While looking over the scanned images of the Principality's underground structure, the members of the Jin Family exchanged thoughts.
"Is this bedrock layer around two to three hundred meters underground the original surface?"
When Jin spoke, Saki nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, most likely. The twenty meters or so above it was probably the native topsoil."
"Which means the Progenitors piled soil on top of that."
Jin remarked as he studied the screen.
"Did the Progenitors want to turn this area into a granary belt?"
Hanna asked, tilting her head.
"Given the climate, that's probably the case."
Reinhard offered his opinion.
"It's only reasonable to assume they planned to do something about the precipitation."
Elsa voiced her own perspective as well.
"Knowing the Progenitors, bringing about localized rainfall should have been well within their capabilities."
"That's true..."
With a clean energy source like free ether at their disposal, Jin figured it would have been simple enough for them to direct moist oceanic winds into the upper atmosphere and chill them to generate clouds.
"Still, that means the plan was abandoned halfway through, doesn't it?"
Reinhard let out a sigh.
"And the ones paying the price are the people living today."
"It's really no laughing matter," Jin remarked with a wry smile.
"...So, as we suspected, this line here is an underground aquifer, right?"
Jin pointed at the screen to double-check.
"Yeah, looks like it. That channel used to be an ancient riverbed."
Saki answered. The section that appeared to have once been a river originated from Lake Yato, maintaining a steady downhill slope all the way to the sea.
"And since there's a permeable layer right here, digging a well will definitely tap into water."
Saki stated with absolute confidence.
"All that remains is figuring out how much water can safely be pumped out."
Reinhard seemed concerned about the risk of land subsidence.
"Let's have Taisei scan it a bit deeper....Taisei, if you would."
"Yes, My Lord. Right away."
Having followed their conversation, Taisei immediately initiated a scan using the Underground Scanner.
Thirty seconds later:
"The current flow rate is approximately thirty tons per second."
"T-That's incredible."
Jin recalled that the tourist discharge from the famous Kurobe Dam was roughly ten to fifteen tons per second.
A volume twice that amount was substantial, to say the least.
"In that case, drawing around twenty percent of it should be perfectly safe."
Reinhard said, sounding relieved.
Jin reflected that someone seasoned in managing a territory would naturally watch out for such potential pitfalls.
"Well, let's keep in mind that we shouldn't draw more than six tons per second from this water system."
Drinking and domestic water alone would hardly exhaust such a massive supply.
"Still, if they start diverting it for agricultural use, it might run short."
Jin noted that he would prefer they rely on magi-devices that turn seawater into freshwater for that purpose.
"In that case, we should look into building irrigation reservoirs as well."
Reinhard offered a practical suggestion in line with his background.
"Though that poses its own problem, doesn't it? Magi-devices that turn seawater into freshwater can only be used in coastal areas, and those areas aren't the ones facing water shortages."
"Hanna's right. There are plenty of ways to go about it, but we can't overstep either."
They had learned firsthand that if they provided too much assistance and that helping hand was suddenly withdrawn, civilization would quickly backslide. Deciding where to draw the line was essential.
"Shouldn't we table that discussion for later?"
Rodrigo chimed in.
"Our goal right now is to analyze the subterranean structure beneath us."
"...You're right."
Getting sidetracked was simply an occupational hazard for an engineering nut...
"So the mineral veins are located beneath this bedrock after all..."
"Looks like it."
With that, they resumed their analysis.
"The bedrock seems fairly thick."
"Though there are some thinner patches, aren't there?"
"It would be wise to map those locations out."
"Agreed."
Following these suggestions, they decided to draft a map.
"Still, I'd rather not just hand this over to them as is."
Jin said.
"Though if we visit each country and get commissioned for water surveys, I suppose I might consult the map just to make my own job easier."
"Haha, having a plausible pretext like that works just fine."
Reinhard chuckled and nodded at Jin's reasoning.
"Next, how about this area?"
Jin pointed to a region near the foot of the mountains rising to the east of the Kingdom of Mimaka.
"Kufu, for some reason, there are several untouched ore deposits here."
Saki peered at the scan results, looking puzzled.
"They probably poured all their resources into agriculture, leaving them with no bandwidth to develop mines."
Jin offered his theory.
"Yeah, the Mimaka Principality has a short coastline and seems to have the least arable land among the Four Principalities. It makes sense that their living standards wouldn't be very high."
Reinhard had also deduced the internal affairs of the Mimaka Principality, reasoning out why their mining development had lagged behind.
"Yet there are magi-stone deposits here, and over here... manganese, maybe? And tin as well."
Hanna observed, studying the deposits.
"Tin and manganese could serve as valuable exports to bring in foreign currency."
Tin was in high demand for tableware, while manganese was essential as an additive element in producing alloy steel.
At the base of the mountains, Jin figured the Principality's current technology would be more than sufficient to establish operational mines.
"Let's log those potential mining sites too."
"It looks like there's plenty we can help with, Onii-chan....The trickiest part is going to be the water, isn't it?"
Hanna was clearly giving it some thought, but as expected, there was no simple fix for the shortage.
Well, if they threw restraint to the wind, a few extreme options did exist—though all relied on sheer brute force.
Like hauling water by spaceship to drop from the sky, or using ultra-high-pressure pumps to force water inland...
"Still, installing a water supply network sounds like a great plan."
Hanna said.
"It will take time, but it's guaranteed progress."
"That's true..."
While securing the source remained an issue, building out a proper aqueduct network would drastically improve their water situation.
"Well then, shall we explore that angle a bit?"
When Jin floated the idea:
"Yeah, sounds good to me."
"Mm, agreed."
"Let's look into it."
"Kufu, sounds like fun."
Everyone voiced their unanimous support.