9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 200 - Emergency (5)

“They’ll return after mating is complete. Usually takes about two weeks to build a nest. The mother stays at the nest to incubate eggs while the father departs, that’s typical.”

An elder from the Fa tribe who had devoted his life to studying dragons chuckled and spoke as if it were no big deal.

“Brother, don’t worry! They say it’ll come back.”

“I keep telling you I’m not worried.”

When Namir consoled him with a face beaming with happiness, Fael responded calmly while reading reports that had come in from various places.

The workload had doubled.

Historians, archaeologists, mages, and dragon experts hurriedly summoned from the Fa and Shan tribes showed tremendous interest in the ruins.

This time they descended into the pit equipped with various instruments alongside these scholars, carefully exploring the ruins.

Perhaps because the gold dragon had disappeared, the corridor felt much more spacious as they walked for over an hour and finally discovered what was essentially a massive underground spring.

Starting from where the stone walls ended, it formed a stream flowing toward deeper underground.

“Looking at the direction, it seems to flow from west to east.”

“Hmm, the perimeter is an estimated 5,000 setins. That’s an enormous area. But it’s just ordinary water. I wonder why they went to such lengths to hide it with solid walls and even a dragon.”

“Hundreds of years ago there were wars fought over water sources. Whichever tribe it was, they probably wanted to monopolize it.”

“The important thing is that we can now use water freely.”

“No, the ruins are important too!”

Due to fierce protests from Namir and the scholars, they ultimately decided to employ methods that would minimize damage to the ruins.

Well, all they had to do was create waterways and magically draw the water up. The mages emphasized that while it would take ‘a bit’ more time and resources than ordinary well construction, it wasn’t difficult work.

Of course, Fael didn’t believe those words.

“Tell Daniel about everything you need. We’ll provide whatever you require.”

“Oh my, indeed…!”

Fael supported them with more than double the amount of magic stones the mages had hesitantly requested.

Thanks to pouring out all available resources—what Bletter had brought when withdrawing from Schufaben, what they’d received as support from various tribes—the construction progressed rapidly.

And finally, the day when everyone gathered for the completion ceremony.

Swoosh!

The large water pump began operating, and groundwater started spouting up into the widely leveled area.

“Waaaaaah!”

“This is it!”

“We did it!”

Pure joy and cheers spread among the dusty people.

The water that emerged above ground rippled as it filled the artificial lake. Though it was currently too shallow to even soak one’s ankles, in a week it would complete a proper oasis.

“Wow, so refreshing!”

“Let me try some too, Lord Namir.”

Namir and Lea shared the taste of the first water, lost in their own little world together. Beside them, Bletter member was distributing cups of water to the gathered crowd.

“Line up please! Those who aren’t of elf blood should drink the boiled and cooled water over there!”

“Those who want even cleaner water should also go that way! Come now, no cutting in line…”

The water purification facility set up beside the artificial lake.

Water flowed in through pipelines to the place that looked like a small factory. The mages who had been tensely monitoring the spells continuously began using magic stones generously to purify the groundwater.

“Good, it’s working properly!!”

“Now we’re free from night shifts!”

Soon cheers erupted from there as well.

These were the mages who had been worked to exhaustion designing buildings and casting spells on facilities. While purifying water spells weren’t difficult, doing it on a large scale was an entirely different matter.

“Finally I can sleep…”

One mage who had been muttering while watching people draw water collapsed into sleep as if fainting.

The artificial lake would need to be expanded much more once it filled up, but for now they could rest easy.

The area around the gradually filling artificial lake was in a complete festival mood.

People joyfully sharing water with each other, people continuously bowing to the sky while calling out to Ela.

“Why can only those with elf blood drink the water of the Great Desert? If it’s just stomach upset, people should adapt over time, but humans never do no matter how much time passes.”

Daniel, who had been watching with a smile, suddenly asked.

“That’ll become Namir’s research project. Even the elves who have lived in Schufaben for generations adapt immediately, so it’s definitely not simple stomach upset. Maybe there’s a deeper secret—”

“Kyahahahaha!”

Suddenly, a commotion broke out among the crowd. Lucy Himmel was jumping around excitedly.

Children become friends quickly regardless of race or complicated family circumstances.

Lucy had also made many elf friends since moving to the wasteland.

“Mom, I’m thirsty!”

“You need to wait your turn, Lucy.”

While waiting in the long line and whining, Lucy ran toward the front when Alina was briefly talking with Thomas.

Looking around, she found a friend among the people gathered around the lake instead of the factory.

“Layla!”

“Lucy!”

“Did you get water? I want to drink some too!”

“Yeah, here!”

“Thanks!”

The elf girl carelessly offered her cup, and Lucy drank it down and immediately collapsed.

“Uwaaaaaah!”

“Oh my, dear!”

The startled little girl burst into tears, drawing everyone’s attention. But Lucy soon wobbled to her feet and began wandering around with a grin.

“Mommy, Daddy! I hurt! It’s tingly! It tickles! Kyaha!”

“Lucy, did you drink the water?”

When Alina grabbed her and asked sternly, she nodded with a silly grin.

“Yeah! It’s yummy! I hurt, my fingertips tingle! It feels like this place is going to burst! Kyahahaha! It hurts because!”

Lucy pointed to her heart area. When Alina checked her pulse, she felt incredibly fast heartbeats for a child.

“Excuse me! Please step aside!”

Fael and Daniel pushed through the crowd and approached. Lucy’s giggling shouts were still continuing.

“What happened?”

“I’m sorry. Lucy drank unboiled water.”

Alina Himmel bowed her head with a face hard as stone.

“Such side effects… She seems to react much more severely than others, like last time too.”

“Lucy, look at uncle.”

Fael, his gaze calmly settled, lifted Lucy and made eye contact with her.

“How do you feel?”

“I, I think I’m going to become a butterfly!”

“A butterfly?”

“Yeah, I’m going to fly away! Like a butterfly princess! Like this! Pop!”

At that moment, brilliant blue light burst from Lucy’s body. And the small form escaped Fael’s embrace and floated upward.

Gently, gently, everyone stared blankly at the girl rising toward the sky.

***

“This is really… impossible.”

Namir, buried in a large tent, muttered while surrounded by countless books and papers in complete disarray.

Around him, mages in similarly scattered states were snoring, having collapsed from exhaustion.

For the past few weeks, they had immersed themselves in research, barely sleeping a few hours a day.

Comparing water collected from various tribal territories with the local groundwater, discussing with scholars, observing and documenting the reactions of elf and human children as much as possible.

The mages who had already been squeezed dry creating the water purification facility had to tearfully tackle the tasks Namir assigned, crying all the while.

They couldn’t complain. Namir had worked just as many sleepless nights collecting and analyzing samples.

Some even threw themselves into the work with burning eyes, instinctively realizing this was a great turning point in magic.

In any case, it had been a time when even two bodies wouldn’t have been enough.

And the conclusion they reached was absurdly far-fetched. So much so that even someone as steeped in ‘great causes’ and ‘ideals’ as him found it hard to believe.

“Not magic stones but magic water. The reason magic users are common in the Great Desert was just because of that water!”

Namir writhed and wailed.

When you think about it, it made sense.

Magic stones are minerals born from absorbing magic power floating in the air over long periods.

People born with magic springs in their bodies can also absorb magic power from the air. No, they instinctively do absorb it. No one does it earnestly because it’s too inefficient and foolish.

Then why couldn’t water do the same?

Water continuously circulates through the world.

Raindrops that formed as clouds in the sky fall to earth and seep underground. Groundwater flows into the sea, and the sun heats seawater with intense light. The evaporated seawater becomes clouds again…

In that process, why couldn’t it absorb magic power from the air?

In other places it might be different, but why would magic stones be so scarce in the Great Desert, called the land of magic?

Young Namir had once resented the heavens.

When he was caught up in the belief that ‘we are a pure, persecuted people,’ he wondered why the barren Great Desert lacked even magic stones.

But he hastily dismissed it as being due to the harsh environment, or that what little there was had all been mined by the Ela Kingdom or past prosperous tribes, leaving only scraps.

If only he had focused on water instead of soil back then.

Just because it hadn’t been empirically proven, he had completely excluded that possibility. Namir was dumbfounded by his own narrow-mindedness.

Of course, not all water in the Great Desert was magic water.

Since it was land as vast as several countries combined, the magic power concentration of water collected from various places all differed.

There were several places where it was so dilute as to be barely detectable. Surprisingly, the groundwater here in the wasteland boasted the highest concentration.

Drinking that water wouldn’t make someone without talent immediately awaken as a mage.

However, if someone with some magic power—not quite ordinary but insufficient to truly awaken as a mage—drank this water, this groundwater that was like concentrated magic essence…

That would be no different from chewing dozens of magic stones raw. No one would do such crazy things with stones, but if it was water…

“How has this secret been hidden for a thousand years?”

Even as he muttered this, Namir dimly understood.

Magic is a phenomenon as natural as breathing to elves. Though there are more non-mages than mages here too, elves naturally relied on the power of mages—shamans in the old language—and loved powerful, primitive spells instead of the ‘magical engineering’ developed by humans.

A land where magic overflowed in the air and water, even if magic stone mines were rare. So paradoxically, no one suspected the air or water.

“So, so…”

Transparent tears welled up in Namir’s bloodshot eyes. He wiped his face with his sleeve and jumped up.

“This is an opportunity!”

Crying, he shouted and rushed out of the tent.

“Brother! Brotherrr! Where are you!”

He ran looking at the buildings of the large village that were now starting to take shape.

“Hello, Lord Namir. Oh my!”

The tent village buzzed with activity as evening approached. He rushed past people who greeted him warmly.

He could see Fael and Daniel sitting on a hill near the lake, which was already full of water and rippling nicely.

“Brother! I have something to tell you!”

He climbed the hill, kicking through sand that made his feet sink deeply. Then he felt something cool touch his forehead.

“Rain…?”

The air had felt strangely humid since daytime. He thought it might be because of the lake’s water.

Looking up, he saw black clouds gathering in the sky. Soon heavy rain began pouring down.

“The answer was right here all along. This land itself was a blessed paradise.”

Fael caught the falling raindrops in his hand and murmured in a trembling voice.

The thick drops were pouring down so heavily they seemed about to completely hide the village in the distance.

“Yes, brother, exactly! We, we elves! We can live!”

Namir gasped and shouted. Fael looked at him blankly, then turned to Daniel.

“Daniel, I remember the question you asked me when you first came to the Great Desert.”

Looking down at the refugee camp in chaos from the sudden rain, Daniel smiled.

“Could this desert someday return to being a great forest again?”

“Right. I answered like this. If we elves united, if a nation was formed, if we brought many mages to conduct research… then maybe it could happen. I didn’t believe it even as I said it.

But Daniel. It’s already happening. When I made a contract with Lucas, I prepared to devote my entire life to this journey. But already, the results seem within grasp.

It may be thanks to insane coincidence and luck, but that doesn’t matter. I’m grateful to you and Lucas. To the White Raven Order and Bletter too. And Namir, to you as well.”

He smiled.

Ten years ago, the day his brother ran away.

It rained that day too. They said it was the first rain in decades.

In that refreshing rain. He had looked somehow relieved, somehow sad with that smile.

That smile he had seen just once was exactly the same as now.