134.1. Difficulties Are Like Spices, Isn’t It?

“The details need to be worked out, but we’ve got a plan for building the bridge piers.”

Leafan cleared his throat with a serious expression, but his cheeks were red. Jabil-sensei’s cheeks were a bit red, too.

For the first time today, Eddie Drake, the head of the Maritime Guild with his red and green striped hair, spoke up.

“Thinking of making a giant ring, huh? I’ll handle the transport. I’ll figure it out.”

“Thank you, Drake-san.”

Leafan thanked Drake, who looked like a pirate. Honestly, he looked more like someone kidnapping people halfway through.

“But how are you going to drain the water? Even if we increase the number of sailors and day laborers, there’s a limit, right?”

Drake crossed his arms, indicating that he had no idea how to solve that issue, but it was already solved in my mind.

“It’s fine. We’ll use water evaporation potions.”

“Huh? What’s that?”

Leafan tilted her head, but I wanted to tilt mine even more.

“Huh? Didn’t I submit the report about how we solved the village’s swamp problem with the lizardmen?”

I’d already submitted a report to the production guild about how we used the water evaporation potion to resolve the issue for the village being built in the wetlands.

“S-sorry… I’ve been so busy, I only checked that the problem was solved…”

Leafan looked downhearted, but I quickly waved my hands.

“N-no worries! You’ve been busy these past few days! I’m not blaming you! To put it simply, it’s an alchemical potion that evaporates water instantly!”

“Evaporates? Like boiling water in a kettle? That sounds like it’ll take time.”

“We’ll save the large-scale experiment for later.”

I looked around and spotted a slim metal vase on the windowsill. It was a single-flower vase made of metal.

“Kyle, I’m borrowing this.”

I got Kyle’s permission, pulled the flower from the vase, and stuck it in Leafan’s hair for now. She hurled some incomprehensible insults at me, her face bright red, but I told her to bear with it for a bit since I’d put it back soon. I added some water to the vase with magic and placed it in the center of the windowsill where everyone could see. Though I hadn’t tested it with such a small amount of water before, I took out the water evaporation potion. Even a pinch of the powder was enough, but to avoid any embarrassing failures, I decided to add a tablespoonful.

“Alright, watch this.”

As I dumped the evaporation potion into the vase, things happened almost simultaneously. First, there was a sound like an explosion, and steam shot straight up in a massive burst. Since the vase was metal, it didn’t shatter, but the force of the violent steam caused the vase to sink into the windowsill. The impact partially destroyed the windowsill.

Like lightning, Raidoc leaped between the table where everyone was seated and the vase. Just behind Raidoc, Alphard shielded Kyle. Raidoc knocked down all the debris that flew into the room.

All of this happened faster than the blink of an eye. Raidoc let out a “phew,” tossing the rubble he had caught into the corner of the room, and Alphard, with a sigh, helped Kyle back into his chair.

“”””………………””””

Yep. Their stares hurt!

“Uh… I might’ve used a bit too much potion. Oops★”

“Craft-kun! Sit properly!”

And so, for the first time in a while, I received a full-on scolding and was made to sit in seiza by Leafan.