"By the way, Nini, there’s something I want to ask. Who’s in charge of construction now?"
"I’m not too sure. You should ask in the group chat. I mostly focus on spell development now, as well as steam engine casting."
As she spoke, she tossed the newly cast parts into a bag.
At first, when the Sirens had just arrived, they all worked together in a unified manner.
Back then, Hughes was indeed short on manpower, and he never had the idea of letting the Sirens freeload.
So, he assigned some tasks, which Ash managed and distributed uniformly.
Later, once the factories stabilized, the Sirens were no longer assigned work in the same way.
Instead, they moved toward a more employment-based system.
Hughes delegated workshop projects, and the Sirens could freely choose to work, earning points based on their workload, essentially a form of virtual currency they had created.
Besides, with the Mind Link, organizing the Sirens was quite easy. Letting them choose the work they enjoyed actually improved efficiency.
Take Nini, for example. She would dive into research non-stop, sometimes sending Hughes a Mind Link message in the middle of the night just to share her latest discoveries.
Hughes called out through the Mind Link, and Una responded, saying she’d come over soon.
That was a bit unexpected for Hughes.
"Una is handling construction? I thought Ash was in charge."
"Ash? She’s only interested in combat. She doesn’t care much for research or construction. Oh, right, she’s currently studying a polluted wolf, though I think she’s just keeping it as a pet."
"Yeah, she’s already trained it to follow commands. Though, honestly, I have no idea what use a wolf would be."
Hughes rubbed his chin. Indeed, what use could a contaminated wolf have?
"Lord, you... you called for me?"
A somewhat timid voice echoed from the depths of the underground palace. Hughes and Nini turned to see Una approaching.
"Yes. I heard you’re now leading the construction efforts?"
She instantly grew nervous, instinctively raising her six hands and stammering, "I-I wouldn’t say leading. I just really like construction and spend a lot of time on it. Gradually, everyone just started coming to me with questions."
Una visibly blushed, her tail tip scratching the ground, digging a small pit into the smooth floor. At this rate, she could carve out a three-room apartment in no time.
『Has she always been ?』
Hughes discreetly opened a private Mind Link chat with Nini.
『Yeah, Una’s always been a shy one. But she’s really talented when it comes to construction. I don’t know much about that stuff, but everything she builds just looks... right. See that palace over there? She built it.』
Hughes glanced at the distance, the underground palace within this massive cavern. He had visited plenty of times, witnessing its construction from start to finish.
At first, it was just a natural cave, with the Sirens carving out a few rooms for rest and storage.
Then, when Hughes moved the brewing workshop down here, the Sirens dug out the cave’s center, creating a massive hall surrounded by various functional rooms and workshops.
Eventually, as the Sirens stopped being assigned work, those passionate about construction, or rather, those obsessed with digging underground, quickly transformed the space into a sprawling palace that constantly evolved at an astonishing rate.
By now, the palace had undergone countless iterations. Its design was sharp and rigid, with an abundance of jagged angles, giving it an eerie kind of beauty.
Why did it feel like the kind of place a villainous boss would live in?
"Una, I actually have a project for you."
Hughes sketched a 3D model of Castel in his mind and sent it through the Mind Link.
"Take a look at the private message. This is Castel’s structural map. Any issues?"
"There’s a slight inaccuracy. The volcano in the south isn’t quite right... there, that should do it."
She made a few quick adjustments and sent it back.
"Let me see... Hmm, not much difference." Hughes nodded. "So, where exactly was that Abyss you visited before?"
At the mention of "Abyss," both Nini and Una’s expressions turned serious.
"It’s to the south, not too far from here, but it’s incredibly deep. Lord, why are you asking about the Abyss? It’s completely polluted now."
"That’s exactly what I need, the pollution. We’ve basically confirmed that entity pollution can be used as fuel. Now, the source of that pollution needs to be dealt with. I’m thinking of digging from here..."
Hughes pointed to the southeastern part of the island.
"...all the way down, opening a direct passage to the Abyss, then extracting the contamination from within."
Nini and Una sucked in a sharp breath.
Castel was shaped like a pyramid. The land visible above the water was merely the tip, while beneath lay a massive structure of rock and volcanic formations.
The area Hughes marked avoided the volcano and instead aimed to tunnel straight down through solid rock, creating a path to the Abyss.
"That’s impossible! You want to dig all the way to the Abyss?"
"Yes, which is why I wanted to discuss it with you."
"This is insane! How—"
"No, I think it might actually be feasible," Una suddenly interrupted, cutting off Nini.
"The area below is mostly solid rock. If it’s just digging a passage down, it shouldn’t be too difficult."
She carefully studied the Mind Link image.
"I don’t know much about construction. Wouldn’t this be dangerous? Like, what if we hit lava? Or accidentally dig into an underground water source?"
Hughes had never excavated an undersea tunnel before, his only experience with mining came from video games.
"It’s not really dangerous. If we hit lava, we can just use Flesh Magic to reinforce ourselves, we’d only suffer minor injuries at worst. If we hit water, we can just seal it off. We’re underwater creatures, after all."
Una said this while patting her tail.
"I’m more curious about how we’d extract the pollution once the tunnel is finished."
"We can use a steam engine. The Type II engine is already working fine in the factories, so we just need another one to pump out the pollution. Actually, we might not even need to go that far. We could take advantage of the pollution’s living properties. Remember that contaminated wolf we used to lure pollution before?"
Nini and Una exchanged glances, their eyes lighting up with realization.