Part 13: The Miner Drinks the Water Priestess’s Shovel Water

Part 13:
The Miner Drinks the Water Priestess’s
Shovel Water

 

THE CARRIAGE, which was large enough to hold about 10 people, rocked to and fro in the desert. After kicking the ever-loving stuffing out of the slave merchant, Lithisia had gone ahead and swiped his horse and carriage as things started to get messy. The plan was to head back to Julia’s hometown, and Alice and Catria were handling the actual driving while Alan and Lithisia stayed with Julia in the back.

“So now we’re carriage thieves, eh? I know we had no choice and all, but…”

“Incorrect, Sir Miner. We aren’t thieves. I made sure to leave behind a shovel.”

“...Like a calling card?”

“No, as payment of course!”

There was nothing “of course” about her statement, but Lithisia seemed wholly satisfied.

“So, Julia. I think it’s about time you explain to us what’s going on.”

“I’m a part of the Rahal Tribe… I was going to undergo the Ritual of Water Summoning.”

According to Julia, the Ritual of Water Summoning wasn’t just ceremonial, but a kind of magic in and of itself. The reason Desertopia had become such a massive nation was because of its oases. In order to make sure they didn’t dry up, generations of Water Priestesses would undergo the Ritual of Water Summoning. Said Water Priestesses were worshipped as deity-like beings.

“And you’re one of them, Lady Julia?”

“Yes… Or at least, I was…”

Lithisia nodded her head, clearly fascinated by the girl’s tale. “A ritual, huh? We could use one of those… Just think. A Ritual of Shovel Summoning? A Shovtual?”

Her thought process was heading in an unfortunate direction.

“Er, um, what are you talking about?”

“Shovel teachings, of course.”

Julia’s expression went blank. “Um, Sir Alan? Who exactly is this young lady?”

“Oh, right. I forgot to introduce you. Lithisia.”

“Of course!” The princess curtsied formally. “I’m the High Priestess of the Holy Shovel Faith, Lithisia.”

“Are you kidding me?”

Alan wasn’t sure where to start.

“I’m also the first princess of Rostir!”

“Take this seriously, please.”

“I’m shoveled to make your acquaintance!”

A new greeting? “Just shut up, please.”

“Um, er… A High Priestess and a princess? Um, um, um…” Julia’s voice was filled with confusion. Of course it was. Even Alan was confused.

“Julia, just ignore everything she said.”

“B-but….”

“As Sir Miner has said, all is shovely!”

Julia tilted her head, still very much puzzled. As expected from one called the Water Priestess, she had a heart as pure as water itself. Alan would have to take great care to make sure that she wasn’t corrupted.

“So the head of the Rahal Tribe knows a lot about legends, yeah?”

“Correct. The pyramid was initially a legend passed down within the Rahal Tribe.”

They weren’t just accompanying Julia back to her village as an act of kindness. This was a chance to obtain information on their next objective, the Red Orb.

“By the way, Lady Julia. Is the Ritual of Water Summoning a kind of dance?”

“It is. It’s a dance passed down within the tribe.”

“Do you think you could show me? I’d love to see it!”

Julia shook her head sadly. “I’m...no longer a priestess, so…”

“You said you ran off. What happened?”

Julia swallowed loudly and nodded her head.

Several years ago, at the end of a series of arduous trials, Julia had inherited the title of Water Priestess. Yet, when she first performed the Ritual of Water Summoning, the water levels actually dropped. The head of the tribe and the rest of the village believed that the priestess’ dance had angered the dragon.

“Angered the dragon?”

“The ‘Despair Devouring Dragon’ that turned this land into a desert long ago.”

According to the legend, the dragon burned away all of modern civilization in a single night, feeding on humanity’s despair. The very first Water Priestess calmed the angry beast, and it sank into a deep sleep. The pyramid was its resting place, and the Rahal Tribe the ancestors of the original priestess.

Julia had failed to execute the ritual properly, which was why she was originally headed for the pyramid to begin with—to atone for her sins. As recorded in the legends, she would need to sacrifice herself to the dragon in order to calm its anger.

“!!!”

Julia began to tremble a little.

She was supposed to become a sacrifice, and yet here she was with Alan and the others. That in and of itself was a sin, and the very reason she no longer had the right to call herself the Water Priestess.

“You ran from the dragon.”

“I…”

The trembling grew more intense.

“I heard it… I heard the dragon’s voice… It said, ‘I shall devour you’.”

Julia continued with her confession.

“I thought I was ready. I thought I was prepared to surrender my life, but when I heard its voice, all of that conviction vanished into thin air. All I could do was run as fast as I could, crying. I just kept running and running across the desert…!”

She could never return to her village again. Not only had she failed to summon water, she’d run from her responsibility. She was worthless.

I should die, she thought to herself.

“And then you were caught by a slave merchant?” Lithisia was holding back her own tears. “This must’ve been so hard for you… It’s such a shovelingly sad story…”

“You and your shovel need to keep quiet. But hrm, a dragon, eh?”

Alan thought to himself. Julia didn’t run away from being a sacrifice because she feared death. Dragon speech had magical properties that allowed them to control the hearts of others. It was likely that Julia had encountered the dragon, fallen under the beast’s control, and instinctively escaped.

“I get it now. But…”

There was still one unclear portion of this little tale.

“Did you really fail?”

“...Huh?”

“Did your ritual really fail? It went fine during practice, did it not?” Alan hadn’t yet seen her dance in person, but he could tell based on the way she handled herself that she was a very skilled dancer. “Is it possible that somebody interfered with the ritual?”

“Huh? Um, no… The village elder made sure everything went as planned.”

“The village elder, eh?”

Julia nodded again. “Surely, I must have made a mistake…”

“We might be able to find out why that happened.”

“Wha?! Really?! But how??”

“When it comes to water, I know my stuff.”

Digging tunnels to manipulate the flow of water was an important aspect of Alan’s job. In that sense, he and Julia had similar skills.

“The reason the water level dropped…”

“Could you dance the Ritual of Water Summoning for me?”

Julia’s eyes were clearly sparkling, and that made Alan as happy as could be. She hadn’t lost her passion. Not yet. She was filled with the drive to mine for water, the jewel of the desert. She was very much like Alan, in that way.

“B-but, I… I… Haaah.” Julia’s hands were shaking. She was so aware of her own sins that she couldn’t bring herself to take that all-important step forward.

“Lady Julia, I know a great spell to calm your nerves!”

“You do?”

Lithisia began to gently whisper in Julia’s ear. The Water Priestess closed her eyes and began to whisper something herself.

“A-a-all hail Alan… All hail S-Sir Alan… All hail the mighty shovel…”

Or something to that effect.

“Lithisia. What exactly are you making her do?”

“A prayer to help her get back on her feet.”

“You’re just having her say my name. You really think that’s going to work?”

“Of course it will. What do you think, Lady Julia?” Lithisia asked with confidence.

Julia took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

“Um, I feel a little better… I think.”

“Seriously?!”

Julia actually did look like she’d calmed down a bit.

“H-how mysterious...”

“Um, I… I don’t have any faith in myself, but…” The young girl gripped her bottle. “Sir Alan, you made a miracle happen. You saved the water that I had lost. I feel like I can have faith in your mighty words…”

“How shovely wonderful! Lady Julia, you have exactly what it takes to become a Shovel Priestess!”

There was nothing left for Alan to say.

“So, um, I think I can dance now…” Julia said cheerfully. “E-excuse me…”

Julia slowly rose to her feet and began to dance. She looked almost weightless. Her breasts bounced up and down as her slim figure smoothly transitioned between movements. She looked up toward the heavens, then lowered her face, praying for water like a priestess should.

Eventually, Alan even smelled water.

“That’s all.”

Clap, clap, clap, clap. Clank, clank, clank, clank. Lithisia applauded with all of her might. The clanking noise came from the shovel hitting the floor. “Amazing! Positively amazing! That was a true shovel dance!”

Lithisia’s words were as indecipherable as ever, but she was right in that Julia’s work was truly that of a professional. The dancer had put everything she had into her performance, and even Alan could see that. Heck, there was proof.

“Looks like it wasn’t your fault the ritual failed.”

“Huh?!”

“Look at this.”

Alan raised his shovel. Sitting atop its head was a pool of water. It had appeared during Julia’s dance.

“You summoned this water.”

“I did?!”

“Sir Miner, what kind of shovel science is this?”

“I made some adjustments so that the water summoning Shovel Power from within Julia would manifest and gather atop the shovel. If she was able to summon this much water in such a short period of time, I can’t imagine her dance being the problem. Plus…”

Alan dipped his finger into the water and licked it. The flavor was delightfully sweet and addictive. It was water that made one think of Julia’s sweetness and purity.

“It tastes fantastic. Julia executed the ritual perfectly.”

“I see… So this is Lady Julia’s shovel juice, then?”

“E-excuse me?!”

Julia held herself, clearly embarrassed by Lithisia’s phrasing. Oblivious to this, Lithisia dipped her finger into the water and took a taste as well. “Lady Julia’s water really is delicious! Aaah…”

“U-um, please don’t react so intensely…” The Water Priestess’ cheeks had turned pink as she squirmed about. She was happy, but embarrassed. Embarrassed beyond belief.

“Your water really is a treat,” Alan said. Julia had lost faith in herself, which meant he needed to take this chance to boost her confidence as much as possible.

“Aaaah…” For the first time in her life, Julia felt a certain strange emotion. They were only drinking her water, so why? Why was this so embarrassing?

Alan drank the last of the water she had summoned. “Mm, delicious. This is proof that you’re a real deal Water Priestess.”

“I shovely feel the same way.”

Julia panted heavily. “Nngh…”

As Alan joyfully swallowed the last bit of water, her expression changed. She was genuinely proud of herself.

“Let’s have everyone in your tribe try some of this.”

After a pause, Julia nodded her head as tears of joy streamed down her face. “Thank you… Thank you so much…”

“Sir Alan, isn’t it about time you find out where the village… Whoa! What the hell?!”

Catria reentered the carriage, doing a double take at the sight that met her eyes. Alan and Lithisia were smiling broadly, a soaked shovel in the former’s hands, and Julia was panting heavily while crying and offering words of gratitude.

“What the hell is going on in here?!”

“Oh, we just had some of Lady Julia’s shovel juice that she summoned with her shovel dance.”

“They...drank me dry,” Julia said, her cheeks bright red.

Catria took a moment to think before sighing deeply.

Everything about this is strange, but I suppose that’s nothing new. Whatever.