The surprise attack on the feudal lord's mansion was a complete success thanks to the wandering mage technician's brilliant performance.
By the time the feudal lord's scattered soldiers finally woke up in the morning, word had reached the village that their lord had been captured. Not a single one of them was willing to fight a futile battle and obediently placed themselves under Gwen-san's command.
After that, I followed Gwen-san back to the town.
We headed to the feudal lord's mansion first, and I immediately spotted Giedt, Carlo-san and the others who had been stationed near the entrance.
I felt relieved since neither of them had any serious injuries.
"Good work, Giedt. Did you earn any glory?"
"More or less."
He answered confidently even though he looked a little drowsy from the night raid. It seems like he did well.
"This guy was fired up more than usual."
Carlo-san appeared from the side and put Giedt into a headlock and leaned on him.
"Ow, get off!"
"He charged in first and captured the feudal lord. Was going on about how 'Our mage made a spell to get rid of the poison, so take that' or something."
"I didn't say that!"
He definitely said that. Giedt was trying to shake Carlo-san off in a fury, but Carlo-san was slightly taller than him, so he was struggling.
"Geez, you've got some nerve getting ahead of your big bro."
"You got left behind 'cause you were hanging around!"
"I was letting you go first so you could show off for the little lady."
"Liar!"
Giedt yelled and finally managed to shake free of Carlo-san's hand. What a delightful pair of brothers. Their bickering drew laughter from the people around them, and I couldn't help but join in.
"I see, so you did your best for me, Giedt."
"It wasn't for you."
"It'd be nice if you just went along with what I said."
"Like I'd ever say something that cheesy."
Giedt folded his arms with a scowl.
Well, he really did do a great job, so I'll go easy on the teasing.
"Good work, Giedt and Carlo-san. Leave the rest to me."
From here, I needed to explain the arsenic contamination to the people who didn't know yet, prepare countermeasures and so on. I also had to write a report for the royal palace. There was a mountain of things to do.
"Jou-chan, don't you have anything to say to the feudal lord?"
Gwen-san was considerate enough to check this with me before I set off.
"Hmm, well... by the way, what's the feudal lord's situation right now?"
"We locked him in a room."
It was Giedt who answered. Then Carlo-san added.
"We can't treat a noble roughly without a royal decree."
So they couldn't throw him in a cell or tie him up. I guess they can't forget the status of a noble no matter what the situation is.
"We can't do anything without orders from above but he'll probably be transferred to the capital for now. If you have any complaints, you better voice them now."
Gwen-san urged cheerfully.
The cover-up was bad enough, but attacking the King's soldiers was what probably sealed his fate.
Just then, I happened to glance up at the mansion and saw a familiar figure at a second-floor window.
"Is that the feudal lord?"
I could see his ghostly pale face now that he'd taken off his jacket and was only wearing a shirt. Gwen-san and the others noticed this too and looked up. The feudal lord didn't move from where he stood; he just seemed to be staring down at us.
What is he thinking right now? Is he regretting that he failed to kill me? Or is he reflecting on everything he's done?
Either way, what I had to say to him was clear.
I ran to directly below the window and thrust my index finger up at him.
"I'll make everything you gave up happen with magic. So..."
I shouted at the top of my lungs so that he would hear my voice through the closed window.
"Come back someday and see it with your own eyes!"
Dion-san shifted slightly. I took that as a nod, whipped my dirty robe around and headed straight for the mine to get to work.
There was no one left to stop me now that the largest obstacle was gone.
And there was nobody here to nag me about not using magic stones for anything other than military purposes! Not having someone breathing down my neck from above is absolutely wonderful!
Once I finished all the important but tedious tasks like reports and explanations, I got straight to work without resting.
"Stay back, it's dangerous! Got it? Here I go!"
I stored up as much mana as I could in my body and took aim at the ground below from atop a tree.
"《Nor leu》!"
In an instant, a massive hole about twenty metres in diameter opened up at a spot in the foot of the mountain where debris had been cleared away. It was roughly three metres deep. I made it cave-in and hadn't removed the soil.
The miners watching let out a commotion at the rather flashy display of magic.
"Please reinforce the sides!"
I urged the stunned miners to place the rocks that they'd quarried from the mountain on the sides and bottom of the hole.
I'll make the miners and the feudal lord's soldiers who knew what the cause of the plague was but kept quiet work extra hard here. The townspeople might go easier on them if they do their best here.
I climbed down from the tree and set up the magic stones around the hole with Lux-san's help while they worked. The green magic stones I'd borrowed from the mine already had magic circles carved into them.
"Arsenic, chromium, cadmium... this should cover it for now."
Using the periodic table that Lux-san had, I'd created magic circles to remove not just arsenic but other harmful heavy metals as well. I'd already installed them at the smelter's drainage.
"Let's create a shallow area around here to collect the sediment."
Lux-san lifted the edge of his hood with one hand and pointed inside the hole.
Apparently, he's sensitive to sunlight, so he overs himself from head to toe with his cloak during the day. He said that his skin and even his scalp hurt as soon as direct sunlight hit him. Must be tough for a traveller.
"Got it. Excuse me, could you pile up some stones here to create a shallow area?"
I called out to the others, then pulled a different green magic stone with another magic circle carved into it from my pocket.
This one gathered the sediment like a magnet. This made collecting it much easier.
We couldn't just leave the metals that the magic kept separate at the bottom forever. They can process the collected metals and put it to good use.
Once the reservoir was complete and the magic stones were all in place, we channelled water in from the mine's drainage and I activated the magic stones at the same time.
The water sparkled and glittered, and not just because of the sunlight hitting the spray.
Yes, success!
"With this..."
Hugo-san stared in a daze as the water rose steadily and silver particles were drawn towards the shallow.
I sat on the ground, checked the magic circles, and looked up at the miner next to me.
"We're not done yet. We need to build one or two more reservoirs and remove the contaminants before the water reaches the villages. There's still a lot more work to do."
Hugo-san snorted through his button nose.
"Betting on you was the right call."
"Wasn't it?"
That's exactly what I'd been working so hard to hear.
Right, on to the next one!