Chapter 295: Diamond Mine

The harpies weren't any problem at all for us. Especially since the girls heard about hot spring, they decided to do everything to return peace back to the village.

As for the Empress herself, she and her aide, Claudia who want to join as well, discussed something in private with the village chief just as soon as we entered the village.

Turns out, it has been about one month since the harpies entered this village and take control of the hot spring. The villagers can't defeat them, and those who left the village to make a request to the closest guild were killed by the harpies before they left too far from the village. And those who were about to enter the village were also killed. Making the village totally isolated from the whole world.

Good thing that Celestine remembered about the hot spring in the village and told me to go there before we cross the sea. If not, we don't know how long the villagers can survive with the supplies they have. Even the vegetables that they farmed were robbed by the harpies.

As a thanks for saving the village, we are all free to stay in the hotel. Well, their empress is here so it's not like they can ask us to pay when she's the one helping them.

Finally, it's time for us to take a bath in the hot spring… is what I like to say. Since the harpies destroyed the wall in the hot spring that separates men's bath and women's bath, I'm not allowed to join them.

"Why!?" I asked.

"Obviously, we… wait, it's just me who is protesting?" Lynn look around to see that no one else cares that I'll be taking a bath with them.

"It's fine. With those eyes of his, it means he can always look at our naked bodies every day. Even if we told him to stay outside, he will still look at us. Instead, if we let him join us, his lovers can talk to him so he will be too occupied to look around him." Shirley said.

"But it's different! Being naked on purpose in front of the opposite sex is not normal no matter what!?" Lynn protested.

"…I guess we are already too used to it by now. Also, it's not like we will let any other men join us. Well, it's your choice to let him join us or not." Shirley said.

"Then he can't go in until we leave!" Lynn.

That's how I ended up walking around the village. My eyes are still focused to the hot spring, but I'm wandering around the village as I wait for them.

…is what I want to do, but this hotel is too suspicious. Why is a building this big and fancy is in a not so rich village like this? Even the house of the village chief is many times smaller than the hotel. I always curious about this since I entered this village, but because I don't want to ruin the girls' mood, I didn't say anything to them.

If there's a big old building in suspicious place, that mean there's something valuable either inside that building or around that building. That's what the stories I read tells me. I guess I should go outside the village to look around. But if I'm too far, I won't be able to peek on the girls.

Hmm… I can take a peek on the girls anytime I want, so I guess I'll walk around now.

I entered the mountain area, and I finally see something extremely valuables. I can see an entrance to a cave, which if I'm right, is actually a diamond mine! I'm rich!

But is it safe? Let's keep going now.

"Roy, where are you going?"

"Whoa! You surprised me!"

I was shocked to hear that a ghost is suddenly next to me. I'm too concentrated on the cave and didn't expect anyone to call out to me.

"Victoria noticed that you are moving while carrying her clones. I also feel the soil in your possession keep getting further and further. We thought that something is happening, so I come to ask you about it." Sonia said.

"Well, I was curious about how the hot spring hotel we're in, is far too big for a not so rich village. That's why I look around the village to see if there's anything valuable around here. And I found a diamond mine! I'm rich!"

"Really!? We're rich!" Sonia shouted.

"…please don't remind me that you girls keep taking all my money. At least not today. Now I don't feel like going there anymore."

"Just go there already and confirm it! It's not like we keep spending all your money until they are gone."

"But there's a huge tortoise monster inside that cave. I guess that's why no one else enters that diamond mine. Let's go back for now and discuss it with the others first. I also want to take a bath in the hot spring."

Inside the dungeon mine, I can see a huge tortoise monsters hiding inside its shell. I know that tortoise is an animal that can live for hundreds of years. And if it's a monster that big, it should be more than a hundred years. Maybe even five hundred years! Even the diameter of its shell is around fifty meters.

But that huge size is also its weakness. In an enclosed space like the mine, that tortoise shouldn't be able to move around much. If I had the others with me, that monster should be easy to defeat. That's why I suggested we take a step back and discuss with the others first.

After my bath obviously.

After knowing about the diamond mine, I returned back to the hotel where I can see that the girls are already prepared to move.

"Where are you going?" I asked them just in case.

"Diamond mine. You can take your bath and we will go there on our own. Defeating the huge tortoise should be easy with all of us going." Kayla explained.

"I want to watch my sister fight! This is the first time for me to watch an expert level mage use her magic!" Lynn exclaimed.

"Then I guess I should refrain from going all out. Celestine, you will be the star today." Veronica said to Celestine.

…so, I guess I won't monopolize the mine on my own. I guess that's fine. This way, they will use their own money from the mine instead of getting them from me.

"By the way, after Sonia told us about the mine, I remembered about how the supply of diamond diminished from the record around a hundred years ago. The mine was owned by the Empire, so you can't monopolize the mine. Though we will reward you if you help us get rid of the tortoise." Claudia said.

"You're going as well? I thought you're just an aide that help Lynn with her duty. Not to fight." I said to Claudia.

"I'm not much of a mage. I'm still intermediate level as well. I want to see the condition of the mine. And if possible, I want to buy magic stones from you. I'm a water mage so I should be able to advance very quickly with the magic stones you got from diving. I heard a lot about you in the last hour." Claudia said.

"Just give us the money. You can contact Sonia and I will bring them to you. If you want more, you should ask Sam through Sonia. She's the one doing business. Anyway, be careful."

I bid them farewell as I entered the hotel. There's no girl with me, but taking a bath alone is fine as well. And I don't need to worry about anything. They have two expert level mages with them. Even if there's something happened, Sonia will contact me right away.

There's no one in the bath so I can be relaxed. Although the villagers wanted to take a bath in the hot spring as well since it has been a while for them to go there, we asked them to not enter for today. Not even when the village girls wanted to enter during the girls' bath time. And since I have the options, I don't want any men during my time as well.

I sunk my body in the hot spring for an hour, and then I left the hotel. I see that the villagers are still wanted to enter the hot spring so they waited for all of us to leave. They entered as soon as I leave. Though we will return later at night.

Wait, since the village has been taken over by the harpies for a while, that mean they don't have any meal for us, right? While I'm gone, I'll go hunt some monsters then. We have Lina who will cook for us.

For now, I'll go back to the mine and see the girls' progress.

Inside of the mine, I can see the tortoise is stabbed by a spike protruding from the ground. A Diamond Spike! It must be Celestine's doing. She used the diamond inside for her attack. Lynn is extremely surprised and happy to see how strong her sister is.

As for me…

"Hey, is tortoise meat delicious?"

We had a feast with delicious tortoise meat during our time in the hot spring hotel.

Two days later, it's time for me to go cross the sea.