The open fire attracted the Defense Force, but they weren’t interested in the things the trio had made from dirt.
But when the group saw the water in the pit, their faces lit up.
“There’s water!”
“They struck water!”
“There’s really water!”
“What—what do they want?” Etta Moore asked, staring blankly at the approaching Defense Force soldiers.
The Defense Force wore standard-issue uniforms.
Even though every soldier’s attention was on the water in the pit, Gary and Etta Moore couldn’t help but tense up.
Mandy Donovan was just as tense.
The two times she had personally witnessed the Defense Force arresting Space Ability Users were seared into her memory.
The respect for the men in uniform that was ingrained in her bones clashed bizarrely with the fear born from what she had seen, a tangled mess unique to the lawlessness of the wasteland.
Her face was expressionless.
“They probably want a drink of water.”
Gary Moore glanced at the canteens on the soldiers’ waists, half-believing Mandy Donovan.
“…But—”
“No buts,” Mandy Donovan cut him off, pulling him and Etta Moore back a few steps.
The Defense Force was after the water, not them.
‘As long as they don’t discover my Space Ability, it’ll be fine.’
“I’ll test it!” One of the soldiers jumped into the pit and dipped his wristband into the water at the bottom.
DING!
[Natural water source.
Moderate contamination.
Safe to drink.]
The clear audio prompt made every member of the Defense Force break into looks of joyous surprise.
Everyone stared at the water, licking their lips in desire and swallowing drily to no avail.
But no one made a move to take the first drink.
Instead, their eyes fell on the three youths they had previously ignored.
Or rather, children.
Thin, short children with identically sunken cheeks that made their round eyes seem enormous.
“They’re just three little kids,” a Defense Force soldier whispered.
He could hardly bring himself to meet their eyes.
The children had found water, and there was no telling what they were about to face because of it.
And there was even less telling what they would have faced if someone other than the Defense Force had arrived first.
“Should we try to talk to them?”
“They’ll…
probably understand, right?”
This was water—life-saving water.
Who wouldn’t lose their minds at the sight of it?
A host of complicated gazes fell upon Mandy Donovan, Gary Moore, and Etta Moore.
The captain leading this Defense Force squad was Leo Lewis, distinguished by an extra red bar on his shoulder.
Leo Lewis hadn’t failed to hear the murmurs from his men, and he had considered explaining the situation to the three children.
But when he caught sight of shadowy figures furtively approaching from all sides, he paused.
He looked up, his expression turning stern.
“This well is a vital resource.
It must be confiscated and placed under the unified management of the Defense Force.
What do you require as compensation?”
His voice was low and serious.
The wind carried it far.
The furtive figures slowed their pace, but their thirst for water overcame their fear of the Defense Force.
The water drew them closer.
“Our well, our water—” After working so hard for half the day only to have their well confiscated, Etta Moore’s eyes turned red.
“It’s ours.”
Gary Moore reached for a shovel, but Mandy Donovan grabbed his wrist.
“What are you doing?”
“This is daylight robbery!
This is our well!” Gary Moore was normally the calmer of the two, but even he couldn’t stay calm now.
He struggled forcefully, but his hand didn’t budge an inch in Mandy Donovan’s grip.
“They’re just bullying us!”
Mandy hadn’t thought about the long-term use of the well; they had only dug it for the temporary purpose of firing some bricks.
Etta and Gary Moore had work in six days, and Mandy Donovan wasn’t about to guard a well all by herself.
The twins hadn’t seen the people gathering around them.
But Mandy Donovan had.
The man who had announced the confiscation had seen the onlookers and spoken loudly on purpose.
At that moment, a cold sweat broke out on Mandy Donovan’s back.
‘Thank goodness the Defense Force arrived first.
What if it had been a private faction, or wanderers?’
The fate of the three of them—
“Alright!” Mandy Donovan patted the brothers’ heads reassuringly, then turned to the leader, Leo Lewis.
“We don’t need a reward.
Just have your men deliver these things to our home for us.
The mud slurry and water included, a hundred liters will be enough.”
The clay bricks had fired successfully, turning into sturdy, durable blue-gray bricks.
A thousand bricks and a hundred liters of muddy water—it would have been a massive undertaking for the three of them to move it all home.
After speaking, she picked up two bricks and knocked them against each other.
One of them broke.
She added, “Please handle these with care.
Don’t drop them.
Thank you.”
The bricks were what mattered.
She had a simple dowsing rod; if she wanted a well, she could just dig another one.
Her voice was crisp and sweet, like a juicy apple.
It was the kind of voice that made everyone think of a cute, innocent girl, a fact she despised.
Sure enough, the moment Mandy Donovan spoke,
a stir went through the Defense Force soldiers.
“It’s a little girl!”
“How could we—Letting the Captain do such a shameless thing!”
With a dark expression, Leo Lewis shot a silent glare at the unreliable men behind him.
The unreliable bunch hid behind him, egging him on.
“Captain, hurry up and agree!
Say yes!
A few of us can move it together, it’ll be quick!”
“The well is important!
Water is life!”
Leo Lewis didn’t speak.
He rested a hand on his hip and glanced at their surroundings.
Mandy Donovan followed his gaze.
The number of people in the vicinity was growing.
In the sand-laden wind, she could only make out indistinct figures of varying heights.
Their faces were invisible, making the shadows look more like life-devouring ghouls ready to pounce at any moment.
What she had thought was a desolate, uninhabited area was not truly so.
The three of them had been watched the entire time.
She had simply been careless.
“Mandy!” Etta Moore’s eyes welled with tears.
His current despair was as deep as his earlier excitement had been high.
He reached a hand out to Mandy Donovan, his voice trembling on the verge of a sob.
“We dug for half the day—”
His palms were rubbed raw and covered in blisters.
His brother’s hands were the same.
For the sake of the well, neither of them had uttered a single cry of pain.
He pulled up Gary Moore’s hand, opening the palm for Mandy Donovan to see.
Gently cradling their two hands, Mandy Donovan softened her voice.
“I know you’re both upset.
But have you thought about it?
What if a group of wanderers had come instead of the Defense Force?
What would have happened to us?”
Gary Moore was also upset, and Mandy Donovan’s words only made him feel more so.
A lump formed in his throat.
“I understand—”
“As compensation for confiscating the well, I’ll give you a hundred liters of filtered, clean water.” Leo Lewis lowered his voice so that only those standing close could hear.
“Good boys.” After comforting the twins again, Mandy Donovan turned to Leo Lewis and shook her head.
“You don’t need to give us clean water.”
Seeing the clear signs of dehydration on the faces of the Defense Force soldiers, she was moved.
In truth, she wasn’t short on water.
Each of their faces was weathered and worn, yet they didn’t dare meet her gaze.
“The well is yours.”
Leo Lewis gave Mandy Donovan a deep look, his tone just as forceful as when he’d announced the confiscation.
“I will have your things delivered to your home!”
The twins, still upset and dissatisfied, kept looking at Mandy Donovan.
Mandy Donovan whispered, “We’ll talk about it when we get home.”
With the Defense Force present, the restless crowd didn’t dare approach, but their gazes were brazen and burning.
“It’s a well!”
“Someone struck water out in the wastes!”
“If we’d seen it first, the Defense Force wouldn’t have gotten their hands on it!”
They didn’t bother to lower their voices.
Gary Moore finally noticed the people around them, the crowd that had suddenly appeared.
He tensed up instantly, forgetting the pain in his hands.
He grabbed Etta Moore’s arm and pulled him and Mandy Donovan behind him.
At that moment, the well, the injustice—none of it mattered more than the three of them being safe.
“Stop fussing, look—”