Non-commentated version of this chapter here for those that don’t want to interrupt their reading of the story with my rambling.
Chapter 35 – Central deposits
We were once again walking down the underground pathway.
However, a door finally showed up on the left wall, eliciting Serena to speak up.
“If we go up the stairs behind that door, we should come out on the opposite shore of Alus Island…..It looks like this door is locked as well.”
It was a magical metal door, but no matter if Serena pushed or pulled on the latch, it did not open.
“There must be a monster nest on the other side. Let’s leave this door alone for now…..uhm, can I ask you to put a guard on this place?”
Serena nodded to my words and turned towards the Guardians….the armor group following us.
“Three of you take up a position here for now.”
“Understood!”
After saying that, three of the armor people started standing guard near the door.
Judging from the fight we just had, even one of them is quite powerful. Three of them here should be more than enough.
(TN: What fight? They just chucked shit at you which was blocked with a simple spell from you and Selena, they did literally nothing else.)
“Good, then let’s move on.”
“Yes. The entrance to the mine should be just ahead of us.”
Serena kept walking down the passageway as she said that.
Shortly after, a giant door came into view.
It was a massive double door made of metal. It was about twice as tall as an adult man, so it looked almost like a castle gate.
It seems the mine was on the other side of that.
“It seems this was locked with a magic tool as well…..Okay then.”
(TN: That was soo effective on the last one as well.)
I manipulated my mana to open the lock right away.
Elysia spoke up after seeing me do that.
“That was very fast!”
“…..Since I managed to do it once already, I know how to do it faster. I will open it now, then.”
“Please leave that to us. Let’s do it, Serena.”
“Right! ──Muh!?”
Serena tried to push the left side of the door, but it didn’t move even an inch.
I thought that maybe it was still locked with magic, but that wasn’t it.
Elysia pushed the right side of the door instead, which opened without any problems.
Seeing that, Serena’s eyes went wide.
“H-huh?”
“What is it, Serena-san? That one doesn’t open? Heigh-ho.”
Elysia tried to push the left side as well.
Then, the left door smoothly opened as well.
Serena was just watching the scene in stupefaction.
“E-Elysia-dono…..did you use some magic or something?”
“No…..I just pushed them.”
“With those slender arms? Without magic?”
Elysia shook her head.
I didn’t think that a door this large could be opened by only one person either.
However, for Elysia who inherited the strength of orcs, this might not be that heavy at all.
Though it’s true that the disconnect between this action and the impression she makes with her maid appearance is indeed considerable…..
“Oh jeez, looking at me like I’m some sort of monster…..Your arms are also quite slender, are they not, Serena-san?”
“S-sorry about that.”
Serena apologised earnestly.
Though I think that Serena is also a person who’s appearance and real ability is somewhat mismatched…..
“Let’s just go in for now. 【Holy Light】…..ooooh.”
I let out a sound without meaning to.
I wanted to test it because the number of my Servants have increased again, but it seems the number of light orbs I could produce have increased to ten by now.
“It seems I’m more or less able to use Holy Magic to some degree now….”
“Alec-sama, leave the lighting to us.”
A voice said from behind us.
“Ooh, so the armor people could use it as well. It looks to be quite a large space, so please do so.”
“Understood.”
The armor group pointed their hands forward, which then lit up with light.
It was a spell called 【Holy Ray】. It wasn’t an orb of light, but a ray that shone a significant distance in one direction.
That made the space on the other side of the door light up. There were more than twenty sources of light, so it became quite bright.
“That’s──”
A huge cavern opened up in front of us.
It was so large that an entire city could easily fit inside it.
At various places along the outer wall, there were some holes that must’ve been mining tunnels, with multiple levels of walkways leading to them.
We came out of one such place.
On the lowest parts, I could see some warehouses and some regular houses. There was a waterway running through as well, so it was really a kind of small town.
Serena spoke with a tone of admiration.
“This is the world famous…..or at least used to be world famous, Tialus Central Mine. I’ve heard that it was rich in mythril in particular.”
“Hmm. Does that mean that Tialus has a number of other mines as well?”
“Yes. There is a place where the orichalcon used in those doors was mined from. I think I remember places for adamantite and hihiirokane as well…. By the way, my armor is made of mythril! The armor group’s as well.”
Mythril is stronger than steel, and among the magical metals it can channel the most mana.
Adamantite is the hardest magical metal, but it can’t really channel much mana.
The hihiirokane is close to adamantite, but apparently when made into a blade, it gives it an excellent cutting power somehow.
Orichalcon doesn’t really have any outstanding attributes, but that’s why it can be used pretty much for anything.
There are still other types, but when talking about magical metals, those four types are the most popular.
“Wow…..It sounds like every famous type can be mined in this territory then.”
The price of a single mythril knife is around the same as a hundred iron knives’. I wonder how much profit we could make if we mined out the ores ourselves and refined it into metal before selling it.
Serena spoke up.
“However, when I say there is plenty to mine here, it’s still much less than iron or coal would be. Also, the deposits for magical metal ores are exceedingly hard.”
“We can’t really tell if it’s safe to dig at all to begin with. In that case, let’s call Yuuri──”
I used 《Teleport》 to move to our headquarters in Lobrion right away.
“──ah!? Oh, it’s Alec-sama.”
Yuuri was just about to swing a hammer to hit a knife on an anvil in front of me.
“Sorry for startling you. Are you in the middle of work?”
“No, it’s fine. Rather than that, could it be….”
“Yeah. We found a magical metal ore mine. Please come with me.”
“Yes! I was waiting for this!”
Yuuri picked up a few pickaxes from nearby and came back to my side right away. It seems she prepared them beforehand.
With Yuuri in tow, I returned to the Central Mine.
“!?”
It seems the armor group was startled by my sudden disappearance and reappearance with an extra person.
“Ah, sorry for startling you. I can use 《Teleport》 as you can see.”
The armor group signaled their understanding.
They seemed more and more emotionally vibrant to me…..
After that, we entered one of the tunnels.
It wasn’t a tunnel that was mined out too far, so it seemed to be more of a side tunnel.
Yuuri spoke while carefully inspecting the rock wall.
“This is really mythril ore…..amazing! This is the first time I saw this much mythril ore!”
“Is there really that much?”
“Yes. If we spent the whole day digging at this rock wall, we could get enough mythril for an entire knife!”
It may not sound that much, but with only that I could cover the food expenses of my Servants for a week.
(TN: Why does that food expense keep coming up like it’s some kind of ever looming disaster? Literally all of his Servants could take care of the food for themselves if they want at this point. The cyclopes are managing a store which can take care of them, the mice and slimes survived perfectly on the island until now and now they can hunt as well, the armors probably don’t need anything, the MC, Elysia, and Selena can either mooch off the cyclopes or hunt for themselves, or use the money he got way back then for the horse races and go to eat out as much as they want.)
“I will try to dig a bit!”
“Okay, please do.”
After I spoke, Yuuri swung her pickaxe with great vigor and hit the rock wall with it.
A palm sized stone broke off right away.
Yuuri wiped away her sweat with her sleeve and spoke.
(TN: She started sweating enough to have to wipe it off from a single swing? Da hell. She’s a damn blacksmith, not a geriatric office worker.)
“Fuuh….that’s really hard indeed. But the blue hair brigade will still be able to dig here!”
“I see…..But adding mining to your blacksmithing duties sounds a bit too much.”
We can leave the transport to the slimes, but digging needs technique as well as strength. I don’t think the mouse people would be quite strong enough.
“No no. We are used to doing the mining and the blacksmithing as well…..Ah, yeah. I have a proposal in regards to this to Alec-sama, if it’s alright.”
Yuuri asked me, looking somewhat reluctant.
“Proposal?”
“Yes…..To tell the truth, there are a number of cyclops mixed-blood groups scattered around the empire. We would like to reach out to them and have Alec-sama make them your Servants if possible…..Of course, it’s also for more manpower for mining and blacksmithing.”
“Hmm. That would help me out a lot as well. If they can get to any of the cities between Lobrion and the capital, then I can get them myself, so by all means, reach out to them.”
“T-thank you very much!”
Yuuri bowed her head.
“If my acquaintances were still alive, I would’ve liked for them to come serve Alec-sama as well…..Hmm?”
(TN: Now that sounds like the mark of mind control from the Servant bond.)
Serena noticed Elysia holding a pickaxe next to us.
“I might as well help out for now too! I’m confident in my strength!”
Saying that, Elysia hit the rock wall as well.
Then,
“──!?”
The rock wall collapsed into pieces with a loud noise. A few horse’s worth of rock has crumbled down.
(TN: I guess we are going all in with Elysia strength gags this chapter.)
Both Serena and Yuuri were standing there in shock.
Elysia too was looking at the broken pickaxe, looking contrite.
“Y-Yuuri, I’m sorry! I broke your pickaxe-”
“I can make another, so it’s fine. However, I think it would be for the best if you didn’t take part in mining, Elysia. Too large of an impact could….yeah….”
Yuuri said with a strained smile.
I guess if Elysia were to keep digging, the whole tunnel might be in danger of collapsing.
(TN: Why not just tell her to hold back some? It’s not a binary action.)
“Well……in that case it can’t be helped.”
Elysia looked disappointed.
However, I suddenly noticed the flow of mana in the area change.
The place where the disturbance was…..I turned my gaze to the lower layers of the cavern.
“That’s…..”
Small rocks were floating in the air and starting to amass into a single large clump.
The clump turned human shaped after a bit, then a red light lit up within its head part.
(TN: I wonder if this will be an actual fight instead of the turn-based encounters so far.)
