"It's gotten pretty late, but now I can grow more green onions," I muttered to myself as I headed for the gate of my house.
Just as I was about to step over the threshold, I felt something like my "Sixth Sense" skill activating in my status.
A shiver ran down my spine. With an uneasy premonition, I turned around.
"Wh… what the heck is that!?"
Beyond the forest, the residential district was completely covered by a tall wall.
It was not just tall—it was the height of a castle wall or even a fortress.
And the material was clearly nothing but plain wood…!
I grabbed the handle of the cart loaded with "Gisu timber" that I had left beside the fence and started running like a draft horse.
"What on earth are they thinking!?"
When I reached the wall, its full appearance became clear.
The wall was built by stacking unpeeled, bare logs together, and the joints were all over the place.
Its height was roughly fifty meters by eye. It swayed unsteadily in the wind like a malnourished giant.
Every part of it was a blood-curdling sight just to look at.
The work scaffolding was a complete mess, and it was a miracle that no one had been injured yet.
Feeling my stomach turn cold, I rushed into the residential district.
On the stage, Weiss was giving orders in every direction like a commander. I shouted at him.
"Weiss! What are you building!? The houses aren't even properly made yet, and now a castle wall…!"
Weiss completely misunderstood my panic.
"Hmph. For the servant of a sage, something like this is as easy as brushing my teeth in the morning."
"No! Stop the construction right now and dismantle the wall!
Otherwise something terrible is going to happen! Look! The wall is already shaking just from the wind!"
"Haa… this is why dropouts with only one point in 'Intelligence' and 'Culture' are hopeless.
This is called an 'earthquake-resistant structure.' It disperses the vibration by swaying."
"This isn't earthquake-resistant at all! It's just a sloppy structure!
You're waving around half-baked knowledge and putting everyone's lives in danger!"
However, Weiss did not seem to realize even slightly the seriousness of what he had done.
He shrugged his shoulders and laughed as if he were exasperated.
"Leopin, I understand what you're thinking.
You're making a fuss about something that hasn't even happened yet because you want a little attention, right?
Are you going to cry 'the wolf is coming' next?"
The students who were still working around us burst into loud laughter. "Wahahaha!"
I realized it was useless to say anything more, so I turned my back on Weiss and started running.
"If it's come to this, at least Monaka and the others…!"
I headed for Monaka's house in the center of the residential district. Monaka and Kotone were standing under the eaves.
The moment they saw me pulling the rattling cart, both of them broke into smiles as bright as blooming flowers.
Monaka's smile was bright like a flower blooming under the sun, while Kotone's was gentle like a flower blooming under the moon.
"Ah, Leopin-kun! I heard from Kotone-san! You made Kotone-san your apprentice, right? In that case, I also…!"
"Monaka-sama, did you not just say earlier that you received embroidery instruction from Master?
That means Monaka-sama is my senior apprentice."
"Senior… apprentice?"
"Yes. Monaka-sama is the first apprentice, and I am the second."
"Ehh!? Me being Le-kun's number one? No way!"
Monaka's cheeks stayed loose with excitement even as she fidgeted. I urged her on.
"Never mind that. We're going to build a fence around this house right now! Got it!?"
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"The wall around us is going to collapse! If it falls outward it might be okay, but if it falls inward it will be a disaster!
With a fence here, the damage to this house will be kept to a minimum! At least I can protect you two!"
Without waiting for Monaka's answer, I began working.
The residential district was divided into sections by class, and Monaka's "Class 1-2" had been assigned quite a vast plot of land.
I unloaded the "Gisu timber" from the cart and quickly set the logs upright one after another along the outer perimeter of the land.
Monaka and Kotone stared at me blankly like sisters as I worked furiously.
"Um, Le-kun…" "Um, Master…"
""Is there anything we can help with…""
"That's fine. You two go tell the other students to take shelter inside this fence!"
There was also the option of evacuating them to the school building, but there were no classes today so the school building was closed.
Evacuating them outside the residential district would be quite dangerous because many people would have to pass near the wall.
"That's why this house has to become an ark…!"
My desperate wish must have gotten through, because Monaka and Kotone ran around helping.
The two girls, who were usually graceful and never lost their composure, called out until their voices were almost hoarse.
"Everyone! Leopin-kun says the outer wall is about to collapse!
It's dangerous, so please take shelter in my house!"
"Everyone! Master's words are never wrong!
Please trust Master and evacuate!"
The appeal from the academy's two great beauties drew many eyes, but the moment they learned I was involved, the crowd lost interest and drifted away.
"Tch, what now? That trash guy is doing something worthless again…"
"And he's dragging not only Monaka-sama but even Kotone-sama into it…"
"There's no way the wall designed by the wise Weiss-sama would collapse!"
"Exactly! Between the words of the sage and the nonsense of an unemployed loser, there's only one thing to believe!"
In the end, the only ones who took shelter inside the completed fence were…
Monaka's Class 1-2, Kotone's Class 1-19, and the alchemist Akemi's Class 1-6—only these three classes.
Even their own classmates did not truly believe me. They only came because their leaders told them to, and they looked reluctant.
We went up to the second floor of the house and watched what would happen from the window.
"Leopin-kun, it really is going to collapse, right!? If it doesn't, I'm demoting you to horse bones!"
"And not even usable ones—bones from a worthless nag."
Monaka's attendants Onesko and Shinobuko were irritated.
"I'm not hoping for it to collapse.
But the wind gets strong around here at night, so the wall probably won't last even one night."
Not even one night—the moment came almost immediately.
The wall, swaying like a starving giant, finally…
…go… go… go…!
It shook violently with a sound that made the sky tremble.
…gu… ra… aa…!
It tilted forward as if to cover the entire residential district in darkness.
It broke at the base midway, and logs like the giant's knees rained down.
…dogwaaa… shaaaaaaa———————n!!!!
A thunderous roar like a mountain collapsing rose from all directions, and a cloud of dust like a mushroom cloud billowed up.
Logs poured down like an avalanche and swallowed the students of the residential district in an instant, before they could even scream.
A muddy torrent of logs and earth surged toward this house with a rumbling sound.
The female students watching from the window clung to each other and shrieked, "Kyaa!?"
But the raging wave was stopped by the breakwater I had built.
The residential district, which had been at the height of false glory, turned into a sea of rubble in a single moment.
Everything fell silent. The house we were in floated like a ship drifting across a submerged planet.