Chapter 60
Chapter 60
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Farming
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In the continental calendar, this year was 1351.
The first Grand Master, Makina Abraxas, crossed the Sea of Light with 1,000 followers and set foot on the Old Land.
It was an era when humanity had yet to form nations, living scattered and tormented by monsters.
Makina Abraxas established the first nation, unified the Old Land, and passed through Roverland to liberate Gloryland, ushering in the age of humans.
This meant that 1,351 years had passed since then.
Records from before that time were virtually nonexistent.
What that meant was,
there was a gap of at least 8,000 years between the ancient Ruceras civilization and the modern civilization that used the continental calendar.
A near-perfect disconnect.
That was why modern mages couldn't replicate ancient artifacts.
Just like swordsmanship,
the magical systems were completely different.
In other words,
these were truly immense treasures in our era.
‘This will be the first clue to deciphering ancient magic.’
Kask set down the tattered books and notes with trembling hands.
"H-here..."
But the sheer volume was staggering.
Thud. Thud. Thump!
He'd brought something that looked like a treasure chest, which turned out to be a spatial artifact.
Books, bundles of paper, memos, and notebooks poured out endlessly.
‘...This is more than I imagined.’
I was a little taken aback.
I had expected twenty books and notes at most.
So, if Kask had brought fewer than ten, I was fully prepared to persuade (physically) him to hand over the rest.
But...
‘There are seventy books, two hundred notebooks, and over ten thousand assorted memos and bundles of paper...?’
Looking at the towering pile of books... I felt strange.
‘Kask, you didn't... Did you really bring everything?’
Of course, that was the deal.
All of Kask's magic books. And every note, every annotation, everything.
I did say I wanted it all.
But...
He actually kept his word...?
As someone from Roverland, where backstabbing, fraud, and treachery were the norm and "sue me!" was a common refrain, this came as a refreshing shock.
Maybe... this guy is surprisingly decent?
"This... this is all really precious to me..."
Kask said.
Above his faint freckles, his pale yellow eyes welled with tears...
Despite his sorrow and reluctance, he was determined to keep his promise to me.
Sting!
I felt a prick of something.
What is this?
"Right. I'll make good use of them."
I placed Kask's books into my spatial necklace, one by one.
As he watched the books and notes vanish in real time, a shadow deepened on Kask's face.
He asked in a trembling voice.
"But... why do you need all this? It's not like you're going to use it, right? They're used, so they won't sell for much... If it's money you want, I could...!"
"It's for someone who wants to learn magic."
"Oh..."
Kask lowered his head.
Meanwhile, I diligently gathered the items, having stored about two-thirds of them in my spatial storage.
"Who's learning...?"
"Someone. A person learning magic for the first time."
"For the first time?"
"Yeah. Ah... But now that I think about it, she won't be able to read this...? Will I have to teach her everything myself?"
Suddenly, my head throbbed.
Because I was probably the only person in the entire world who could read the script of the magic era.
Do I have to translate and lecture on all this myself?
‘Ah, whatever. I'll just translate a couple of books and tell her to decipher the rest on her own later.’
As I reached for the last book, Kask asked again.
"She can't read? Is she very young?"
"Mm. Yeah. She's five. Doesn't know how to write yet."
The people who came to mind were our clever twenty-year-old Sea and Asha, who was from a mage family, but...
I just gave a vague answer to move on.
Kask seemed lost in thought for a moment, then watched the last book disappear into my necklace and made one more request.
"They're really... precious. Please tell her... to cherish them and use them well."
No.
Why is he being so wistful?
Sting!
Ugh, my chest keeps feeling ticklish.
What is this?
***
It was already my fourth day here.
Lorraine's research institute was relentlessly busy, day in and day out.
All thanks to a villainous employer who couldn't stand to see anyone rest for even a moment.
"How strange~ I heard another fresh magic terminal came in yesterday. It's already eleven o'clock, and it hasn't been analyzed yet~?"
The sight of Lorraine berating a researcher with a beaming smile was as common a sight as the mountains or the sky, something you'd see several times a day.
"Oh my~? This analysis looks a little strange, doesn't it? Didn't you notice? It would be quite embarrassing for someone earning your salary to make a mistake like this, wouldn't it?"
Everyone looked at her as if she were a witch.
It wasn't uncommon to see people turn pale and flee at the mere sight of her white robes in the distance.
But I was different.
"Ah, Sir Lansen! I heard you had another great find yesterday! I'm counting on you again today...! The future of our institute rests on your shoulders!"
When she spotted me, Lorraine would wave brightly. If she had a tail, it would be wagging furiously.
"Here... This is good for when your energy is low!"
She would then pull sweet things from her pockets and give them to me.
Things that were sweet and dissipated like smoke in your mouth, things that were sweet and melted away, things that were sweet and crispy...
I was slowly becoming accustomed to the excellent snack culture of the magic era.
Of course, I wasn't one to be won over by mere sweets.
"Last time I saw an artifact like this..."
"I get it! I get it! It's not that expensive, so I'll get it for you. You said you wanted your weekly pay in artifacts too, right? You're so peculiar. Anyway... you promised, right? Don't forget, okay?!"
"Yes, yes."
My friendship with Lorraine? Or was it walking a tightrope under the pretext of human experimentation? A shower of bribes from her, aimed at me, the ace of the exploration team?
Call it what you will.
In any case, thanks to it, my spatial necklace was getting heavier.
The artifacts I received were nothing more than things like illumination orbs, items that were practically lying around everywhere here... but even those were treasures that couldn't be bought with money in my era.
‘And snacks, too. The kids will love them when I get back.’
Day by day, my heart felt full and secure.
***
The exploration continued without stopping.
It was a mysterious, wondrous, and even fun job, but as time went on, exhaustion was inevitable.
The deeper we went, the more frequently monsters appeared, and the madness that echoed in our heads, along with the microscopic mana bullets piercing our shields, disturbed both body and mind.
Naturally, the pace of exploration slowed, and Lorraine was not one to stand by and watch.
The exhausted exploration team and Lorraine, who was pushing for more results.
Eventually, what was bound to happen, happened.
"I can't do it."
The mercenary, Missi, said flatly.
"How can you ask us to increase our exploration speed by fifty percent from here? Director. Have you even been in there? Do you have any idea how awful it is?"
Hmm, Missi has a point.
Yesterday, on the third day of exploration, we went quite deep... and even I felt uneasy.
"I hear things! A constant buzzing of flies in my ears, and then suddenly, I see it! A dark man standing in the corner! I draw my sword in shock, and my comrades have to shake me. Only then do I snap out of it. It was all a hallucination. And I'm not the only one. It's enough to drive a person mad, I tell you!"
It was like that even with our shields constantly active.
The deeper we went, the more it felt like something was burrowing into our minds.
At times, it bothered me enough that I had to grip the hilt of my sword tightly. Communing with the Sword Spirit made me feel much more at ease.
Anyway, for reasons like that, everyone was dissatisfied with Lorraine.
Ah, except for Kask, Lorraine's fanatical follower, of course.
The guy was fidgeting restlessly by himself.
But Lorraine remained completely unfazed.
"Do you have any idea how much research costs are reduced, how much faster our research becomes, with just one more sample?"
"I don't know. And I don't care."
"Missi...!"
At Missi's sharp tone, Kask shot her a look that said 'calm down,' but Missi just turned her head away abruptly.
However, the next words Lorraine spoke with a beaming smile were impossible to ignore.
"You should know~ In other words, if you increase the exploration speed by fifty percent compared to the current schedule, you'll receive a two-hundred-percent performance bonus~"
Flash!
A gleam appeared in the mercenaries' eyes.
What are mercenaries? In the end, aren't they just people who risk their lives for money?
"B-but..."
Conflict appeared on Missi's face.
But the clever Lorraine offered a solution before she could even speak.
"And we haven't been idle either, you know~? The waves of madness emanating from the ruins. We've been researching a way to block them. We've updated the [Shield] skill, so it should be a bit better than before."
With that, the negotiation was over.
Of course,
that didn't mean the hardship disappeared.
Day five of the exploration, day seven, day ten.
I don't know how things could change so much in just ten days... but Lorraine's institute now looked less like a place for the living and more like the land of the undead.
The only one sparkling within it was Lorraine.
She still had her hair tied back perfectly without a single strand out of place, her long, distinctive white robes fluttering, and she never seemed to tire.
"She's a witch..."
"No, a money-grubbing demon..."
"We might die at this rate..."
"That witch wouldn't care if we lived or died..."
During breaks, the researchers would huddle together like a flock of sheep, shivering.
Then, the passing head butler... no, the senior researcher who diligently assisted Lorraine, Eodran, would offer a troubled smile and defend her.
"It's tough, isn't it...? I know. But our Director. She's not a bad person."
"Uh, Master Eodran? You're having a nosebleed..."
"Ah...? Ahaha, well. I've only slept about five hours total in the last seven days..."
"Ah..."
Seeing even a white-haired senior researcher being exploited by Lorraine filled one with an indescribable sense of solemnity.
The mercenaries were much the same.
"That witch!"
"The money-crazed director. You can't reason with her."
When the mercenaries badmouthed Lorraine like that, the fanatic Kask would quickly jump to her defense.
"What! We're mercenaries, aren't we?! As long as she pays well, that's all that matters, right? Isn't a high-paying employer the best kind of employer?!"
Then Missi would give a quiet warning.
"Captain... Please just shut up."
At the chilling killing intent.
"...Uh."
Even Kask, who had firmly established his authority as captain, would tuck his tail between his legs.
This sort of thing happened several times a day.
However, the one person Lorraine, who pecked at everyone else, treated with caution, the one person she showed clear favoritism to, was not her faithful aide Eodran, nor her fanatic Kask, but me, Lansen Vanroah.
"Finally...! Today's the day! Time to uncover the secret of your unique constitution!"
Lorraine's eyes sparkled.
How many sweets and artifacts had she offered me until now? It was the day she would get her reward, so it was only natural for her to be happy.
"Now~ Come this way."
I let Lorraine lead me. She stuck my body full of needles, completing the preparations for the experiment.
"One hour per experiment session. The payment is one Mana Heart. Correct?"
"Yes."
One Mana Heart.
That was the point on the scale where I, pretending to want for nothing, and Lorraine, unable to hide her greed, found a balance.
Mana Hearts were consumables.
Once depleted, they could no longer supply mana to the Magic Armor.
There was a way to recharge Mana Hearts, but the charging equipment was too large to fit in my spatial storage.
So I wanted to get as many Mana Hearts as I could.
Lorraine, on the other hand, was reluctant, claiming they were one of the institute's core technologies.
Well, in the end, I won.
"Honestly, I'm still skeptical. I wonder if this experiment is really worth more than one Mana Heart. Just looking at the price, they're quite expensive, you know?"
Converted to the value of my era, one seemed to be worth about 20 dalons.
An elite warrior in my time earns 15 dalons a month, so 20 dalons an hour is pretty good.
"You should know you're benefiting from my curiosity."
With those words, Lorraine took her position and began the experiment.
"You called it Aura, right? Try using it."
As Lorraine instructed, I drew out my Aura.
Glance.
Looking at the figures on the magic analysis panel, Lorraine glanced at me furtively.
Her voice came out, trembling slightly.
"Do it again."
I did.
Lorraine bit her lip. She slowly rolled up her sleeves and said.
"Again."
Her voice grew rough.
She must have discovered something in my physical data.
This time, she unbuttoned her cuff.
"Again!"
"Again, stronger!"
Her breathing quickened. She started muttering to herself.
"Ah, this data! Ahh, so this is the principle! This might just reveal the operating principles of the magic weapons from the mythological era...!"
Then she would snap at me again.
"What are you doing! Faster! Stronger!"
"More! More! More!"
At this rate, she's going to start foaming at the mouth...
Lorraine had already lost her composure.
But I no longer followed her instructions.
Without a word, I rose from the experiment table and removed the densely packed needles one by one.
Lorraine snapped.
"What do you think you're...!"
"The hour is up."
"What? Th-then let's add more time! More! I'll give you more Mana Hearts!"
Since she said that,
"Fine by me. But what to do? The rate has gone up."
"What?"
"Ten Mana Hearts per hour. Or I'll take artifacts of equivalent value."
"...What?"
Lorraine, who had been barking like a rabid dog, suddenly fell silent.
Speechless in the face of such sudden, tenfold price gouging, I see? But,
Sorry.
You,
you're too easy to read.
"Ten Mana Hearts. Or the experiment is over."
You can't refuse, can you?
I saw it. The glint in your eyes.
Lorraine's eyes widened as if she were about to cry, and she bit her lip hard.