Ohanabatake No Maousama Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"First, let's make sure our information is in order. As the deputy leader, I, Adelia, will read to you what we know of the situation here."

Once everyone was present, Adelia, who would preside over the meeting, looked down at her doc.u.ments.

"Two weeks ago, a storm came and ravaged these Raikernel lands, resulting in immense rain for half a day. This caused the river to flood. The damages were especially bad in this village of Hamplet."

At this point, Qudels had moved his gaze towards the representatives of the village, but she did not know why.

And while she was incredibly curious, Adelia returned her eyes to the papers so she could continue her job. But the feeling of unrest stayed with her as she turned the page.

"As for exact numbers, there have been fifty-two deaths, with three-hundred and sixty wounded. As for destroyed houses…"

Hearing these numbers seemed to bring back memories for the others.

Before she knew it, the village representatives that were present all had tears in their eyes.

Even those of the restoration support team were groaning when they heard the numbers.

This village had a population of just one thousand people, and so fifty-two was a tremendous loss.

Furthermore, more than half of the casualties were young, male workers.

"The reason that so many of them were young men, is because they were trying to block off the water channels that led to the fields, in order to prevent them from flooding. However, the current was too strong, and many of them were swallowed up by it. The cause of this was the dam that had been built upstream. Its age meant that it could not withstand the pile-up of sand and water. This is all according to the report."

In other words, the current tragedy had a lot to do with the lack of maintenance of the flood control facilities. It was a human error.

Everyone looked grim. As if reading the room, the village chief opened her mouth.

"Every member of the village knew that it was breaking and that it would not last long. Of course, we made multiple requests to the landlord to have it repaired, but we never got an answer. I doubt this would have happened if the dam had been fixed."

She paused for a moment and then continued as tears fell from her eyes.

"He was…the people of this village were…killed due to the governor's negligence."

—What!?

It was as if their tears suddenly froze. The mournful atmosphere had turned into one of fear.

Her words contained a clear rebellious will.

It would not go unpunished if heard by the landlord or the governor.

"It is fine. Tell them everything you hear. It should be known throughout the whole kingdom and become a scar for him that will never heal."

The village chief said. The others of the restoration support team saw a glimmer in her eyes that was like fire.

No, it wasn't just her.

The same light was in the eyes of the other representatives as well.

Yes. They were all filled with hatred towards him. And it was about to explode.

It had seemed strange from the beginning. So, that was why the governor had left the restoration of the village to Adventurers.

If he had tried to lead the project himself, it would have resulted in a blood bath.

That being said, asking for help from other landlords would have resulted in his reputation being ruined in high society.

It was perhaps easier to keep things quiet by using Adventurers and slaves to do all of the work.

Yes…there were ways of keeping such people quiet…

When Adelia realized this, she became overwhelmed with fear, and looked towards Qudels as if for help.

However, the man just smiled as if all of this had been expected.

Surely, he didn't know about it from the beginning…?

He would have seen the risk.

—But if you really had suspected such a worst-case scenario, you should stop playing and do something! You're the leader!!

Adelia remonstrated him with a glare. Qudels shrugged his shoulders and sighed lazily.

And then, as if talking to a cow that was taking a nap, he addressed the room.

"That must have been hard for you. But, isn't revenge only possible if you're alive? Shouldn't survival be your main priority now? If you don't do something now, you'll all die before long."

Qudels's gentle words were enough to change the murderous atmosphere that had been in the air.

Indeed. Never mind revenge. They were currently on a straight path towards destruction.

"Yes… You are right. But can this village really be saved? To be honest with you, monsters have been attacking us in the night recently and killing our livestock."

The village chief said hesitantly. The other looked nervous.

Every village and munic.i.p.ality had a shrine that was built during the early stages. It was there that the guardian was welcomed.

That meant that the land would be blessed by divine protection and all evil spirits and monsters were forbidden from entering.

This was the minimum amount of security for a village, and yet that was no longer working. At this point, it was no place for humans to live.

They might as well be living in the middle of the wildlands.

You could be sleeping peacefully in your bed at night, and then become food for monsters in the next moment… It was very possible.

While it may not be too much trouble for confident Adventurers, it was a different matter for officials or the slaves who were not fighters.

It was hard to know what Qudels read from their expressions, but he looked at them with a calm smile.

"Why are you dismayed? It is in this dangerous situation, that hundreds of wounded and young children are asking for help. It is for these people that we must repair the village's defense abilities. We have brought food that should last for a while. And we cannot restore the farmlands until security has been restored."

With those words, the others seemed to calm down a little.

However, it wasn't enough to persuade them completely.

So, what will you do?

Adelia seemed to ask with her gaze. As if to answer, Qudels waved his right hand.

And then, beautiful rainbow-colored light shone inside of his palm.

This was the result of concentrated magical energy reacting with the air.

What magic was it?

Everyone gazed at the beautiful energy in front of them until that question snapped them out of it.

However, no matter how long they waited, they did not hear him chant the long chant, as was necessary for doing such magic.

And then, Qudels unleashed the magic in every direction. Then he chanted just one word.

"Floracion."

At the same moment, the entire village shook.

"Ahh! What's happening?"

"Who is this guy? I've never seen such magic before."

The members of the group said as they went outside to see the results of Qudels's magic.

In front of them, steel vines twisted and red steel roses bloomed… A breathtakingly huge wall of metal now stretched out as far as the eye could see.

"I wouldn't be able to do the same thing if asked. This is at the same level as military magic. A court magician would need about one hundred magicians of my caliber. And the ritual would still take half a day to perform…"

The man, who appeared to be an Adventurer magician, said with a mixture of awe and jealousy.

Even though they were seeing it with their own eyes, it was hard to believe that just one person had accomplished all of this.

And he had only chanted a single word?

He might as well have been a G.o.d.

It was like…let there be light.

Surely he must have used some incredibly rare catalyst for it. But what was it?

If only he would share it with us…

At this point, the only thing in the magician's head, was how he could get cozy with that mysterious leader.

On the other hand…

"Aahh… How beautiful it is."

"Do you think we can break off the branches and sell them in town?"

Behind the Adventurers, the villagers looked at the beautiful structure and mumbled selfishly.

But that was quite typical of humans.

And behind them, Adelia was confronting Qudels.

In fact, she seemed so ferocious that some people thought they could see horns on top of her head.

"Leader… This plan of yours. How is it not a land mine?"

"Hehe. So you agree? Isn't it amusing? But I'm sure even you don't see the full picture yet. But this is a wonderful landmine with three different levels. No, you haven't seen anything yet."

While Adelia gritted her teeth with resentment, Qudels smiled as if he were proud of her.

"Judging by your face, you've been testing me, haven't you? Arrghhh. I hate you."

"Also, I will just say it now. This is only a temporary measure."

Qudels said with a shrug as he looked at the metal rose hedge he had made.

"After all, it is just metal. It will eventually rust and become useless. And as I'm sure you've noticed, it does nothing against flying monsters. In other words, we must eventually think of a different defense method that the villagers can maintain."

"Ye-yes, you are right. But at the same time, you just wanted to make a big show of your power and earn support, didn't you?"

"Yes, that's right. Why shouldn't I? In politics, you want to achieve the most with every action. That is something you must understand. However, you should not hesitate to declare your own defeat when things are too much for you to handle. Just as you did earlier."

"Declare…defeat!?"

Adelia couldn't help but repeat the words to herself.

"We discussed it before. You are to be a central part of this project."

In other words, he had been slacking off earlier as a way of telling her to do what she could.

And when she wanted to rely on Qudels's help, she was to make a declaration of defeat.

When Adelia realized what kind of ridiculous logic was at play here, her face grew red.

"I-I'll show you! You won't have another second in the spotlight after this!!"

Her voice was so shrill and angry that she might as well have been breathing fire… And then, she went to work on the reconstruction of the village, just as Qudels had wanted.