418 No Wisdom Out
Our stagecoach stopped in front of the boulder. There is no other choice. It's smack dab in the middle of the road after all.
I'm hearing voices on the opposite side.
"What is this... How did a boulder this huge get here..."
Exactly my thought. This is no natural phenomenon. But we have to do something about it either way.
I got off the stagecoach and walked in the rain.
"Now then, I could have just pushed this thing aside, but that'd attract attention if I did it by myself... Guess I should go talk to the people over there and brainstorm how to best proceed..."
My 'power' can probably do that. But a number of people have gathered here.
On our side the men would me, underling and coachman. While the other side has three men seeming the escorts and another man, their employer. Inside their wagon are three more men.
If we're gonna count women, our side would have three ladies and theirs four.
(Then I'd only be counted as one among many.)
I don't want to show off my power to those who have nothing to do with my problem. I would have just shoved the boulder aside if there were only us. However, there are strangers over there.
No telling what kind of rumor is gonna spread if I flaunt my power here. All kinds of rumors are probably flying around already from everything I did thus far, but I'm not gonna go out of my way to further that.
Hence, I'm thinking of making everybody here work together to make it look like the feat is done without my power.
I go around the boulder to the opposite side. The road may be blocked but I can still pass through the thicket on the roadsides.
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
"Hey you guys. Why don't we all work together to push this boulder aside. Please cooperate."
The escorts put their hands on their sword grips in caution over me suddenly showing up and suggesting that.
I raised both my hands to signal I'm not hostile.
"I understand your proposal. Men, this person seems to mean no harm. Please let go of your swords."
That must be their employer. A nice middle-aged man with a calm demeanor.
The man asked me back.
"By 'all' do you suppose to include the women as well? I would like to avoid having them do hard labor under this heavy rain and in this woodland."
"You're quite the gentleman huh, but that's not gonna help solve our issue. All hands on deck, or else there's no budging this giant rock."
Only fools would stay idle here. This is no time to worry about whether you're man or woman. Our situation doesn't allow that.
"How about we fell some trees, slip them under the boulder and lift them up to slide it away?"
"Nope, wouldn't work. The trees in this woodland are too thin for that, and this boulder is too big. And besides, we're still gonna need all the manpower we have to do that. Men or women, don't matter. But using trees is a good idea. Though cutting them would take too long."
The trees here are neither too thick or too thin as well as being hard to cut.
It hasn't even been three minutes since I started discussing with this middle-aged man, yet I can't come up with a good way to falsify my power.
"What if we dig a hole under the boulder and roll it down?"
"Do that and the boulder might start rolling on the people digging below when you least expect it, potentially killing them. Gonna need to dig a deep hole, at least half the boulder's diameter too. Also the ground is soft and slippery in this rain. It's dangerous."
The idea of digging a hole on the roadside to shove the boulder in is just as bad.
There would be extra work to bury the hole later too.
Five minutes have passed since this unfruitful discussion started.
Since we're talking under a heavy rain, the dampness must be getting to me. My irritation gauge quickly reached its max.
"Hey. I have a term. Agree to it and I'll get rid of this boulder right away. Don't ask how I do it and don't tell anybody what transpires here. What do you say?"
This suggestion would give the middle aged man the impression that I'm some lunatic, but I just want get the hell out of this woodland.
(I mean, I can tell staying here any longer will definitely raise another incident.)
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