While Hill fought for the chance to have more fun in the future, the alchemists excavating the Golden Cloud Orchid Pool had to stop.
They had brought equipment that sealed them off from the air, but the workload was too much for alchemists who had lived comfortably for so long.
To keep the soil from mutating again under the influence of magic, Finch refused to let anyone use spells to move it. They had dug five meters down and still had not reached the bottom.
While Earl Ster and Finch traded barbs, the alchemists had something to distract them. As members of the Basia City Alchemy Association, they had always been at odds with the Ster Family. Watching an enemy make a spectacle of himself was a pleasure.
But that pleasure could not ease the pain of digging. Unused to manual labor, they did not know how to conserve their strength and threw their whole bodies into every shovelful. After a day and a night, most could not go on when the hot sun rose again.
There were only a dozen or so of them, after all.
Earl Ster had noticed them slowing down that morning. But Ellie was then rushing between the castle and Archmage Belfran's residence, while also helping Prince Alexei communicate and arrange deliveries. He did not want Finch interfering.
Nor did Earl Ster want the Alchemy Association to seize the chance to grow too close to Grand Sage Belfran. The Ster Family could not control their dealings, but Finch could not be allowed to get ahead of Ellie.
Grand Sage Belfran had once been merely the family's fallback. Now that the silk affair had come to light, he was their only option.
The earl had written to Dieter as soon as it happened. His eldest son