Formation Of A Legion

Weaving between the masses of giant Don Turtles, Monaka and Kotone ran toward me.

Their faces were half relieved, half on the verge of tears.

“Leo-kun! …Thank goodness!”

“I am glad you are safe, Master.”

I wanted to stay with the two of them, but I couldn’t do that.

Because upon hearing the commotion, real security guards would rush here immediately.

“Listen, you two, listen carefully. If an emergency declaration was issued, that means something dangerous happened around here. I’m heading back home now, so you should return home too. And absolutely do not leave Onesuko or Tomoe.”

Monaka and Kotone must have come here even now by sneaking past their attendants’ watch.

I said something I didn’t truly mean, as a way of driving the point home.

“I only deal with competent people. If you sneak out of the residential district and get your rank lowered, I’ll stop being your teacher. So while the emergency declaration is active, stay quietly at home. Understood? That’s an order.”

Monaka and Kotone made expressions like children abandoned by their parents, and my heart pricked with pain.

I entrusted them to Onesuko and Tomoe, who arrived late.

Then I quickly left the residential district before the guards arrived.

As I hurried back to my house in the forest, my heart was unusually restless.

“What on earth is happening…!?”

I rushed home, pulled the canteen from my coat pocket, and drained it in one go.

“Pwah!”

I exhaled as the water soothed my dry throat, then frowned.

“My throat… is dry…?”

Quite a long time had passed since I enrolled in this academy, yet this was the first time I had wanted water.

Which means…

“The area spell ‘Unquenchable’ has worn off. But three days ago, during the morning assembly, the vice principal said maintenance would be done…?”

Besides, it was unnatural for my throat to suddenly become this dry.

Even if it wore off, the effect of an area spell should gradually weaken…

“Could it be related to the emergency declaration?”

In any case, I needed to secure a way to hydrate.

Fortunately, I had already scoped out water sources for this day.

I left the house without even sitting down.

Taking Mark and Tom with me, I headed toward the pond in the forest.

And then I was struck speechless.

“Th-the pond… it’s been filled in…!?”

A mound of dirt was piled over the pond, making it look like a grave marker.

It was clearly not a natural phenomenon, but human work.

Because a sign reading “Too bad” stood at the top of the mound.

At that moment, I understood everything.

“I see, so that’s how it is…!

The ‘Unquenchable’ maintenance limited its effective range to only inside the school building and residential district…!

And on top of that, they filled in the pond— the principal and vice principal are trying to make me die of thirst…!”

Humans can manage without food for a while, but without water they won’t last even a week.

But with the Ranger’s Survival skill, I could obtain water from plants and such.

Besides, if I went to the school building, there should be as much clean water as I wanted.

There were faucets, fountains, and pools.

Using the emergency declaration as a pretext, the school must be crawling with guards.

But with my skills, getting access to water inside would be easy.

Yes — if it were only me, I could manage somehow.

If it were only me…

I looked at the animals gathered around the pond.

They all stared at the buried pond with faces of despair, as if saying, “This place too…?”

They were dragged into this because of me, and lost their water source.

Of course animals could soothe their thirst with morning dew and such, but that had its limits.

After surveying them for a moment…

I climbed onto the mound and yanked out the ridiculous sign, tossing it aside.

“Everyone, the pond ending up like this… it’s my fault. I truly am sorry for taking your precious water.”

I didn’t know if my words were understood.

But I spoke with sincerity.

“I will definitely find a new water source for all of you. So please believe in me and follow me — if you do, we’ll surely reach water.”

After saying that, I stepped down from the mound and began walking toward the depths of the forest.

Only Mark and Tom followed me.

“Well… that can’t be helped.”

I could raise my Charm parameter and bring them along without giving them a choice.

But I didn’t want to do that.

“If the pond was filled in, other water sources might all be gone too. Even if we search, we might not find any water at all. That’s why I wanted only those who truly believe in me to follow. But… asking animals I’ve hunted so much to trust me is pointless, huh…”

Regardless, I intended to find water for them.

“But even if I say I’ll search, how should I…?”

Wild animals should be professionals at finding water compared to me.

Yet they were in despair — meaning everything nearby must be wiped out.

“Which means I’ll have to search very far away. Wandering randomly won’t find anything…”

Suddenly, I remembered something.

It was from when I searched for clay stones for pottery.

“Even though there’s no volcano, there’s volcanic rock… maybe a river used to run here long ago? If I search, there might be a nearby source.”

“…That’s it! I just need to trace places with volcanic rock! Then a tributary — maybe even the source — might be found!”

I took out a local map from my coat pocket.

Starting from where I first found volcanic rock, I walked while deducing the terrain.

Then I discovered a depression that looked like a former riverbed.

“Alright, let’s follow this toward the deeper forest.”

However, there was no guarantee a river existed ahead.

It was only a thread-thin hope.

“But right now… that’s all I can cling to…!”

After walking for several hours in prayerful hope…

The depression was buried in sediment and abruptly ended.

Though I wasn’t physically tired, the mental exhaustion made me collapse to my knees.

“My only clue… is gone! What should I do…!?”

Suddenly, I sensed countless footsteps behind me and turned.

Mark and Tom seemed to notice it too, pointing their fluffy heads toward me.

Rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle…

Its identity was… a herd of animals led by a fawn!?

The fawn at the front looked familiar.

“You… are you the one I first tamed…!? Did you convince everyone to come…!?”

The fawn nodded and cried “Kyuun!” then hopped in front of me.

Motivation surged back into my heart that was about to break.

And then, a miracle occurred.