Fetching Water

When I woke up the next morning, the fire in the wood-burning stove had dwindled. The large logs I’d put in before going to bed had almost completely turned to ash. I added more firewood to the stove.

As the room began to warm up, the children started waking up. Elena and the others seemed to be outside. I headed out as well. In the yard, the director and the three nursery teachers were talking.

“Good morning.”

When I greeted them, all four returned my greeting. Elena and Ishigami were about to leave, carrying plastic water containers.

“We’re going to fetch some water.”

Elena explained that there was a spring with clean water at the foot of a mountain to the east. They collected their drinking water for the nursery school from there. Apparently, the water supply had stopped working too.

“In that case, I’ll fetch the water.”

“Are you sure? …It would certainly help us out.”

Fetching water seemed to be exhausting work for the nursery teachers. I asked the director to keep an eye on the wood-burning stove and picked up two twenty-liter water containers.

With Elena guiding me, we headed toward Dragon’s Whiskers Spring. The spring was located approximately two kilometers east of the nursery school. As we walked at a leisurely pace, we encountered Sakuma along the road.

“Off to fetch water?”

“Yes. Are you heading to Shimojo Fortress, Sakuma-san?”

“That’s right. Oh, that reminds me. There was that business with the wood-burning stove.”

“Could you stop by the nursery school sometime today and check what we’ll need?”

“Sure thing. I’ll head over now and take a look.”

After parting ways with Sakuma, we resumed our walk toward Dragon’s Whiskers Spring. We reached the foot of the mountain after about thirty minutes, then climbed a mountain path for another five minutes. At the end of the path stood a rock about seven meters tall, shaped like a dragon’s head. Spring water gushed from a point roughly two meters up the rock.

The volume of water seemed comparable to what I’d seen pouring from the Merlion in Singapore. There were two outlets, creating what looked like small waterfalls. Viewed from a distance, the streams of water resembled a dragon’s whiskers.

“This is Dragon’s Whiskers Spring.”

Elena announced proudly. Apparently, it was a famous spring.

“So this is where you’ve been collecting drinking water. That must be exhausting.”

Elena gave a small nod.

“But since the water supply stopped working, we don’t really have a choice.”

Apparently, the water supply had stopped functioning shortly after the power outage.

I filled the water containers. Together, they held forty liters. Since people were said to need two to three liters of water per day, the number of people at the nursery school meant someone would have to come here at least every other day.

“Shall we head back?”

I heard Elena’s voice. I nodded, placed the water containers inside my Shadow Bag, and lowered it into Shadow Space.

“Why are you keeping that ability a secret?”

“Because if people found out about it, wouldn’t they start asking me to work like a delivery service?”

In a world where vehicles and other means of transportation were no longer available, it was an extremely convenient ability. People would undoubtedly become increasingly dependent on me.

After returning to the nursery school and delivering the water, Elena and I pushed the two-wheeled hand truck toward Shimojo Fortress. We had received a message from Sakuma, who was standing guard there, saying he wanted to speak with us.

When we reached the fortress, we listened to what Sakuma had to say.

“I think the best way to build a proper hearth pad and heat shields would be to use bricks and heat-resistant tiles.”

“So we just need to bring back some bricks and heat-resistant tiles, right?”

“Yeah. I’ll come along to the home improvement store and help you pick out the right materials.”

Since Sakuma was coming too, the three of us set out for the home improvement store. I first headed toward the coast before turning west.

“Why are we taking such a long detour?”

Sakuma asked, puzzled.

“There are fewer Aberrant Beasts near the coast. We should especially avoid going anywhere near the Inuyama Agricultural Cooperative.”

Sakuma and Elena looked surprised.

“Is there something wrong with the Inuyama Agricultural Cooperative?”

I frowned as I answered Elena’s question.

“That place has become a Goblin nest. Whatever you do, don’t go near it.”

I didn’t mention that there might be a monster there on the same level as a Minotaur. After all, I hadn’t actually seen it with my own eyes.

After walking along the coastal road for about ten minutes, we encountered two Goblins.

“What do you think? Want me to take care of them?”

I asked as I drew my Chinese-style broadsword.

“No, I’ll take one of them.”

“Then I’ll handle the other one.”

Elena took out her bow. Apparently, she’d practiced a little and had learned how to shoot arrows. Sakuma’s weapon was a hammer.

“Are you sure you want to use one of your work tools as a weapon?”

When I asked him, he replied that nothing was better than a tool he was accustomed to handling.

Elena nocked an arrow and aimed at a Goblin. The arrow flew from her bow and struck the Goblin in the stomach. The creature collapsed and writhed on the road.

The other Goblin charged at us with its club. Sakuma stepped forward to meet it. In the clash between club and hammer, the hammer emerged victorious. Sakuma struck the Goblin’s head, crushing its skull.

Elena fired a second arrow, finishing off the Goblin lying on the ground.

“Nicely done.”

I praised Elena. Simply managing to hit her target with an arrow was impressive enough.

“Archery seems to suit me.”

Delighted by the praise, Elena smiled happily. She then picked up the Heartstone.

“What are you picking that up for?”

Apparently, Sakuma didn’t know about Heartstone Processing Technique. It seemed that the order in which skills became available for selection differed from person to person. However, Poison Resistance was apparently always available as an initial skill.

Elena explained the skill she had recently acquired to Sakuma. She couldn’t actually use it yet, but she’d received the necessary knowledge when she acquired the skill.

“Oh, that sounds useful. Now I want it too.”

Sakuma picked up a Heartstone and carefully tucked it into his pocket. Before we made it out of the Goblin Zone, we encountered five more Goblins, which Elena and Sakuma defeated.

“Urgh!”

Immediately after defeating a Goblin, Sakuma’s face twisted in pain. Seeing his expression, I immediately understood what had happened. He had leveled up. Leveling up was certainly something to celebrate, but the accompanying pain was extremely dangerous.

If someone leveled up while fighting multiple enemies, they might end up getting killed by an Aberrant Beast. I was relieved that nothing like that had happened while I was fighting alone on the island.

The pain from leveling up for the first time was especially intense. I wouldn’t have been surprised if quite a few people had been killed while suffering through it.

Once Sakuma’s pain subsided, we set off again.

“So this is it.”

I heard a rough voice beside me. Apparently, Heartstone Processing Technique had appeared on Sakuma’s Skill Selection screen. It seemed he’d acquired it immediately.

“Sakuma-san, it’s dangerous to start selecting skills in a place like this.”

“Sorry about that. But this sort of thing is exciting, no matter how old you get.”

I could understand how he felt, but there was always the danger of being attacked by an Aberrant Beast without warning. It was better to act cautiously. After warning him, however, I reflected on the fact that I’d recklessly raised my level on the island, so I was hardly in a position to lecture anyone.

Once we entered the Beastman Zone and began encountering Orcs, I took over the fighting. Elena’s bow and Sakuma’s hammer couldn’t inflict fatal injuries on them.

When I killed an Orc with a single blow, Sakuma exclaimed in admiration.

“That’s amazing! You’re as strong as the Explorers from Higashishimo Town!”

“Really…? Are the Explorers in Higashishimo Town that strong?”

“Yeah. That mayor gathered a bunch of big, strong-looking guys and trained them into special Explorers. Apparently, some of them can even use magic.”

By magic, he probably meant Manipulation Arts skills. I hadn’t been able to select Manipulation Arts skills until I reached Level 10, so that meant there were Explorers who had reached at least Level 10.

We arrived at the home improvement store, where Sakuma gathered the necessary materials and loaded them onto the two-wheeled hand truck. While we were there, he also found a small wood-burning stove in the outdoor equipment section and loaded it onto the cart. It was a lightweight model made of stainless steel.

“Are you getting a wood-burning stove too, Sakuma-san?”

“Yeah. Seeing the one at the nursery school made me jealous. My house is freezing too.”