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Chapter 0688 Transfer Operation

Translator: Jay_Forestieri

Editor: Tseirp

An hour on foot from ‘Rinshan Kaiho’, where Ryo and Abel were staying.

The group arrived at the lake in question.

There were quite a lot of people around the lake.

People who were probably involved in the construction, people who were probably from the magistrate’s office, and people who seemed to be the local residents...

“Even though the anomalous phenomenon is happening, there are lots of people here? Is this really okay?”

“Maybe it’s an anomaly that doesn’t harm people?”

Neither Ryo nor Abel had any idea what was going on at all.

As the group approached, a man came over.

A face Ryo recognized.

“Ryo-dono, Abel-dono, thank you for coming. I’m sorry I couldn’t go to meet you this morning.”

It was Deputy Magistrate Hyuran.

“Something strange happened?”

“Yes. Rather than ‘happened,’ perhaps I should say it appeared...”

“Appeared?”

Hyuran grimaced in response to Abel’s question, while Ryo tilted his head.

“It’s on the far side of the lake. I’ll guide you there.”

With that, Hyuran began walking.

Ryo and Abel followed him, along with the five members of Winter Thunder.

“Are those people praying?”

Ryo asked while looking at the gathered crowd.

“Yes. They’re local residents.”

After answering, Hyuran continued.

“For the time being, we’ve also told the construction workers not to go any further. So only people from the magistrate’s office are on the far side of the lake.”

After walking for a while, they reached the far side of the lake.

A little distance away, an old man wearing what looked like blue clothes was standing there.

But that...

“That is not a human.”

When Abel said that with obvious certainty, Hyuran nodded.

The blue old man even seemed to be shimmering slightly.

Suddenly, the old man began to walk.

It seemed he had recognized the group and was coming closer.

“He hadn’t moved at all since appearing in the middle of the night...”

That was Deputy Magistrate Hyuran muttering to himself.

The words seemed to snap the five members of Winter Thunder back to reality.

They took up combat stances.

“Wait! ”

But then came a sharp voice of restraint.

It was Ryo.

“Ryo?”

Abel asked suspiciously.

“He feels similar to my master.”

“Your master?”

“Yes. My sword master. The one who gave me this robe and sword.”

“Oh...”

Abel nodded at Ryo’s explanation.

Something that is not human... and is in Rondo Forest.

Ryo also stepped forward a little to match the approaching blue old man.

He did not go too far, so that any conversation they exchanged would still be audible to Hyuran and the others...

The blue old man stopped about five meters in front of Ryo and opened his mouth.

“Hm.”

With only that one word, he gazed Ryo up and down.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Ryo, an adventurer.”

Ryo decided to greet him first.

“My name is... it cannot be spoken by human mouths. But that would make conversation difficult. You may call me Sanputou.”

“Then, Sanputou-san.”

A conversation was established between Sanputou and Ryo.

Once it became clear that conversation was possible, many problems would often move rapidly toward resolution... usually.

“You... Ryo was it? To wear the king’s robe, put on the king’s shoes, and carry the king’s sword... You are quite favored.”

“Ah, so you are indeed related to my master.”

Ryo’s robe and the like had been given to him by the Dullahan who had trained him in swordsmanship in Rondo Forest.

That Dullahan apparently was the Water Fairy King.

In other words, this blue old man before them was a relation of the Water Fairy King?

“Hm, to call the king your master... And this ‘droplet’ overflowing from your body. You are not human. Nor are you an elf, a spellno, or a vampire... of course, not an akuma or a dragon either... how puzzling.”

“No, I’m human.”

Ryo declared that with complete confidence.

That reaction must have been unexpected.

The blue old man blinked repeatedly.

“No, but...”

“I’m human.”

“Even so...”

“I am human.”

“I see... Very well, human Ryo.”

“Yes, please treat me that way.”

The blue old man gave up resisting, and Ryo nodded deeply.

It is a secret that, in the back, a certain swordsman muttered, “Ryo really can push people around.”

“Um, so, the one who broke the equipment and the embankment was you, Sanputou-san?”

“Yes.”

Ryo cut straight to the heart of the matter, and Sanputou agreed.

That was not the issue.

From Ryo’s point of view, Sanputou—who seemed like a companion or even a relative of the Water Fairy King—was certainly not a bad being.

And he did not doubt that this was an extremely powerful existence.

If there was a lake where such a being resided... and the embankment and equipment had been broken there, then it was probably the result of Sanputou’s actions.

That inference held.

At the same time, there must also be some unavoidable circumstances.

“Could you tell us why you’re doing this?”

“Right now, in this lake... The humans are calling it Kanro Lake, yes? In that Kanro Lake, a Baoyi is about to be born.”

“What!”

The one who cried out in surprise at Sanputou’s answer was Deputy Magistrate Hyuran, who had been listening from behind.

But not only him—the five members of Winter Thunder also widened their eyes greatly.

Only Ryo and Abel were not reacting...

“Um... Sorry. We’re not from the Eastern Countries, so we don’t really know what this Baoyi is.”

Ryo said apologetically.

Abel also gave a small nod.

It was Deputy Magistrate Hyuran who explained.

“I had guessed as much from your attire and the color of Abel-dono’s hair. A Baoyi is also called a ‘treasure fish’... It is a precious species that is rarely seen.”

Hyuran paused once, then continued.

“But even more than that, it is also called a ‘national treasure.’”

“A national treasure?”

“Yes. There is a legend that areas where Baoyi dwell become fertile and are guaranteed to become prosperous countries.”

“That’s amazing.”

Ryo was impressed by Hyuran’s explanation.

But then Ryo noticed that Hyuran’s expression was not bright.

“But your expression doesn’t look very good, Hyuran-san.”

“Yes... The Baoyi are a precious species, but they hardly ever lay eggs, and it takes a long time for the fry to hatch from the eggs.”

“Time? How long?”

“I’ve heard it takes five years.”

“Five years for an egg...”

Even Ryo was surprised.

Then he understood.

He understood the meaning of Hyuran’s expression.

It meant they could not afford to wait five years.

“But it’s a precious species, isn’t it? Enough to be called a ‘national treasure’...”

“Just so. If this were only a river-management project for Chuarou, we would have persuaded the magistrate and somehow bought ourselves time. But...”

“So it also involves other lords and, by extension, the central government.”

At Ryo’s words, Hyuran answered with a face full of anguish, and Abel showed his understanding.

Sanputou, who had silently listened to the humans speaking, opened his mouth.

“Well, that is how it would be.”

An existence that likely has a life span far longer than that of humans seemed to understand even the affairs of the human world.

“And so, for the next five years, I had intended to keep obstructing things.”

“What a muscle-... no, what a forceful way of thinking.”

At Sanputou’s determination, Ryo almost let the plainly too-honest word “muscle-brained” slip out.

“We are well aware that this is entirely a matter of human convenience, and I imagine you may well be angry...”

“I am not angry. But I have no intention of stepping aside either.”

Sanputou stated this firmly in response to Hyuran’s words.

Ryo tilted his head and asked.

“Are you angry that humans are changing nature to suit themselves?”

“Intervening in nature is human instinct, is it not? I too have watched humans for tens of thousands of years. I’ve learned at least that much.”

The blue old man answered with a laugh.

“But if you do too much...”

“If you overdo it, it comes back to humans, and humans perish. That is true of everything, is it not? Whether living beings or monsters, if they eat too much of what is needed as food, it rebounds on the continuation of the species. The truth of living things is the same in all things. If you overdo it, it rebounds on yourselves. Am I wrong?”

“I see.”

Ryo nodded.

The being before him seemed to transcend human emotions by far.

Humans destroying nature is part of human principles.

He does not blame them for it; as an independent species, he does not interfere.

If they overdo it, it returns as the destruction of the species.

If humans overdo it, humans perish.

It is not some other species that destroys humans.

The consequences of human actions return from nature... That is what he understands as the principle.

At that point, Ryo brought his thoughts back to the situation before him.

Probably, even if they left it alone, the conflict would just continue for five years.

Sanputou would keep obstructing the disappearance of the old Kanro Lake, while the human side would keep trying again and again to shorten the delay in the construction period... such a conflict.

“It’s common for public works to be delayed because of landowners’ circumstances, but... if the military gets involved, things will become troublesome.”

Yes, if the human side tried to solve things by force and ended up using military power, the result would probably not be very good.

If it were the central government of Darwei as it was now... Ryo did not think the Emperor or Prince Ryun would do anything so foolish, but the local officials who did not want to report construction delays to the central government were not necessarily the same.

Or perhaps the central government’s local administrative contacts...

So Ryo made the obvious suggestion.

“Couldn’t the Baoyi be moved to the new Kanro Lake?”

“Hm, impossible. They already have eggs inside their bodies. In this state, their stamina is at its limit. Moving them is impossible...”

Just as he said that much, Sanputou fell silent.

He brought a hand to his chin and began to think.

The group watched him intently.

If the Baoyi could be moved, everything would be solved.

But everyone there understood that it would be difficult.

If it were possible, Sanputou would have done it, they thought.

Hyuran and the five members of Winter Thunder also sensed that he was an existence with that much power.

An existence that transcended humans by far.

After a while, Sanputou lowered the hand he had placed on his chin.

Then he stared at Ryo and opened his mouth.

“That ‘droplet’ overflowing from you, Ryo... Is it always overflowing?”

“Um... By ‘droplet’, do you mean that thing the elves call the ‘fairy factor’, and the akumas call the ‘fairy droplet’?”

“Yes, that is it.”

At Ryo’s confirmation, Sanputou nodded.

Because the name differs depending on the human... or rather the species or existence, it had to be properly confirmed.

“To be honest, I don’t know myself, but it seems to overflow constantly. One of my acquaintance’s spirit beasts said that this extended their lifespan.”

Ryo remembered that the spirit beast in Niels’s village had said something like that.

“I see!”

Sanputou widened his eyes and nodded once.

“Ryo may be able to do it.”

“Ryo’s fairy factor is amazing. It doesn’t do anything for Ryo himself, though.”

“Yes... If possible, I would have preferred something like making me invincible, or letting me regenerate instantly even if I’m injured.”

Sanputou was delighted, Abel was a little amazed despite his surprise, and Ryo lamented that he wanted more practical effects.

“<Dolly>.”

A fairly large <Dolly> with sides of five meters was created.

Still, compared with the four <Dollies> kept in the backyard of Rinshan Kaiho, it was smaller...

However, the water-magician who had created the <Dolly> was tilting his head.

“What is it, Ryo?”

“No, there will be a huge amount of water this time, so it will be heavy. Besides, if I move it over a distance of one kilometer, the Baoyi in the water will be under a lot of strain. Even with <Ice Bahn>. Ideally, I’d completely eliminate vibration from the ground and the wheels... floating it in the air would be best.”

“Floating it? Isn’t that a bit too difficult?”

Abel answered Ryo’s idea by saying it would indeed be difficult.

Ryo stared at Abel.

And then he got an inspiration.

“Abel, as expected of you! That’s a brilliant idea!”

“...I didn’t say anything.”

That’s right, Abel had said nothing.

“<Ice Create: Speech Podium>.”

In the place where the <Dolly> had disappeared, there appeared an ice podium of roughly the same size for giving speeches.

“That speech podium thing... isn’t that the one you made in the city of Rune?”

“You remembered it well. It’s the one Abel stood on during the enthronement ceremony.”

Ryo praised Abel’s memory.

“That thing... flew in the air.”

“Yes, yes. That’s the one. I’ll blast out <Water Jet> from below, float it just a little this time, and then push it along smoothly.”

Ryo’s image was air hockey.

In air hockey, air comes out from the table and makes the puck float, but this time, he would spray water from an ice platform to make it float.

Because there would be no friction with the ground, it should be possible to push it even with a single finger, and above all, because it would not pick up the unevenness of the ground, the Baoyi in the water should not be stressed either.

“The Baoyi relocation operation, commence!”

“Yeah...”

And thus, the Baoyi relocation operation, as Ryo called it, began.

Ryo put his hand into the edge of the lake.

“Um, there are two Baoyi, right?”

“Yes. You figured that out well.”

“Yes, it’s one of my specialties.”

He was only using <Active Sonar>, but Ryo answered a little proudly.

In the first place, their presence was different from that of other fish.

Were they about one meter in size?

They were large for freshwater fish, but more than that, something was different.

Ryo’s sonar analyzed targets by using the vibrations of water and their reflections.

Because reflections varied according to the substance of the ‘target’, analysis was possible.

When he thought of it that way, the Baoyi’s ‘presence’ might be something that made them fundamentally different in material composition from fish...

(Not living beings, and not monsters either?)

Ryo felt that, but he did not say it aloud.

If only Sanputou and Abel were nearby, that would be fine, but Hyuran from the magistrate’s office, who could be considered a local official, and Winter Thunder were also there.

“I’ll turn the water around the two of them into coldless ice and place them on this platform as they are. Sanputou-san, could you tell the two of them?”

“I understand.”

Sanputou gently closed his eyes.

Ten seconds later, he opened them.

“They say it is fine anytime.”

“Understood. Then... <Ice Create: Aquarium>.”

When Ryo chanted, the water around the Baoyi was cut out as ice.

The “aquarium” was then lifted by icicles and slowly moved to the lakeshore.

“<Ice Bahn>.”

The aquarium was slowly transferred from the icicles to an ice path, and then slid onto the ice “speech podium”... where it quietly froze in place on top of the podium.

“Yeah, okay.”

Ryo checked various things and nodded in satisfaction.

The next moment, the speech podium carrying the aquarium rose about five centimeters from the ground.

“Then, let’s depart.”

Ryo quickly suggested setting off.

The water inside the ‘aquarium’ clearly contained a considerable amount of air.

A one-kilometer move would not cause the Baoyi to suffocate.

Still, it was an environment different from usual.

With eggs involved, it was better for them to spend as little time as possible in such an environment.

The group departed.

It was one kilometer from the old Kanro Lake to the new Kanro Lake.

However, because the road had many ups and downs, it took about twenty minutes.

“It really does look light.”

Abel called out to Ryo, who was walking beside him while pushing the ‘speech podium’.

Ryo was walking while pushing it, but it looked incredibly light.

“Of course. That’s the amazing thing about this speech podium. Once we get back to the kingdom, I’ll advertise that even heavy cargo can be transported like this easily.”

“Advertise?”

“I’ll promote it and produce alchemy tools like this speech podium and sell them. Money will come in by the bucketload!”

Ryo answered happily.

But Abel, walking beside him, was tilting his head.

“What is it, Abel? Are you going to say something like, let me have a cut in that right, since it was my idea that made this possible, so hand over half the profits?”

Ryo asked with an obviously wary expression.

“No... This podium floating like that, that’s because of your water-attribute magic, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“If you made the podium as an alchemy tool... that would mean making it float with water-attribute magic too, right?”

“Yes, that’s right?”

“What kind of magic stone would you use for that?”

“Huh?”

For a moment, Ryo did not understand the meaning of Abel’s question.

But after thinking for a while, his expression stiffened.

And then...

“Blue... a water magic stone... I guess?”

He answered in a small voice, almost a murmur.

Yes, Ryo understood too.

“Water magic stones are precious. No, you could even say they hardly circulate in the general market at all. Because...”

“They can only be obtained from underwater monsters. And underwater monsters are difficult to capture...”

Ryo almost collapsed to his knees, but quickly forced himself to stay conscious and put strength into his legs.

Right now, they were in the middle of transporting the Baoyi.

“Tch... I’ll solve that problem after we return to the kingdom. For now, I’ll focus on the transport.”

“That’s right, that would be best.”

Twenty minutes later, the group arrived at the new Kanro Lake.

Following the opposite procedure from the old Kanro Lake, the ‘aquarium’ was lowered, and the two Baoyi were transferred to the new Kanro Lake.

“How is it?”

Ryo asked Sanputou with a tense expression.

“Hm. Both of them seem to be lively. They appear to be in better condition than when they were in the other lake. That is thanks to you, Ryo.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

Sanputou smiled, and Ryo smiled too.

Hearing their exchange, the group rejoiced.

The Baoyi relocation operation had succeeded.

Yes, the Baoyi ‘relocation’ operation had succeeded.

“Actually, I have a matter I’d like to consult you about in private, Ryo.”

“What is it, Sanputou-san?”

“Actually, the lake over there has other fish as well...”

“Eh...”

Indeed, he had seen that with sonar a moment ago.

There had been quite a number of fish in the old Kanro Lake...

“I thought the loss of life due to human development was the natural order, but... watching the Baoyi being relocated...”

“You don’t need to say any more. Leave it to me!”

Ryo struck his own chest with his right fist.

A gesture meaning, ‘Leave everything to me’.

Abel watched from behind with a shrug.

His lips moved as if to say, “Ryo really is too kind.”

Four hours later.

“And with this... Haa, haa... the relocation... haa, haa... is complete.”

This was the very definition of being in a state of utter exhaustion.

Well, Ryo was somehow still standing on two feet.

“Ryo, thank you very much.”

The blue old man Sanputou bowed deeply.

“No, no, I haven’t done anything that major.”

Ryo answered with a smile.

He was tired, but this was when he ought to act tough.

“As expected of the man the king had his eye on. We water fairies will never forget Ryo’s devotion.”

Saying that, Sanputou disappeared.

After he vanished, Ryo realized that he should have asked many things.

“Darn it...”

Ryo sank into despair over his own blunder, and fatigue washed over him.

But the work was not over yet.

“Representing the Chuarou magistrate’s office, I offer our thanks.”

Saying this, Deputy Magistrate Hyuran also bowed deeply.

Behind him, the five members of Winter Thunder did the same.

And farther behind them, several hundred people bowed as well.

They were the local residents of Kanro Lake.

Some of them were crying.

They bowed again and again.

“Oh, no, no, it really wasn’t anything that major.”

Ryo was happy to be thanked, but apparently he was the sort who felt embarrassed by gratitude that was too deep and came from too many people.

In the end, they stayed at Rinshan Kaiho that night as well, and Ryo and Abel departed from the city of Chuarou the following day. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Naturally, they rode Andalusia and Feiwan, while four huge <Dollies> trailed behind them.

“This time, it was a very peaceful adventure.”

“Well, yeah.”

“Abel looks very dissatisfied.”

“Dissatisfied? No, I’m not dissatisfied or anything.”

“That’s a lie!”

Ryo condemned him in a strong tone.

“You were expecting a more chaotic, blood-pumping, flesh-stirring battle, and you were thrown off by how anticlimactic this was!”

“No, I wasn’t hoping for anything like that.”

“Hmph. Even if you lie, I can tell. People in barbaric close-combat jobs like swordsmen must all be like that.”

“There it is again, Ryo’s prejudice.”

As always, Ryo and Abel bantered back and forth, and their beloved horses neighed happily as they carried them on their backs.

The peaceful return to the kingdom had only just begun.

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