The Upper Water Supply
The dwarf was an answer-first kind of guy. “There, the shovels are done.” Not long after being asked to make them, Hort arrived with the finished shovels. Typical dwarf—swift and precise. Normally he would have grumbled the whole time, complaining that he had far too much work already and that people asked for the strangest things, but this time was different. “What? Aiden needs them? Then I’ll make them right away!” The moment he heard they were for Aiden, he dropped everything else and got to work. The sense of solidarity born from the 22 Gold Alliance ran deeper than Albert had imagined. Lately, the dwarves had even started talking about forming some kind of gathering.
“Good heavens… This is a shovel?”
“It looks more like a weapon…”
The guards who received the shovels couldn’t help but be startled. It was understandable—the tools Hort had forged were so well made that they could easily pass for weapons.
“These are quite good,” Aiden remarked. He examined the shovel crafted to fit his hands perfectly, then swung it a few times. “Shovels really do make excellent weapons. Swing it like this and you can use it for blunt strikes, or turn the blade to cut an opponent.”
Back in his mercenary days, there had been times when he’d fought with a shovel in hand. One shouldn’t underestimate a shovel; depending on how it was handled, it could become a genuinely threatening weapon.
“Impressive.”
“Enough admiration. Let’s dig.”
“What exactly are we trying to accomplish here?”
“What else? We’re building an upper water supply.”
“An upper water supply? What’s that?”
Aiden tilted his head at the unfamiliar term. Nothing of the sort existed in this world. At best, people drew water from wells or stored it in advance—an endlessly tedious process. Albert had seen it countless times since arriving here: even young children struggling to carry heavy buckets. That was why he had decided to build an upper water supply.
“Well, just watch. I’ll show you exactly what it is.”
The first step in building the upper water supply was digging.
[You intend to make use of the water vein?]
‘That’s right. I’m going to connect the water vein running beneath our territory to the upper water supply.’
[Hmm. It should be possible. Once the pipes are made, we can enchant them to prevent corrosion.]
[And with reinforcement magic, they won’t break under normal circumstances.]
‘Exactly.’
Albert first summoned Pride, intending to have him dig. Even if he had fallen, Pride was still an earth spirit. When it came to the ground, he was an expert.
“Hahaha! My liege! You’ve finally come for me! I am ready to do anything for you!”
Pride puffed out his chest proudly, declaring that he would take on any task. But there was one job he could not do. The reason was simple.
“I specialize in destruction. I cannot dig, but I can certainly smash the earth to pieces.”
Because his stats had shifted after his fall, he only knew how to destroy the ground, not how to excavate it. As a result, Pride spent his days with nothing but his face poking out of the farmland. At the very least, his role as a fertility charger was reliable. That left the guards to dig with the shovels they had been given.
“The water vein hole is open.”
Albert had easily bored a straight hole down to the water vein. Once it was large enough, a massive pipe forged by Hort was inserted, and Gaster enchanted it.
“What in the world is a great dragon like me doing here…? I was clearly given a mission by Lord… but I still have to investigate… so I can’t leave…”
Gaster muttered ominously while enchanting the pipe. He seemed to be suffering an identity crisis—wondering whether he was a great dragon or a taxi. These days, if someone called him “Gaster,” he wouldn’t respond, but if they called him “Taxi,” he would answer immediately. It was a side effect of being addressed only as Taxi lately.
‘I am a dragon. A great dragon.’
“Hey, Taxi. Hurry up and finish the enchantment.”
“……”
Albert had taken to calling him nothing but Taxi now. No matter how many times Gaster asked to be called by his real name, Albert simply ignored anything he didn’t want to hear. Gaster was halfway to giving up.
“Haa…”
Once the enchantment was complete, the pipe was driven into the hole and firmly secured. Then came the laborious task of digging trenches throughout the territory—including around the mansion—and laying the pipes. It was no easy job. The sheer amount of labor was beyond imagination.
Thud! Thud-thud-thud!
“Huff… huff…”
“Ugh…”
The guards dug while pouring out rivers of sweat. Then one of them suddenly dropped to his knees, clutching his twitching thigh.
“Ugh… Jameson… Just a little more! You can do it!”
Another guard, feeling pain in his right forearm, shouted encouragement.
“Huff… huff… Thomas… You can’t stop at something like this! Keep going!”
Following Aiden’s philosophy, the guards had given names to their own muscles. “If you give a name to something you care about, you’ll naturally treasure and pour love into it. The same applies to muscles!” Thanks to that teaching, the guards called out to their muscles every day. It earned them plenty of cold stares from those around them, but embarrassment was fleeting—fists were forever. If they didn’t want to get hit, they had no choice but to shout.
At first, they had felt nothing but resistance and shame, wanting to crawl into a hole and hide. But the first time was the hardest. Once they got used to it, they could now shout with pride.
“Hahahaha!”
One guard burst into laughter while swinging his shovel like a madman. There was something unsettling about the frenzy in his voice.
“My Vern, Papu, and Rohen are getting plenty of stimulation! Good! Excellent!! A little more!! Let’s push them even harder!!”
At this point, it was hard to tell whether these men were still guards or had evolved into something else entirely—gym fanatics.
Rest was not easily granted here either.
“Kuh… I can’t go on…”
After hours of shoveling until his mouth tasted sour and hauling dirt, one guard finally reached his limit. His entire body convulsed, cold sweat poured down his face, and he collapsed. His gaunt cheeks and exhausted eyes made his condition obvious. In the other world, any department head would have taken one look at that face and immediately approved early leave. It was the face of someone who needed to go home.
But—
“Where do you think you’re resting?!”
“Drink! Chug it down!!”
The others refused to let him rest. They forced water mixed with Bakhass down his throat, reviving him against his will. The fallen guard shed hot tears.
“Ugh… Damn water… Because of this I can’t even rest… Damn it…”
“If you want to rest… at least one of your limbs has to break…”
“Well, who knows… Even if a limb breaks, they might just stick it back on…”
They would definitely reattach it. Anyone who said “That’s impossible!” would change their tune after living here. They would admit, “It’s possible.” More than possible, even.
Thanks to the guards, the water supply pipes were installed at remarkable speed. Combined with Gaster’s enchantments, issues like purification, leaks, and structural failure were completely prevented.
“What on earth are they doing?”
“I was wondering the same thing.”
As the large-scale construction continued, the territory residents watched with curious eyes.
“Who knows? I heard Lord Albert is behind it.”
“Lord Albert? What is he trying to do this time?”
The residents’ confusion was understandable. Suddenly people were digging trenches and burying pipes they had never seen before. The unfamiliar work drew constant stares.
“What could this possibly be…? Does anyone know?”
“I heard it’s called an upper water supply pipe.”
“Upper water supply pipe? What’s that?”
“I don’t really know either.”
Since upper water supply pipes didn’t exist in this world, the residents’ questions only deepened.
Several days after construction began, it was finally complete. Even with heavy machinery, the job would have taken at least a week, yet they finished everything in just five days.
[A victory for humanity.]
‘More like a victory for doping.’
The people didn’t know it, but from the start of construction, Albert had increased the concentration of Bakhass in the well water. That was how the guards had been able to keep shoveling without rest.
[The dwarves’ help was crucial as well.]
‘You’re right.’
The fact that they had managed to dig and bury the pipes in only five days was entirely thanks to the dwarves. At first, the dwarves had drawn a firm line: “We don’t do this kind of work!” On the first day, they really had only watched. But as time passed, they grew impatient.
“You idiot! That’s not how you shovel! Ugh, you’re all hopeless!!”
“Put some strength into the shovel! Shouting muscle names like a bunch of savages won’t get the job done! You need technique! Tch, like this, like this.”
“Why are humans so bad at this? That spot right there is the key. If you strike there, digging becomes easy—why aren’t you doing it? What? How do I know? Just listen to the sound of the earth.”
“Don’t hold the shovel like that. And if you want to put real power into it, fix your stance…”
The endless stream of unsolicited advice had begun. Even while insisting they wouldn’t work, the dwarves hovered nearby, correcting the guards’ postures or barking out frantic instructions. But as everyone knew, dwarf advice was notoriously difficult to understand. Eventually, the frustrated advice-givers couldn’t take it anymore and jumped in themselves.
“Give me that shovel! These damn humans can’t understand a word I’m saying! It’s driving me insane!”
“You too! Hand it over! You’ve got such a fine shovel and that’s all you can do with it!? Like this! Like this!! Just dig like this!!”
It was inevitable that hot-blooded, advice-obsessed dwarves would eventually step in out of sheer frustration. They were the ultimate “answer-first” types.
Thanks to the dwarves joining the effort, the work was finished in five days. Without them, it would have taken much longer.
“This part’s done too.”
They had also secured plenty of faucets. Grandel looked like an undead, but a satisfied smile lingered on his lips. The satisfaction of finally being able to rest. After grueling labor, rest was as sweet as honey and as comforting as a mother’s embrace.
“Brother, is it finished?”
“Yeah.”
The first faucet had been installed in the mansion. Elena, who had received some explanation beforehand, stared at it with wide-eyed curiosity.
“Can I try using it?”
“Of course.”
At Albert’s nod, Elena reached for the valve with sparkling eyes and turned it.
“It’s lukewarm.”
“See the red and blue buttons on the left and right? Press them.”
Elena pressed the red button.
“Oh my… Hot water is coming out!”
The water that had been lukewarm moments ago now gushed out steaming hot, as if freshly boiled. It was astonishing.
“Then what about the blue button?”
When she pressed the blue button this time, icy water poured out—so cold it made the hairs on her arms stand on end. Elena pressed the buttons over and over, testing the faucet’s performance with genuine wonder.
“This is amazing! I can’t believe such an item exists… Can this water be drunk too?”
“Yeah. It’s enchanted with purification magic, so it’s safe to drink.”
“Goodness… Then…”
“We won’t have to fetch water from the well anymore,” the nanny watching nearby said. She also examined the faucet with fascination and turned it on and off several times.
“Can you adjust the temperature too?”
“Yeah. Turn the valve toward the red button for hotter water, or the other way for…”
“Colder water. Young master, this is truly remarkable. With this faucet, there’s no need to heat water every time we bathe.”
“Exactly.”
“And since the water comes from the water vein through the upper water supply pipes, we won’t have to go fetch well water every day either, right?”
“Right.”
“This is so convenient…”
Fetching water from the well every morning was no small chore. Especially in the dead of winter, stepping out into the freezing cold to draw water was exhausting. But with the upper water supply, there was no need for that. Water could be drawn without traveling far.
“Brother! This is incredible! We really don’t have to fetch water anymore! It’s so convenient!”
“Right?”
“But… is it really okay to give something like this away for free?”
“Who said it was free?”
“Huh?”
“Nothing in this world is free. Considering all the labor that went into this and how hard Grandel worked, we can’t just hand it out without charging for the technology, the manpower, and the time.”
Elena gave an awkward smile, then nodded as if she had expected as much.
“So what are you planning to do? Once it’s installed, that’s it, right? But if you try to charge for construction costs, it’ll be a heavy burden. How will you…”
Albert smiled.
“There’s always a way.”
Have you ever heard of a water tax?