131. We Must Stay Calm When We’re In A Hurry, Isn’t It?

We had arrived at Golden Dawn and were heading toward the production guild.

The main street was as crowded as usual.

Since my Black Dragon was a particularly large horse, I was making sure to walk slowly so as not to inconvenience others. However, a frantic man squeezed past me, shouting loudly as he rushed by.

“There’s been an accident! Apparently, there are injured people!”

I jumped off my horse and grabbed the man who was trying to push through the crowd.

“Where is it?!”

“The river! They’re conducting pier tests on the Northern Great River, and it seems there’s a big problem!”

“What?!”

If they’re doing pier tests, there should be several people from the production guild, including Leafan, at the site.

“Shururu! Take care of the horse!”

“Huh?!”

I entrusted Black Dragon to Shururu and started running toward the northern gate. Central Street of Golden Dawn was filled with people and cargo carts, making it impossible to ride.

“Running is faster!”

“I’m coming too! Please take care of my pony as well!”

“Hey! I’m coming too… geez!!”

Leaving behind the complaining Shururu, I dashed through the crowd.

◆

On the north side of Golden Dawn, there is a massive river so wide you can’t see the other bank.

A short distance from the city’s northern gate, you arrive at the riverbank. There, a pier stretches out, with several flat-bottomed barges floating around for transporting goods.

Golden Dawn has barely developed its water transport using rivers.

The reason is simple: there are no trade partners, either domestically or internationally. If it extended towards Gandarl, the waterways would probably be bustling with merchant ships by now.

Unfortunately, both upstream and downstream of the Great River are hazardous areas, so water transport is almost nonexistent.

The primary reason Golden Dawn was established here was because it was the only place deemed feasible for crossing between the two banks.

Given that there are small nation groups beyond the opposite bank, a major bridge must be built here.

The production guild, putting all its efforts into it, has come up with multiple construction methods and is now using the most common construction method to build a test pier in a relatively shallow area.

The construction site is just a little past the pier I’m standing on, naturally in the river.

You can easily spot it with several barges loaded with building materials floating around there.

“[Far Sight]”

It looks like several injured people are lying on the flat barges. Those who are uninjured are pulling those who fell into the water out.

I anxiously scanned the area, wondering how to move to the barges at the scene.

Then a man standing on a barge moored at the pier shouted.

“We need more hands! Is there anyone who can help?!”

After exchanging glances with Jitarou, I immediately jumped onto that barge.

“I’ll help! Quickly move to the construction site on the water!”

“You’re… Craft-san!? That’s reassuring, but please wait a moment!”

The sailor, trying to gather more people, shouted loudly, but his voice was mostly drowned out by the noise of the onlookers gathering.

“Leave it to me!”

I pushed the sailor aside and activated my magic.

“[Wide-Range Amplification]”

This is my original spell, an enhancement of the amplification magic. Instead of consuming a lot of mana, it projects my voice over a wide area.

I’ve even projected my voice into the streets of the Border Margrave Veil Road Gandarl.

‘Listen up! An accident has occurred in the Northern Great River of Golden Dawn! We need more hands! Anyone who hears this, come to the pier to help!’

My voice echoed far and wide, carried by the mana.

The sailor was excited, “Oh! Is this the rumored Craft-san!” but I ignored him for now.

As I squinted towards the city, I saw a cloud of dust rising from inside the gate.

“What’s that?”

The dust cloud grew thicker, and then a deep rumbling sound, “dodo-dodo-dodo,” could be heard.

A group of adventurers was running towards us.

And they were top-notch adventurers trained in Golden Dawn. Leading the way at a speed far surpassing that of the horses was, of course, the party with the blue-haired leader.

“Raidoc!”

“Craft! What happened?!”

I pointed towards the river.

“An accident occurred at the construction site on the water over there! I don’t know the details, but I can see people drowning and injured! We need to rescue them immediately!”

“Got it!”

Following Raidoc, Solar, Eva, Camille, and Marilyn also jumped onto the barge.

A bit later, a large group of adventurers also arrived at the barge.

A barge is a flat, large boat used for transporting materials.

Though it’s called a boat, it looks more like a plain floating rectangular box.

Anyone seeing a barge for the first time might mistake it for a floating bridge.

Since it’s a boat designed solely for cargo, even with many adventurers on it, there’s ample space. However, this boat has a significant weakness.

It’s merely a flat platform that floats, so it can’t move on its own.

There are barges with small sails, but the one we’re on apparently doesn’t have any.

The sailors began preparing a nearby galley for towing the barge.

Realizing this, the adventurers shouted.

“We can’t wait for a galley! Give us the oars from that boat!”

The adventurers’ uproar left the sailors on the galley bewildered as they tried to prepare.

Then Raidoc shouted even louder.

“Throw all the oars from that boat over here! We’ll handle the rest!”

The sailors, recognizing Raidock’s voice, threw the massive oars from the galley onto our barge, though they seemed somewhat flustered.

“Eva!”

“Yes! Leave it to me!”

Eva quickly used magic to pull in the oars that fell into the water before they reached the barge, and the adventurers quickly took them.

The Caspar sisters and Raidoc seem to work so well together that they understand their roles with just a name call.

The oars, which are normally used by several people on a galley, were being handled one by one by the adventurers as if it were the most natural thing.

When Raidock received the last oar, he naturally gave instructions.

“Split into equal numbers on both sides of the barge! Paddle in sync with the calls! Let’s go! One!”

No one complained about Raidock leading, and the adventurers followed his instructions so perfectly that it was almost as if they were always part of the same party.

“””One!!!”””

The oars, which seemed to be three times the length of a person, were all lifted simultaneously and lowered into the water with a cheer, paddling rapidly.

Immediately, the barge accelerated beyond imagination, and I was thrown backward.

“Whoa!?”

“Yikes!?”

I collided with something soft and ended up tumbling around.

“Ouch…”

I hadn’t even imagined that a massive barge could accelerate faster than a small boat.

“I let my guard down.”

As I muttered, I tried to get up, placing my hands on the floor.

Squelch.

I felt an unusual softness on my palm that didn’t seem like wood, and I unconsciously moved my hand to check the texture.

Squish-squish-squish…

I shifted my gaze from the direction of travel to my palm.

I met eyes with Eva.

She was glaring at me intensely, her face bright red with anger.

A cold sweat broke out on my back.

What I had mistaken for the floor was actually Eva’s chest.

“…”

“…”

“Uh…”

“…”

“Looks like it’s bigger than it seems. Haha.”

I was silently hit.