12 Episode 11 Iron and Gravel

At any rate, I'm going to check the location of the refinery that Sally told me about. However, the refinery is two houses down from the gate on the grassy side of town.

The location has been confirmed. It's a one-story brick building, though it's larger than the Adventurer's Guild. It is more utilitarian than the guild, and has an unpretentious design.

The signboard is made of stone and says only "Refinery" on it. The gate is open, but you can enter only after you bring iron ore.

Make sure you have your guild card and leave the gate. This is the first time I've been on this side of the city, but it's a nice sight. I've never seen anything like it in Japan.

It was said to be a grassland, but it was more like green hills in places, and there were paths leading from the top of the hills to the top.

It was a spectacular sight to see the carpet of green that went on and on.

It would be easy to cultivate it into good farmland, but why not? I wonder if it has something to do with demons or something.

Also, in Japan, if you want to build a road through a hill, you have to go through a low place.

I don't see any demons at first glance, and I can't see any signs (from the tentacles. I don't feel any presence (due to the tentacles, which I try not to use because it's distracting and an invasion of privacy), but when the time comes to fight, it's probably better to attack from a high place.

The fact that you're high up means that the demon can see you more easily, but it also means that you don't have to worry as much about being caught off guard.

In the meantime, there's no point in looking at the scenery or thinking about it, so you equip your shield and start moving. I took out my sword, pulled it out of its scabbard, and threw it in with the scabbard. If you get into a fight, you can take the sword out of the item box. Emptiness Battoujutsu! Something like that. I don't think it's a sword-blade technique when the scabbard is not used.

I've found that I don't get tired when I run at the same pace as on my way back from gathering herbs, so I run at that pace. I think my speed is about 20 km/h. I can beat a marathoner.

While running, I think. If the fireball I'm using now is about 40 km/h, is it only twice as fast as running? That's pretty slow.

You might want to consider using a staff. I can handle a sword with my right hand, and my left arm only has a shield on it, so I can at least hold a staff.

If it's too long, it'll get in the way, but if it's just to assist my magic speed, it won't need to be as long as a standard staff. I'd like something about 30cm long, but it might have to be custom-made. I might ask for a recommendation when I go to pick up the leather armor tomorrow.

And then I thought of a magical idea that would give me speed without using a wand.

It seems to require no particular preparation, so I'll pick up a pebble about 3cm from the ground and try the experiment.

The thing I came up with is a gun. No, it's more like a slingshot than a gun. I don't intend to use air pressure, and I don't intend to make it explode.

I'm just thinking that if I use magic to apply pressure to a pebble, the pebble will fly away at high speed. At any rate, I'll give it a try.

If my hand gets caught in the pebble, it will definitely hurt, so I throw the pebble up lightly and try to activate the spell with the image of concentrating the pressure on it.

You hear a buzzing sound, but the stone doesn't fly, or rather it is already on the ground at the point where the spell is activated.

This time, you visualize the spell being cast, and then throw the stone at the target to cast the spell.

A buzzing sound is heard and the stone flies away. The speed seems to be over 40km/h, but not 80km/h. It's too slow for the effort. The stones are small.

Well, there's a chance that they'll be useful, so I throw about 20 pebbles into the item box and start again.

Checking my status as I move, I see that my status says "Pressure Magic 1". Where's the wind spell?

You don't intend to use it regularly, so you hide it for now. When I checked the status on the road, I didn't find anyone who had it, so there's no need to make it stand out.

There is no need to stand out unnecessarily. You may feel that you stand out enough with medicinal herbs, but there is a difference between standing out out out of necessity and standing out unnecessarily.

As I was thinking about this, I could see what looked like a tunnel. I think I've traveled about five kilometers, so that must be it.

Unlike what I had imagined when I heard the word "mine", there was a hole in a raised area of the grassland, and a lot of stones were piled up around it. A man is coming out of the cave and adding more stones to the pile. It might be iron ore.

Anyway, I approach him and talk to him.

Excuse me. I'm from the Adventurer's Guild, and I've been hired to carry iron ore.

I wondered how "Excuse me" was translated, but that didn't matter now.

The man I spoke to was a man who looked like Mr. Dveragh, but he was somehow different from Mr. Dveragh and seemed younger.

His clothes are made of jeans-like material and look like something a coal miner in Australia would wear. I am completely prejudiced.

It may be different from a dwarf's point of view, just as Japanese people can't tell the difference between Caucasians.

"Oh. Then show me your guild card.

So I show him my guild card.

"Okay, no problem, but you look pretty weak, is that all right with you?

"Yes, I have an item box, so I'll carry as much as I can in my item box.

The miner looked surprised. It might have been my imagination, but...

I don't know why you're carrying ore when you have an item box, but there's no problem with that. The iron ore is there, so take as much as you can carry.

He points to a pile of reddish stones that have just been added. It's shaped like Mt. Fuji, about five meters high, made of iron ore, and the slope is rather gentle.

When I touched the mountain, I plunged the iron ore into it.

I must have plunged about 200 kilograms into the mountain. A miner called out to me.

He said, "Is it really possible to carry that much stuff in an item box? I've heard that they can carry 200kg at most.

Is that so? Well, I'll chalk it up to the otherworldly.

Yes, for some reason my item box seems to be too big. I've never seen the limit before, so I wanted to try it out.

"I see. Then take as much as you want. All the guys who were hauling iron ore recently quit. We dug it up, but we can't carry it. The stockpile at the smelter is about to run out, and I was thinking of hiring people or buying slaves for a high price, but slaves are expensive and I can't hire people right away. I've sent a request to the guild, but if they're willing to carry this much, I'm grateful. Will you continue to transport them from time to time?

Yes, I don't know how long I'll be in this town, but this request is worth it to me, so I'll continue. ...... and it looks like the capacity has been filled.

I just put in about two tons of iron ore, and the bottom right corner of the iron ore says 2011. There was no response when I tried to put any more into that frame.

"Oh, it's filled. What are you doing? You're still in there.

"What? Yes, one slot has been filled, but there are still slots available.

I thought about putting it in another slot, but it went in as usual. We continue to cut down the mountain.

Are you really human? Are you sure you're not an incarnation of the item box or something?

"I think I am human, but ......

You continue to break down the rocky mountain at a steady pace. Four of the item boxes are filled, and when there is less than one left in the fifth box, the miner calls out to me.

He said, "That's enough. I don't know how much you can carry, but there's no place to put it in the smelter. If we carry them, we probably won't need to ask the guild for a while. We can get people before we run out. If you go into the refinery and talk to the right people, they'll tell you where to put it. We're slowing down because we can't get the raw materials.

I've lost a good paying job. Well, it looks like I can make enough money.

You run back to the city in high spirits. Despite the fact that I have over 10 tons of stuff in my item box, my speed has not slowed down at all, and I reach the city in about 15 minutes.

Show your guild card to enter the city, and turn right to enter the refinery.

There's some kind of unfamiliar tool like a cauldron, and there are people working around it, though most of them are dwarves. I wonder if it's something similar to tatara ironworks.　But it seems small for that. The people working look rather bored.

The door of the smelter was open, so I went in and talked to the people I saw. The one closest to me was a dwarf, but it was easier to talk to a human than a dwarf.

I'm an adventurer who brought iron ore, where should I put it?

"Hmm? You're an adventurer? You say you brought the ore, but you don't have it. Do you have it somewhere?

A thin-skinned man with a sense of science! He's wearing work clothes. He is wearing work clothes, but if he wore glasses and a plaid dress, he would look exactly like that.

I wonder if the item box is rarely used to carry iron ore.

You can use the item box, so I'm carrying it. Here.

He takes out an iron ore from the item box and shows it to you. I immediately put it away because it hurt to have the rock dig into my hand.

Hmm, I didn't give out much in the way of rewards, but there's no problem if you want to use it, just follow me.

He said and led me to the ore yard. The ore pit is a slightly elevated hole with a gentle slope, near an unfamiliar tool. It may be to carry the ore easily from the ore yard to the smelting equipment.

The scientist said, "Keep it here," and returned to the place where he had been.

The iron ore is released into the hole. I realized that I had forgotten an important thing when I had ejected all the ore in the hole. I wonder how to count this ore.

You check your guild card in a panic.

In the "Completed Requests" section, it says "Hauled iron ore 2011kg unaccounted for". I wonder what kind of system this is. .......

At any rate, it seems to have been counted, so I'm relieved and release the remaining four slots. It seems that the capacity of the ore yard is just barely enough. I wonder if you can tell that much when you're an artisan.

The guild card says "Iron ore transported, 9972 kg, unaccounted for. That's about 20,000 Tel. If I wanted to buy wyvern armor, I'd have to carry 500 times this amount, but it's more than enough to live on.

What's going on here? What the hell are you doing at ......? Where did you get this much ore from?

The dwarves came to check on me, but they asked me strange questions. I'm not sure if there are any other tunnels besides that one.

There's a mine about five kilometers from town.

I'm not asking where!

That's unreasonable. You asked me where it was. Where'd you get it from?

I got it in an item box.

Is the item box really that big ......? No, that's none of my business right now.

He was mumbling something and then suddenly started shouting.

"Hey, guys! Iron ore's here! Get ready for full operation! Don't be slow!

Sir! But I said the iron ore has to be brought in... ouch!

The young-looking dwarf replies, but the master smacks him on the head to shut him up.

Shut up! You can't blame them, they've got what it takes. There's about ten tons of it, so get it moving!

At the sound of his voice, the people who had been sitting around rushing into action.

Adventurers, you'll be rewarded, so you can go home now. I don't know what's going on, but you've done well.

And they send you away. I wonder if dwarves are impatient creatures. Or do they have a habit of wanting to get rid of people?

Well, there's no reason for me to stay here, so I'll just take your word for it and go back to the guild. Now I'm moving up in rank.