Chapter 53: solving water problem of village

The fifty wagons were completely empty now, their grain sacks stacked neatly inside the public storage barn under Victor’s watch. The village families had finally eaten a real meal, and for the first time in months, the small houses did not feel completely full of despair.

I did not go back to the palace to sleep on luxury pillows. I stayed right in the middle of the settlement, sitting on a bench near the local smithy. Suzy sat right next to me, her long legs stretched out as she watched the small fire burning inside the forge. The close space between us felt very comfortable, her bare arm brushing against mine whenever she moved.

"The water is the biggest bottleneck, Barry," Suzy said, her voice dropping into a serious tone. "The elder told me their central well went dry two summers ago. Right now, the women have to walk three miles to the mountain stream just to bring back two buckets of water. Without a real supply line, the clover and grain fields will never grow."

"Then we will build a proper channel layout," I said, pulling up my internal menu in the air where she couldn’t see it.

’System, open the local geography log. Scan the water lines from the mountain down to this settlement.’

[System Network Log: Scan complete.]

[Source: Mountain stream located 3.5 miles North.]

[ Problem: The natural path is blocked by rock debris from an old landslide.]

[ Action: Clear the debris to open a clean gravity feed down to the fields.]

"Perfect. Now show me the local tool options," I thought. "I need a tool design that can cut through this hard land without breaking like their wooden tools."

[Inventory Update: Metal-Tipped Turn Plow Design selected.]

[Feature: Reverses the lower soil layers to bring fresh nutrients to the surface.]

[Material Required: 200 pounds of raw scrap iron.]

"Let’s go talk to the local maker, manager," I said, standing up and fixing my cuffs.

We walked straight into the smoky smithy. An old blacksmith with a messy grey beard was sitting on an inverted crate, his hammer resting on the anvil as he looked at us with a doubtful face. He had spent his whole life making basic nails for the royal tax collectors, and he didn’t think two capital bosses knew anything about real field work.

"You want tools?" the old blacksmith grunted, not even standing up. "The old supervisor took all our good metal months ago. I have nothing left but rust pieces and scrap rods. You can’t farm this hard ground with wishes."

"I don’t deal in wishes, craftsman," I smiled, stepping up to the forge.

I opened my hand, using my system inventory to drop three bars of premium raw iron straight onto his workbench. The old blacksmith jumped up from his crate, his eyes popping out as he touched the clean, smooth metal with his hands. He had never seen such high-tier material in his entire life.

I picked up a piece of charcoal from the bin and drew a quick, simple line design straight onto the surface of his anvil. It showed a curved metal plate that sat right on the nose of a plow, designed to cut deep into the ground and flip the hard earth over completely.

The blacksmith stared at the drawing, his jaw dropping as his doubtful expression vanished. "This... this shape will actually turn the lower dirt over. The horses won’t get stuck in the clay. How did you think of this layout?"

"It’s just basic structural efficiency," I said, taking off my black coat and rolling up my shirt sleeves, revealing my strong muscles . "Now stop staring and grab your hammer. We have twenty of these units to make before dawn."

Suzy stood by the door, her eyes wide with total shock as she watched me—a former snake and a high-tier Ascendant expert—grab the tongs and start working the bellows, my face getting covered in soot as the fire flared bright. A beautiful, laughing look showed in her eyes, her face turning a tiny bit red as she watched me working side-by-side with the old craftsman in the smoke.

By the time the morning sun come, twenty brand-new, metal-tipped turn plows were lined up outside the smithy. The old blacksmith was completely exhausted, but he gave me a respectful nod, his complete trust fully earned.

"Now for the second phase," I said, wiping the sweat from my forehead as Suzy handed me a clean cloth. "Let’s go fix the mountain stream."

Suzy, Victor, and I led a group of fifty strong village men up the steep mountain path toward the northern ridge. After an hour of hiking through the brush, we found the problem. A massive pile of boulders was blocking the natural stream path, forcing the fresh mountain water to divert away into a useless rocky ravine instead of flowing down to the village fields.

"The men can’t move these rocks with bare hands," Victor said, looking at the giant boulders. "It would take a month just to break them down with picks."

"I am the muscle of this company, Victor," I smirked, stepping right up to the biggest boulder.

I gathered my mid-stage Ascendant energy into my hands, letting the yellow force swirl violently around my foot. I didn’t use a weapon. I simply drove my bare hands straight under the base of the three-ton rock, braced my feet into the ground, and lifted the entire massive boulder clean off the path, flinging it twenty feet away into the deep ravine.

Crash!

The fifty village men shrieked in total awe, dropping to their knees in pure submission as they watched my physical strength. Suzy stood at the path , her heart racing fast against as she looked at my broad back and strong muscles.

Within ten minutes, I had cleared the entire rock pile from the path. The mountain fresh water instantly burst through the open gap, roaring down the new channel we had cleared, flowing straight down the hill toward the dry fields of Oakhaven.

The village workers let out a massive shout of pure joy, realizing their families would finally have an endless supply of clean water right at their village. They looked at me and Suzy not just as rulers, but as the actual saviors of their lives.