Chapter 65

After the moat was completed, the work proceeded extremely smoothly.

I carried in materials one by one, burned off any monster swarms that appeared, leveled the construction site, and if anyone got injured, I provided medicine...

Wow... I have too many jobs...

Well, my annual income is extremely high, and considering the amount of work, I'm not particularly busy, so there's no problem.

I can't really get involved in the main construction work since I'm a complete novice.

By the time a week had passed, the outer wall was more than half complete.

It was sturdier than the crumbling walls of Desibator, and even more so than the walls of nearby towns, and the production pace was quite fast.

In some areas, it seemed that the monster swarms could be handled by the wall and adventurers alone, without my explosion magic.

Thanks to the reduced combat, the surplus adventurers were reassigned to less defended areas, which accelerated the work, and it seemed that my job might soon be unnecessary.

By the way, I recalled a passage from a book about dragons that said, "When the amount of magic energy increases and human MP max value decreases, there is a possibility that a dragon will appear if an explosion occurs."

I checked my MP before using explosion magic, and it had actually increased.

My level hadn't gone up, and I hadn't fought Wisps or Wyverns, yet it was increasing constantly.

Specifically, it increased by about 3.5 million per day.

While the increase was gradual and didn't particularly benefit me, the numerical value was quite significant.

I checked the other adventurers, and while their MP didn't increase, it also didn't decrease.

Of course, it would be ridiculous if a dragon appeared, as it took time to defeat even a sub-dragon.

During these days, I got a new job.

Now, I come to the material storage area in the center of the construction site about six times a day to do this job.

In front of me was a mountain of hundreds of magic stones, not taken from monsters but all processed for construction use.

These were not disposable but reusable.

The new job is to charge these with magic power.

Normally, when a person with a lot of magic power charges a magic tool, it degrades quickly, so it's not done often, but apparently, I'm different.

I charged them thinking they would be disposable, but they didn't degrade no matter how many times they were used.

After this was discovered, reusable tools were prioritized over disposable ones, and the amount of usable magic tools increased, significantly improving work efficiency.

Even parts that were previously done manually were shortened using magic tools.

However, in this battlefront, there wasn't much time to leisurely recharge a large number of magic tools, so the reusable ones, which were heavy and had a short effect duration, were only prepared in small numbers as a substitute for disposable ones.

As a result, I was called to recharge magic tools every four hours.

"Are you done? That's a convenient charging method."

"Probably. It would be easier if we had a few more."

"We could gather them from the city, but at this pace, the construction will be finished before we can do that."

"That's true."

The leader of the carpenters came to pick up the magic tools as soon as the charging started.

The charging method was so convenient that it hardly took any time.

I found this method by chance.

Because there were so many, I tried scattering magic power randomly in the area where the magic tools were, and it worked.

Of course, normally, each tool has to be touched and charged individually, which is very troublesome.

It's worth trying everything.

By the way, it's also possible to recover magic power, but with the excess, I just leave it.

"How many more days until this work is finished?"

I asked the carpenter who had collected the magic stones and given instructions.

The ship for the farm is probably already completed, and even though the money was paid in advance, it wouldn't be good to leave it for too long.

"It will be about three more days to get a solid defense. The inner wall and the city will take a month or two, though."

The city.

Unlike Desibator, Broken is planned to have a triple-layer structure and be a place where ordinary people can live.

Compared to Desibator, the area that needs to be defended is much smaller, and the difficulty of transportation is greatly reduced, creating a positive cycle that further improves defense.

"In that case, I might be able to return sooner than expected. Maybe in a week."

"Returning is fine, but you have to transport the supplies. The city isn't just about defense."

"Yes, of course. I'll transport them in batches regularly."

Even with the quality and quantity of the Broken development team, the transportation to maintain it is largely dependent on my abilities.

If I suddenly left, it could cause significant problems.

The day when I am completely free from Broken is still far away.

Two more days passed, and by the evening of the third day, the construction was proceeding without any issues at the usual high pace.

The only notable event was the attack by about five rock monsters that could withstand my explosion magic—something like a Basalt Moss.

It was rare for a powerful monster to attack in a group, and when I saw them withstand my explosion magic, the adventurers in battle formation gathered.

However, when I used a small version of the bunker buster magic for Zunana grass, they sank easily, leaving me feeling disappointed.

The materials apparently sold for a high price, so I made sure to collect them properly.

And now, finally, the last stone was placed, and the outer wall was completed.

"Completed!"

The leader who placed the last stone declared the completion of the outer wall.

At the same time, cheers rose from behind the wall, and the carpenters started making a fuss.

"It's a celebration! Bring some drinks!"

"There are no drinks. It's not safe yet, so wait until we get back. Do you want to be attacked and die by monsters?"

"If we die, we can just take that medicine."

If that medicine is the one with the lame name, it won't bring the dead back to life.

Probably.

"Who would have thought it would be completed in just two weeks..."

The construction team was making a big fuss, but the adventurers defending the outer wall couldn't let their guard down.

The celebration was limited to a few small gatherings in Fotoren.

However, this was a significant advance for a country that had been pushed back and struggled against monsters for a long time.

They had reclaimed an important stronghold that had been under monster control for 60 years.

Thus, the Broken offensive ended.

The construction of the city inside Broken was about to begin, but I would return to Fotoren for now.

When I stopped by the guild on the way back, I found that nearly 50 billion Tels had been deposited, making me think, "Do I even need to do business anymore?"

But on second thought, there wasn't much I needed to do if I stopped doing business.

Since I could work economically, I should contribute to society through activities that are in demand.

Alright, justification complete.

When I went to the Maple Guild, Merzia was there.

"I'm back. How are things?"

"Mr. Kaede! You're back early. The sales of the dried meat are going well, but the inventory ran out about two days ago. Since then, the alchemist guild has been sending messengers, mainly Dimmick, asking for more Zunana grass extract. It's getting quite annoying."

Oh, right, the production of Zunana grass hasn't started yet...

If a new material with incredible effects is developed and the technology is available but the material is lacking, it's understandable that researchers would be in a panic.

There's no need to rush, as no one else will surpass us, but it's just the nature of researchers.

"I'll take the Zunana grass and monsters out of the item box and stack them in the warehouse. What about the ship?"

"Ah, yes. I've taken it. It's docked at the port for now."

"Thanks. Let's start the development tomorrow. We need to burn a new island for the Zunana grass. I'll go do some explosions now."

"Tomorrow?"

"Is it too soon? I can carry the food and supplies, so you just need to prepare the people and materials."

"...No, we can start tomorrow for the Zunana grass development. We need to call more people for the sugarcane, so I need to give some notice."

Ah, we can't do it with just amateurs.

For Zunana grass, we just need people who can pull weeds, as it can regrow even if it's cut down, blown up, or burned.

"Right now, there seems to be more demand for Zunana grass, so let's start with that. We can deal with the sugarcane after the Zunana grass stops growing."

It's possible to speed things up by using the bunker buster magic, but it would cause serious environmental damage.

It could strip the soil of nutrients and wash them into the sea, and in the worst case, the island could disappear.

"Right, I think we can be ready by noon tomorrow. Will we be living on the ship until the development is complete?"

"No, I actually have housing prepared."

It's like a food storage building we made in Broken. One of them was going to be in the way of the inner wall construction, so I took it.

Using the reverse landslide technique, I pulled it out of the ground.

"Housing?"

"It's in the item box, pulled out with the foundation. It was originally a warehouse, but it's much better than a shaking ship."

"I don't understand..."

"Anyway, see you tomorrow."

A construction method that surpasses prefabricated construction, the "foundation pulling method."

It's faster to set up than a tent and quite sturdy.

I can set up the Zunana grass farm equipment in about three hours.