Chapter 196: Big Splash

Rino finally left Cypress County and returned to town Zera. The earth gnomes were sleeping by the time he arrived in the wee hours of the morning. Only those on patrol and third shift were still around and greeted Rino.

The lich headed straight to the river where his stone hut was constructed. He saw how brightly lit the area was and how beautiful the three huge mounted water wheels looked.

The dam was constructed exactly how Rino wanted. The genesis fairies must have worked together to complete the complicated set of earth and water rune seals Rino passed to them. He checked the array twice and nodded in approval that everything was exactly how it was meant to be.

Unlike normal dam designs that require a draining area and catchment area, Rino's dam designs borrowed the power of dark magic and extra space. Based on the measurement of water on the dam wall full of magical spells, the water would either enter a storage catchment area created using spatial magic powered by the magic tree in Town Zera, or it would be released back into the flowing river to help move the three big waterwheels.

If the water in his spatial dimension overflowed, the second set of spells would send that water to the lake Rino's reservoir beneath Spudville got its water from. He already told Kragami to set a spell in his reservoir in Spudville to redirect its water to the swamp in Cypress County if the limits overflowed. That was the third preventive measure. If even Cypress County flooded, Rino told them to redirect everything towards the sea. He still hasn't set up the marker for the water to flow out to the sea, but Rino thought of putting those dwarven sewer systems to use.

The systematic splashing of water sounds brought an unusual sense of tranquillity as Rino inspected his unfurnished stone house. The stone cottage by the river was raised a good distance from the ground as part of the earth gnomes' consideration for raising river water levels during rainy seasons, and Rino didn't mind it too much. They were located in a valley, and flash floods could happen.

Maybe he should hasten with that sewage system link as soon as possible.

From outside, Rino did not realise just how long his stone cottage was. However, once he was inside, he realised that this stone cottage was much longer than he thought it would be.

More importantly, Rino liked how Deezer and Bink incorporated his stone furnace idea at one end of the house and a kitchen at the other corner, complete with storage arrangements. They must have heard about the butter churn process from Zes and made adjustments to the build accordingly. Rino loved a good initiative. If he was still a professor, these boys were getting distinctions from him!

The middle part of his stone cottage was completely barren, and Rino wondered what he would do with this third water wheel. If the first was for smithing hammer and the second for grindstone, the third wheel… Rino could think of some uses for it going down the road. Maybe he would find something useful for it.

The water wheel design was simple, and Rino decided to relax by taking a dip in the river. He removed his boots and let the water flow between his toes, kicking lightly and listening to the splash it made while the water wheels slowly turned.

The earth gnomes chose to follow the water wheel design followed an angled wooden plate that would cause the giant wooden wheel to turn when the water pressure built up and pushed it along. Although Rino wasn't around during the testing stage because he was in the dwarven mine, the earth gnomes periodically sent him updates via Sheila, who relayed the message using the master and slave bond.

The gnomes worked hard and tested many types of wood during the prototype building stage. Bink even took the initiative to make a trip down to the sawmill in Cypress County to mill some wood samples. Eventually, they decided on cypress wood because it was lighter than jungle wood and more water-resistant.

Now that things were starting to stabilise, Rino found himself not having too much to do. He could use this time to relax a little more and unwind instead of chasing the deadline. In all honesty, after experiencing the divine punishment once, Rino had a feeling nothing else would faze him in the future. There was no need to work so hard if the gods were the ones who were desperate. Their urgency wasn't his urgency.

Splash!

A sudden wave of water covered Rino in water from skull to tailbone. Even if his clothes were waterproof, the shock still made him activate some defensive spells out of reflex. The lich only relaxed a little when he heard giggling from the perpetrators hiding behind some rocks by the river.

Rino narrowed the suspects down to only a few people in Town Zera who would dare do such a thing. Sheila and the trolls were simply not daring enough to play pranks on him. It simply wasn't in their nature.

The earth gnomes were too tired to try, and the killer rabbits did not have water magic. Nobody else in this Town had water elemental magic apart from the fairies, and Rino prepared some water pellets to return fire. If these bored genesis fairies dared to play a prank on him, they should prepare to be pranked back.

Not one to let something go easily, Rino returned fire with a volley of water bullets. The fairies giggling behind the rock shrieked when the rock exploded and quickly returned fire while conjuring a shield.

Sometimes the catalyst for a major war did not need to be a big one. In this case, all it took was one big splash before Rino declared it an all-out water war between him and the genesis fairies.

Nobody played fair, and Rino scowled when they called for reinforcements. Rino left Town Zera for quite a while, but the Genesis tree did not stop producing new fairies every few days. As Rino's powers grew, the speed of multiplying also increased. Although the number of genesis fairies did not come anywhere near the number of contracted fairies Rino had in Noir Province, it was still daunting enough that Rino was forced to go on the defensive.

Not all the genesis fairies who came to support their sisters were able to use water magic. It soon became a four-elemental magic assault on Rino, who was forced closer towards his stone river cottage. Using the most familiar spells from his past life, Rino held the arcane shields steady to prevent his new cottage from getting damaged under the coordinated fireballs hurled from the sky. He also used nature magic to grow vines, imprisoning as many fairies as he could.

The genesis fairies fought valiantly even as Rino took them down quickly. Chanting an area-wide sleep spell and casting a mid-level illusion simultaneously, Rino dodged ten water bolts aimed for his head.

His spell took the fairies by surprise, and more than half of the remaining forces dropped out of the air with snores or in a trance. Rino carefully cushioned the impact with vines he grew from nature magic.

The leader of this war was no other than the four-elemental genesis fairy that Rino remembered from the first batch. She might not be able to evolve into a sylph, but she was the strongest among all the genesis fairies. Rino must admit, her battle strategy was rather clever. They had the element of surprise and the advantage in numbers. She knew just how to draw out the maximum potential of her sisters.

Sadly, she was up against a twisted ex court magician who knew the dirtiest tricks in the book. Rino did not go all out on them the way he did when testing Noir Province if they could defend themselves. He did not turn into a wyvern, but he did not let the fairies think it would be an easy victory.

"Use the magic array!" the four-elemental fairy shouted, and the remaining fairies quickly dispersed.

This time, Rino wasn't quick enough to catch them. He did not know what she meant by 'use the array', but he had a feeling it was going to be bad. As the designer of the array, he knew what it could do. As the installers of the array, these fairies knew how to unwire it.

"Stop!" Rino commanded, but it was too late. The fairies quickly activated it, and Rino heard the dam rumbling before he saw it.

Gurgle! Gurgle! Blub! Blub!

Everything downstream was covered in unnecessary water, and things that were not properly secured were swept away in the huge wave. It was so huge that not even the four-elemental fairy was prepared for it.

Rino tried to swim, but the bones did not provide any buoyancy, and he sank while watching the hundreds of genesis fairies get swept away by the huge current. The river turned into white rapids, and Rino had to use shadow tendrils to secure the genesis fairies, forcefully teleporting them to safety while he manipulated the water around him to prevent himself from getting swept away completely.

Coughing and spluttering, the genesis fairies and Rino lay by the river bank completely exhausted, as Kamiya and his clan hurried over to check on the commotion.

"We-we lost…'' the genesis fairy leader panted, but Rino disagreed.

"We'll call it a draw for tonight. You're welcome to launch a sneak attack on me anytime, but I expect the damage to be fixed tomorrow."

Groaning when she assessed the damage caused by the untimely release of the dam gates, the fairy let her head fall back onto the moist river bank and played dead. Rino only laughed and shook the water out of his skull. He needed a bath now.