「It’s amazing! This is amazing! No, if anything, Rei is amazing!」

It wasn’t his usual cheerful excitement like when he was drunk. As Brazos showed Rei and Freon the ore he had found, his face had a sort of obsession on it. What he held in his hands was a shiny, pale red ore. If Rei could sense magic power, he would have noticed that fire magic power. However, Rei was poor in this aspect and looked at Freon questioningly.

「This is?」
「Flame Crystal, it’s Flame Crystal!」

Flame Crystal. Hearing that name, Rei remembered what Brazos had told him in the guild.

There was a mine in this mountain. Flame Crystal was one of the magical metals that could be mined in the mine.

「What’s special about that? Can’t you mine it in this mountain? In that case, it’s not strange that you could find some even in this cave.」
「Wrong! No, you’re not wrong but funda……ment…ally……?」

As he held up the Flame Crystal in his hands, Brazos mouth stopped moving as he was about to continue speaking. What he saw was the place where the honeycomb structure in the wall was and the place where stalactites grew from the ceiling

「……I-Impossible. Why are there Windstone Crystals here……in addition, so much. Adding onto that, Emerest Crystals……is it?」

Rei and Freon gave puzzled looks as they had no idea what Brazo was on about.

Still, judging from Brazos’ muttering that it was some sort of crystal, he searched Zepairu’s memories for the first time in a while.

(Windstone Crystals. Crystals produced in places where wind blows all year round for several hundred years. Under the influence of magic power, the wind starts to materialise, melting and growing down from the ceiling like stalactites. It is a material used to make magic items such as weapons and armour. It is also a very useful material in alchemy. ……I see. It’s a valuable item.)

Thinking to himself, he looked at the stalactites hanging from the ceiling……no, the Windstone Crystals. If they took hundreds of years to form, it was certainly a very rare item.

Next, he turned to look at the honeycomb structure that the Harpies had used as a nest.

(Emerest Crystal. It is a rare crystal that can absorb the natural magic power around it and give it to anything that touches it. ……Wow. This is definitely amazing. Does that mean you can increase the recovery rate of magic power just by wearing it on your body? There was a good reason why the Harpies made their nest here.

「Indeed, Emerest ore and Windstone crystals. I have heard about this from my master, but it’s the first time I’ve ever seen it.」

At Rei impressed murmurs, Freon looked at him.

「Did you know?」
「It was just something I heard.」

Nodding at Freon’s question, he explained it from the knowledge in Zepairu’s memory.

After Freon heard the explainations, she looked towards the two crystals in admiration.

Dancing around with joy……although she wouldn’t go that far, Rei had thought she would be more excited and asked.

「I thought you would be more delighted.」
「No, I certainly think it’s amazing……but it’s not really ours.」
「Huh? Why not?」

At Freon’s casual words, Rei asked back in surprise. On the other hand, Freon nodded naturally.

「That’s right. Doesn’t this mountain belong to Margrave Rowlocks?　That includes the mine that is the reason we came here for the Harpy subjugation…… Trying to grab valuable treasures from a mountain that belongs to the Margrave. What would happen if that becomes known? Margrave Rowlock’s territory is already literally the frontier. If you did something here for your own self interest, in the end, the Margrave is a true noble……no, rather, because he’s a true noble, he will regulate such things strictly.」
「……Is that so?」
「Ahh. At the very least, there’s a mine in this mountain. If it was a mountain that no one had touched, it would be a different matter. ……Therefore!　Brazos, don’t even think about stealing that Flame Crystal in your hands!」

At Freon’s voice, Brazos, who had been staring and the Windstone and Emerest Crystals admiringly, was startled.

(This guy, I hope he wasn’t thinking of doing that.)

Rei turned to look at the Flame Crystal that Brazos was holding protectively.

「What, I wouldn’t think of doing such a thing!　There’s more than that. This Flame Crystal is amazing. I tried to investigate the ores in the surrounding, but this Flame Crystal was probably just created yesterday.」
「Yesterday?」

Hearing those words, Freon looked at Rei.

That was a matter of course. Flame Crystals were crystals that contained fire magic power. These crystals were created yesterday. Only one thing came up in her mind.

Seeing Freon looking at him, Rei asked.

「That means……you mean that the Flame Crystal was created by my magic yesterday?」

Don’t keep us guessing. Rei asked while thinking like that. Brazos nodded naturally.

「It couldn’t be anything else. I think it’s not so much about your magic power but more that your magic was an extraordinary fire magic. By chance, some of it must have been absorbed by some rocks, creating Flame Crystal.」
「……In other words, if you have Rei, you can make Flame Crystal without limit?」

At Freon’s question, Rei felt doubtful. Brazos shook his head.

「As I said, this Flame Crystal was definitely created by Rei’s magic. However, it was only one of the factors. Several coincidental factors had to stack up.」
「In that case, even if I use the same magic as I did last night, I might not be able to create Flame Crystal?」
「Probably. However, anyone with even a little bit of knowledge about magical metals, will know that this Flame Crystal was created very recently. In that case, the cause will definitely be traced back to this Harpy subjugation……among us, only Rei can use magic, the guild will find out if they examine it. ……Well, this is troubling.」

(In other words, it would be possible that I would be caught just to produce Flame Crystals endlessly. In that case……）

「Before a strange disturbance occurs, it might be better to meet with Margrave Rowlocks to explain.」
「No, that is a good plan……but do you have a contact?　You know you can’t just meet with the Margrave because you want to see him right?」

Brazos sighed as he stroked his beard.

However, Rei nodded at Brazos with a smile. Since the Margrave had given him a nominated request for the dungeon, he was tentatively an acquaintance.

「That is true. Any how, we should get back to the city of Gilm and talk to the Margrave as soon as possible. ……About stripping materials from the Harpies……」
「They won’t rot if they’re in your item box right? It would be better to deal with this problem first.」
「Is that okay?」
「What, it’s not just for you. Although, it’s true that your magic is what cause the Flame Crystal to be created, we would still get rolled up in the trouble as it was a request we took together.」

Brazos also nodded at Freon’s words.

「That’s right. If they were going to rot, it would have been better to strip the materials first, but now it would be better to deal with this issue first. If one of those greedy people find out about the Flame Crystal, it would be enough reason for them to want to control you since you could create Flame Crystal as you want.」

Stupid people filled with greed. At that description, Bolton’s face appeared in Rei’s mind.

(But, I did threaten him. I don’t think he would be that stupid……but.)

After threatening him, if Bolton still messed with him, he would be fine with that. He had only left him after saying that there would be no next time, if he did anything, he would be betting his own life. With that in mind, Rei reached out for the Flame Crystal in Brazos’ hands.

「Even if I can meet Margrave Rowlocks, some evidence will still be necessary. Should we take this along?」
「Mm? ……Well. I guess it can’t be helped.」

Brazos handed over the shiny Flame Crystal with a reluctant appearance as Rei stored it into the Misty Ring.

「In that case, we should head down the mountain quickly. ……No, should I go ahead with Set?」

Rei spoke as he looked towards the exit near the Emerest Crystals.

However, Freon shook her head.

「Although every minute and second counts, you don’t have to hurry to that point. For now, we are the only ones that know about this cave. In that case, it would be better to go down together since it would take time to fight off monster attacks if we went down without Set. Anyway, if we leave now, we will still arrive back at Gilm by early evening.」
「That’s right, it would be great if you could stick with us. ……Or, Set could carry all three of us……」

At Brazos’ question, Rei shook his head as he had expected it.

「No, Set can carry around one person without a problem, but at best, he can only carry two smaller people.」

As he said that, he looked towards Brazos and Freon.

Brazos was out of the question. He was muscular, as peculiar to the Dwarves, and had a huge magic hammer, the Earthshaker Hammer.

Although the Death Scythe was overwhelmingly heavier than most other weapons, maybe because they both came from the Magic Beast Art……though it wasn’t possible to completely ignore it, Set still seemed to receive some of the weight reduction effect and didn’t look like he found it too heavy.

As far as Freon was concerned, she was a bit taller than Rei, 170cm, and had a lot of muscle as well. Including parts of the armour she ore that was reinforced with metal, she weighed a reasonable amount.

Looking at the two of them……Rei shook his head.

「That’s impossible.」
「Ignoring me, not even Freon? ……Ahh, you’ve gained weight!」

Before he could make it to the end, Brazos gave a cry in pain as Freon swung her sword and hit him.

Fortunately, her sword was still in her sheath. If she had unsheathed it, Brazos’ body would have been bisected by now. That was how hard she had hit him.

「Damn, guh……w-what are you doing all of a sudden……well……」

Brazos turned around angrily. However, seeing Freon with an even angrier expression, Brazos’ anger disappeared immediately.

「Brazos. You have great guts to tell a woman about their weight. No, you are truly a brave Dwarf. Accepting the anger of all women around the world, only you would have such courage.」
「N-No. I didn’t mean it that way……」

Brazos kept glancing at Rei for help, but seeing Freon sweep an angry look past him, he passed up Brazos’ request for help.

 

 

「……Should we get going?」

Completing Brazos’ punishment, Rei asked Freon, who had calmed back down to some extent.

Still, he still asked cautiously because Freon seemed to still be angry over Brazos’ words about her weight.

「……Ahh, that’s right. This much punishment is good enough. The rest will come after this matter is over. Slowly and thoroughly. I will engrave the meaning of tactfulness into him.」

(There’s still more?)

He gave a sympathetic look towards Brazos, who was looking pitiful. Still, he understood that it would happen to him as well if he got involved. The three of them finally left the cave.

「Gururu~?」

Set had been looking out for monsters outside the cave and gave a happy cry when he saw the three of them come out.

「There seems to to be nothing wrong.」

As he stroked Set’s head, Rei told the others to bring the mood away from Brazos’ punishment.

It was obvious from the fact that there were no monster corpses outside that Set was somewhat bored.

「Set, the plan has changed a bit. We won’t be stripping the materials from the Harpies yet. The first thing we have to do is to meet with Margrave Rowlocks in Gilm.」
「Guru~?」

When tilted his head in puzzlement, Rei told him about the Flame Crystal that was found inside the cave and how it was created by Rei’s magic last night.

「So, as things are, troublesome things might happen if some greedy person finds out. Before that happens, we have to tell the Margrave that this was all a coincidence. Fortunately, Dwarves are familiar with ores.」

Saying that, Rei looked towards Brazos, who looked like he was starting to recover.

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