CH 260

Third Concubine (2)

Translated by AmaLynne

Edited by AmaLynne

“So this is the mining city『Eureka』…!”

From the central square of the city, which was spread out in the mountainous area beyond the『Transfer Gate』, Melfalude couldn’t help but let out a sigh of admiration as she took in the view of the surroundings.

The mountainous terrain of the city, with its clear streams and natural beauty, seemed to invigorate her just by being there.

The air was cleaner than in the forest, and the height of the sky and clouds was closer than in the city of Ulises where he had just been.

“Melfalude-san, are you familiar with a unit called <Kikyou>?”

Lizelia, who had offered to show the way to the city, asked.

Melfalude nodded her head and answered.

“I know the name, at least. I’ve heard that it’s one of the 12 units that report directly to Your Majesty Yuri, and that it’s in charge of construction?”

“Yes, that’s right. In the Yuri Empire, four cities were built by <Kikyou>, and both Yuritania and Ulysses, which Melfalude-san already knows, fall into that category. ―――And so does this Eureka.”

“I see. If you ask me, I can feel the high level of construction technology from everywhere in the city, which is different from that of Yuritania and Ulysses.”

Even though the city has a lot of slopes, the buildings and streets are so well maintained that you don’t feel it, and the whole city has a neat and orderly appearance.

Above all, she is impressed by the beauty of the city’s many clear streams and the comfort of the murmuring water.

Melfalude also enjoyed listening to the sound of the murmuring stream in Yuritania. As a nature-loving High Elf, Melfalude preferred the sound of a natural stream flowing slowly through the city of Eureka to the sound of the man-made waterways of Yuritania.

“By the way, where do you think the river comes from?”

“He? Isn’t the source usually in the mountains?”

“That’s what you think, isn’t it? Actually, this river is just water from the mine.”

“―――!!? Isn’t that poisonous!?”

The mines are the domain of the dwarves, so it’s not something that the high elf Melfalude knows much about. But even so, she had heard in the past that the water from the mines was poisonous.

Melfalude heard that it was not a disease, but a poison that impairs the human body.

Melfalude heard many horror stories about how healing magic is ineffective―――and that a body damaged by drinking poisoned water will never return to its normal state.

“The entrance to the mine is located at the highest point of this city. By including the entire area of this city and the entire area of the mine within the scope of the『Purification Ward』, the mineral water, which is originally poisonous, is being transformed into completely harmless and clean water.”

“That’s great… So this water is drinkable?”

“Yes, it’s drinkable. The people who live in this city scoop up the water that seeps into the ground from the rivers and drink it from wells. Of course, they also use it for washing clothes and sprinkling water on their fields.”

“Amazing…”

Normally, cities that house the miners are built at a considerable distance from the mines.

If not, the water from the mines would be mixed with the groundwater―――in other words, the poison―――and they would not be able to live safely using the wells.

Despite this, the city of Eureka has cleaned up the mine water, which is supposed to be poisonous and is actively allowing the residents to use it.

No other country would ever be able to imitate this.

As she walked with Lizelia, Melfalude could see that there were many fields in the city.

The more you dig, the more water comes out of the mine.

It seems that this city is making good use of the abundant water for agriculture.

“By the way, did you know that the mines have been turned into a『Labyrinth』?”

“Oh―――Sofia-san told me that『Labyrinth』exist not only in Ulysses but in Eureka as well. Is that what the mine is?”

“Yes. The whole mine is a labyrinth.”

According to Lizelia, there are three tunnels in the city of Eureka, each of which is a labyrinth of varying difficulty.

The three tunnels also differ in-depth, the deeper the tunnel, the more difficult the labyrinth becomes.

The deepest tunnel, the『High Tunnel』, is said to have monsters up to level 100, the middle tunnel, the『Medium Tunnel』, has monsters up to level 80, and the shallowest, the『Low Tunnel』, has monsters from level 41 to 60.

“Even in the least difficult tunnels, the level of the demons is 41… I think it’s still pretty difficult for a『low』level.”

“I don’t know much about it, but I heard that some of the minerals that can be mined in the tunnels are weakly toxic and can be a little dangerous if touched by low-level people.

That’s why they set the lower limit of difficulty of『Labyrinth』a little higher so that only explorers with a level that can withstand toxicity without problems can use it.”

“I see, a lot of thought has gone into this…”

『Purification Ward』 are wards that allow you to select which objects to remove.

If you wanted to, you could use the purification wards to remove『weakly toxic minerals』from the mine. Perhaps the minerals are still valuable enough to be used even if they are toxic.

That’s why they don’t eliminate the minerals themselves with the『Purification Ward』, but instead, deal with the toxicity by screening the explorers.

“Since we’re on the subject, would you like to try a few more tunnels in the Labyrinth? If you’d like to try the lower tunnels, I can manage to fight my way through them.”

“Wow, that sounds great, I’d love to try that. But I don’t know how to identify ore at all, and I don’t know anything about digging… I hope it’s okay.”

“The Explorers Guild has a branch in the city where you can get instructions on how to do that and borrow the necessary tools. I didn’t know what to expect the first time I ventured into this labyrinth, but it was no problem at all.”

“I see. I’d love to try it then!”

Melfalude then spent the next four hours with Lizelia in the lower tunnels, hunting demons and mining various ores with a pickaxe she borrowed from the Guild office.

The demons that appeared seemed a lot more troublesome for their levels. Instead, they were able to dig for copper, iron, and silver ores in shallow areas, which was a different kind of fun from the labyrinth of Ulysses.

Perhaps they are trying to differentiate them to a certain extent, so that the labyrinths in Ulysses are easier to level up, and the labyrinths in Eureka are easier to earn money from.

Melfalude wants to visit all the labyrinths in this country and enjoy them to the fullest.

At some point, Melfalude had come to love this Yuri Empire.