Chapter 24

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Translator: MadScientist

Chapter: 24

Chapter Title: Mine (3)

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Behind the mine. A woman with mystical silver hair, shimmering like a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠blend of gold and white, gazed at me as her locks fluttered.

"Oh my."

Elise feigned surprise, widening her eyes round.

A headache throbbed in my skull for a moment.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"What do you mean? Shouldn't you apologize first? I fell because of you."

She pointed at the fragments of the rigid mana stone. I clicked my tongue.

"...How long have you been listening?"

"I've got sharp ears."

Meaning from the start.

I let out a sigh, and Elise shook her head with a look of contempt.

"Bringing up Nightmares to Soliet just for money? What's the point of your existence? Why don't you just shove mana stones down your throat and die right now."

"...It's not just about the money."

I know quite a bit about Soliet. Probably more than she knows about herself.

The future version of her that I loved was a person connected to this very present.

"Not about money? You like her?"

Elise snorted derisively.

"..."

For a moment, words failed me. I couldn't think of a rebuttal.

Elise's mouth fell slightly open. Her expression shifted to shock, pity, and horror.

I hurriedly backpedaled.

"...That's not it either."

There are people who fester and rot inside unless you touch their reverse scale, unless you forcibly drag it out. People who kill themselves.

That's Soliet.

That's why I deliberately provoked her.

"You need some self-objectification. Do you think you're objectively a better person? Soliet—"

"I said it's about the money. And shut up already. It's hot as hell."

I started to shrug off my miner's uniform but paused.

"Wait, no. Why is it cold?"

A chill wind blew. Cold enough to freeze the sweat on my skin solid.

I pulled the uniform back on.

"...Did you hit your head?"

Elise sighed and glanced up at the ceiling.

"Soliet went up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there, right?"

"Can't you?"

"I'm not a high-flyer. Or a knight aspirant. Anyway, can you stop talking to me?"

"You started it. Got a hole in your brain?"

That was when it happened.

Sssshhh...

A bizarre breathing sound echoed from somewhere.

"..."

"..."

Our bodies tensed.

Hwoooo...

A wail-like wind swept through the underground. Abnormal cold froze our bodies, and our breaths fogged with every exhale.

Elise swallowed calmly, pretending to be unfazed. I stared into the darkness of the mine. My body twitched almost instinctively.

"...A ghost."

"...A ghost?"

"Shh."

I moved my feet cautiously.

Thud.

I kicked a pebble. At that instant, the ghost turned toward us.

Elise spoke in a wretched tone.

"Why don't you just kill yourself?"

"...Ahem."

I looked at it. Its aura was already tinged red.

Ghosts instinctively loathe the 'living,' and one that had formed a human shape to that degree was beyond what I could handle at my current level.

Probably get cursed the moment it touches me. And now that it'd spotted us, running was out of the question.

I glanced at Elise. She smirked confidently.

"What're you looking at? Handle it yourself."

"...Am I the only one here? You're here too."

"I can escape on my own."

What a brat.

Still, I'd rather get beaten to death than beg her for help...

That was when.

Something caught my eye.

"Hold on."

A particularly glowing blue dot within the ghost's faint form.

Tiny as dust, but unmistakably 'visible.'

Mana core.

I gripped my pickaxe. Elise furrowed her brow.

"A pickaxe... So you. Just like you."

Ghosts are mana entities.

Thus, the way to deal with them is with 'mana.'

"A ghost's vital spot is its mana core. But it's too small to observe with the naked eye, and it moves constantly, making it practically invincible to physical force, so it can't be destroyed that way."

I recited a textbook passage I'd read sometime ago word for word.

All true. Textbooks don't lie.

"The textbook says so too."

"Go die then."

Elise recoiled in disgust, but right now, I could see it. The grain-of-sand-sized 'mana core' floating within the ghost's mana appeared sharper than a pebble through the SZX-9500.

"...Hey! Come here! You piece of shit!"

I shouted at the ghost.

"Ha."

Elise let out a disbelieving scoff.

—!

Almost simultaneously, the ghost let out a roar of mana.

I gripped the pickaxe tight. I activated Perion across my entire body, from dynamic vision to every physical function.

The ghost charged, slicing through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the air. Its fluid leap was like a gale. But to me, with amplified nerves, it was ample time to strike.

Whiiiiiish—!

The moment it closed in, I swung the pickaxe.

Pinpoint.

The pick's tip shattered the mana core precisely.

Whoooosh...

Pierced through the mana core, the ghost dispersed immediately, dropping something to the ground with a thud before vanishing.

Mana core fragments. I pocketed them.

"...What."

A dazed voice from behind.

"Where'd it go."

Elise whipped her head left and right, as if searching for the already-dead ghost.

I told her.

"Ghosts have mana cores too. I saw it and struck."

"That's ridiculous—"

"No need for thanks."

You're my Secret Santa, after all.

Elise stood blankly for a moment, then furrowed her brow and took a step forward.

"More importantly, if a ghost appeared, then wha—!"

She stumbled over something.

Nearly falling, she glared down irritably.

"What the...!"

Her eyes went wide.

"...Ah."

Elise backed away unsteadily.

I approached. Something was buried in the dirt.

I peered closer.

"Looks like something happened here."

Remains.

A skeleton in miner's garb, traces of someone from long ago.

"That thing, haah, haah, get rid of it."

Elise seemed short of breath. I ignored her for now.

A notebook was tucked into the chest pocket of the miner's uniform. I picked it up and flipped it open.

It was worn, but the writing was legible.

1995.

A work log from a whopping 18 years ago.

"What're you reading?"

Elise approached, covering her nose and mouth with a handkerchief.

"Work log. Name's Hans. Male. Family man with an eleven-year-old kid. Eighteen years ago, so the kid's about twenty-nine now."

Elise shrugged it off.

"Accidents happen in tunnels all the time."

"...Yeah, they do."

I raised an eyebrow and turned the page.

The omens were already there, but Hans volunteered for overtime to earn money.

The result was...

The pages after that were hard to read.

The handwriting grew more erratic, the hunger intense enough to gnaw at his own flesh, remorse and longing for his family, resentment toward Libra, self-blame for volunteering for overtime...

"Ghost hauntings... This reactivation mine's no good now."

Elise spoke then. I snapped to attention.

Ghosts are beings made solely of mana. They spawn frequently in mana-dense places like underground, mountains, deep seas, remote islands—and mines with ghost sightings are legally shut down.

Thanks to human rights law revisions twenty years ago.

Ghost curses are more vicious than carcinogens.

"No way."

I shook my head.

The past Libra would have 'already' known about the ghosts here. The mine overseer or a Libra family member would have spotted one while searching for Hans. And pondered briefly.

A day? Two days? Or not even that.

In the end, Libra chose live burial, separating the upper and lower levels.

"...'No way'? Do you even know what the law is?"

Of course, Jade wouldn't know that past.

Libra's succession process started seven years ago, and that worm doesn't even know what he has.

"This reactivation mine's about to reopen. Libra won't abandon it."

So the future unfolds predictably.

Libra—no, Jade—will try to cover it up again, by any means necessary.

In that case.

"No, they can't afford to."

I bit my lip. Gripped the pickaxe hard.

Crack—!

And smashed the remains.