NOVEL NEXT Chapter 51
I collapsed into a deep sleep due to an all-nighter.
And when I woke up, the sun was already setting.
“Eh…?”
I had slept for so long that my head was pounding like it was about to split open.
“I wonder if Nia delivered it well…?”
The quicker the results come out, the more time I’ll have to prepare for Rastock.
To be honest, I hope no one raises any issues regarding the design.
‘…Come to think of it, I feel like I saw the Hero.’
Could it be that the Hero brought me to bed?
I shook my head, trying to dismiss the thought.
“Why would he bother with me?”
Honestly, it’s more plausible that Rapirie just picked me up off the floor.
If that’s the case, then what was the voice I heard right before I fell asleep? And what about the Hero’s face?
Was it just something I conjured up since I hadn’t seen him for a day…?
“….”
I really don’t know.
To prevent dizziness, I stood up slowly and left the room.
The mansion was quiet, but the previous desolate feeling had almost vanished.
It felt like the serene tranquility of a leisurely countryside home.
‘If I get kicked out of the Hero party… that might not be so bad.’
Finding a modest house in the country and spending a peaceful life there sounds nice.
To be honest, if I lived alone, it’d be very lonely, so bringing someone along would be better.
Like Nia, for example.
“…I wonder if Nia will be moving around with Rozen.”
Of course, she’d live with the Hero, but after that, she’d be hanging out with her childhood friend Rozen.
What about Rapirie?
Rapirie would probably return to the Elf Kingdom to inherit the throne, so she wouldn’t come.
Serelin has her own territory and mansion, so she definitely wouldn’t come to the countryside.
Ariya would likely get her own place in the Church.
As for ‘that sister’, having lived with her for about a year now, I really don’t want to anymore.
‘Assassin heroine? Hmm…’
She’d probably reject my proposal to stick close to me in favor of staying with the Hero.
‘…In the end, there’s no one.’
Have I really come to have so few connections?
Well, I haven’t made any effort to meet people since I got reincarnated.
Most of the acquaintances I have were made during my process of learning magic.
But still, sighing over such poor connections comes naturally.
“…?”
Why was I suddenly looking down?
I really don’t know.
I guess I should ask Nia about the progress of the prototype.
A short while later, Nia beamed at me, sharing people’s reactions.
“They said it had great effects!”
“It seems you finished the experiments already.”
“I told her you wanted results quickly. Then she ran out immediately after hearing that!”
Hmmm.
Could it be because she saw the title of the Hero party?
If that’s the case, then I feel unnecessarily guilty.
Sure, it’s good to hurry, but it’s not urgent to the point of running around like that.
“She also said it would be nice if the size could be adjusted based on the size of the smithy and the mine.”
“I was considering that. So, basically, that’s not an issue.”
“Exactly! Because you worked so hard! Honestly, if there had been any complaints there, I would have fixed it.”
Hearing about the Witch of Embers fixing things sounds a bit scary.
“What about others?”
“They’re all resting. Oh, the Hero… ”
“The Hero? Isn’t he resting too?”
“I heard he visited the mansion this morning and left immediately. He said he’s going to resolve all requests from the surrounding villages.”
He came to the mansion?
‘…’
So that illusion I saw before sleeping was the real Hero?
“….”
“Sis?”
“…. No, it’s nothing. Can you hand me the report? I’m going to get into the specific adjustments now.”
“Yes!”
Today, I plan to work a little and then sleep right after.
I can’t afford to mess up my sleep schedule by staying up again.
*
The next day, this time I woke up at a normal hour and headed straight for the City Management Department.
“I made some additional improvements here.”
“In just a day… that’s impressive. Can we go into mass production with this?”
“Yes. What about the Ranarr ore?”
“It’s all set up in front of the mine.”
It’s probably because of the crowd that things are progressing swiftly.
I headed towards the mine with the City Management staff, and there, I was greeted by a mountainous pile of pink ore.
“Are you sure you don’t need help?”
“Yeah. It’s fine.”
I brushed past a fidgeting City Management staff member and took out my master key to start carving the spell.
“Let’s start with the first processing.”
After that, I have to mold it into suitable shapes through secondary and tertiary processes.
Thanks to minimizing my magic usage after the Alphares incident, I had gathered enough mana to use such large-scale magic for the Ultimate Star-spear.
Later in the afternoon, during the processing work, Nia came running, panting and holding something.
“Hey, sis! It finally arrived…!”
“Why are you here?”
“This… Ariya asked me to give it to you as a snack.”
Inside, there were plenty of cookies baked in the shape of carrots.
As soon as I recognized them as carrots, my mouth watered.
So, I immediately popped one in Nia’s mouth and tasted one myself.
“Wow, this is delicious!!”
“….Hmm.”
As expected of Ariya, known as the Hero party’s cook.
From basic soups to gourmet treats, her cooking skills are outstanding.
I hardly cook anything like this, so it’s no wonder I find Ariya increasingly impressive.
“Is there anything I can help with?”
“No, just go back to the mansion and practice magic.”
“….Okay.”
Looks like she really wants to practice magic for a while; she seems restless.
But once Rastock shows up, she’ll be able to magick it up to her heart’s content, so I hope she can hold on until then.
“What about the others?”
“Ariya handed out cookies and then went straight to the Church. I believe Rapirie and Serelin are currently on city patrol.”
“And the Hero?”
“I don’t think he went out today either?”
After mentioning the whereabouts of the party members, Nia was about to head back to the mansion.
I called after her.
“Nia.”
“Yeah?”
“If you see the Hero… could you ask him to meet me for a moment at dinner?”
“Sure!”
Without asking why, Nia agreed.
I felt unnecessarily grateful to her.
Honestly, there’s no significant reason for asking to meet.
It’s just that I haven’t seen him properly for days… and I’m a little worried I might forget his face.
After she returned, I continued my work, waiting for dinner.
*
“That’s it for today.”
“Thank you for your hard work, Rui. Let me escort you back to the mansion.”
“No, it’s fine.”
As I said this, Knight Lux stepped closer, quietly making his presence known.
Seeing this, the City Management staff member seemed to understand and stepped back a little.
“I’m guessing if I work late tomorrow, I’ll finish. After that, it’ll be up to you all.”
“I’ll pass that along.”
An employee scribbling something down in a report suddenly turned to me, expressing gratitude.
“Thank you so much for your efforts for our city…”
“….It’s something I should do. I don’t deserve thanks.”
Feeling a bit strange being praised, I tried to steer the conversation elsewhere, but the employee looked serious.
“No, it’s true. All our citizens are really grateful to you and the Hero party. Thanks to you, our city is coming back to life instead of crumbling into dust.”
It seems there were quite a few internal issues, after all.
But with the large-scale purifier that is the Hero party addressing the air quality issues, it seems like other problems are gradually being resolved as well.
“This city supplies important resources all over the Empire, yet being so far from the capital means we get little support from central authorities. With what happened to the Marquis, our situations have worsened…”
“I see.”
“So… I wanted to express my gratitude properly.”
With such a heartfelt sentiment, I couldn’t just turn it down.
I simply looked away and nodded slightly in response to the employee and those watching us from behind.
And when evening came, I was able to hear news about the Hero from Nia.
“It seems the Hero isn’t coming at all today.”
“Ah…”
“A pack of magical creatures appeared, and it looks like he’s staying over in the village to deal with requests since they seem to be roaming at night.”
“….Okay. I’m heading in now.”
“Sure.”
Our timings just didn’t align.
But honestly, that’s how the Hero party usually operates.
Unless there’s some big incident like the fortress of twilight, they’re working separately within a city.
But once the defense against Rastock starts, everyone will return, so I just have to wait until then.
“….”
Still, it’s unavoidable to feel this inexplicable loneliness.
The next day, I ventured back to the mine for the ore processing just like I did yesterday.
But something felt off this time.
“……!”
“Move it snabbt, now!!”
The miners who had never lost their smiles from hard work gathered with serious expressions, moving to and fro.
Just as I was about to approach them to ask what was going on, someone burst forth from the crowd of miners.
“Step aside!!”
“……What’s going on?”
With a panicked expression, a miner pushed his way through the crowd, heading towards the city.
On his back, he carried another miner.
But the state of that miner was… disturbing.
His limbs seemed to have melted like soft cheese. Had he fainted from a severe shock? His face was turning a nasty shade of blue.
‘A mining accident…?’
But what kind of accident could cause such a thing to happen?
I approached a nearby miner to inquire about the situation.
“They said many miners working in the distant mountain have died. We don’t know the cause yet. Because of this, the Guard is coming over as well.”
A distant mountain?
If it’s the mountain furthest from Lakr, there are several candidates.
And among them, there’s the mountain where Rastock is hiding before the defense battle.
But, whatever did this to them wasn’t Rastock’s doing.
‘What the hell?’
In the original story, there’s no mention of Rastock being discovered by miners or them being slaughtered as a result.
Moreover, the wounds didn’t match any magical creatures or magic he controlled, so it couldn’t have been them either.
So, what happened to cause such injuries?
In an instant, a figure of a Demon race popped into my mind.
But I quickly erased that memory. It’d be impossible for her to be here.
“……Master Key.”
I summoned the master key as I gazed towards the distant mountain.
Something, somehow… was going awry.