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441 p3. Noble Faction and New School Year [14]

It has been three days since the Holy Ronelia Empire launched an assault on the Ringuard Empire.

During that time, various decisions were made by the upper echelons of the country, and were made known to the public through media such as newspapers.

First of all, they decided to cancel the Sword King Festival.

In this situation where the restoration of the capital city was not going well, it was judged difficult to continue the Sword King Festival while ensuring the safety of the students.

Next, a household search led by the Holy Knights was launched against the influential people of the noble faction.

The context for this is, of course, the betrayal of the great nobles Patriot Bornard and Dufton Money.

It seems that as a result of sweeping the Noble Faction bases and their mansions, they have discovered a number of pieces of evidence that indicate a close connection with the Empire. As expected, it seems that the upper echelons of the Noble Faction were leaking confidential information about Ringuard.

A large number of nobles who were discovered to have ties to the Empire were arrested on suspicion of treason, and the prestige of the noble faction plummeted to the ground.

Since the actual political power is now in the hands of the Noble faction centered on Tenshi-sama, the political situation in the Ringard Empire will likely stabilize for the time being.

In the midst of these turbulent days, I was doing my best to restore Orest.

For ten days counting from the day of the attack, the swordsmanship academies near Orest were closed. It was decided that all the student swordsmen would come out and start rebuilding Orest.

「Student swordsmen, thank you for coming today as well. Well then, let’s safely conduct the reconstruction without delay!」

Under the command of Clown-san, the reconstruction work proceeded at a rapid pace.

「Ore that needs smelting should be placed here, iron and steel that need processing should be placed over here. It’s hot, so please be careful!」

「Miss, your soul dress has amazing heat output! This will help us a great deal!」

Using the super-high firepower of〈Fafnir〉, Ria was in charge of smelting and processing important resources such as iron plates, steel rails, and iron pipes.

By turning her into a human blast furnace, the metal resources were greatly strengthened, and the construction and rebuilding projects proceeded at high speed.

「Damn, why do I have to do such a boring thing…」

「We can’t let it rot, Sid. Because you’re taking on the role of a refrigerator, we can bring in loads of food from neighboring cities, and everyone can work with peace of mind.」Ferris.

Sid-san, having manifested〈Vanargand〉, took position in the middle of a vacant lot and released a large amount of cold air. He was in charge of preserving and keeping food cold.

The person himself seems to be strongly dissatisfied with the role of refrigeration, but as Ferris-san said, it really helps.

Thanks to him being a human refrigerator, we can store an inexhaustible amount of food sent from neighboring towns.

「Is this much power enough…?」

「Oh, this is a very useful ability! Thank you, young lady!」

Idol was in charge of all machines that required electricity.

She was active in a wide range of tasks, such as restoring power lines and charging rechargeable batteries.

「Hmm, should I bring that too?」

「Hehe, leave the heavy lifting to us!」

「A-Amazing. Are you guys carrying that heavy thing by yourself?」

The strengthening-type Rose and Maddy were in charge of transporting super-heavy materials. Carrying is a simple task, but with the amount of materials needing to be transported, they were put to use heavily here and there.

While the swordsmen of each academy were active in their respective fields, a certain soul dress user, who boasts overwhelming power and versatility in a dimension of its own, sat under a shade of a tree and played “X game” alone.

「Hey, you over there! You’re a great swordsman of the Seven Holy Swords, aren’t you? If that’s the case, can you help me out?」

「…Me? No no no no no, I can’t use it for normal things like this. More than that, please ask a certain strongest one over there.」

Saying so and pointing at me was Shin Rex of Imperial Academy wearing a shabby uniform.

Shin-san was taken to the Holy Knights Association on suspicion of attempted murder during the General Battle of the Sword King Festival.

Although there are big problems with his personality and behavior, his ability is the real deal.

Expectations were high that he would be a great force for the restoration of Orest, but…

Shin-san’s spirit was completely broken right now, and he was going straight down the highway of servility, and was useless.

(It looks like it will take him a long time to recover.)

While thinking about that, I moved to my post.

I am in charge of the top priority in this restoration, the reconstruction of the Ringuard Palace.

As the imperial palace, this is the center of political functions and the face of the Ringuard Empire.

Appearances are very important to a country, and the early reconstruction of the palace seems to be an urgent matter in order to ensure stable national management.

(Well then… Let’s keep working with a fired up spirit today as well!)

I have no knowledge or skills regarding architecture, so my role in this place is… a handyman.

「Hey, did anyone see a battery anywhere?」

「Ah, if you need electricity, then I shall…!」

I used the power of the Neba Glome to act as a substitute for the battery.

「Damn, this iron plate is slightly bent…」

「I can produce flames too!」

Using the power of Fafnir, I processed a thick iron plate.

「Ouch…」

「Are you okay? I’ll heal you in a second.」

I used my own power of white darkness to heal the people who got hurt while working.

Thanks to the awakening of〈Zeon〉, I was able to use the abilities of many types of soul dress, so I was able to fulfill many roles.

After the morning work was over, it was time for lunch break.

「Phew, I’m tired.」

With the provided lunch box and paper cup filled with water in hand, I moved to the resting area and found an empty spot to sit down.

「Ah… delicious.」

The ice-cold water was exceptionally delicious after a lot of hard work.

(What beautiful ice… Was this made by Sid-san?)

While gazing at the ice floating in the paper cup, I reached for the lunch box.

(Today is… Oh, a salmon bento!)

I picked up the disposable chopsticks and said my heartfelt greeting before digging in. A large number of workers sat down around me.

「Thank you for your hard work. Your soul dress is incredibly convenient! Thanks to you, this site is progressing very smoothly!」

「After the reconstruction of this place is over, would you like to work for our company? Fox Construction is a general contractor that can be said to be the number one or two in Ringuard!」

I seemed to have received a passionate solicitation.

「Eh, um…」

When I was at a loss for an answer, another worker leaned over from the side.

「Oi oi, stop it with that stupid shit. This person is a swordsman of national strength level. Unlike us, he doesn’t have any free time!」

「Gahahaha, I suppose you’re right!」

I breathed a sigh of relief after getting through the solicitation topic without causing any unnecessary trouble.

After finishing lunch, the afternoon work began immediately.

A few hours passed, and when the sun started to set in the western sky, today’s work finally came to an end.

「I-I’m tired…」

While using〈Zeon〉a lot, I learned something new.

(Borrowing other people’s abilities consumes a lot of spiritual power…)

If I assume myself to be in a series of battles like that time when I faced Gauran right after Shin, it seems to be better to refrain from using borrowed abilities continuously.

「Now then… Ria is probably at the steelworks place.」

When I was about to go to where Ria was, the cuffs of my uniform were suddenly pulled.

「Hmm……?」

As I turned around, I saw Lou Lorenti.

「What is it, Lou?」

「Actually… I have something I want to talk to you about, just the two of us. Do you have time right now?」

「Yeah, I don’t mind.」

「Thank you. It’s something I don’t want other people to hear, so let’s move away a little.」

After that, I walked behind Lou for a while.

We passed through the highway under construction, through a large forest park, and proceeded through a deserted street.

While moving, she frequently looked around her surroundings, checking for pursuers.

(Such a strong vigilance. Is it something that important…?)

After a while, Lou stopped when we entered a dark back alley.

「It seems to be fine over here.」

「We’ve come a long way. What is it that you want to talk about?」

「About that…」

She cleared her throat with a tense look and looked straight into my eyes.

「Allen-senpai, you know about the “100 Million Year Button”, right?」

「Huh!?」

The words that came out of Lou’s mouth were unexpected.