11 - nine episodes of water

Spin the magic hand auger to dig a hole. Digs a large hole two meters in diameter.

Spin it around and store it. Spin it around for storage. Spin it around and store it. Repeat. Mindlessly digging a hole.

"Yuta. Good work. You can dig so deep in such a short time.

"Ah, Sylphy. The hand auger is great, so it's easy to dig. What's more, what's wrong?

"No. I looked in the hole and saw that it was dug very deep, so I just came to check on it.

I look up at Sylphy's words, and the hole in the ground looks much further away. Is it about fifty meters deep?

"Yes, it is. They're digging pretty deep. But there's no sign of water coming out at all.

"Hmm. Looking at the surrounding soil, the soil is dead, so there will be no water. How much more are you going to dig?"

The soil is dead. ...... That's a scary word. I wonder how bad a fight happened, if they smashed through the bedrock in two places and the soil is still dead. That's too crazy.

"The soil is still dead. We're going to dig as deep as we can. If the soil is dead, I'd like to get to where it's alive."

"Digging to the limit?　It's scary because you never know where the limit is."

In Japan, when they dig for hot springs, they go over 1,000 meters. Fifty meters is still a long way. What I want to come out is water. But if it comes down to it, a hot spring is fine. I don't want to use oil.

"I wouldn't push it too hard. I'd like to dig at least to where the soil is still alive, but ......"

"Just try to do it in moderation and don't overdo it."

"Yeah. It's not too hard on me physically, so I'll be fine, but I'm going to try my best to take it easy."

I'm afraid of running out of oxygen as the hole gets deeper. I'd like Sylphy to send the wind into the hole, but he said no direct cooperation, so I don't think that'll be possible. Well, if the hole is two meters in diameter, air will be able to get in.

And since Sylphy came down on the wind, the air will be stirred up by itself, which is a big help. I'll ask her to come down here sometime.

"Hey Yuta! How are you going to get out of here in the first place?"

"Hmm?　If the water doesn't come out, we'll release the stored soil to fill the hole and get out. Once the water comes out, I'll dig a spiral staircase up the wall.

It's a lot of work, but I'd be happy to get out while digging the spiral staircase.

"You've thought this through. I'm glad."

"Sylphie. You don't think I'm stupid?　I'm thinking about it."

I don't think you're stupid. I was just a little worried. I'm sorry."

Oh, wow. That's cute.

"Thank you for worrying about me. It's a nice change of pace. I'd appreciate it if you'd check in on me sometime."

"Yes. But he's coming next. Don't be mad at her if she makes a fuss."

That girl ...... is a young genie. She's cheerful and fun, so it's a nice change of pace to have her here.

"I won't get mad, but I'm afraid the walls will fall down if she makes too much noise, so tell her not to make too much noise."

"Oh, that's dangerous. Don't worry, I'll be very careful.

Please."

I leave Sylphy and go back to digging. Spin it around and put it away. Spin it around and put it away. I wonder how many more times I have to repeat this.

**

"Kya-ha-ha. Kraaaay."

While I was absorbed in digging a hole, I heard laughter echoing from above. A young genie came to play with me. It's dark ...... yeah, it's dark. I was so absorbed in the work that I didn't pay much attention to it, but it was so deep that no light could reach me. Let's turn up the light anyway. I magically launch a ball of light.

"Oh, that's awful!"

A young genie rushes in from the other side of the light ball. Can you stop at that speed?　I brace myself to catch it as it looks like it's about to ram into me. How does the mass of a genie work?

While I was preparing myself, the young genie suddenly slowed down as if she stepped on the emergency brake, and floated in front of me. Genie is amazing.

"Yuta. How are you?"

"Oh. I'm full of energy."

"A lot. A lot."

What's the fun in that? I have no idea where the child's point is.

"Are you happy to dig holes?"

He stopped and asked me a question. I couldn't keep up with how fast things were developing.

"Oh, yeah. It's not fun. I'm digging a hole because I need water."

"I see. Water is important."

He puts his hand on his chin and nods his head. Do you understand?　Somehow I think he's just imitating someone else. I can't help but feel like I'm just trying to copy someone else.

"That's right. Water is important."

"The wind is great, too."

"Yes, the wind is important, too."

The pride of the wind spirit. For now, I pat her on the head and give her good things about the wind. Wind was so happy to be praised that he smiled and flew away at a high speed. He is going to report this to Sylphy. Now that we've had a change of scenery, we can resume digging.　

Spin it around and put it away... Spin it around and put it away. After digging for a while, the soil coming up from the spiral turned into rocks. It's bedrock again.

There is no need to change the force you put into the hole. The magic hand auger is amazing. It digs harder and harder, rolling up the rocks. The bedrock is quite thick this time.

The rock that had been coming up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up, and up. We are finally through the bedrock. While digging a hole and storing the soil, I suddenly feel something strange.

I looked at the soil carefully and found that it was not the dry reddish-brown soil I had seen before. It was replaced by the blackish soil I had seen in Japan. As I dig deeper, the soil turns into sand mixed with pebbles. When I picked up the sand, it was slightly damp.

I slowly turn the hand auger while suppressing my excitement. After several turns of the hand auger, the water started to seep out of the sand with great vigor. Just to be sure, I turned the hand auger half a turn more and stowed it away.

I was so happy that I was about to start screaming, but I forced myself to hold back because it would be a disaster if I shouted too loud and the hole collapsed. When I try to fill the empty plastic bottles with water, I notice that the water that has gushed out is muddy.

I remember that wells had to be built with stones and gravel and a filtration tank or something like that ...... and you had to wait about overnight for the turbidity to settle .......

The tension that had been rising at the sad reality suddenly fades. Don't be sad. The water came out, so the danger of drying up and dying is far from over. Unless this water is poisoned, we can get it with a little more work.

The water is already rising up to knee-high. That's very promising. Think positive. We got water. It's so deep that it's hard to even come back for water, but at least we can hold on for dear life. As I was struggling to keep myself together, Sylphy was right in front of me.

"The water came out..." she said. Yuta, that's great! What is it?　You're not well after all that water. What's wrong?"

"Ah, Sylphie. I'm not down, I'm just glad you've got some water. But I'm feeling a little blue because of all the practical things that have come up, like the fact that the water is too muddy to drink right away, or the fact that I'm not sure if the quality of the water is okay, or the fact that it's so hard to get here to fetch water.

"Ha-ha, that may be solved depending on the water here."

"Hmm?　Sylphie, what's going on?"

What's the best way to do it?

"I told you before. You told me to set up the environment. I'll bring a water spirit to you, and if he settles in, some of the problems will be solved. Well, he may not like it and won't live there, but he will at least clean the water to make sure.

Oh, spirits are wonderful. Just cleaning the water would be a big help.

"That would be great. Please do."

"Yes. I'll get him in the morning. In the meantime, Yuta, hurry up and build the stairs to get out of here.

"What?　Why do you have to be in such a hurry?　If you don't hurry, you can still make it by tomorrow morning, right?"

"I don't mind if you take your time, but the sun will be up in a couple of hours. The zombies and skeletons are going to start moving, and it would be bad if they fell into the well. Do you want to drink water from a well that a zombie fell into?"

Zombies churned up. ...... is nothing but the worst. We need to get out of here and plug the hole.

"We'll do our best. Sylphie. Nice advice."

"Hmm. I think that's a good idea. Good luck."

Sylphy returns, and we hurry to work on the spiral staircase. I carefully saw the wall into a staircase shape to prevent it from collapsing.

I make the staircase carefully, because I don't want it to fall down. It is difficult to make a spiral staircase in a circular well. This time, we repeat cutting and storing, but it is easier because we know exactly where we are going.

The fear that no matter how much we dig, the water may not come out must have put a lot of pressure on us, because it is directly related to our lives.

I repeatedly cut and store the water, and in between, I deal with a little girl spirit who came to play with me. I can't stop my work because of the time limit, but the young genie cheers me up and tells me to do my best without being foolish. It made me feel a bit warm inside.

With the support of Sylphy and the young genie, I managed to make it to the ground. It was dark outside, but it had been only about twenty minutes since sunset, and the zombies had yet to appear.

The well is sealed up by placing the rocks we cut out when we built the base on top of it. It was a pain in the ass, so I'm glad I cut a bigger piece of rock.

"Yuta. What are you going to do after this?"

"Ah, I don't know. You'll bring the water spirit to me tomorrow morning, right? I'd like to rest around here, but there are no rocky mountains nearby because of the ...... marshy area. I don't know what to do."

"Then you should make a place to sleep on the big rock that is blocking the well. We don't have to drill a hole that big if we just want to sleep, right?"

"Oh, Sylphy, you're a genius."

"Tensai."

Next time, we can cut out as large a section of the rock pile as we can and build a room to create a mobile base. I can only dream.