“Nuooooooooooh!!!!!?????”
Sieglinde’s scream flows super fast to the back. As I pump the modified two-wheeled vehicle with all the magic energy I can and send it into full throttle, we blast through the main road in front of the capital, and the capital quickly becomes smaller and smaller behind us. I’ve felt this moment many times before, but it still feels good.
“W-Weiss, stop! Stop this!!”
“What are you talking about? We’re still accelerating.”
“Are you trying to kill me!?”
“Just hold on tight and you’re not gonna die.”
I feel her arms wrapping more tightly around me. Yes, exactly like that.
“It’s starting to get tough… Is it time?”
I envelop the tires touching the ground with magic energy, so they’re floating just a bit above the ground. This makes the seat go from trembling terribly to being completely still.
The magic energy between the ground and the tires disperses the shock. Now that we’re not shaking nearly as much, Sieglinde looks a bit more relieved too.
“How far is our destination, Sieglinde?”
“…About five hundred kilometers.”
“So two hours.”
“…This isn’t what I had in mind.”
Sieglinde mumbles something, but the wind prevents it from reaching my ears. I ask what it was, and she angrily yells that it’s nothing.
“What’s with that…”
As I’m confused by Sieglinde’s unusual behavior, I accelerate.
After being silent for a while, I can feel on my back that she’s puffing her cheeks. What does she want from me?
◆
“Here?”
“Yes, that should be it.”
After driving for two hours, we reach a mining area that can be described as a mixture of forest and bare rock. There’s no sign of human activity, just a few abandoned cabins. It feels like this whole place has been abandoned.
I look up towards the sky, and see a large bird elegantly flying through the air and letting out a cry I’ve never heard before. It really makes me feel like we’ve traveled pretty far.
“This place was once used by the empire to mine coral crystal. Records say it’s been abandoned for decades, so it might be in a completely different state than the documents describe. I’m here to check if activity here can be restarted.”
“I see… So we can’t just go to a cafe and take a break first.”
Unfortunately, says Sieglinde as she looks around while checking the paper in her hands. That’s probably a map or something.
I start to look around too, and a basic question comes to mind.
“Hey, Sieglinde. It doesn’t feel like there’s coral crystal here. Are you sure you have the right place?”
This area looks like it was originally all forest, but it was cut open pretty cleanly, and I can see bare rock pretty far. But no matter how much I look, I can’t see that red characteristic of coral crystal.
I thought for sure there would be a bright red wall waiting for us when we got here.
“Well of course. Coral crystal is formed deep within the earth. And… Hn, that. Weiss, look over there.”
I turn to where she’s pointing, and see a cave entrance supported by wood. So the coral crystal is over there in that hole dug into the rock wall?
“Over there?”
“Yes. The documents say the mining rate in that cave was ten percent for just the portion that can be taken out. They didn’t have mining techniques or really a high demand for coral crystal at the time, and the project was scrapped while they were working on it.”
“So basically, your job here is to check if that cave can still be used. It looks kind of dangerous.”
You don’t have to think too much to come up with a lot of reasons why a cave that’s been abandoned for decades is dangerous. Starting from falling rocks and cave ins, sudden changes in temperature, dangerous monsters, toxic substances… There’s a lot to think about.
Clearly they should’ve hired miners. Is the ministry of magic understaffed or something?
“Is this really a job you have to do? It’s clearly something that should be handled by specialists. At the very least, I don’t see why the assistant director of the ministry of magic has to handle it directly.”
Sieglinde glances at me, and drops her shoulders like she’s exasperated.
“You’re right, I think so too, but this is more complicated than you’d expect. Well, basically… It’s a conflict of interests and factions. If the project to make arms out of coral crystal is approved, it could get a big budget. There are a lot of people wanting to get involved from the ground up.”
“…And that’s how you were roped into this?”
“To be more precise, I can see that it’s going to fall on me anyway, so I’m secretly moving ahead with it before it actually happens. Almost no one over there knows I’m here.”
Sieglinde starts walking towards the cave. Her back seems smaller than usual.
So even Sieglinde, the young lady of the leading family in the capital and assistant chief of the ministry of magic, can end up becoming a pawn in the swirling mush that is the struggle for power in the ministry of magic.
…How much is riding on those delicate shoulders? You really are incredible.
“Weiss? What are you doing zoning out? Come on.”
“Yes, coming.”
I run a bit until I reach her.
She does feel a little less reliable than usual, so I take a step closer to her as we walk side by side. I feel like I should probably stick close.
Join my patreon to support me and read ahead.
