CH 157

Chapter 157 : Magic Stone Mine

We proceeded to the magic stone mine with Weikel as the guide.

This tunnel seems to be a little narrower than before but it’s still large enough to fight monsters. I hope it won’t get any narrower though.

Hm…? Ugh… What is this…? Something feels wrong…

When I frowned and tilted my head, Celine noticed and talked to me.

「Mark, what’s wrong?」(Celine)

「I feel like there’s something wrong with my detection magic all of a sudden…」(Mark)

I’ve been activating my detection magic since we entered the mine, but this is the first time I’ve felt like my sensing became vague and unclear.

At first, I thought it was because of the height difference between the entrance and the inside of the mine but I’m pretty sure it’s not the case because I started to feel uncomfortable as soon as we turned right at the branch and entered the magic stone mine.

「Fufu.」(Celine)

Seeing my pondering face, Celine smiled at me and stroked my head.

「You know that this tunnel is the magic stone mine, right? There are a lot of magic stones hiding in the ground around here. If you use detection magic and spread your mana to sense your surroundings, the surrounding magic stones will interfere with your mana and make you feel uncomfortable.」(Celine)

「Ah, I see…」(Mark)

If I can’t sense the surroundings, I have no choice but to depend only on my sight. However, even though we have light balls that are illuminating our way, we can’t see the path ahead very well because this mine is very dark.

「I feel kinda worried if I can’t sense my surroundings.」(Mark)

「I understand your feelings, but you can’t always depend on magic. Magic is convenient but sometimes you can’t use it as freely as you want depending on the environment and your physical condition. It’s very important to learn the situation quickly and devise countermeasures accordingly.」(Celine)

「Hmm… So, for example, I can’t always just shoot Stone Bullets from a distance in a fight, huh?」(Mark)

「Yup~」(Celine)

Celine smiled and turned her gaze forward. Looks like Professor Celine’s class is over.

A countermeasure according to the situation is important, huh?

In terms of fighting, all I can do is shooting Stone Bullets at enemies from a distance, but… what if I’m forced to fight enemies in close range…?

Hmm… Looks like I need to find various ways to fight other than shooting Stone Bullets.

While I was thinking about it, we continued walking through the magic stone mine. Luckily, we haven’t encountered any Stone Lizards along the way, but as we kept going deeper, we began to find Stone Lizard bodies scattered all over the tunnel.

「Weikel-san, did you and your party members kill them?」(Mark)

I was thinking to call Weikel “Weikel onii-chan” like when I call Luck, but then I thought that it felt weird to call him so, that’s why I decided to call him with “-san”.

「Yeah. We encountered many Stone Lizards before we could reach the Mother’s nest. Although we couldn’t defeat the Mothers, we could easily defeat normal Stone Lizards.」(Weikel)

「I see.」(Mark)

「Hey, Weikel, don’t you think it’s a waste to leave these bodies here? Their skin can be sold at a high price, you know?」(Celine)

Celine looked at the Stone Lizard bodies and shook her head while saying that.

All the bodies here look new, so it looks like the bodies of the Stone Lizards that were killed by the miners before Weikel and his party came had been taken away by the miners.

「I know but skinning them here is too risky. Besides, we didn’t want to be troubled with heavy bags while fighting the Mothers. Also, when we went out of the mine, we were so desperate, so we didn’t even think about collecting their skins.」(Weikel)

Stone Lizards have about 150 – 200 cm body length, moreover, their bodies are thick. Certainly, skinning them in the middle of the mission seems impossible.

「Mark, you heard him. You know what to do, right?」(Celine)

Celine smiled at me as she said that.

She really can’t miss the opportunity to gain more money…

I nodded to Celine and looked at Weikel.

「So, Weikel-san, you don’t need these bodies, right?」(Mark)

「Nope. We can just leave them here. I’m sure the miners will move them away later.」(Weikel)

「No, no. I will take them all.」(Mark)

「Huh? But how do youー」(Weikel)

Before Weikel finished talking, I stretched my arms toward the bodies, and then my Item Box automatically sucked them in.

Seeing the bodies of the Stone Lizards that disappeared in an instant, Weikel looked so confused and surprised at the same time.

「Eh? Eeehh!? You’re an Item Box user!?」(Weikel)

As soon as I replied to Weikel with a nod, he put his hands on my shoulders and smiled, showing his sparkling teeth.

「Mark, was it? Do you wanna join my party? You can call me “Weeii” like the other members!」(Weikel)

「No thanks…」(Mark)

I can’t imagine myself shouting, “Weeii Weeii~!” while drinking alcohol with them in the future…

「Aww, come on! I’m sure it will be fun!」(Weikel)

「There’s no way I would join you people.」(Mark)

「E, Eehhh… That’s too harsh…」(Weikel)

「Pffftt! Weikel, just give it up. This child is quite stubborn.」(Celine)

「Uhh… Alright…」(Weikel)

Weikel dropped his shoulders and continued walking. He looked so disappointed.

I kinda feel bad for him but there’s no way, not in a million years, that I would join his party!

『Last time, Luck asked you to create a party with him and Jack, and now this guy invites you to his party. Onii-chan, looks like you’re popular among guys too. Congrats!』(Nicola)

『Don’t ‘congrats’ me! That doesn’t make me happy at all!』(Mark)

I looked away from Nicola who was grinning at me.