Jigglypuff's Diary

After Lunch.

After another filling lunch, it was time for some tea.

I took this opportunity to ask Rosenberg-sama, who had been working separately from us this morning, for his thoughts regarding the documents of the lost magic.

“I believe I’ve already grasped the general gist of the materials. It’s to be expected, I suppose, but the old magic certainly is quite different from modern magic.” [Rosenberg]

“I know right? Though the logic behind it felt simple to me.” [Ryouma]

“Is it hard to use?” [Eleonora]

Since the others seemed interested as well, and because I’ll likely need their help later, I decided to explain it to everyone.

“It’s not so much that it’s difficult, but rather it utilizes mana in a way we’ve never experienced before. Modern magic generally uses the mana within one’s own body, but ancient magic seems to harness the mana of the natural world, or rather, the mana outside the body.

It’s kind of similar to brewing potions. To concoct instant healing potions, you would combine herbs with mana and adjust the mixture to achieve an effect that would otherwise be impossible with normal medicine, in this case, the ability to instantly heal a wound.” [Ryouma]

“These old methods utilize spells that act on the surrounding space. So, in this case, the spell and the space would correspond to the tools used in brewing.” [Rosenberg]

Incidentally, the “ingredient” in this analogy would be “light.”

The lost dispel magic from grandma’s inheritance involved drawing natural light into a prepared ritual site and casting a spell on it to use the light-attribute mana within nature to break the curse.

“When you put it that way, it sound awfully simple.” [Mizelia]

“Actually, aside from the concept of ‘using nature’s mana,’ it really doesn’t seem that difficult. There aren’t any particularly complex explanations or concepts that are hard to visualize too.

Included in the documents were illustrations depicting past rituals.

Apparently, they would create ‘opportunities for people to gather,’ like through tea parties or festivals, on full moon nights and casually perform these rituals.

It would appear that their so-called spells were really just another aspect of their daily life, much like how one would occasionally go to the church to pray.” [Ryouma]

“Huh. So there wasn’t a need to pay a lot of money?” [Syria]

“Apparently, nobles would pay the casters a significant sum as a token of gratitude, but for commoners, it was either for free or they just paid whatever small amount they felt like.” [Ryouma]

“Is there a reason it had to be on a full moon night, though? If it’s just light you need, the sun is out in the morning.” [Syria]

“Supposedly, the ritual can be performed with sunlight, but if the light is too intense, it could harm the target during the process. A little sunburn might be fine, but excessive exposure could lead to pain or illness.

The documents stated that moonlight is safer because the darkness of the night, specifically, dark-attribute mana, softens the light, allowing the ritual to be performed without that risk.” [Ryouma]

Not only Mizelia-san and Syria-san, but everyone else seemed interested as well, and I answered their questions one after another.

Explaining it served as a review for me too, and since I’m likely to ask their help with future experiments, it’s actually very helpful for them to ask questions now.

I should note that the adventurer team signed a non-disclosure agreement when they took this job.

Of course, I personally trust them regardless of any contract, but since I am acting as a specialist for the Ducal House this time, it was a necessary precaution.

“Rosenberg-sama, when and how shall we conduct the experiment?” [Ryouma]

“The document’s preference for a ‘cloudless, clear night with a full moon’ seems to be for maximizing the ritual’s effectiveness by capturing as much moonlight as possible…

If we just want to test if it works, it should be fine as long as the moon is out and we can capture its light, so we can start testing as early as tonight.

As for the location, we need an open outdoor area where the light hits easily.

The first place that comes to mind is the miasma-stricken lands to the west, but there is still miasma lingering underground there, which might affect the results.” [Rosenberg]

“…In that case, how about the lumber yard the goblins are currently clearing?” [Ryouma]

There’s no miasma there, and since it’s being cleared out, the light should hit it well if the moon is out. When I explained this, Rosenberg-sama nodded with a smile.

“Then it is decided. We will conduct the experiment at the lumber yard.” [Rosenberg]

“Takebayashi-sama, in that case, why don’t we push the schedule forward and finish clearing the lumber yard all at once? If its purpose has expanded, it stands to reason that the priority of the job should change as well.” [Eleonora]

As Eleonora-san says, if it were just a lumber yard, there would be no need to rush, and we could have just divided the work as planned; however, if we are going to use it as a testing ground starting tonight, it would be better to have it cleared as soon as possible, and leveling the ground would also make it easier to use.

“Understood. The experiment will be tonight. For the afternoon, we will focus on clearing the lumber yard, which will also serve as preparation for the test. Does anyone have any objections?” [Ryouma]

When I asked that, Syria-san raised her hand hesitantly.

“It’s not an objection, exactly, but if the lumber yard is being cleared, wouldn’t it be more efficient for us to handle other tasks? For instance, going to the unexplored western side of the mountain? Even if we joined the goblins in transporting trees or setting up hemp bags like we did this morning, I don’t think our presence would make much of a difference.” [Syria]

“I agree with her. I’ll do it if you tell me to, but we can’t match the output of that many workers, and we can’t coordinate because of the language barrier. Wouldn’t it just complicate the chain of command?” [Wereanna]

She’s right, too. For simple tasks, the sheer number of goblins is more than enough. As for the chain of command, I could just give the adventurer team instructions separate from the goblins, but their participation wouldn’t significantly impact the work either way.

In that case, as Syria-san suggests, it might be more helpful to have them survey the western side, which hasn’t been investigated yet, to help with our countermeasures against miasma.

“Ryouma-kun, as of yesterday, most of the miasma drifting around the miasma lands was already purified. If it’s just the amount newly seeping up from underground, there shouldn’t be any issues if we cast protective spells beforehand.” [Syria]

“In that case, I guess it would be better if you guys surveyed the western side this afternoon instead then.” [Ryouma]

And so, the afternoon schedule was revised. Now, all that’s left is…

“It looks like the goblins are still on their lunch break, so let’s wait a bit longer before heading out.” [Ryouma]

I decided to wait a little longer before showing myself so as to not rush the goblins, who were still either lying down or sipping tea.

---

Afternoon.

With Rosenberg-sama joining us in place of the adventurer team that left for the west, we resumed clearing the lumber yard.

First, I decided to knock down all the trees in the planned area all at once by using slime magic.

“Oho… This is fast. And they fall quite neatly too, don’t they?” [Rosenberg]

The trees knocked into each other one after another like dominoes, and I explained all about slime magic to Rosenberg-sama, who hadn’t been there during this morning’s operation.

It didn’t take long before we’d dealt with all the trees of the entire site.

And after seeing the cleared place for myself, I can’t help but think of how big it is. Of course, we’ve examined the site plenty of times, but with all the obstacles gone, I can’t help but feel as though it’s gotten bigger.

At this size, it might even be a little bigger than the Tokyo Dome.

Using the Tokyo Dome as a measuring unit was a thing back home, but I was never really fond of it.

Regardless, it’s a decent estimate. Of course, I’ll be sure to measure it again some other day for a more precise reading.

“Alright, let’s do this!” [Ryouma]

“Gob!” [Goblins]

At my behest, the goblins went to work.

Since I’ve already finished all of the logging part with slime magic, I could reassign the loggers to transport duty.

I had already made it so the roots of the trees cut in the morning could be pulled out by removing the surrounding soil, so I had them gather the roots into one specific pile.

Later, I’ll use slime magic to backfill the holes after removal and level the ground, but… It’ll still be some time before I can work on that, so for the meantime, I’ll dig out a well.

The location for the well is right in the center of this clearing. When I previously checked the “cluster of Kareppashi trees” that Yurdum-san told me about, I had a water slime share its senses with me to search for underground water veins, selecting a spot that seemed most suitable for a well.

“This enough space for the work area?” [Yurdum]

“That’s perfect. Thank you very much.” [Ryouma]

Yurdum-san used strengthening magic to move the fallen trees and secure a spot for the well digging, then just as I did in the morning, I called out the huge rock slime and the soil slime.

When it comes to digging a well manually in a place without heavy machinery, methods like ‘Kazusa-bori,’ a a traditional Japanese deep-well drilling technique, which utilizes the elasticity of bamboo, usually come to mind first… but here, I decided to make maximum use of the slimes again.

First, I guided the huge rock slime to the well site and had it extend a cylindrical tentacle from underneath its body.

“Position check, good.” [Ryouma]

Once I confirmed that the location was correct, I had the soil slime soften the ground beneath the pillar, instructing the rock slime to push the cylindrical tentacle further underground.

During this process, I had the huge rock slime absorb the soil at the bottom into its body and eject it outside through its body.

“I must say. As a butler of the Ducal House, I have seen various public works sites, but this truly overturns the very concept of well digging.” [Sebasu]

This method doesn’t involve installing a pipe into a dug hole, but rather removing the ground beneath an installed pipe to sink the structure underground as work progresses. Rather than well digging, it might be closer to the “caisson method” used for constructing massive underground structures.

Even with the existence of magic, the core of work in this world is still manual labor; since I’m doing something akin to work that presupposes the use of heavy machinery, Sebasu-san’s impression is only natural.

“At this rate, it won’t even take five minutes.” [Sebasu]

“Based on yesterday’s survey, there seemed to be a water-rich stratum only about five meters down, so most likely. The Huge Rock Slime can extend its body up to thirty meters, so I was prepared to dig as deep as necessary, but I’m glad the water vein was closer than expected.” [Ryouma]

The saying that water is easily found where Kareppashi trees grow must be because they prefer to grow in such spots. Observing the excavated soil, I can see it has high moisture content overall and is quite clay-like. Furthermore, the soil the Huge Rock Slime is ejecting has become much wetter.

I shared my senses with the slimes to check, and when the depth was sufficient, I stopped the excavation.

I then had the slimes hollow out the center of the pillar to form a pipe shape, then after having them create slits at regular intervals along the sides to allow groundwater to seep in, I retrieved the slimes.

The Huge Rock Slime moved away, leaving behind a pipe, or rather, an earthen pipe since it’s made of stone. It was about as tall as my chest off the ground. Now, all that was left was to install the hand pump I had prepared beforehand.

“When did you manage to make that?” [Sebasu]

“Just a bit last night. Don’t worry, I didn’t cut into my sleeping hours or anything.” [Ryouma]

As someone who used to devour isekai reincarnation light novels, the knowledge of building wells is mandatory knowledge.

Naturally, I have everything properly memorized.

I utilized alchemy to whip it up in a jiffy, and I won’t know if it needs adjustments until I actually test it, but it didn’t take me much time at all, so it’ll be fine even if it’s not perfect.

Incidentally, hand pumps themselves have existed in this world for a long time, so no one is surprised by it. It was likely introduced by another transmigrator.

“Now then, let’s give this girl a whirl, shall we?” [Ryouma]

I used water magic to prime the pump and began pumping the handle. After a few squeaking sounds, the resistance against my hand increased. As I continued pumping, the sound changed to a gurgling noise, and shortly after, muddy water gushed out of the spout.

“…Alright, it’s working properly.” [Ryouma]

The handle felt a little stiff, but the last time I touched a pump like this was in my previous life when I was still a very small child.

Anyway, water is coming out, so it’s probably working correctly.

The water is muddy because the well was just dug, so that can’t be helped. If I keep running the water for a while, it should gradually clear up; if not, I can just put a filter slime at the spout to strain out the sediment. I should also set up a basin so the water doesn’t get in the way while I let it run.

As for disposing of the accumulated muddy water, I can just put a mud slime in there for now and it will drink it up. Next, I should tidy up the area around the well a bit. With just a piped pump standing there in isolation, it wouldn’t be strange for someone to accidentally bump into it during work. I’ll make it more conspicuous to prevent accidents.

I asked the Huge Rock Slime to cover a 1.5-meter diameter area around the well with a donut-shaped stone slab, and then enclose it in a simple gazebo with arched entrances on all four sides. Finally, I installed a basin to catch the water, similar to a purification font at a shrine… And just like that, voila!

“How’s that!” [Ryouma]

“Impeccable, Takebayashi-sama.” [Sebasu]

“Should I get rid of the mounds of soil left behind?” [Yurdum]

“Ah, those are fine as is. They shouldn’t interfere with the timber transport, and the soil slimes and mud slimes can eat it later.” [Ryouma]

Some individuals prefer clay, so it’ll be perfect.

In fact, digging up more to evolve the slimes might be a good idea too. I suspect a “Clay Slime” will be born soon, but it’s important not to get ahead of myself and wait for the results.

However, looking at the soil that came out of the well digging, the drainage here appears worse than I thought.

I won’t know for sure until we survey other locations using the same method, but depending on the results, we might need more drainage, or maybe it’ll be better to build rice paddies than dry fields instead, it’s some food for thought.

In any case, the clearing of the plateau progressed rapidly, and by the time the sun had begun to set, the preparations for the ritual site completed too.