Chapter 178: Bad Timing (3/3)

I should be able to get some lamon if I go to the kitchen,　but even if I can’t, I should still be able to get natural rubber by lightly mixing the acid of the acid slime. If that’s all, then I should be able to do it while working on the sugar scrub research. Unfortunately, that still leaves the question of what to do about the sulfur needed to regulate the hardness and elasticity. For the carbon, there’s charcoal, so I can probably make something up with alchemy, but…

“Takebayashi-Sama!” [Maid]

“Hmm? Good morning.” [Ryouma]

My thoughts were stopped by a maid calling out to me. I wonder if something happened.　She seems to be panicking.

“What’s the matter?” [Ryouma]

“Something big happened to the lake of the wedding hall. We need you and the people in charge of the ceremony to make a decision immediately.” [Maid]

“The lake?　Alright. I understand. I’ll go immediately. …Ah, just one thing!　Can you tell Riviola-san and the others, who are preparing the experiment at the back, that I was called to the wedding area?　This will probably take a bit of time.” [Ryouma]

“Understood.” [Employee]

After getting a positive reply, I went to the location of the wedding hall.

What exactly does she mean by ‘something big’?

When I came close enough to be able to see the wedding hall through the gap between the trees, a strange feeling hit me.

There was a damp stench in the air. A kind that I’ve never smelled before.

If I had to describe it, I would say that it’s like a flower or a vegetation of some sort rotting…

The closer I got to the wedding halls, the stronger the stench became. Before long, a lake dyed in red and a crowd of people surrounding it came to view. These people are the managers of the different work groups relating to the wedding ceremony. Reinhart-san and the madam were present too.

“Sorry to keep you waiting!” [Ryouma]

“Oh, you came too, Ryouma-kun?” [Butts]

The head chef, Butts-san. There was a dark cloud over his face.

“What happened to the lake?” [Ryouma]

“It’s all because of this plant here.” [Man]

The man, who participated in the meetings as the representative of the gardener, pointed at a plant with a sea-grape-like-bag sticking closely to a thread-like slender root. It was redder and even stinkier than the water of the lake. An exceeding ghastly grass.

“The water plant, dogubramu. It gathers nutrients from summer to fall, and then quickly multiplies on one fateful day in winter. It happens every year, but this year’s seems to be happening a lot earlier.” [Gardener Representative]

“Did it really have to do it now of all times?” [Servant 1]

“We can’t really do the ceremony with this place in this state.” [Servant 2]

It can’t be helped that everyone is saying stuff like that. The red lake looks exactly like some scene from a horror flick. Because of that the church suddenly appears darker and deserted. But what’s really bad is that stench coming out of the lake! Who could possibly be in the mood to feast with the whole place smelling like this?

“Isn’t there anything we could do?” [Ryouma]

“We could block the water upstream and drain the water here. Then we could remove the dogubramu and everything should return to normal. But draining the water alone will already take a whole day. To bring everything back to normal, we’ll have to deal with the water upstream too, so at the very least, we’ll need five days.” [Gardener’s Representative]

Looks like our only chaises here are to either push through with the wedding or pause it.

After hearing the words of the expert, all of the managers became discouraged.

But I was still hopeful.

“In that case, there might still be a way to resolve this.” [Ryouma]

As soon as I said that, everyone in the area gathered around me.

Reinhart-san and the madam were able to guess what I was about to say.

“Ryouma-kun. Could you be talking about your slimes?　After all, if there’s anything that could pull us out of this situation, it’s got to be your slimes, right?” [Reinhart]

“Yes, you are correct, Reinhart-sama.” [Ryouma]

The gardener’s representative says that we need 5 days to drain the water, remove the offending plant, and then fill the lake back up. Indeed, doing all of that with human labor alone would take five days. But what if the slimes were to drink everything? The water, the water plants, and the rest of the filth.　And what if an overwhelming number of slimes were to be mobilized?　At the very least, the time needed to complete the task should be significantly reduced.

Moreover, this land here is within the premises of the Jamil family’s residence. Everyone here, and those that will come later, are all servants of the duke. What’s more is that they are all people with deep relations with Hyuzu-san and Rurunez-san. They are trustworthy people, and I believe I can trust them to keep a secret. As such, there shouldn’t be any problems even if I were to use the big slimes here.

“Dimension Home.” [Ryouma]

The first slimes I called out were the three king scavenger slimes that had already invoked the Enlarge skill.

“Uwaah!?” [Servant 1]

“What is that giant slime!?” [Servant 2]

“A big slime! But, no. It’s too big. Wait a moment, can you even form a contract with a big slime?” [Servant 3]

As I threw a sidelong glance at the dumbfounded servants, who didn’t understand the situation, I ordered the slimes to enter the lake.

The king scavenger slimes quietly sank their body into the surface of the water, giving rise to large waves as they made their way toward the center.

Hmm… The lake is fairly big, but apparently it’s not deep enough to completely submerge the king scavenger slimes, so they are still able to crawl across the bottom. …It’s still 2 meters deep, though.

“Put more space between yourselves! …Yeah, something like that!　Now, make your bodies flat and spread yourselves wide to absorb the water!” [Ryouma]

Activate Overeat skill!

The waters above the slimes shook, and before long, a whirlpool formed.

“Everything is going well with the slimes, so we can just let them drink the water of the lake along with the water plant.” [Ryouma]

“Will we make it in time for tomorrow’s ceremony,　Ryouma-kun?” [Reinhart]

“There’s no telling unless we try. But I still have a lot more slimes. I’ll leave this part to the king scavenger slimes, and I’ll assign other slimes to the upstream and the downstream. With that, we should make it in time. Even if the going seems impossible, as long as we press on, we can make the impossible possible!” [Ryouma]

“I don’t know who said that, but I’ll go and close the water gate upstream!” [Butts]

“In that case, we’ll take care of the decorations as planned. We’ll proceed as if nothing has changed in the plans.” [Gardener Representative]

“Yes!” [Rest of the servants]

Butts-san, the gardener’s representative, and the rest of the managers of the wedding all started to see a ray of hope.

Although I can’t work on my slime research because of this, Hyuzu-san and Rurunez-san are a priority.

I’ll just put off my research for later and do my best now.　After all, cleaning and getting rid of foul smells is my specialty!

Like that our work continued until evening.