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Chapter 32 - Road Construction (3)

"Father, isn’t the construction almost finished?"

"Yes. We just need to pave the road. Stay alert. If Aslan Vermont tries anything, it’ll be today."

Count Arient ground his teeth as he surveyed the busy construction site.

The foundational work was complete, and all that remained was paving the road. Yet, Vermont had shown no signs of interference, only occasionally visiting the site to check on progress.

Each time they visited, it set the Arient workers on edge, unable to sleep and filled with anxiety.

They never knew when or how the unpredictable Aslan Vermont might act.

‘No tricks? Was he really just a fool?’

However, as time passed, Count Arient started feeling like he was worrying over nothing.

Maybe Aslan Vermont really didn\'t grasp the value of the road construction rights he had given away for free.

It was incomprehensible, but if one thought simply, it seemed possible.

Trying to understand a fool’s logic was the mistake here.

Count Arient was about to breathe a sigh of relief when...

Rumble!

"What was that!?"

"It seems like a small earthquake. We should temporarily evacuate and resume construction afterward."

The ground began to shake with a rumble akin to a dragon’s roar, causing rocks to tumble down. Workers quickly evacuated the site.

"Why now, of all times, at the final stage?"

"It should settle down soon."

"Alright, it’s calming down. Everyone, what are you doing? Get back to work and let’s finish this!"

The earthquake subsided.

How much time had been lost because of that tremor?

Workers returned to the site and began pouring cement to resume the paving work when...

Rumble!

"Another earthquake? This is driving me crazy!"

As soon as they started, the ground shook again, forcing another evacuation.

The moment they attempted to resume work, the earthquake would strike perfectly on time.

"It seems today is not our day. Let’s try again tomorrow."

"Agreed."

Ironically, once the workers withdrew, the mountain stayed calm with no further tremors for the rest of the day.

The next day, it remained quiet until they tried to start the paving work, triggering another earthquake.

Repeatedly, the paving stage was disrupted by these perfectly timed tremors, driving Count Arient to the brink of madness.

"Damn it! This isn\'t natural! Is it the work of a spirit?"

It seemed like the mischievous work of a rogue spirit.

If the tremors were minor, causing only a few falling rocks, they could have erected fences and continued working. But the tremors continued persistently.

"Let’s see if the spirit can win against us," Count Arient ordered the workers to continue despite the tremors.

"Ahhh! Huge rocks are falling!"

"Who said you could evacuate? Keep working!"

"We’ll all die at this rate, Count! Stop the work!"

"Damn cowards...!"

The mountain responded with an unprecedented earthquake.

A brief 10-minute tremor injured many workers and damaged most equipment. The quake intensified until all the workers evacuated.

Who knows how much stronger it could have become if it had continued?

Many workers, terrified, started skipping work without notice.

"Damn it. We’ve invested so much in this road. If we don’t finish, we’re ruined! Heijik!"

"Yes?"

"Find a Spirit Master immediately! We need someone to appease that spirit!"

"Father, hiring a Spirit Master starts at a billion lark."

"A billion lark is nothing compared to repaying the entire investment if we breach the contract!"

Three days later, after paying a billion lark, a Spirit Master arrived at the site.

The Spirit Master, Lilia, disembarked from her carriage with a yawn, clearly annoyed.

"Spirit Master, please drive away the spirit disrupting our work!"

"Ugh. I hate working in such remote places..."

"I’ll pay an additional billion lark if you finish within three days!"

"Hah. Three days? I could earn two billion lark with other requests in that time."

"Th-Then I’ll pay two billion lark..."

"Wait here. Most spirits can’t resist my command. Once I find it, it’ll be quick."

Lilia Brydel, known as the most skilled Spirit Master in the Empire, was no ordinary hire.

Rather than wasting time with less competent Spirit Masters, Count Arient had decided to call in the best from the start.

Lilia advanced, detecting mana traces in the ground, followed by Count Arient and Heijik.

Suddenly, she stopped, as if she had found something.

Had she already located the spirit?

It hadn’t even been an hour since she arrived.

"Did you find it?"

"Shh. Quiet. I’m rechecking the mana residue. Something’s strange. Why are the readings so high?"

"What do you mean?"

"The readings are way above normal. Even Great Spirits don’t usually have such high levels. It must be a measurement error. Let me check again... Huh? Why is it the same?"

Calculating the mana residue in the soil, Lilia found no errors despite several checks.

\'Wait a minute. Can this much mana be real?\'

This was enough mana to split a mountain.

Ah, so that’s why the mountain was split?

The entire mountain range, because of a single spirit...?

"Huh?"

Lilia looked up and stiffened.

Crushed by an invisible pressure, Heijik and Count Arient froze in place.

"What’s going on?"

"A-Ahh."

Confused about what was happening, Heijik and Count Arient didn’t understand, but Lilia saw it.

A massive brown spirit stood before them.

The size wasn’t the issue. Spirits, unlike earthly objects, were not bound by gravity and atmosphere, allowing for immense size.

Many large spirits weren’t particularly powerful.

\'This enormous spirit approached me without me noticing?\'

The mystery was how it reached Lilia without her sensing it.

\'To hide its presence from me, the continent’s best Spirit Master, and possess the power to split mountains...!\'

Lilia’s lips trembled as she summed up the facts.

This spirit was undoubtedly a Great Spirit.

[Unknown spirit, kneel before me.]

Lilia’s command rang out.

The great brown spirit didn’t budge, even directly exposed to the command.

The spirit was immune to Lilia’s command.

Boom!

"Eeek!"

Annoyed at being commanded, the Great Spirit stomped the ground, displeased.

Lilia was quickly disheartened.

[Leave.]

"Y-Yes..."

"Wait! Where are you going?!"

"How can I drive that away? I’ll refund the billion lark tomorrow, but don’t call me again!"

"..."

Lilia fled without looking back, leaving Count Arient in despair.

Now what about the construction?

***

"Arient is in trouble."

"Did you foresee this, young master?"

"Not at all. How could I have known there was a Great Earth Spirit sleeping in the mountain?"

Everything was unfolding as I had planned.

Arient began by cutting through the mountain and stabilizing the ground, only to be repeatedly thwarted by the Great Spirit at the final paving stage.

‘The great earth spirit dislikes the pollution of its mountains.’

Cutting the mountain and stabilizing the ground was fine.

The Great Spirit might have been annoyed but tolerated it.

But pouring cement over it? That crossed the line.

Unable to hold back, the Great Spirit disrupted the final stage of the construction.

It’s a simple reason, really.

But Arient would never guess the reason behind the spirit’s anger.

They had no one capable of communicating with spirits.

"So, if we let Arient fail, the construction rights will revert to us. Julia can deal with the Great Spirit, and we’ll finish the final paving. Did you plan this from the beginning?"

"..."

Sylvia looked at me in shock.

Half right and half wrong.

Indeed, if left alone, Arient would miss the deadline and go bankrupt.

Arient would collapse, and the Count’s family would be penniless.

But that would be problematic.

"We can’t let Arient fall. They’re our neighbors now."

"Oh! Despite their initial rudeness, you plan to forgive them..."

"The more bustling the towns near the road, the higher the traffic. If they go bankrupt, they won’t just hand over the construction site. Knowing them, they’ll ruin it just to spite us."

"Ah, I see."

Sylvia’s expression shifted from impressed to stern.

Of course, that makes sense.

"Let’s go. It’s time to renegotiate with Arient."

"Renegotiate?"

"Let’s save them from the brink of bankruptcy. That way, we can bleed them dry later. Hahaha."

"Wow..."

I’ll slightly tweak the contract.

Instead of refunding the investment without interest, we’ll keep it indefinitely but increase the interest rate to 50%.