(First and foremost, water. If we don't secure water, we're dead.)
Eiji retied the hemp sack and headed toward the well.
"Eiji?"
"I was thinking I might be able to fix the well. You can take a break."
"No. I'm coming with you. If there's anything I can do to help, I want to."
Yuna readjusted her grip on her hemp sack and followed after him.
The well's rim was built from four tiers of stacked stone. The mortar between the joints had crumbled away, but the stones themselves were still intact. Eiji placed his hands on the inner rim and peered down. He couldn't see the bottom.
He picked up a pebble by his feet and tossed it into the center. A dry clatter echoed back after two beats. There was no splash.
He pressed his palm against the rim's stonework. Relicta Inspectio triggered naturally.
Stone masonry. Collapsed twenty years ago. Materials required for repair: approximately thirty identical stones.
Up to that point, it was just the instructions for repair.
As usual, only the final line stood out.
Severance of the water vein: three hundred years ago.
Three hundred years ago again. The exact same number as the castle's candlestick.
(A well in a village abandoned twenty years ago had already gone dry long before that?)
It didn't add up. The village was abandoned twenty years ago, and the Prime Minister claimed the reason was mana contamination. Yet the water had been cut off two hundred and eighty years prior. That meant there shouldn't have been any water beneath this village even before the well collapsed.
If there was no water, how had people lived in this village until twenty years ago?
Eiji pressed his palm against the stone once more. The same words flowed into his head in the exact same order. He hadn't misread it.
Relicta Inspectio had said severance. Not depletion. It specifically noted that the vein was severed.
(Is the water vein... maybe still out there somewhere?)
The thought crossed his mind. Of course, it was pure speculation for now, but he couldn't shake the feeling.
Yuna peered over from the other side of the rim.
"Did you figure something out?"
"About half of it, I guess. But... it's enough to fix it."
He took his hand off the rim and planted his heels back on the cobblestones.
A rhythmic thumping vibrated through the soles of his shoes. Far beneath the earth, it continued at a slow, steady pace.
He shifted his stance. The sound didn't stop. It was far too slow to be a heartbeat.
Stepping back from the well, he surveyed the surrounding stone pavement.
To bring the water back, he needed the stones that had collapsed. Relicta Inspectio had called for around thirty.
Twelve had fallen from the rim and lay scattered nearby. Six were beside the furrows in the field. The rest were half-buried along the walls of the houses. Eiji gathered them one by one, hauling them to the base of the well.
After setting her sack down by the rim, Yuna began collecting stones as well. Crouching down, she carried them over one by one with both hands. Even when dirt smudged the knees of her skirt, she didn't bother brushing it off.
Once they counted thirty-one, they stopped.
That should be more than enough.
(Hm...?)
Just then, an intuitive flash struck him.
Yes... it was almost like an unexplainable confidence that he could fix this himself.
Come to think of it, when Yuna healed his injuries, she had said something similar—that she "felt like she could heal it." Maybe this was the exact same sensation she had felt back then.
He gathered the stones close around the rim and held both hands over them.
Words welled up in his mind, spilling past his lips before he could even consciously think them through.
"To that which was cast aside, a purpose once more—Relicta Renovatio."
Motes of light scattered from his fingertips.
The particles grew dense beneath his palms, cascading down toward the rim of the well.
Yuna let out a startled cry.
"Eiji, your hands! Your hands are glowing!"
"Yeah. Just watch."
A stone lifted off the ground. A second and third followed, until all thirty-one gathered stones hung suspended in midair at the same height. The light caressed their surfaces, filling in every chipped edge until the rough patches smoothed out into their original, pristine shapes.
"The stones are moving on their own..."
Yuna murmured, completely spellbound.
Then, the stones began to shift. As if recalling their rightful places, they slotted into the gaps of the rim one by one. Threads of light traced the seams, sealing them in place of mortar. The four-tier rim was restored to five, and a wooden frame rose over it—the very frame that should have rotted away to nothing. The pulley's bearing clicked into place, and the wheel spun once.
The light cascaded down into the shaft. The stones lining the inner wall snapped into alignment, smoothing over the cracked, peeling surfaces. The ribbon of light reached the bottom and dissolved.
A beat later, a deep rumble echoed from within the earth. The cobblestones shuddered, sending tremors straight up through the soles of his feet and into his gut.
"Whoa!"
"Wh-What is that?!"
Yuna took a hurried step back from the rim. Eiji dropped his center of gravity, bracing himself.
The sound surged closer and closer. From the depths below, a roaring noise, like pressure pounding through a massive pipe, came rushing upward.
And then—a torrent of water erupted from the mouth of the well.
It breached the rim and spilled onto the cobblestones, tracing the dry seams and following the natural slope of the square. The ditch alongside the fields caught the overflow, channeling it toward the edge of the village. Beneath the collapsed bridge, the sound of rushing water returned to the dry riverbed.
From every corner of the village, the vibrant sound of running water echoed back.
"N-No way..."
Dazed, Yuna turned to look at him.
In a heartbeat, her face lit up with pure joy.
"It came out... The water actually came back! Eiji, you're amazing!"
"Hold on. Don't celebrate until we know if it's safe to drink."
His voice came out raspy even to his own ears.
The moment the words left his mouth, his knees buckled, and he dropped a hand to the cobblestones to steady himself.
He was gasping for air. He hadn't run an inch, yet his lungs burned as if he had just finished an all-out sprint.
(I guess that's the toll of using a major skill.)
His fingertips trembled, and a high-pitched whine rang in his ears. Even with water washing over his palm, it took a moment for the cold sensation to register.
"Eiji?! Are you okay?!"
Yuna rushed away from the well and dropped to her knees beside him, wrapping her arms around his shoulder and back.
"Heal the wounds of this one... Heal."
A soft white light flared from the palm pressed against his back.
Back when she healed him on the bus, Yuna hadn't used an incantation. Had the chant simply flowed into her mind on its own, just like his had?
However—the light quickly dissipated. With no physical injuries to mend, it had nowhere to take hold. A healing skill couldn't cure the exhaustion from skill backlash.
"I told you, I'm fine. Just... a little out of shape lately, that's all."
Eiji raised his free hand and waved it twice. He tried to brush it off casually, but he still hadn't caught his breath enough to speak normally.
"Geez... Honestly, Eiji."
The tension left Yuna's shoulders, and she let out a long sigh of relief. She peered at him with concern for a moment before offering a wry, affectionate smile.
"You never change, do you?"
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it."
Yuna stood up, walked to the well, and scooped water into her cupped palm. Then, she held her other hand over it.
What was she trying to do?
"Yuna?"
"You said not to celebrate until we know it's safe to drink, right? So, I'm going to make sure it is."
"Make sure it is? Hey, wait..."
"It's fine. Just rest, Eiji."
She paused, looking down at her hands. After pouring the water back into the well, she placed both palms directly onto the stonework instead.
"...This might be faster."
Before Eiji could ask what would be faster, Yuna closed her eyes.
"Purify all defiled water—Purify."
The instant she spoke the words, a brilliant white light erupted from the well.
It shot straight into the sky like a pillar of radiance piercing the heavens. Surging upward from the stonework, the light bathed the entire area. Shadows vanished from the square; the crumbling walls of the houses, the overturned handcart, and even the ash-gray furrows were illuminated in blinding white.
Rays of light raced across the surface of the overflowing water, surging through the irrigation ditches all the way to the outskirts of the village.
"Whoaaaa! Th-That's insane...!"
The words slipped out before he could stop them.
It was an incredible spectacle. This was truly the power of the once-in-a-century Saint the kingdom had made such a fuss over.
The pillar of light stretched downward as well. Plunging straight through the bottom of the well, the white radiance permeated deep into the earth, reaching the exact layer where that rhythmic thumping had vibrated against his boots.
Then, it burst skyward and dissolved into the air.
The water in the ditches reached the edges of the fields and soaked into the gray soil. The color of the dirt remained unchanged, however. It seemed only the water had been cleansed.
Yuna took her hands off the stone rim and turned back to him with a bright smile. Unlike Eiji, she wasn't breathing heavily at all.
(...Once in a century, huh?)
Her power was completely off the charts. It drove home why the kingdom's ministers had been so desperate to keep her from slipping through their fingers.
Yuna scooped up another handful of water and brought it to her lips without hesitation.
"Ah, hey—"
Before Eiji could stop her, her throat bobbed as she swallowed.
She had clearly intended to test it on herself first to see if it was safe.
"H-How is it...?" he asked nervously.
Given the sheer power of the purification spell she had just unleashed, it was almost certainly fine, but to Eiji, Yuna was still just an ordinary girl.
He couldn't help worrying that drinking unknown water might make her sick. But—
"It's delicious... I think this might be the best water I've ever tasted."
Yuna slowly looked up, a soft smile spreading across her face.
It really had become clean, drinkable water.
"Here, you try some too, Eiji."
Scooping up another handful, she knelt down and held out both hands to him.
"D-Drink it like this?"
"Well, we don't have cups."
She wasn't wrong, but still... drinking straight from a girl's hands felt a little awkward.
"Hurry up and drink. It's going to spill."
Yuna urged him on. Water was already dripping steadily through the gaps between her fingers.
Ah, whatever!
He leaned down and drank directly from Yuna's palms.
The water was colder than he expected. There was no earthy smell, nor any metallic tang. The refreshing chill slid down his throat in a single, crisp line.
"It's amazing... This really might be better than any water I've ever had."
"Maybe because it's the water you brought back, Eiji?"
"More like because you purified it, Yuna."
Neither of them meant it entirely seriously, but the moment they finished speaking, they both burst out laughing.
Yuna covered her mouth with her hand, her shoulders shaking with quiet giggles. It was the first time he had seen her laugh out loud since they were brought to this world.
"We did it, Eiji."
"Yeah."
He held up a hand, and his childhood friend met it with a high five.
Neither Eiji's ability nor Yuna's could have revived this well alone.
It was truly a team effort between a Scavenger and a Saint.
For now, they had an almost limitless supply of water. Dying of thirst was no longer a concern.
That was the first hurdle cleared.