31 — Leopin’s Ark

“It took me a while, but now I can finally increase the green onions.”

I muttered to myself as I passed through the gate of my house.

Just before stepping over the threshold, it felt as though my Sixth Sense status had activated.
A chill ran down my spine, and with a bad feeling, I turned around to look—

“W-what… what the hell is that!?”

Beyond the forest, the residential district came into view, completely enclosed by towering walls.
They were far beyond merely tall—more like fortress-class ramparts.

And the material was unmistakably… plain wood…!

Grabbing the handle of the cart stacked with Gisu Lumber that I had left near the fence, I took off running like a draft horse.

“W-what were you thinking!?”

Once I reached the wall, its full form became clear.

The wall was built from unpeeled logs lashed together, the joinery completely haphazard.

Its height was roughly fifty meters by eye, swaying in the wind like a malnourished giant.

Everywhere I looked was a blood-chilling sight.

The work scaffolding was a total mess, and it was a miracle no one had been injured yet.

Feeling my stomach go cold, I plunged into the residential district.

I shouted toward Weiss, who stood on a stage like a commander issuing orders in all directions.

“Weiss! What do you think you’re building!? You can’t even construct houses properly, and you’re making castle walls—!”

Weiss completely misunderstood my panic.

“Hmph. For me, a Sage, this is nothing—barely worth doing before brushing my teeth in the morning.”

“That’s not it! Stop construction immediately and dismantle the wall! If you don’t, something terrible will happen! Look! It’s swaying just from the wind!”

“Honestly, this is what happens when a dropout with only one point in Intelligence and Education talks. This is called a seismic isolation structure—it disperses vibrations by swaying.”

“This isn’t seismic isolation! It’s just shoddy construction! You’re flaunting half-baked knowledge and putting everyone’s lives in danger!”

But Weiss showed no sign of realizing the seriousness of what he had done.

He shrugged and laughed in exasperation.

“Leopin, I know what you’re thinking. You’re making a fuss over things that won’t happen just to get a little attention, right? What’s next—are you going to shout that the wolf is coming?”

The students working nearby burst into loud laughter.

Realizing that words were useless, I turned my back on Weiss and ran.

“If it comes to this, at least Monaka and the others…!”

When I headed for Monaka’s house in the center of the residential district, Monaka and Kotone were standing under the eaves.

The moment they saw me pulling the rattling cart, both of them smiled as if flowers had bloomed.

Monaka was bright like a flower blooming in the sun, and Kotone was gentle like one blooming in the moonlight.

“Ah, Leopin-kun! I heard from Kotone-san! She said you took her as your disciple! If that’s the case, then I too—!”

“Monaka-sama, did you not say earlier that you received embroidery instruction from Master? That would make Monaka-sama my senior disciple.”

“Senior… disciple?”

“Indeed. Monaka-sama is the first disciple, and I am the second.”

“Eeh!? Me being Leo-kun’s first—oh my!”

Even as she flustered, Monaka’s cheeks stayed loose with a smile as I hurried her along.

“Forget that! We’re building a fence around this house—got it!?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“The surrounding wall is going to collapse! If it falls outward, that’s bad enough—but if it falls inward, it’ll be a disaster! With a fence, the damage to this house will be minimized! At least I can protect you!”

Without waiting for Monaka’s reply, I started working.

The residential district was divided into plots by class, and Monaka’s Class 1-02 had been allotted a vast area.

I unloaded the Gisu Lumber from the cart and began setting it up one after another along the perimeter.

As I worked furiously, Monaka and Kotone stared at me blankly like sisters.

“Um, Leo-kun…”

“Um, Master…”

““Is there anything we can help with…?””

“That’s fine—just tell the other students to evacuate inside this fence!”

Evacuating to the school building was an option, but since there were no classes today, it was closed.

Evacuating outside the residential district would force many people to pass close to the wall, which was extremely dangerous.

“So this house has to become an ark…!”

Whether my desperation got through or not, Monaka and Kotone ran themselves ragged.

The two of them, usually calm and unflustered, called out until their voices nearly gave out.

“Everyone! Leo-kun says the outer wall is about to collapse! It’s dangerous, so please evacuate to my house!”

“Everyone! What Master says is absolutely correct! Please believe in Master and evacuate at once!”

The pleas of the academy’s two great beauties drew many eyes, but the moment people learned I was involved, they cooled off and drifted away.

“Tch, what now? Is that trashy guy up to something stupid again…?”

“And he’s dragged in not just Lady Monaka, but Lady Kotone too…”

“A wall designed by the Sage Weiss-sama collapsing? There’s no way that could happen!”

“Exactly! If it’s between what the Sage says and the ramblings of an unemployed guy, the choice is obvious!”

In the end, the only ones who evacuated inside the completed fence were…

Monaka’s Class 1-02, Kotone’s Class 1-19, and Alchemist Akemi’s Class 1-06—just three classes.

Even their classmates didn’t truly believe me; it felt like they came only because their leaders told them to.

We went up to the second floor of the house and watched what happened from the windows.

“Leopin-kun, it really will fall, right!? If it doesn’t, I’m demoting you to a nobody!”

“And not even a bone from a usable horse, either,”

Onesuko and Shinobuko, Monaka’s attendants, were clearly irritated.

“I don’t want it to fall. But the wind gets strong around here at night—there’s no way that wall will last until morning.”

It didn’t even last the night.

That moment came almost immediately.

The wall, swaying like a starving giant, finally—

…g-g-g-g…!

With a sound that made the sky tremble, it shook violently.

…c-r-r-r-a-a-a…!

Its massive body pitched forward, blotting out the residential district in darkness.

It snapped from the base, and giant-knee-like logs rained down.

…D-DOOOO-GWA-SHAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!

A deafening roar like a collapsing mountain erupted in all directions, and clouds of dust billowed up like towering thunderheads.

Logs cascaded down in an avalanche, swallowing the students of the residential district in an instant, before they could even scream.

A muddy torrent of logs and earth surged toward this house with a thunderous rumble.

The girls watching from the windows clutched each other and screamed, “Kyaa!?”

But the raging flood was stopped by the breakwater I had built beforehand.

The residential district, which had basked in false splendor, was reduced in an instant to a sea of rubble.

Silence fell, and the house we were in was like a ship drifting over a submerged planet.