering suggestions.
“With this number of people, covering the entire city would be impossible. So we should ask the residents for help.”
“The residents?”
Anton Brown asked in confusion.
“During winter, every household uses fuel for heating. Most homes will have charcoal and ash. We should issue a notice asking them to scatter it on the roads in front of their homes.”
“What about straw? Many houses in the inner city don’t have it.”
“We can obtain it from nearby farms, distribute it to the district administrators, and have them pass it out to each household.”
“Incredible. How did you come up with that? Amazing.”
Anton Brown even raised his thumb in admiration.
It was understandable that they didn’t know about using charcoal and ash.
But needing to explain even such basic ideas…
With such a lack of capable people, it was no wonder that man had tried to appoint a newcomer like me as the Urban Development Department’s team leader.