Reina glanced outside the worship chamber to check if there was anyone nearby. It would be a big problem for a priestess to find a random witch here. Although at the same time, the strange woman came across more a shady peddler than one capable of chucking magic from her hands.

"The first philosopher's stone I found mutated a poor lizard into a chimera. Though I suppose you already knew that if you kept an eye on me," she said, walking up to the statue and keeping her eyes on the witch.

"As expected. The power of a stone lies in something akin to granting wishes— with some limitations. A prey's greatest desire is to become a predator," the witch explained.

If that was the case, why hadn't the undine at Lake Hosal not cleansed the waters with it? Talk about inconvenient limits. Though it wasn't unfeasible to assume the water spirit may have exhausted the stone's power already.

Then what did the undine gain from it instead?

"Since you're here, I'm guessing you want me to go fetch that philosopher's stone for you. Not worried it might already be depleted?" Reina asked.

The witch produced the same inert philosopher's stone she had shown Reina during her first visit. While it appeared to have no energy left, there was a faint pulse like a weakened heart.

She gave an ominous smile. "Even a depleted stone has many applications. Such as serving as a vessel." 

"Helping you find the first philosopher's stone I understand. You couldn't possibly have found it on your own; even I stumbled upon it by accident. But you know the whereabouts of this one at Lake Hosal. Why don't you go fetch it yourself?" Reina folded her arms, challenging the witch.

She vanished in a cloud of mist and reappeared on the ground standing by Reina's side.

"I have other… obligations. I trust the allure of the philosopher's stone is too great for you to resist, and you have already promised the high priestess to cleanse the lake. Acquire for me the stone or use it for yourself, I care not which. Perhaps that carriage of yours could use some enchanting?" The witch vanished in another cloud of mist, this time without reappearing and supposedly gone for the time being.

A sigh escaped Reina's lips because the witch was right. She couldn't very well turn a blind eye to Lake Hosal. The algae bloom affected the whole city, not to mention the undine was suffering as well.

For the remainder of the day, Reina spoke to fishermen who frequented other lakes to catch her live fish that might survive in Lake Hosal. She returned to the atelier and reverse engineered a plant growth serum, a concoction normally used to kill weeds overnight. This would decimate the algae population to a much smaller number.

The real problem was how to remove the existing mulch so the algae wouldn't explode in population size going forward.

A big fat wire mesh filter? No, it had to be something more practical.

The undine might be able to do something about it. But if she could, why hadn't she yet?

Reina had completed her tasks by noon and was ready to set off for Lake Hosal again. She prepared potions for herself in case the encounter with the undine went ugly. One couldn't tell for sure when it came to elemental spirits.

High Priestess Gale assigned an escort of guards led by Clem, an orcish guard with a penchant for getting his dick wet over anything else. They rode to the lake on ferrefoxes. While not as strong as pack animals, these agile mounts with a somewhat long body were capable of traversing the forest at incredible speeds and outrun many predators.

"So, after we're done here… How about you and I go for a drink?" Clem asked, riding his ferrefox up to Reina.

"Give up, Clem. I'm not sleeping with you no matter how much you try," she replied, ordering her mount to race ahead.

Reina arrived at the lake first, followed by Clem, and finally the rest. The waters were calm, but murky as usual.

"I didn't believe the fishmongers at first, but damn does it look like the depths of a jungle troll's ass," a female beastborne remarked with disgust, her loppy ears drooping at the sorry state of the lake.

"What were we supposed to watch out for again?" an elf asked.

The lake formed multiple waterspouts whipping back and forth with tentacle-like protrusions, but the undine was nowhere to be seen. Several of the escorts backed away in terror while others fell onto their ass.

"Plan A is to let me do the talking," Reina said.

"What's plan B?" Clem asked, eyes going wide with fear.

"Who are— um, I mean… W-Who dares come to pollute my waters?" Her wrathful voice quivered with nervousness as she spoke, but the others were shaking in fear too much to notice.

Reina walked to the edge of the dock. She had encountered terrifying and imposing creatures before, but the undine… wasn't.

"Wait, it's dangerous!" orc shouted.

"We don't mean any harm! I want to help cleanse the lake! If you're willing to make discourse, I'm sure we can come to an understanding," she beseeched the undine.

The waters spun violently into a whirlpool, and rising from the center was the undine in the form of a beautiful woman. What was supposed to be one made of pristine blue water, her body was instead a reflection of Lake Hosal's filth and pollution. A timid expression made pitiful by the mixture of algae and mulch floating inside her, stared Reina in the eyes.

At the center of its chest was the unmistakable glimmer of a red philosopher's stone. The color, however, was dull. Its effects had likely been diminished by the undine at some point.

"You can't help me. All I want is for creatures like that one to stay away from my lake," the undine said, glaring past her.

Reina glanced behind herself and realized she was referring to the two orc guards, Clem being among them. He pointed to himself in confusion.

"Uhhh. Sorry, scary water lady. I got no idea what you're talking about. Never been here before," Clem said unsympathetically.

Orcs. Then it was orcs who also happened to work with wood that were the culprits. Reina had a creeping feeling about who was behind this entire mess.

The undine raised a hand and erected it a column of water that looked powerful enough to swallow someone whole.

All the guards drew their weapons in response, but their iron and steel were worthless against such an entity. It turned into a fist, then an open palm, and finally to a middle finger.

"Er, wait… That's not what I'm trying to show," she said, panicking. The waters reformed into spikes that pointed directly at the escorts behind Reina.

"Wait! You'll hurt the wrong people!" she yelled , coming between the water and the orcs which gave the undine pause. "They really weren't the ones who did it. Killing them will only further pollute your lake with their rotting carcasses."

"Hey! Orcs aren't rotting carcasses!" Clem frowned.

"You shut up before I feed you a potion that makes your dick fall off!" she retorted sharply.

The undine turned her attention back to Reina, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Do you really have a way to fix the lake?"

"I have a serum that can reduce the algae growth to normal levels. We can bring fish from other lakes to repopulate the lake. The only thing I unfortunately can't do is remove all the mulch already dumped into the waters," Reina explained.

"Th-Then please, by all means!" The undine stuck two large watery hands out toward the docks in a begging gesture but accidentally smashes it instead. "Wait, sorry! Sorry!"

More and more water from the lake gathered to her body, increasing her size. She didn't appear to have full control of her body.

"She looks angry! What do we do now?" Clem shouted from the edge of the lake.

"Plan B!" Reina shouted, drinking several elixirs just as a large fist made of water slammed into and destroyed the docks.

"You never told us what plan B is!" the orc complained just as she dove into the water.