It's still Kinmarie from the demon tribe.
　A beautiful woman who just happened to show up at my workplace.

　Did you say her name was Horcosfon?

　What she brought up was.....

"What is this?!

　It was hard to tell just by looking at it.

　It seems to be a bean.
　A few dozen or so lumps of beans on a small plate.

　However, there was a white sticky substance adhering to the surface of those beans, which was quite uncanny.
　Not only that, they also emitted an odd smell.

　Could these beans be.........?

"They're rotten, aren't they!　They are rotten, aren't they!
Excuse me. Excuse me, sir. I didn't go bad.

　I don't know, what's the difference?

　And I have no idea what the intention is to bring out the rotten beans at the drilling site.
　She's a mystery to me.

Now, I'd like to show you the greatness of fermented soybeans. First, I'm going to give it a good shake.

　Holkosfone, or something like that, now took out two short, thin sticks and started scraping the rotten beans on the plate with them.

　The more he stirred, the more watery the beans became, and they began to pull a sticky thread between the beans.

　'What are you really trying to do?

'This much gooeyness would be nice. I raise my chopsticks...'

　Hee!
　The longer the two sticks are raised, the longer the string pulls, and the beans float as if they are hanging from it!

'We are now ready to go, sir.
What?

　The string hanging from the chopsticks, and the beans hanging from it.
　The beans are wobbling, and Holkosfone is staring at them....

''It's over there.''
''What?!''

　I walked briskly and carefully observed the movement of the dangling beans again....

Next, over there...

　Is that what I think it is?
　Beans hanging on a piece of string?　The pendulum swing of the beans?

Dowsing?

　That's dowsing?
　It's one of the secrets of the Well Diggers' Guild, the art of finding a vein of water underground, without digging in the ground.

　How can this be done by a woman who doesn't belong to the guild?

"Our Natto Dowsing team has found a hot spring below.

　When she pointed to a point, I was struck with a shock.
　Because....!

'If we continue digging here, we should be able to find the hot springs. I strongly recommend drilling at this point.
That's a no-no.
Why?　Please provide a reason.
You were right. This is the most suspicious spot we have found in our investigation.

　That's why I was shocked.
　A stranger had guessed the best drilling point I'd ever found with the secret art of the Well Drilling Guild, and she hadn't missed a beat.

'But this point is no good,' she said. But this point is no good," he said, "because there's a bedrock a little further down, and it's very solid. We had to give up, because the equipment we had in hand didn't help at all.

　So, we've been digging through the second choice spot.

"I commend you for finding the best spot to drill. But we're going to have to dig through this hole. If there's nothing else you can do, just sit back and watch.
Yes, sir. Then we'll take care of the bedrock.
Hmm?

　Is she not listening to you?
　You know how we, the drilling professionals, couldn't get through, even if we pulled out all the stops?　What can you do with a woman's fine arm?

　Please, for the love of God, just be quiet already!

'Then, for now, let's dig down to the depths where the bedrock is. We'll blow the soil away with the manacanon.
'What?　Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?

　A holcosphone, or something like that, pulls out a tube like object out of nowhere, and a tremendous beam of light comes out of the hole at the tip of it!
　Is it some kind of offensive magic?

　The soil we reburied was blown away in the blink of an eye...!
　A hard bedrock was exposed!

''........Indeed, even though we saved it, it's still a solid bedrock to withstand a direct hit from Manakanon. We should take new measures here. .........lettuce rate.
Yes, sir.

　Another new woman has appeared!
　She's still beautiful, but this one is of the human race and looks rather royal.

"Since you went along with me, do you want to try your hand at destroying this bedrock?
'Good!　Me and Holkos are now a great duo, so where there's Holkos, there's me!　And there should always be a place for me to show off!

　A second woman called Lettuce Rate or something like that.
　Standing on a rock exposed from the earth, she breathed quietly....

　However.

'What are you doing!　This isn't a bedrock that can be managed by a woman's fine arms!　"Get out of my way before you get hurt!
"Hokuto Shinken Profound Fist!　Nutcracker Punch!

　The Royal Maiden thrusts her fist straight down.
　The moment it touched, the bedrock shattered with a roar. It turned into a thousand pieces.

''What the heck?
''Lettuce rate, nice punch as always.

　How is that possible?
　No matter what kind of tooling and drilling techniques were used, not a single crack was needed in the bedrock!　How does a girl get smashed up with a single punch?

It's the power of the bean!　People can be stronger than the devil, as long as they keep eating their beans.　My megaton punch is just the practice of it!
''I don't understand even if you explain it to me!

　But..........
　The bedrock that was blocking the best drilling point has been shattered, and there are no more obstacles in the way.
　It's also true that we can proceed on the most promising path.

　What to do?　Do you want to keep digging through this point?
　However, that was only possible with the help of these women, who were outsiders, and as a professional well driller, it wasn't awkward.

Hmmm, what should we do...?
'Then let's move on to the real drilling process. Deploy both mana blades and activate drill mode.
Hmm, yeah?

　The next thing you know, the first beautiful woman called Holkosfone spun around at high speed and plunged into the ground at a terrific speed!

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!

　A hole is being dug in the ground at a tremendous rate.

Holkosu is digging a hole in the ground at great speed.

　And the other woman, who was not in any difficulty, was calm.

They say you have to dive to great depths to find the hot springs, so you'll have to wait a bit. ...Oh, do you want some peanuts while you're waiting?
Hi....?

　And there's a short wait.

　　　　* * *

　Water gushed out of the hole she was digging down with great force!

"Whoa!　Ooh, ooh, ooh!　It's not water!　It's hot!　It's hot water!
Horkos, you really found the hot springs!

　Really hot!　Wasn't it the Demon Lord's nightmare that hot water gushes out of the ground?

We're back! Mission accomplished, sir.

　Mr. Holkosfone returned with a stream of hot water.

"The hot springs are located in a geological formation below the normal water vein, which makes them very difficult to dig out. Your equipment will never be able to reach it, so it's understandable that it's hard to believe.

　She tells me in a comforting tone of voice.
　But my mind has shifted to other things and I don't care about anything else.

'........make me your apprentice.
Yes?

　I took the hand of Mr. Holkosfone or rather, of Mr. Holkosfone.

"Please share your fabulous digging skills with me!　I mean, why don't you join the Well Digging Guild!　With you, I'm sure that our company will be one of the most prosperous ever!
Are you going to take you as my student?

　Master Horcosfon showed a pretense of thinking for a moment........

'Agreed. I will teach you how to make natto (fermented soybeans). I'm sure I'll make you a master at making natto (fermented soybeans).
Thank you!

　I feel like there was a little bit of friction, but this makes me a better job well digger than I am now!
　Life gets easier!