Chương 21: Water from the Deep

Karath assigned various chores to the underage orcs and made several rounds through the settlement to inspect their progress.

"Wow..." Every time he returned to the well site, the scale of the hole had become more absurd. By the time he began wondering whether they were digging a well or creating a black hole, a different sound echoed from beneath the shovels. Thud. The sound was unlike anything they had struck before. A moment later, water erupted upward through the bottom of the pit. If that had been black oil instead of water, Karath would have been set for life. Reincarnating only to become an oil tycoon had a pleasant ring to it.

Not that crude oil would have been useful in a settlement like this.

"W-water!"

"It really is a hole that produces water!" While Karath entertained those thoughts, the older boys who had rotated out of the digging began shouting in amazement at the incredible sight. To be honest, Karath was just as impressed. He had spoken with absolute confidence because he needed the orcs to trust him, but he had been an ordinary modern man who had never dug a well in his life. Seeing something he had only considered theoretically become reality gave him a strange feeling.

It was like writing a program from an idea in his head and watching it run perfectly without a single bug on the first attempt. Thinking about it that way made the situation far more frightening. A program written in one attempt without any bugs belonged in a horror movie. Regardless of Karath's feelings, the settlement finally had a well. The tribe had secured a stable source of drinking water. Groundwater continued surging upward and filling the pit the older boys had excavated.

The moment the adult orcs returned and witnessed the sight, the entire settlement erupted into celebration. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"W-what happened here?" Some orcs were so shocked that they began stammering.

"Keh heh heh!"

"Oooooh!" Others laughed heartily or simply stared in wonder. Every time another group of adults returned from the hunting and gathering they had postponed during the storm, the same reactions repeated. What followed was also nearly identical each time.

"As expected of Karath!"

"Krahahaha! That is the work of a male destined to become a great chief!" Praise poured over Karath. It felt as though an endless stream of messages were appearing before him. The tribespeople's trust has increased by one. Listening to their admiration naturally improved his mood. Perhaps it looked ridiculous for someone with modern knowledge to show off a crude achievement of civilization before primitive tribespeople. For Karath, however, their reaction mattered greatly.

He intended to transform the Bloodclaw Tribe and make its living conditions as comfortable as possible. Like every closed society, however, the orcs were deeply conservative. They valued tradition and preferred continuing what they had always done rather than accepting unfamiliar changes. To continue leading them toward something new, Karath needed to earn their absolute trust. Once he became chief, as Garlik's prophecy predicted, he might be able to force them to obey through strength.

As a child, however, that was impossible. He could not simply do nothing while waiting to become chief. Every new change he introduced therefore had to succeed. Each one needed to benefit the settlement so clearly that the tribespeople would think Karath could be trusted, or that anything he ordered was worth following. In that sense, the well had been a gamble. Karath had attempted it when the probability of success was highest, but what would have happened if no water emerged?

In the modern world, workers could have chosen another location or continued digging the same hole until they reached groundwater. In this primitive society, the absence of an immediate result might have caused the tribespeople's trust in him to collapse. Garlik might have called him a future chief, but at present, he was still only a child. His gamble had succeeded. How could Karath not be delighted?

"Krahahaha!" He surrendered himself to the excitement and laughed along with the others.

"Karath! Karath!" The adults repeatedly chanted his name. For a moment, Karath felt like a god. Perhaps this was the intoxication politicians felt during a successful campaign rally. Tap. Tap, tap. While he was enjoying the celebration, an unpleasant sound brushed against his ears. Droplets began striking the top of his head. Patter, patter, patter. Then an enormous volume of rain descended from the sky. The monsoon was not over.

"All children, return to your homes!" The chief had been grinning broadly at the well, but the instant he saw the rain, he began issuing orders.

"Goldin! Take everyone who returned from hunting and inspect the drainage ditches!" The ceremony celebrating the well ended before it could properly begin. The renewed downpour continued for two days without pause. After stopping for half a day, it returned and fell for another entire day. The cycle continued, with the rain stopping and starting repeatedly. In total, the monsoon lasted for three weeks. Fortunately, despite those three weeks of rain, the settlement suffered no flood damage.

The earthen houses constructed during the previous autumn survived, and the drainage ditches the orcs continually repaired throughout the monsoon prevented any major problems. The tribe had not merely escaped the flooding. They had also gained a well. More precisely, they had dug one. Now that the monsoon had finally ended, construction continued throughout the settlement. After learning the purpose and importance of drainage ditches, the orcs began repairing them as soon as the rains stopped.

Without asphalt, constructing channels durable enough to last permanently would be difficult. Still, the tribe intended to reinforce them as much as possible. That was not the only project underway.