An Important Task
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Lucia neither understood what high energy physics meant, nor did she know what her work will be, but she noticed that His Majesty would always pace up and down in front of this plate, as though the words on it contained some miraculous power.
Because of this, Lucia became even more enthusiastic about her work.
What she was doing in the laboratory was actually not much different from what she used to do in the Furnace Area. However, she had an instinctive feeling that this must be something extraordinary.
Hey, you’re here,
Azima, who had been resting in her chair with her eyes shut, sat up and greeted Lucia as she entered the inner yard.
Good, good afternoon,
Lucia replied politely.
It’s so warm and comfortable in here that it makes you easily fall asleep,
Azima yawned as she stretched her body.
So, shall we begin?
Sure. Thank you for your help.
Azima waved her hands and said,
Don’t mention it. I’m your assistant, so I’m obligated to follow your instructions. We’ve worked together for a while, so we don’t need to be so formal. Plus…
Azima’s voice tailed away, her mumble voice carried to Lucia by the warm wind.
There’s nothing to complain about when you could earn two gold royals every month just by sitting here.
Lucia stifled her laughter. Truth be told, she was a little afraid of Azima, as she had also heard from Wendy about the internal conflict on the Sleeping Island. This red-haired witch with sharp facial features was the leader of her clique, and she did talk and act in a trenchant manner with the air of haughtiness. Therefore, when King Roland had appointed Azima as her assistant, Lucia had been quite unnerved, doubting if she was competent to be the superintendent of this new research institute.
Nevertheless, after working with Azima for several months, Lucia found Azima was not as scary as she had thought. Although she did occasionally complain about Princess Tilly, and sometimes even about His Majesty, overall, Aizama was a dutiful and hard-working assistant. She was also very sensitive about her salaries and often blurted out some random comments such as
I’ll prove myself
,
Just you wait, Nightingale
, and
I can support myself perfectly
, which Lucia found quite amusing.
Alright then. Let’s begin,
Lucia said as she opened her closet and handed Azima a white protection clothing.
The first step was to create a barrier between themselves and the external environment. Not only were they forbidden to touch the subject of their research, but they also had to breathe through a special filter as well. Roland had specifically stressed that the purified research material was highly toxic. A tiny little amount would be sufficient to kill anyone who touched or inhaled it. To prevent such unfortunate events, Roland required the researchers to check each other’s clothing, especially the parts they could not check by themselves, before proceeding with the research.
After they pulled on the radiation suit, Azima gave a thumbs-up.
Then, the pair went into an open yard.
The ground was neatly lined up with tons of green slabs. Except that they have a darker color, they looked almost the same as the bricks produced at the Furnace Area.
However, these bricks were exceptionally heavy as though they were out of metal instead of stone.
Lucia picked up one slab and applied her magic power to it. The slab was a bit hot after basking in the sunlight for a long time, but the high temperature did not affect her use of power. She could see the slab in her hand turn into a mixture of colorful compounds, some of which were glinting. However, the material required by Roland only took up a very small portion of the mixture, which sprinkled on the surface of the slab like specks of ink.
Nevertheless, this was much better than extracting the material directly from ores at the North Slope.
Slowly, those color blocks began to move, reassembled, and finally converted into four separate larger blocks. The largest color block was disposed of. The other three blocks were all in different sizes. The smallest of them, which was only the size of an individual salt particle, was the silver, toxic material that Roland required.
Lucia put the material into a glass jar gently and set it aside.
The other two metal blocks were much larger, one of them was the size of an almond, and the other one was the size of a half of a nail. They were also silver, so the only way to separate them was through magic. The bigger of the two was sent to Anna in a basket for further processing, which was later used to test the new machine she was working on. The smaller one was placed in a lead box, and a new box would be used once the first one reached five kilograms.
It would take Lucia two to three days to extract so many metal blocks if she didn’t have other schedule. As these slabs were all building materials used by the radiation clan, they had already been purified earlier. Compared to raw ores, these slabs were much easier to work with.
Lucia rose and opened up her hands to Azima after she finished one slab.
This was also one of the rules set out by Roland. Azima had to confirm that there was no particle residue at the scene or on Lucia’s clothes before Lucia could work on a new slab. Azima could detect even the slightest trace of the material with her ability.
Around two hours later, Lucia exhausted her power.
Let’s call it a day,
Azima said as she helped Lucia to stand.
We have to study in the evening. If you shut down now, we’ll have to carry you back to the castle.
Yeah,
Lucia assented with a nod.
You’re… right.
Not only did Lucia feel tired, but she also felt stuffy in her radiation suit. There was no point in continuing to work in such an uncomfortable condition.
The two girls took off their clothes and had a shower. It was around dusk, and they could hear the creepers outside the window rustling as a cool breeze blew upon their cheeks. Lucia heaved a deep sigh, feeling refreshed.
Just then, a familiar voice came from behind,
You did a great job.
Lucia turned around and saw Roland walked into the yard with a smile, followed by Nightingale who had two blue bottles of Chaos Drinks in her hand.
This is —
Azima stammered, a little surprised.
This is a reward only for you. Don’t tell anyone,
Roland said secretly while spreading out his hands.
Th-thank you,
Azima said as she stiffly took the bottle.
Lucia had couldn’t wait but pried open the lid.
As the refreshing beverage traveled through her throat, she had forgotten all about the work and her great ambition.
After both of them drained the bottles, Roland asked,
So how’s it going?
I’ve separated them as you instructed,
Lucia replied as she led Roland into a room and opened a cabinet. There were dozens of neatly arranged lead boxes in there.
