Chapter 194
Chapter 194 Strongest Sage, Mixes Fakes
"All right, let"s get right to it . "
"Yes!"
"Hear hear!"
The three of us begin to work together to put ore into the tank .
『 . . . Should we do this seriously?』
『I don"t think we should . They"d get suspicious of us . . . 』
Ruli replied to Alma while looking around .
The factory manager said that it was a heavy labor, but we"re used to this kind of work compared to our usual training .
The ore isn"t that heavy, and there"s no time constraint imposed on us .
Even Ruli, who"s got the lowest stamina amongst us, could fill the tank full in 30 seconds .
However, it takes a group of four adventurers a few minutes to do that at other tanks .
They"d begin suspecting us if we didn"t take that long .
. . . . What an extremely dull job .
I speak to the three after finishing the batch .
"Let me be in charge of pushing the b.u.t.ton, you three stay back . "
"Got it!"
After confirming the three had gotten out of the barrier, I pushed the b.u.t.ton and got out myself .
Afterward, the machine began to start with a dull sound--and a mana overdrive occurred inside it .
The mana overdrive is being forcefully stopped by the safety device installed in the machine .
Normally, the machine should have stopped functioning the moment this situation happened, however, the machine"s remodel must have been done to prevent that .
The mana overdrive ceased while we were looking .
. . . I see . Every once in 40 instances, the machine isn"t able to stop the overdrive, causing an explosion huh .
『That was an amazing amount of mana . . . 』
『Yeah . No wonder it explodes . . . Well, you can tell when it"s gonna do so, as such there"s no worry of getting caught in one so long we"re careful . 』
The machine stopped in about five minutes, then it cough up a very tiny crystal below it .
It weighs about one gram .
"One piece done . "
I put the crystal into the casket .
But really, I can"t believe they went around telling people this small crystal was used as a 『building material』 .
At least try harder to make up something more believable .
We continued the routine while I was thinking that .
Put the ore, wait for the machine to do its magic for five minutes, and then put the crystal into the casket .
Such a routine .
By the way, even though our employers are demons, I still do the job properly . . . or pretending to as I secretly mix in some fakes .
I"ve changed the crystal structure of these Rankine Magic Crystals, adding a function to prevent mana bomb from getting ignited .
With this, even if the demons managed to get their hands on refined Rankine Magic Crystal, they won"t be able to complete the mana bomb .
It"s possible to see through it if they used an extremely advanced a.n.a.lysis equipment, but there"s no way a technological level that let machines explode to do refining is capable of that .
And at the 29th time . . .
"Okay, on to the next one!"
"Yes!"
I had the girls get out of the barrier before starting the magic tool as usual .
However . . . the machine reacted strangely this time .
First of all, the power-on sound was slightly higher pitched than usual .
Next, the mana overdrive happening inside was more intense .
. . . I see . So this is the rumored explosion huh .
I got out of the barrier while thinking that, then 2 seconds later .
The machine exploded with a shrill sound from the mana overdrive .
Hearing that sound, the factory manager came in to check the situation .
"That sounded like an explosion! Is anyone injured?"
"Nope! We"re all fine!"
I immediately replied to the manager .
. . . The manager looks to be seriously concerned about our well beings .
"Very well! Keep at it, but don"t let your guard down!"
The factory manager went back to his post with a relieved look after confirming our safety .
Even though he"s being mind controlled by demons, the base must be a kind person .
Since this type of mind control does not erase emotions .
Magic that"s able to erase emotions will make the target"s facial expressions look unnatural, thus the demons must have purposely left it .
Minimizing the unnaturalness while binding his actions .
Quite a calculated way of mind control .
However, this too will end in a few days .
I wouldn"t mind letting demons be were they kept it to themselves . . . but they went and tried to create mana bomb by manipulating humans .
. . . I guess it"s only perfectly natural since demons do not carry any other emotions besides malice .
As such, I"ll keep going with the total annihilation plan .