Surviving in the Coal Mine
Surviving in the Coal Mine
"A coal mine? No way!"
"Probably that 'no way' is correct."
Jokingly, I said it's a coal mine, but actually it's just a mine.
Because plenty of useful resources come out besides coal.
"Are you truly referring to that legendary mine in the village?"
And currently, this mine is in a sealed state.
Monsters naturally appear in abandoned mines.
It's because these creatures have a tendency to crawl out of neglected civilizations, and Miroa, who couldn't possibly be unaware of this, was horrified.
But I had already made my decision long ago.
I answered firmly.
"Of course."
"Talking about the mine. I shouldn't have."
Miroa said she heard various stories while doing outreach support in the village.
Information about the village naturally reached me as well.
The Solanium Basin, a poor rural village.
If there was any source of income besides farming for self-sufficiency, it was the mine.
To be precise, it was a place that once was a mine.
The content Miroa explained a few days ago was as follows.
"They say there was a mine of an ancient civilization here. As the civilization declined, the mine was also closed, but they say that useful minerals can occasionally be found even around it. I heard that magical tools and weapons made by processing these minerals become the residents' source of income."
The mine was closed, but useful resources could still be found in the mountain.
The quartz that Gwen gifted me was also something found that way.
According to Miroa, the villagers processed this and sold it in a nearby city to make a living....
'Hold on.'
There was one strange point that occurred to me around then.
"Then why did it become an abandoned mine? If resources are rolling around even on the roadside, there must be more ore left inside the mine, shouldn't we have kept operating it?"
Even for a romance fantasy world, it's strange.
Useful minerals are rolling around on the road, so it would make more sense to keep operating the mine rather than farming.
Miroa also answered the reason.
"The villagers say the mine entrance is sealed."
"If it's sealed, it must be ancient magic."
"Yes. I heard it's firmly sealed so that even the entrance can't be found. Unless we find the entrance of the abandoned mine. Digging a new mine into this hard bedrock is impossible with current technology."
So the level of technology has fallen below that of the ancient civilization.
Of course!
It's true that ancient magic was all lost.
Because early in the Empire's history, they burned books and buried scholars, making the ancient mages and books go 'muahaha' and get all toasty.
Meaning they all burned.
That's why it's lost technology.
But hasn't a lot of time passed since then?
What are those romance fantasy bastards up to?
"Then we just need to find traces of the sealing magic."
"You intend to break the seal?"
"Since it's the village's source of income, I'd like to look into it if possible."
At that time, I deliberately gave a vague answer.
Because on the system's end, the seal breaking was just a matter of time.
[Tutorial: Mining Explanation]
Then a few days passed.
During that time, I showed no sign of investigating anything, nor did I bring up the mine again.
'Because I was actually busy with other things.'
Farming, fishing, activating the Spirit Net, trading with alchemists, and so on.
Since I planned to properly do mining when the time came, I had put off the plan itself.
So I think Miroa had also let her guard down.
But now, the situation has completely changed.
Kwaang!
Lightning strikes continuously, and thunder roars.
It's quite violent for spring rain.
"It's rare for rain accompanied by thunder and lightning like this to fall on a spring day, especially in a basin surrounded by mountains. Moreover, the village has been getting frequent spring rains lately, making landslides more likely. I've magically protected the water pipes heading to the village, so there's no worry, but old magic is particularly vulnerable to shocks like these."
The Empire's latest magic has little to do with weather.
On the other hand, ancient civilization magic is heavily influenced by weather, environment, terrain, surrounding atmosphere, and so on.
I have even participated in a related paper.
[Speculation on the Attributes of Ancient Magic Based on Analysis of Past Chivalric Literature]
This is a paper I participated in through a collaboration with the Academy's History Department, and it explains this very well.
The magic of ancient civilizations only left traces in old novels.
Anyway, lightning flashed again.
That means it's perfect for weakening the seal.
Miroa might be frustrated, but this is something I absolutely cannot pass up.
"We'll probably be able to find the sealed entrance by tomorrow morning."
"We don't know what magic might be sleeping there, and monsters might appear."
"That's exactly why we're going."
Right now, I'm honestly very excited.
And I'll also get to see traces of ancient magic.
"I can't not go."
How could I hold back?
As a mage, this is a golden opportunity to analyze ancient magic!
Miroa flinched but didn't say anything more.
Even though she shows a relaxed side in front of me, basically, it's hard to read her intentions.
Instead of pressing her, I decided to leave a simple instruction.
"I'll handle the magic, so Miroa takes care of the monsters."
"......Understood."
After that, I walked toward the refrigerator occupying a corner of the kitchen on the first floor of the mansion.
Inside, a few Plain Catfish remained.
Until now, I had sold them all for maximum efficiency, but now the situation was a bit different.
'I can't go into a mine and starve.'
Actually, that's a humanitarian reason.
A practical reason also exists, of course.
'I need to use the cooking system to get mining buffs.'
In healing farming games, there is cooking content.
It's not the type where you build up experience or level up to learn skills, but eating delicious food gives you useful buffs.
[Recipe: Spicy Catfish Stew]
Among them, what I focused on is Spicy Catfish Stew.
Just eating it gives you various buffs useful for mining.
And the key ingredient for this?
The plan is so perfect that I could hear hallucinations from inside the refrigerator.
Of course, it's the Plain Catfish.
It's not like I was fishing in the rain just to make money.
I was going to catch a few to eat anyway!
It's just that the recipe arrived a bit late.
I secured the remaining ingredients through the store.
[Store/Category: Cooking Ingredients]
[Purchased spicy red pepper powder.]
[Purchased salt.]
Last time when I bought seed potatoes, a sack appeared in the warehouse with a pop.
This time, since it was cooking ingredients, they fell into the kitchen with a thud.
It's very convenient that they appear right where needed.
Chwap.
There are nobles who know how to keep their hands clean, but rural nobles usually aren't like that.
Hunting and fishing are family culture. Plus, in my previous life, fishing was my hobby too.
As I placed a Plain Catfish on the cutting board and began to clean it, around that time Miroa appeared.
"Juin-nim? Surely, you're not cooking?"
"Learned a good recipe on the radio."
I heard the cooking method on the radio.
As soon as the cooking show came on, a status window popped up, and since the recipe was automatically saved, I didn't need to memorize it.
"That aside, but where did the rest of the ingredients come from?"
"Magic."
"I understand, but sitting still and eating food prepared by Juin-nim doesn't seem like a maid's role."
Miroa appeared in the kitchen.
"Please allow me to prepare the meal."
"No."
"Isn't it wrong for a maid to act like this?"
"No, it's fine. I just want to do a lot for you."
For reference, Northerners can't cook.
It's like they poured all their cooking ability into combat stats.
Northern food is terrible, and Northern people themselves can't cook, so the synergy of the two is truly frightening.
I'm not good at cooking either, but compared to Miroa, I'm a cooking king.
On a relative level, I could wear a top chef's badge and go around deceiving people.
Besides, isn't this the day before entering the fantasy version of Aoji Coal Mine?
I can't hide the truth even from my most trusted and loyal subordinate.
So I conveyed my true feelings to Miroa.
"Actually, it's because I feel sorry."
Because I feel sorry, so please don't cook.
Then Miroa showed an unexpected reaction.
Heuljjeok.
"What! Are you crying?"
"No. I'm not crying."
You're totally crying, though?
"It's because the red pepper powder is spicy. And... and..."
Quickly swallowing her tears, Miroa lifted her head.
Her voice was that of a loyal Northern maid, resolute and confident, as if she had never cried.
"It's the fault of those who failed to recognize Juin-nim. I swore to always follow Juin-nim with joy, and I made a promise I can never break for a lifetime. So there is not a single reason for Juin-nim to feel sorry."
The next morning.
As soon as I opened my eyes early in the dawn, a status window appeared before me.
[Mining content has been unlocked.]
[From now on, you can access the Ancient Mine through the entrance at the back mountain of the village.]
'So it was the back mountain.'
This is also a characteristic of ancient magic.
It's interesting how it distorts human perception, like an illusion or a mirage.
I had been passing by there all along, but it never occurred to me that something was hidden there.
[You have received a letter.]
And a newly arrived letter.
I quietly stepped out of the bedroom, drew back the curtain of the mansion window, and looked outside.
Gu gu-. Gu gu gu-.
A very clever turtledove was delivering a letter for the morning.
It pushed the letter into the mailbox on its own, which is amazing how the species evolved that way.
And I also saw the super strong Miroa hopping out, picking up the letter, and coming back into the house.
Upon checking, the letter was from Gwen.
[Yeongju-nim! It's an emergency!!]
Sender: Gwen
Her handwriting is so terrible that I could only recognize a few words from the title and content, but I can grasp the gist.
Content and style befitting a letter heralding the opening of an event in a healing farming game.
And a gift.
[3 Quartz Fragments]
After carefully packing the gift, I had a hearty breakfast.
Just as I had tested the previous evening, energy surged through my body.
Along with the buff effects stated in the status window.
[Buff]
This is a triple buff!
I was worried the buff would wear off in a few minutes like in the original game, but fortunately it lasts three hours.
Next time, I should prepare more and bring a lunchbox.
After that, I stepped outside with Miroa.
"......Indeed."
As soon as we entered the back mountain, we could immediately find the entrance to the mine.