The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 90: The Golden-Eyed And The Youko (4)

The raindrops gradually thickened.

It could no longer be called a squall with how much it was raining. This was the weather phenomenon commonly referred to as the monsoon season.

In these parts, the monsoon was a precursor to typhoons. Some Youko’s realized the signs of disaster and began packing in a hurry.

The first thing to pack were the necessities, to fill their bags with preserved foods and beddings. Furniture, livestock, and miscellaneous things like necklaces or rings were nothing more than luxuries. It was better to pack one more bundle of bottled water than take something like that.

And the most important thing–the scroll for disaster-use.

Covering oneself with a rainproof scroll prevented hypothermia to an extent due to getting soaked by rain. Similarly, the windproof scroll helped to maintain balance and not stumble in most winds by strengthening the connection between the ground and body.

One by one, the residents who’d used these scrolls came out into the torrential rain. I watched them in my raincoat.

Ten, twenty, thirty.... I could hear them counting the number of women, children, and the elderly in the distance.

After a while, the first evacuation procession was formed. A few of the stronger youths were to lead the weaker ones towards the eastern lands. This line included Freyr’s mother.

Before they left, Freyr shared a tight hug with her mother. Then the brat walked back to where I was and spoke with a face more calm than ever.

“Let’s go.”

We headed in the opposite direction.

Towards the river on the verge of flooding.

Shaaaaaaa.

The closer we got, the heavier the sound became. I couldn’t tell if it was the rain or the belching of rapid waters but either way, it wasn’t nice to hear how muggy it sounded.

“It’s from here.”

We arrived at the designated spot. Freyr and I pulled up our sleeves and looked down into the muddy current of the river.

The torrent swallowed up all sorts of trees and soil and flowed down from the north to south. Our goal was to prevent some of it from coming onto land.

“Do you know how wide this river is?”

“How much?”

“1.3 kilometers.”

We had to set up a barrier along this river that was wider than the Han River.

And on a rainy day like this, within a day if possible.

[You’re really trying to pull off something crazy.]

They’d have screamed that it was impossible if this was Earth.

But not here.

Here in the Ahrens continent, there was a completion method called magic and transmutation.

“Let’s check the materials first.”

“Cement, limestone, sand, water, mix design, mana grass and lighter.... I think we have everything.”

Earthwork was part of Earth Magic.

Experienced Earth Mages could construct a 5000-unit apartment in a single day. They were like this world’s version of 3D printers who could print anything if given the material.

Freyr was a genius who was way ahead of such mages, the monster who could make tokamaks or anti-tank missiles if she had the mana, materials, and blueprint.

Kugugugu.

The transmutation spell unfolded using materials from nature. At Freyr’s gestures, a massive dirt wall was built next to the river that was about to overflow at any moment.

“How much dirt should I use here?”

There was dirt all around us, but using it carelessly would have the opposite effect of destabilizing the foundation. In other words, too much is as bad as too little.

So, it required a delicacy to build the embankment with the appropriate level and thickness. That is, we had to perform what was commonly known as ‘optimization’ in mathematical statistics.

The process of optimization was my job.

Arms crossed, I ran the simulation in my head.

I applied the flow equation at this point and reverse-calculated the expected precipitation. Then I used that data to predict the force of the current when the river flooded.

“More than two meters and seventy-three centimeters with the current mix.”

“Okay.”

And obtained the thickness strong enough to hold for exactly two to three weeks.

Predict, build, suck on mana grass and move onto the next location, then rinse and repeat. Freyr and I constructed the barricade around the Youko village for several hours.

[What in the world is.... no, I suppose you have to be this skilled to be a technical advisor.]

“What?”

[No, it’s nothing.]

Anyway, we were almost done.

“I’m tired, Aether....”

“We’re done once we finish this side.”

“Really?”

I put a stick in Freyr’s mouth and lit it for her. She was about to die of exhaustion from using the same spell hundreds of times, mana-deficiency imminent.

Still, she had to do it. Eyes haggard, Freyr moved her hands. An eleven-meter tall barricade shot up like it was going to pierce the skies.

“Aaugh.”

In the end, Freyr went limp like clothes on a clothesline as soon as she finished. I quickly picked up the brat and got away from the riverside.

I ran through the forest for who knows how long. At some point, I could hear steady breathing coming from behind me.

“Oh, you’re already back?”

“We finished earlier than expected thanks to how well she did.”

We were able to join the last group after running like crazy. The guy and girl who’d picked on Freyr that first day were also here.

They saw Freyr fast asleep and made embarrassed faces.

Our group also sped up, and it wasn’t hard to catch up with the Youko who went ahead. I was able to confirm that Freyr’s mother, who I’d been most concerned about, was also fine.

I didn’t know how many days we walked like this through the forest.

The sound of something bursting with a thud could be heard in the distance.

We moved even faster in response.

As we barely emerged from the forest that had raged with rain and wind, a low hill appeared.

Well, it was actually quite the large plateau to be described as low.

It rained about the same here, but it was significantly less windy than the village where the Fasstrand Tribe lived.

“I thought there’d at least be some weeds here, but it’s completely barren.”

“It’s the tragedy of the commons1. The grass dries up since other nomadic people take turns using it.”

“Still, it’s open so we needn’t worry about flooding.”

The Youko unpacked and set up tents, which supplied the shelter portion of necessities.

The next was food–there needed to be something to eat.

Having used up so much energy, Freyr and I opened canned foods and took swigs as soon as we entered the tent.

“Drinking first thing?”

“Hey, when I was younger, all the water got contaminated when the floods happened so I survived off of alcohol for days!”

That sounds like something an addict would say.

Freyr quickly finished off a bottle. The inside of the tent started to smell like alcohol and the distinct scent of wild animals.

“This kind of thing used to taste disgusting back then....”

“Alcohol does tend to become sweeter when life is bitter.”

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

I also drained my glass and let out a sigh. Perhaps it was due to overexerting myself in the past few days, but I felt bloated.

At least my head was clear. It was like feeling fully conscious while my body was limp.

Maybe I was just relaxed from knowing that I’d somehow avoided the worst case scenario of Freyr and her mother dying.

Freyr knocked back a few more glasses and just passed out like that. The kid went over to the corner where her mom was and curled up to sleep. In the meantime, I smacked my cheeks to sober up.

I couldn’t let down my guard yet.

This typhoon wasn’t the end. We had to survive six more equally intense storms to get out of this situation, so I needed to stay vigilant until then.

I rechecked the flow equation and decided to focus on predicting the path of the typhoon instead of the amount of precipitation.

Weather forecast was something that only a supercomputer was capable of. The funny thing was, it was doable with this body.

“Shit.”

According to the calculations, we’d have to spend about half a month here.

This was all I could do practically; I had to trust the Youko for the rest.

This wasn’t their first flood so they’d have the necessary measures.

That was also why the youths started a meeting in the biggest tent regarding what should be done next.

“Fortunately, we have enough food to last us three weeks. However....”

“Yes, this storm won’t end with just one.”

Seven typhoons, and only one of them had passed.

They couldn’t do anything outside until all of them passed by. There’d be no hunting or gathering either, since any animals that could be used for meat or the trees with fruits would have been swept away by the currents.

The best that could be done would probably be collecting rainwater and boiling it for drinking.

“With things as is, there won’t be anything to eat even if we return to the village.”

“Should we move somewhere else altogether?”

“It would be the same everywhere else so where can we go?”

This eastern region was called a ‘corridor’2 in terms of geopolitics.

A little to the left was the Demonic Lands swarming with high-level Beasts.

Going back to the right led to the Philut Empire.

At this latitude, the territory of beastkin was sandwiched between these two regions. They could at least head north or south, but those were the territories of other tribes.

“We’d have to fight wherever we go.”

“Ugghh.”

It was a simple yet difficult problem to deal with.

Still, this should be something manageable using my ability the way Vermel suggested.......

“What should we do?”

“Is there any good way?”

In response to the question, someone raised their hand and spoke.

“Since it’s come to this, let us raid the Saliere County.”

Who the fuck is that.

1. "The tragedy of the commons is the concept which states that if many people enjoy unfettered access to a finite, valuable resource such as a pasture, they will tend to overuse it and may end up destroying its value altogether."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons2. "A narrow tract of land forming a passageway, as one connecting two major cities or one belonging to an inland country and affording an outlet to the sea"https://www.dictionary.com/browse/corridor