The next morning, Sakuragi had recovered her condition. Still, considering she had been bedridden until morning, her strength seemed precarious. In contrast, Nishina, the only one still on the third step, insisted on climbing up by the end of the day. It didn’t bother me much, but it depended on Sakuragi and Kimishima.
As we prepared in the morning, the four of us had breakfast in the cafeteria as usual.
“Please let me go first!”
“I’m just watching for now, so it depends on Sakuragi, right?”
“Hmm. Miki might want to try various things with that magnifying…”
As Nishina and I started eating, Sakuragi, carrying her tray, came up from behind, grinning as she listened to our conversation.
“Hehehe. It’s fine. Let’s have you go up!”
“Huh… Is that okay? Alright, today everyone, let me go first!”
As we prepared to depart, we encountered Regres-san as usual at the city entrance.
“Good morning. Reg-san, aren’t you coming with us today?”
Immediately, Nishina called out to him, but Regres politely declined.
“Today, I’ve been asked to help with field work. You know, there aren’t many magical beasts with strength like Jenuin around here.”
“Field work?”
“Yeah, it’s not just about meat. You need vegetables too to keep your body in good shape.”
“I see.”
“I’ll be able to come again the day after tomorrow, so sorry for today and tomorrow.”
“Ah, okay. It’s fine.”
Ah, I see, relying solely on monster meat for nutrition would lead to an imbalance. In a town like this, without shops, it seems they help out with field work in exchange for a share.
After that, with Nishina’s efforts, we managed to climb up a step.
…
…
For about a week after that, we continued climbing the Ladder while occasionally getting help from Regres. It was an uneventful period. During that time, I heard about the maintenance of the sewage treatment tank in the town and became interested, so I volunteered to help along with the students.
The sewage system basically worked by drawing water from sources like rivers, even from the Galal Blue, and passing it through the underground of the town. However, simply returning waste such as excrement to the river would cause problems for downstream towns, so they purified it before releasing it back.
“I heard the sewage got washed away in the Galal Blue due to heavy rain. But was there a purification tank?”
“Oh, right. Sensei escaped from there. Hmm. Flooding, huh? Maybe the floodgates were left open or something else broke. The purification tank might have collapsed and it’s just flowing out.”
“I see…”
The purification tank we were taken to was a pond teeming with aquatic plants resembling water grass and algae. It seemed like these aquatic plants absorbed waste like excrement, and maintenance involved thinning them out with a tool attached to a long stick. While I have an image of Japan’s sewage treatment system utilizing biotechnology and bacterial purification, this seemed quite similar.
These plants apparently don’t proliferate this much in the wild. But in places where human waste accumulates, due to the high nutrient content, they proliferate considerably. Hence, there’s a need to thin them out occasionally.
And the thinned-out aquatic plants were loaded onto carts and transported to the town. Farmers would finely chop and dry them, processing them into fertilizer. It all seemed to fit together nicely, and I was impressed. However, the students looked somewhat conflicted.
“You’re using this… as fertilizer?”
“Huh? What’s bothering you, Kimishima?”
“Well, because we eat it, don’t we?”
“In the past, even in Japan, human excrement was used as fertilizer. This is just absorbing nutrients from excrement, so there shouldn’t be much to worry about.”
“I see, but…”
“It’s just a matter of getting used to it. Besides, we’re pulling this from downstream of the purification tank, the water around here should be pretty clean by now, right?”
“Umm…”
“Well, compared to the fastidious Japanese sense, I am concerned. Even today, chicken manure is used as fertilizer.”
“Yes…”
Work finished by mid-morning, and I was thinking of spending the rest of the day leisurely when we were approached by Stroman, a state soldier, saying he had been looking for us. He led us to the checkpoint.
Upon arriving at the checkpoint, we were immediately summoned to Yazzak’s room. Inside, Yazzak, Stroman, and two unfamiliar figures awaited us. One was a man around 60, dressed in robes, and the other was a middle-aged woman around 40, slightly plump, clad in armor.
“Ah, Sensei, we’ve been waiting for you.”
“Yes. Um, what is it?”
While listening, it was apparent that these two had some connection.
“Yes, these two have come from the Federation army to provide instruction on your… well, everyone’s combat skills.”
“Oh, from the Federation?”
“Yes, this is Spellsess-san. Can you believe it? He’s a Sage from the state of Spelt!”
“A S-sage??? Sounds impressive.”
“It is impressive! He’s one of only four Sages in the Hodgkin Federation!”
“Hohoho. Well, don’t make a big deal out of it. Just an old guy who’s good at magic.”
A sage is a title given to graduates who rank top at the Keron Magic Academy in the Wilbrand Holy Kingdom. Each country struggles to bring back talents with the title to their homeland, as obtaining the title and bringing it back to one’s own country is apparently quite difficult.
Yazzak, as a fellow magician, seems to be a graduate of the Keron Magic Academy too, but he seemed a bit nervous in front of his senior.
“And this knight here is Mainui-san.”
“Knight-sama, huh?”
“Yes, she’s a knight belonging to the Sternberg Knight Order of the Federation.”
“Nice to meet you. I’ve been introduced by Paldomihov-san. My name is Mainui.”
“Ah, Paldomihov-san?”
“Yes.”
The two of them seem to have come primarily to train Kimishima, Nishina, and Sakuragi, as Yazzak mentioned.
However, I couldn’t help feeling a bit complicated lately, seeing how the students had grown fond of Regres and were learning various things from him.
And there was one more thing: the two of them had brought some information for us.
“Well, it seems Disaster has disappeared from their headquarters in the Republic of Rigaland.”
It was information I didn’t really want to hear.
