Morning came. White light streamed through the gaps in the shelter's walls. The dawn of the ash plains was bright. Koichi unwound his arms and slowly pushed himself upright. His sleep had been terrible. Having dozed off sitting on the stone floor, his back and lower spine ached with a dull throb. A heaviness lingered at the back of his head. Whether from last night's construction exhaustion or the backlash of using his power—probably both. He placed his hand against the stone wall of the shelter. The same cold as last night. The wind was blocked out. That was enough. (I should continue investigating.) Koichi gathered his belongings—though all he had was a notebook and pencil stuffed in his school uniform pockets—and slid the stone blocking the shelter's entrance aside, stepping out into the morning ash plains. The wasteland wore a different face than it had at night. The tension of darkness had vanished, leaving only a desolate expanse of ruins. The sky stretched high and clear. Morning light slanted in from the east, stirring up dust and casting long shadows from the scrap materials. In the distance, wind whistled across the barren grassless earth. Koichi opened his notebook. The notes he'd written even in last night's darkness were arranged in fine characters. —Dried well location: Approximately thirty paces northeast of shelter. Stone structure still intact. —Stone foundation remnants: Concentrated in southern district. Likely former marketplace or plaza. —Scrap material distribution: Concentrated in northwest. Possibly former building-dense area. He'd planned to continue with that this morning. By comparing the scrap distribution with the remaining stone foundations, he'd determine where to place the city's framework. He'd check if the dried well was usable. If water came out, it would be better to make that the city's center— A *bash* sound came from beneath the ground. Koichi stopped. The sound repeated. A low *glug-glug* vibration transmitted through the soles of his feet. It felt wrong. The flow of particles in the atmosphere—something that should be called magical essence—seemed to be doing something strange underground. He tried to step back. In that instant. The ground beneath his feet split open. With a roar, a pillar of flame erupted. Orange and red flames shot up from the ground beside Koichi to several meters high. A heat wave came. His bangs swayed. Simultaneously, another pillar appeared three steps ahead, then another behind it—something underground was going haywire, creating irregular flame pillars that began to encircle Koichi. (This is bad.) He tried to flee but stepped into scrap materials at his feet. Stone fragments lay scattered irregularly—he hadn't been able to see them in last night's darkness. His left foot slipped, his balance broke. As he dropped to his right knee and instinctively put out his hand, another flame pillar erupted in front of him. He was completely surrounded. No escape. Even trying to stand, the scrap materials blocked him, and he couldn't judge where to step. Heat struck his face. The flames before him wavered. (What do I do, what do I do, what do I—) Water fell from above. With a *splash*, a torrent of cold water crashed down on one of the flame pillars. The flame became white steam and vanished. Then another, and another. The flames on all sides were swallowed one by one by masses of water and extinguished. It took less than three seconds. The heat wave receded. White water vapor drifted around him. Koichi remained on his knees, dumbfounded. Someone jumped down from the pile of scrap materials. It was graceful. The landing sound was light. At the same time, something water-colored fluttered—hair. Bright water-blue long hair spread momentarily in the air before falling smoothly. It was a girl. She appeared younger than Koichi. Around one hundred sixty centimeters tall. Her bluish long hair was loosely tied back, and pale purple eyes were now observing Koichi with evident interest. Light wavered faintly around her fingertips—probably the lingering effect of the water magic she'd just used. Her clothes had the practical atmosphere of someone accustomed to travel, and she wore a leather bag slung diagonally across her shoulder. The girl looked at Koichi and smiled. "You okay?" "...Yes." Koichi answered while still on his knees. "Underground magical essence runaway. This area has underground water veins and magical essence flows intersecting, so it erupts sometimes. If you've been here since last night, you should have moved during the night." As she spoke, the girl extended her hand to Koichi. He took it and stood up. Their fingers touched. Her fingers were slender but pulled with surprising strength. After standing, Koichi gently released her hand. For some reason, his face felt slightly warm. He couldn't quite explain why. He decided it was probably just the lingering heat from the flames. "You are...?" "Serika. Fifteen years old, mage. I'm here investigating the magical essence anomalies in this ash plain. I'm from Seelag, a fishing town about sixty kilometers southeast of here—a port settlement." Her self-introduction was quick. While Koichi was still composing his response, Serika was already surveying the surroundings. Her eyes were full of curiosity. Her gaze darted around, checking various things. "What about you? Why are you alone in the middle of this wasteland?" "Hinata Koichi, seventeen years old. Um... well, I have my reasons, but I'm trying to build a city here." "A city?" Serika stopped moving for the first time. Her pale purple eyes returned to Koichi. "Alone?" "Yes." "..." Serika stared at Koichi silently for a while. Then, slowly, her gaze moved behind him—toward the shelter he'd built last night. A small rectangular structure made of stacked stone. The roof's slope still dissatisfied Koichi, but it had taken some form. The entrance stone remained slid to the side. Serika stared at it intently. Three seconds. Five seconds. "...It looks like a doghouse." Something in Koichi quietly hurt. "Oh, but that's not an insult at all!" Serika hurriedly added. "For emergency shelter, it's actually quite solidly built. The wall density is higher than normal stone stacking, and the joint precision is unusual. But the space usage is, um, a bit..." "...I know it's too small." "And the roof angle! If it rains, water will pool there. Plus, even for one person, it's not a size where you can lie down—" "...I know." He repeated it. His voice had dropped slightly, and he was aware of it. Serika finally noticed Koichi's expression and closed her mouth. A moment of silence. "...Sorry." "No." "I really wasn't trying to insult you. I just said it badly." "...I understand you were saying something correct." Koichi gripped his notebook tighter. His knuckles turned white from the pressure. Everything Serika said was right. The roof slope bothered him too. He knew the space efficiency was terrible. But last night, the sounds of beasts were drawing closer. Faced with urgency, he'd permitted himself to accept something "good enough" for the first time. He thought that had been the right call. But even if it was right, being hurt and not being hurt were different matters. (I'm hurt because she accurately pointed out the parts I haven't made peace with myself about.) He understood the logic. Still, it was frustrating. Serika began saying something different. "But I think we could make something better together. I'm good at reading magical essence flows, so I can figure out where the underground water veins are. That power you were using—was it the building kind?" "...How did you know?" "Because of the shelter. Those stone walls aren't normal masonry technique." Masonry—Koichi had come to vaguely understand over the past few hours that this was an architectural profession that had existed in Valdiira for a long time. It could assist construction using magical essence, but it was merely an extension of existing techniques. "Can you show me?" Koichi hesitated slightly. But Serika had saved his life. Besides, he still didn't have words to explain his power to anyone. Showing would be faster than explaining. He placed his hand on a stone fragment lying nearby. Particles in the atmosphere gathered at his fingertips. He drew in the fine something that filled the stone's interior and gave it form. A nearby fragment was drawn in and joined. In seconds, a small stone wall about knee-height stood up. Serika froze. "...Huh?" Her voice was small. "Wait, wait a second." The girl looked back and forth between Koichi and the stone wall. She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a tattered notebook and charcoal pen. She started writing. "The magical essence supply route isn't from the outside but from inside the stone material—this direction of magical essence use is opposite to existing techniques...? And that wall has zero filler at the joints and perfect adhesion, how did you...the shelter's strength explanation makes sense, but why is the magical essence circuit—" She kept talking to herself. It was unclear whether she was speaking to Koichi or to her notebook, her words coming in rapid-fire succession. "Um..." "Wait, can I ask one more thing? Does this tire you when you activate it? Headaches?" "...Yes. When I build something large, the back of my head hurts and my memory gets a bit hazy." "Just as I thought! Magical essence intoxication—a symptom that occurs when you consume magical essence excessively—I think you have a mild form of it. Your magical essence handling is still rough, and your consumption might be incredibly high. It gets worse the bigger the thing you build, right?" "...That seems right." "You should be careful. In severe cases, you lose consciousness. But more than that, this power—" She started writing again. Koichi watched her with a somewhat dazed expression. No one had ever called his power "amazing" before. Of course not. He'd never shown it to anyone. But Serika didn't even use the word "amazing"—she immediately bombarded him with a flood of theoretical observations and questions. Somehow, that made him happy. Being called amazing would have been less—for some reason, being analyzed seriously struck much deeper. (But showing that on my face right now would be embarrassing, so I won't.) Koichi opened his notebook again. Practical conversation was easier. "Can you investigate the location of the underground water veins? If there's still water beneath where the dried well is, I want to make that the city's center." Serika looked up from her notebook. Her pale purple eyes gleamed. "Leave it to me." --- With two of them working, the job progressed faster than expected. Serika placed her hand on the ground and began reading something. There was no incantation. Using only hand signs, she quietly manipulated magical essence to search for underground water veins. Her furrowed brow looked quite different from her cheerful expression earlier. "Around here—" She stood and walked five paces, then placed her hand down again. "...Not here, a bit more east. Oh, but the magical essence concentration is higher this way. Wait a moment, the underground water vein's direction and the magical essence flow are..." "So what's the conclusion?" "There's still water directly beneath the dried well. About three meters underground. And listen—this is interesting—there are places where the underground water vein and the magical essence flow use the same path. I've always thought the reason magical essence concentration varies so much by region is related to the underground water flow—" "I understand there's water." "Oh, right, sorry, I got sidetracked." Serika apologized easily. She didn't seem bothered. Koichi was beginning to understand she was naturally that kind of person. When determining the marketpla