By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 2

Chapter 7, Episode 40: The Calm Before the Storm

After my morning routine, I headed straight for work. When I joined Hudom in front of the laundry shop, though, I noticed that he looked a bit dead inside.

“Good morning,” I said. “Did something happen?”

“The same as always...and that’s the thing. I’m really astonished that I’m starting to think your magic is normal.”

Ah ha. Moving the boat on a concentrated sphere of water, not to mention maintaining the cleaning and snow-melting of the streets for over an hour, was difficult; the average spellcaster would’ve run out of magic, or else would’ve lacked the technique to do so at all. And Hudom had watched me do all this and thought almost nothing of it? He was fitting right in. There was no problem, then. I packed up the boat and started my work day.

Our first job would take place just down the road from the laundry shop. We would manually shovel snow in the residential area in the east part of town. Heavy snow blanketed the entire city, so there was no end to the streets that needed shoveling.

“It may be too late now, but shouldn’t you have brought the boat, if we’re clearing the snow anyway?” Hudom asked.

“Well, magic would be faster than shoveling by hand, but even that small boat can’t go down alleyways—and besides, not even my magic would last long enough to take the boat to every corner of the city. Downing a lot of magic recovery potions isn’t the best idea, so I try to limit that method to the early morning, when there are few pedestrians, and to streets that are wide enough but can’t get enough shovelers. There’s no need to overextend when adventurers, government workers, and even ordinary residents start shoveling the streets on their own as soon as the sun is up.”

“Makes sense. So you do run out of magic. Seeing how you didn’t even break a sweat operating that boat, I thought it was some magical item, or at least packed with magic crystals. Or else, I thought you had some hidden supply of magic.”

“Please! I wouldn’t put that much effort into this.”

“Thought so. You didn’t look like you were trying to trick anybody. But still, it would make more sense if I knew that you were just chugging potions or some other trick...” Hudom looked conflicted.

Well, I didn’t say I’d pulled it off without any tricks.

It’s worth noting that shoveling snow was a task prone to accidents. Snow could fall off a roof to injure or trap the shoveler. On the flip side, shoveling snow off of a roof could lead to you falling and being buried in it. In addition to exercising caution and using proper gear, it was critical never to attempt snow shoveling alone.

Before I knew it, we had arrived at our destination.

“Let’s start around here,” I proposed.

“Aye, aye.”

Hudom and I began working in one of the residential streets that hadn’t yet been shoveled. First, Hudom opened the lids to the storm drains that lined the street.

“Same as yesterday, please,” I told the filter slimes I produced with space magic. They plugged the drains at either end. Then I brought out a jug and emptied it, pouring out the sewage and sludge slimes.

These slimes were once normal ordinary slimes with an affinity for poison magic before they evolved. The aqua slime evolved by feeding on sewage, and the mud slime on sludge. They both had the Release Stench skill, much like the scavenger slime. Otherwise, they were pretty much the same as the aqua and mud slimes respectively. Just as people had asked me if I was sure the ice slime wasn’t just a frozen aqua slime, these poor guys were destined to beg the question: weren’t they just aqua and mud slimes that had become dirty?

They were the product of—not to mention my greatest allies for—cleaning ditches. Since they fed on sewage and sludge, all I had to do was throw them into the storm drains and they would feed (and clean) on their own. With the proper infrastructure, they could even contribute to a sewage system and help with large-scale water reclamation. On top of that...

“Chief? You okay?” Hudom asked.

“Oh, yes. I’m fine!”

My train of thought was getting lost in slime applications again. I had a job to do!

Setting my brainstorming aside, I got to placing what I called solar-powered water heaters on the storm drains. These were made by attaching absorption boards onto copper pipes as long as the storm drains’ width. The absorption boards heated up on contact with light; I’d created them by mixing sticky slime hardening solution with the black powder I had once presented the gods with. These melted the snow we’d shovel into the storm drains, and they raised the water temperature high enough to melt even more snow, turning the drains into snow-melting tanks and drastically improving the efficiency of the snow clearance.

The thing was, these absorption boards were super simple. The board heated up when exposed to light, which then heated the water through the copper pipes. Personally, I thought there was still much room for improvement. Even if I couldn’t make them as elaborate as the proper solar-powered water heaters in the streets of Japan, I could get pretty creative with them.

However, I’d deliberated with Glisella at the Merchants’ Guild, and we had noted the following. The boards generated enough heat to start using them as is, especially when combined with light magic. Many non-mage workers, especially adventurers, at least knew the Light spell—the most elementary form of light magic—to use in lieu of torchlight. The simple structure of the bronze pipe allowed for the craftsmen in town to create them, which meant that they could be mass-produced. We’d formulated a plan to produce and place these contraptions all over town to make the snow shoveling more efficient.

We decided to hold off on improving upon the device, and the merchant’s guild requested mass production of the bronze pipes through the city’s builders. I would make as many heating boards as I could and lend them to the guild. Once the two parts were put together to make water heaters, the merchant’s guild would manage and train the snow shovelers to use them. I had only lent them the heating boards because it was an experimental contraption, no matter how much demand there was in the city. In the future (well, when I got Reinhart’s approval), I was thinking of using the properly engineered water heaters to build a public bath or something. The heating boards could already become hotter than a car’s hood in midsummer. After I’d made improvements to the water heater itself, a public bath didn’t seem like an impossible venture, especially if I could use an industrial stove in conjunction. I’d have to do some experiments and run some estimates to see if it was a viable business or not, but...

“There!”

Once we’d set up the water heaters, the rest was simple: manual snow-shoveling. We just had to scoop up snow in a shovel—the tip of which was fashioned from a hardening solution board—to move it from the street into the storm drains. Then the water, water heater, and slimes in the drains would take care of it. Any excess water passed through the filter slimes and down the rest of the drains. Made it easier to work with no chance of water back flowing onto the street.

Just then, an older lady stepped out of her house. “Oh, good morning!”

“Good morning, Miss,” Hudom replied as I continued to work.

“You’ve already shoveled in front of the house. You’re too sweet... I’ll get some of that snow off of my roof.”

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna climb up onto your roof,” Hudom said. “That’s too dangerous. I’ll take care of it.”

“Oh, no, sweetie. You’ve already shoveled the street. Besides, my legs haven’t failed me yet,” the woman said.

“It’s no trouble. Chief!” Hudom called.

“It’s really no trouble,” I said. “We’ve been keeping to the streets only because we didn’t want to trespass. If it’s all right with you, ma’am, we’d be happy to clear your roof as well. We have the tools for it.”

I’d once had a terrible experience with heavy snowfall in Japan. After that, I had spent some time researching any and all gear and methods to deal with snow. Now, I tried to recreate as many of those as I could remember. A tool I’d found particularly nifty was a sheet of metal, covered with waterproof fabric and attached to a pole. It was useful for cutting out a chunk of snow on the roof, which would slide right off and onto the ground.

“Besides, we’re in a state of emergency,” Hudom chimed in. “As long as you don’t mind signing a note, we’ll get paid from the guild when we report shoveling your roof. A fund’s been allocated for this, so it won’t cost you anything.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely. So let us take care of that for you,” Hudom reassured her.

“Then...I think I’ll take you up on that,” the woman said.

As we were prepping to shovel her roof, Hudom whispered to me, “She doesn’t like being treated like an old person, I think. Let’s keep that in mind.”

I wondered if that was why Hudom had mentioned the government fund—because he’d picked that up about the woman. He had brought it up without much of a segue, but she hadn’t seemed offended. Once, on a previous snow-shoveling day, one of the townspeople had demanded we cater to his every whim. Hudom had breezily dealt with him too. Hudom was often generous and kind, with a laid-back attitude. He had a keen eye for the feelings of others, and he knew how best to address them. The more time I spent with him, the more that became apparent.

“Speaking of, Chief, did something happen recently?”

“What do you mean?”

“Just got this feeling that...you’re starting to be on edge, like you were before.”

He really was perceptive. I didn’t think I’d let it show in my speech or demeanor.

“Just a feeling,” I clarified, “and I don’t plan going down the path I went down before. But I just...have a bad feeling.”

“I see. I thought things have been rather peaceful lately. Hadn’t noticed any prying looks. And with snowfall like this, I figured it would be sabotaging any plans they might have been cooking.”

“You may be right. But...if I was in their shoes, I think I’d make a move as soon as I was ready.” I tried my best to describe the feeling I couldn’t shake. “Um, it has been very peaceful lately. That’s exactly what’s bothering me. It feels like the quiet before a storm. Besides, we think they want to sabotage the duke. A personal grudge or something. Despite that, they aren’t going after the duke or his family directly—they’re working to hurt his reputation by unsettling the city. Of course, it could mean that they aren’t willing to risk a direct attack on the duke, because they don’t want the full force of the law after them. But what’s bothering me the most is that the orchestrator of this scheme, at least, doesn’t mind worsening the state of the city. I can’t help thinking they won’t hesitate to hurt innocent people to achieve their goal.”

“Yeah,” Hudom agreed. “It’s more than a nuisance to the residents. It was even more tense when I first came here. Heard about a lot of burglaries. Whoever it is, they definitely aren’t bothered by collateral damage.”

“Yes. Would someone like that just give up? I doubt it. Besides, they are not kept in check in Gimul, and Duke Reinhart has been furthering his pursuit in the capital. Not only is the enemy’s scheme failing, they are on the brink of being apprehended, for all they know. Talk about a cornered beast... I think it’s likely, very likely, that they are going to make a move, and they have no regard for protecting themselves anymore.” I only became more sure of this the more I put myself in their shoes. “The snow might have been an unexpected hindrance for them, but we’re caught up in dealing with it too. Knowing they can’t evade the duke for long, they may resort to a final gambit. I have no proof of any of this, though.”

Still, Hudom seemed convinced. “Very possible that they would strike if we gave them the chance. Okay. I’ll keep my guard up.”

“Thank you. It’s better safe than sorry, so I want to make sure we’re prepared. We’ve been requesting that each facility in the city review their emergency situation manuals. I think we’re doing all we can do for now. Like you said, things are relatively peaceful at the moment. We should at least enjoy it while it lasts. I’m afraid I may revert to how I was before without some kind of mental break.”

That was a massive cringe moment for me. I did not want to go down that road again. I was appreciative of Hudom for taking my hunch seriously when I couldn’t back it up with any tangible evidence. Thanks to him and my other confidants, I was able to remain as calm as I was, and not get into the state of mind that had led to my outburst.