What Do We Do Now?

The inn that had suffered little damage was still open for guests.

If the inn had shut down, we would've had no place to stay and would've had to leave the city.

Getting in the way of recovery efforts would've warranted that anyway, but I wanted to gather as much information as possible before leaving.

As a merchant, there had to be something I could do.

The inn's lounge was buzzing with rumors and information exchange.

With Finn not yet back, this was probably the best place to gather intel.

I didn't know anyone here, so I could only eavesdrop, but even so, I heard more opinions than I cared to.

An earthquake after several decades, or maybe someone had tested experimental earth magic of the extreme tier.

It was all speculation.

I wasn't going to learn what caused this here.

More than that, I wanted to know the situation on the ground.

Building collapses had barely occurred in the upscale residential districts.

The buildings there had magical protections and were structurally reinforced to begin with.

On the other hand, the areas where the lower-income residents lived had sustained heavy damage.

There were casualties, apparently.

Soldiers and disaster victims were still working together on rescue operations.

After a while, some people announced they were going to set up a soup kitchen and left.

Apparently, a merchant who dealt in foodstuffs had offered to provide ingredients.

Since they'd escaped injury, they wanted to contribute, apparently.

I wanted to help, but we'd already burned through a lot of energy on the rescue work at the plaza.

I decided to pass this time.

Overdoing it and wearing ourselves out would just make us a burden in the end.

I ordered a drink and called it quits after about an hour.

I must have been more tired than I realized, because Orleans pointed out how pale I looked.

"Sir, let's rest for today. I'll keep everything ready so we can leave at a moment's notice."

"Yeah… And if Finn shows up, wake me."

"Understood."

I left things to Orleans for the time being and went to rest.

The moment I lay down and closed my eyes, my body felt heavy as lead.

I hadn't realized how exhausted I was.

My consciousness quickly sank into the depths.

"Please wake up."

"That's not gonna wake him. You do it like this."

I heard voices, and then suddenly I couldn't breathe.

I bolted upright, gasping.

"See, he's up."

"Finn-sama, pinching his nose was a bit much…"

"Who do you think I am? I know how to hold back, so it's fine. If I wanted to end him, I wouldn't bother with something so roundabout."

"I'm not fine at all. You're late."

Apparently, she'd pinched my nose while I was sleeping.

That's why I couldn't breathe and started suffocating.

I wondered what exactly she thought of her employer, but she didn't look like she was joking, so it must have been urgent.

"Right after the earthquake, I checked the direction of the epicenter from a tall building. You might have seen it too, that massive something piercing the clouds."

"I saw it already. What is that thing?"

"No idea. I could only make out the vague shape from this distance. But the fact that it's visible from so far away means it's unbelievably huge."

I nodded at Finn's words.

At first, I'd thought it was a mountain.

Duke Baroba would probably investigate what it was.

I had no desire to go near it recklessly.

"That alone wouldn't have kept me this late. I made the rounds to places where information gathers. Can't say I got much for it, though. About all I found out is that Duke Baroba went to check on the Earth Elemental Stone."

"I see. It was sudden, after all…"

"By the way, I can say definitively that an earthquake is impossible."

Alexia, who'd been asleep, woke up.

She must have just woken up.

She took the water Orleans handed her and drained it in one gulp.

"You saw what happened when the Water Elemental went out of control, so you should understand. When an elemental gets serious, it can cause natural disasters. If the Earth Elemental were the cause, there's no way the tremor would have stopped after just once. And if it weren't the cause, then earthquakes simply don't happen in this region under the Earth Elemental's protection."

"So you're saying this wasn't an earthquake."

"Exactly. It was probably the aftershock of that massive… whatever it is appearing."

"So we won't know anything until we investigate that thing."

When the Water Elemental went berserk, it had been incredible.

I remembered a water giant appearing that was comparable in size to that something larger than the clouds everyone was talking about.

At the time, the elemental hadn't intended to kill humans, just to intimidate them. But if something of that mass went on a rampage, it could level a city or two with ease.

"You don't think that thing will go on a rampage, right?"

"I can only say I don't know. If you're that worried, we'd have to investigate."

"I don't want to go with just us. And we probably wouldn't get permission anyway."

"Well, there's nothing we really need to do. Help with the recovery, I suppose."

Alexia was right.

I'd been feeling like I had to do something, but in reality, there was little we could do.

We hadn't transported any food supplies, so we couldn't set up a soup kitchen like those people earlier.

"That's true. The iron ore and burning stone we brought will probably be used for reconstruction… I'll prioritize sending construction materials and food here for a while."

Alsarm was the kingdom's second heart.

We'd benefited from it more than enough.

This incident had caused casualties, but the city's functions remained intact.

If we contributed even a little to the recovery, that would help us too.

"Once we've helped with what we can, I'll pay my respects to the duke and head back to Kassad. There's not much we can do here."

What we had on hand was just our companions and money.

We had equipment, but it wasn't like we were going to fight anything, and doing anything more would require returning to Kassad.

A little later, Azu woke up too, so we decided to have a meal.

The inn's dining hall was closed indefinitely, so I pulled out the bag of supplies.

Flour, water, and salt. Mixed with a little oil to make dough, then let it rest a bit.

I cut it into appropriate portions, rolled them into balls, and flattened them out.

I took out a pot and had Alexia warm it with her magic.

Starting a fire in the room was obviously forbidden, but warming a pot with magic somehow wasn't an issue.

I oiled the warmed pot and cooked the dough, and thin flatbread was ready.

This was unleavened bread, so it lacked that fluffy texture, but it was quick to make and the crispy mouthfeel was fun in its own way.

Spread some butter, tuck in some smoked or cured meat, and it became a proper meal.

"Elza, it's ready. Come eat."

"Coming."

Elza had been staring at the giant something from the window ever since she woke up.