Next day, before leaving the town of Delead, Reinhardt told Jin he had something he wanted to discuss.
“The fact is, north of this town there are some ancient ruins called the ruins of Keuwan, and apparently they date back to before the Great Magic War. I’ve not seen them myself, you see.”
He began to talk. Jin also had an interest in the ruins from the time of the great war.
“It’ll be a small detour, but I’m not on official business anymore, so we could go. I’m rather interested in seeing them.”
Reinhardt said, and Jin also agreed.
“Alright, in that case, how about Elsa? Do you want to hurry back to our country?”
Reinhardt asked Elsa, and sure enough,
“I’m also interested. I want to go there.”
She replied. Reinhardt clapped his hands together and,
“Alright, it’s decided. I’ll have the coachman get directions there.”
He said and got off his seat.
＊ ＊ ＊
The carriages left Delead Town, and headed along the highway to a provincial city called Uremlin.
In Uremlin too there was a Guild, but making the technology of the vacuum cleaner available for the public was postponed. Because the place felt somehow rough. Jin planned to reveal it to the public after he could confirm that the Guild was more trustworthy.
After spending a night there they headed off the highway to the north. After half a day they arrived at the town of Coorz. As there was still time, they headed farther north , and by evening, they had arrived at Yada Village.
“This is Yada Village.”
First Reinhardt got down from Jin’s carruage, and then Jin followed,
“I heard it while inside the carriage, but there’s a mine here, huh.”
He said while looking up at the mine tunnel to the northwest.
“If I remember right, they say that many kinds of gemstones are mined here.”
The last to get down was Elsa. As expected of a young woman, she apparently had an interest in jewelry.
Jin looked at his surroundings to survey the state of the village. Then he voiced his opinion,
“It’s quite lively for being called a village.”
There were enough buildings to call it a town, and there was a lot of people too.
The one to answer Jin’s doubts was of course Reinhardt.
“That’s because there’s no agriculture here, this town only has the mine and tourism. The people related to the mines are mostly from Uremlin, and tourists aren’t residents. The original inhabitants seem to make their living by managing inns or small stores.”
In other words, as the base population was small this place was treated as a village.
“From here, just short of 20 kilometers following the mountain road northeast is Keune Village. I hear that the ruins of Keuwan are there.”
Reinhardt explained,
“Apparently Keune Village is a really small village, so they say it’s better to stay the nights here and make round trips there.”
Reinhardt spoke the advice he had heard while in Delead Town.
“Well, we can take it easy today.”
He said and watched the butler he had had go ahead arrive.
“Claude, thanks for your trouble.”
The butler Claude bowed and,
“Reinhardt-sama, let me guide you to the inn.”
Then the group once more got on the carriages, and headed to tonight’s inn guided by Claude.
The inn was in a silent place on the outskirts of the village. It was a solidly-built 4-storey stone building. The guest rooms all faced towards the mountainside, so the view was good.
The room felt a little small, but it wasn’t enough to call it incovenient. As a whole, the inn got a passing mark.
“Oh, I wonder if you can see the mine from the window.”
These windows hadn’t been fitted with glass. It had wooden doors, which Jin opened and looked outside. The view of the mountain with the mine was good.
Incidentally, the evening sun had just then sunk precisely behind the mountain with the mine.
The dinner was soup with bread, roasted freshwater fish, roasted something that resembled chicken, edible wild plants made into a salad and some such.
Elsa didn’t seem to have an appetite and it bothered Jin. Then,
“Elsa, are you feeling ill?”
He tried asking. Elsa replied,
“I dislike Cockalisk meat.”
Apparently the chicken-like meat was from something called a Cockalisk. Jin then,
“If you don’t like like it you don’t have to force yourself to eat it. Because if you just ask, I can eat your portion too.”
Jin said, and quickly moved Elsa’s portion to his own plate, then ate it all up in three mouthfuls.
“…Thanks.”
Elsa thanked him, looking a bit ashamed.
“Now then, about tommorrow.”
After the meal, while sipping Teee Reinhardt began to talk.
“I asked the people in the inn, and they say that it looks like tomorrow’s weather isn’t going to be very good. And, that the day after tomorrow it’ll clear up. Therefore tomorrow we can both take a break and enjoy ourselves in this village, I think.”
No matter how good the ride comfort was, constantly riding in a carriage wore one out.
“It appears there’s also a mine tunnel for tourists. It seems if luck is with you you can also find gems there. I think going there or the factory where the stones are processed would be good. Apparently you can also buy jewels for cheaper than usual from there.”
“Mm. That’s fine.”
As Elsa also consented, it was decided that tomorrow they would see the sights of this village.
“So, they said the weather will be better the day after tomorrow and we want to go see the ruins, but should go by carriage or on horseback? Apparently the road is rather steep. It seems it would take some time with a normal carriage.”
It must be remembered that was only for ‘normal’ carriages, and so,
“In that case, should we go with my carriage?”
Jin suggested. Neither Reinhardt nor Elsa had any objections.
It was decided that Jin, Reinhardt, Elsa, Reiko, and butler Claude would go.
They considered that depending on the situation they could stay overnight in Keune Village.
Luckily Mine hadn’t been fussy about things lately, so there wouldn’t be objections from her either.
“Alright, let’s sightsee the village tomorrow then.”
That was the decision they came to.
＊ ＊ ＊
Yada Village was a town built on tourism and the mine. The mountain where the mine was was gigantic and out of granite. The granite was rock that had been formed by deep underground magma solidifying. During the solidifying process various minerals segregated and crystallized.
It was called pegmatite (giant crystallized granite), and because of the gases mixed in it had ‘cavities’ called geodes.
Because geodes contain many kinds of crystallized minerals, pegmatite deposits near the surface make for good mining locations.
Back to the topic at hand, Jin’s group went out to see the mine.
Generally, the tunnels open for tourists were old ones from where all the profit had been squeezed out of.
However, it was still possible to discover raw gemstone if you were lucky, and on top of that walking down a long tunnel stretching underground was an experience you could seldom have.
Consequently, it had become good amusement for rich people and nobles.
On the entrance of the tunnel used for sightseeing.
In addition to Jin’s group. a noble-ish family -as expected- had also come to sightsee.
There were four people: a middle-aged woman who seemed like the mother, a boy who looked younger than Elsa, a girl who must’ve been his little sister, and an aging man who appeared to be a butler.
“My my, today it looks like we have the privilege of coming along with you. Nice to meet you. We’re the group of the wife of Viscount Secatt who is the assistant of the feudal lord of Desir.”
“Thank you for your courteous greetings. We’re the group of Shouro Empire’s diplomat Reinhardt-sama.”
The butler exchanged greetings with his fellow butler Claude.
Two people guided the two groups of four tourists. One of them was a muscular and gigantic young man, who had been carrying luggage for a while now. The other was a middle-aged small man who seemed to be the actual guide.
“Dear visitors, lemme be your guide for today. Please watch where you’re walking.”
The middle-aged man had a strange style of speaking, or more accurately used some brusque words, and he entered the tunnel in front of the groups to start the tour.
The inside was slightly chilly and damp. At their feet were protruding scraggy rocks, walking was difficult.
On such a path the guide casually walked on. While occasionally looking behind him to confirm that eight people were still following.
The large man was at the back of the line. His task probably was to ensure there were no people falling behind or getting out of sight.
A short distance in from the entrance Magi Tools producing light had been put up here and there on the walls. Because of that they could somehow see where they were going.
“On the off chance you get lost, you can follow these lights back out, huh.”
Looking closely, next to the light arrows pointing towards the entrance had been drawn. If there were such arrows written on every one of them, even if you got lost you could at least find your way out.
Thinking about things like that, Jin was walking in the middle of the line of eight people.
