#164 What Gushes Forth from Underground

The flow of events goes back and forth a little.

Letasreit, the former princess of the Human Kingdom, was the happiest about Horkosfon living with us on the farm.

“Yay! Isn’t this great, Holly? I’m so happy for you!!!”

She’s delighted as she can be.

Letasreit, who stood up for Horkosfon in front of Hades, seems to see herself in her, and for that, she feels incredibly empathetic towards her.

She has taken a huge liking to Horkosfon that she says, “Oh, I know! You’ll be my younger sister from now on! Feel free to ask me anytime if there’s something you don’t know or understand! I've been here longer than you, after all!”

She even acts like a senior even though she’s the second-latest newcomer after Horkosfon.

“Mees Letasreit, I'm afraid I must ask you to be quiet.”

Horkosfon has a peculiar intonation when she calls out the human’s name.

“I’m in the middle of learning the secrets behind making natto directly from Master.”

“....”

Letasreit pulls me towards her as we distance ourselves a little from Horkosfon.

“Hey. What was that all about? She doesn’t have as much respect for me as I thought she did.”

“Don’t ask me. I don’t know either...”

“I was the one who appealed to Hades the hardest to save her. Don’t you think she should at least be grateful and respectful towards me for it?”

“...”

I thought she has become a likable person, but Letasreit’s the same as before.

“Good intentions cease to be good intentions the moment you expect something in return.”

Though I guess it’s still a little better than asking for material compensation.

“You have a point. If I show her more and more of my cool side, maybe she will eventually have faith in me as her big sister!”

She’s trying to become an object of faith?

Dreaming is free for everyone, I suppose. I’ll leave her be.

“Master, I’m documenting the dissemination rate of the bacteria. Please indicate the most efficient ratio.”

“What? You can read that much into it?!”

Your abilities are so diverse, Horkosfon, it’s impressive.

“No, they’re still inferior to the sacred natto produced by you, Master. I would like to take my research into it further.”

“It's delicious enough as it is. You’re such a hardworking girl, Horkosfon.”

It's an outstanding and admirable thing to do, so I patted her on the head to show my commendation.

Letasreit was looking at me with a glum expression.

“She came here after me... Yet, she’s more liked than me!” she says.

“Come with me for a minute, Holly!”

Letaisret takes Horkosfon's hand and drags her someplace else.

“Where are we going? I’d still like to learn more about the secrets of natto making from Master.”

“I'll show you the field I’m making! I take care of it all by myself, you know? You'll understand my greatness once you see it!”

She wants to win the respect of the Horkosfon by doing so?

But does she remember what happened to her field?

＊　　　　＊　　　　＊

“...W-What?!”

Letasreit was at a loss for words when she arrived at where her field once was.

Not a single silhouette or shape of it was in sight.

Instead, what’s left is a hole so deep and wide that you can't even see the bottom.

Thanks to the hole, the field is now in utter chaos.

“This hole! This... Hole!!!”

That's right.

It's a hole that opened up after Horkosfon suddenly emerged from underground.

Of course, she’ll have to dig her way out after sleeping underground for four thousand years.

I wonder what were the odds for Letasreit’s personal field to be just right on top of it?

“Oh, right! My field is a mess! I totally forgot about that!!!”

One event after the other happened in succession after that.

It’s no wonder it slipped her mind. Now that she remembers, the mental damage she takes is doubled.

The hole that Horkosfon made to emerge from underground wasn’t very large in diameter, but it was enough to destroy Letasreit’s personal field, which was only about two tatami mats in size.

It's too deep to fill it up, so I guess we'll have to make another field somewhere else...

“It seems my misconduct has caused you some trouble,” says Horkosfon apologetically.

“No, what happened was a complete accident, so it’s not your fault...”

“I'll make up for it by putting this hole to good use. Deploying Mana Cannon.”

And with that, Horkosfon pulls out a tanky cannon from somewhere.

Seriously, where does she keep those things with her?!

...Oh well.

She points the barrel towards the hole, into the bottom of who knows how deep.

“Stratus analysis complete. High-mana plasma cannon, fire,” she says as she fires a huge beam towards it.

What in the world was that?!

As the earth shakes violently, a large amount of water gushes out from the depths of the hole.

“Huh?! What is going on?!”

“I calculated the water vein’s position in the strata and connected it by firing the plasma cannon.”

A water vein?!

So, it's groundwater?

“I am told that a lot of water is needed for farming. I was hoping this could be of help to you, Master.”

I see.

You're very competent for digging up a water well in one shot like that, Horkosfon.

However, there is one problem with using the groundwater gushing out as agricultural water...

“It’s warm.”

That's right. The groundwater gushing out of the hole is quite warm to the touch.

Actually, it’s more like hot water.

“...A hot spring?”

Did Horkosfon dig out a hot spring instead of groundwater?!

“Huh?! Um... I-“

Horkosfon starts panicking after hearing the truth.

It seems she's not used to making mistakes.

As for the other person with us...

“My field!!! Not only does it have a huge hole, but it’s also being flooded by the water coming out of it!!!”

Letasreit breaks down crying in front of her field, which is now beyond fixing.

Though it’s not flooded by any normal water, but by steaming hot water.

“Um... Please, forgive me!”

Even Horkosfon felt flustered towards Letasreit.

...Oh well.

We haven't planted the new seeds on it anyway, so we can make a new field somewhere else instead.