Chapter of Bottled Love: Crystal Investigation

“The crystal? From the roper?”

“Nn. I’ve been curious about that one for a while so... “

“Well, I don’t mind letting you see it…”

The next morning, after Karen and I discussed what to do for the day, we decided on taking a look at the large crystal that the roper had been carrying around. And so, we went to Merim to ask him if we could go and see it. Incidentally, Korwen wasn’t around. He left early in the morning to finalise the deal with Will.

“But why do you want to see it? If you don’t mind me asking. Just curiosity?”

“Mainly that, I guess.”

And there was a chance we’d be working with it. Plus, the captain clearly wanted to get that thing and while I could understand why, I still wanted to see it up close. After all, people fought for it. Fortunately, nobody died but there were still injuries.

“Well, in that case, let me bring you there.”

Merim put down the documents he was working on and stood up.

“Uhh, don’t you have work?”

“I don’t.”

“... It’s not my fault if the captain gets angry.”

“Nah, he won’t. This is technically your work that I’m doing because you girls are on break.”

“... Wait, doesn’t that mean if you skip out on this I’ll have more to do?”

“Correct.”

So it was my turn to get angry? That was fine, right?

“Jokes aside, it’s not much so taking a small break won’t hurt. Since you helped the captain with this stuff, all the piled up documents have mostly been dealt with already.”

“That so?”

Well, I had been wondering once in a while how the mercenaries had so much paperwork to do… But it was mostly piled up work?

“Yes. Well, when we’re camping near a town like this, there’s still a lot of it.”

Merim sighed as he stared at the desk for a few seconds.

“Let’s go to that crystal.”

“Nn.”

After leaving his work tent, he led us through the camp, towards one of the few wagons we kept here in the camp. Two guards stood outside. Upon spotting us with Merim, the two immediately straightened their backs and stood at attention.

““Vice-Captain!””

“Good work. We’ll take a look inside. Is Ria still inside?”

“Yes, Vice-Captain. She hasn’t left since yesterday…”

“... She did eat and sleep, yes?”

“The captain’s wife brought her something to eat.”

“At least something… Seriously...”

After a quiet complaint, Merim opened the door and led us inside.

“Ohh…”

A large crystal was deposited in the middle of the room, sitting on a large table and fastened with ropes. The even surface shimmered slightly in the dim morning sun, giving off a mysterious feeling. However, the person who should be here was nowhere to be seen.

“Ria? Are you here? Ria?”

“Mmm… Vice… captain? Good morning...”

“... Morning.”

And there, behind the crystal, Ria’s face appeared…

“Seems you slept at least... “

“Of course... I do... If I’m… too sleepy… I can’t… work…”

So she said, stifling a yawn. After blinking a few more times, she disappeared for a moment again behind the crystal, only to stand up from behind it. Her clothes and hair were a mess…

“... So… Yumi and Karen… are here… as well… Good morning…”

“Good morning…”

“Good morning, Miss Ria.”

“What have you… all come… here for?”

She stretched her body a few times, likely to wake up properly, and then looked at us curiously.

“These two wanted to see the crystal. And since you’re here I figured I’d come as well and ask if there has been any news.”

“Mm… I see…”

Her attention quickly turned to us, then she beckoned us over to her.

“If you… want to look… feel free… But it’s... not much... different… from a… normal… mana crystal....”

“Then, if you don’t mind us.”

Since she gave us permission, I decided to walk up to the crystal and take a look from close up. As a result, I could really realise how large this crystal was.  During the fight and back in the cave, we had only seen the crystal from a distance. And even afterwards, I hadn’t had the chance to take a proper look at the crystal. Next to me, Karen was cautiously touching the surface of the crystal.

“It’s smooth… and cold...” said Karen.

Copying her, I touched it as well. And just as she said, it was smooth and cold. It was similar to touching a piece of metal or a smooth rock. It was… a little different from the usual mana crystals. Most of them were uneven and rough. Even the mana orbs didn’t have a texture as smooth as this.

But the amount of mana in this crystal… is mind-boggling.

Touching the crystal, I could sense the mana flowing inside. And it was… an unimaginable amount… An ocean of mana, so deep and abundant, that I couldn’t even fathom the total amount. Even if I were to get all the mana orbs that we had now together, it would be a drop in the bucket at most. That’s how it felt, at least.

“So, Ria… Anything new?”

“Mm… We can’t… use it…”

Huh?

What did she mean we couldn’t use it? It had so much mana just sitting inside…

“As we figured… What if Yumi tries it?”

“Mm… She’s on… break… so I wanted… to ask her… later… but if she’s… here…”

“Me?”

I tilted my head as the topic of the discussion shifted to me.

“Can you… try to… take some… mana… of the.. .crystal?”

“I can try, sure…”

If that’s all that was needed… But if she said we couldn’t harness it, then there had to be a catch to it, probably… Well, I’d see.

I concentrated on my hand and the ocean of mana in front of me, grasping some of the mana contained in the crystal. There seemed to be no problem at all though… Then, I moved the mana I had grasped over to my body and…

“Nn? Hey, wa—”

The mana I had grasped… was stuck. Literally. It was like pulling on something that was stuck in between two heavy objects. No matter what I did, it just didn’t cross the boundary of the crystal.

“... It didn’t… work… I assume?”

“... I can’t drag it out of the crystal.”

“Mm… As expected… These crystals… prevent… improper use…”

Improper use? So, the mana inside was contained and…

“But how did the roper use it, then?”

“Mm… The magical… control system… in the… crystal… is gone… The roper... likely… absorbed mana… through this… hole…”

“Then, can’t we do the same?”

“We can… Probably… I just… need to… find the… hole…”

Ria scratched the back of her head as she stared listlessly at the crystal.

“I see… But that means it’s possible as soon as you find it, right?”

“... Mm… In a… way… yes...”

“In a way… So there are still caveats?”

“Nothing I can… be sure of… right now… It needs… time…”

“Time… Well, thankfully, we got plenty of time. And I guess the control system can’t be repaired?”

“Impossible…Because… it doesn’t… exist…”

“Huh?”

Merim made a stupid sound, not quite understanding what Ria meant.

“This crystal… was likely… a spare… It never… had the… control system…”

“I see… A spare… Well, that’s too bad. But maybe it’s also a good thing if it isn’t around.”

It was a good thing?”

“Merim, why is it a good thing?” I asked him.

“Well, if it was working, people would have their eyes on it. The magical fortresses are said to be amazing but they still fell in the end. We wouldn’t be able to protect it, but countries and similar would still have their eyes on it. I guess the only reason we get away with this thing is because of that, anyway.”

“They could not... keep up... with the... advances… in magic… Magic tools… of today… replaced… the old… technology…”

The old technology had been replaced by the new one, huh… That was a little sad.

“Well… There are… still secrets left… Mmm… I will do… what I can… So… Merim… send me… Krutz and… Wenners… and Wendl… as well…”

“Krutz and Wenners are still busy with other work. You should know that best. As for Wendl, he’s on an assignment from Greyward, as far as I know.”

“Mmm… Useless...”

“... Excuse me?”

The look of utter disbelief on Merim’s face…

“It’s not my fault they’re all busy… Ahhh… Whatever. I’ll tell them to help you as soon as they are done with their current work. Satisfied?”

“Mhm…”

“Good…”

He shook his head, still wearing that look of disbelief.

“Guess I should go back to my own work… Haa… Yumi, Karen, you’re free to come and go here, I’ll tell the guards outside. Just don’t disturb Ria.”

“Nn, understood.”

“Understood.”

“Good. Then, see you later.”

Immediately after, he opened the door and left. As for Ria...

“Mmm…”

“Ria?”

She was still staring at the door.

“I didn’t… even mean… him… I meant… the others…”

“...”

Well… That was a little awkward…

---

We watched Ria working her magic on the crystal for a good while and asked her some questions as well. Unfortunately, the topic of this crystal went completely over my head. As well as Karen’s. She started talking about crystal composition and artificial crystal growth, theories about alternative mana containment measures and who knew what else… At least, she did answer whatever questions we had. Including one, that had been bothering me for quite a while.

“Ria, this crystal contains a lot of mana, right?”

“Mm… It does…”

“So… How does it compare? I mean, how big is big...”

“... Big?”

“Nn.”

As soon as she heard my question, Ria stopped with her work and seemed to ponder the issue.

“If I had to… compare it… I would say… it is… one of the… largest sources… of mana… I have… ever seen…”

“One of… But not the largest?”

Ria nodded, confirming the dreadful question. This mana crystal contained a lot of mana. But there were crystals out there containing even more mana… Just what in the blazes…

“I had… the chance… to examine… some… very special… mana crystals… They were… large… Larger than a person… And the mana… it contained… so much mana… that you could… probably power… the magic tools… of the entire… Aldreighan kingdom… for decades… Maybe even… longer...”

“...”

While I had absolutely no idea how common most magic tools were, they probably had to exist to quite some extent among the general populace. After all, she wouldn’t bring up the example if only a few people had access to them. Plus, since she mentioned Aldreigh in particular, which even I knew was a paragon of magic research, then they had to be quite common over there. If it could power that many for decades… it had to be an unimaginable amount.

“But… most of… these crystals… are not… usable... “

“Because they contain too much?”

Ria nodded.

“We can… only draw… from their mana… through the… use of… tools… and special… types of… magic… Any ritual… or tool… would be... overwhelmed by… the large amount… flooding in… and then… they would… break… or go… out of… control…”

“...”

If such an amount of mana went out of control… I didn’t even want to imagine it…

That’d be like a bomb going off… A very big bomb…

Even the mana crystals that I had caused to explode had already caused quite the devastation. And they were incomparable to the amount of mana in this crystal in front of me…

A shudder ran down my back as I imagined it nonetheless.

“Mm… Other than… that one… I recall… the mana crystal… of an… extremely powerful… monster… That had… been hunted… in Aldreigh…”

“A monster in Aldreigh?”

And they just let her see it?

“I was… still working… as a… professor here… in the… Academy… At the time… I was on… an exchange… in Aldreigh… That was… a good time...”

Ria closed her eyes and was likely reminiscing about whatever memories she had of the event…

“Those two… had contained… vastly more… than this one… But… this crystal… also has… the ability… to absorb… mana… And that… makes it… very valuable… if we… can harness it…”

“If we can…”

Unless Ria figured out this hole, there’d be no chance to do so… While we talked I kept trying to drag mana out of it but to no avail. No matter where I tried to absorb the mana from, it never worked. Even when I spread out the mana as much as I could, hoping to find the leak that way. It was contained perfectly… I told Ria that as well but she told me not to worry about it and that the hole definitely existed. Because otherwise, the roper wouldn’t have existed either.

“Mmm… I will… try my… best…”

“... Good luck.”

Honestly, there wasn’t much else I could do to help anymore… At least, for now.

“Ahh, right…”

“Nn?”

“Your… mana crystals… Those round ones… They… contain quite... a lot… of mana… much more… than most… non-combat… tools would... ever need… But… if we… compared them...  to monsters…”

She paused for a second, before smiling a little.

“They are… not especially… powerful…”

“...”

Not especially powerful… Really?

“That’s what… you wanted to… know... right?”

“... Nn.”

“But even… if I say… it like that… Don’t mistake… that they still… contain more… mana than… most people… would need… regardless if... it is… a tool… or magic…”

“Nn. Got it.”

In other words, it was a lot of mana but they were not on the level that they were incredibly rare among monsters...

Is that so…

It was still a little vague but at the very least, I got more of an idea about the whole matter now. And seeing how many mana orbs we had stored up now, it was still a lot.

“Hey, Yumi…”

“Nn? Sis?”

I turned around to look at Karen, who had been silent until now. She was knocking against the crystal, for some reason...

“Since we’re speaking about mana crystals… What about the roper’s mana crystal?”

Ah, that one…

“Didn’t the captain say he was thinking of selling it?”

“He did. But I thought they’d keep it here with this one as well…”

“Well… Maybe he didn’t?”

It would be reasonable to keep these crystals together but…

“Ahhh… That crystal… was here…” confirmed Ria.

“Then, where is it now?”

“The captain… had it brought… along to… his meeting… with the… king…”

“Ah…”

Was he going to sell that crystal to Will?

“That’s unfortunate. I would have liked to see that one…”

“Nn.”

At least, if he could use it in the negotiations, he might be able to barter the price down in exchange for the crystal, right? Speaking of which…

“Didn’t he say we would get a bonus if he could sell it?”

“... He did.”

A bonus, huh… We had barely touched the money we had gotten so far… That made the bonus kind of pointless, didn’t it?

No, that’s a dangerous line of thought, you are starting Yumi… But, it is true that maybe spending a little of it should be fine… And it might be our last day here...

While we didn’t know for sure when we would leave and the captain hadn’t ordered us to pack yet… Honestly, I had my doubts about leaving tomorrow. Just taking down the camp and getting everything prepared would take a long time already. But since that would occupy us, maybe we should think of today as our last free day.

“Hey, Sis.”

“Yes?”

“We still wanted to visit Lefa, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then, how about we go into the town after that and eat out?”

“... Huh?”

Karen stared at me, slightly dumbfounded at my suggestion.

“We’ve got a bit of money, after all.”

It was fine to spend just a little bit.

“Yumi.”

“Nn?”

“We still need to pay Wanda for the clothes.”

“…”

Ehhh…

“That’s… right…”

I forgot. Okay, no, I didn’t forget. I just hadn’t thought that far. Yes.

“But, well… I’m sure she won’t mind if she gets it a few days later…”

“... Sis!”

Karen averted her gaze, looking a little embarrassed with her flushed cheeks.

“Mmm… Didn’t… she set… you a… deadline… for payment?”

“Nn? No, not really… We don’t even know the exact price yet…”

“Then… you shouldn’t…. worry about… that yet…”

“Ria… Nn, you’re right.”

Once we knew the price, we could tell her how long it’d take for us to pay her back.

“Hehe. But, Yumi, do you even know where to eat out?”

“Well, I don’t…”

How could I, after all?

“Ria, you wouldn’t happen to know any good places to eat, do you?”

She had been a professor here. She had lived here. Surely she…

“No… not really…”

Of course.

“Well, we’ll have to ask someone else then… Or we’ll just look on our own.”

There was a sense of exploration when you just looked around with no prior knowledge… Alas, it probably was better to ask for recommendations, lest we stumble upon a landmine. And I didn’t have confidence in my ability to avoid that on my own.

“... Let’s do that. Maybe Fenna or someone else knows a place.”

However, at that moment, someone knocked on the door, with impeccable timing.

“Miss Ria, Miss Yumi, Miss Karen, the captain is calling for you.”

“Huh? The captain?”

He was back already?

---

A short while later, the three of us, together with quite a few others, had gathered in the large tent where we had held the meeting before.

“Fenna.”

“Oh, Yumi, Karen. You’re here, too.”

“Nn. Do you know what this is about? I thought the captain went out this morning?”

“He came back just a moment ago and immediately called for everyone… But as you can see, the person himself…”

Wasn’t here yet. How untypical of him.

“So, what happened to Ria?”

“... She’s exhausted.”

Ria had sat down and immediately slumped onto the table, taking the opportunity to take a nap…

“Did she stay up all night again?”

“Something like that, I guess?”

I had my doubts whether she was actually exhausted or just taking the opportunity to nap now so she could stay up longer later on… Whatever, that wasn’t my problem.

“Miss Fenna. Do you know any places to eat out at in town?”

“Eat out? That’s quite a sudden question, Karen.”

“Well…”

“Ahh, I see. I see.”

Fenna grinned as her eyes went back and forth between Karen and me.

“Well, there are a few places with good food… But they’re a little on the more… rustical side? If you’re fine with that.”

“Nn… It can’t hurt to know about them.”

I would prefer a place that wasn’t a loud bar, at least. After that, as long as the food was good…

“Then, I’ll note them down for you later. That fine with you?”

“Nn, thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Also, if you want to know some of the more refined places, you should ask Mrs Korwen.”

“Mrs Korwen?”

That wasn’t someone I was expecting to come up now in the discussion.

“She used to go out with the captain on their days off. She knows good places to eat or to do your shopping in pretty much any town we have been to so far.”

“Huh…”

Mrs Korwen and the captain together…

“At least, that’s what she says all the time. They didn’t get to take time off that much after they had their daughter. And even less when the captain took over from his father.”

Fenna smiled wryly as she noted down a few places on a note.

“Miss Fenna, I’ve been wondering, but why is Mr Captain’s and Mrs Korwen’s daughter not with the mercenaries?”

“... Well, that girl is…”

The moment Karen posed this question, Fenna’s expression froze.

“That girl is a very free living person. Maybe a little too free. Haaa…”

What in the world did she do to cause that reaction?

“She decided to travel alone and do work as a solo mercenary a few years ago… No idea what drove her to that wild idea suddenly… At the very least, she immediately set off a week later and… here we are...”

“I see...”

“The girl’s quite strong so there wasn’t really a need to be worried but… She is a little impulsive. She actually decided to leave the day after her decision and it took the convincing of half the group to keep her for just one more week and prepare her. I wonder what she’s doing now…”

Fenna stared into space as if she was looking at something distant… Until she suddenly let out an ‘Ah.’ and returned to us.

“You might actually meet her in the not-so-far future.”

“Huh? We might?”

“I mean, the moment she finds out about the fort, she’ll definitely rush back…”

But, how would she find out… Oh, maybe they were exchanging letters? Korwen and his daughter.

“If she does, I’ll hope you’ll get along with her. She’s a good kid. Even if she’s a little touched in the head, sometimes.”

“... Is it fine to talk about her like that?”

“I don’t know how else I am supposed to describe her… An idiot, impulsive...”

But… there were surely better ways. Mhm? Uh-oh...

“... stubborn, likes older men, irrational… Well, basically, a lot of things…”

“...”

“... Yumi? Karen?”

At our lack of response, Fenna turned around to look at us, only to be confronted with.. .the cold, hard truth.

“So that’s how you think of my little girl, Fenna. I see, I see. An idiot, huh. Impulsive, huh. Irrational. I see, I see. Maybe you need some more work, Fenna?”

“Ca— Captain… Uhm…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll give you plenty of work. You surely will be satisfied by the amount.”

“...”

At some point during our conversation, Korwen had crept up on us from behind, patiently listening to Fenna’s recounting. Still repeating how much work he’d give Fenna, he went over to his end of the table to sit down. Meanwhile, Fenna was...

“Well, how to say this… I’m sorry, Fenna.”

“... Don’t say anything, Yumi. Please.”

“...”

That was just… pure bad luck… But, well, she probably could have phrased it better…

In the meantime, Korwen had sat down on his seat, spreading out a large paper roll in front of him.

“Haaa… That little incident aside, we got a few things to discuss. Namely, this.”

Those documents? What were they?

“Captain…. Are those… blueprints?” Merim asked, peeking at the papers.

“… They are.”

Blueprints… Could they be….

“These are the blueprints of Fort Auria, our new home.”

So they really were!

“To keep it short. The king has graciously sold us one of their unused forts. From now on, the Lomerian Dragon Knights will once again have a place to call home.”

A place to call home…

“These blueprints were provided to us by the king. They also include the entire floor plan and other things.”

“Then, the reason you called for us is related to these?” someone asked.

“That’s right.”

With a big grin, Korwen spread out his arms.

“We will need to discuss a lot of things. Fort Auria is more than large enough to accommodate us all but it hasn’t seen maintenance in decades. While it is still a military structure and Earth magicians were enlisted to construct it, it is likely in a state of heavy disrepair. The last time it was actually used was over two hundred years ago, after all.”

“Two hun—”

Holy, that was quite a long while ago.

“We will need to discuss which areas to prioritise. Then we will need to discuss the room distribution, the warehouse and supply storage, workshops and all other kinds of things. And since I know you people…”

He smirked as he said the next words.

“How about we start with discussing this one.”

He revealed one particular sheet of paper, showing something that seemed to be a floor plan.

“Fort Auria has more than enough rooms to sleep in, so let’s discuss the room distribution first, shall we?”

“””...”””

A moment of silence…

“””... Wooooohhh!!!”””

Followed by deafening shouts. Some of the most energetic shouts I had ever heard from these people…

Guess, we’re not the only ones that would like a room for ourselves.