"Yeah, it’s impossible."
The toothpick purification project had been going well enough, but I’d finally hit my limit. Expecting one person to mass-produce enough enchanted tools to cleanse every citizen in Aingurna was just unrealistic. I didn't plan on quitting entirely, of course, but I decided to cap my production at about two hundred a day.
Besides, the toothpicks weren't the city’s only defense anymore. I had recently developed a new type of enchanted tool that didn't even require the user’s mana. Technically, it was a hybrid of enchanting and golemancy. The construction was simple: I attached a tiny golem to a wooden rod enchanted with Malice-purifying Clean. If the user said "Clean" to the tool, the golem would register the command and cast the magic on their behalf.
Since it didn't drain the user’s mana, I figured it would be a hit with adventurers. The golems did need mana to stay active, but they could draw that from magic stones. Since they spent most of their time dormant—just sitting still on the sticks—the maintenance costs were surprisingly low.
Because of the extra features, these were more expensive than the standard tools, so we decided to offer them as rentals. For now, they were being installed at the entrances to the Adventurer's Guild and the Merchant Guild. It felt a lot like the hand sanitizer stations back on Earth. People loved being able to get a free Clean, so the usage rate was high. If the popularity kept growing, I thought we might even see them in restaurants. I’d left the actual negotiations to the Merchant Guild, though.
With all these other purification efforts in motion, taking a small break from the toothpicks shouldn't hurt. With that settled, I decided I was officially done with enchanting for the day.
I slipped out of my Magic House and headed to the plaza where the Warrior Group was working. I’d heard reports, but the sheer scale of the bustle was incredible. A small army of muscular men was briskly managing a massive crowd of customers.
For the most part, the Gurna Warrior Group handled all the cooking and customer service. Halfa and the others stayed in the background, managing logistics like ingredient procurement and toothpick restocking. I found Halfa sitting quietly in the backstage area.
"Oh? Tort, are you done with the toothpicks already?"
"Yeah. I can’t handle doing the enchanting for all of them myself anymore."
"Even you have a limit?" Halfa murmured, looking genuinely surprised.
I mean, it’s just tedious, repetitive labor, I thought. It wasn't like I had some special talent for sitting in silence and doing the same thing over and over. What exactly did she think I was?
Setting that aside, it was rare to see someone as proactive as Halfa sitting around in the back instead of helping out front. There was a reason for it, of course. We were trying to keep a low profile because The Council apparently had their eyes on us.
Mobilizing the Warrior Group had been Masso-san’s idea. Beyond keeping us out of the spotlight, he also wanted to give the warriors a way to vent their pent-up energy. They had been stationed at the Teleportation Door hall for days trying to catch cultists. They’d been rotating shifts, so they weren't exactly prisoners, but the tension had been high.
The real goal, however, was likely to lure the cultists out by intentionally loosening the guard at the gate. A small elite force, including the Great Busters, was still there in secret. Rumor had it they’d struck a deal: help with the operation and get three months of muscle training waived.
Rache-san was part of that operation too. In her absence, I heard that Raymond-san—the Great Busters’ mage—had been stuck doing all their paperwork.
"Where is everyone else?" I asked.
"Spira-chan and the others went to get more ingredients. Shiroru was really fired up about finding new fillings for the snacks."
"Shiroru, huh..."
She’d been obsessed with hamburger patties for a while, but apparently, takoyaki—or Muscle-yaki—was the new trend. They weren't just using octopus, either; they were experimenting with all sorts of flavors. I could understand the excitement, at least a little.
"What about Allen and the others?"
"The Petit Golems? Oh, they just got back."
Just as I asked about Allen’s group, who had been enjoying quite a bit of freedom lately, they strolled into the waiting area. When they spotted me, they hurried over with cheerful expressions. Well, only Allen actually ran; Milly, Shara, and Pino were perched on his head and shoulders. The girls were still palm-sized, but Allen was now taller than me.
A few days ago, I’d received word from Jot-san regarding the life-sized body. Allen's was the first to be finished. I wasn't sure what techniques Jot-san had used, but it looked remarkably human. If you stared closely, you could tell it was a construct, but from a distance, you’d never know. Most people probably wouldn't even notice if they just passed him on the street.
Allen was thrilled with the new body, and the other three were in high spirits knowing they’d eventually get something of similar quality. They’d been spending a lot of time walking around the city recently.
"What have you all been up to in town?"
"Clean. Done," Allen said in stilted, clipped tones.
With the new body, Allen had gained the ability to speak. The mechanism wasn't complex; I’d simply had a hollow space carved into his throat. By turning the air inside that cavity into a golem, he could produce sound. Air golems were already capable of repeating our voices, so this was just an application of that. He still found it difficult to produce the exact sounds he imagined, hence the broken speech. For some reason, he could mimic my voice perfectly, but I’d forbidden that because it was too confusing for everyone else.
As for their "activities," it turned out they had been performing what I could only call "Street Cleans." They had been walking around town and casting Clean on random passersby. While it technically served our purification goal, having a stranger suddenly cast magic on you without a word was a great way to start a panic. Fearing they might get reported to the guards, I asked them to tone it down.
"Try to stick to people who look suspicious, okay?"
"Under... stood."
I hoped that would be enough to keep them from causing a scene.
Though, honestly, it might already be too late for that.