CH 123

Chapter 123 – Kosuke’s Request

・Mithril’s Pickaxe +9 (Auto Repair, Efficiency Enhancement III, Luck III)

I checked the name of the item in my hand again and wielded it briskly.

“This is going to be easy.”

“I could see this coming.”

With a single pickaxe swing, a rock larger than me instantly shatters into pieces and disappears. Then, stone, metal, and gemstones are added to my inventory. It’s incredible how much I can get because I can destroy rocks so quickly. I felt like I was playing a warrior game against rocks that didn’t move.

“A rock-filled wasteland is turning into a rockless wasteland…”

“What is that? I feel like I’m going crazy.”

“I thought it was a myth that he built a fort in a day…”

Shumel, who knew my craziness to some extent, seemed to be watching my actions with a grin, but the other two seemed to be stunned by the insane scene they had never seen before. I can honestly say that I would have done the same if I were in the opposite position.

“What are the effects of luck like?”

“Obviously, the amount of ores and gems I’m getting is going up. It’s more than double what I expected… Maybe even triple.”

And the amount of stone I’m getting is also increasing. I feel the same or better. It’s not just a matter of how many pebbles are left in the ground; it’s a matter of how efficiently they’re turned into materials. The number of things is increasing dramatically.

No, right? My selling ability is not only against the law of conservation of mass but also against the laws of physics in general. It’s a little late for that, though.

“From stone to a jewel.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“It doesn’t look like he’s making a joke.”

“If Kosuke says it, it’s not a joke. Let me see.”

“All right. Here.”

I took the gemstones I had just mined out of my inventory and piled them up in Isla’s palm.

“Wow, wow…”

Perhaps because the momentum was greater than I had anticipated, Isla hurriedly formed a plate with her hands, and I piled more gemstones on top of it. A pile of colorful gemstones has been created in the palm of Isla’s hand.

“Shumel, give me your hand.”

“An?”

In the same way, the same gemstones are poured into Shumel’s palm. The rough gemstones piled up on Shumel’s big, red palm.

“H-hey!”

Shumel, who is always calm, hurriedly threw out his big gold crusher and started to catch the flood of gems with both hands, making a plate just like Isla. And when the gemstones piled up in the palms of her hands, which were many times larger than Isla’s, it finally stopped.

“That’s all I got.”

“””……”””

The light disappeared from the eyes of the four of them, including Isla. It’s rare to see the light go out from Shumel’s eyes, who always manages to have a spare moment, aside from Isla. It’s a very rare sight.

“Sis, if we kidnap this guy and bone him, we will be safe for life, won’t we?”

“So you want to make an enemy of that dark princess? That’s too much to handle… Hmm.”

The red demon and the cyclops begin to talk a dangerous thing. What are they going to do to me? I’m a little curious.

“Stop talking about disturbing things. It’s not like you have to monopolize it if that’s your goal.”

“…..”

Shumel, perhaps noticing that Isla was directing a murky gaze at the two of them, leered at the red demon and the cyclops.

“That’s true too.”

“I’d rather have us join instead of doing that.”

The two of them must have noticed Isla’s gaze and hurriedly reversed their statements. Yeah, you really shouldn’t say things like that in front of Isla. The way she looked at them scared the hell out of me.

“We can’t do that for a while, anyway. Let’s think about it when our situation changes.”

“Well, there’s no need to rush. We have a long way to go.”

I’ve heard that the red demon and the cyclops are as long-lived as the one-eyed race. I see… by the way, what do you mean when the situation changes? What does it mean? Well, hmm… it’s just a matter of time, isn’t it? There seems to be no such item of contraception in this world. Even so, it seems that relationships between different races are difficult to form.

At first, I couldn’t leave the gemstones on their hands, so I took out a table of appropriate size and let them spread them out on it. It was a spectacular sight. There are transparent ones, red ones, blue ones, azure ones, yellow ones, purple ones… and even within each color, there are different colors and depths. There are so many different colors of gemstones glittering in the sunlight.

“It’s spectacular.”

“It’s beautiful.”

“It doesn’t seem so real after all this.”

As Isla’s eye sparkled like jewels, Shumel and the others looked somewhat enthralled. They’re a little bit bigger than the others and carry more rugged weapons, but they’re still ladies. They seem to forget their status as rough adventurers in the face of the jewels’ charm.

“You can take two or three of these per person if you like.”

“””Eeh?”””

The eyes of Shumel and the others went wide.

“They may be valuable in general, but as far as I’m concerned, they’re just for decoration. The reward for this escort may have been paid separately, but it was my reward to you, so…”

“A-are you sure?

“Yes. You can choose any of them you like. You too, Isla.”

“I’m so happy.”

I nodded, and the four ladies began to rummage through the gemstones, their eyes sparkling. It’s going to take a while, so let’s get the last bit of verification done.

・Mithril Shovel +9 (Auto Repair, Efficiency Enhancement III, Range Enhancement III)

I have a feeling that the range enhancement is going to be awful.

At any rate, I quickly thrust it into the ground. There’s no resistance, and the blade’s tip sticks out on the ground full of pebbles. This is the same as before the granting, so I’m not surprised. The problem is after this.

“Oh!”

When I made a powerful movement to raise the soil, I heard a bang and a rattle.

“This is awful.”

This is the thing, isn’t it? The range is the same as the hoe. The ground, which was 20 meters in width, 50 meters in-depth, and about one meter deep, was instantly gouged out from the point where the shovel was thrust forward. The bang of the shovel is the sound of rocks stuck in the ground losing their support, rolling or collapsing, hitting each other, and shattering. If there were people in the area, they would probably be crushed to death by the rocks.

No, even if there were no rocks, if your feet were suddenly gouged out by a meter, you’d be crushed. This is almost like a map weapon, isn’t it?

As I turned around, my eyes met with the four of them who had stopped their work of selecting the gemstones. Stop, don’t look at me with those piercing, enlightened eyes. I knew this was coming because of the hoe.

“I’m going to clean up.”

“Have a good day.”

I took out Mithril’s pickaxe instead of a shovel and descended to the sunken ground to clean the rocks. It wasn’t until about ten minutes later that the number of gemstones lying on the table increased to a large number and a cheer went up.

☆★☆

“It’s not so surprising after all this.”

“It doesn’t feel real…”

That night.

As a surprise, I laid out gemstones on a large table in the dining room of the mansion where we are staying (originally the mansion of the lord of Erichburg, it seems) to welcome Sylphy and Melty, but their reaction was subtle.

“It’s glittering…”

“It’s amazing…”

“Fuaaahh…”

On the other hand, the harpies who had returned to the mansion earlier were still fascinated by the brilliance of the gemstones. Perhaps the reason why Sylphy and Melty were less surprised was that they saw the harpies tripping ahead of them.

It seems that almost all of them have an eye for these shiny things.

“Everyone loves shiny things, huh?”

“Right… But, we’re not so much into that.”

The brown-feathered harpy Flamme and Capri don’t seem to be that interested in shiny things. No, not as much as the girls who are tripping, but they seem to like it as much as anyone else. They’ve got their own favorite gemstones.

“What’s going on here?”

“This? I’ve been using the magic sparkling stone to enchant my pickaxe, and it has an effect that makes it easier to collect these things. I went to a rocky area deep in the northwest woods and crushed up a bunch of rocks, and as you can see, it’s all over the place.”

“These are a lot of gems…”

Melty took one of the gemstones in her hand with great interest and held it up to the light emitted by the magic sparkling stone candlestick, peering into it. Most of the unpolished gemstones have a dull glow to them, but they are still gemstones. It’s beautiful in its own way.

“But this is a little too much…”

Sylphy, like Melty, also picked up a rough gemstone and smiled bitterly. Yeah, I guess so. This is indeed too much. Where should we store them?

“I got a little excited and started digging around. I asked them to pick a few of their favorites, and I’ll give some to the research and development department, some for my crafting materials, and some to fund the Liberation Army or to use as bargaining chips.”

“It’s just too much, Kosuke…”

“Don’t worry about it; I’m the one forcing it on you. This is also a kind of worthiness. Maybe.”

In fact, the only thing I can do is mine useful resources like this and hand them over, build something, construct a building, or plant a field. I’ll do what I can do. Sylphy and the others will do what only Sylphy and the others can do. That’s all I’m saying.

“However, if there’s anything I can request in exchange for this gemstone, I’ll be happy to do so.”

“What is it? Just tell me.”

“I’ll do everything I can. Although I can’t promise that I’ll do everything.”

Sylphy and Melty give me a serious look. I wonder if it will be okay? If you say so, I will not hesitate to make a request.

“I’m demanding the right to take a week or so off with Sylphy and flirt with her.”

“…Eh?”

“Is that what you want?”

Melty crossed her arms and pondered while Sylphy’s eyes widened in surprise. If it’s not rejected, is there any chance of it being realized?

No, because Sylphy and I haven’t been able to spend much time together or make out recently. Of course, she comes home at night, so we can be close, but as soon as she wakes up in the morning, she’s off to work. Maybe she hasn’t had a day off since I was kidnapped.

“If you can meet a few conditions…”

“I’ll take care of it.”

I nodded confidently as Melty stared into my eyes. I’d give it my best shot to make out with Sylphy.

“No, um, Kosuke? Melty?”

It seems that a cute creature with a red face is panicking beside me, but I’ll do it. To love this cute creature.