Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
A week after entering Forre. Hiroshi’s group had yet to reach the capital, Stiren. The reason was simple.
「Well we can’t have this, mate. It’s all an isolated dimension.」
「Yeeeah…and you can’t use transportation magic to get out.」
「From the looks of it, we best think ‘bout makin’ sure it don’t spread to town from the tunnel before we try ‘n dissolve the isolation.」
Crest Cave boasted the highest quantity of ore that could be found in Forre. About two days before Hiroshi’s group arrived, the tunnel had suddenly begun shifting into an isolated dimension. Related to that matter, around yesterday or so, anyone who was Class 7 or above got sent out to investigate. By this point they were in the middle of checking the deeper areas.
「Is it pretty well underway？」
「That, and also, I think that the core’s in a fairly deep area that can’t be reached via the tunnel. So at that point when it’s an area that ain’t even on a map, we definitely ain’t screwin’ wit that.」
Makoto asked Hiroshi about the isolated dimension, since she was the dullest in sensing these things out of all the party members, and Hiroshi replied by discussing the flow of miasma and whatnot as well as physical elements that anyone could understand. This area was practically a dungeon already.
「Hiroshi-kun, what do you think about all this？」
「I mean, I dunno. From my own thoughts, somewhere fairly deep in these mines there’s a puddle o’ miasma that’s a bit difficult to reach (unless ya cause an artificial cave-in) but it’s expandin’ as we speak.」
「I give my vote to Sensei.」
「From what I gather about the miasma, I’m guessing that’s all we can do……」
「Well, it is certainly unnatural…」
Hiroshi’s group continued their conversation in a rather fed-up tone as they knocked down oncoming bats. Unfortunately, they knew a ton of people who might be responsible for this sort of thing.
「Well, even if they’re the ones responsible, I dunno if we can find a way to contact them anytime soon, so I say we search the heck outta this area for now.」
Ending the fruitless conversation, as they did not have sufficient information, Hiroshi recommended they focus on the current quest. For some reason, he was holding a pickaxe.
「So with that bein’ said, how ‘bout we dig a lil’ bit here ‘n there to check for a dungeon?」
「Is that okay？」
「I got permission, since this is a crucial investigation ‘n all.」
Hiroshi said as he handed pickaxes to both Haruna and Mio. His face spelled out exactly what he was thinking: “I wanna dig out that wall right now!”
「For now, Bro ‘n Makoto-san, y’all can go ahead ‘n look out fer monsters.」
「Alrighty. And how far are you digging？」
「A full basket per person, then go a bit further in, ‘n then a full basket per person, and repeat that about ten times.」
「You’re really going to dig that much？」
「It’s a mine after all. It’s purty important to figure out if there’s ore, what the distribution is, ‘n then what happens after we dig it up.」
The reason Hiroshi gave for his sudden desire to dig up a wall made a lot of sense. Even though he probably wanted to do it most because it was his hobby to gather materials, it seemed to also be that Hiroshi was not only considering that in this moment. Then again,
「This area’s lookin’ purty nice.」
As they looked at Hiroshi all cheerful swinging down his pickaxe, the group realized that the pretext he gave for this was only to justify his own desires.
「So what do you plan to do with the ore you dig up?」
「Whaddya mean? Of course I plan to send it all to the mining guild.」
「Really？」
「Yup. Gotta submit paperwork with the proper map ‘n everything tellin’ ‘em where I got what kind of ore.」
「And all for free？」
「Nah. Separately from the distribution map I’m givin’ em, they’ll buy off the ore I give ‘em with rangin’ prices dependin’ on the substance ‘n quality. It don’t seem like the other adventurers got the energy to spare to dig up the wall, so we get the rewards fer the distribution map ‘n the ore all to ourselves.」
Hiroshi said as he fulfilled his quota in a heartbeat. Mio finished her side of the deal in about five minutes.
「Hiroshi-kun…this basketful…is kinda hard to get……」
「That’s just an issue of skill proficiency, so it’s to be expected」
「Yeah, I get that, but……」
Haruna’s stamina was expended at such a rate that it felt like the ground was sucking the energy out of her. This feeling of weariness, which she had also experienced with other crafting skill training, was not something she could get used to, no matter how many times she did it. Haruna didn’t finish her quota until fifteen minutes later.
「Ugh, I’m tired……」
「Good job. After we rest for a bit, it’s time for the next point.」
「Ka～y……」
Responding to Hiroshi with the uttermost exhaustion in her voice, Haruna took out towels and drinks from her belongings. There wasn’t any real stamina restoration effect in these drinks, but she didn’t care about that; she was simply thirsty.
「I think the work’ll end purty soon after we finish all the points.」
「That would be good, yeah……」
「The first wall for beginners in proficiency’s generally somewhere between ten ‘n twenty five. If ya get past that, the stamina cost will begin to git closer to the reward, so it’ll feel less like a drag.」
「It just naturally happens like that？」
「Sure does. Haven’tcha experienced similar things？」
Pondering Hiroshi’s question, Haruna recalled all the times she had woven with thread and nodded. True, at first she had gotten extremely tired (not just physically, mentally too) and the thread often broke anyway. As she continued the work daily, eventually she began to weave without as much difficulty, and even the physical strain become a bit more bearable. She probably grew rather quickly for such a beginner level.
「Well now we should prolly get goin’.」
「Yeah, understood.」
Encouraged by Hiroshi, Haruna got up a bit wearily. Though she had regained much of her stamina, Haruna was still not quite rejuvenated. From the standpoint of beginning crafting skills, Haruna had revised quite a bit of her stamina throughout the various levels, battle skills and crafting skills thus far, and yet she still had it pretty bad (though not as much as Makoto did).
After all, beginner level tasks drained 1% of your overall stamina in a matter of a few seconds and did not boost your overall stamina in any way after the fact. While it was true that once you got past intermediate (which fixed the energy consumption), the people with the highest stamina points were at an advantage, the work time and frequency were not to be underestimated in the beginner bracket. In addition, excavation drained one’s stamina even faster than other crafting tasks.
When you considered the balance breaker that crafting was, it was very easy to understand why the initial level was so severe, but understanding and actually experiencing the difficulty were two completely different issues.
（I definitely should have raised my crafting skills to a more suitable level before……）
Though this was something she had wanted, Haruna truly regretted putting herself into a position where she had to struggle so much.
「Howdy again. We’re here to pick our reward, mate.」
Returning to the ore guild’s inn, Hiroshi took out a bag filled with coins and announced their arrival.
「Welcome back. So how was it？」
「The ore was, well, just about as we expected.」
As he answered Haruna’s question, Hiroshi spread out the map and information on the ore they had collected on the table.
「First, the distribution seems to have a tendency where the deeper ya get, the more slightly elemental ore ‘n magic steel ya find. Anywhere within a certain radius of the core will prolly have the same sorta things ya find.」
Hiroshi explained to Haruna and the others in an easy-to-digest manner about the tendency as they gazed intently at the list. Everyone could only come to one conclusion after hearing the information.
「So everything went to plan, basically？」
「Exactly. Well, I didn’t sample enough, and I ain’t check anything past a surface level approach, so it ain’t totally confirmed.」
Makoto inquired on everyone’s behalf, and Hiroshi affirmed, but with some caution in his words. But then again, things like this were to be expected in games, so there was no need to be surprised about it.
「Next we got the percentage of minerals, but well, this was also within expectation.」
Haruna and Mio nodded. Tatsuya and Makoto didn’t nod, but neither did they seem to be surprised.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「I guess when you get to be as good as Sensei, the proportion of magic steel and mythril and all that increases before your very eyes.」
「Dunno if that’s a good thing for the other people out there, but yeah, mate.」
Just as Mio had pointed out, everyone had dug in practically the same place, yet Hiroshi, Mio, and Haruna had found clearly different information surrounding the ore they dug up.
Haruna really only dug up bad quality iron, being a novice as she was. There also wasn’t much in the way of kilograms of minerals, essentially trash iron ore.
With Mio, who had her excavation skill in Advanced Class, she uncovered seventy percent high quality iron ore, while the remaining thirty percent consisted of magic steel and mythril, essentially mid-level metals, still not enough to paint a good picture of the distribution but nonetheless outputting some earth elemental ore.
Now, with Hiroshi, the percentage of normal iron ore dropped to thirty percent, and all of it could easily be melted and hardened once to shift the material into normal iron ingots, with essentially low purity. The remaining seventy percent consisted of magic steel and mythril in a one-to-one ratio of sixty percent, which were unfathomably versatile to where you could practically use them as metals just by melting/solidifying them one time, and then the last ten percent consisted of every kind of element ore you could think of in addition to orichalcum, adamantite, high quality metals that would give anyone a run for their money.
Hiroshi had anticipated this to an extent, so he was not particularly surprised, but this was still troublesome.
「So we know the substance is the same as we thought it would be, but is it really okay to tell the other people that Hiroshi can dig up that kind of ore？」
「That prolly ain’t no problem. Mythril, magic steel, ‘n all that jazz, there’s so much of it and there are plenty of people who could pull off the same stunt.」
「Can you guarantee that being high level in excavation won’t be problematic, though? When you consider your other crafting skills and everything, I don’t think we can be so optimistic about how they’ll receive you.」
「Excavation, harvesting, ‘n felling are said to work well if ya have other craftin’ skills, and if ya continue like that day afta day diggin’, fellin’, ‘n harvestin’ materials, yer abilities are gonna skyrocket. Long-lived races like dwarves could dig day in and day out and I bet ya there’s a few o’ them who’ve practically maxed out advanced class.」
Makoto gave Hiroshi a doubtful look for his optimistic expectations. Hiroshi’s unusual manufacturing skills were fairly well known here and there, but she couldn’t help but think it would still be dangerous to just casually let everyone know who he was.
「Well, it’s a lil’ weak fer evidence, but there’s another reason why I think it’s gon’ be alright.」
「What’s the reasoning on that？」
「People are already excavatin’ orichalcum ‘n adamantite, even though there ain’t much of it. Processin’ technology ain’t caught up yet, plus there’s hardly any ya can get from mines, so products, ore, whatever ya name it, it ain’t circulatin’ around.」
「……And that’s your reason？」
Still not satisfied by Hiroshi’s explanation, Makoto interjected with yet another question. Haruna and Tatsuya didn’t appear very convinced either. Conversely, Mio, who also had high crafting skill, was extremely persuaded by what Hiroshi said.
「Production would imply that there’s someone who’s got the skills to dig up the stuff. If ya take those kindsa people along to dig up dungeon walls, I’m purty sure half of ‘em would change to mythril or magic steel, y’know？」
「In order to dig up orichalcum in a regular mine, you have to double back on advanced class excavation or else it’s impossible.」
Mio added a supplemental explanation to what Hiroshi said. In the game, fields, regular mines, and dungeons each had slightly different excavation difficulties, and the ore table you could excavate had gigantic differences all around. The excavation difficulty in the field was high, and you needed at minimum enough skill to double back on beginner class in order to find places where you could dig up decent quality ore. Naturally, the higher quality the ingredients you wanted to dig up, the more the necessary skill would jump up, and unless you got into fairly dangerous regions, you probably wouldn’t even get your hands on any magic steel, a truly thorny predicament.
Though it did take quests and money in order to enter mines, on the other hand, the excavation points were easy to find and the varieties of minerals were guaranteed the minimum quality, such as iron yielding iron, mythril yielding mythril, etc. In exchange, there was practically no bonus for proficiency skills like in the field, so if you wanted to get your hands on more rarely produced resources, such as trying to get magic steel or orichalcum in mythril mines, it would be impossible unless you had the advanced class to back up your skills like Mio said.
Things were entirely different in mining dungeons, where the occurrence table of ore for every excavation point you had would be decided at random. Proficiency points and random numbers would revise each table, so on occasion, despite having high proficiency points, all you would get might just be iron, for instance. But despite all this, if your proficiency was low, then not only orichalcum or adamantite, but also magic steel or mythril or any sort of high quality iron could not be excavated. Then again, it was more that pickaxes simply lost in the production table when your skills were that low, so this whole situation was practically harassment. When you also considered how stronger monsters than in the field would come and pick fights with you all throughout this, the dungeons probably had the highest total excavation difficulty.
「I dunno if it works the same way in these dungeons as in the game, but I can say for sure that unlike normal mines, yer skills influence a heck of a lot. Seems like these mines already had a lotta orichalcum in the first place, so I bet there’s a ton of people who’re able to extract orichalcum.」
「Fair enough. Come to think of it, how do you even go about checking what minerals are in the stones you dig up？」
「Once ya pick up some skills, ya generally get an idea of it, but if ya wanna git precise results ya gotta use “search metal” magic. Use this magic ‘n ya know immediately how much is mixed in of what, but unfortunately there’s a limit on it: ya can’t use it on anythin’ but stones you’ve dug up before. Findin’ veins basically requires ya to rely on yer craftsman’s skills and yer intuition.」
「Don’t know whether to call it convenient or inconvenient magic……」
「Hey, it has its uses for sure, mate. Yer always gonna know what purification method ya gonna use.」
Tatsuya and Makoto weren’t sure if they should trust what Hiroshi had just said. Meanwhile, for Haruna and Mio, who were in the middle of training in smelting and excavating, knew very well how handy the magic was, nodding strongly.
「So, leavin’ the ore and whatnot aside for now, there seems to have been some discussion about how the investigation wasn’t quite thorough enough.」
「Well yeah, that’s to be expected.」
「Everything barely happened yesterday, so most of the tunnels connecting to the depths ain’t been investigated yet, plus they gotta figure out what kind of a mine it is, so they’re gonna ask me to help out s’more startin’ tomorrow, but what’re y’all gonna do？」
Hiroshi asked them a question that was practically decided anyway, and everyone just grimaced. Having come this far and not going into the dungeon itself? That was the same thing as an entertainer in a bent-over posture getting ready for something, telling you to “not push” them, and you not pushing them even though that was what they were hinting at.
「But from the way you’re talking about it, it’s not like we’re going to another town or anything, right？」
「Well, no, not usually.」
「As an entertainer, I do think there’s something wrong with you, Hiroshi-kun. You don’t just pretend like we have other options.」
「Ah, makes sense…」
Scolded by Haruna, it was Hiroshi’s turn to grimace as he nodded. He, too, had similar thoughts, so there was no way to argue back.
「So we know we’re going underground, but how much effort do you intend to put into it？」
「Yup, that’s the problem. We gon’ hafta decide what benefits us more based on how strong the monsters are and whether it’s best to destroy the dungeon ‘n return it to the previous mine or lettin’ it settle for a bit. Trying to go for equilibrium, essentially.」
「Figured…」
Tatsuya sighed, basically expecting it to turn this way. Assuming no monsters emerged from the dungeon like what happened with Sweltering Tower, the team could very well choose to let it be destroyed on its own. Plus most of the monsters that swarmed out of the tunnels could pretty much all be defeated with ease, and with proper protection and patrolling, there wouldn’t be much of an issue with just using it like they used the original mine. As long as nothing especially dangerous came out from the depths, leaving the dungeon be might not be so unrealistic.
「But I’m amazed you even brought us into this situation despite us only being a Class Seven adventurer team. How’d you do it?」
「From yesterday and today’s investigation, we checked both the regular monsters ‘n the map, so nobody else knows what kinda place the mines are right now. So in order to get data on this, they need a team that can get their hands on some good metals ‘n who have good combat prowess.」
「And so they wanted us to help out, you’re saying？」
「Purty much. Tomorrow’s the same sorta thing we did today, and after that we enter through other entrances ‘n take two days excavatin’ that area until we go around all the entrances, then we take two or three days diggin’ through the deeper areas.」
「Mm, got it.」
Everyone nodded as Hiroshi told them what the mining guild wanted. They hadn’t planned to rush on this trip in the first place. It wasn’t the first time that the group had taken a detour.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「Ah, right, Haruna-san.」
「What？」
「As a partial reward from tomorrow onward, I plan to negotiate with the guild to see if both you and I can get around half of the ore we dug up once they’ve evaluated the quality, and yer gonna train in smeltin’ ‘n forgin’.」
「……So we’re going through with this？」
「In a li’l bit yer gonna get to Making Mastery, so just give it a bit more.」
「……Okay, I’ll do my best.」
Encouraged by Hiroshi, Haruna decided to aim for the current goal. Honestly, compared to weaving, sewing, or potion making, she wasn’t all that keen to get to forging or smelting. Maybe this was due to it not feeling like the kind of work that a normal, powerless woman typically did.
But if she didn’t overcome this, Haruna would also have trouble with improving her sewing and weaving skills. This was a necessary trial in order to fulfill Haruna’s most splendid goal: to finally be able to make her own underwear with spirit thread.
「Sensei, it’s fine training Haru, but what do we do with the weapons? She’s made quite a hefty amount by this point.」
Mio checked with Hiroshi, as this was an important issue. Technically speaking, the “hefty amount” consisted of mostly failed products, but she left that out to preserve Haruna’s dignity.
「Well, I’ll think about it. We can save the first product to commemorate it, ‘n the other ones’ll be throwaway expendables, ‘n once we get those remodeled into fairly decent quality/capability products we can use ‘em for whatever.」
「Mm, okay.」
While she felt a bit of unease at what Hiroshi meant by “decent quality/capability”, Mio figured that it was a reasonable conclusion. Afterward, Hiroshi’s so-called “decent quality/capability” equipment would cause an inevitable disturbance. This was of course to be expected, and everyone other than Hiroshi anticipated it. However, what they didn’t know was that they would be the ones most proactive in causing this disturbance.
Forre’s capital, Stiren, a week before Hirosh’s group began obtaining information. Rainy ended up having to report on the irregularities within Forre, quite troubled.
『……So you’re saying that incident after incident is occurring in Forre’s mines.』
「Mhm.」
『……Accidents in mines aren’t actually so uncommon. Dig up the wrong area and you get gas filling the area, dig up the ground where it’s loose and you get a cave-in. Tunnels are just filled with danger in general. Thanks to the dwarves, there aren’t too many accidents in Forre, and the people helping out in the excavation field have a decent ranking, but in most countries (ours included), that sort of work is what we have criminals do.』
Rainy found what Layotte had just said to be quite fascinating. She had only recently gained her self-awareness and was therefore quite unfamiliar with that line of common knowledge.
『However, I am curious about the fact that these incidents began increasing in frequency right after Darl, in which three total Barolds were defeated.』
「I also found that weird.」
『Perhaps there are those similar to Barold, or a variety of nobility or influentials who are taking unnatural measures？』
「So far, I have not found anything as obvious as was in Darl. There are many humans here who share similar views to those of the dwarves, so I think it would be difficult to curry favor with anyone like in Farlane or Darl.」
『Is that right.』
Layotte nodded at Rainy’s report, making a difficult expression. Just as Rainy had pointed out, the entirety of Forre had taken influence from the dwarves’ unique value system. This influence had of course spread out through diplomacy, and there was many a time when Forre had issues with other countries over what seemed to be trifling affairs to the other countries. Monetary issues, country borders, honor and whatnot, all of those things that would normally be considered problematic by most countries weren’t an issue to Forre, which could be considered a relief, but it was still a troublesome country to deal with all of its neighbors.
『……At this point, we have too little information to determine anything. Are there any other strange points？』
「The great mother goddess of the earth’s temple has had less traffic, they say.」
『……Not sure what to think about that.』
「I always assumed Barold would head for the temple, but there wasn’t enough information to back that up.」
『I see. Then please continue the investigation on your end. I will also use whatever connections I have in order to investigate.』
「Understood.」
Once she had heard Layotte’s instructions, Rainy ended the call. After that, taking a small sigh, Rainy psyched herself up and got to her feet.
「I may have to work out my liver and stomach first.」
Forre, the country where you were forced to drink liquor and force fed to a shameful degree. Though it wasn’t poisoning her persay, the dwarves often figured that her body type was too thin.
Had she breasts as large as Haruna’s, Rainy might have been let off, but big breasts are always subjective to whoever categorizes them. Many people in Forre who valued volume in appearance would see her as weak.
「I’d better do my best to work out so I don’t get fat and make Deary hate me……」
Rainy Moon, the maiden in love（？）, was forced to come to terms with her need for a diet for the first time in her life.
Meanwhile, in the royal house of Darl.
「There are signs of a rise in the price of iron？」
「Apparently there have been accidents occurring frequently in Forre’s mines.」
「Hm. I could see this becoming yet another headache.」
「I couldn’t agree more.」
Darl’s royal leader could not hide the grim expression on her face upon hearing the important report from the envoy staying in Forre.
「If the supply of iron runs out, the country will fall into chaos.」
「Indeed. Still, it isn’t like the supply will dry up today or tomorrow, so making noise right now would just cause more problems.」
「But！」
「The only thing to dwell on is that there is an indication of rising prices. Sergio, can you not increase the excavation at the mine in Akraus？」
Silencing the rather boisterous retainers, the queen asked her confidant something that anyone would logically think next.
「Our country’s excavation technology would only be able to increase the amount to about fifty percent, taking the safe margin into account.」
「Very well. Then how about the people of the earth？」
「That will depend on negotiations. However, they have high-performance technology in all fields, not just excavation. Depending on how far we can take negotiations, I do think they may provide us with not only iron to buy, but also technology for the excavation in Akraus Mine.」
「I see. I suppose we will need to rely on Markto for that. Though not as much as Forre, the country is rich in ore, and we have had many a trade with his country. If you recall exports like heat-resistant bricks and the items from The Sweltering Tower, if we can get The People of the Earth to sell iron in large quantities in exchange for this expansion, we may not be able to prevent the rise in price, but we will certainly be able to hold our ground.」
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
The large country in the eastern region of The Large Continent, Markto. Having no choice but to go to Darl for trade with Farlane or Falldania, Markto was a valued client for Darl. As a result, both countries were on quite amiable terms with each other, and with Farlane’s first princess Magdarena marrying into Darl as well as Farlane’s third princess Maria marrying into Markto, the ties with Farlane for both countries were stronger than ever before. Were they to hear of these information from Forre, Markto might very well be willing to temporarily increase the amount of iron exported to Darl.
「If they avert their eyes from these rising prices, then we might be able to pull through with this. Farlane has hardly ever relied on one country for resources/goods that they specialized in, so it is highly unlikely that this will cause any sort of problem. In which case, the real issue is……」
「The Midas Federation……」
「Indeed. There isn’t a single good mine in that country despite it having adjoined land with Forre. If these disturbances worsen, the effects will probably be greater than even that of Forre.」
The retainers now had grave expressions on their faces, but for a different reason from earlier as they heard what the queen said. The Midas Federation was sandwiched between Darl and Forre, at largest a population of several million and at smallest the size of a city-state like the Vatican, seventeen small countries in all. Looking at the big picture, it might seem rather flimsy, but it was still an important cluster of countries that held the trade route between Darl and Forre.
If Darl were to fall into chaos, there was a possibility that Darl and Forre’s direct trade would be cut off, and at worst, one third of Forre (no small area) would become a nest for monsters. In that sense, this issue was in a whole other dimension. This was what enduring the rising price could lead to.
「Why not simply merge our country and Forre together？」
「We are not Woldeus. I will not have us being slandered for carrying the name of dirty invaders without any decent resources or farmland and cutting off the land.」
Despite Midas Federation being in a geopolitically crucial position, the reason it had yet to be invaded by Darl or Forre was for all the reasons the queen had listed. After all, the countries in Midas, all the way from the top to the bottom of the political spectrum, were on truly bad terms. Despite this, however, military and commerce were being handled in an unbelievably organized fashion.
If they felt like it, Darl and Forre could easily overtake the federation, but with the inevitable civil wars and insurrections that would follow, so it was only natural for any policymaker to think “over my dead body!” at the mere thought of suppressing the region. Looking at the many hundreds of years that these regions were sandwiched between the giants of Darl and Forre without any leader to unite them, entering into civil war and splitting apart whenever the population of each country reached more than ten million, it was no wonder.
So there was already a lack of desire to spend money and the lives of soldiers on this land, and yet this region had a low self-sufficency in food supply. Though the reason was unclear, despite being a region abundant with greenery (unlike Darl), there seemed to be a lack of decent soil to plant crops, and leaving out a small portion of the hybrids, most humans could not digest the natural vegetation growing there (and it neither hindered nor helped them). As there wasn’t any land to take salt water or rock salt from, Midas Federation’s self sufficiency rate of food was less than Darl’s.
Were they to merge, there would be unbelievable burdens of order maintenance and food supply increase. Trade route safety and the tariffs accompanying it were important elements that should not be ignored, but it was not cost effective and the risk was too great, so neither Darl nor Forre felt like trying anything.
「For now, we need to get in secret contact with Forre and yield to Farlane so that we can get access to as many harbors as possible.」
「Honestly, if they were to form their own allied nation, I wonder if they could finally find a way to band together……」
「Were they able to do such a thing, they would have long ago been called Kingdom of Midas or Midas Empire, not Midas Federation.」
「They cannot disobey our country, Farlane, or Forre due to their food and resource problems, so I would prefer that they at least quit bringing their disputes over to us like it’s our responsibility……」
「It’s been like that for many years, so you need not expect anything to change at this point.」
The queen said rather negligently about the troublesome neighboring country. Their relations had always been poor, which was a fair comparison to how things were on Earth.
In the darkness, elsewhere…
「It only went well in one location, hm?」
The lord of darkness spat out as he read the flow of the feng shui. This person was filled with miasma to the point where they could twist even the darkness itself. They seemed to be displeased with the work in Forre.
「Is it not splendid enough that things are going well in one location？」
「As if. We only succeeded in exchange for notifying the goddess of our movements. It is hardly worthwhile to have only one dungeon in one area！」
Another lord of darkness asked a question, and the first lord spat in an annoyed manner. They had planned on turning half of the whole region into a dungeon, but unexpectedly enough, the earth mother goddess had been quite fierce in her resistance, and all they could manage was a cave-in. This still ended up lowering Forre’s productivity drastically, but there were an unbelievable amount of dwarves in Forre. Judging by their passion for mines, it was likely to only take a month before the dwarves were again ready to begin excavation.
In other words, it had already been a failure when they had decided on dealing a fatal blow to Forre’s industry.
「I figured Barold could not handle it on his own and intervened, but I have no choice but to admit I was careless.」
「But still, one dungeon would be useful in gathering holy energy, would it not？」
「We can only hope that it has gone that far, or else it will not have been worth it to risk the goddess identifying us.」
If there were one good thing to come of this, that would probably be the fact that they succeeded in turning Forre’s largest mine into a dungeon. Crest Cave’s output amount was the world’s number one. This mine would simply be forced to close off, and three cities would be forced to endure a shortage of iron. At that time, the voices of deep resentment would surely birth much holy energy.
「Either way, we first need to deal with the earth mother goddess.」
「I have also heard that the Barold in Forre is struggling a bit, to which I have pulled a few strings.」
「Oh？」
The dark lord who had been irritated at their own work ending in failure expressed interest at what their cohort had to say. The earth mother goddess was the greatest threat to Forre. Any amount of reduction of her power would be appreciated.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「What precisely did you do？」
「Nothing important, though. I simply created a mechanism that thickened the holy energy on the road leading to the temple of the earth mother goddess, activating higher monster activity and maddening the senses of anyone who approaches.」
「……I see, so you isolate them with starvation tactics.」
「I doubt that they care that much about the faith of humans, but if traffic decreases and the holy energy thickens, then they will eventually be forced to make a move.」
The first dark lord nodded gratefully at their compatriot’s words. To him, though this was but a small help, he was grateful for any amount of assistance since he could not even do anything at this point as a result of his scheme failing. As none of the brethren here ever felt competitive or antagonistic toward one another, they assisted each other, received assistance, and had no qualms about it either way. They would only refuse assistance if there was an overwhelming chance of winning or they wanted to conserve labor.
「Thank you, you have been a good help.」
「Think nothing of it. Now that plans are at a deadlock with Farlane and Darl, I simply cannot sit around and play.」
「I see. Then again, we could also flip this around and say that if the guests from the unknown continent had not meddled in all of this, the earth mother goddess would not have had enough power remaining to foil the plan……」
「Until now we had assumed they were only skilled in battle with practically no knowledge in government, seeing no need to proactively seek their expulsion, and none of us could have predicted how much that would take us by storm.」
The first dark lord groaned at the second lord’s words. From the way things seemed to be going, these guests did not seem to be any different from the ones from before, in that they were politically powerless. However, they had more than enough power to shift the balance in any kingdom, moreso than any ruler.
No one in their encampment was underestimating these “mere” craftsmen any longer.
「This time, I intend to take them on directly.」
「And the chances of winning are？」
「They were in a bit of a predicament with The Sweltering Tower and the two Barolds. Though I do not guarantee it, I do have a rough estimate.」
「Is that so. If there is anything you would like assistance with, I will help.」
「There is. But it would be troublesome if our existence was made known to the public. We will need to plan the timing correctly.」
Barold himself was no longer enough. Though they might win with a hundred of him, doing something that drastic would absolutely cause the goddesses to intervene. As there was no guarantee that the time, effort, or cost would be worth it, it was better to directly, and quickly, clash with these people.
「We will not be able to do much more than stir up trouble in Forre for now. We even have Barold out there. Let us make good use of him.」
「Right. Though Darl is not out of the question, we cannot interfere in Farlane now, so we had best pour our remaining resources into Forre and Loren.」
「Indeed. For now, how about I look into interfering with the area around the mine.」
「Then I will think in terms of disrupting circulation of goods. After all, Midas Federation is in quite the interesting predicament.」
「Alright. I will leave that to you. May the world be filled with holy energy.」
「May the world be filled with holy energy.」
Exchanging the designated greetings, the two lords blended back into the darkness. Neither of them had realized that two goddesses had been listening in on their little meeting.
「……Elza, I can only assist you as far as this.」
In the realm of the gods which exists between worlds, Alfemina, who had been peeking in on the meeting between the dark lords, conveyed this to the earth mother goddess Elza.
「……Thank you for your assistance, Alfemina. Still, it would be rather troublesome if the path to my temple is crushed.」
「But the only thing we are permitted to interfere in directly is the cleansing of the feng shui. Thankfully, we have Master Hiroshi and his companions in Forre as of now. Aearis, too, will be making her appearance soon enough, so let us have her convey the information from us to her.」
「Sorry to burden you such.」
「We cannot worry about such things right now. As for the awakening of the priestess, Lefia, Sores and I will lend a hand, but as Zanafel and you as well cannot do any proper work right now, we cannot follow up as strongly as we would like.」
「I truly am sorry.」
Elza was truly sorry to have caused Alfemina such a burden. Elza, whose priestess for various reasons was absent from her temple, was keeping many an equilibrium by doing most of the work that a priestess would normally do. As a result, she had to increase the amount of work for many a procedure, which was stalling her work as one of the three goddesses and as one of the five gods.
「Once the masters Hiroshi and Haruna reach your temple, the priestess issue will be resolved. After that I will have you work quite a bit, so please do prepare yourself.」
「Yes, I understand.」
「Now then, I have no remaining power in this area. You will need to make do with your own power for the time being.」
Alfemina said before returning to her own professional duties. After seeing her off, Elza put her own power into the feng shui and mines that had been damaged by suspicious means, doing her best to resist these unwanted trespassers.
「Oh, to think that the parting gift from previous times is just now beginning to show its effects…Truly, this requires patience……」
The disturbance from seven hundred years ago and the seal on the priestess that she had left as a parting gift. The goddess made a deep sigh at just how greatly this had affected things.
「You appear to be making a detour through Crest Cave, but you have a more fierce path ahead than you think, Master Hiroshi.」
As she cleansed the miasma that was gradually encroaching in, Elza sighed once again (who knew how many times she had sighed) with pained words. The reason Hiroshi and the others had come to this world was because they got wrapped up in the affairs of the gods, which Elza understood. She really did. But still, the current state of affairs was not so benign that she could hold back from letting our her grievances and entrusting her wishes to these unrelated people.
「Now then, let us see how much I can show these people, even as I am shackled, the willpower of the five great gods……」
As she cleansed the miasma from the road leading to her temple via the feng shui, Elza whispered softly with a stern expression. The world of the gods was in more tense of a situation than Hiroshi and his friends were aware of.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
A week after entering Forre. Hiroshi’s group had yet to reach the capital, Stiren. The reason was simple.
「Well we can’t have this, mate. It’s all an isolated dimension.」
「Yeeeah…and you can’t use transportation magic to get out.」
「From the looks of it, we best think ‘bout makin’ sure it don’t spread to town from the tunnel before we try ‘n dissolve the isolation.」
Crest Cave boasted the highest quantity of ore that could be found in Forre. About two days before Hiroshi’s group arrived, the tunnel had suddenly begun shifting into an isolated dimension. Related to that matter, around yesterday or so, anyone who was Class 7 or above got sent out to investigate. By this point they were in the middle of checking the deeper areas.
「Is it pretty well underway？」
「That, and also, I think that the core’s in a fairly deep area that can’t be reached via the tunnel. So at that point when it’s an area that ain’t even on a map, we definitely ain’t screwin’ wit that.」
Makoto asked Hiroshi about the isolated dimension, since she was the dullest in sensing these things out of all the party members, and Hiroshi replied by discussing the flow of miasma and whatnot as well as physical elements that anyone could understand. This area was practically a dungeon already.
「Hiroshi-kun, what do you think about all this？」
「I mean, I dunno. From my own thoughts, somewhere fairly deep in these mines there’s a puddle o’ miasma that’s a bit difficult to reach (unless ya cause an artificial cave-in) but it’s expandin’ as we speak.」
「I give my vote to Sensei.」
「From what I gather about the miasma, I’m guessing that’s all we can do……」
「Well, it is certainly unnatural…」
Hiroshi’s group continued their conversation in a rather fed-up tone as they knocked down oncoming bats. Unfortunately, they knew a ton of people who might be responsible for this sort of thing.
「Well, even if they’re the ones responsible, I dunno if we can find a way to contact them anytime soon, so I say we search the heck outta this area for now.」
Ending the fruitless conversation, as they did not have sufficient information, Hiroshi recommended they focus on the current quest. For some reason, he was holding a pickaxe.
「So with that bein’ said, how ‘bout we dig a lil’ bit here ‘n there to check for a dungeon?」
「Is that okay？」
「I got permission, since this is a crucial investigation ‘n all.」
Hiroshi said as he handed pickaxes to both Haruna and Mio. His face spelled out exactly what he was thinking: “I wanna dig out that wall right now!”
「For now, Bro ‘n Makoto-san, y’all can go ahead ‘n look out fer monsters.」
「Alrighty. And how far are you digging？」
「A full basket per person, then go a bit further in, ‘n then a full basket per person, and repeat that about ten times.」
「You’re really going to dig that much？」
「It’s a mine after all. It’s purty important to figure out if there’s ore, what the distribution is, ‘n then what happens after we dig it up.」
The reason Hiroshi gave for his sudden desire to dig up a wall made a lot of sense. Even though he probably wanted to do it most because it was his hobby to gather materials, it seemed to also be that Hiroshi was not only considering that in this moment. Then again,
「This area’s lookin’ purty nice.」
As they looked at Hiroshi all cheerful swinging down his pickaxe, the group realized that the pretext he gave for this was only to justify his own desires.
「So what do you plan to do with the ore you dig up?」
「Whaddya mean? Of course I plan to send it all to the mining guild.」
「Really？」
「Yup. Gotta submit paperwork with the proper map ‘n everything tellin’ ‘em where I got what kind of ore.」
「And all for free？」
「Nah. Separately from the distribution map I’m givin’ em, they’ll buy off the ore I give ‘em with rangin’ prices dependin’ on the substance ‘n quality. It don’t seem like the other adventurers got the energy to spare to dig up the wall, so we get the rewards fer the distribution map ‘n the ore all to ourselves.」
Hiroshi said as he fulfilled his quota in a heartbeat. Mio finished her side of the deal in about five minutes.
「Hiroshi-kun…this basketful…is kinda hard to get……」
「That’s just an issue of skill proficiency, so it’s to be expected」
「Yeah, I get that, but……」
Haruna’s stamina was expended at such a rate that it felt like the ground was sucking the energy out of her. This feeling of weariness, which she had also experienced with other crafting skill training, was not something she could get used to, no matter how many times she did it. Haruna didn’t finish her quota until fifteen minutes later.
「Ugh, I’m tired……」
「Good job. After we rest for a bit, it’s time for the next point.」
「Ka～y……」
Responding to Hiroshi with the uttermost exhaustion in her voice, Haruna took out towels and drinks from her belongings. There wasn’t any real stamina restoration effect in these drinks, but she didn’t care about that; she was simply thirsty.
「I think the work’ll end purty soon after we finish all the points.」
「That would be good, yeah……」
「The first wall for beginners in proficiency’s generally somewhere between ten ‘n twenty five. If ya get past that, the stamina cost will begin to git closer to the reward, so it’ll feel less like a drag.」
「It just naturally happens like that？」
「Sure does. Haven’tcha experienced similar things？」
Pondering Hiroshi’s question, Haruna recalled all the times she had woven with thread and nodded. True, at first she had gotten extremely tired (not just physically, mentally too) and the thread often broke anyway. As she continued the work daily, eventually she began to weave without as much difficulty, and even the physical strain become a bit more bearable. She probably grew rather quickly for such a beginner level.
「Well now we should prolly get goin’.」
「Yeah, understood.」
Encouraged by Hiroshi, Haruna got up a bit wearily. Though she had regained much of her stamina, Haruna was still not quite rejuvenated. From the standpoint of beginning crafting skills, Haruna had revised quite a bit of her stamina throughout the various levels, battle skills and crafting skills thus far, and yet she still had it pretty bad (though not as much as Makoto did).
After all, beginner level tasks drained 1% of your overall stamina in a matter of a few seconds and did not boost your overall stamina in any way after the fact. While it was true that once you got past intermediate (which fixed the energy consumption), the people with the highest stamina points were at an advantage, the work time and frequency were not to be underestimated in the beginner bracket. In addition, excavation drained one’s stamina even faster than other crafting tasks.
When you considered the balance breaker that crafting was, it was very easy to understand why the initial level was so severe, but understanding and actually experiencing the difficulty were two completely different issues.
（I definitely should have raised my crafting skills to a more suitable level before……）
Though this was something she had wanted, Haruna truly regretted putting herself into a position where she had to struggle so much.
「Howdy again. We’re here to pick our reward, mate.」
Returning to the ore guild’s inn, Hiroshi took out a bag filled with coins and announced their arrival.
「Welcome back. So how was it？」
「The ore was, well, just about as we expected.」
As he answered Haruna’s question, Hiroshi spread out the map and information on the ore they had collected on the table.
「First, the distribution seems to have a tendency where the deeper ya get, the more slightly elemental ore ‘n magic steel ya find. Anywhere within a certain radius of the core will prolly have the same sorta things ya find.」
Hiroshi explained to Haruna and the others in an easy-to-digest manner about the tendency as they gazed intently at the list. Everyone could only come to one conclusion after hearing the information.
「So everything went to plan, basically？」
「Exactly. Well, I didn’t sample enough, and I ain’t check anything past a surface level approach, so it ain’t totally confirmed.」
Makoto inquired on everyone’s behalf, and Hiroshi affirmed, but with some caution in his words. But then again, things like this were to be expected in games, so there was no need to be surprised about it.
「Next we got the percentage of minerals, but well, this was also within expectation.」
Haruna and Mio nodded. Tatsuya and Makoto didn’t nod, but neither did they seem to be surprised.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「I guess when you get to be as good as Sensei, the proportion of magic steel and mythril and all that increases before your very eyes.」
「Dunno if that’s a good thing for the other people out there, but yeah, mate.」
Just as Mio had pointed out, everyone had dug in practically the same place, yet Hiroshi, Mio, and Haruna had found clearly different information surrounding the ore they dug up.
Haruna really only dug up bad quality iron, being a novice as she was. There also wasn’t much in the way of kilograms of minerals, essentially trash iron ore.
With Mio, who had her excavation skill in Advanced Class, she uncovered seventy percent high quality iron ore, while the remaining thirty percent consisted of magic steel and mythril, essentially mid-level metals, still not enough to paint a good picture of the distribution but nonetheless outputting some earth elemental ore.
Now, with Hiroshi, the percentage of normal iron ore dropped to thirty percent, and all of it could easily be melted and hardened once to shift the material into normal iron ingots, with essentially low purity. The remaining seventy percent consisted of magic steel and mythril in a one-to-one ratio of sixty percent, which were unfathomably versatile to where you could practically use them as metals just by melting/solidifying them one time, and then the last ten percent consisted of every kind of element ore you could think of in addition to orichalcum, adamantite, high quality metals that would give anyone a run for their money.
Hiroshi had anticipated this to an extent, so he was not particularly surprised, but this was still troublesome.
「So we know the substance is the same as we thought it would be, but is it really okay to tell the other people that Hiroshi can dig up that kind of ore？」
「That prolly ain’t no problem. Mythril, magic steel, ‘n all that jazz, there’s so much of it and there are plenty of people who could pull off the same stunt.」
「Can you guarantee that being high level in excavation won’t be problematic, though? When you consider your other crafting skills and everything, I don’t think we can be so optimistic about how they’ll receive you.」
「Excavation, harvesting, ‘n felling are said to work well if ya have other craftin’ skills, and if ya continue like that day afta day diggin’, fellin’, ‘n harvestin’ materials, yer abilities are gonna skyrocket. Long-lived races like dwarves could dig day in and day out and I bet ya there’s a few o’ them who’ve practically maxed out advanced class.」
Makoto gave Hiroshi a doubtful look for his optimistic expectations. Hiroshi’s unusual manufacturing skills were fairly well known here and there, but she couldn’t help but think it would still be dangerous to just casually let everyone know who he was.
「Well, it’s a lil’ weak fer evidence, but there’s another reason why I think it’s gon’ be alright.」
「What’s the reasoning on that？」
「People are already excavatin’ orichalcum ‘n adamantite, even though there ain’t much of it. Processin’ technology ain’t caught up yet, plus there’s hardly any ya can get from mines, so products, ore, whatever ya name it, it ain’t circulatin’ around.」
「……And that’s your reason？」
Still not satisfied by Hiroshi’s explanation, Makoto interjected with yet another question. Haruna and Tatsuya didn’t appear very convinced either. Conversely, Mio, who also had high crafting skill, was extremely persuaded by what Hiroshi said.
「Production would imply that there’s someone who’s got the skills to dig up the stuff. If ya take those kindsa people along to dig up dungeon walls, I’m purty sure half of ‘em would change to mythril or magic steel, y’know？」
「In order to dig up orichalcum in a regular mine, you have to double back on advanced class excavation or else it’s impossible.」
Mio added a supplemental explanation to what Hiroshi said. In the game, fields, regular mines, and dungeons each had slightly different excavation difficulties, and the ore table you could excavate had gigantic differences all around. The excavation difficulty in the field was high, and you needed at minimum enough skill to double back on beginner class in order to find places where you could dig up decent quality ore. Naturally, the higher quality the ingredients you wanted to dig up, the more the necessary skill would jump up, and unless you got into fairly dangerous regions, you probably wouldn’t even get your hands on any magic steel, a truly thorny predicament.
Though it did take quests and money in order to enter mines, on the other hand, the excavation points were easy to find and the varieties of minerals were guaranteed the minimum quality, such as iron yielding iron, mythril yielding mythril, etc. In exchange, there was practically no bonus for proficiency skills like in the field, so if you wanted to get your hands on more rarely produced resources, such as trying to get magic steel or orichalcum in mythril mines, it would be impossible unless you had the advanced class to back up your skills like Mio said.
Things were entirely different in mining dungeons, where the occurrence table of ore for every excavation point you had would be decided at random. Proficiency points and random numbers would revise each table, so on occasion, despite having high proficiency points, all you would get might just be iron, for instance. But despite all this, if your proficiency was low, then not only orichalcum or adamantite, but also magic steel or mythril or any sort of high quality iron could not be excavated. Then again, it was more that pickaxes simply lost in the production table when your skills were that low, so this whole situation was practically harassment. When you also considered how stronger monsters than in the field would come and pick fights with you all throughout this, the dungeons probably had the highest total excavation difficulty.
「I dunno if it works the same way in these dungeons as in the game, but I can say for sure that unlike normal mines, yer skills influence a heck of a lot. Seems like these mines already had a lotta orichalcum in the first place, so I bet there’s a ton of people who’re able to extract orichalcum.」
「Fair enough. Come to think of it, how do you even go about checking what minerals are in the stones you dig up？」
「Once ya pick up some skills, ya generally get an idea of it, but if ya wanna git precise results ya gotta use “search metal” magic. Use this magic ‘n ya know immediately how much is mixed in of what, but unfortunately there’s a limit on it: ya can’t use it on anythin’ but stones you’ve dug up before. Findin’ veins basically requires ya to rely on yer craftsman’s skills and yer intuition.」
「Don’t know whether to call it convenient or inconvenient magic……」
「Hey, it has its uses for sure, mate. Yer always gonna know what purification method ya gonna use.」
Tatsuya and Makoto weren’t sure if they should trust what Hiroshi had just said. Meanwhile, for Haruna and Mio, who were in the middle of training in smelting and excavating, knew very well how handy the magic was, nodding strongly.
「So, leavin’ the ore and whatnot aside for now, there seems to have been some discussion about how the investigation wasn’t quite thorough enough.」
「Well yeah, that’s to be expected.」
「Everything barely happened yesterday, so most of the tunnels connecting to the depths ain’t been investigated yet, plus they gotta figure out what kind of a mine it is, so they’re gonna ask me to help out s’more startin’ tomorrow, but what’re y’all gonna do？」
Hiroshi asked them a question that was practically decided anyway, and everyone just grimaced. Having come this far and not going into the dungeon itself? That was the same thing as an entertainer in a bent-over posture getting ready for something, telling you to “not push” them, and you not pushing them even though that was what they were hinting at.
「But from the way you’re talking about it, it’s not like we’re going to another town or anything, right？」
「Well, no, not usually.」
「As an entertainer, I do think there’s something wrong with you, Hiroshi-kun. You don’t just pretend like we have other options.」
「Ah, makes sense…」
Scolded by Haruna, it was Hiroshi’s turn to grimace as he nodded. He, too, had similar thoughts, so there was no way to argue back.
「So we know we’re going underground, but how much effort do you intend to put into it？」
「Yup, that’s the problem. We gon’ hafta decide what benefits us more based on how strong the monsters are and whether it’s best to destroy the dungeon ‘n return it to the previous mine or lettin’ it settle for a bit. Trying to go for equilibrium, essentially.」
「Figured…」
Tatsuya sighed, basically expecting it to turn this way. Assuming no monsters emerged from the dungeon like what happened with Sweltering Tower, the team could very well choose to let it be destroyed on its own. Plus most of the monsters that swarmed out of the tunnels could pretty much all be defeated with ease, and with proper protection and patrolling, there wouldn’t be much of an issue with just using it like they used the original mine. As long as nothing especially dangerous came out from the depths, leaving the dungeon be might not be so unrealistic.
「But I’m amazed you even brought us into this situation despite us only being a Class Seven adventurer team. How’d you do it?」
「From yesterday and today’s investigation, we checked both the regular monsters ‘n the map, so nobody else knows what kinda place the mines are right now. So in order to get data on this, they need a team that can get their hands on some good metals ‘n who have good combat prowess.」
「And so they wanted us to help out, you’re saying？」
「Purty much. Tomorrow’s the same sorta thing we did today, and after that we enter through other entrances ‘n take two days excavatin’ that area until we go around all the entrances, then we take two or three days diggin’ through the deeper areas.」
「Mm, got it.」
Everyone nodded as Hiroshi told them what the mining guild wanted. They hadn’t planned to rush on this trip in the first place. It wasn’t the first time that the group had taken a detour.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「Ah, right, Haruna-san.」
「What？」
「As a partial reward from tomorrow onward, I plan to negotiate with the guild to see if both you and I can get around half of the ore we dug up once they’ve evaluated the quality, and yer gonna train in smeltin’ ‘n forgin’.」
「……So we’re going through with this？」
「In a li’l bit yer gonna get to Making Mastery, so just give it a bit more.」
「……Okay, I’ll do my best.」
Encouraged by Hiroshi, Haruna decided to aim for the current goal. Honestly, compared to weaving, sewing, or potion making, she wasn’t all that keen to get to forging or smelting. Maybe this was due to it not feeling like the kind of work that a normal, powerless woman typically did.
But if she didn’t overcome this, Haruna would also have trouble with improving her sewing and weaving skills. This was a necessary trial in order to fulfill Haruna’s most splendid goal: to finally be able to make her own underwear with spirit thread.
「Sensei, it’s fine training Haru, but what do we do with the weapons? She’s made quite a hefty amount by this point.」
Mio checked with Hiroshi, as this was an important issue. Technically speaking, the “hefty amount” consisted of mostly failed products, but she left that out to preserve Haruna’s dignity.
「Well, I’ll think about it. We can save the first product to commemorate it, ‘n the other ones’ll be throwaway expendables, ‘n once we get those remodeled into fairly decent quality/capability products we can use ‘em for whatever.」
「Mm, okay.」
While she felt a bit of unease at what Hiroshi meant by “decent quality/capability”, Mio figured that it was a reasonable conclusion. Afterward, Hiroshi’s so-called “decent quality/capability” equipment would cause an inevitable disturbance. This was of course to be expected, and everyone other than Hiroshi anticipated it. However, what they didn’t know was that they would be the ones most proactive in causing this disturbance.
Forre’s capital, Stiren, a week before Hirosh’s group began obtaining information. Rainy ended up having to report on the irregularities within Forre, quite troubled.
『……So you’re saying that incident after incident is occurring in Forre’s mines.』
「Mhm.」
『……Accidents in mines aren’t actually so uncommon. Dig up the wrong area and you get gas filling the area, dig up the ground where it’s loose and you get a cave-in. Tunnels are just filled with danger in general. Thanks to the dwarves, there aren’t too many accidents in Forre, and the people helping out in the excavation field have a decent ranking, but in most countries (ours included), that sort of work is what we have criminals do.』
Rainy found what Layotte had just said to be quite fascinating. She had only recently gained her self-awareness and was therefore quite unfamiliar with that line of common knowledge.
『However, I am curious about the fact that these incidents began increasing in frequency right after Darl, in which three total Barolds were defeated.』
「I also found that weird.」
『Perhaps there are those similar to Barold, or a variety of nobility or influentials who are taking unnatural measures？』
「So far, I have not found anything as obvious as was in Darl. There are many humans here who share similar views to those of the dwarves, so I think it would be difficult to curry favor with anyone like in Farlane or Darl.」
『Is that right.』
Layotte nodded at Rainy’s report, making a difficult expression. Just as Rainy had pointed out, the entirety of Forre had taken influence from the dwarves’ unique value system. This influence had of course spread out through diplomacy, and there was many a time when Forre had issues with other countries over what seemed to be trifling affairs to the other countries. Monetary issues, country borders, honor and whatnot, all of those things that would normally be considered problematic by most countries weren’t an issue to Forre, which could be considered a relief, but it was still a troublesome country to deal with all of its neighbors.
『……At this point, we have too little information to determine anything. Are there any other strange points？』
「The great mother goddess of the earth’s temple has had less traffic, they say.」
『……Not sure what to think about that.』
「I always assumed Barold would head for the temple, but there wasn’t enough information to back that up.」
『I see. Then please continue the investigation on your end. I will also use whatever connections I have in order to investigate.』
「Understood.」
Once she had heard Layotte’s instructions, Rainy ended the call. After that, taking a small sigh, Rainy psyched herself up and got to her feet.
「I may have to work out my liver and stomach first.」
Forre, the country where you were forced to drink liquor and force fed to a shameful degree. Though it wasn’t poisoning her persay, the dwarves often figured that her body type was too thin.
Had she breasts as large as Haruna’s, Rainy might have been let off, but big breasts are always subjective to whoever categorizes them. Many people in Forre who valued volume in appearance would see her as weak.
「I’d better do my best to work out so I don’t get fat and make Deary hate me……」
Rainy Moon, the maiden in love（？）, was forced to come to terms with her need for a diet for the first time in her life.
Meanwhile, in the royal house of Darl.
「There are signs of a rise in the price of iron？」
「Apparently there have been accidents occurring frequently in Forre’s mines.」
「Hm. I could see this becoming yet another headache.」
「I couldn’t agree more.」
Darl’s royal leader could not hide the grim expression on her face upon hearing the important report from the envoy staying in Forre.
「If the supply of iron runs out, the country will fall into chaos.」
「Indeed. Still, it isn’t like the supply will dry up today or tomorrow, so making noise right now would just cause more problems.」
「But！」
「The only thing to dwell on is that there is an indication of rising prices. Sergio, can you not increase the excavation at the mine in Akraus？」
Silencing the rather boisterous retainers, the queen asked her confidant something that anyone would logically think next.
「Our country’s excavation technology would only be able to increase the amount to about fifty percent, taking the safe margin into account.」
「Very well. Then how about the people of the earth？」
「That will depend on negotiations. However, they have high-performance technology in all fields, not just excavation. Depending on how far we can take negotiations, I do think they may provide us with not only iron to buy, but also technology for the excavation in Akraus Mine.」
「I see. I suppose we will need to rely on Markto for that. Though not as much as Forre, the country is rich in ore, and we have had many a trade with his country. If you recall exports like heat-resistant bricks and the items from The Sweltering Tower, if we can get The People of the Earth to sell iron in large quantities in exchange for this expansion, we may not be able to prevent the rise in price, but we will certainly be able to hold our ground.」
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
The large country in the eastern region of The Large Continent, Markto. Having no choice but to go to Darl for trade with Farlane or Falldania, Markto was a valued client for Darl. As a result, both countries were on quite amiable terms with each other, and with Farlane’s first princess Magdarena marrying into Darl as well as Farlane’s third princess Maria marrying into Markto, the ties with Farlane for both countries were stronger than ever before. Were they to hear of these information from Forre, Markto might very well be willing to temporarily increase the amount of iron exported to Darl.
「If they avert their eyes from these rising prices, then we might be able to pull through with this. Farlane has hardly ever relied on one country for resources/goods that they specialized in, so it is highly unlikely that this will cause any sort of problem. In which case, the real issue is……」
「The Midas Federation……」
「Indeed. There isn’t a single good mine in that country despite it having adjoined land with Forre. If these disturbances worsen, the effects will probably be greater than even that of Forre.」
The retainers now had grave expressions on their faces, but for a different reason from earlier as they heard what the queen said. The Midas Federation was sandwiched between Darl and Forre, at largest a population of several million and at smallest the size of a city-state like the Vatican, seventeen small countries in all. Looking at the big picture, it might seem rather flimsy, but it was still an important cluster of countries that held the trade route between Darl and Forre.
If Darl were to fall into chaos, there was a possibility that Darl and Forre’s direct trade would be cut off, and at worst, one third of Forre (no small area) would become a nest for monsters. In that sense, this issue was in a whole other dimension. This was what enduring the rising price could lead to.
「Why not simply merge our country and Forre together？」
「We are not Woldeus. I will not have us being slandered for carrying the name of dirty invaders without any decent resources or farmland and cutting off the land.」
Despite Midas Federation being in a geopolitically crucial position, the reason it had yet to be invaded by Darl or Forre was for all the reasons the queen had listed. After all, the countries in Midas, all the way from the top to the bottom of the political spectrum, were on truly bad terms. Despite this, however, military and commerce were being handled in an unbelievably organized fashion.
If they felt like it, Darl and Forre could easily overtake the federation, but with the inevitable civil wars and insurrections that would follow, so it was only natural for any policymaker to think “over my dead body!” at the mere thought of suppressing the region. Looking at the many hundreds of years that these regions were sandwiched between the giants of Darl and Forre without any leader to unite them, entering into civil war and splitting apart whenever the population of each country reached more than ten million, it was no wonder.
So there was already a lack of desire to spend money and the lives of soldiers on this land, and yet this region had a low self-sufficency in food supply. Though the reason was unclear, despite being a region abundant with greenery (unlike Darl), there seemed to be a lack of decent soil to plant crops, and leaving out a small portion of the hybrids, most humans could not digest the natural vegetation growing there (and it neither hindered nor helped them). As there wasn’t any land to take salt water or rock salt from, Midas Federation’s self sufficiency rate of food was less than Darl’s.
Were they to merge, there would be unbelievable burdens of order maintenance and food supply increase. Trade route safety and the tariffs accompanying it were important elements that should not be ignored, but it was not cost effective and the risk was too great, so neither Darl nor Forre felt like trying anything.
「For now, we need to get in secret contact with Forre and yield to Farlane so that we can get access to as many harbors as possible.」
「Honestly, if they were to form their own allied nation, I wonder if they could finally find a way to band together……」
「Were they able to do such a thing, they would have long ago been called Kingdom of Midas or Midas Empire, not Midas Federation.」
「They cannot disobey our country, Farlane, or Forre due to their food and resource problems, so I would prefer that they at least quit bringing their disputes over to us like it’s our responsibility……」
「It’s been like that for many years, so you need not expect anything to change at this point.」
The queen said rather negligently about the troublesome neighboring country. Their relations had always been poor, which was a fair comparison to how things were on Earth.
In the darkness, elsewhere…
「It only went well in one location, hm?」
The lord of darkness spat out as he read the flow of the feng shui. This person was filled with miasma to the point where they could twist even the darkness itself. They seemed to be displeased with the work in Forre.
「Is it not splendid enough that things are going well in one location？」
「As if. We only succeeded in exchange for notifying the goddess of our movements. It is hardly worthwhile to have only one dungeon in one area！」
Another lord of darkness asked a question, and the first lord spat in an annoyed manner. They had planned on turning half of the whole region into a dungeon, but unexpectedly enough, the earth mother goddess had been quite fierce in her resistance, and all they could manage was a cave-in. This still ended up lowering Forre’s productivity drastically, but there were an unbelievable amount of dwarves in Forre. Judging by their passion for mines, it was likely to only take a month before the dwarves were again ready to begin excavation.
In other words, it had already been a failure when they had decided on dealing a fatal blow to Forre’s industry.
「I figured Barold could not handle it on his own and intervened, but I have no choice but to admit I was careless.」
「But still, one dungeon would be useful in gathering holy energy, would it not？」
「We can only hope that it has gone that far, or else it will not have been worth it to risk the goddess identifying us.」
If there were one good thing to come of this, that would probably be the fact that they succeeded in turning Forre’s largest mine into a dungeon. Crest Cave’s output amount was the world’s number one. This mine would simply be forced to close off, and three cities would be forced to endure a shortage of iron. At that time, the voices of deep resentment would surely birth much holy energy.
「Either way, we first need to deal with the earth mother goddess.」
「I have also heard that the Barold in Forre is struggling a bit, to which I have pulled a few strings.」
「Oh？」
The dark lord who had been irritated at their own work ending in failure expressed interest at what their cohort had to say. The earth mother goddess was the greatest threat to Forre. Any amount of reduction of her power would be appreciated.
Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「What precisely did you do？」
「Nothing important, though. I simply created a mechanism that thickened the holy energy on the road leading to the temple of the earth mother goddess, activating higher monster activity and maddening the senses of anyone who approaches.」
「……I see, so you isolate them with starvation tactics.」
「I doubt that they care that much about the faith of humans, but if traffic decreases and the holy energy thickens, then they will eventually be forced to make a move.」
The first dark lord nodded gratefully at their compatriot’s words. To him, though this was but a small help, he was grateful for any amount of assistance since he could not even do anything at this point as a result of his scheme failing. As none of the brethren here ever felt competitive or antagonistic toward one another, they assisted each other, received assistance, and had no qualms about it either way. They would only refuse assistance if there was an overwhelming chance of winning or they wanted to conserve labor.
「Thank you, you have been a good help.」
「Think nothing of it. Now that plans are at a deadlock with Farlane and Darl, I simply cannot sit around and play.」
「I see. Then again, we could also flip this around and say that if the guests from the unknown continent had not meddled in all of this, the earth mother goddess would not have had enough power remaining to foil the plan……」
「Until now we had assumed they were only skilled in battle with practically no knowledge in government, seeing no need to proactively seek their expulsion, and none of us could have predicted how much that would take us by storm.」
The first dark lord groaned at the second lord’s words. From the way things seemed to be going, these guests did not seem to be any different from the ones from before, in that they were politically powerless. However, they had more than enough power to shift the balance in any kingdom, moreso than any ruler.
No one in their encampment was underestimating these “mere” craftsmen any longer.
「This time, I intend to take them on directly.」
「And the chances of winning are？」
「They were in a bit of a predicament with The Sweltering Tower and the two Barolds. Though I do not guarantee it, I do have a rough estimate.」
「Is that so. If there is anything you would like assistance with, I will help.」
「There is. But it would be troublesome if our existence was made known to the public. We will need to plan the timing correctly.」
Barold himself was no longer enough. Though they might win with a hundred of him, doing something that drastic would absolutely cause the goddesses to intervene. As there was no guarantee that the time, effort, or cost would be worth it, it was better to directly, and quickly, clash with these people.
「We will not be able to do much more than stir up trouble in Forre for now. We even have Barold out there. Let us make good use of him.」
「Right. Though Darl is not out of the question, we cannot interfere in Farlane now, so we had best pour our remaining resources into Forre and Loren.」
「Indeed. For now, how about I look into interfering with the area around the mine.」
「Then I will think in terms of disrupting circulation of goods. After all, Midas Federation is in quite the interesting predicament.」
「Alright. I will leave that to you. May the world be filled with holy energy.」
「May the world be filled with holy energy.」
Exchanging the designated greetings, the two lords blended back into the darkness. Neither of them had realized that two goddesses had been listening in on their little meeting.
「……Elza, I can only assist you as far as this.」
In the realm of the gods which exists between worlds, Alfemina, who had been peeking in on the meeting between the dark lords, conveyed this to the earth mother goddess Elza.
「……Thank you for your assistance, Alfemina. Still, it would be rather troublesome if the path to my temple is crushed.」
「But the only thing we are permitted to interfere in directly is the cleansing of the feng shui. Thankfully, we have Master Hiroshi and his companions in Forre as of now. Aearis, too, will be making her appearance soon enough, so let us have her convey the information from us to her.」
「Sorry to burden you such.」
「We cannot worry about such things right now. As for the awakening of the priestess, Lefia, Sores and I will lend a hand, but as Zanafel and you as well cannot do any proper work right now, we cannot follow up as strongly as we would like.」
「I truly am sorry.」
Elza was truly sorry to have caused Alfemina such a burden. Elza, whose priestess for various reasons was absent from her temple, was keeping many an equilibrium by doing most of the work that a priestess would normally do. As a result, she had to increase the amount of work for many a procedure, which was stalling her work as one of the three goddesses and as one of the five gods.
「Once the masters Hiroshi and Haruna reach your temple, the priestess issue will be resolved. After that I will have you work quite a bit, so please do prepare yourself.」
「Yes, I understand.」
「Now then, I have no remaining power in this area. You will need to make do with your own power for the time being.」
Alfemina said before returning to her own professional duties. After seeing her off, Elza put her own power into the feng shui and mines that had been damaged by suspicious means, doing her best to resist these unwanted trespassers.
「Oh, to think that the parting gift from previous times is just now beginning to show its effects…Truly, this requires patience……」
The disturbance from seven hundred years ago and the seal on the priestess that she had left as a parting gift. The goddess made a deep sigh at just how greatly this had affected things.
「You appear to be making a detour through Crest Cave, but you have a more fierce path ahead than you think, Master Hiroshi.」
As she cleansed the miasma that was gradually encroaching in, Elza sighed once again (who knew how many times she had sighed) with pained words. The reason Hiroshi and the others had come to this world was because they got wrapped up in the affairs of the gods, which Elza understood. She really did. But still, the current state of affairs was not so benign that she could hold back from letting our her grievances and entrusting her wishes to these unrelated people.
「Now then, let us see how much I can show these people, even as I am shackled, the willpower of the five great gods……」
As she cleansed the miasma from the road leading to her temple via the feng shui, Elza whispered softly with a stern expression. The world of the gods was in more tense of a situation than Hiroshi and his friends were aware of.
