Third Outer World Story Series: Pumpkin Sorcerer - Chapter 41

Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter

“[Gust Blow].”

As he moved nearer to the cloud of dust, Pumpkin created a magic sphere to activate [Gust Blow] which sent the cloud of dust away.

“Whoa…”

After the plume of dust lifted, the sight that greeted his eyes left him speechless.

After all, what was revealed after the smoke dispersed was a drastically contrasting scene to the one before [Overburst] unleashed by the organism of Anregirat, with the trees being toppled over and the ground crumbling around the explosion site.

To be blunt, a crater of a decent size had been formed.

“Even so, this happened at the level of the Anregirat…”

The enormity of the crater that had been created prompted Pumpkin to mutter unconsciously.

The Anregirat did not possess a lot of magic power. Despite this, the impact of the explosion was as if dynamite had been used to set it off.

Even taking into account the fact that the explosion took place in an enclosed space, there was no other way to describe the sheer power of the explosion.

If this power exists at the level of Anregirat… I have a feeling that when I returned the curse cast on Rio’s mother to the owner of it, things might have gotten rather out of hand for them.

“…”

Ah, yes. I’m not going to worry about it. In the end, they reaped what they sow. The one to blame is the other side that cast the curse.

“You stupid pumpkinnnnnn!!”

“!?”

And then Mizuki’s furious voice came from the direction of the Accumulate, causing him to cower involuntarily.

When he looked in the direction of the voice, what was waiting there was the figure of Mizuki who was poised to hurl a huge water javelin…

“Teeth! Clench your teeth!![i]”

“Noguaaaahh!!”

At the next moment, Pumpkin was swept away by the raging current of water and slammed to the ground.

I mean, Mizuki-san… came strangely fast…

——————-

“So, in the end, what have you just done?”

“Well, I figured it would be a waste to simply excavate a channel, so I thought I’d do some research while I was at it, and attempted to conduct a biological [Overburst] experiment on an Anregirat but…”

“But what?”

Ugh… Mizuki’s eyes are super intimidating. I can tell she’s clearly angry.

Since getting hit by that javelin of water all over again was not something he desired, Pumpkin would have to mull over his subsequent words very thoughtfully.

Right, I need to be careful, cool, and witty to bring Mizuki’s rage, which is now as raging as Lake Accumulate when a typhoon hits, to as calm as the shores of a typical lake shore.

And the brief words he chose were…

“Ah, I messed up.”

Pumpkin said with a wink and a thumbs up from his right hand.

Ugh, this is a mischievous move. This should have made Mizuki’s fury…

“Ah?”

…even more escalated.

“Pumpkin.”

“What is it?”

“Teeth. Clench your teeth with all your strength.”

“Yes.”

He was subsequently beaten to a pulp by Mizuki, who then made him reflect on what he’d done.

Since Pumpkin’s arrival in this world, this may have been the most terrifying event he has had. Everything appeared to be spinning for a split second.

Incidentally, the reason Mizuki was infuriated was that the peace of the forest had been heavily disturbed.

Whatever it was, it seemed that the tremors and blasts that took place during [Overburst] drove all the forest creatures into a state of panic from one side to the other.

“Niko niko[ii].”

Oh yeah. I am sorry. I sincerely reflect on my action that happened this time. That’s why, Mizuki, I humbly ask that you stop abusing me in this manner. Please.

And that marked the end of the work for the day and on the following day…

“Yeah. Seeing it this way, I suppose it’s still a routine task.”

Like always, Pumpkin reinforced the ivy, commanding the vines to perform certain movements as they dug into the ground.

The work itself was so simple that it only required a certain movement.

Once the ground had been shaped into a basket-like form by the vines being driven into it, Pumpkin would simply lift it and carry it to the designated area.

“Well, it is good that I can recover various materials.”

However, because of yesterday’s explosion, several trees had fallen down, and since it was spring, new shoots of plants had sprouted.

While excavating the ground, he cut off the branches and roots of the trees with his remaining vines to make logs and collected the shoots of plants and other plants that were mysteriously accumulating magic power in the spring to be used as materials for his resonance spells.

Of course, the cut-off branches and roots also served a purpose, so they were kept in a separate compartment.

Hmm? Aside from materials for resonance spells, what am I supposed to do with the logs and branches?

They can be used in various ways. Branches and roots can be used as firewood when dried, and some of them can be used as catalysts for resonance spells due to the large amount of magic power they contained.

As for the logs, they can be utilized for the base, but more importantly, they will be used in conjunction with stones for the construction of the channel, as it will be necessary to build retaining walls at both ends of the channel for the next phase of the channel’s construction.

“But then again, there are a lot of insects and worms and such in spring…”

So, apart from the retaining wall thing, Pumpkin was astounded by the number of living creatures that showed up when he was digging up the ground.

Well, yeah. There are beetle larvae, caterpillars, earthworms, and all sorts of animals.

By the way, beetles and caterpillars are beneficial to me when they develop into adults, but they are pests while they are larvae, which means that I discard them far away as soon as I find them.

Worms? I appreciate all of your efforts! Thanks to you, the ground is abundant with nutrients, so I will carefully transfer you to another place!

“And now I can see the stream I am aiming for.”

And while he was excavating, the stream that the water would flow into came into view.

Now all that remained was to link it up with Lake Accumulate and take steps to ensure that the channel would not be broken anytime soon.

“Now, I’m going to work on the other half!”

With that, Pumpkin speeded up his digging.

——————-

T/N:

[i] Clenching your teeth means brace yourself

[ii] They are words in Japanese but there’s no direct translation. It means smiling (as an action)

[iii] Both Pumpkin and Mizuki somehow resemble Kurokiri and Ichiko for me (????)? ?