Chapter 84

As cherry blossom petals danced in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

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Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother.

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The cannon of the Dragon Slayer was large, and it seemed to fire while falling due to the lack of support, but the shells it fired were relatively slow. It was a wonder that they hit the dragon during the last battle. After all, in a battle where the speed of sound is the benchmark, one doesn't expect that much from a machine. The key is to have shells that can pierce the dragon.

By activating all the acceleration magical devices at once, the cannon shells were accelerated instantly. I intended to use all my magical power in a grand gesture.

With the front blocked by the shells, it was impossible to defend against the enemy's attacks. Besides, if I had the spare capacity, I would have used it for acceleration. However, the performance of the cannon shells, made with all the available materials, was genuine. They intercepted the fireballs released by the dragon charging at me, extinguishing them without causing an explosion, as if ordinary flames had been doused with water.

The dragon, perhaps underestimating me, charged straight without trying to avoid. Thanks to this, I managed to collide head-on with the dragon, almost depleting my magical power. The moment I made contact with the dragon, I felt a magical power that seemed to surpass even its previous breaths. This might have been the reason for the dragon's charge. However, the Dragon Slayer's cannon shells held it back, suppressing it to the point where only a few sparks flew.

The materials themselves might be artifacts, and the level of craftsmanship is so advanced that it's hard to imagine what they are made of. To maximize their power, I used all my magical and physical strength to push the shells into the dragon's head. However, my magical power was finally depleted. I had used it in a way that was unprecedented, so it was no wonder. The acceleration magical devices in my item box were also exhausted.

However, I found a magical device that seemed to be a breakthrough in the item window. It was an explosive magical device. There was no time to hesitate, so I trusted the armor and took out all the devices I had, setting them off.

Blown away by the explosion, I saw the dragon's flame weakening and its movements stopping just before I fell into the sea. As the water approached, I saw the dragon's body slowly tilting and beginning to fall. I had won.

Although I was slammed into the water, I had no time to bask in the victory. If it were that easy to solve the problem by just defeating the dragon, the ancient civilization might not have perished. First, I needed to surface. My clothes were heavy with water, but my status seemed to remain effective even with my magical power depleted. I swam to the surface with all my might.

The dragon's corpse, which had fallen nearby, was beginning to disintegrate, though not as quickly as the smaller one from the previous time. It seemed to be breaking down into magical essence, which was spreading into the air, rapidly increasing my maximum magical power. However, it still wasn't enough. Based on the data and the rate of increase, it seemed that just waiting would not reduce the magical essence to a level where the dragon would not reappear.

I returned to the guild to wait for their report and to find something to do at the merchant's office. I wanted to know the impact of the dragon's defeat and the recovery of the magical essence.

Absorbing a vast amount of magical essence, my magical power had become so large that it was a hassle to count the digits. In terms of units, it was in the range of trillions or quadrillions. I had heard that for a physicist, the number of digits is more important than the first digit being 2 or 5, and I could understand that feeling. Moreover, it had no effect on my physical condition, which was quite mysterious. It seemed that the world I originally came from and this world were truly different.

However, it was still unclear whether the magical essence had been reduced to a level where the dragon would not reappear.

The guild had planned to summarize the situation and prepare a victory celebration and report meeting by the time I returned, but both the guild and I had underestimated my speed. On the way there, I had been cautious to avoid affecting the battle, but on the way back, I had no such restraint. I only slowed down to avoid hitting people with shockwaves after leaving the monster's territory. Of course, there was no way the preparations could be ready, and no data could be collected.

With nothing to do, I delivered the remaining supplies to the guild and then went to the merchant's office to find something to do.

Standing in front of the merchant's office, I immediately spotted Melcia on the second floor. The performance of the touchpad I had enhanced during the battle with Leviathan had improved to the point where I could distinguish people to some extent.

"Has anything changed recently?"

I spoke to Melcia, who was sitting in a chair with her eyes closed. She didn't seem to be sleeping; it was more like a prayer pose I had seen on Earth, but I wondered if there was such a religion in this world.

"Kaede-san!? You're back? What about the dragon!?"

Melcia was surprised to see me return unexpectedly and jumped up dramatically. It was a bit earlier than expected, but if I were to return alive, it would be today.

"I defeated it. I used up all the magical devices, but I won. Now I'm waiting for the report."

"I see... I'm glad. Really. Not much has changed here. Not much time has passed. If I had to say, I want to expand the farmland a bit more."

"Are there enough ships?"

"There are enough for the farmland, but the supply of Zunana grass extract is far from sufficient. The demand has always been high, and it's now being consumed in distant cities. The price is also returning to pre-increase levels."

Even after increasing production so much, it still wasn't enough. Moreover, the price was returning too quickly. Considering the time lag due to distance, the increase in demand must have occurred before the decision to increase production. It was terrifying to think what would have happened if we hadn't increased production.

"After Kaede-san left, we discussed what to do if the dragon was defeated. The topic of exporting Zunana grass to other countries also came up."

"Export to other countries!?"

What kind of discussions had been going on in the few days I was away? We had been talking about not having enough domestically, and now they were considering exporting it. ...I need to expand the farmland. Ten times.

"Alright, let's expand the farmland. Ten times. Is that possible?"

"Ten times!? Isn't that too much?"

"From what I saw, there are plenty of islands. The cost of ships will increase, but if we make them thicker and entirely out of mithril, it should be manageable. As for the workforce, if we train the people we have, it should be possible."

"Regarding the workforce, it might be possible. However, ships are not something that can be made just with money. To increase production to that extent, we would need about fifty ships. This would lead to a shortage of mithril and increased running costs. Isn't that a bit too much?"

Those problems are actually almost solved. I didn't say ten times without thinking.

"First, where do you think mithril comes from?"

"Um... from mithril ore found throughout the continent?"

"That's before refining. The ore itself is the result of ordinary rocks absorbing a large amount of magical essence from the dragon's breath."

Indeed, the basic books that might have been placed in facilities that could withstand the dragon's attacks were few, and useful information was scarce. However, the decoding of a large number of ancient texts has revealed many shocking new facts. One of them is this. After defeating the dragon this time, I appraised the surface of the areas scorched by the dragon's breath and found that they had all turned into high-purity mithril ore.

The materials in the monster's territory are free for anyone to take. Moreover, my magical power, which had been reduced to an absurd level, was recovering, and I had a mountain of ore in front of me. Of course, I had no reason to hesitate.

I took out the mithril ore I had collected from my item box.

"This... is quite pure. I've never seen one with such a clear color."

Indeed, the purity of the recently formed ore is much higher than that of ordinary ore, which is believed to have formed long ago. While ordinary mithril ore is slightly blue compared to ordinary rocks, the one I have is mostly blue, resembling a mithril ingot more than a rock.

"The area I went to this time was where the dragon's breath hit last time. There's a lot of this stuff. In my item box."

"How much is 'a lot'...?"

"A mountain."

"By 'a mountain,' do you mean enough to make fifty ships out of pure mithril?"

"Literally, 'a mountain.' Not a big one, but at least bigger than a hill if you pile it up. I think refining it would be enough to fill the sea around Fotoren with ships."

After all, my current magic (if I don't consider the damage to the surroundings) can easily peel off the surface of the ground. Without holding back, it wouldn't take long to build a mountain or two of ore.

"Ore... I mean, what is an item box again...?"