When an honored guest arrives, a feast is in order, however modest. Putting travelers at ease and welcoming news from distant lands is an age-old human custom.

After escorting the Earth Sage to the dining hall, I brought out every last bit of leftover food. Not knowing what she liked, I laid it all on the table to welcome her.

Then I cheerfully called for a toast.

“May I have everyone's attention! An honored guest has come to the bottomless pit! The Goddess of the Engineering Battalion, the Guardian of Shoveling, the Reverse Undertaker, the Rolling Earth Mountain, the Un-topple-able One! The bearer of all these titles, the esteemed Earth Sage!”

The Earth Sage nodded in acknowledgment, but she looked less than pleased with her introduction. Especially upon hearing those last two epithets.

'... I would rather he left out the last two. Still, that should be the end of the introductions.'

Unfortunately for her, there was an inquisitive twelve-century-old girl in the room. Tyr asked with genuine curiosity,

“You have so many epithets. How did you come by them all?”

“Haha. They are nothing so remarkable.”

The Earth Sage politely evaded the question. But even if she would not answer, someone else could.

Me, of course!

“Nothing remarkable? Every single one comes from an incredible achievement!”

We couldn't treat someone as famous and extraordinary as the Earth Sage like Passing Traveler Number One.

Others might stand for it, but not me. I promptly sprang to my feet.

“It's unthinkable that anyone here should fail to appreciate the Earth Sage's greatness! For those who don't know, allow me to give a brief explanation!”

“No, there is no need.”

“Don't be modest! Tyr is out of touch with the outside world. If we don't fill her in beforehand, she won't be able to follow the conversation, and she'll sulk!”

'... He says the Progenitor, an ancient being, will sulk? This fellow is no ordinary man either.'

Left with little choice, the Earth Sage assented. With her permission secured, I introduced her like an emcee welcoming a distinguished guest.

“The Earth Sage participated in most of the national civil engineering projects undertaken by the Military State. Of course, governments never get anything right! At the time, the engineering corps knew only how to dig trenches and erect palisades. Civil engineering on that scale nearly became a mass slaughter that buried as many people alive as were assigned to the work! It was enough to make you fear the second coming of the Overlord! And who should burst onto the scene but...”

With a crisp gesture, I respectfully held out a hand toward the Earth Sage.

“The esteemed Earth Sage! Thanks to her arrival with the earth mages under her command, the Military State built sturdy roads, dams, and buildings!

“And that wasn't all! How to make concrete several times stronger, how to work with it, how to prepare foundations, even how to find underground water and select soil! To the engineering battalion, the Earth Sage and her earth mages, who taught them all of this, were no different from Mother Earth herself! Hence, the Goddess of the Engineering Battalion!”

“Oh? An apostle of Mother Earth became a carpenter. How intriguing.”

With Tyr listening so avidly, her eyes sparkling, the Earth Sage could no longer turn down my introduction. I pressed on, riding that momentum.

“The Guardian of Shoveling and the Reverse Undertaker have a related story behind them! One day, an engineer was buried while shoveling. It was a common enough occurrence on construction sites, but some citizens were terrified, saying Mother Earth was angry that they had dug into her flesh. And then! The Earth Sage worked her earth magic! Like a volcano erupting, like water surging from a well! His body was brought up from deep underground!”

Exclamations rose around the room. Tyr's reaction in particular was immensely gratifying.

“Oh! I have seen Taoist adepts do similar things. And then?”

“From that day on, the engineering corps no longer feared shoveling! Hence, the Guardian of Shoveling. What's more, unlike undertakers who bury the dead, she pulled the living out of the ground, earning her the title of an undertaker in reverse! The Reverse Undertaker!”

“Splendid!”

Tyr looked at the Earth Sage with newfound admiration. The Earth Sage opened and closed her mouth for a moment before replying with a smile.

“Merely rumors that have grown in the telling.”

'... Mother Earth. Grant this poor daughter the strength to endure this humiliation.'

However renowned the Earth Sage might be, she was a child compared to Tyr, with her twelve centuries of history. With Tyr, who was about as old as the bottomless pit, showing such interest, she could hardly interrupt me.

Having deployed my cheat code, I continued.

“She was named the Rolling Earth Mountain because, when the Earth Sage exerts her power, the earth rolls along like a river!”

“The earth flows like a river?”

“That's right. You see, there's this substance called cement! With the Earth Sage's expertise, the Military State began mass-producing high-quality cement. But while they were wondering how to transport it, the Earth Sage appeared once again! Using the power of earth magic, she sent the cement flowing! They say the flow of cement she produced did not stop for an entire week!”

Apparently, there was even a time when the Earth Sage and a single platoon of mage officers moved more cement than all the Military State's other shipments combined.

And the knowledge gained then led to the creation of the meta-conveyor belt, one of the Military State's seven great inventions.

“That such a thing is possible defies all common sense...”

“It is precisely because she can do it, because she surpasses common sense, that she is the Earth Sage! A reputation like hers doesn't come easily!”

Someone who casually accomplished what common sense deemed impossible. That was why people revered her.

The faith of Mother Earth had steadily declined since the emergence of the Holy See. It was no exaggeration to say that this ancient faith, which had barely clung to life, owed its modern revival and flourishing entirely to the Earth Sage.

As my introduction seemed to be drawing to a close, the Earth Sage inwardly relaxed.

Not so fast. There was still one left.

“Then what of the Un-topple-able One?”

The Earth Sage gave a small start at the undying one's question.

I grinned and explained as though I had been waiting for it.

“It means one who never falls.”

“Never falls?”

“No one in the engineering corps has ever seen the Earth Sage fall. Whether on slopes, rocky mountains, or ground turned to squelching mud by rain, the Earth Sage always walked on her own two legs.”

None of the engineers or convict laborers who took part in the construction had ever seen her knees touch the ground.

When humans, who walked on two legs, were driven by hardship to crawl on all fours like other beasts, she always stood on two feet and walked on two feet. With both legs planted like an ancient tree, she accomplished everything.

“One day, a dam even began to collapse during construction. A weakened crack gave way, and water poured madly through the breach. At that rate, the dam was certain to burst, sending a tremendous volume of river water crashing down on everyone downstream. A horrific disaster. And then...”

By now, everyone could guess what came next.

At the same time, they could scarcely believe their own guesses.

Easy enough to say, but far too magnificent a feat for a human body to accomplish.

“That would certainly have happened, had the Earth Sage not appeared, planted her feet firmly, and blocked the breach with her entire body.”

“Good heavens.”

Tyr covered her mouth, and the undying one let out an exclamation too.

Something they had hoped for, yet could hardly believe. The catharsis of a human stepping into the realm of the impossible.

Reading everyone's emotions, I cried out as though the achievement were my own.

“Even then, she did not fall! Holding back the escaping water with her body, she issued strict orders to repair the dam while she held it. A situation so dangerous that, if she fell, everyone doing the repairs would be swept away!”

Yet those who had worked on that project repeated the story at every drinking session, until everyone was sick of hearing it.

Not a single person there, they said, had been able to imagine her falling.

“And so the engineers and convict laborers climbed down and repaired the dam without a shred of doubt. For the full day she served as their dam, they worked without eating or sleeping until the repairs were complete.”

As I proclaimed this, my eyes were moist with tears of emotion.

Ah, even the Earth Sage's feats, which I felt I could recount forever, eventually had to come to an end. Why was human history so brief, leaving one longing for more?

My voice fading, I brought the tale to its conclusion.

“From that day on, they became an elite force that took on the earth itself. The legendary engineering battalion. The unit that never fell—the Un-topple-able Engineering Corps.”

The instant I finished, the deeply moved undying one sprang to his feet and cheered.

“The Un-topple-able Engineering Corps! What a magnificent name!”

“Isn't it? I hear the Military State is honoring that spirit by naming a new piece of equipment the Un-topple-able One.”

“Ahh! Everyone seeks a place to leave their name behind. Though it may be an epithet, the Earth Sage has accomplished something truly tremendous!”

As for the woman at the center of this now-legendary tale of the engineering corps, hearing it once again...

'Even after twenty years... I could not shake it off.'

She drained her cup bitterly, thinking something that would have saddened anyone who read it.

'Had I known it would come to this, I should have fallen at least once.'

For the Un-topple-able One—no, the Earth Sage—who wished to deny her own legend, I raised my cup high.

“Let us fight! Let us win! Un-topple-able One!”

“The Un-topple-able One. How splendid...”

“Un-topple-able One! Un-topple-able One!”

Deeply impressed, Tyr and the undying one chanted over and over. Caught up in the lively mood, even Azi was bouncing along and shouting, “Woof! Topple-able!”

Amid the respect and encouragement pouring in from all sides, the one who never fell thought:

'I suppose... I should have fallen at least five times.'

In any case, the feast continued. Except when the epithet Un-topple-able One came up, the Earth Sage readily answered the questions put to her.

What she had done after leaving the engineering corps, how much effort she had devoted to training successors, what Mother Earth's teachings were.

As we gradually approached the heart of the matter from vaguely unrelated questions, like sighting in a gun, I took the lead and fired the opening shot.

“But what brings someone as distinguished as you to such a humble place, Earth Sage?”

This was the topic everyone had been waiting for. Tyr found every story fascinating, of course, but even the undying one and Callis were dying to know.

... As was the Regressor, who had not joined us and was merely listening from outside.

CLACK.

Now that we had reached the heart of the matter, the Earth Sage set her cup down with an audible knock and spoke gravely.

“I have come to fulfill the cherished wish of all followers of Mother Earth.”

“The cherished wish of all followers of Mother Earth?”

“Indeed. The bottomless pit, a remnant of Mother Earth's past wrath and a shameful reflection of all her followers. The ugly side of the buriers, buried by the Overlord's deeds.”

As she spoke, the Earth Sage gave a brief stamp of her foot.

THUD.

Earth taken to its ultimate extreme. The pinnacle of the energy arts, channeling every bit of exerted force into the ground, spread throughout Tantalus.

The source of that artificial earthquake spoke with unwavering resolve.

“The bottomless pit, Mother Earth's hell that turned this land into a wasteland. I have come here to erase it.”

“Erase the bottomless pit?”

Yes. There was no doubt.

The Earth Sage was the person the Regressor had said would come to erase the bottomless pit.

I didn't know why she had called someone so famous an earth serpent dreaming of defying heaven, or the Holy See's nightmare.

But whatever the reason, she had arrived at Tantalus several months early!

“It sounds impossible... but coming from the woman who created the legend of the Un-topple-able One, somehow I feel it really could happen!”

“... Would you please stop using that epithet now?”

Oops. Had I pushed her too far? Okay.