Sewage Treatment (2)
The Osu Treatment Plant.
Just as the name implied, this was the place where collected filth was processed.
How to process the filth? It was simple.
First, fill a large barrel with sand. Then layer cloth over it. After that, pour the collected sewage on top.
The solids would stay caught in the cloth and sand while only the liquid seeped through to the bottom.
The gathered water was then moved elsewhere. Even after a simple purification process, the water was nowhere near clean. Since it came from sewage, it was mixed with all sorts of bodily fluids—urine, saliva, blood, and more.
From this point, magic took over. After the final purification using the 1st Circle spell Clean, the water became pure enough to drink without issue.
"Argh! The smell!"
"I can't understand why we have to do this kind of work!"
"Are mages that cheap to them?!"
"Just who the hell is this Alpha bastard anyway? Ordering us around like we're his slaves!"
"Baron Wellington's the real problem, giving real power to a guy like that!"
It was an extremely simple process that could produce clean water without chemical agents or modern equipment, but there was one major issue.
The mages themselves were far too high-class for this kind of labor.
Of course, the ones working here were indeed high-class personnel—1st and 2nd Circle mages who had failed to find proper employment and were simply drifting through life.
Usually they just stayed in the territory, eating up food and contributing nothing.
Well, it wasn't entirely true that they contributed nothing. Since they could be called intellectuals, they had been teaching basic etiquette and education to noble children or commoners who had only recently risen to nobility.
At least, that's what the mages told themselves.
To everyone else, they really were just freeloaders.
Regardless, the mages were extremely unhappy. Having to cast magic on foul-smelling water every single day made them feel like they were going to throw up.
Of course, I had told them to wear masks if the smell was that bad, but their pride as mages wouldn't allow them to openly admit they couldn't handle it with an air-purification spell.
"This is unacceptable! We're going on strike!"
"That's right! Let's show them how terrifying mages can be!"
"Exactly! Exploiting mages in an environment like this! We should file a formal complaint with the Magic Tower immediately!"
"...That might be going too far."
There were many magic towers scattered across the land, but when people spoke of the Magic Tower, they usually meant the Five Great Towers—Wind, Water, Fire, Lightning, and Earth.
Any tower not part of those five would be referred to by the name of the region where it was built.
Most mages belonged to one of the Five Great Towers. They provided work through request forms similar to the mercenary guild and made it easy to register newly developed spells.
They also spoke up on behalf of mages who suffered unfair treatment. From an average mage's perspective, there was no reason not to join.
Even so, the Magic Towers operated on a strict merit-based system.
Which meant they wouldn't go against nobles for the sake of these 1st and 2nd Circle bottom-feeders currently being worked like dogs at the Osu Treatment Plant.
They might even get expelled. And if that happened, they would lose access to the occasional lucrative requests that came from the Tower. So the mages decided not to report this matter to the Magic Tower.
"Anyway! Let's stick together and handle this ourselves!"
"Right!!"
It had been a little over a week since they started working at the Osu Treatment Plant.
The mages immediately launched their strike.
*
When I received news of the mages' strike, I headed straight for the Osu Treatment Plant.
Are these bastards out of their fucking minds?
I was paying them well, and other people handled all the difficult physical labor. All they had to do was sit on their asses and cast a single spell with a little "click" whenever someone brought them dirty water.
They were each receiving one gold per day. That meant over forty gold was flowing out every single day.
When you considered that one gold was what a family of four needed for the absolute minimum standard of living, it was clear just how much I was overpaying these mages.
It was twenty-five times what the disabled workers I had hired were receiving.
No matter how you looked at it, this was excessive for high-class personnel.
Other people did all the hard work, yet they decided to strike?
They weren't even truly high-class in my eyes. If someone could read and write, they could use the same Clean magic these mages were casting.
....
Well, maybe not anyone. If we compared it to Korea's college entrance exam, they'd be around the 2nd or 3rd tier.
Anyway, those kinds of guys were going on strike.
Other people kept saying mages needed to be treated with the utmost respect, so even their administrative paperwork was being handled by my department.
The mages didn't even have to write basic reports about what tasks they completed or how much work they had done that day. They just sat there, clicked their spells, and called it a day!
I had even bought them recreational equipment—billiards, baduk, chess, playing cards, and more—so they could entertain themselves while casting Clean in between uses. All because they complained about being bored.
And they still had complaints?
"Elisa. Present your ass."
"Eut... Yes."
"Naked."
"Yes❤︎"
Management of the mages was handled by Elisa, a mage herself. I held overall command, but I couldn't personally oversee every little thing.
That's why I had put Elisa in charge of the mages. All related administrative work was also her responsibility.
The fact that things had deteriorated to the point of a strike clearly meant she needed to be punished.
The Osu Treatment Plant was the most critical facility. Securing clean water was more important than anything else.
No matter how much soap we produced, if people washed and rinsed with dirty water, it would all be pointless.
Therefore, we needed to purify the sewage and convert it into clean water.
In the future, I planned to build massive sewer and water supply systems to create something similar to modern water infrastructure. That was something to consider after completely solving the black plague, so I had set it aside for now.
Regardless, the Osu Treatment Plant was that important. Yet she had allowed the mages to go on strike?
Before heading to the plant, I took her to my room. At this hour, no one would come to the quarters where the breeding partners stayed.
Slap—! Slap!
I stripped Elisa naked and mercilessly rained down blows on her ass.
"I entrusted you with management because you're the strongest mage in the territory. And what? You can't handle it anymore? Are you fucking kidding me right now?"
"S-sorry! Ohot❤︎"
"You're climaxing from getting your ass spanked? You've really turned into nothing but a bitch, haven't you?"
"Yes. I-I'm a worthless bitch. A pathetic female who couldn't even properly carry out the task Master Alpha entrusted to me❤︎"
Squelch...
Just from being spanked to the point where a finger could slide in easily, Elisa was already gushing female juices.
"Get up and put your clothes back on."
"Eh...?!"
"Why are you surprised? I told you this was punishment. Did you actually think I'd shove my cock into your pussy right now?"
"N-no, that's not... B-but if my naked body has aroused you, Master, should I service you with my mouth instead?"
"Not necessary."
Did she think I was going to make her suck my dick as punishment?
Well, after receiving a half-assed sex education at the academy, Elisa had turned to erotic novels to learn properly.
In those novels, they probably forced women to perform fellatio under the guise of punishment.
But that could never be a real punishment for her.
For a female, sucking the cock of an Alpha Male like me would be the greatest pleasure imaginable.
I could tell just by watching her swallow her saliva while staring at my half-hard cock through my pants.
Even a female who preferred normal, vanilla sex and wasn't particularly masochistic would get wet just thinking about sucking my cock.
"Hurry up and get dressed."
"Yes..."
Therefore, the punishment had to stop at spanking.
There was nothing better than spanking to keep them aroused while preventing them from relieving that heat.
...It probably wouldn't work on Helen, though.
She was such a hardcore masochist that when I visited her after not touching her for several days, she had claimed it was "neglect play" and was already squirting female juices down her thighs.
"Eut... Hng."
Unable to relieve her heated body, Elisa kept letting out soft moans as she followed behind me.
Walking with her thighs pressed together and a deep blush on her face, her appearance was so seductive that it drew the eyes of every man we passed.
Sring.
If I hadn't brought Ertia and Erika along as escorts, they probably would have rushed me right then and there to claim this female for themselves.
"Lady Elisa. Are you alright? You don't look well at all."
"Heut. I-I'm fine... It's not something you need to worry about."
"Did Master do that to her?"
While Erika worriedly supported Elisa from the side, Ertia whispered to me.
"Yeah. If you don't want to end up like that, watch yourself."
"Ah... Yes!"
"??"
I told you not to speak so politely all of a sudden, you idiot.
Erika was now looking at us with suspicious eyes because of Ertia's sudden formal speech.
Sigh... This was getting awkward. I would either need to transfer Erika to another department soon or finally accept her feelings.
"We fight for the rights of mages!!"
"Get lost! You ignorant fools!"
"W-we need to process this quickly! We'll get in trouble if we don't!"
"Mage sirs, please stop... We want to keep working here..."
"Hmph! Whether you worms starve to death or not, what does that have to do with us? Actually, this is perfect. Vermin like you should have disappeared from this world ages ago!"
When we finally arrived at the Osu Treatment Plant, I saw the disabled workers I had hired confronting the mages.
Though calling it a confrontation might be too generous.
The disabled workers were desperately begging the mages not to stop, afraid they would lose their jobs, while the mages laughed at them and spat out words too vile to repeat.
"Hmm? So you've finally decided to show yourself."
"Hey. All of you, stop this nonsense."
"W-what?"
"I said stop it. Can't you hear? All of you, get the fuck out. Elisa. You'll be taking responsibility for this, correct?"
"...Yes."
I chased the mages away while deliberately putting Elisa forward for all to see.
Rather than employing these rotten bastards, it would be faster if I just trained new mages myself.