Rest after a battle is supposed to be mandatory. Too bad nobody here cared.
“Is this… a top-grade mana stone?”
“It’s dazzling. You can tell just by looking that the purity’s insane.”
“Enough chatter! Follow the miners’ instructions and start setting up the safety supports!”
Because someone had just found a top-grade mana stone.
We’d mobilized every hand we had to check its purity and estimated reserves, and to set up supports in case the whole place caved in.
Why drag in Academy students too when the instructors alone would have been enough?
Well, partly because we didn’t really have anything else to do until the Empire ordered us back.
“They just want to squeeze out a little more time and money, that’s all.”
“The Empire’s obsession with efficiency… sometimes it’s honestly scary.”
“Still, using high-class talents like us for grunt work like this! Isn’t that a bit much?”
“Strictly speaking, it’s the other way around. They’re using low-grade labor for high-grade resources.”
“Oh! When you put it like that, it makes sense! Let’s work hard for Lord Mana Stone!”
Even nobles’ children wouldn’t dare treat it carelessly. It was right when the kids were busy serving ‘Lord Mana Stone’ with all due reverence.
One kid picked up a shard of mana stone that had fallen on the ground.
“How much does one of these go for again?”
“Finger-sized ones are about five gold. Fist-sized, maybe sixty.”
“Then what about that thing hanging from the ceiling over there?”
The reason it was bright as morning even at the bottom of the mine.
A gigantic top-grade mana stone embedded in the ceiling was pouring out light.
“…Hmm. That alone’s probably a small territory’s annual budget.”
“Nah. One of those would probably cover a decent Count’s territory.”
“Then if we mine out everything down here…”
Gulp.
The kids swallowed hard. Forget three generations—this vein alone could feed ten without breaking a sweat.
“Whoops! My foot slipped!”
“Urgh! My wounds from yesterday’s battle!”
A few of them rolled around on the ground while quietly stuffing stones into their pockets. The shards clinging to their clothes were a bonus.
The instructors walked right past them.
“Hard to believe something this tiny is worth that much gold… Should we swipe a little?”
“Don’t even think about it. Didn’t you hear the briefing earlier? Pull a stunt like that and Caron said he’d personally implant mana stones in our bodies.”
“Is he planning to turn people into artifacts or something? Well, it’s exactly the kind of thing Caron would do.”
Clatter.
Mana stones spilled out of the kids’ pockets in a shower.
The rumor that Caron conducted live experiments was famous enough by now.
The instructors left, snickering, and the kids’ attention drifted elsewhere.
“Who do you think is going to end up owning this place?”
“Now that you mention it, the lord here died, right? No heirs either. Even if he were alive, the Empire would’ve taken the land back for his crimes.”
“Yeah. Who’s going to get their hands on this gold-speckled—no, mana-stone-speckled land? Whoever it is, they just hit the jackpot.”
“If they gave it to me, I could run it really well, you know.”
“I’m confident too, okay? I mean, you just dig it up and sell it. Who couldn’t do that?”
“Anyway, with this much, it’s going to shake things up. Top-grade mana stones were so rare the seller basically named the price, right?”
“Rarity is part of it, but the monopoly is the real reason. You know there’s a family that practically monopolizes the Empire’s top-grade mana stones.”
All the kids turned to look in the same direction. He was standing right there.
Teron de Vyuern, heir to the Ducal House of Vyuern.
“Looks like the Vyuern family is about to get a new competitor.”
“Competitor, my ass. Their supply’s dropped a lot lately, hasn’t it? That’s proof their mines are drying up.”
“Oh no~ What are they going to do? They might get kicked out of the Eight Great Houses~”
The kids snickered and raised their voices on purpose.
These days, Teron’s faction had completely lost its prestige.
They’d hoped to recover some honor in this battle, but thanks to all the knights piling into one area, they only managed to catch two cowards trying to run.
“…”
A boy with sharp, predatory eyes stared quietly at the noisy brats.
It was Daike, Teron’s hunting dog.
Just as he was about to step forward, a hand stopped him.
It was Teron.
“Leave them.”
“But…”
“Right now, the work in front of us matters more than dealing with trash like that.”
Even as he spoke, Teron’s eyes were moving over the top-grade mana stone.
Purity, hardness, structure—its quality was so high that even “top-grade” felt like an understatement.
On top of that,
‘It’s hard to estimate how much is buried here. But it’s definitely at least ten years’ worth.’
Since top-grade mana stones were his family’s main source of income, Teron had a fairly deep pool of knowledge.
Thinking you can just mine top-grade mana stones and sell them as-is? Don’t make me laugh.
The mana grain, the most efficient sizes, custom cuts for commissioned work—
From surveying and measuring to cutting them into the exact sizes clients want, it’s all numbers, calculations, and craftsmen pouring in their skill.
You can’t afford to lose even the tiniest chip. That’s what dealing with top-grade mana stones really means.
And that wasn’t all.
‘You have to control supply and demand with the market in mind and wring out the highest price possible. That’s not something just anyone can do.’
It wasn’t just the Empire that needed top-grade mana stones. The Holy Kingdom and surrounding nations depended on them too.
They were a golden export that hauled in piles of foreign currency every single year.
And the family best suited to handle all of that was the very house he belonged to, the Vyuern family.
The recent drop in supply was intentional too.
‘Well, it is true that the veins are slowly running dry.’
With artifact technology advancing lately, demand for top-grade mana stones had exploded, and even his family was struggling with what to do.
And now, in the middle of all that, a new mine had appeared out of nowhere—and the land didn’t even have an owner.
‘Father won’t let this opportunity slip through his fingers.’
Before coming to Trash Village, Teron had received word that his father was heading to the Academy.
He had to be useful. He had to prove his worth. If he couldn’t—
‘Everything would be over for me.’
Teron clenched his fists tight. Daike simply watched his master in silence.
That was his role, after all.
“I need to prove my skill here and give my father even the slightest edge in negotiations. There’s plenty of time to make them pay for the insults later.”
“Understood.”
“Good. Keep putting up supports! You there! Don’t touch the mana stone for no reason! If you crack it, the purity drops! Don’t throw away the shards either! Separate them from the dirt and pile them up!”
The miners focused solely on building supports and kept their hands off the stones.
They’d never handled top-grade mana stones before.
It would be about two days before the experts dispatched by the Empire arrived.
Until then, this whole stage belonged to Teron alone.
Even Caron had granted him authority here, so no one could really argue with his ability.
Meanwhile, someone else was watching Teron work.
“Keke, you’re really working hard down here.”
That someone was me.
The air in the mine was hot and muggy. Just standing still made sweat bead up on my skin, but it was bearable.
Because I wasn’t actually doing any work.
“I was injured in yesterday’s battle. I formally request exemption from manual labor.”
That’s what I told Caron, holding up my finger as soon as we reached the bottom of the mine.
A wound from the battle… well, more like a scratch.
Caron shot me an ice-cold glare, but he still granted my exemption.
Because Luna beside me was covered in bandages from head to toe.
“Shouldn’t we be helping too? This is probably going to affect our evaluation.”
“There’ll be some extra credit, sure, but it won’t be as much as ours. Besides, Lord Teron has a much bigger reason for working that hard.”
Come to think of it, it’s almost time for “him” to show up.
The story’s gone off the rails in a lot of ways, but this particular event shouldn’t change.
‘This episode has nothing to do with Lucid’s family or the Dark Beast Squad.’
Of course, even this episode had a route that led straight to a bad ending.
But I know that route, so there’s no way I’m letting the story head that way.
Unless, maybe, there was some fearless, justice-obsessed, brawl-happy tomboy with zero sense of tact around.
“…”
Come to think of it, there was a kid just like that. And she was standing right in front of me!
“Keke, Lady Luna?”
“Hm? What? Want me to go beat them up?”
How do you even get to that answer from what I just said?
Our Luna is a true legend.
“Violence isn’t always the best solution. There are ways to solve problems without fighting—like talking or negotiating.”
“I know that much, okay? Sometimes I really feel like you see me as some kind of brawler.”
“…?”
Then why did you just ask if I wanted you to go fight them?
Whatever, I’ll let it slide for now. In the worst case, I can gag her or throw a rabbit at the problem.
“Kiiik?”
Maybe it felt my gaze. Rezé, who’d been lying down, sprang up and went on alert.
Seriously, for a rabbit, her instincts are annoyingly sharp.
I’ll have to be more careful from now on. I need her calm if I’m going to use her as a sacrifice at some crucial moment.
“Ahem, ahem! Lovers and their pet. What a picture-perfect family.”
“Oh~ Hohoho! Seeing a happy family always warms my heart, you know.”
Yuridia and Victoria appeared, dripping with sweat.
Then they casually plopped down right next to us.
“What, are you two injured as well?”
“Yes. Our hearts are wounded and in dire need of healing.”
“Your hearts are wounded?”
“Keke, don’t worry about it. It’s just an excuse so they can slack off.”
“Eek! But what else can we do? I’d rather die than follow Teron’s orders. Just look at that smug face of his.”
“That’s right. It’s absolutely not because we wanted to skip work and watch love blossom before our very eyes.”
They didn’t want to take orders from Teron, and they wanted to peep on Luna a bit too.
In short, they’d come here to kill two birds with one lazy stone.
Of course, the price for that laziness was going to be brutal.
“Hooh, is that so. Slacking off… How truly admirable. The very model of a noble.”
“I knew you’d understand, right? This is basically practice for power struggles between factions… huh?”
Yuridia and Victoria slowly turned their heads.
Rodelin was waiting for them with a smile—a smile that didn’t feel like a smile at all.
Behind her, Lowell peeked her face out.
“My little sister’s scary when she’s mad. You two are in trouble.”
“You misunderstand. I’m only handing down a fitting punishment. In this case…”
Rodelin’s smile vanished from her face as she opened her mouth.
“Working with me for the duration of this mission. That should be an appropriate punishment.”
All color drained from Yuridia and Victoria’s faces.
About two days until the experts from the Empire arrived. And until then, they’d be working alongside workaholic Rodelin?
It was basically a sentence to become work machines.
“W-we just came to take a short break. Following the guidance of capable people—that’s a noble virtue too, isn’t it?”
“Y-yes, exactly. Throwing away immediate benefit just for factional disputes would be absurd!”
“Excellent. Then, shall we get to work?”
Of course.
“With me, of course.”
Rodelin grabbed Yuridia and Victoria by the wrists. They tried to run, but it was pointless.
Beating Rodelin by force was impossible.
“Oh, I almost forgot.”
Dragging the two along, Rodelin came back over to us.
Then she reached into her pocket dimension pouch, pulled something out, and handed it to me.
It was the cloak I’d draped over her back early this morning.
“I made good use of it. Thanks to you, I didn’t catch a cold. I’ll repay you later.”
Everyone’s eyes locked onto my cloak.
Cloak, cold, thanks, repay.
Was it just me, or did every single word there scream “misunderstanding”?
“W-what is this weird, ominous atmosphere?”
“D-don’t tell me… a rival in love has appeared!?”
“Calm down! You know how it is—love is full of obstacles.”
“B-but… the opponent is far too strong. Luna is beautiful too, of course, but…”
Guys, what on earth are you talking about?
There were too many things to correct, so I didn’t even know where to start.
To begin with, Rodelin wasn’t acting like that because she liked me.
‘She’s trying to hire me.’
There were three reasons shy Rodelin was being so proactive.
First, she acknowledged my skills.
Second, she wanted to keep my secrets from leaking out.
And third,
‘Someone egged her on.’
Someone behind her had told her that if she wanted something, she had to work for it.
And the culprit behind that was…
“Pffft!”
Lowell, catching my gaze, burst out laughing.
–TL Notes–
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Good to see Teron winning back some lost ground!
I wonder whether discovering high grade mana stone is normal or is a hidden piece…
Anyway the fate of Vyuern family hung in balance right now,It would not be strange for the story to pull trick on them and remove them from pillar position by one two hit of mana stone competition and Demon contract Teron!
I hope Zero help them out a bit
And Zero when will you acknowledge Rodelin feeling!!!
Amd the cloak thing…Are they thinking about Morning after or something more innocent?