“Hey there, long time no see! How’ve you been?”
“Just okay.”
I raised my wine glass as I sat across from the captain of the security force who welcomed me so warmly. The red liquid, filled with the scent of grapes, filled half the glass. Wine, huh? Come to think of it, I had never actually tasted wine before. I couldn’t even remember how to properly hold the glass.
…How do you hold a wine glass again?
I sneaked a glance at the captain’s hand, which held the wine glass, and awkwardly tried to mimic him. The liquid in my glass tilted precariously with my clumsy grip. I wondered how my awkwardness looked to the captain. He tapped his glass against mine, adopting a similar posture, as if to consider my feelings.
“Wine should be sipped slowly to savor the flavor.”
“Is that so?”
I slowly tasted the wine as he suggested. The first sip of wine… was bitter. There was a subtle sweetness entwined within the bitterness, but that was about it. I had no choice but to put down my glass, barely managing to empty it.
I need a snack. I pulled out the jar of dried larvae I had stashed away for snacks.
“Please tell me that’s not what I think it is…”
“It is larvae.”
“…Why on earth are you carrying that around?”
“It’s good for you.”
I defiantly popped a dried larva into my mouth, and the captain looked at me with a doubtful expression. His face clearly screamed, “Can you really eat that?” Turning it down, despite the taste being good and it being healthy? That’s just gluttony.
“You certainly have a unique palate…”
“When you live in places where food is scarce, you end up eating worse things than this.”
“You’ve gone through a lot, my friend.”
The pitying gaze from the middle-aged man tickled my face. It felt somewhat complicated to be looked at like this. I didn’t feel anything when Karina or Renny looked at me that way, but getting such looks here felt strange. I wondered why.
“Cut that look out. What’s important now is that we’ve met to negotiate.”
“Negotiation, huh… how honest of you. So, what kind of negotiation is this?”
I took a moment to steady my breath and pieced together my thoughts. To persuade the high-ups, I needed plausible words. Something classy and impressive.
“I plan to create an emergency passageway in the academy’s underground.”
“An emergency passageway, you say?”
“It’s for protection against assaults. The academy’s facilities are lacking.”
“The facilities are lacking? There’s no place safer than the royal palace.”
As expected, the captain regarded me with a frown. It was only natural. I had some knowledge of the future, so I knew Kalon Academy would be exposed to various incidents, but others couldn’t know that.
Thus, I had to give a counter-argument that made it hard to refute.
“Just this semester, there have been two incidents that put the students at risk. Do you really believe that?”
“…Ugh.”
The captain looked as if he had nothing else to say, clenching his teeth as he stared down at the wine glass.
The Hell Hound incident.
The 3rd Platoon captain’s student kidnapping case.
With such incidents unfolding, we couldn’t just sit idly by. The captain had probably received cries of distress from all directions. He’d likely try to strengthen the defenses by increasing the security force, but I doubted that gathering a bunch of misfits would provide meaningful help.
It would be far more significant to create the emergency passageway, as it would provide an escape route, increasing survival rates against monsters, if not humans.
“…Alright, you have a point. Two incidents have already occurred. And the 3rd Platoon is in shambles. Not an ideal situation at all. We’re under a lot of pressure because of it. In such circumstances, do you think the board will approve the passageway?”
“Is the board’s approval needed for the budget?”
“That’s part of it, and for such a large project, a large workforce is required… Given the poor conditions outside lately, there will be a shortage of hands. The Builders Guild and the Woodworking Guild are both out on external assignments.”
“Ah. That doesn’t matter. There are ways.”
At my words, the captain’s eyes lit up with curiosity and he asked, “Oh, can I ask what those methods are?”
“I’ll do it all by myself.”
“What?”
“I’ll do all the construction myself.”
The captain stared at me with suspicion, doubting what he had just heard.
———————————–
“…This tunnel existed? It surely wasn’t on the security force’s map—”
Captain Gilbert couldn’t hide his astonishment as he looked at the underground passage he didn’t even know existed. The passage was wide enough for three people to walk side by side. It was narrow, but the very fact that such a passage existed was more absurd.
In Kalon Academy, teeming with magic users capable of surveying, not a single person had known about this secret passage until now.
“I dug it by myself.”
“Don’t joke around. There’s no way a single person could dig such a large passage! I don’t know how you found it, but isn’t it an ancient secret tunnel?”
‘Is he teasing me right now?’ Gilbert glared at him, wondering if he was being mocked. No matter how drunk he was, he wouldn’t fall for such a tall tale. After all, he had only consumed two glasses of wine; he wasn’t that tipsy.
Johann silently gripped the shovel strapped to his back, as if to say, “Just take a look.” The captain’s keen gaze scanned Johann’s physique, noticing that he wore only a light shirt without armor, making his form quite apparent.
‘He’s not inexperienced with shoveling, it seems.’
Johann had done enough digging in his time. During his early days as a mere guard, he’d been involved in minor tasks, and after his rise in rank, he’d directed those tasks. Even to someone of his background, the method Johann used to hold the shovel was striking.
His movements were as if he were one with the shovel, creating an illusion that he was at the pinnacle of his craft. It felt as if the captain was staring at a swordsman who had drawn his blade, causing him to unconsciously gulp.
‘Am I really getting tense over just some digging?’
He chuckled at the absurdity of the notion. What was so significant about digging…?
“Watch closely.”
Johann’s shovel pierced the earthen wall, his actions almost too natural to comprehend.
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
‘Is he pulling a fast one on me?’
Johann vanished, tossing the dirt outside the hole as if it were merely a show. The captain unconsciously surveyed the area. Yet, he felt no presence nearby.
‘Is that speed really coming from a single person?’
If he told his subordinates, they’d likely joke about him finally losing his marbles and it being time to retire; it was the sort of sight that warranted such thoughts.
It was hard not to think those thoughts, given Johann’s speed was astonishingly rapid.
He had no choice but to escape into the realm of denial.
“…Haha, I must be tipsy. There’s no way someone could create such a long passage in under ten minutes—”
“You saw exactly what you saw, so get a grip.”
“What are you saying? There’s no way I saw what I thought I saw! That can’t be possible without earth magic! What tricks are you playing?! Are there any magicians hidden somewhere here!?”
Gilbert exclaimed, rummaging through the premises while shouting, “Is it here? Must be here!” But of course, no magician would suddenly pop out. In the end, unable to find any mages, Gilbert had no choice but to turn his attention back to Johann’s shovel. He strode over to him, pointing at the shovel and asking,
“This shovel… is it some remarkable tool, perhaps?”
“Try it yourself.”
Johann handed Gilbert the shovel. Gilbert eyed it suspiciously as if it might devour him, checking to see if there was any hidden magic. However, being an item of pure function, it would be absurd for it to possess magic. In the end, with no signs of magic found, he tightened his grip on the shovel.
‘If I try digging myself, I’ll know.’
Gilbert slammed the shovel’s blade into the wall.
“Hey. This can’t be real…”
It dug deeper than expected, but the force he felt in his grip led him to concede there was no special magic about the shovel.
“I don’t know how to use magic.”
“That’s even more illogical. Even a wizard specializing in earth magic couldn’t dawn upon a tunnel of this length in an instant!”
Maybe a grand wizard could, but there was no way the man before him was a grand wizard. If he had such power, he would be using magic with a flick of his finger, not digging with a shovel.
“I’ve never seen anything more absurd in my lifetime.”
“That’s not especially important. What do you think? Worth investing in?”
“Hah, investment… I suspect if I try that in front of the board, anyone would be on board with it. This insane digging, I tell you.”
To accomplish this at such speed would need quite a few workers. Gilbert began calculating in his mind.
One hundred people? Even gathering that many wouldn’t ensure they could dig at that speed. A hundred people couldn’t fit into such a narrow passage. Considering safety and the finishing touches needed, the effective workforce for a single tunnel would probably be around ten or so. At least with divided investments, multiple passages could be opened at once.
‘But it’ll cost a lot. Hire magicians? I have no idea how much of the academy’s budget will go into that.’
Creating emergency passages throughout the academy could easily consume over 50% of the annual budget.
But… what if it could be done all by one person?
‘That’s a maddening efficiency.’
Even allocating 10% or even just 5% of the projected budget would be enough for such insane efficiency—capabilities that would make one want to hire him for being the head of a guild.
Gilbert barely managed to come back to his senses as the shovel dug into the ground, finally questioning him.
“Hey, are you truly fast enough to do it all alone? You won’t just be digging; you’ll also have to refine it afterward—”
“Crafting.”
Johann seemed annoyed to even answer, triggering his skill. The passage, covered in traces of digging, transformed in an instant into a neat corridor. Captain Gilbert chuckled at the unbelievable sight.
“Well, it’s like you were born to construct.”
“I often thought so myself.”
Despite laboring at a breakneck pace, he showed no signs of fatigue.
Gilbert couldn’t help but envision the shocked expressions of the esteemed members of the board, and this brought him great joy.
“You’re bound to become someone significant.”
‘Finally, I have a source of entertainment I can keep using for life.’
That idea sprung unbidden to his mind.
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