Chapter 12

The cliff face was a dull cream color, at least not a shade of black.

Petapeta, he touched the cliff.

It was cold and cool.

"Can you tell anything by touching it?"

Elle also extended her smooth, porcelain-like fingers, imitating me.

"No, I can't really tell much by touching it. In such cases, we should chip it."

I didn't have a pickaxe, but I did have a chisel and hammer in my pouch.

Kan, kan, kan.

The high-pitched sound of chiseling echoed, and the chipped rocks fell to the ground.

I picked one up and let it fall into my palm.

"Oh, this is good. Look."

I showed my palm to Elle with a delighted expression, but she only lowered her eyebrows in confusion.

Ah, right. Yeah.

"Sorry, sorry. I got a bit too excited."

"No, it's just my lack of knowledge."

"Look, if you examine this sand closely, you can see that some of it is transparent."

"Yes, indeed."

"This sand can be used to make glass. And it's right next to the river, so it's easy to transport."

The cliff face contains a lot of quartz. I think the white color is due to the quartz.

"Lord Joshua! You came here to find the materials for glass, didn't you?"

"No, the glass is just a coincidence. The main thing is this."

I pointed to the burlap bag hanging from my waist.

The bag contained the sand I had collected earlier.

"Is this a different kind of sand from the one for glass?"

"Yeah. I need to examine it when we get back to the mansion, but I think this area was devastated by a volcanic eruption or something."

"That's possible. It could have been burned by a dragon's breath."

"That... that sounds more likely..."

I had forgotten that this world is filled with dangers.

Ah, right. Dragons and all that.

If one of those came, no matter how sturdy the fence, it would be no match!

"Please don't worry. Powerful monsters like dragons don't appear in human settlements."

"We never encountered disaster-level monsters in the duchy."

"Yes! If anything happens, I will protect you, my lord."

"No, let's run together."

I was sweating coldly, hoping that the sand was volcanic ash.

At that moment, Elle's eyes narrowed, and an unusual atmosphere surrounded her.

"Lord Joshua..."

"Eh, ah."

Elle stepped forward, shielding me from the cliff.

Is something there?

Straining my ears, I heard a rustling sound from the bushes, or maybe not.

"Wow... Is that not dangerous..."

"Yes. I apologize for my hasty judgment."

The creature that emerged made me let out a strange sound.

By size alone, it could be classified as a dangerous creature.

But its movement was too slow. It might take more than a few minutes for it to reach us, moving sluggishly.

The creature that emerged from the bushes was a giant snail.

Its shell was about two meters in diameter and fluorescent yellow, which was just... deflating.

The two horns on its face were just like the snails I knew.

"Shall we go?"

"Yes...!"

As I tried to move forward, Elle held me back with her right hand.

Peshiiin—!

A sound like something hard being struck echoed, and the giant snail fell sideways.

It must have been hit with considerable force, as cracks appeared in the snail's shell.

Standing there was...

"A penguin?"

"An adorable creature. But it seems to have considerable strength. Is it a monster?"

It was a penguin with a black and white two-tone color, a prominent beak, and webbed feet, standing upright with round eyes.

It was about one meter tall, not an impossible size for a penguin, but that made it all the more eerie.

It must have used its flippers to smack the snail just now.

"Is it okay to leave it?"

"Yes."

Because the penguin ignored us and started to eat the snail.

But a penguin eating a snail... this world is truly terrifying.

◇◇◇

That night, we held a small stone appraisal session without having dinner, using the pebbles Sequoia had collected and arranged on a cloth.

We decided to hold it in the study of the mansion.

Of course, Sequoia, who was shining with excitement, was sitting next to me.

"Hmm, hmm. This is—"

"How about it?"

"I don't know. What is this metal?"

"Don't you know? This is blue metal. This one is mithril."

I don't know!

No, that's not quite right.

I don't know what chemical reactions these unique metals from this world would have, so I can't identify them.

"This one I know. It's iron."

I poked the reddish-brown stone with my finger and looked at Sequoia.

"I can't tell with this one. It doesn't contain any magic."

"There are various ways to determine it, like its weight or whether it dissolves in this liquid."

"That's science. That's it. The mysterious principles, that's what interests me."

During my time as a duke, I collected reagents and scales and other experimental tools whenever I had the chance.

I thought they might be useful for something.

Hmm, wait a minute.

"Sequoia, is there anyone with the 'Mineral Identification' Gift?"

Right, this world has Gifts. Just as I have the Plant Identification Gift, there must be people with various identification Gifts.

In response to my question, Sequoia nodded as if it were obvious.

"There are such people. For iron or bronze, you might want to ask Garam."

"I never thought of that."

I could also try the dwarves' "magic." Alright, I'll call Garam.

I hope he's not drunk.

Tap, tap—.

As I was about to get up, the sound of knocking reached my ears.

"Come in."

"I've brought your dinner."

Alru, with her cat ears twitching, bowed with a tray of food.

"Sorry, Alru. Just put the food on that table."

"Lord Joshua, where? It's dark outside. No good."

"Just a moment, I'm going to call Garam. I'll be right back."

"No good. I'll go."

Alru placed the tray on the table, her tail swishing, and left the room again.

"Let's take a break and eat."

"Thank you."

We clasped our hands and began to eat dinner.

"Munch... What did Joshua bring back besides the glass sand?"

"Munch... I was planning to investigate it, but I'd be happy if it turns out to be volcanic ash."

"Hmm, hmm. Can you tell just by looking?"

"Well, I can investigate, but I think we should wait for Garam. If we can identify it with Gifts or magic, that would be more reliable."

"I see."

Munch, munch.

Delicious.

Just as we finished eating, Garam, led by Alru, appeared.

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