Chapter 9

Six days after starting to work on the waterway parts, at noon.

Ichirou was at the Japanese mansion, receiving the water wheel from the company president and employees who had delivered it.

"Wow, these are quite large parts. It must be a hassle to transport them."

"Yes, that's true, but even the heavy parts only weigh around 40 kg, so one person can move them if they want to."

The water wheel parts loaded on the truck in front of him were mostly made of wood, with only the fasteners made of metal. Even the larger parts were small enough to fit on a wheelbarrow, so there shouldn't be any problem transporting them.

"Can you start loading the heavier parts onto the wheelbarrow just inside the entrance? I'll carry the lighter parts into the house later, so once you're done loading, you can leave the rest here and go home."

"Eh? There's a wheelbarrow inside the house?"

"Yes, that's right. Ah, here's the check for the remaining payment. How much is the shipping fee?"

The president looked puzzled when he heard about the wheelbarrow inside the entrance, but his face lit up with a smile as he said, "Thank you!" after receiving the check. He then took the check for the remaining shipping fee from Ichirou and called out to the employees he had brought,

"Hey, start moving the parts from that support beam!"

The employees began loading the parts onto the wheelbarrow inside the house.

"Wow, this is a lot. I wouldn't want to move it without a wheelbarrow."

Pulling the wheelbarrow with about half the water wheel parts, Ichirou crossed the threshold to the other world. As usual, he passed through the mixed forest, and the familiar village scenery came into view. In a nearby field, about ten villagers were tending to the fields using the farming tools Ichirou had provided.

"Well, I need to take this to the mansion and then go back for the rest. I should probably buy another wheelbarrow later."

While talking to the villagers, Ichirou started pulling the wheelbarrow towards the village chief's mansion. The villagers, who had stopped their work and gathered around when they saw Ichirou, asked,

"Oh, are those the parts for the water wheel? Are you taking them to the village chief's mansion?"

"Yes, but I left about half the parts in the other country, so I need to go back after I drop these off."

"Half of it? It must be quite large."

As they talked, Ichirou, with the help of the villagers pushing the wheelbarrow, headed towards the mansion. While pulling the wheelbarrow and chatting with the villagers, Ichirou wondered, "Why doesn't anyone ask where this country is that I can return to so quickly?"

"Welcome back, Kazura-san!"

As Ichirou and the others arrived at the mansion's courtyard, Barin appeared from the mansion. From the time it took for her to come out, it seemed she had been waiting.

"I'm back. These are the parts for the water wheel, but I left about half of them in the other country. So, I need to go back after I drop these off."

"Understood, I'll help you unload them."

Ichirou lowered the front wheels of the wheelbarrow to the ground, and with the help of the villagers, they unloaded the parts. Despite the large quantity, with over ten people, they finished unloading in just a few minutes.

"Then, I'll go back to the other country to get the remaining parts. Once all the parts are here, we'll go to the river to assemble the water wheel, so please gather the people, Barin."

"Understood. Should I call your father too?"

"No, the waterway construction is a priority, so let's use the people who are still in the village to transport the parts to the river. If the waterway isn't finished on the way, we'll help as needed."

For the past few days, the village chief had been directing the construction of the waterway from the river to the village. Since the waterway was quite long, most of the villagers were working on it. However, without the waterway, installing the water wheel would be meaningless. According to the schedule, it should be almost complete, and if not, a little help should finish it quickly.

"Then, I'll go. Please rest until I return."

Ichirou said to everyone and headed back to the forest path, pulling the wheelbarrow.

After collecting the smaller parts from the Japanese mansion and returning to the village mansion, Ichirou had the villagers carry the lighter parts in buckets and pulled the wheelbarrow towards the river. He found the village chief and others digging the waterway just outside the village, but the work was progressing as planned. Incidentally, Barin was waiting at the entrance to the forest and helped pull the wheelbarrow.

"Wow, it's almost complete."

"Yes, we just need to dig the waterway from here to the reservoir. Thanks to this shovel, we were able to dig much more easily."

The village chief stopped his work and smiled at Ichirou, who had pulled the wheelbarrow. The other villagers also nodded in greeting while continuing their work.

"We've finished digging the waterways from both the upper and lower streams of the river. As you suggested, we also dug a deep waterway along the upper stream of the river."

While the village chief briefly explained the progress of the work, Ichirou followed the two waterways with his eyes. They were about 30 cm deep, and the walls had been repeatedly pounded to make them solid. For now, they should be able to handle the water flow, but they might need to reinforce them with boards or stones later.

The waterway was designed to lead from the upper stream of the river to the village reservoir, but just before entering the village, it split into two. One branch led to the reservoir, and the other back to the lower stream of the river. By installing simple wooden gates at two points in the split, they could choose whether to send the water to the reservoir or back to the lower stream. When the reservoir was full, they could close the gate leading to the village, and the water lifted by the water wheel would return to the lower stream, preventing the reservoir from overflowing. This way, they could use the fresh water flowing through the waterway for cooking and drinking, while the reservoir water could be used for farming.

"Then, we'll go to the river first to assemble the water wheel. When the waterway is complete, please bring the wooden waterway we made to the river."

"Understood. We'll hurry to finish the work and join you."

Ichirou asked the village chief and others to complete the remaining work and then headed upstream along the waterway, pulling the wheelbarrow.

When Ichirou and the others arrived at the river, as the village chief had mentioned, a waterway had been dug a few meters along the river, about 3 meters away from it, and it was reinforced with boards. It was deep enough to draw water from the river, and the width was sufficient. Ichirou divided the villagers into small groups, distributed the assembly instructions with the corresponding parts, and had them assemble the water wheel. The assembly diagram provided by the company president was mostly illustrated and easy to understand, so even those who couldn't read Japanese, like Barin, could assemble it by paying attention to the part numbers like "A-1" and "B-1."

"Kazura-san, should I insert this here and connect it to this part?"

"Yes, be careful not to pinch your fingers. Here's the mallet. ... Ah, Rozuru-san, that part doesn't connect to that. It's the part with this symbol."

While checking the villagers' assembly work, Ichirou measured the width of the waterway with a tape measure and confirmed the position to set the water wheel's support posts.

"Alright, I'll set the posts here and here. If the posts fall due to vibration, it won't be funny. We need to bury them firmly and compact the soil around them."

Ichirou marked the positions for the posts with stones and joined Barin's group to assemble the water wheel. After about an hour and a half, the unfamiliar assembly work was about 80% complete, and everyone took a break, drinking water from the river. Then, the village chief and others arrived with the wooden waterway and posts. In addition to the villagers working on the waterway, people who had been taking care of babies, children, and the elderly were also there. It seemed that all the villagers had come. ... Is it okay that no one is staying behind?

"Wow, that's the water wheel?"

"Ah, Dad. Is the waterway finished?"

"Yes, we just need to place the wooden waterway to fit the water wheel."

Despite the heavy work, the village chief and the villagers didn't look tired, probably because they were used to field work. On the contrary, Ichirou and the others, who were doing unfamiliar work, looked more tired. In any case, since the waterway was complete, they needed to finish assembling the water wheel quickly.

"Sorry, we're not done assembling the water wheel yet. We'll finish soon, so can you dig the holes for the posts here? Also, please set up the wooden waterway to send water to the waterway we made."

"Understood. The others, I know it's tough, but please help finish assembling the water wheel. Once this is done, the village won't suffer from water shortages anymore."

The village chief called out to the resting villagers, and they said, "Alright, let's do it!" and got back to work. Ichirou gave the tape measure to the village chief, specified the depth to dig, and resumed assembling the water wheel with Barin.

"Alright, it's done!"

"The waterway setup and post hole digging are also finished. Should we place this thick board with the flat feet here?"

"Yes, place it and compact the soil around it firmly to secure it."

Twenty minutes after resuming work, the assembly was finally complete, and it was time to install the water wheel. Ichirou instructed the village chief and others to set up the long, vertical support post with bearings and compact the soil around it to ensure it wouldn't move.

"Alright, let's install the water wheel on the post. Everyone, please help lift the water wheel!"

At Ichirou's call, the villagers gathered and lifted the water wheel. Although there were too many people for the width of the water wheel, most of them couldn't support it, but they still cheered and encouraged the others.

"Place the shaft of the water wheel in the indented part of the post. Be careful not to put too much weight on the shaft, and do it slowly on both sides."

The shaft was made of metal and wouldn't deform easily, but they still placed it carefully on the metal bearings. The bearings themselves were also metal, so there was no worry about wear.

"Alright, the last step is to set up the wooden waterway to catch the water and connect it to the river. Barin, can you do that?"

"Sure."

Following Ichirou's instructions, the village chief gathered the villagers and quickly set up the waterway to catch the water, and then dug a channel between the upper and lower streams of the river. The lower stream was high enough that the river water wouldn't flow in directly. To ensure a certain water depth in the waterway, they built a 30 cm threshold with wooden boards on the lower side. They also reinforced the walls with boards to prevent erosion by the water flow.

"We're almost connected to the river... Hey, everyone, gather around! The water wheel is about to start!"

At the village chief's call, the villagers resting by the river and children playing nearby ran over. After confirming everyone was gathered, the village chief quickly removed the soil separating the waterway from the river with a shovel. The water from the river rushed into the waterway, and the water wheel started to turn as the water pushed the blades.

"It's starting to turn... amazing! The water is going up so high!"

Barin, who was watching the water wheel next to Ichirou, was surprised to see the water being lifted from the wooden box attached to the blades and flowing into the wooden waterway set up at a higher position. The villagers around them cheered and ran to follow the water flowing through the wooden waterway.

"Kazura-san, let's follow it too!"

"Huh? Follow it? You mean run all the way to the village? How far is that... Wait! Don't pull me! Seriously!?"

While watching Ichirou being dragged away by Barin and the villagers running to follow the water, the village chief muttered,

"Well, well, we still have to clean up the tools."

But he smiled happily and started loading the shovels and mallets onto the wheelbarrow.