Volume 4 Chapter 1.3

Volume 4 Chapter 1.3

「Ah, right, Haruna-san.」

「What？」

「As a partial reward from tomorrow onward, I plan to negotiate with the guild to see if both you and I can get around half of the ore we dug up once they’ve evaluated the quality, and yer gonna train in smeltin’ ‘n forgin’.」

「……So we’re going through with this？」

「In a li’l bit yer gonna get to Making Mastery, so just give it a bit more.」

「……Okay, I’ll do my best.」

Encouraged by Hiroshi, Haruna decided to aim for the current goal. Honestly, compared to weaving, sewing, or potion making, she wasn’t all that keen to get to forging or smelting. Maybe this was due to it not feeling like the kind of work that a normal, powerless woman typically did.

But if she didn’t overcome this, Haruna would also have trouble with improving her sewing and weaving skills. This was a necessary trial in order to fulfill Haruna’s most splendid goal: to finally be able to make her own underwear with spirit thread.

「Sensei, it’s fine training Haru, but what do we do with the weapons? She’s made quite a hefty amount by this point.」

Mio checked with Hiroshi, as this was an important issue. Technically speaking, the “hefty amount” consisted of mostly failed products, but she left that out to preserve Haruna’s dignity.

「Well, I’ll think about it. We can save the first product to commemorate it, ‘n the other ones’ll be throwaway expendables, ‘n once we get those remodeled into fairly decent quality/capability products we can use ‘em for whatever.」

「Mm, okay.」

While she felt a bit of unease at what Hiroshi meant by “decent quality/capability”, Mio figured that it was a reasonable conclusion. Afterward, Hiroshi’s so-called “decent quality/capability” equipment would cause an inevitable disturbance. This was of course to be expected, and everyone other than Hiroshi anticipated it. However, what they didn’t know was that they would be the ones most proactive in causing this disturbance.

Forre’s capital, Stiren, a week before Hirosh’s group began obtaining information. Rainy ended up having to report on the irregularities within Forre, quite troubled.

『……So you’re saying that incident after incident is occurring in Forre’s mines.』

「Mhm.」

『……Accidents in mines aren’t actually so uncommon. Dig up the wrong area and you get gas filling the area, dig up the ground where it’s loose and you get a cave-in. Tunnels are just filled with danger in general. Thanks to the dwarves, there aren’t too many accidents in Forre, and the people helping out in the excavation field have a decent ranking, but in most countries (ours included), that sort of work is what we have criminals do.』

Rainy found what Layotte had just said to be quite fascinating. She had only recently gained her self-awareness and was therefore quite unfamiliar with that line of common knowledge.

『However, I am curious about the fact that these incidents began increasing in frequency right after Darl, in which three total Barolds were defeated.』

「I also found that weird.」

『Perhaps there are those similar to Barold, or a variety of nobility or influentials who are taking unnatural measures？』

「So far, I have not found anything as obvious as was in Darl. There are many humans here who share similar views to those of the dwarves, so I think it would be difficult to curry favor with anyone like in Farlane or Darl.」

『Is that right.』

Layotte nodded at Rainy’s report, making a difficult expression. Just as Rainy had pointed out, the entirety of Forre had taken influence from the dwarves’ unique value system. This influence had of course spread out through diplomacy, and there was many a time when Forre had issues with other countries over what seemed to be trifling affairs to the other countries. Monetary issues, country borders, honor and whatnot, all of those things that would normally be considered problematic by most countries weren’t an issue to Forre, which could be considered a relief, but it was still a troublesome country to deal with all of its neighbors.

『……At this point, we have too little information to determine anything. Are there any other strange points？』

「The great mother goddess of the earth’s temple has had less traffic, they say.」

『……Not sure what to think about that.』

「I always assumed Barold would head for the temple, but there wasn’t enough information to back that up.」

『I see. Then please continue the investigation on your end. I will also use whatever connections I have in order to investigate.』

「Understood.」

Once she had heard Layotte’s instructions, Rainy ended the call. After that, taking a small sigh, Rainy psyched herself up and got to her feet.

「I may have to work out my liver and stomach first.」

Forre, the country where you were forced to drink liquor and force fed to a shameful degree. Though it wasn’t poisoning her persay, the dwarves often figured that her body type was too thin.

Had she breasts as large as Haruna’s, Rainy might have been let off, but big breasts are always subjective to whoever categorizes them. Many people in Forre who valued volume in appearance would see her as weak.

「I’d better do my best to work out so I don’t get fat and make Deary hate me……」

Rainy Moon, the maiden in love（？）, was forced to come to terms with her need for a diet for the first time in her life.

Meanwhile, in the royal house of Darl.

「There are signs of a rise in the price of iron？」

「Apparently there have been accidents occurring frequently in Forre’s mines.」

「Hm. I could see this becoming yet another headache.」

「I couldn’t agree more.」

Darl’s royal leader could not hide the grim expression on her face upon hearing the important report from the envoy staying in Forre.

「If the supply of iron runs out, the country will fall into chaos.」

「Indeed. Still, it isn’t like the supply will dry up today or tomorrow, so making noise right now would just cause more problems.」

「But！」

「The only thing to dwell on is that there is an indication of rising prices. Sergio, can you not increase the excavation at the mine in Akraus？」

Silencing the rather boisterous retainers, the queen asked her confidant something that anyone would logically think next.

「Our country’s excavation technology would only be able to increase the amount to about fifty percent, taking the safe margin into account.」

「Very well. Then how about the people of the earth？」

「That will depend on negotiations. However, they have high-performance technology in all fields, not just excavation. Depending on how far we can take negotiations, I do think they may provide us with not only iron to buy, but also technology for the excavation in Akraus Mine.」

「I see. I suppose we will need to rely on Markto for that. Though not as much as Forre, the country is rich in ore, and we have had many a trade with his country. If you recall exports like heat-resistant bricks and the items from The Sweltering Tower, if we can get The People of the Earth to sell iron in large quantities in exchange for this expansion, we may not be able to prevent the rise in price, but we will certainly be able to hold our ground.」