Chapter CXLIX

She can only stare in shock, unsure what to do with everything running through her mind.

All around her, she can see the wooden beams supporting the ceiling of what is now very obviously a mine. On the ground beside her are the two bodies of the creatures that attacked them.

Calmly looking at her, though somewhat curious, is this badly dressed mage.

The reason she doesn't dare finish her sentence.

A mage she had just seen do something that should be practically impossible.

Cast magic without using the name of the spell.

At the entrance to this mine, he had cast the spell that created the ball of light without her hearing anything. But that had happened in the dark, so he could simply have whispered the name so quietly that she hadn't heard him.

Something she doesn't entirely believe when she goes over what happened again in her mind.

But then he had cast the spell on Axe's torch to light it. At that moment she had been looking directly at him, and when he touched the torch, his lips hadn't even twitched.

For a few moments she hadn't noticed it. But suddenly the conclusion that he might be able to cast spells silently was simply overwhelming.

Which increasingly confirmed her suspicion that this young man could be the one who had defeated the Bane of Mages.

“What was it supposed to be?” Axe asks her, clearly confused by the whole situation.

But what can she say!?

She looks back at the mage.

With what she has just discovered, the idea of Nero being a monster with connections to a group of assassins makes perfect sense. And revealing too much could be the end of her and Axe.

“So you recognized them?” the mage asks her.

A lump forms in her throat.

How can she answer this?

So she nods, trying to buy some time, with the certainty that saying no would be the wrong answer.

This was exactly what she had been hired for. But identifying these creatures would immediately reveal what she had realized.

There is no way to hide it.

The mage continues looking at her, waiting for something more.

And Axe's voice sounds.

“So what are they?”

An uncomfortable question, but also an unavoidable one.

So she sighs and, seeing no other solution, answers.

“Crystal Beetles.”

Her eyes immediately move to the remains of the beetle closest to her.

Trying to see if she had made a mistake.

Unfortunately, the creature can only be a Crystal Beetle, and the now obvious mine where they find themselves is the final nail in the coffin of that conclusion.

“Crystal Beetle? Where do people even come up with these names?” Axe says in a tone similar to a joke. Seemingly trying to relieve some of the tension her reaction had created.

The only problem is that he had just hit upon the very question that had also come up when she and some friends had studied the bestiary that identified this creature.

The origin of the beetle's name.

Back then, she and her friends had amused themselves by commenting that they would never find such a creature...

So much so that when Nero had described them, she hadn't even dreamed of what he was talking about.

“Yeah, it's a bit of a stupid name. They're all a bit stupid. But it's better than ‘Annoying Beetles That Appear Out of Nowhere,’” Nero comments in response to Axe.

Which leaves her... Well, it leaves her not knowing what to think.

Everything he has just said is absurd and ridiculous.

And the casual way he speaks.

It's all...

She tries to shake her head to get her brain working again. While Axe speaks once more.

“Yeah, I understand. Sometimes monsters and creatures have completely ridiculous names that nobody remembers...” Axe complains casually, seeming satisfied that he managed to calm the situation.

Only to then ask, “But why do they call them that? Do they actually have some kind of crystal inside them?”

She is still somewhat out of it, causing her to answer without thinking.

“It's because they're normally found alongside crystals...”

Realizing that she has just said too much. She still manages to stop herself before finishing the sentence.

With that, she turns toward the mage, fearing his reaction and even preparing to use her magic to defend herself.

But Nero's face is thoughtful and still calm.

“Yes, that makes sense. They're always found next to magic crystals, aren't they?”

And once again, Carrion's world collapses.

He is the one who reveals that these beetles are found alongside magic crystals.

Which means they tend to appear inside magic crystal mines.

She turns toward Axe, who seems to take a moment to realize what was said.

But finally, for a brief instant, she can see even the unflappable Axe lose his composure and stand there with his mouth open as he realizes what the mage's casual comment means.

“Well, well!!” Nero suddenly begins, making both of them refocus on this unpredictable and clearly dangerous person.

“So that must mean the mine still has crystals!”

The satisfaction in his conclusion is obvious.

She would even say that it looks as though a weight has been lifted from him.

For a moment, silence falls over them as each of them thinks, with only the soft crackling of Axe's torch, still burning with its blue flames, audible.

Well, Carrion isn't thinking about anything.

She is simply relieved because it seems that her discovery isn't going to get them killed.

At least for now.

“So, are they worth anything?” the mage suddenly asks her.

For a few moments, her mind remains blank, unable to understand what he is asking.

Until he indicates the remains of the beetles on the ground with his eyes.

And she remembers why she was hired in the first place.

She also remembers Axe warning her that this job had to be perfect or else...

She looks at the insects and tries to think about what they mean.

And unfortunately for her, she has to be honest.

“I don't really know...”

After all, it's not every day that someone manages to find Crystal Beetles.

The mage remains with his eyes locked on her.

Just staring.

But another shiver runs down her spine.

“I mean, these aren't very common creatures. I remember that they're valuable and that many of their parts are useful...” she tries her best to squeeze out everything she can remember from the bestiary where the description of these beetles was found.

Unfortunately, her conclusion is that most of the creature's parts had been valuable in the past, but in recent years that usefulness had decreased because of the lack of other ingredients.

“The eyes are valuable, although finding alchemists who use them is difficult...”

Their main use is for people who work in the dark, generally criminals.

And the alchemists who work for them don't exactly advertise it.

“But recently the demand for unusual ingredients has increased a lot, so I think they should be worth quite a bit...”

Which means that she may have found the very prize that made her accept this job. Though not in the form she had expected.

The mage seems satisfied with what he has heard.

Unfortunately, she has to pour a little cold water on that excitement.

“Selling them will be difficult and time-consuming. They'd probably have to be auctioned to get the best price...”

Fortunately, he doesn't seem too bothered by that.

He nods, though with a stern expression.

He must be counting more on the money from the crystals, she assumes.

Which leads her to say,

“And...”

He and Axe both look at her, waiting for the rest.

She has no idea how they will take it.

“You'll have to think about whether revealing Crystal Beetles to the public would be a good idea.”

Since that would essentially amount to revealing the discovery of a mine of magic crystals to the world.

He nods, concluding with a

“We'll see later.”

Then he turns toward the direction the beetles had come from.

“Let's continue exploring!”