Chapter Sixteen
Cra-ack.
A sharp snap bounced off the stony walls, echoing through the cave. Kaelen gritted his teeth, his muscular forearms bulging as he applied brute force to the smooth exterior of the rock.
I really don't know why girls fawn over that kind of body. I mean, yeah, he's hot and strong. But, you shouldn't tie yourself down to someone just because they're hot and strong.
That's stupid.
[Ping!]
[And, you're the smartest to ever exist?]
You just love fighting with me, don't you?
"Grrrrhhh..." Kaelen grunted increasing the amount of pressure he put on the stone as it split down the center.
Crack!
"Y-Your Grace..." Kaelen's voice hitched, dropping into a breathless whisper as his eyes opened wide, staring inside the rock. He stumbled back a step as his head snapped in my direction.
My lips slowly curved upwards as a smirk spread across my face.
Found you, my love.
[Ping!]
[Host, please stop smiling like a psycho. You look very ugly.]
Ugh. Stop ruining my moments. I figured out the mana stones problem by myself. What use are you of?
[Ping!]
[It was your job since the beginning. You can't expect to be praised for something you're supposed to do.]
Does it hurt you to be nice? Just because it is my job to do things, doesn't mean I wouldn't like to be praised.
I am not a stone, you know?
No matter how many years pile up on my back, no matter how many lives I outlast, I still feel things. That truth has never changed. Yes, I do not act for the praise, nor do I retreat because of curses or slander. What I must do, I will do whether my name is praised or condemned, crowned or buried.
In fact, if tomorrow the world spits on my name, I will still walk forward. If it kneels, I will not slow my steps. Because it's the path I've chosen. But, that doesn't mean I lack the desire to feel warmth.
Are you listening?
[Ping!]
[300 Gold Coins transferred to Assets!]
[Satisfied?]
On that note, have I ever told you how much I love you?
[Ping!]
[Tsk. Bye.]
Tch. Tch. I should have been a bit more melodramatic and extorted more gold while I still had the chance. What a waste of opportunity!
"What do you say, Kaelen? Are we still in debt?"
The entire cave which once a gloomy pit of darkness, was suddenly bathed in a pulsing violet glow. It wasn't just a lone mana stone inside the rock. It was a dense, crystalline cluster of purple mana stones.
It looks like the cave has mana stones enclosed in rocks.
Someone must have tried to mine but gave up when they found nothing after digging so far.
But, in a world where there is no concept of mana. Why would anyone try to mine mana stones? Did they think of it as gemstones like Kaelen?
Or maybe, they gave up because of Lithovar...
They must have woken it up and got attacked after digging this far.
Either way, it doesn't matter since it all worked out in my favour. However, I do need to find who mined on a Duke's property without the Duke's permission.
"N-No," Kaelen stammered, his chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. "With this many... Your Grace, we can pay off every copper of the debt! We can fix the walls, feed the people... we can actually save the duchy!"
[Ping!]
[Kaelen's Likability: 35]
[50 Gacha Points Awarded!]
Only 5? Hard-to-please brat. I literally just handed him a mountain of money.
I tutted.
"I'm not planning on selling those," I said coolly, climbing down from the rubble.
Kaelen froze, clutching the rock in his hands desperately. "But... Your Grace? This is the answer. With this much, we can fix everything."
"Don't be so short-sighted, Kaelen. It's very disappointing."
Selling raw stones? Please. That's what peasants do. To maximize the gold, we need to use them to fuel something even more valuable.
I need to use them and make inventions that make people's lives easier. Selling the raw materials is like selling the goose that lays the golden eggs because you're hungry for one meal.
Once they get a taste of it. They'll find it hard to return to their normal ways. I'll build my empire on the very vulnerability of humans to struggle.
"I am sorry, Your Grace," Kaelen bowed his head, his shoulders slumped from the weight of his labor and my rebuke. "But if it's not that... may I ask what you're planning? You aren't... you aren't planning to go gambling with Baron Vische again, right?"
My eye twitched.
"Don't mention Vische. It's irritating. And, it's better to show you results than explain it."
"Understood, Your Grace."
"Give me that stone."
"Ah, yes! Here." Kaelen handed it over, his fingers still shaking slightly from the adrenaline of the find.
The mana stones hummed with a low-frequency vibration that made the very air of the cave feel heavy.
No wonder, there was a mana beast in this small of a cave. It wasn't the amount. It was the purity of the stones.
Haah... I've become really reckless recently. Is it because of the young blood in my veins? Looks like mining the bigger mountains are going to be more troublesome than I thought.
"Help me a little," I said, pointing toward the darker corners of the cave. "I need you to pluck and crack some stones. My 'lazy' body isn't quite up to the task of mining just yet. After that, go out and seal the mouth of the cave with your ice aura. No matter what you hear, do not unfreeze it until the next dawn."
I moved through the cave, my senses tingling as I traced the invisible ley lines of mana flowing through the wall as I pointed to a boulder stuck in the earth.
It wasn't too big to make the wall of cave collapse. However, it wasn't all that small either.
Kaelen, despite his confusion, heeded my words without doubt, plucking the boulder from the walls.
"By the way," I asked, watching him heave as he held it, "how did you know making an ice house would keep us warm?"
Having a knight sure has it perks.
"Ah... huff... Experience, Your Grace," he grunted, his aura flaring momentarily to assist his grip.
"Share it with me."
"I don't think Your Grace would be interested in the story of a mere commoner."
"I am interested," I insisted, my eyes narrowed. "Is it something only you know? The ice house?"
"Maybe," he said, wiping sweat and stone dust from his forehead. "I haven't seen other people of the Duchy make it."
"I see. Is it always snowy in the North?"
"Except for two Imperial months every ten Imperial years. Yes."
"Wait," I paused, doing the math in my head. "How many Imperial months are there in a year?"
"Fourteen."
Fourteen months? I felt a headache coming on. "So... except for two months every 140 months, it's just snow? Forever?"
"Yes."
"Then why don't the people of the duchy make ice houses like you do? Every village should be a cluster of domes."
Kaelen stopped, looking at me with a bewildered expression as he sighed. "You're joking, aren't you, Your Grace?"
"Not really. It's a genuine question."
"You need aura to make it, Your Grace. Swordmasters aren't that common in Empire. If they were, people wouldn't try to poach a broke duke's knight."
"No, you don't," I shrugged. "There's free ice everywhere. Why do you need aura to make ice domes?"
"Do you really think a house of snow will hold its shape without aura to bind the particles?" Kaelen looked at me as if I were the one who had lost my mind, making me purse my lips into a thin line.
The level of dumb flows in their blood.
"Wanna bet?" I challenged, crossing my arms.
Kaelen paused, sounding a little exhausted as he withdrew his sword to cut the large rock up. "Sure. What does Your Grace want?"
"If I win, I want to know the real story of how you came across that ice house. No 'commoner' excuses."
"Deal," Kaelen said as his sword lit up with pure blue aura. "And if Your Grace loses? I want to know how you found this gemstone cave. It can't be a fluke."
"HAHAHAHA!" I let out a maniac laugh, making my stomach hurt. "Sure. Deal."
I don't remember the last time I ever lost a gamble.
For a heartbeat, the cave went silent. Then, a thin, glowing line of blue frost raced down the center of the boulder. With a heavy, wet thud, the two halves fell away from each other. The clusters of mana stones, shining.
His aura flow is unstable... It seems the list of things to deal with just keep on increasing.
Kaelen exhaled a steady cloud of vapor as the glow of his sword dimmed back to a dull pulse before he put it back inside his sheath.
Clink!
"I'm done, Your Grace."
I walked back to the extinguished fire pit placing the core down, reigniting it with the lighter in my pocket as the warmth began to seep back into my bones.
"Bring them here. And, leave after that."
"Yes, Your Grace."