Chapter 58

One of the reasons I came to the town of Sejarka is the mine.

To the south of this town of Sejarka stands the Rune Mountain Range, which divides the Brützels border territory into north and south. Originally, the Brützels family's territory was only on the north side of the Rune Mountain Range.

The 5th head of the family crossed the Rune Mountain Range and advanced southward to develop the land, and the 7th head of the family established Brünhild as the capital, but Sejarka, which had been the capital until then, did not become obsolete.

As I mentioned earlier, to the south of this town of Sejarka is the Rune Mountain Range, from which abundant underground resources can be mined, so the population of Sejarka is still increasing, albeit gradually.

The ore I want is hard to come by in the capital... In fact, it's a legendary ore, and it seems that there is a record of it being mined in the past in the Sejarka mine, so I decided to visit it.

Recently, there has been no record of this ore being mined in the Sejarka mine, but since it has been mined in the past, albeit in small amounts, I don't think the possibility is zero.

It seems that the 5th head of the family amassed a great fortune by mining this legendary ore and used it to fund the southern expansion.

Of course, if I manage to mine the ore, my father has given me permission to keep it if it's a small amount.

From my father's perspective, if I discover a mine and make a fortune, it would be a big plus for the Brützels border baron family.

Hmm?

What kind of ore are you after?

I can't help it, I'll tell you.

The ore I'm looking for is called Divine Silver.

When refined, this Divine Silver becomes divine silver, which is said to have a better magic conductivity than mithril and is harder than orichalcum, a legendary metal.

There are records of it being produced in the past, but I've never seen a divine silver item, and it's considered a legend or a dubious material in the world.

Why am I looking for such a suspicious metal... because it seems interesting?

I wouldn't have bothered to look for it if I hadn't read a book about this metal in the library, but I did.

Once you read about it, don't you want to look for it?

No, you don't?

Are you still a resident of the otherworld Hecate!

Do you have no sense of adventure!

You won't be able to enjoy the otherworld Hecate if you're like that!

That's a bit exaggerated, but that's how it feels.

But today, I'll just stroll around the town.

The knights guarding me must be tired, so I plan to let them rest tonight and head to the mine first thing tomorrow morning.

Time is limited... I thought I would stay for a week and search, but since Carla and the others came along, I suddenly added a vacation at Lake Luigi.

So I only have tomorrow and the morning after tomorrow.

I, who am not usually considerate, made a vacation time for my friends!

You can praise me if you want!

Of course, I don't expect to find the legendary ore just by looking for a little while, so I'm thinking of this as a preliminary investigation and plan to search more seriously someday.

As a mining town, there are many blacksmiths in Sejarka.

The blacksmiths are concentrated in the industrial district, but since this industrial district takes up half of the town, you can imagine the scale, right?

You don't understand?

Use your imagination.

Of course, I'm heading to the industrial district.

From all directions, the pleasant sound of metal being forged can be heard.

In this town of Sejarka, merchants from the capital and other towns visit to purchase goods, so the blacksmiths conduct direct transactions, and the streets are lined with metal specialty stores.

I enter a metal specialty store and look at the weapons and armor, farming tools like sickles and hoes, other metal products, and metal ingots on display.

The Sejarka mine has several tunnels, and the most mined ore is iron ore.

Other than that, the mining volume drops sharply, but precious metals like silver and gold, and magical metals like mithril and orichalcum are also mined.

Therefore, the metal products handled by the blacksmiths are mostly iron and steel, but there are also stores that specialize in processing precious metals.

Orichalcum is an extremely hard metal with poor magic conductivity.

So why is orichalcum classified as a magical metal? Because it cannot be refined or processed without infusing it with magic.

It's a strange metal that requires magic to be processed, despite its poor magic conductivity.

The metal specialty stores are not very large.

So I don't bring my guards inside.

The stores are like negotiation spaces for blacksmiths, so they are not very spacious, and it would be a hindrance if they all came in.

Ah, the mithril bracelets are cheap.

Oh, this is an orichalcum dagger.

...I don't really know the market price of orichalcum, as it's hardly available.

"Hmm, boy, you like the orichalcum dagger? But it's expensive."

A dwarf uncle casually spoke to me.

This dwarf uncle seemed surprised when I entered the store, so he probably has the ability to sense magic.

"Yes, orichalcum is a family treasure... I'll pass. But I want as many of those mithril bracelets as you have. How many do you have?"

"Boy, these mithril bracelets are not cheap either. I think... 8 pieces. Is that okay?"

Mithril is a rare magical metal.

Therefore, even a bracelet weighing less than 1 kg, about 800 grams, costs 1.5 million S each.

If you tried to buy the same thing in the capital, it would cost twice, or even three times as much.

It's a wholesale price, indeed.

"8 pieces, 12 million S, right?"

"Yeah, ...10 million S is fine."

"Thank you. Here you go."

Pretending to take it out of my bag, I take 10 platinum coins from my storage and hand them to the dwarf uncle.

"Thanks. Wait a moment, I'll bring the stock."

This blacksmith's store is smaller than other blacksmiths, but I think the quality is better than the others.

I visited several blacksmiths before coming here, but this one has the best quality and the most generous pricing.

After a while, the dwarf uncle brought out the same mithril bracelets that were on display, put them in a box, and lined them up on the counter.

"Here they are, all of them. Check them, please."

"Sure, no problem."

They are all of good quality.

The mithril bracelets on display were not particularly high-quality.

"By the way, are you the master of this blacksmith?"

"Not really, but something like that."

"I know it's a rude request, but if it's not too much trouble, could you train one of my subordinates as a blacksmith?"

"...That's really rude. I don't want to take on any more apprentices besides the one I have now. I'd rather spend my time blacksmithing than on apprentices."

It's a waste of time to spend on apprentices, typical of a dwarf.

They are engineers down to their genes.

By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet.

"Sorry. I'm Christoph von Brützels. Regardless of the apprentice matter, I hope we can continue to do business."

"Brützels... boy... I mean, you are the lord's..."

"My father governs this land, but I'm the second son, so please speak to me as you have been."

"As I have been... is that okay?"

"Yes."

The dwarf uncle thought for a while and then said, "Alright," and resumed his friendly manner.

"I'm Gugan Gajun. Nice to meet you."

Jamon also said he wanted to blacksmith, so I'll bring him next time.

While talking to Gugan, I realized it was evening, so I returned to the hotel.

Carla and the others haven't returned yet, so I thought about what kind of magic array to inscribe on the mithril bracelets in my room.

These mithril bracelets have holes for embedding magic crystals, and since they are made of mithril, they are strong enough to inscribe advanced magic arrays without breaking.

When you get such good items, you want high-rank magic crystals.

Magic crystals can be obtained from the adventurer's guild or the commercial guild, so I'll go buy some next time.

While I was deep in thought, the Carla and Peron team and the Clara and Pritz team returned.

They seem to have been acting separately at first, but they happened to meet near the hotel and returned together.

Peron and Pritz, the modest boys, came back carrying large bags... they were completely baggage carriers.

Well, that's what happens when you go in pairs... it's a good thing we have storage... I don't have a girlfriend... sniff.