Copper Valley's Quiet Dawn
The Boulian Republic had become home to villages built around its mines. Among them, Copper Valley had once been a renowned settlement. Its abundant copper mines had kept it prosperous, but as the resources dwindled, most of its people had moved away. Now it was a quiet, almost forgotten place. Yet even now, the village still bore traces of its glorious copper days. A married couple who had settled here after meeting by chance, and a hunter or two with an old man or two who still hunted nearby—they were the only ones left.
Among them, the Rusty Gear Pub captured the very spirit of the village. Everyone gathered there to share a drink, swap stories, and blow off steam.
“Hey, old man, did you see the smoke rising way off there yesterday?”
Hunter Paul asked. The bearded elder wiped the foam from his mug and answered.
“Yeah, you fool. You think someone started a forest fire?”
“No, sir. When I went, there was nothing left—just ashes. Like something had been burned… but I don’t know.”
Paul clicked his tongue.
In any case, such events were common gossip in this kind of village. No matter how big or small, they were always kept alive. Why? Because boredom demanded it. After all the others had left, this place had become a gathering of the few remaining souls, and even the smallest incidents made for excellent drinking stories for years to come.
“Po, Paul! Come out here!”
A middle-aged man stepped inside. Since Paul also doubled as the village guard captain, he furrowed his brow and let out a sigh.
“Why? Got into it with Zeland again?”
“No! It’s not that! Come outside!”
At the man’s insistent tone, Paul felt strange and followed him out. The old man sensed something off and trailed behind.
At the entrance to Copper Valley. Because people were unusually gathered, it had to be one woman. Sky-blue hair that looked like the heavens themselves. A voluptuous chest and a slender waist hidden beneath a mage’s robe. And a set of extremely large handcuffs on her wrist.
“….”
Paul recognized the oddity of an outsider and yet could only stay on guard.
‘Handcuffs? A criminal? I’ve never seen these before.’
The reason Paul worked as a guard captain had nothing to do with his past career as an officer. He had seen every kind of handcuff used on criminals in the Boulian Republic and found them tiresome. This one was something entirely new.
‘Even for a woman, this is excessive. Is there more to it than simple restraint?’
As Paul pondered, the woman finally spoke.
“Are you Paul? Everyone’s been losing their minds because Paul has to come out and talk…”
Paul was startled by the complaint but nodded anyway.
“I am Paul. Who are you?”
“I’m Dam. I’m a mage from the Magic Tower.”
“…”
“Huh.”
He waited for more, but Dam’s introduction ended there.
Paul was bewildered and demanded further details.
“Magician? Anyone can see that from the robe. Tell me why a magician is here and what those handcuffs are for.”
“Good point. Hey, bring something here. This thing is insanely heavy.”
“…”
“I knew I could handle high heat. But it’s burning my hands too. This is seriously hot.”
She could melt anything if she wanted to. She wielded the Dark God’s Authority, after all. She had even mastered the extreme fire magic. So why couldn’t she melt this?
The problem was that the handcuffs were stuck to her body. Over a certain temperature, it would harm her physique.
“I could melt them if I’m willing to lose my hands, but I don’t feel like it right now.”
“What? Why are you only talking about what you want? Answer the question!”
“Why the hell else? You think I put these on just for fun? I’m gonna smash that head with this thing?”
“…”
Their short exchange left Paul with an intuitive feeling.
This woman is insane.
---
“So I walked right up to the Archmage and swung my fist—”
At the Rusty Gear Pub. Dam was enjoying her first drink in a long time and spilling her story.
She was exaggerating the battle with the Archmage.
“I swung my fist and said, ‘Take this, strongest! My weakest will hurt.’”
“Ooh.”
“Kyaa.”
But everyone here loved dramatic tales, so whether Dam was telling the truth or lying made no difference. As long as it was entertaining, the story ended there.
Chug chug.
Because of the handcuffs, Dam sipped her beer through a straw. Honestly, drinking beer through a straw felt wrong, but she didn’t want to do any serious arm exercises every time she took a sip.
“Anyway, the Archmage fought dirty. I lost. Now I’m being chased all the way to the Boulian Republic to stand trial.”
“…That story skipped a lot.”
Paul frowned from the side, but the other old men simply enjoyed the thrilling narrative.
But Paul could not.
He refused to believe that an Archmage had been fought, yet he set that aside. Why, suddenly, was she coming to the Boulian Republic for trial?
“Why the sudden trial? And was the smoke you saw yesterday from you? Then what about the soldiers escorting you? Did you kill them all?”
Dam sipped her beer, making the straw make wet, noisy sounds.
Chug chug.
Chug chug.
Chug chug.
“Hey, answer me!”
Chug chug.
Chug chug, whoosh!
“This beer is lukewarm. Unlock the handcuffs. I’ll cool them with magic.”
“Hey, answer—”
Chug chug.
Again ignoring Paul, Dam continued.
Paul was beyond a simple headache and starting to get angry.
He could not let the woman’s beauty cloud his judgment.
‘This woman is a mage, a criminal, and a murderer.’
Moreover, a Magic Tower mage coming to the Republic for trial was no simple crime.
‘She’s an escaped convict, too.’
Paul swallowed hard and felt cold sweat run down his back.
‘According to the story, she can’t use magic because of the handcuffs? No, that’s too hasty. The escort carriage was burned to the ground. There must be another way.’
As he pretended to drink beer, Paul’s mind raced.
At that moment, one of the old men who had been listening with interest approached and offered a small box the size of a palm.
“My hobby. Interested?”
“Eh? What is it?”
Click.
The box opened, and intricately linked springs and gears began to play a soft melody.
Paul had never seen one in real life even though he had encountered them countless times in media during his previous life.
Dam’s eyes, which had been watching with little interest, narrowed in growing fascination.
“You made this?”
“Yeah.”
“…”
In the past, when Copper Valley was thriving. Technicians and engineers often came here looking for high-quality copper. Most of the old men living in Copper Valley now were either retired technicians or engineers who repaired small things or made tiny inventions to enjoy their twilight years.
Dam’s eyes sparkled.
While handling magic and trying to build something truly powerful, she had realized something.
No matter what, a real technician was needed. There were clear limits to what magic could cover. Even if something looked similar from the outside, making it actually function was no small task.
Dam wanted to build the real thing, not just a model.
“Are there more like this?”
Curious about the inside, she asked. The old man smiled gently, surprised for a moment.
“There are more. You want to see them?”
The hobby of an uninterested old man was suddenly in the spotlight, and Dam looked excited.
She nodded.
“Bring them. Let me see.”
---
A few days after Dam left. The Iron Magic Tower was enjoying a perfectly ordinary day.
“….”
Not really ordinary. More like boring.
Everyone thought Dam’s energetic presence had been a relief, but no one would admit it if asked directly.
“Haam.”
Yawning, Beldora stepped up the output on the Knight Armor production line.
Unfortunately, with Dam gone, no mage could refuse the Archmage’s orders. The Knight Armor’s output had been halved. Thanks to Dam’s absence, it could still be built, but Beldora and the other mages alike clicked their tongues in dissatisfaction.
The Knight Armor they had expected was different, and they found it somehow disappointing.
At the Fire Magic Tower, Sella was said to have fallen into depression. The extreme-heat sword she had created, the Blade, was completely sealed from the outside world. Now it had been reduced to nothing more than a work tool in the giant blast furnace.
Clank!
“M-Master!”
“…”
Beldora frowned at the mage who entered without knocking, but the urgency was clear.
“The Archmage has arrived!”
“What?”
Beldora stood up just as the Archmage walked in at the perfect moment. The mage who had reported the news looked flustered and slipped out as the Archmage arrived.
“I greet the Archmage.”
Beldora bowed her head. The Iron Magic Tower had received its own punishment for the incident involving Dam.
It had seemed to end there.
But the Archmage smiled softly.
“You have a blast furnace, don’t you?”
“Yes…”
A chill crawled up Beldora’s spine.
“How about sharing the entire Magic Tower as its owner? The Iron Magic Tower would benefit far more if the whole tower enjoyed its advantages.”
“Eh? What kind of nonsense is that—”
“Hoo, set aside personal gain and consider public benefit. This is for the good of the entire Magic Tower.”
Greed flickered in the Archmage’s eyes. Beldora bit her lip and exhaled as if on fire.
Revenge, perhaps. Or maybe she had always intended this and had been waiting for the perfect timing to strike while Dam’s case was fresh.
“Even so, this is the Iron Magic Tower’s property. We even made it a single unit with the tower. Demanding it so suddenly is confusing.”
“Hoo, I have no intention of forcibly taking it. I simply suggest we have a meeting between the Tower Masters.”
Who would refuse?
The giant blast furnace had become the pride of the Iron Magic Tower and something other towers envied.
“Just remember that you can do it. We should resolve this through discussion.”
“No, that’s—”
Bang.
Without waiting for an answer, the Archmage left the room. Tower Master Beldora stared at the closing door for a long time, then slammed her fist on the desk in rising fury.