Chapter 250: The Arrival of a Great Cold Wave
“Fuu… It’s cold out today too.” [Ryouma]
There’s one week left till the new year.
The winter has gotten really harsh in these parts of the Jamil Duchy, and it’s been snowing nonstop recently. Because of that I’ve been having to leave for town while it’s still dark out.
Thankfully I can use long-distance teleportation with the stone slis for markers.
As I thought that to myself, I made my way through the snowy path with my hand-made snow boots. The snow was piled up high enough to reach a child’s waist.
Before long, the familiar city gate of Gimuru appeared. Two guards stood by the two sides of the gate, and when they noticed , they waved at .
“Good morning!” [Ryouma]
“Good morning!” [Guard 1]
“It’s cold today too, huh!” [Guard 2]
My gait was slow because of the snow, so I greeted them as I walked. Eventually, I reached the gate.
“I see you’re both hard at work today too.” [Ryouma]
“It’s been tough everyday.” [Guard 1]
“The snow and cold are really annoying.” [Guard 2]
We chatted a little while they confird my identification.
“Good, you can enter now. By the way, will you be doing that?? again? We’ll help with the preparations.” [Guard 1]
“Thank you. I appreciate it.” [Ryouma]
“Ha ha, the one being helped here is us.” [Guard 2]
“Besides, if we help out, we’ll be able to warm ourselves for a while.” [Guard 1]
They seed to be joking, but warming themselves was probably their real purpose.
Either way they’re helping , so I’m grateful.
Imdiately, I took out the necessary tools from my Dinsion Ho.
“Well, it is cold everyday. Even so of my aqua slis evolved into ‘Ice slis’ because of the cold.” [Ryouma]
“Aqua Slis? Those are slis that have water for their bodies, right? I don’t know much about them, but don’t their bodies just freeze over because of the cold?” [Guard 1]
“Everyone says that, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.” [Ryouma]
In a previous examination I perford, I found that the aqua slis were resilient to temperature changes, but so of them liked the cold, while others did not. And the ones that liked the cold all loved ice mana. Moreover, despite being in the sa environnt, it was only the slis that loved ice mana that evolved into ice slis, so I don’t think it’s as simple as their bodies freezing.
“Oh, speaking of ice, can you provide more of those non-slip shoes that you donated before?” [Guard 1]
“Huh? Didn’t I leave the Morgan Company in charge of those?” [Ryouma]
“Well, apparently, word of that rubber stuff being really good for keeping people from slipping got out from us guards, and now, they say they sell out as soon as inventory drops.” [Guard 1]
“Most of the accidents these days are caused by “snow” or the ice or slush it makes. So of the adventurers seem to be using special equipnt ant for trips to those snowy mountains, but commoners don’t have access to those.” [Guard 2]
“Ahh…” [Ryouma]
So this must be what they call an ’ergency demand’.
Until now, the weather around these parts has always been on the warr side. To the residents of this town, this year’s cold wave is abnormal. So it wasn’t possible for them to have prepared for this much snow. And the stores too couldn’t possibly have stored items that normally wouldn’t sell. Even if they did have so, there surely wouldn’t be many.
As for , I just happened to know about it in advance from the gods by coincidence, so I could leak the information to various places and have them prepare. The Morgan Company in particular reacted the fastest. He might’ve gotten information from elsewhere too, but the mont I told Serge-san of the possibility of a cold wave, he imdiately mobilized his people.
Thanks to that the developnt of the anti-cold-wave winter goods, such as the non-slip boots, and their mass production through the new workshops and workforce, as well as their sale through the various stores have all been going swimmingly well.
In fact, the ‘small boat’ in front of right now is one of those.
I made a boat based off the one I rode back in Fatma Territory. I put a stove on the back of it like the ones you’d use for barbecue and camping, then I put an apparatus on top that’s basically a stockpot with tal pipes coiled around it. To describe it briefly, it was basically a pop pop boat.
I’m not talking about the old boats that used a hot bulb engine, but rather those old boat toys also used in science experints.
I put a filter sli in the two tal pipes extending behind the boat, while inside the stove, I laid out an Ash Sli, and placed so charcoal on top. Lastly, I placed an aqua sli inside the pot and enough water to fill the pipes. That concludes my preparations.
All that’s left now is…
“I’ll leave this to you.” [Ryouma]
“Alright.” [Guard 1]
While they put up a yellow flag with red letters on it that read, ‘road cleaning and snow clearing in progress’, I asked the aqua sli that was starting to get hot inside the pot if it was ready, and it took on an eager posture in response. When I looked beyond the gate and saw that there were no people in the vicinity, I knew that it was ti.
“Let’s go.” [Ryouma]
I sent mana along with an image of movent to the sli that had assimilated with the water, and in the next mont, the contents of the pot surged, swirled, and floated out of the water bottle to form a sphere on the road in front of the gate.
The water, no, the sphere of hot water gently approached the ground and touched the snow.
As the sphere collapsed, the hot water spread like a wave, lting the snow.
The lted snow beca water and rged with the hot water and the aqua sli, increasing the volu of the water.
Through the increase in water volu and the utilization of magic, movent was induced. Caught in the flow, the snow on the road lted.
As the volu increased even more, more and more snow was absorbed.
This has been my daily morning schedule these past few days – clearing snow through water sli magic.
As for any concerns surrounding the water freezing over again, which would only serve to make the ground slippier and even more dangerous, that is indeed an issue that occurs when water is left behind in sufficiently cold weather, an impossible problem back in my previous life, but this world has magic. With the help of the assimilated sli and sli magic, super precise control should be possible! Even the water that scattered can be recovered without leaving even a drop! In other words, it’s possible to prevent the water from freezing up again!!
…While I was having a little sales talk to myself, the aqua sli had gotten much bigger from gathering the water around it. Now, it looked like a hemisphere the size of a small hill, and it looked just like a giant sli. Yes, that much water should be fine.
“Well then, I think it’s about ti I go.” [Ryouma]
As I called out to the two people behind , who were warming themselves with the fire, I jumped up the small boat beside them. They knew what would be happening, so they promptly distanced themselves despite the forlorn look they gave the fire.
The giant water sphere covered the entire ship, and the aqua sli also entered the pot through the tal pipe and the filter sli inside, while the water that couldn’t enter anymore allowed the boat to float.
With that all the preparations were complete.
“I’ll be going now!” [Ryouma]
As the guards saw off, I steered the ship into town.
With water sli magic, it was possible to clear the snow and clean the road at the sa ti.
This was one of the answers I arrived to after pondering the issue of efficiency for a long ti.
…Well, even if I didn’t clear the snow, the governnt office or the adventurers guild would send soone to do it, but we’re in an ergency situation, and everyone is starving for more hands, and I have lots of mana to spare, and the gods seem to enjoy watching use sli magic too, so I volunteered.
Besides, leisurely going around town early in the morning in a ship covered in water isn’t all that bad.
With it still being dark out, few people would go out at this ti, but I still passed by so people. These were those who had a job that needed them this early or those who had to leave at this hour to make it for work because of the snow. Regardless, I’ve acquainted myself with more people since I started clearing the snow.
At first, so of them were dumbfounded when the saw , others thought they were hallucinating and panicked, but nowadays, everyone’s used to my water boat, and even people whose nas I don’t know would wave at and call out to when they saw .
“Hey! Wizard boy! Co here for a bit, will you!?” [Female Stall Owner]
The person who called out to was the owner of a stall that I frequently saw.
She seed to be calling for , so I manipulated the water to bring the boat to her.
“Good morning. How can I help you?” [Ryouma]
“If you don’t mind, take this with you. Don’t worry about the money.” [Female Stall Owner]
“Woah, it’s warm. Thank you so much!” [Ryouma]
The woman gave a warm soup full of sausages and vegetables complete with a wooden bowl and spoon.
“And don’t forget this. You do your best now, alright?” [Female Stall Owner]
“…Thank you very much. I’m going!” [Ryouma]
Before parting, she warmly encouraged and gave a loaf of hard bread.
In response, I thanked her and floated back up again to clear the snow.
“Fuu… Hafu! Ho!”
As I took a spoonful of the soup, heat and umami unfolded inside my mouth, and upon drinking it, warmth spread from the center of my body.
Ever since I started clearing the snow, people would give stuff like this and encourage from ti to ti.
Beneath the yet sunless sky that grew brighter by the mont, I relished the taste of the soup, swayed by the boat, as a path through this yet silver world opened.
Although this job can’t make even a di, it can fill up my soul.
Sotis, work like this isn’t so bad.
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