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C290: Mining Magicrafts
The manufacturing of the mass-produced magicraft was officially approved, and it was ready to begin moving. However, there was one problem, and that problem needed to be cleared.
“There is an overwhelming shortage of Ludia.”
A large amount of orichalcone and phoenix stone is needed to manufacture Ludia cores. In the past, there was a large amount of orichalcone and phoenix stone, but now they are depleted, expensive, and difficult to secure.
For this reason, the mass-produced machines were to use the Ludia cores of ancient magicrafts that had been excavated. However, it turned out to be more difficult than expected to secure cores that met the standards, and Jean was in a dilemma.
I asked Jean, who was mumbling over some documents.
“How much are we missing?”
“Even if we increase the efficiency of mining magicrafts in the Federation, we’re only going to be able to secure about thirty percent.”
“Seventy percent short of what we planned?”
“I didn’t think much of it because Rafishal said that the standard of the Ludia core used for mass production machines is the most produced one, so we can get a lot of it…….”
“It’s certainly the most commonly used standard, but that’s for the entire continent. In this area, multiple standards were used universally, so the percentage is probably low.”
Feri explained Jean’s complaint accurately. It seems that she has more knowledge about this kind of thing than Rafishal.
“They’re plentiful in other countries, aren’t they? Can’t we import them?”
Jean quickly countered my words.
“You idiot, that would cost too much money and the enemy would think we’re crazy.”
It is true that the cost of mass production magicrafts is too high.
“Wait……there are the remains of the Iba defense line near this place, aren’t there?”
Feri said, looking at the map
“Iba Defense Line?”
“Yes. This was the battleground of the battle between ancient civilizations and giant beasts. There must be more than 500,000 magicrafts sleeping there.”
“Half a million! If there are that many, we’ll be able to unearth a lot of cores that meet the standards! Where is the exact location?”
Jean asked, peering at the map Feri was looking at.
“It’s just barely within Federation territory. But the fortress of the Raja Empire right under our noses……”
I don’t think they’ll let us excavate so close to their fortress. We will be disturbed at all costs.
“There’s a possibility of war. We’ll have to talk to Ranelle.”
I knew it would be difficult to get Ranelle to take time out of her busy schedule, but I told her I needed to talk to her for a minute……and she came over immediately.
“Securing a new mining site for the new magicrafts?”
When I explained the current situation to Ranelle, she seemed disappointed for some reason.
“I don’t think it’s a problem since it’s within the territory of the Federation, but there’s a military fortress of the Raja Empire nearby. Well, it would be easy for the Iron Knights to destroy it, but it would turn into a war. That’s why I’m consulting you.”
“The military philosophy of the Amurian Union is based on the principle of exclusive defense. Therefore, we cannot allow you to attack the fortress.”
“Well, that’s what I thought. But, if they attack us, we can fight back, right? It wouldn’t be a problem to destroy the fortress in a counterattack so that it can’t be used for a while, right?”
Hearing those words from Jean, Ranelle let out a deep sigh.
“Sure, no problem, but……ah……that would be a full blown war…….”
Ranelle wants to oppose the war because she hates it, but she’s decided that it’s in the best interest of the country.
“Yuta-san, since you’re here, why don’t we have some tea?”
After we finished talking about work, Ranelle asked me to join her. Well, I didn’t have any plans, so I said yes. That’s right, I should invite Nagisa, too, so I called out to her who was in the room.