The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Novel

60. Developing Territory and Encounters

Yulis could tell that it was not a joke. Besides, it was hard for him not to believe Davey, especially after seeing those things for himself. But instead of envy and jealousy, his expression only revealed surprise and awe.

“Pl… Please teach me a lot more things!”

“Did I even teach you anything?”

Of course, the answer to that was no.

“You have no idea how much of an effect and influence you have on me just by showing me your magic, Sir Davey!”

Davey nodded, roughly understanding what Yulis, whose eyes burned with passion for learning, meant. Witnessing the flow of mana of magic from a new realm could well and truly act as a basis for one’s growth and development.

Well, Davey was, in fact, indebted to Yulis since he had risked his life and saved Winley twice in his absence. So, feeling grateful, Davey thought about giving the man a bit of a free service. How about allowing Yulis to charge and climb into the ranks of the sixth circle with the Special Davey Style Physical Remodelling? If he did that for a week, then…

“If I leave it like this, then…”

The people managing this place would be able to handle it quite comfortably after that. And since it would be easier to manage with the spirits’ power, Davey thought of wheedling the elves into managing this place.

With the magic circle’s activation, the water roared as it gushed out of the huge water tank. This signaled that the magic circle was working properly. Of course, Davey had spent three days and three nights debugging the magic circle’s structure, so it was natural that it would work properly.

“What is this exactly, brother?” Winley, who could not reign in her curiosity, asked as she looked around the place.

If Winley kept on asking, then all Davey could do was to keep on answering her. She was his sister after all.

“It’s a jet pump.”

“A jet…pump? Ah, no way… You mean those installations can pump clean water directly to the royal palace from underground? But it must be very expensive to maintain a pump like this…”

Winley trailed off at the strangely simple and normal explanation and outcome. She was expecting something beyond common sense this time, since Davey had always shown them plenty of abnormal things so far. And of course, her expectations had hit the nail right on the head.

“As long as it’s managed properly, it can operate almost permanently. It’s also very cheap and easy to manage. Above all…”

The most important aspect of the pump was something else.

“…with just this single pump, anyone can draw and use water whenever they want as long as they are situated in Heins Territory’s residential area.”

There were only a few… No, perhaps it was safer to say that there were no houses without any water on modern-day Earth. But in this world, where most people still drew water from wells, it would be sufficient to deem this crazy attempt revolutionary. Either way, it did not matter to Davey how his words would be able to affect the entire continent’s economy.

“My god… Is that even really possible?!”

Normally, it would cost an exorbitant amount of money to install a pump that could deliver clean water with carefully regulated temperatures to a household. Even the amount of money needed for maintenance was astronomical, since one needed to check regularly if it was working properly or needed repairs, as well as change the mana stones at set times. On top of that, pumps were usually small and not very powerful, so they could only supply water to one place.

“I don’t have enough of the supplementary equipment right now, so I made do by installing 500 magic circles on it. However, it is not impossible. Amy!”

“Y-Yes. Did you call for me, Your Highness?”

“Pass this message to our territory’s residents.”

And Davey said…

***

“Oh my, aren’t you Lily’s mom?”

“Hello, Grandma Helena. Are you here to draw some water?”

“Why, yes. I should do this much, since my sons and grandchildren are working hard to reclaim farmland for us, you know?” Grandma Helena laughed, her expression bright and fresh.

“You’re in a very good mood.”

“Strangely enough, my back was not hurting when I went out this morning. So, I thought something good might happen today.”

“Aha. But how do you know that it’s a good thing…?”

“Hmm. Who knows… Maybe His Highness, the prince, has prepared something huge again?”

“His Highness, the prince? Ey~ There are a lot of rumors that he’s in big trouble even with all of the things that he’s done so far. What can he even show us here?”

“Oh my? Lily’s mom, you don’t know anything? About His Highness, I mean? He’s like this! Like this! Whatever he thinks and says, it comes true!”

With the land drying up from the lack of rain, they had prayed for rain. And when Prince Davey had said that there would be rain, rain had truly come. And that was not all. They had heard that the weather would turn colder, so they had to make preventive measures early on. Prince Davey had said that it would remain warm, and the next day, the cold weather had indeed suddenly turned warm.

Diana, Lily’s mom, thought that Grandma Helena’s stories were all bullshit. All she could do was smile awkwardly at Grandma Helena’s display of blind faith toward the prince.

Diana had been originally in another territory but had returned to her hometown, the Heins Territory, after hearing about its development. She was among those people that only came back to her hometown after hearing that the once dying land had been revived. Because of that, Diana had never witnessed the miracles that happened in Heins Territory.

Perhaps that was also the reason why she thought that the original residents that were left behind and the early settlers were a bit stupid and foolish for having such blind faith and trust in Prince Davey. After being kicked out from her position as a maid, Diana had grown skeptical and distrustful towards high ranking nobles and royalty to the point that she was downright hostile to them. Still, she could not deny the fact that this place felt a bit different from the other territories.

“Ey~ His Highness definitely has his own limitations too. Even the king is just a human being.”

“My goodness! Lily’s mom, you have to be careful with your words. You will be in trouble if you say that somewhere else.”

“Ahahaha…” Diana laughed awkwardly as she waited in line to draw water from the well. If it was not hypnosis, then the people of this territory were just plain stupid. She added, “What can we even do here? We’re poor, powerless commoners. We should already be satisfied with this relatively stable land that rarely collects taxes from us.”

“It seems like you have to see to believe, huh? I’m telling you, my instincts are always on point! It’s coming! Something good is coming!”

“Oh my. I have to go, I still need to draw a lot of water.”

At that moment, a little girl shouted from a distance, “Goodness! Grandma Helena!!!”

“Huh? Isn’t that Lynnie? What’s the matter?”

“Calm down and catch your breath first.”

Lynnie, who was given a bowl of water, hurriedly gulped down the water. Her eyes twinkled brightly. Then, she said, “His Highness has prepared something amazing again!”

“What is it?”

“Eh?”

The two older women looked puzzled at Lynnie, who spoke energetically.

“No, it’s better if we go! You’ll understand when you see it!”

The girl, who had been kidnapped and taken to a goblin village just a few months prior and had almost suffered terribly, did not show any signs of depression at all. The two older women followed Lynnie, who had a bright smile on her face, in a daze. They appeared to be drawn to her aura and smile.

***

“My god… Goodness… What is this?”

“Oh my god… Is that a mana pump?!”

“Warm! The water is warm! Is this what that wicked monster does?!”

Grandma Helena shouted as if she found the newly-installed structure on one side of the residential area to be absurd. “My goodness! It doesn’t even work like a well, you just turn this thing and the water comes out? And the water is even clean! Without any soil and debris!”

Generally, commoners would draw water from the well, collect the water, and filter it several times before using it. In places where the water quality was bad, people would have no choice but to use the water as it was. But what was this in front of them? Just a slight twist of this large iron pipe, and clean and warm water would pour out easily for them?

The nobles were quite accustomed to this way of pumping water, but for normal people like them, who had never heard of something like this, this mysterious phenomena was akin to a God’s blessing.

“His Highness, the First Prince, was here just now! He said that they will install these in our homes soon! In all of the residents’ homes!”

“What?!”

The two older women were stunned speechless. They could not believe that they would be installing these metal pipes that could easily pour out water like this in everyone’s home. Unless they were idiots, there was no way for them not to understand what that meant. Namely, they would no longer need to draw water mixed with soil and dirt and filter it every time they needed it. Even the need to use firewood to heat the water would be solved.

“Then… Does this mean that we can get clean water in our homes without having to go to the well and draw some? That’s what it means, right?”

“Yes!”

Grandma Helena widened her eyes at Lynnie’s lively answer. She muttered, “This is a miracle… A miracle…”

Unlike Grandma Helena, who was overjoyed by Lynnie’s words, Diana’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. She said, “This…is definitely the mana pump that only those of a higher rank, like the nobles and royalty, can use…”

It was not like Diana did not know about it at all. After all, she had once worked as a maid for a rich noble family. This was a pump that could only be installed by mages at a high price. It was literally an amazing object that could pump water directly from the source. After realizing the fact that this was the same system that those high-ranking nobles and royalty used, Diana mumbled in confusion, “For someone like us that struggles to survive day after day… How can we afford to install something like this in our homes? Even though I haven’t heard the specifics, I’m sure this will cost a lot of money, right?”

This was something that could only be seen in high-ranking nobles’ houses, the royal palace and in very luxurious noble accommodations. That was why Diana could not believe it. After all, she had heard from her fellow maids about how expensive those were. There was no way that they would install these incredibly expensive structures in a lowly commoner’s house for free… Furthermore, Diana did not trust the nobility at all. If they installed such an expensive thing in their homes, they would definitely rip off a huge sum of money from them and make them fall into a huge pit of debt. After all, she had lost her daughter to a noble that she had trusted in the territory where she used to live, right?

Hearing Diana mumbling to herself, Lynnie piped up, “I don’t know about it well, but… When His Highness came here earlier, he told us that the installation itself is free. But we have to pay ten silver coins per month to prevent us from using water excessively…”

“What?”

This was something completely impossible, even at the kingdom’s capital city. How much money was needed to pump water into every household in this territory? And they would install it for free even in the commoners’ houses and only charge them for as little as ten silver coins per month?

“That… That…welfare means…” Diana was stunned after seeing Lynnie trying hard to impersonate Davey to the best of her abilities. If this was true then… Diana thought that there was truly a reason why the residents of this territory trusted and followed their seigneur blindly and acted as if they were mad fanatics.