Upon accepting the request, "Emergency: Complete Removal of Poison from the Well" was added to the Currently Accepted Quests in my menu. The clear reward was listed as 3 SP.
It was labeled as an emergency, but there was no indication of exactly when it needed to be finished. Regardless, a "Start Request" button had appeared, so I went ahead and pressed it.
A gate similar to the one that appeared when Miti-chan cleared her scenario opened and swallowed me whole. When I came to, I was standing in front of an unfamiliar village.
A noxious purple haze drifted through the air, casting a poisonous pall over the area. This was undoubtedly the village with the poisoned well.
I see. It seemed this was a special type of quest that warped you directly to the site once it began. Requests that rewarded SP clearly operated on a different level than standard ones.
A time limit appeared in my vision: 1 hour remaining.
"I see. So that’s what makes it an emergency."
"Lord Spirit, let’s do our best!"
Miti-chan was fired up as well.
Now, where exactly was this well? I decided to call out to a man who was napping by the village gate.
"Excuse me. I’m here on a request from the Adventurer’s Guild."
"Wa... water..."
Hmm. I guess I had to start by finding the well myself.
"Where is the well located? I’m here to clean it."
"...Poison... don't... drink..."
"Right, that’s why I’m here. To clean the poison, you see?"
"..."
"Hello? Anyone home?"
It didn't look like he was up for any more conversation. I’d hoped he might at least point me in the right direction, but no luck. I left him there and headed into the village.
Several soldiers were sprawled out on the ground inside. On second thought, they weren't napping—they had collapsed.
"Lord Spirit, the well is that way! There are more people collapsed over there!"
"Good catch."
The well was situated in a prominent location, which made sense. You wouldn't dig a well somewhere inconvenient; usually, the town would be built around it for easy access. I found it in no time.
It was a classic design, complete with a roof, a pulley, and a bucket on a rope. It looked like something out of the ancient past—though I suppose wells themselves are relics of a bygone era. You don’t see them these days outside of history museums.
"Alright, let’s get this cleaning underway."
I shoved aside the soldiers slumped nearby and peered into the depths. It was pitch black. I figured I’d just head down normally. Usually, you’d use the rope to descend, and in some games, you might even find people living in secret rooms inside wells.
"Come to think of it, I never learned Light Magic."
"Do you want to make a torch? We have the materials in the Inventory."
"Good idea. Let's do that."
I didn't even need a workbench; I could craft it instantly using charcoal and wood. I put one together in a flash. I didn't have a striker or anything to light it with, but the torch ignited the moment I held it.
I partially reverted to my slime form and stuck the torch into my head to keep my hands free.
"That's better. Now I can see... ugh, there’s a drowned mouse floating in here."
"Is it meat?"
"Well, I suppose it’s fine. Miti-chan has Poison Absorption, after all."
"I'm eating it... Blech, it's gross!"
I just hoped I wouldn't contract some bizarre disease. I deactivated Miti-chan’s Miniaturization, and her body expanded until it pressed tightly against the stone walls of the well.
The sensation of the water against my lower half was freezing. Since Miti-chan’s body was transparent, the torchlight passed right through me, illuminating the entire shaft.
This water was thoroughly toxic, mouse corpse notwithstanding. I decided to just absorb the whole lot. I spotted another carcass at the bottom and cleared that out too.
Gulp, gulp, gulp... No matter how much I drank, the water didn't disappear.
"Ah, it’s a well, so more water is springing up. That should have been obvious. Gulp. I guess I don't actually need to drain it dry."
I could feel my HP steadily replenishing thanks to the Poison Absorption.
"I'll digest the rotten meat and lick the walls clean... so bitter!"
I kept at it until the sensation of HP recovery stopped.
"Alright! Cleaning complete!" My time was five minutes. I still had fifty minutes left on the clock.
"Hup... back to Mimicry."
I squelched out of the well and returned to my Human Mimicry Mode.
I approached the soldier I’d moved earlier. I popped off his helmet and slapped his cheeks to wake him. To my surprise, the guy had cat ears. He was a middle-aged beastkin.
"Hey, wake up. Well cleaning's done."
"............"
"No response. He’s just a corpse."
"Wa... wa... water..."
Wait, did he want a worm? No, he wanted water. Right.
I produced some of the purified water I’d just drunk and let it stream from my finger into his mouth.
"...!!"
"Whoa, don't latch on!"
"M-My apologies! You have my thanks...!"
The soldier stared at me, his eyes wide with shock.
"...An Angel? Have I... passed away...?"
"What? No. And honestly, you should have just used magic to get water."
"A-Ah... Magic...?"
Did beastkin not use magic? No, that couldn't be right. Gin-chan had mastered magic without any trouble.
"Anyway, the well is clean, so I’m heading back. Request complete."
"W-Wait! There are four other locations like this..."
Ugh, four more? I checked the time. Well, I had plenty to spare.
It was a hassle, but a request was a request. Since this was a game, I could finish one in five minutes, so it wasn't the end of the world. In reality, a job like this would take ages.
Still, four more spots at five minutes each meant another twenty minutes. It was tedious work, and since cleaning the well was basically an idle task, I wondered if I should just log out of VR Mode and grab some food while the character worked.
"Should we split up?"
"That's it! We can use Split."
If the job was just munching on poison, even a mindless Decoy Slime could handle it. If Miti-chan and I divided the work, we'd be done in no time.
"Hey, tell me where the other wells are."
"...Over there... and two more in that direction... and one over there."
"Got it. I'll have them cleaned up in a jiffy."
I noticed there were plenty of soldiers around, but no villagers. There weren't any bodies, either. It looked like these soldiers had tried to invade the village and fallen for a trap involving the wells.
Regardless, I had a job to do. I located the next well and tossed in a Split slime. One down, three to go.