Chapter 70

What Happened with the Mines

Now, while it was was fun and all and we hit off as friends, we still stood in very different positions.

I was an Adventurer. He was a Hero.

I dared not get too casual with this venerable Hero. People would think it strange. But we were both from Japan. He was the only person that I had met in this world that was from there. Of course, there would be a lot that we wanted to talk about. It would be convenient to exchange contact information here, but such things did not exist in this world.

And so it became custom for the past three days for us to eat breakfast together in the Silver Sky restaurant.

“Morning, Sir Hero.”

“Ah, I told you to stop it with that. It’s very awkward.”

As an adult, I didn’t mind keeping things formal, but he preferred much more light-hearted conversation. Well, perhaps there was no point in caring about that while we ate at the restaurant or took baths. There was no such thing as status when you were off the job.

“So, you came all the way here to investigate the mines that we went down?”

“That’s just it. They were all kinds of rumors floating around in the royal capital. And so the king ordered me to take a look.”

“Hmm… There is a king, huh…”

“An old man with a beard. Looks like Santa Claus.”

“I’d love to see him.”

Breakfast was the usual set of bacon, eggs, and toast. Also fruits. We talked together as we washed the food down with milk. Of course, Matsumoto’s harem was in tow, which made quite the crowd. Daniela seemed to be entertained enough talking among them. That in itself was was very shocking, given that she was communicatively impaired.

“Aye, Asagi is rather quick during the night.”

“Ohh. And how do you feel about that?”

“It was not very satisfying at first, but he seems to have gained some stamina recently. And with successive matches, I have no complaints. Besides, in spite of appearances, his ability to continue fighting is something to behold.”

“That is crazy. Yasushi lasts pretty long, but is never up for successive sessions…”

Us guys stood up together to get a second serving of breakfast.

□ □ □ □

And such was the reason that we were now in front of the abandoned mines. There was nothing I wanted to see here, so it was the most boring excursion. But I had little choice, as the guild had elected me as a guide. Well, I did agree to it, as I would be getting paid. In truth, I wanted to talk with Daniela so we could choose our next destination… Ah, this was a job after all. As a responsible adult, I had to work to make a living. I was just a cog in the machine called society.

“Ah, it’s so dark in here. ‘Light.’”

Matsumoto conjured a blinding light from the tip of his finger. Uh, what the hell is that?

“Light magic. It’s my specialty.”

Woah, this Hero. I was starting to feel very inadequate. My magic was only good for serving people cold drinks.

“No, no, Mr. Kamiyashiro. I just happened to be able to use it. There is no need to feel so depressed!”

“That is right. Asagi, you are much more impressive than him. So have some confidence in yourself.”

“Daniela…!”

Ahh, my beloved girlfriend. She was the only one who was always on my side. She was much more important than that blinding drugstore over there.

Thanks to Drugstore’s light magic, our vision this time was much improved, making it easier to navigate. And as we went down the hole that Daniela had made with magic, we were able to descend quite deep. And from there we descended even further. It was a member of Matsumoto’s harem who opened the new hole. She was apparently a dwarf. Not that I even asked. But Matsumoto thought it was important to boast about it anyway.

“Yasushi saved us when the mines we were living in collapsed during a monster attack! I remember it even now… That heroic back in front of me as he intercepted the falling club of the cyclops with his sword… Ohhh, that is when I fell desperately in love with him!”

Could someone bring over some salt and shove it down my throat? I felt like I wanted to drown in it. Whenever a member of his harem would do something, the Matsumoto Narcissism Theater would raise its curtains. I was sure that this journey was more tiring than the original one. It was almost impressive…

“Ahahaha…ah, sorry…”

I jabbed him in the side as a little revenge for his ceaseless smiling, and we continued our trek to the bottom.

We killed any remaining kobolds and hole moles we encountered on the way, which was nice, as it meant extra money. Well, we had already decided to split it with the Hero, so we would only get half of it.

And as expected, nothing unusual happened. There were no new abnormally mutated monsters or changes with the dragon vein. It was just a very deep hole.

“…So, yeah. That’s about it. And this is where we killed that assault kobold monster.”

“I see…”

Matsumoto folded his arm and scanned the dome. Then his eyes stopped at a certain point.

“Kamiyashiro. Where does that lead to?”

Yes, it was the hole that the Assault Kobold had appeared from. Where the especially large dimension stones lay.

“That hole is just a dead end.”

“And is there anything at this dead end?”

He really was a Hero. Did great abilities come with intuition?

“There is a certain something. I’ll take you to it if you can keep it to yourself.”

“Lead on then.”

His eyes were very serious as he looked at me. It was the kind of eyes that suggested that he had been through much worse scenes of battle than I had ever been in. I thought I could trust him. I looked at Daniela, and she nodded. And so we decided to show it to him. Well, it was just a straight path. And a four to five-minute walk.

Just as before, bluish purple specks floated up from the floor and vanished into the ceiling. And in the wall ahead was buried the dimension stones. Hmm, they looked just as undisturbed as we had left them. Matsumoto looked at them with a stunned expression.

“This is…is amazing.”

“Right?”

I hadn’t exactly done anything, but I looked smug regardless. Yeah, it felt good.

“I discussed it with Daniela, and as it could be dangerous, we decided to leave it alone and keep it a secret.”

“Indeed, underestimating the power of a dimension stone could have painful consequences… You were right with that decision.”

Even he felt that they were dangerous. I didn’t dare tell him that I had actually first considered using them to teleport out of here. Not even a word could be whispered about it. I had to consider my position as the senior one here.

“Do you have the power to use this somehow, Matsumoto?”

“I don’t know…I can sense that the dragon veins here are thick with dimension magic, but as it is so solid…I honestly don’t think I can.”

“Would there be someone in the royal capital who could?”

“There are intermediaries. However, they are not allowed to leave the castle. As they are court magicians.”

Court magicians. They were usually the strongest ones in novels. I guess they wouldn’t be allowed to leave so easily. They were too valuable for defenses.

“I suppose it would be best to leave them here.”

“As much as it pains me, yes. But I bet you could make an incredible cheat weapon if you could make a sword out of it.”

Shredding space, attacks that go beyond space, the possibilities seemed endless… But, it wasn’t something I wanted enough to risk my own safety. I had this assault kobold sword, and the ancient elf sword as well. I had no complaints.

And so the result of the investigation was that there was no problem. The dimension stone was curious, but it would not be included in his report. There was apparently nothing more dangerous than the power that affected space. But a few suggested that just leaving it there was not safe either, and so the harem dwarf generated a door made of steel right inside of the tunnel and sealed it. Was it magic? It was crazy.

After that, we returned to Spiris. The Hero would stay for the remainder of the week before returning to the capital.

“Well, we will be returning soon. It was great meeting you. I never thought I would have felt such relief by just knowing there was another person here from Japan.”

“Me too. After all, I just appeared here randomly after being stabbed and fainting… It was quite lonely, to be honest. Though, now I have Daniela here and couldn’t be better.”

“What? You were stabbed?”

“Uh, didn’t I tell you?”

“I never heard that!”

And so I told him my story, and another two days passed. And the Hero Matsumoto returned to the capital in a rush. The end.

“By the way, Asagi.”

“Mm? What?”

“They say that the Hero came from another world…”

“Yeah, it’s a well-known story in the capital apparently. Though, I hadn’t known about it.”

“Are you as well?”

She looked straight at me. Ah, so this was the time for me to unveil my biggest secret. Well, it was not surprising that this would come up given everything she knew. I thought in the corner of my mind as I opened my mouth.

“Yeah, I am. I’m not from here. I was transferred from another world.”