Chapter CL

The path the beetles had come from turns out to be quite short. During that time, her mind is all over the place. She feels fear, worry, and anxiety, but also curiosity and a certain amount of excitement. After all, there is a possibility that this job could be the most profitable of her life. A magic crystal mine; even a few crystals could mean an immense fortune.

She could use that fortune to fund the advancement of her magic for several years.

In just a few moments, they reach a blockage in the tunnel. It looks as though the mine's supports failed here, causing a collapse.

Making her wonder exactly how old the mine is, since it certainly doesn't look like anything recent. For a moment, she even considers that the mine might date back to the time of the Settlement and possibly have been lost ever since.

“What do we do now?” Axe asks, using the torch to illuminate the pile of rocks blocking their way.

The two turn around to look toward Nero, waiting for his answer. He is scratching his head while staring ahead with an unhappy expression.

“Well, this was going far too smoothly. Wasn't it?” His comment confirming his dissatisfaction with the blockage.

He briefly covers his face before continuing, “Well, it doesn't matter for now. This is just a small exploration...” Removing his hand from his face so he can look at the rocks ahead again, he adds, “And it doesn't look like we can clear that quickly.”

With that, he turns around and declares, “Then let's check the other tunnel.”

An idea she has no problem with.

But Axe hesitates for a moment, still looking at the blockage, before asking, “What about the beetles?”

He probably can't understand where the creatures came from if the path is blocked.

Of course, they could have come from the other tunnel and simply spent some time here before returning there. Perhaps they had been exploring the place themselves.

“They're supposedly good diggers... At least, that's the excuse for why they appear out of nowhere to catch us by surprise... Which, fortunately, tends to be their greatest threat,” the mage explains.

She recalls as much as she can about the beetles from the bestiary.

Leading her to think he is probably right. The beetles are diggers, so they could have come from the other side of the mound of dirt and rocks blocking their path.

But remembering the creatures' jaws from earlier, she feels that perhaps their greatest threat isn't simply their ability to suddenly emerge from the ground. While she wonders why they hired her if he knows so much about these creatures, they go to check the other tunnel.

This tunnel extends much farther, and Axe's torch suddenly stops burning blue and returns to the normal light of an ordinary torch, demonstrating that Nero's spell has indeed ended. Fortunately, the torch itself has caught fire properly and continues to burn.

Unfortunately, the other tunnel proves to be another disappointment, ending in a large cavern with an opening at the top through which some daylight enters.

On the cavern's ceiling, she also finds the bats he mentioned.

“They're ordinary bats. They're not worth much beyond the meat on them. Not worth the effort,” she announces, already anticipating the question that would follow.

“Right, so the money must be in the crystals,” the mage calmly accepts.

“Then let's go!! The other two will be useful for clearing the tunnel.”

With this declaration, they finish exploring the mine and head back.

As they pass the door the mage mentioned earlier, she can't help herself, and has to ask, “What about this path?”

Nero seems distracted at the time and hasn't even noticed the half-destroyed door. As such, he stares at her for a while, as if trying to understand what she is looking at.

“That leads to the lower levels of the mine,” he answers, still seeming distracted.

“Then there should be crystals down there,” Axe suggests, presumably imagining the fortune waiting below.

“Oh, yes. The heart of the vein should be down there...” Nero confirms, making them look toward the passage again.

Even she starts imagining what might be waiting down there.

“But I don't know if the place has been cleared yet!”

Nero's voice is calm, but once again, what he says is somewhat absurd.

“And I have absolutely no desire to go and find out whether whatever stopped the mine's operations is still down there.”

A statement that leaves her somewhat worried.

Nothing they have found so far seems to have worried him much. So whatever is down there, the fact that it makes him hesitate must mean something...

“Is it very dangerous?” Axe asks, moving slightly away from the door, which currently wouldn't offer much protection against anything.

The mage seems to consider the question before answering nonchalantly, “Dangerous!!! A little, but mostly annoying.”

Once again, a brilliant explanation that explains practically nothing.

“Let's see what we find along the other path before thinking about that,” Nero concludes.

Carrion and Axe look at each other, deciding there is no point in asking anything else, and resume walking toward the exit.

Taking care to keep their distance from the door, of course.

From there, they quickly reach the mine entrance and leave.

The two young men aren't waiting at the entrance, so they have to look around for a little while before finding them at the camp they have been setting up.

Naturally, the two immediately ask how the exploration went and what they found.

Only to receive Nero's answer.

“Well, we haven't found anything particularly interesting yet. But the beetles indicate that there should still be crystals in the mine.”

The two young men nod happily, responding with comments such as, “That's good!” and “We'll have them soon enough,” confirming they knew what their master was looking for.

Not surprising, but still a confirmation.

Suddenly, Seres asks, “But what beetles are you talking about?”

This leads her to explain the giant insects they encountered and what their presence means.

As the conversation continues, she and Axe reveal what happened inside the mine to the two young men.

They don't seem particularly impressed, instead accepting the information as though everything were perfectly normal.

Considering what she suspects about Nero and the fact that these two are his companions, that isn't exactly surprising.

Adar finally asks, “So what do we do now?” which is naturally the question on everyone's mind.

“Now we eat and rest,” Nero answers cheekily.

Then he continues, much more seriously, “Tomorrow, we're going to start clearing the mine entrance until the mule can get inside. After that, we'll tackle the blockage deeper in the mine.”

A perfectly reasonable plan, since the mule could be useful if they had to carry rocks over any distance inside the mine. Besides, it would certainly come in handy for transporting the crystals out of there.

“So let's take care of ourselves for now... Unless anyone has anything else to say,” he finishes, looking at all of them.

The young men don't even seem to have anything to consider and get up to start preparing the meal. Meanwhile, she and Axe can only shake their heads to indicate they have nothing to say.

Only after Nero moves away does Axe dare to speak.

“This is even bigger than I thought!” he declares in a low, tense, though steady voice.

All she can manage in response is, “Yeah.”

A magic crystal mine is something that could change the political balance of power across the continent. They could become rich, but they could also get themselves into serious trouble.

Which certainly explains why everything has been so strange. The need for secrecy on this is vital.

“What I told you earlier about this job having to go perfectly is even more serious now,” Axe tells her, as if trying to make her understand something she would have to be an idiot not to have realized by now.

But his expression raises another question in her mind.

“But what exactly is the job?”

Axe gives her a confused look, so she tries to clarify.

“So far, I haven't gotten the impression that Nero really needs us. So what are we doing here?”

Axe grows thoughtful.

“Yeah, he's never been particularly interested in our combat abilities. He's always had other criteria.”

He says this, presumably recalling what they had been asked about when they were hired.

In her case, it had been knowledge of monsters, which makes sense, since the only thing the mage has shown any interest in asking her about is the value of the creatures they've found in the mine.

In Axe's case, his contacts had been important.

More specifically, his contacts in the region's less legitimate circles.

They look at each other, apparently reaching the same conclusion.

They, two experienced adventurers, are basically fencers for Nero.