Reset Life – Chapter 144

Chapter 144: I will follow your orders! (3)

“Risel, you……”

“Don’t tell me……”

“Are you crazy?”

“Get a hold of yourself.”

“We’re bound to lose, Hyung-nim.”

“Agreed.”

Hmm. I expected this, but I didn’t think all six of them would attack me consecutively like this. Is this what they call being of one mind?

“Aren’t you all being too negative? And the bet has already begun. It’s a bit sad that no one believes in me.”

I slumped my shoulders, but even if I did this, none of my friends would comfort me or change their attitude to believe in me. That fact is both pleasing and sad, making it quite a strange feeling.

As if to eloquently express my thoughts, Aila criticized me.

“You should learn to do your own work. And take responsibility for it yourself. But this is truly reckless. What are you thinking? Ibi-unni, open Risel’s head. Let’s see what’s inside.”

“Aila, Levidian doesn’t look in the mirror very often.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Because if you open my head, you’ll only find Levidian inside.”

Levidian’s face caught fire, whether from dryness or not, I don’t know. Looking at her flushed face, Aila turned her head away in disgust.

“Lucy-ssi, don’t you have something fiery for him?”

“Ooh, that’s a good idea. Choose from number 1 to 12.”

“Let’s do them one by one, every two hours. Let’s see if he still spouts nonsense after being tormented all day long.”

“Indeed. That’s a good method.”

I realize it now, but if Aila and Lucy join forces, something terrifying might happen. Until now, Aila hasn’t joined forces with Lucy to tease me, but if she does…… Ugh, I’m scared.

I waved my hands to calm the atmosphere.

“Now, now, let’s stop joking around.”

“Oh my, who said it was a joke?”

“We’re serious, my friend.”

“Let’s deal with trivial matters later.”

So, please don’t nitpick endlessly. I sighed deeply and looked at them.

“So, you all think I’m going to lose?”

“Not necessarily. You’ve never done anything foolish before. But isn’t this too much? To say that it will rain on a specific date, and that it will be a torrential downpour that will be classified as abnormal weather. And even specifying the date. This is a prophecy. It’s beyond the realm of prediction.”

“That’s right. It’s not a range of dates, but you specifically said June 8th. There’s a limit to being reckless. If you had just specified a range of dates, I would have believed you.”

The others nodded in agreement with Levidian’s words. I said it to drag Dregorn into the bet, but it seems I gave the impression that it was too disadvantageous for me.

This is a definite success. I’ve even fooled my allies, so fooling the enemy will be a piece of cake.

With a confident smile, I stood up and approached the desk. Under everyone’s gaze, I pulled out a document from the desk drawer.

“There’s a peculiar tradition in the Eastern Army. Other armies don’t practice it because of its uncertainty, but somehow, it’s a custom that has been passed down only in the Eastern Army. It’s calling a skilled fortune teller to tell fortunes about the weather. Predicting the future is quite difficult, but sometimes it’s accurate. This is the weather predicted by the fortune teller I called.”

Of course, this document is real. It’s also true that they tell fortunes at the headquarters, and it’s also true that it’s a custom unique to the Eastern Army.

Originally, soldiers don’t believe in fortune-telling. They have a habit of not touching anything uncertain in the first place. But in the Eastern Army, they do it sometimes, very rarely.

It seems my words have convinced them. They all look as if they’ve been struck.

Aila also looked as if she was wondering if I believed in the results of the fortune-telling. In fact, the fortune teller who predicts the weather is quite skilled.

I held up the document and read it.

“June 8th. Heavy rain will fall, causing flooding in Atzuma and southern Atzuma. This is what I’m preparing for. And I’ll reap some additional benefits as well.”

Trust has finally returned to their eyes. They clearly believed that I wouldn’t do things half-heartedly. Receiving that trust, I smiled confidently.

“With this, I’ve won the bet.”

Everyone present was satisfied.

Including myself.

June 8th, Imperial Year 376.

If a sudden downpour had started, covering the clear, cloudless sky with dark clouds and blocking the sun, it would have been more enjoyable.

But natural phenomena aren’t so fickle that heavy rain clouds gather overnight.

Dregorn, who finished the construction five days ago, seemed very pleased. As a congratulatory gift, I dumped the liquor I had been saving in front of the 1024th Cheonbyeongdae encampment, and he seemed to think of it as a bribe.

Please go easy on me even though I won the bet, something like that.

It was an act that clearly seemed to have that purpose, even to others, and Dregorn’s behavior became increasingly arrogant.

The next day, looking at the clouds that had formed for the first time in months, he didn’t seem to connect the bet with the clouds.

That evening, he drank all the remaining alcohol.

The following day, the clouds doubled, and a mass of clouds could be seen approaching from the horizon. As the wind started to blow strongly, he got irritated and went into his tent to sleep.

And the day after that. Clouds gathered from all directions. I wonder what he thought, seeing the endless army of clouds rolling in from beyond the horizon.

According to rumors, he was still bluffing, saying it was still alright.

Two days ago, the sky was completely covered with white or gray clouds. But it still hadn’t rained.

Not only the soldiers, but everyone in the city knew about my bet with Dregorn.

Since then, people’s main activity was staring at the sky, and they developed a habit of quickly extending their arms halfway and looking up blankly whenever water splashed on them.

Yesterday. The gathered clouds gradually darkened, and the blue that disappeared from the sky seemed to be moving onto Dregorn’s face.

I silently ordered each Cheonbyeongdae to prepare for the rain and also ordered a final inspection of the waterproof facilities we had built so far.

The wind blew even stronger, and all the flags began the hard labor of dancing without rest.

It was at this point that my order, which had been ridiculed the most, to produce a lot of glue and asphalt, finally gained enthusiastic support.

Citizens applied the asphalt, which was distributed along with water, to every corner of their roofs, and soldiers, excluding the 1024th Cheonbyeongdae, quickly implemented rain measures for the camp and the city. They were truly serious.

People were eager to talk about the bet, and even Sispa twitched the corners of her mouth as she came in to report.

I quietly ordered the 1024th Cheonbyeongdae to relocate their base.

And the morning of June 8th arrived.

People would have realized that morning had come, and at the same time, that morning had not come.

The dark clouds that hung heavily in the sky boasted their depth, as if they couldn’t get any darker, and the sunlight, reduced to the level of dawn, didn’t penetrate the city at all.

Thinking that I wouldn’t be able to do this for a while, I had tea time with the First Swords right after breakfast. Naturally, Dregorn didn’t attend.

After lunch, while I was having tea with Levidian.

Finally, raindrops began to fall.

Life isn’t a drama, so I couldn’t feel the dramatic mood, but because it wasn’t a drama, we were able to prepare sufficiently, so I’m satisfied.

With a peaceful and warm heart, I watched the raindrops fall on the windows, walls, trees, roofs, grass, and the entire world.

I also watched a soldier enter, wearing a raincoat.

“I haven’t lost yet. It’s raining, but we don’t know if the river will overflow.”

Dregorn’s voice only had the confidence of someone saying that bread isn’t food.

The blue sky that had disappeared a while ago was clearly visible on his face, allowing me to smile as if greeting a welcome friend. It’s a shame he couldn’t see my face because he was looking down.

I quickly changed my expression to a neutral one.

“Report?”

“Nothing.”

“It hasn’t been long since you moved your base. Have you finished reinforcing it? If not, proceed with the reinforcement based on your judgment.”

Since I was in the middle of writing an announcement to lift all the drought countermeasures, I probably looked quite businesslike. I could see Dregorn hesitating in front of me.

Glancing up, I got the impression that he was stammering. I put down my pen and placed my clasped hands on the desk.

“First Sword Martin, do you have something to say?”

“How…… could you know it would rain……”

“You can predict the future by combining past statistics and current research. It’s called insight. Anything else?”

“I haven’t lost yet……”

“Anything else?”

I looked at him with an emotionless expression and sharp eyes. He seemed to have nothing more to say and bit his lip.

Well, this must be the first time for him to experience something like this.

Of course, I would have set a date range that was convincing even without the headquarters’ document. But the situation helped me.

“Nothing.”

Dregorn clenched his fists and lowered his head.

All he has left is the faint hope that the river won’t overflow…… but he probably doesn’t think that I, who guessed the date of the rain, wouldn’t be able to predict the amount of rain.

Even though it’s become difficult to use the future due to the countless things I’ve done since I reset and the unknown situations that have arisen, natural disasters don’t change.

Come to think of it, time itself offers many opportunities for exploitation.

This wasn’t the first time I’ve used time to hit someone, so I was able to feign an indifferent attitude.

“If you have nothing else to report, return to your unit.”

“Yes, Sudo-nim.”

It was a declaration of surrender. He called me ‘Sudo-nim’ himself. He saluted weakly and turned around.

I wanted to smile, but I decided not to.

“The bet isn’t over yet. If the river doesn’t overflow, you win. Namias will say so.”

That High Priestess will definitely say so.

The condition of the bet I mentioned was that I would win if the river overflowed. However, Dregorn only glanced back at me briefly and left the office without saying a word.

“Hmm, he seems disheartened. I hope his leadership and combat abilities don’t decline.”

It’s practically a win for me, but my current worry was genuine. If he becomes greatly disheartened by this and it leads to a weakening of the overall strength, there’s no point in having the bet.

“He’ll recover on his own.”

If a superior could cheer up a subordinate just by ordering them to, soldiers wouldn’t be human.

I shrugged and continued writing the announcement, using the falling raindrops as music.

June 15th, Imperial Year 376.

Splash!

I can’t even tell if it’s the sound of the river flowing or the sound of the rain flowing.

Even though the river is flowing 400 meters away, considering the massive amount of water, it wouldn’t be strange to hear the sound from here.

It’s been a week since the rain started.

I wonder where they’re coming from, as rain clouds continue to gather, and the rain keeps pouring down.

The sky is black everywhere I look. And hazy.

I think if you gathered this rain for just one second, it would be incomparable to all the drinking water we used during the drought. It wouldn’t be wrong to feel the powerlessness of humanity before Mother Nature.

“I wonder if the dike will hold.”

“We dug out the riverbed significantly before building the dike, so it won’t easily overflow around here. It’ll be more serious further down.”

“I wonder where we’ve reached with the areas we could manage. First Sword Toledo, are the refugees still coming?”

“Yes. They’re continuously arriving. It seems they’ll keep coming even after the heavy rain ends.”

“Should we request disaster relief funds from the central government…… Rather than that, we need to defend this place. Hmm.”

The dike, completed thanks to the enthusiastic work of the 1024th Cheonbyeongdae, made the other side of the road completely invisible.

Although we couldn’t realize the ambition of filling the entire inside of the pipe road with water because the exit was too wide, it seems we’ve achieved about half of it.

Seeing the water surging like a lake in the distance makes me very happy……

First Sword Toledo seems to share my concerns.

“The backlash will be tremendous if it overflows.”

“The barrier down there might collapse. Hmm, First Sword Luxilen, what do you think?”

First Sword Luxilen, who was looking at the opposite dike through a telescope, thought for a moment and then spoke.

“If the rain continues like this for another fifteen days, it will likely collapse.”

“Fifteen days…… It’s been a week since it started raining, right? It might barely hold.”

I don’t know the exact date the rain will stop, but I remember it rained for about fifteen days. Then, we need to assume from June 8th to June 25th at most.

Well, fifteen days from today is June 30th, so even including the margin of error, the date is generally correct.

I looked at the dike across the water and commented.

“It’s almost a reservoir, if not a lake. The water keeps overflowing, but it’s fortunate that it hasn’t completely collapsed. Was it designed with that in mind?”

“Yes. If the goal wasn’t to completely block the water, we focused on allowing some overflow to keep the water at a moderate level.”

“Excellent, First Sword Luxilen. If it weren’t for that idea, the dike would have already collapsed. First Sword Aranas, is the barrier under the city sturdy?”

The female First Sword, who seemed buried in her raincoat, probably because she had brought the wrong one, said energetically.

“It’s sturdy. It can withstand another ten days of rising water, Sudo-nim.”

“That’s a relief. If it doesn’t collapse, we can dismantle it and recycle it as a barrier.”

“Yes. We’ve increased its durability with that in mind.”

“Keep an eye on its maintenance. First Sword Exofi, how’s the upstream flow?”

“It’s flowing as planned without any problems. However, the water level is continuously rising, and it will reach 1 kilometer in front of the city soon.”

“That’s dangerous. Divert the water eastward. First Sword Luxilen, assist First Sword Exofi.”

“Yes, Sudo-nim.”

After the bet with Dregorn, the four First Swords completely obeyed my orders. To be precise, they changed their minds after seeing me manage the city before the bet.

Needless to say, the bet incident was the decisive factor.

I glanced at the fifth person positioned behind them.