Chapter 19 - Chapter 18: The Textile Factory Fire, Part 1
It became the third month of fire, and according to the calendar, it was the last month of summer.
But if one looks only at the temperature, it feels as though now is the absolute peak, and it seems like the highest temperature is being updated every single day.
The reason I feel this way is that there are no thermometers in this world yet.
They might exist somewhere in the world, but they don't exist in Rish Village, and Ninetiana says she has never heard of them either.
Mika had been practicing magic outside with great enthusiasm every day, but he had given up on the recent heat.
He went to the river to cool off, but the direct sunlight was too strong.
It is cool under the bridge, certainly, but all the village children have gathered there.
It's fine to play with them occasionally, but Mika simply doesn't have the energy to play with children every day, after all.
So, for today, he decided to stay quietly at home.
"Haa~... so cool~..."
Mika directed both hands toward his face and neck, bathing in the wind created by "Blast".
Today the temperature was particularly high, and moreover, there was almost no wind.
Until now, opening the window was cool enough, but since there was no wind, opening the window had no effect other than preventing heat from building up.
Until now, Mika had been restraining himself from using "Blast" as much as possible to cool down.
Amalia and Loretta were working at the textile factory amidst the scorching heat every day.
In this world without air conditioning, they worked tirelessly in a factory where heat was trapped every day.
Mika felt a great sense of guilt for being the only one cooling off while staying at home.
(No way~... this is impossible.)
But there is a limit to everything.
Although he was restraining himself, if Mika got heatstroke, he would cause trouble for Amalia again.
So, with a heart full of pain, he decided to swallow his tears and cool off without holding back.
Currently, "Blast" does not manipulate thermal energy.
Of course, it has been confirmed that it can produce cold air, but this surprisingly consumes a lot of mana.
If it were just to produce cold air for a moment, that would be one thing, but it has no meaning unless it is kept on continuously.
It is not something that can be done in five or ten minutes, so if he keeps producing cold air, his mana will run dry.
So, he used "Water Splash" like a spray bottle on his face and neck, and used "Blast" to send only the wind.
He was cooling himself using evaporative cooling.
"...Is it really going to be autumn next month? Is the calendar crazy?"
Mika asked Ninetiana about the calendar, but she said she didn't really understand.
Or rather, she didn't care about the calendar at all.
Perhaps because she had lived as an adventurer for so long, she only viewed the calendar in a myopic way, such as how many days later or what day of next week.
She didn't even care about the flow of the year, only thinking things like "it's gotten hot" or "it's gotten cold."
To Mika, he wondered if that was okay, but it was also a fact that it was sufficient that way.
Horatio, who was the Factory Manager, and the Village Head were probably different, but for a life where one just earned daily wages, perhaps that was indeed sufficient.
While Mika was doing nothing, the sound of a bell rang out.
Ding-ding-ding, and after a while, it rang ding-ding-ding again.
(Three rings... is it a fire?)
He involuntarily turned around and looked around.
There was no change. The fire was not at Mika's house.
In the first place, Mika had been forbidden by his family from using fire.
Mika had not used fire except for practicing magic outside the village, and even then, he hadn't used it recently.
(Where is it?)
He went outside and looked around.
There were no neighboring houses close enough to be called "neighbors," so there was no commotion around him.
He looked around the sky searching for smoke, and just then, he could see smoke rising in the distance to the north of the Noisheim house.
Since there was no wind today, the smoke rose straight up without being blown by the wind.
Since the Noisheim house was at the southeastern edge of Rish Village, the scene of the fire must be in the northeastern part of the village.
(...The scene is quite far away----.)
Thinking that far, Mika ran at full speed toward the smoke.
(Northeast of the village! The textile factory!)
Today, Amalia and Loretta had gone to work at the textile factory as usual.
Wishing that his family had evacuated safely, Mika ran toward the textile factory.
Along the way, he began to see people heading toward the fire scene here and there.
Almost all of Rish Village's laborers worked at the textile factory or the cotton fields.
Even if their families worked in the cotton fields, many of their acquaintances worked at the textile factory.
When Mika arrived at the textile factory, more than one hundred people were already outside the factory building.
These were people who had evacuated from the textile factory and people who had gathered upon noticing the fire.
Among such a crowd, he found the figure of Radi.
She had probably heard about the fire and rushed over in preparation for the injured.
The fire scene was the building at the very end, located in the northeast among the four buildings of the textile factory, and many people were watching the fire scene from a distance.
Because he had run through the scorching sun, Mika was already drenched in sweat.
Without even having time to catch his breath, Mika desperately searched for the two of them in the bustling crowd.
"Mika!"
Loretta, who noticed Mika in the crowd, ran over.
"Big Sister! Haa... haa... thank goodness, you're safe. Haa... where is Mother?"
"Mother is safe too. We evacuated together."
As Loretta said this and turned around, Amalia had also noticed Mika and was running toward him.
"Mika, you came."
"Yeah. Haa... both of you, haa... haa... you're safe, thank goodness."
Mika let out a big breath, haa~, and slowly calmed his still-unsteady breathing.
Amalia wiped Mika, who was drenched in sweat, with a hand towel.
While Mika was catching his breath, more and more people gathered.
It was as if everyone in the village was gathering.
No, in fact, that would happen.
It was a village where every villager was an acquaintance, friend, or relative.
Rather, it could be said that gathering was natural.
Once he confirmed his family was safe and had a moment to calm down, Mika noticed something strange.
Everyone was just watching from a distance, and there was no sign of organized movement.
There was no 119, no fire trucks, no ambulances.
But wouldn't they do something like a fire brigade activity?
(Eh? There should be pump trucks, right? Bucket relays or something.)
The Vigilance Committee had stood against magical beasts with such unity.
Wouldn't they do something like fire suppression during a fire?
(Where is Horatio-san? As the Factory Manager, he shouldn't have to confirm that everyone has evacuated properly.)
He recalled evacuation drills from his previous world.
Confirming evacuated people by department and reporting to the top.
To grasp who had evacuated and who had not.
Male employees were made to do bucket relays, and female employees were made to do fire suppression training using water extinguishers.
At that time, I thought, "This is troublesome," but when actually encountering a fire scene, the importance of training becomes clear.
(Why is no one moving?)
He thought that, but Mika quickly came to the answer.
(...There's no way to do fire suppression activities.)
A village that is uselessly wide. Each house is far apart, and spreading fires or secondary fires are unlikely to happen.
Perhaps there is no concept of fire water sources, so there are no reservoirs in the village that serve as fire prevention ponds.
Mika had actually walked around the village and seen it with his own eyes.
There were wells for drinking and living water in the village, but there was not a single reservoir or anything else.
He had not thought of this fact until a fire actually occurred.
(I'm also quite pacified by peace. I couldn't even think of it until a fire actually happened.)
However, while houses scattered throughout the village were one thing, the textile factory had four buildings standing connected.
If nothing was done, the textile factory, the village's only economic foundation, would be burned down.
It was a bit of a distance to the river, but if everyone in the village joined in, a bucket relay was possible.
If this wasn't a last-minute attempt, there might have been a way to handle it, but...
Even if Mika explained it to the villagers now, it wouldn't be realistic to make it function properly.
(I heard that in the Edo period, they demolished row houses in advance when there was a fire...)
Row houses were densely packed in Edo towns.
If a fire broke out in such a place, the whole town would burn down if nothing was done.
So, to stop the spreading fire, they demolished row houses in advance to stop the spread.
(Fire suppression activities were also organized, and the concept of fire water sources existed, however crude. ...Damn, is this world below the Edo period!)
As he was thinking about what he could do, he saw Diego's figure in the crowd.
When Mika ran toward Diego, Loretta panicked.
"Wait, Mika!"
"I'm just going to Diego-san!"
When Mika pushed through the crowd to get to Diego, Diego was looking at the fire with a bitter expression.
"Diego-san!"
"Oh, hey, monk. You came too? Was your family okay?"
"Yeah, both are safe. But more importantly, Diego-san, isn't the Vigilance Committee doing anything?"
"What do you mean?"
"If this continues, the fire will spread to the next building, won't it? Won't you do something to crush it first?"
"Crush it!? That one?"
Saying that, Diego looked at the neighboring building.
"...Don't say such unreasonable things. You're saying something completely out of the blue."
Diego muttered as if exasperated.
Indeed, it would be difficult to destroy the textile factory like row houses.
Row houses were originally structurally designed to be easily destroyed in case of a fire.
It would be impossible to ask them to destroy it the same way suddenly.
"Then, shouldn't we check the people who evacuated from the factory? Shouldn't we confirm if everyone has evacuated properly?"
"...Yes, that's right. It would be good to check. Hey!"
Just as Diego was trying to find someone in the crowd and call out, the surroundings became restless.
"Hey, over there!"
"Look! Someone came out!"
Such voices came from somewhere.
Looking, everyone around was pointing at the entrance of the building where the fire was occurring, shouting in unison.
Smoke was blowing out of the entrance, and from within that smoke, a man was staggering out.
Several men jumped out of the crowd, and Diego followed suit.
The men supported the man who had come out of the building, holding him by both sides and moving away from the building.
"Hold on, Nanzaro!"
"It's okay now!"
The young man called Nanzaro coughed terribly while desperately pointing at the building.
His hands were terribly burnt and blistered, and upon closer inspection, his arms were burned all over.
Radi ran over and immediately cast "Heal" on Nanzaro.
Mika watched the scene from a distance.
"Cough... hack... still, inside! Cough..."
Nanzaro, with tears streaming down his face, pleaded desperately.
"There are still people inside!"
When someone shouted to confirm, Nanzaro nodded many times.
"What!?"
"What a terrible thing..."
Radi was speechless and looked at the building, making a gesture of prayer.
Diego clenched his teeth and glared at the building.
"Hack... my wife! Hack... hack... Mehiltote is still inside!"
"What!?"
At Nanzaro's agonizing cry, everyone present was speechless.
"I beg you! Someone, cough... someone save my wife! Please! Someone!"
Nanzaro desperately clung to the man beside him and pleaded.
Everyone present could not bear to see Nanzaro, who was seeking help.
Nanzaro had probably tried to save his wife until the very last moment.
But realizing he couldn't save her alone, he left the scene with a heart full of pain and came to ask for help.
"...Did you see anyone else left behind?"
Diego spoke to Nanzaro.
"............ The Factory Manager, and a few others. My wife was there too..."
Nanzaro hung his head as if exhausted.
"............ I tried to help until the end, but the Factory Manager told me to go... Even so, I tried to help somehow... but the fire was spreading..."
Saying that, Nanzaro collapsed in tears.
Overwhelmed by Nanzaro's harsh confession, Mika was enveloped in a sense of powerlessness that made him feel like he would collapse too.
(...Horatio-san.)
He had thought he wouldn't see him in the crowd, but he never expected him to be left behind.
That short but sturdy-looking Horatio seemed like he could escape from anywhere.
(He can't move... is there a reason...?)
Did Horatio or someone else left behind get injured?
Was he in a situation where he couldn't move for some reason?
Without realizing it, Mika had tightly clenched his fist.
(Horatio-san is the one who saved my life. That is certainly true, but...)
Mika looked at the building where smoke was billowing.
The fire had probably already spread over a wide area of the building.
No one knew how long the ceiling would hold.
It wouldn't be strange if it collapsed at any moment.
Mika looked at Nanzaro.
Even if it was to seek help, he had fled leaving his wife behind.
No, he must have understood. That it was impossible.
How great was the despair Nanzaro held?
Nanzaro would surely regret this day for the rest of his life.
(Damn... don't think stupid thoughts.)
Jumping into there was, no matter how you look at it, suicide.
Even if you can use magic a little, there are things you can't do anything about.
It goes without saying that he knew that.
(I know. Ah, I know!)
Mika looked at the building where smoke was billowing once more.
He clenched his teeth and closed his eyes tightly with all his might.
(There's nothing I can do! What can I do alone!)
If the textile factory burned down like this, Rish Village would be finished.
If that happened, everyone in the village would be left wandering the streets.
(Dammit!!!)
Opening his eyes wide, contrary to his thoughts, Mika ran toward the entrance where smoke was rising.
"Ah, hey! Wait!"
"Idiot! Go back!"
Adults who noticed Mika running out moved to stop him in a flash, but because they were caught off guard, their hands reached out but couldn't reach him.
"Limiter Off! Waterball!!!"
While running, Mika created a "Waterball" in front of him.
He jumped directly into the "Waterball" about one meter in diameter and burst through to the other side.
Adults who noticed Mika's rampage chased after him, but they were surprised by the sudden appearance of the mass of water and their movements slowed.
In that gap, Mika jumped into the entrance.
"Look! Someone!"
"Kyaaaaaaaah!"
"A child!"
"Mika-kun!"
"Mika!"
Many screams rose from the crowd behind, and voices calling to stop Mika could be heard.
Mika heard those voices from inside the building and apologized to Amalia and Loretta in his heart.
(...Sorry. I've always caused you worry, really sorry. But...)
He didn't want to abandon Horatio. He didn't want to abandon the one who saved his life.
He wanted to do something about Nanzaro's agonizing cry.
If he had the "power" to stand up to this.
If there was even a slight possibility of that.
(...I'll do something!)
Mika covered his mouth and nose with his right hand and secured his breathing with "Blast".
With his left hand, he continued to emit "Water Splash", covering the direction of travel and any flames he could see around him.
The factory was a wooden building, and its durability had decreased due to being burned by the flames.
If the force of the water was too strong, it might become the final blow and cause it to collapse.
Mika proceeded inside the building while carefully extinguishing the fire.
(I can secure my breathing, but my eyes...)
Enveloped in a large amount of smoke, even if his breathing was secured, his eyes hurt terribly.
The force of "Blast" pushed back the smoke around his face, but even so, the heat and some smoke were unavoidable.
Visibility was significantly restricted by the smoke.
Moreover, since Mika had never entered the building which was the fire scene, he didn't know the internal structure.
"Horatio-saann! Where are youaa!"
He called out loudly, but there was no answer.
All he could hear was the sound of air flowing, gwooo..., and the sound of wood exploding from the flames.
Mika proceeded cautiously while calling out loudly.
(It was the first time I used magic simultaneously, but it seems to work.)
"Water Splash" and "Blast".
Since he had practiced reasonably well, he had no anxiety about manifesting them, but using them simultaneously was the first time.
Mika frequently sprayed water on himself to endure the heat filling the building.
(Should I practice things like this from now on. ............ If there is a "from now on".)
Judging by the distance walked, he had probably reached about half of the building, when Mika noticed a bad situation.
(If this continues... my mana won't last.)
Mika stopped his steps.
Before noticing the fire, he had used "Blast" at home.
And now, he was using "Water Splash" and "Blast" simultaneously.
The consumption of mana was more intense than he thought.
Especially the mana consumption of "Water Splash" was large.
Even though he was suppressing the force, he was continuously creating a large amount of water.
He could feel his mana decreasing bit by bit.
(What should I do? What should I do...)
If his mana ran dry, it would be the end there.
Mika himself would become unable to move.
Right now, he might still be able to turn back in time.
(...Can I do such a thing...!)
He gritted his teeth.
But even if he continued forward and found the people left behind, he would definitely not be able to turn back from there.
(Think, think, think... There must be a way. ............ Absolutely!)
While glaring at the approaching flames, Mika desperately thought of a way to survive.