Necessity is the mother of invention. People are forced to use their brains when they're met with constraints.
If you keep struggling and searching without giving up, then you'll find a solution in the most unexpected places; that's a stroke of luck and joy that surpasses anything else.
Inside the mine tunnel, now filled with white light, I let out a deep breath. Hah, good job.
I'd been carving magic circles like a madwoman while also working on the arsenic countermeasures and created a whole bunch of lamps!
With Lux-san's help, we handed the finished ones to the miners and had them install them in the tunnels one after another. As expected, we couldn't cover every single tunnel, but the main ones were mostly taken care of.
Magic stone lamps gave off a brighter light and illuminated a wider area than oil lamps, so we needed fewer of them.
"We appreciate it, but is it really okay for you to go this far...?"
Hugo-san said, squinting against the light.
I couldn't answer whether I should have gone this far or not.
Because I hadn't gone to get permission!
There were no regulations regarding the handling of discarded magic stones to begin with.
So, I just went ahead and did it. Part of the reason was that I'd gotten so excited I couldn't help myself.
I'd probably get scolded in the end, but I didn't care. The results from both the lamps and arsenic countermeasures would surely come in handy once I returned to the capital.
The arsenic concentration testing kit I'd commissioned from Lux-san was also finished.
I had stones embedded in the bottom and sides of a large bowl which I had custom-made at a smelter. The magic circle on the bowl would activate once water was poured in up to the marked line.
I'd set it up so that the water would turn brown if the water contained a concentration of arsenic that would be dangerous to consume continuously.
When I demonstrated by dissolving some arsenic back into water, the townspeople and villagers all found it "gross." That's what I was going for though. I wanted to make it easy to identify.
The test results showed that both the river and well water were safe, confirming that the magic was successfully removing the arsenic.
Since the locals still needed to perform regular tests going forward, I made several of these kits and distributed them to the town and villages.
Another thing I personally wanted to poke my nose in on was agriculture.
"Ehh, till the fields?"
"You have to till it. You get years with little rain, right? With no-till farming, roots concentrate near the surface, so they become weak against a drought. If the soil is loosened, plants can extend their roots deep underground and draw up water on their own, which saves you the trouble of watering them. And, weeding should get a bit easier too."
I had the smelters make some sample hoes and suggested till farming to the villagers.
Of course, farming relies heavily on techniques based on local experience, but there's plenty of data showing it generally increases yields, so I think it's worth trying.
"Mages sure know some strange things."
The women tilted their heads at me, but they agreed to give it a try.
Note, the famine relief crops being grown were root vegetables like beets.
Harmful metals tend to accumulate in the roots, but when winter came and they were harvested, I randomly selected a few for testing and found no issues.
The other crops should be fine then.
The water had returned, and the soil had returned.
But there were still things that hadn't.
An elderly man with necrotic legs laid before me.
He was the village chief of Kikus Village. Magic stones carved with magic circles surrounded him, bathing him in a pale blue glow.
"Hmm... this is difficult."
Lux-san, sitting beside the old man, didn't look pleased. It was obvious just by looking that there had been no change in the elderly man's condition.
We were at a loss on what to do for patients whose chronic arsenic poisoning had progressed to severe stages.
It was incredibly difficult to extract arsenic which had been absorbed into every part of the body.
And even if we could remove the arsenic from the body over time, there was no guarantee that the tissue that had already deteriorated would heal.
Some people still had half their faces covered in white scaly skin even after they had recovered. This kind of keratosis and pigmentation was difficult to cure.
Rille-nee and the others were trying herbal treatments to see if they could help, but they hadn't worked yet; the best it did was ease the numbness in his body.
A lot of things had been going well lately and I'd made some amazing discoveries.
But that didn't mean I could solve everything.
"Please, get angry at me for being useless."
Magic was supposed to be for times like these, yet I couldn't do a thing for him. How pathetic. Would I have been able to come up with another solution if I'd studied more before dying the first time? Regret was catching up to me now of all times.
But the old man shook his head with a smile.
"Everyone can move around like they used to. With everything moving in a good direction, what is there to complain about?"
He slowly raised a thin arm and pointed at me.
"Please, get some rest."
He was probably referring to the dark circles that had formed under my eyes recently.
Why do people worry about others when they're the ones suffering?
Of course, I had no intention of resting.
Between things that needed doing and things that popped up, there was never enough time.
I was in a corner of the infirmary discussing yet another magic circle design with Lux-san when trouble came my way.
"You've been summoned."
Giedt, who had at some point shifted from bodyguard to messenger, was standing behind me before I noticed.
Had I been summoned to report the progress of the arsenic countermeasures or had the officials finally noticed that I had installed magic lamps in the mines without their permission?
I expected him to rush me along, but instead, Giedt spent a moment looking around the room and glanced down at the papers with magic circles drawn on them.
"It would be nice if there was a way to solve all these problems at once."
I grumbled with a bitter smile since things weren't going well, and Giedt turned his gaze to me.
"There isn't?"
"I don't know."
I slumped my shoulders.
"We need more data..."
Lux-san, who hadn't been getting much sleep either, said in a daze.
The other day, he'd been mumbling about digging up corpses from graves for skin regeneration experiments. It was probably time to make him rest. I'll head over to the feudal lord's mansion while he rests.
"You've been keeping yourself pretty busy."
Giedt said while standing next to the horse that was tied up at the entrance of the village.
I replied while putting my foot in the stirrup.
"It's not enough. There's way too many things that I can't do."
I'd rather just become a god at this point. Like Lux-san had said, how great would it be if mages were gods?
After confirming I had a firm grip on the reins, Giedt nimbly swung himself onto his horse. He seemed completely used to riding now.
"So you're not just acting all high and mighty?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
I set my horse moving at a slow pace and turned my head towards him. Seriously, what did he mean?
"'Cause you always act all high and mighty."
"I don't mean to."
"I know. It's not like it'll change anyway. I mean, you still haven't changed how you address me."
Ah, the whole "don't call me 'you' [1]" thing?
It'd kind of become a habit.
"I try to call you that two out of three times."
"Forget it. I don't care anymore."
"No, I'll be more careful if it really bothers you."
"It's fine. That was... more like jealousy than anything."
Giedt said, looking uncomfortable. But I had no idea what he was talking about.
"What do you mean?"
Giedt groaned indecisively for a while, then finally blabbed.
"I mean, when we first met, you were some little girl who had rolled onto the ground in shabby traveling clothes, and before I knew it, you'd become someone important enough to have a bodyguard. Sure, mages are supposed to be valuable, but you just surpassed me. There's no way that wouldn't piss me off a little. I didn't like the way you talked, all pretentious like that."
Ah, so that's what he meant by jealousy.
From the perspective of a soldier who got worked to the bone every day, I must have looked like someone who climbed the ranks with barely any effort.
I'd always thought he picked fights for odd reasons sometimes, but now it made sense.
"But you... you're someone who belongs where you are."
After speaking so bluntly, Giedt faced forward and quietly added.
"That's what I think now."
More than half of what he'd said was closer to complaints and insults, but I could tell from the tone that he was, in his own way, acknowledging me.
Then there was only one thing to say.
"Thanks."
I decided to keep trying without giving up even though I couldn't do much.
Just as I was thinking that.
"I've missed you, Aime."
At the feudal lord's estate, for some reason, a beautiful woman in a white jacket greeted me. She grabbed me just as I was about to turn around and leave.
"Wh-why are you here, Irena-san?!"
Director Theobold's beautiful secretary wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed with all her might.
"I wonder why. Could it be because a certain rebellious subordinate ignored her superior's orders and hasn't come back for months?"
The Director had apparently run out of patience.
"I hear you've been doing whatever you want."
Anger seeped through Irena's gentle voice. Oh no, he must be really pissed off if she's come to get me.
But I can't go back yet.
I managed to wedge my hand between her arm and my neck, and with my throat now slightly freed, pleaded desperately.
"I'm just trying to do my job!"
"You're almost done with the arsenic countermeasures, aren't you? You're free enough to start making unnecessary things, no?"
"Not at all! I still need to keep a close eye on things!"
"And how long would it take for you to be satisfied?"
"Well, at least another year or so."
"Come now, let's go home."
"Even that wouldn't be enough! The effects of pollution need to be monitored over the long-term!"
"Your sense of responsibility is admirable. But that's something someone else can handle now, isn't it? Everyone has their own role, Ojou-chan. Stop throwing a tantrum."
Irena-san released me and flashed a lovely smile.
"Hurry up and get ready, won't you? You have plenty of other things to do, don't you?"
Whether I liked it or not.
Irena-san had absolutely no intention of hearing me out.
But even so!
I stared at her with a serious expression.
"Irena-san. My sister is currently in the village."
"Oh, is that so."
"And, General Owen is here."
"So I've heard."
"I can't go back!!"
"I don't understand what you're trying to say."
Irena-san refused to entertain me at all, and in the end, my forced departure was decided.