Chapter 196
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 196
Chapter Title: Stagnant Water Young Master (1)
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Creak!
Turtle Neck extended both hands.
He formed a finger-bone heart.
A few other skeleton soldiers appeared behind him.
They all fired finger hearts toward everyone.
It was a greeting filled with joy at reuniting with Lloyd, whom they regarded as their master and benefactor.
*Sniff. It was really tough getting all the way here.*
Turtle Neck's third cervical vertebra rattled with emotion.
Suddenly, the long journey to reach this place flashed through his skull.
It must have been the morning after Lloyd had abruptly left the territory with the king's special envoy.
"Captain!"
It was when everyone had woken up idly that morning.
They lived by the humans' construction schedule.
By the body rhythm etched into their marrow.
They had opened their coffin lids early and were blankly basking in the sunlight.
One of the bone soldiers suddenly raised a hand.
He unexpectedly wiggled his finger bones.
He quickly wrote his feelings in the air.
It was a hand motion hard for humans to recognize at first glance.
But the other bone soldiers could accurately read and understand the letters their comrade was writing.
That bone soldier was saying this:
"It's empty!"
The other bone soldiers nodded their skulls.
"Yeah. Me too."
"Same here. For some reason, I've felt down since morning."
"I feel wind whistling through my ribs."
"But wind's always coming through there?"
"Ah, I mean it feels that way. My pelvis feels smaller than usual."
The bone soldiers all scribbled their own words.
Some nodded their heads.
Others argued.
They confessed they felt the same way.
After a moment, Turtle Neck, who had been watching them intently, wrote:
"For some reason, I think I know why."
"What is it? Does the captain know?"
"Tell us quick."
They all looked at Turtle Neck like chicks gazing at their mother hen.
Turtle Neck clacked his jawbone, laughing silently.
"It's because Lloyd left our side."
"Ah, aah."
Everyone nodded their skulls in unison.
They scribbled in groups of twos and threes.
"So what do we do, Captain?"
"Do we have to keep feeling empty until Lloyd comes back?"
"No way. I feel like I'll get osteoporosis like this."
"Yeah. We can't live like this."
"Let's do something!"
Their pent-up emotions burst out.
The longing for Lloyd, their benefactor and master.
The emptiness from his absence.
They were desperate to fill it.
To resolve it.
Turtle Neck had to work hard to calm the bone soldiers.
"Whoa, whoa. Everyone, calm down. Getting too excited is bad for the bones. They'll lose their shine and the joints will wear out."
"So what do you plan to do now, Captain?"
"Well, I do have an idea in mind."
"What is it? Tell us quick!"
Everyone focused on Turtle Neck's fingertips.
Turtle Neck wrote his thought in the air.
"We go find Lloyd."
"Ooh!"
"But there's a condition."
"A condition?"
"Yeah. It'd be best to select only elites from us and go."
"Why? Why's that?"
Everyone tilted their skulls.
Turtle Neck's handwriting continued.
"Think about it. Lloyd isn't scared of us because he's our master. The people in Frontera Territory are fine because they've heard about us from him, but other people?"
"......"
"They'll freak out the moment they see us. They'll run away in fear or try to smash us. Is that what everyone wants?"
"No, not that."
"Exactly."
Turtle Neck's gestures sped up.
"We need to avoid people's eyes as much as possible. But if all 200 of us move, we'll eventually be spotted. So we pick a few representatives—just a handful—and send them to Lloyd."
"To help with Lloyd's work?"
"Yes."
Turtle Neck nodded his skull.
"Lloyd will start another construction project wherever he goes. I don't know why. Just a feeling. That's the kind of human he is. Doesn't matter if he doesn't. Anyway, let's select elites from us. About twenty. Those go find Lloyd and help him. What do you think?"
"What about the rest?"
"Nothing we can do. We'll just cheer on the selected elites and make do."
Turtle Neck stated his intent coldly.
The bone soldiers fell silent.
Selecting 20 elites out of 200.
That meant a 1/10 chance for each.
If selected, they could go meet their master Lloyd.
If not, they'd bask in the sun all day or suck on their finger bones to extract bone broth.
But there was no choice.
The captain Turtle Neck was always right.
"Fine, I'm for it."
"Me too!"
"Let's pick them. Pick the elites!"
All the bone soldiers agreed.
The selection process was simple and swift.
"Alright, group into twenties and pick a group leader. Then rock-paper-scissors between leaders fairly!"
"Paper!"
After several rounds of fierce competition, sighs, and cheers, the lucky 20 bone soldiers were selected.
Captain Turtle Neck, vice-captain Frozen Shoulder, and 18 other skeleton soldiers.
"Then I'm leaving the remaining troops under your command, Square Jaw."
*......Sniff. Yeah, do your best for us too, Captain.*
"Leave it to me."
And so, Turtle Neck, Frozen Shoulder, and the 18 skeleton soldiers grabbed their shovels and departed Frontera Territory under cover of night.
They didn't get lost.
They were bound to Lloyd via the Undead Domination skill from the start.
Thanks to that, they could sense his direction in real time.
"East!"
"Let's go!"
They crossed the Eastern Mountains.
It was far from an easy journey.
Countless wild animals and monsters coveted their shiny bones.
Wolf packs in particular harassed them constantly, drooling.
But they overcame it.
They crossed the Eastern Mountains unscathed.
A barren wasteland stretched out, where even a sip of water was hard to find.
From then on, the journey eased up.
They were bone soldiers who needed neither water nor anything.
"Kekeke, basking in the sun all day feels warm!"
They needed no food or water.
Even in the desert, it was the same.
In fact, fewer eyes meant even more comfort.
They traversed the desert like that.
Passing near oases or villages occasionally caused no big issues.
They sprawled across desert dunes or pits during the day.
Even if people passed nearby, it was fine.
They'd just see scattered bones and mutter, "Tsk tsk, shipwrecked or something?" with pity, then leave.
They kept moving cleverly, disguising themselves.
Midway, Lloyd's position suddenly shifted dramatically.
"Huh, Lloyd just flew right over our heads!"
"What? For real?"
"I saw him too! It was Lloyd! Riding that wyvern!"
Everyone panicked briefly.
Lloyd's position, felt across the eastern desert, switched instantly to the capital Magenta.
But the confusion was short-lived.
From the west, across the eastern desert again.
Lloyd flew overhead once more.
From then on, they steadily marched.
And finally, today.
After the long journey, they arrived here without a single straggler.
Of course, Lloyd had felt the bone squad's movement and approach through the Undead Domination skill connection.
"Those plucky guys."
Turtle Neck, Frozen Shoulder, and the 18 skeleton soldiers who had made it here.
Lloyd's eyes softened warmly at the sight.
"They don't demand food or fancy lodging. They don't tire, they're clever, and they don't even take wages? Oh man, these gold mines."
Now they had come all this way from afar to help with work on their own.
How could he not adore them?
Of course, the other rebels felt differently about the bone squad.
"Wha—what?"
"What the hell is that!"
Termes, the rebel leader.
And the other rebel men were all startled.
The moment they saw Turtle Neck, they reflexively grabbed shovels and pickaxes.
If Lloyd hadn't intervened at the right moment, they might have charged the bone squad.
"Whoa, whoa. Everyone, calm down."
Lloyd firmly grabbed Termes's shovel.
He casually smiled and quickly scanned everyone.
"Don't be scared. Those guys listen to me."
"......Those skeletons?"
"Yes."
"Are you perhaps a black mage, by any chance?"
"Ah, no, not that."
Lloyd's smile turned sly.
"There's a story behind it. Want to hear?"
"Ah......"
Termes and everyone froze at Lloyd's question.
Their faces paled as they recalled the day they first kidnapped Lloyd.
They had asked one wrong question and endured over an hour of Lloyd's response.
Termes quickly shook his head.
"No, no. I don't think we need the explanation."
"Right? We're not the type who need that between us."
"Yes. Absolutely."
Termes laughed hurriedly and awkwardly.
Lloyd bloomed a satisfied smile.
"Thanks for trusting me. Anyway, they don't bite. They won't attack or anything. They're diligent and good kids, so they listen well."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. Believe it or not, they're full-time workers from my territory."
Genuine, shining full-timers.
At Lloyd's introduction, Turtle Neck, Frozen Shoulder, and the bone soldiers felt proud and slung their shovels over their shoulder blades.
Having thus cleared up the misunderstanding about the bone squad, Lloyd said:
"Anyway, it's great that the talent to breach the final aquifer arrived right on time for the canal."
He grinned and patted Turtle Neck's shoulder.
Everyone's eyes widened.
"You're saying those skeleton soldiers will handle the final aquifer breach?"
"Yes. That way no one dies."
It was obvious.
The final step of breaching the aquifer in a qanat canal was extremely dangerous.
Dangerous to the tune of 100% fatality.
In other words, certain death.
That's why, in ancient Middle Eastern qanats, the oldest worker took on—or volunteered for—the final breach, staking his life to pass clean water to the young and future generations.
But here?
No need.
"These—Turtle Neck and the bone soldiers—will handle the aquifer work."
"I-is that okay?"
"Yes, well. We'll need to install some strainers downstream instead. So they don't lose any bones."
"......"
Everyone nodded, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
Thus, the final work was prepared.
Several layers of strainers and frames were installed downstream.
Then Turtle Neck, Frozen Shoulder, and the bone soldiers were deployed.
"Alright, see the guide line from here? Just dig along that."
Creak!
Turtle Neck and the bone squad nodded vigorously and picked up shovels and pickaxes.
They relentlessly struck the bedrock with pickaxes and shoveled it out.
After a while.
The aquifer finally breached.
Boom—!
*......!*
Immense water pressure burst forth.
Turtle Neck and the bone soldiers couldn't withstand even 0.1 seconds; their bones scattered and were swept down the canal by the raging torrent. Not a single bone fragment was lost, caught perfectly in the strainers.
Afterward, water continued flowing through the canal.
Roooar—!
Through underground tunnels beneath the vast, barren desert.
Along precisely calculated paths.
Finally reaching the endpoint.
The end of the qanat.
Clean water poured into the purification plant set up on one side of Kandara City.
It was meltwater from eternal snows, flowing from 36 kilometers away in the mountains.
"Water! Real water's flowing!"
The water rapidly filling the purification plant.
Kandara's citizens shouted in rapture at the sight.
They hadn't really trusted Lloyd at first.
They thought he was the sultan's lackey.
Later, they heard from the rebels and cleared the misunderstanding.
He was actually a young noble from a distant western land.
Here to eliminate their drought with construction.
They knew the gist.
But still, doubts lingered: Could Lloyd really bring water all this way?
From those distant mountains?
Seemed impossible.
Futile hope.
Vain wish.
They dismissed it inwardly.
Even their king, the sultan, had given up.
The city officials had fled long ago.
Would a foreigner do such a thing willingly?
Don't expect too much.
Big hopes lead to big disappointments.
They had braced inwardly for eventual despair.
But now, it wasn't so.
That boastful Lloyd guy was right.
Everything he said had come true.
The cold water wetting their hands now.
The clean water mothers and daughters, fathers and sons could drink safely.
It was proof.
*We're saved.*
The citizens who gained unfailing water amid drought.
Lloyd smiled warmly watching them.
But unlike the citizens, he didn't cheer wildly or rejoice.
Too early to surrender to joy.
He needed to check the rest of the canal endpoints.
*The qanat canal doesn't end here. Gotta confirm all of them.*
Lloyd recalled his construction contract with the sultan.
The terms: resolve the drought across the *entire* Kandahar region with qanats.
And Kandara City?
Just the central city of the region.
Not the whole thing.
That's why.
*I didn't block all the rebels' tunnels blindly.*
Blocked where needed, left open where not.
After precise calculations and simulations.
The canals spiderwebbed like veins to small towns and villages throughout Kandahar.
"So, Termes? Time to move with me now."
"Where to?"
"The other small towns and villages in the region."
They probably didn't know yet about the qanats.
That rebel tunnels extended near their towns and villages.
That clean water would flow through those tunnels.
That the tunnels would act like natural wells.
That they could just draw water and farm without thirst anymore.
He'd have to fly with Termes and explain in detail.
Only then could he say he'd fulfilled the sultan's contract.
"Alright, let's go."
That day marked the start.
Over three full days, Lloyd toured every small town and village in Kandahar. He explained the qanats' existence, usage, and maintenance in detail to the locals.
The moment he finished the final village.
A welcome, satisfying message appeared before Lloyd's eyes.
Ding-dong.
[Through ingenious ingenuity, bold negotiation skills, and precise, tenacious construction methods, you have achieved the miracle of connecting a life-giving waterway in the heart of a parched desert.]
[The long-drought-stricken people of the Kandahar region now shower you with immense praise.]
[A new praise title has been generated for you.]
[New praise title, [Western Noble's Stagnant Water], has been created.]