The royal capital’s pipe works

 
 ”Urgh, what a pain.”
 
 While Dowal, Zamasu and the lot were conspiring at the stadium, the Abane Group’s craftsmen were about to start roadworks elsewhere.
 Complaints had been coming in from the neighbours about the poor water supply. They would have normally left something like this alone, but they thought it would be troublesome if the citizens started making a fuss about the problem after Wirk left, saying that it was caused by Wirk’s absence.
 
 ”Tsk, it’s this cobblestone pavement that’s such a pain.”
 ”And it’s even hard under the pavement.”
 
 The roads in the royal capital were paved with a specially constructed magic cobblestone pavement using magic architecture. Mancrete is also under the pavement, which is far sturdier than old-style paving.
 Normally, you would work on this kind of paving after a cut has been made using a special magic device called a magic cutter.
 However, they had no such knowledge and naturally, no such tool. Therefore, they used hammers and other tools to break the pavement with brute force.
 But it was obvious that this method would result in a mess afterwards.
 
 ”Ah~, I somehow broke it. Can finally see the soil.”
 ”But what we gonna do with all this crushed cobblestone?”
 ”Hehe, I have just the thing.”
 
 One of the craftsmen brought a board with a cobblestone-like design on it.
 
 ”With this, you just need to put it on the soil after we done. It also doesn’t take much time.”
 ”Genius! You’re pretty smart!”
 
 They seemed to think that the plank was a revolutionary idea, but of course, planks and cobblestones do not have the same strength, and what they prepared was thin plywood.
 
 ”Oi! This ground’s weird. It’s filled with crushed stones!”
 
 One of the craftsmen who were digging up the ground complained. By the way, those were magic stones used as crushed stones.
 
 ”Tsk, what the h**l, that exiled Wirk was doing some really dishonest work, huh? He was trying to inflate the budget to the limit by sloppily packing in stones, wasn’t he?”
 
 The craftsman that shrugged his shoulders was greatly mistaken. The crushed stone made of magic stones, called magic crushed stone, was also properly included in Wirk’s budget.
 This is because it was an important material for before one makes a road. It reduces the vibrations in the road, and the effect of the magic stones even allow for the permeability to be adjusted in order to prevent flooding in case of heavy rain.
 But to these craftsmen, it’s just ordinary stone, and so, they mistakenly treat it as such.
 
 ”Hah, fiiinally dug it out. Why’d he bury it so deep?”
 
 The craftsmen complained, yet although they complained that it was deep, the water supply pipes along the road were at most under about 1.2m of soil. However, they didn’t know where the pipes were located. That’s why they had to dig wide and had a hard time.
 The management of the laid pipes had been done by Wirk, but he was exiled, so it was inevitable that the king and ministers couldn’t take over.
 Although, if they had taken a better look around, they would’ve noticed that there were stakes driven in on the sides of the road. And the colour of the stakes indicated approximately how far down the pipes were buried, but the craftsmen had no way of knowing that.
 
 ”Pipes finally showed up.”
 ”But, which one is what?”
 
 The pipes were found after digging up a wide road, but there were two pipes next to each other, spaced about 50cm apart.
 
 ”This one has a tag saying “magic”?”
 ”What’s that? Er, just break it anyway.”
 
 The craftsmen hit the pipe with a banging noise using hammers and pickaxes, and broke the pipe.
 
 ”What? There’s nothing inside. WHat’s this mean?”
 ”I see.”
 
 Though they all had confused faces, one person muttered with a convinced expression.
 
 ”You get it?!”
 ”Yeah, basically that Wirk guy had the nerve to claim construction costs for pipes that didn’t have any meaning.”
 ”I see. So this is embezzlement too.”
 ”Seriously, he did a really dishonest job.”
 
 The craftsmen nodded their heads in agreement, but they were wrong. The pipe they just destroyed and checked the contents of was a magic conduit, and it is because of these that the magic equipment in each house worked without problems. However, magic power is invisible and can only be sensed by a magician of a certain amount of skill. That’s why they didn’t notice it. Although just because that’s the case, in the first place, it’s still wrong of them to have broken it.
 
 ”How do you shut off the water?”
 ”For now, we’ll break this remaining one that’s probably the water supply.”
 
 The craftsmen now bash the other pipe with a banging noise using hammers, pickaxes and axes. Doing that would naturally break the pipe and cause the water to gush out.
 
 ”Oi! Water’s flowing out at a tremendous rate! What do we do?!”
 ”Smash it quick! Smash the pipe!”
 
 They somehow reduced the force of the water by crushing the end of the broken water supply pipe.
 
 ”Jeez, that was unexpectedly low-quality. The pipe leaked just from breaking it.”
 
 The craftsmen wiped their chins, disgusted. However, it’s natural that water would gush out if the pipe is destroyed before the sorcery gets engaged.
 Normally, if water pipe works needed to be carried out, the water should have been temporarily stopped by operating a valve. The pipes also have that function.
 Although, the valves are lockable for safety retention. It requires a special key, but because Wirk, who was managing it, was exiled, the kingdom has no clue where it is.
 Even the water, if it was Wirk, he would have skillfully put up a bypass for the water to flow using magic architecture techniques, so as to not cause an inconvenience due to suspending the water supply.
 
 ”Oi, what’s happening, the water stopped!”
 ”Come on, I can’t do the dishes!”
 ”The bath isn’t filling!”
 
 It’s natural, but the water stopped, so the citizens in the neighbourhood came to complain.
 
 ”What do we do?”
 ”Well, leave it to me. Er, sorry. Because the previous Wirk guy did a worthless job, we’ve no choice but to cut the water for a bit.”
 ”That Wirk?”
 ”He really brings nothing but harm.”
 ”If that’s so, then just do it quickly please.”
 
 As the citizens were convinced for now, they turned back. Sighing in relief, they prepare the water supply pipes for replacing.
 
 ”This is the magic asbestos pipe?”
 ”Yep. It’s the best material, cheap and easy to install.”
 ”But how do we attach these?”
 ”We’ll do it by shoving it in from the top.”
 
 They first shove the prepared magic asbestos pipe over the crushed pipe. After that, a hole was made on the top of the pipe, and then the crushed pipe was broken and water poured out.
 
 ”Alright, now there’s no problem with the water.”
 ”As expected of us.”
 ”It’s a perfect job.”
 ”But it’s leaking?”
 ”Don’t let it bother you.”
 
 The pipes were not firmly attached to each other, and they have holes in them. It was natural that water would leak out, but they thought it wasn’t a big deal.
 
 ”Refill it.”
 ”Oi, but those stones are turning into sand for some reason!”
 
 When they looked, the magic crushed stone turned into sand. This is a characteristic of magic crushed stone. After being in the soil for a long time and adapting to the soil, the magic crushed stone turns into sand once it’s dug up. That’s why it was necessary to replace the magic crushed stone with new ones.
 
 ”Well, just fill it as it is. But the sand won’t be enough.”
 ”Then fill it with garbage instead.”
 ”You finished the sewage pipe there?”
 ”We easily did this one a while ago.”
 ”Huh, there’s no pipe in there!”
 
 The craftsmen checked the sewage pipes, but somehow they were missing.
 
 ”We didn’t prepare any from the beginning. Think about it, will you? Why do we need pipes for sewage in the first place? Why don’t you just let the filth sit in the ground and it will take care of itself?”
 ”You — are a genius!”
 ”I didn’t think of that.”
 ”But then why did he bury sewage pipes?”
 ”Fufu, that’s the same as the rest. You see?”
 ”Oh, you mean this is —”
 ””””””””Embezzling the construction costs!””””””””
 
 They were in agreement. Of course that couldn’t be true, but they completely believed it.
 Thus, the roadworks destroyed the magic conduit and they replaced the water supply pipes with magic asbestos pipes, which is harmful to the human body. Additionally, the pipes have holes in them, so if they got refilled, soil and gravel would be mixed in with the water.
 As for the sewage pipes, there aren’t even any pipes in there. That means that a large amount of the royal capital’s sewage would accumulate at this location.
 Even though it was refilled, the roadbed isn’t even stone paving, but plywood. They had no way of knowing what problems this would cause later on…
 
 
 ◇◆◇
 
 
 While everyone had fallen asleep, I got out of bed once and went to check on that little animal.
 
 ”Koo~ koo~”
 
 Yup. You’re sleeping well. You don’t seem to be in pain, so I don’t think there’s a problem. I’m glad the medicine’s working.
 I leave the room and drink some water. The water gets drawn, so I can drink water whenever I want. Come to think of it, it’s about time the pipes in the royal capital needed to be replaced. I couldn’t even go hand it over since I’m exiled. Do you think they know how to turn the valves off?
 Nah, surely they’ll manage at least that much somehow. Though it’s true that I was in charge of most of it, it is a pipe that’s been around since long ago. They’d surely not be foolish enough to break the pipe just because they didn’t know how to close it. The magic conduit is also buried nearby, but it’s clearly marked as a magic conduit, so they can’t accidentally drill a hole into that one.
 Now, let’s get some sleep. I crawled back into bed where everyone else was sleeping. For some reason, everyone wants to sleep together. Well, the fluffy feeling is pleasant.
 Then just as I fell asleep again —
 
 ”Gyaooooooooooooooooooooh!”
 
 Such roaring cries and large footsteps were approaching…