Reina had prepared for this. The elixir of strength and water breathing took effect immediately. She dove headfirst into the lake just as the fragile docks crumbled.

The currents underneath the surface of the water dragged her further into the depths. Light quickly diminished until she was enveloped in complete darkness. While sinking, Reina uncorked several vials of the anti-growth serum. Like a fire snaking across the water, the aglae floating across her eyes disintegrated in a matter of seconds.

She was suddenly yanked out of the lake by her waist. A swirling coil of water enveloped her from the legs up to her chest. It didn't hurt, and she was being held gingerly in the air.

"Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to do that! I'm still not used to having a body or controlling the water with magic," the undine said apologetically.

"What kind of accident involves pummeling an entire docks into the depths?" Reina retorted, spitting out a mouthful of lake water.

The undine fell into panic mode, likely afraid of whether or not she upset the one person who was trying to help her.

An arrow suddenly zipped past Reina's cheek and struck the undine square in the chest. Unsurprisingly, it didn't so much as hurt nor faze her.

"Whoever fired that arrow is going to get an ass-kicking from an angry, strength elixir-infused alchemist!" Reina glanced over her shoulder in time to see Clem shove the bow into someone else's hands.

"What's happening?" the undine asked as the waters immediately below her became clear again.

"If you let me move, I can show you!"

The watery bindings turned into a platform instead, a strange sensation that was closer to incredibly viscous honey than anything. Reina procured additional vials from her belt to show the undine. She understandably didn't know what she was looking at.

"This kills the algae. Watch." She uncorked more vials and let them drain onto the watery platform she stood on.

Water around the undine cleared up fast. Dark green algae fell apart into sandy particles that sank to the bottom of the lake. As the serum worked its way through the vortices in her body, she soon became cleansed of the algae bloom. 

"What is this…?" The undine stared at her purified hands and body in disbelief.

"It works by depriving algae of moisture, pulling it back into the surroundings. That's why it appears to dry up the way it does. This is only a temporary fix, and the algae bloom will return in a matter of days if we don't somehow remove the sawdust that was poured into your lake."

The undine, much calmer and composed now, carried Reina back to shore. The escorts still had their weapons drawn and on edge. She didn't blame them. Just a second ago the undine certainly looked to have flown into a rage and endangered her.

"It's okay, everyone. She means us no harm. Your weapons won't work on a water sprite anyway," Reina urged, pointing to the arrow still stuck in the undine's body.

They squinted at the undine's watery form, realized the futility of putting up a resistance, and stowed their weapons away.

"I can't thank you enough," the undine began. "My name is Aquessia. I've slumbered here for centuries, but I only recently woke up and saw how polluted my lake was. There's too much for me to clear out on my own…"

The puzzle pieces fell into place. Whoever caused the pollution must have caused the lake to manifest an undine through the philosopher's stone. It made sense with all the latent magic flowing through the lands, most likely provided the impetus necessary to take form.

"I'm not lying when I say I want to help restore the lake. But as a mere alchemist, there is only so much I can do. A serum to stunt algae growth was about the extent of it. The leader of my city has already vowed to uncover the culprit behind Lake Hosal's pollution," Reina explained.

Aquessia shrunk to our height and fell into thought. Reina gazed upon the undine's voluptuous form. A spirit made of water like herself could have taken any shape, so it was no surprise she chose one that was attractive. Probably from someone she had seen before.

Even though undines weren't mammals or humanoids, Aquessia had protrusions on her upper abdomen that were clearly in the shape of breasts. Her legs were connected together like a curtain of water spiraling upwards. She could probably form bipedal legs and walk on land if she so desired.

"I-I can slowly remove the wood pulp from my waters by washing them ashore. As long as whoever among your people stops dumping it back into the lake, the problem should fix itself over time," Aquessia finally said.

"You can probably ask the high priestesses to organize volunteers to scoop away the shit that washes up shore," Clem added.

Reina thought it wasn't a bad idea. High Priestess Gale could make that happen easily. It would be a great undertaking, but one that would restore the environment for the better and placate the angry undine.

It just occurred to her that if one group was actively dumping sawdust and wood shavings into Lake Hosal, were there people doing the same to other lakes that no one knew about?

Fow now, she should concentrate on the algae problem and save the discussions for when they return to Vessyra. 

"Aquessia, I promise we'll restore your lake. Until then, I have to pour more of the serum I threw on you earlier to remove the remaining algae," Reina said.

"Y-Yes, please! Don't hesitate. Anything at all to purify the lake," she said hastily.

Reina instinctively extended her hand to shake on it and thought to retract the gesture until Aquessia mirrored the action. Just as they were about to shake hands, Reina felt she had grabbed something else by mistake, but glanced down to see what appeared to be penis sticking out of the undine's palm.

"Is that a cock?" one of the escorts asked.

"Eh? Eh? Eh? I'm not doing it on purpose. I didn't even know I could do this!" Aquessia panicked, eyes spinning and water tension on her body spilling everywhere out of embarrassment.

This was not the first time Reina had seen something like this. She knew no one else could have done it, and it didn't happen until she spilled the serum into the lake. The concoctions were experimental after all.

"Uh… I think that's my fault…" Reina confessed.

They returned to the city to relay to High Priestess Gale the outcome of speaking with the undine. She was more than happy to organize a workforce knowing Aquessia was not a violent entity.

Back at the city's great tree, the warriors Gale had sent to uncover the mysterious litterer appeared to have apprehended the culprit. Two beastborne flanked a rather terrified female goblin as she entered the worship hall with her head down.

"I had a feeling it was you," Reina remarked to Rodelle, who came in grumbling to herself.

"We caught her loading up barrels of sawdust and wood shavings. Says she was about to make for Lake Amardine," a canine beastborne explained.

Gale folded her arms and glared down at the much taller goblin. The high priestess was already plenty tall, and so Rodelle had to crane her neck to meet Gale's eyes.

"You have caused us, a great many people, and an undine much unneeded headache," she scolded her.

"Me and the other carpenters in the city work with wood daily to build this damn city. Where do ya expect us to put all that damn leftover?" Rodelle fired back.

Experience and extensive study into alchemy prepared Reina for this. Part of her profession was to ensure that no ingredient went to waste and all was done as efficiently as possible.

She leaned over to Gale with an idea. "They can actually make for good fertilizer. I'm sure a lot of farmers would love barrels of them. Enough wood shavings can also cushion the ground in a park for children to play on."

"No kidding? I can make a killing off selling dust and bark?" the goblin asked with money in her eyes.

"You will learn to be charitable for once and donate them instead. I believe an entire year should make up for the Lake Hosal matter," Gale clarified for Rodelle, leaving little room for negotiations.

"Y-Yes, High Priestess…" she replied meekly.

Progress on the lake would take a while even with all the help, but with the source of pollution stopped, it was only a matter of time. The high priestess asked Reina to extend an invitation to Aquessia to visit the city, and perhaps live in the shallow pool of the great tree for the time being.

The undine had washed ashore as much of the mulch as she could. Some were too embedded in the lakebed for her to do anything about it, and had to be left to amphibious workers to shovel the rest out. Because Aquessia was not bound to her lake and could do nothing more to help, she accepted Gale's invitation.

"Is it really okay for me to stay here?" Aquessia asked, stunned by Gale's hospitality.

"That's what we should be asking you. Being away from Lake Hosal doesn't hurt you in any way, does it?" Reina inquired curiously.

The undine shook her head and dipped her toes into the waters to become one with it.

"Vixie, a resident forest nymph lives here as well. She mostly keeps to herself, so you should be able to live here quite peacefully," Gale said.

For now, everything has been resolved. Reina eyed the philosopher's stone embedded within Aquessia's chest. Even as the undine deformed into the water, one could trace her whereabouts by the red jewel. She hoped the undine would be willing to part with it.

Just as Reina was about to open her mouth to ask for it, the philosopher's stone began to glow. Gale saw it, too. Neither of them knew what to make of it.

It reminded Reina of how slimes had crystal cores in their bodies. Hopefully removing it wouldn't kill the undine like it would a slime.

"Aquessia, there's something I'd like to ask from you. The philosopher's stone in your body, is it something you can remove?" Reina asked.

Upon hearing the question, the undine reformed herself in front of the two at the edge of the pool.

"I'm not sure how I got this. I can't remove it myself, but you're welcome to take it from me," she answered.

The worst thing that could happen would be Aquessia dying. However, she wasn't a slime and that shouldn't happen to her. Undines were never known to have such a thing anyway.

Aquessia puffed out her chest, but as Reina reached into the watery body, it thickened such that she could neither push further nor pull out.

"My hand is stuck…"

"It's not me, I swear! This never happened before… I was always able to control my own body," she said as panic began to set in.

Gale tried to help by pulling on her from behind. Water tendrils suddenly emerged from the pool and Aquessia's body, all of them in the shape of an elongated penis. They whipping watery tentacles latched onto both Gale and Reina, incapacitating them on the spot.

"That's not my doing either… I can't stop them, I'm sorry!" Aquessia cried.