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 button, you three stay back . "

"Got it!"

After confirming the three had gotten out of the barrier, I pushed the button 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 analysis 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 .