Chapter 39
“What the hell is this? How dare they conspire behind my grandfather’s and my back in the Verdi territory?”
Someone had been surveying the land of the territory without permission, identifying the locations of magic stones, and even secretly mining them. This was a grave matter that could not be overlooked.
Kalliopé’s murmuring voice was so eerie that Lerazé flinched without realizing it.
“Lerazé Dion Arenfrit.”
“Huh? Uh, yeah…”
“The magic stone I gave you earlier.”
“Oh, right. Should I give it back?”
Faced with Kalliopé’s chilling expression, which was spine-tingling enough to make his back shiver, Lerazé hastily tried to take the pouch out from his clothes.
However, Kalliopé’s next words were completely unexpected.
“That was an advance payment.”
“…Huh?”
The two climbed back up the stairs and emerged from the well.
Then, they checked other wells in the village where the same phenomenon was occurring.
“It’s the same.”
“I see.”
All of them had dried out to the extent that the bottoms were exposed, and small magic stones barely visible were mixed with gravel, sinking to the bottom.
“This makes it certain.”
Having come to a conclusion, Kalliopé exchanged a meaningful glance with Lerazé.
By the time they finished checking all the wells, the sun had completely set and darkness enveloped the night.
The knights who had been waiting outside the last well with torches approached them.
“Did you find anything this time?”
“Doesn’t look like anything special again.”
Kalliopé rubbed her brow and added, “For now, even though it’s difficult, bring the necessary drinking water from nearby villages and use it.”
“Yes, Lady Viscountess.”
After giving a few orders, she got into the carriage with Lerazé.
On the carriage heading to the Verdi Viscount’s mansion, Lerazé asked Kalliopé,
“Didn’t you inform the knights earlier because you suspected that among the criminals or their helpers, there might be a knight from the Verdi family?”
“That’s right. I don’t want to think that a knight from our family is part of the gang, but accidents always happen from misplaced trust.”
Kalliopé’s face was colder than ever as she spoke.
Most nobles who only knew her from social activities would never have imagined this side of Kalliopé.
Of course, Lerazé was among the few who did.
“Anyway, the trap is set, now we just have to wait for the prey to fall for it.”
“I hope it won’t take too long. Only then can the villagers who evacuated return to their homes.”
Kalliopé swept her long hair back, somewhat troubled. Then she took out the magic stone.
It was the one she had found and swept up at the well earlier.
“Let’s see, the transparency is decent…”
She picked it up carefully between her thumb and forefinger, examining it closely, then asked Lerazé,
“Do you need any magic?”
“Not really. How about giving me some food instead?”
The food he had eaten just before arriving at the village had long since been digested.
Kalliopé clicked her tongue in response.
“Magic isn’t omnipotent. It’s impossible to create something from nothing. Calling bread out of thin air only happens in fairy tales with fairies.”
As a sword master who also uses mana, how could he not know that? Kalliopé clicked her tongue again.
“But well…”
Kalliopé snapped her fingers and opened a pocket dimension.
But this time, it wasn’t the small storage-like pocket dimension she had used to store and retrieve the magic stones.
Lerazé stuck out his tongue in surprise.
“I don’t even know what I’m seeing right now.”
Before his eyes unfolded a kitchen — a place fully equipped, comparable to the kitchens of major noble houses.
“Although magic can’t create something from nothing, it can effectively conjure something using existing ingredients.”
Kalliopé snapped her fingers again.
At once, a large sack of flour standing in one corner began to pour into a bowl, and all the kitchen utensils started moving on their own.
Lerazé vividly witnessed the marvelous process of white powder transforming into bread.
“Here.”
A moment later, freshly baked bread dropped softly onto his hand.
With a dubious expression, Lerazé tore off a piece and his eyes widened.
“Not bad, right?”
Kalliopé took a small piece herself and asked,
“This is the first time I’ve wanted to learn magic.”
She wore a satisfied expression.
Watching her quietly, Lerazé suddenly realized that the magic stone she had held just moments ago had disappeared.
It seemed to have been consumed by the magic Kalliopé had just performed.
“The purity is quite good. To be able to perform this much magic with just one magic stone.”
“So you were using magic to check the stone’s purity, huh.”
“You state the obvious. You really think it was for your sake? You’re just here to watch and eat bread.”
Kalliopé sneered and shook the pouch of magic stones in her pocket.
“At least the eastern part of the village, maybe the whole village if we’re lucky.”
Though it was a random mumble, Lerazé immediately understood.
“You mean the estimated reserves of the magic stones.”
“Yeah.”
“If that’s true, it’s huge, isn’t it?”
“Massive.”
Kalliopé smiled meaningfully.
“It means our territory will become filthy rich.”
Deep in the thick darkness of night,
There were those who moved stealthily, hiding their presence.
Their clothes and faces were covered with masks, so only their eyes were visible.
“Hurry up and move!”
The man leading them at the front gave a silent hand signal — a very disciplined and precise movement, suggesting he was indeed a knight by status.
Taking advantage of the people’s sleep, they finally arrived in front of the well.
The knight quickly placed artifacts in four directions around the well — artifacts that concealed their presence and blocked noise.
The artifacts reacted, enveloping the area around the well in a large dome.
“Phew, it worked. Let’s go in.”
They entered inside with great ease. As expected, the well water had dropped near the bottom.
The illegal magic stone miners were excitedly chatting.
“The water dropped just right, didn’t it?”
“Hehe… Stupid fools. They don’t even realize that by spreading rumors about the well water drying up, they’re helping us.”
It took time to block the water vein to make the well water dry up. The best timing for work was found by observing the people’s reactions.
“Everyone, pace yourselves. We have to work at another well tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry! When you make tons of money, who cares about fatigue!”
Moreover, this village had some places where the water veins were connected, so blocking one would cause two or three nearby wells to dry up as well.
This was exactly such a case.
They started noisily descending the stairs in a line.
Suddenly someone asked,
“Hey, didn’t Viscount Verdi come to the village?”
“He went around every well on the first day and searched thoroughly.”
The leader knight, Jorge Dipel, answered with a voice mixed with sneers.
“But he found nothing.”
“I heard he was a great magician, was he not?”
“Sounds exaggerated. How many times have you seen nobles brag about their skills?”
“That’s true! Ha ha ha!”
They chuckled as they went down to the bottom of the well.
Jorge took out another artifact from his pocket.
“If not for this, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything.”
The artifact the client had given him was always useful like this.
Recalling the method of use, Jorge placed a large refined magic stone on the artifact.
“Alright, everyone, step back. Someone might get hurt.”
The miners moved far away from the artifact.
Soon, an explosion came from deep underground.
“Good!”
The bottom of the well was violently stirred. It was as if something buried deep inside was being forcibly pulled out.
Not long after, the miners’ eyes caught sight of stones glowing with a transparent light.
“Magic stones!”
“Money, money! Let’s haul them out with excitement!”
Since they were paid based on the size and number of magic stones, they rushed in wildly.
Splashing water everywhere, they began frantically pulling the magic stones out.
After some time had passed,
One of the miners suddenly muttered with a panicked face,
“Wait, doesn’t the water seem to be rising a bit?”
