My Wife and I Became Sages in Another World-Chapter 179: Ancient Water Canal

The day we arrived at the jungle settlement, Bodego gave us a quick tour of their installations.

There were probably around 100 people living there, so it wasn’t a huge settlement or anything, and I noticed that there were no children around.

Bodego explained that all of the kids and pregnant mothers were sent to another settlement that was closer to the ocean that bordered the jungle, which was quite far from where we were. However, it was their safest haven in the wilderness.

The appearance of dozens of giant white gorillas ended up disrupting other powerful monsters, making them migrate to different areas of the jungle and putting at risk all of the settlements.

The shacks that the beastkin were fixing up had been recently destroyed by a pack of "killer macaws," which were colorful birds who were vicious and could strike their enemies with their beaks that were as strong as metal blades.

Still, the shacks weren’t their biggest loss.

Bodego took us to a pond that was located just a few meters beside their settlement. However, it was almost completely dried out as the canal that brought the water to the pond had been destroyed and blocked.

"This was the work of the Ghost Gorillas..." the chief said.

He explained that a few months ago, their settlement was attacked by a couple of the giant gorillas, which were called "ghost gorillas" by the beastkins, and all of the residents had to hide since they had no chance of defeating them all.

The monsters, frustrated that they couldn’t find anything to eat, destroyed the water canal in a fit of rage and prevented them from getting a freshwater supply.

"Hmm, how long is this canal?" I asked the chief as I inspected the damages.

The chief said he wasn’t entirely sure as the canal had been built thousands of years ago, which was pretty surprising that it lasted that long. Still, he gave me a rough number and said that it could be between 500 and 600 meters long.

It was connected to a large freshwater lake, but dangerous monsters inhabited the area around it, so it wasn’t feasible for them to risk the lives of their soldiers getting water when they could get attacked at any moment.

Melina and I looked at each other and nodded, confirming that we both had the same idea.

First, we started by helping the beastkin rebuild their homes with magic, and we added protection enchantments to all of them so they would be able to withstand stronger impacts.

It didn’t take us much time since there weren’t that many homes and they were small and easy to fix, so after an hour, we were done rebuilding their settlement, leaving the most important task for last.

"Alright, how do we do this?" I asked Melina as we both walked around the destroyed canal.

"Ummm, should we start from here until we get to the lake?" Melina said.

"Sounds like that would be the fastest way..." I replied.

Without overthinking, we began moving the rocks and debris that blocked the canal and used earth magic to fix its square and sturdy frame.

We had to use a combination of earth and nature magic since there were also entire trees blocking the way.

The chief stood silent with a perplexed expression, watching us work and following us into the jungle as my group and I fixed the canal.

Gina, Carli, and Yoru were taking care of our surroundings in case any monster approached, while Vespera, Melina, and I rebuilt and cleared the structure.

It took us a few hours until we reached half-way of the canal, with one half wholly cleared and the other one made an absolute mess.

We went back to the settlement to rest and eat, making the beastkins curious as to what we were munching on.

Seeing that there weren’t that many beastkin in town, we decided to make a big barbeque for everyone to enjoy.

It was nice seeing them eat something new and praise it, saying it was the most delicious meat they had ever tasted. However, the smell from the grill ended up attracting a few monsters that were close to the area.

Nonetheless, we felt their presence coming, so I asked Vespera and Yoru to take care of them quickly before they could cause a commotion at the settlement.

We were having a nice, relaxing time, and I didn’t want some dumb monsters to mess it up for us.

After a few minutes, my two companions returned looking like nothing happened and kept indulging in the barbeque with the others.

Everyone had such a good time that we ended up hanging out with the beastkins until nighttime when they started asking us to stay with them at their shacks.

We agreed since we didn’t have anywhere to go anyway, but we built our own little room on the ground so that we wouldn’t bother any of the residents in their small homes.

That night, I left the room for a moment and found the chief sitting next to a fire pit, who invited me to join him as he waved his hand.

"Can’t sleep? Chief?" I asked, sitting on the log beside him.

The old man looked at me with a solemn expression, not breaking his eye contact for a single second.

"Young man. Are you perhaps...?" he said, stopping mid-sentence.

"Hmm?" I interjected, confused.

"You visited the ancient temple, correct?" the chief asked.

"Well, yeah, kind of. We were curious about it, but Gio and Gia stopped us from going in..." I replied.

Bodego nodded. "Mhmm, that is their job... Although..." he continued, stopping again mid-sentence.

"Ah! Nevermind. It will be much easier to show you later." the chief said, standing up from his log and shaking the dust from his robe.

"Thank you. For coming here..." said Bodego, giving me a slight bow with the head and walking back to his shack on top of the trees.

I stayed in front of the fire pit for a bit longer, thinking about what the chief wanted to say.

’Why was he interested in us visiting the temple?’ I wondered.

’Well, he said he would show me something, so I guess I’ll just wait...’