Workshop Tour
Morning came.
I took Laura and Femil and went in the foremost carriage.
"I am fine with myself, though……?"
"I think so too, but I just thought I hadn"t heard yet."
"What……?"
"This carriage, what and where is it going?"
"Hmph…… You don"t even know that?"
"That"s right."
"You woman there."
"Y-Y-Y-Y-Yes!"
"Try shooting a Fire Ball to me."
"Hauu!?"
"Hmph…… Don"t worry. I have Magic Resistance.
I won"t get injured by something like your Fire Ball."
"Ee〜to……"
Femil stared at me and Rorona alternately.
I said to her.
"She"s saying it. Do it for her."
"Y-Yes!!"
Femil took distance from Rorona and shot a Fire Ball.
The flames which were quite held back pa.s.sed through Rorona"s body.
An attack which would either kill instantly or injure heavily a normal person.
Butーーshe was unharmed.
Rorona stood quietly as if she just received a breeze.
"In short……it"s like this."
"What does "this" mean?!!"
When Laura shouted that, Rorona answered.
"The clothes that I"m wearing are made with a special threat called Mithril Thread."
"Mithril Thread?!"
"A thread that increases the magic defense power of the one wearing it."
"Amazing!!"
"The place where we"re going is where that thread is produced.
"Hohee〜〜〜"
Laura nodded with a dumb face.
"Hmph……"
And when we were talking like that, Rorona snapped her finger.
The horse stopped.
A herd of wyverns could be seen from far away.
"You useless guys stay here obediently."
And then, she started to walk.
"She"s really, a good girl〜〜〜〜〜〜〜"
Laura who became a great person because her pride was almost non-existent.
She"s too weak that she"s too strong.
The carriage journey with Rorona who was frowning continued.
We pa.s.sed through a stone bridge where a river with clear water flowed, and entered a seemingly unexplored forest after a gra.s.sland that had a clear view.
The carriage advanced through the path where it was barely able to pa.s.s through.
We arrived.
It can be described as a more modern one as a mountain village, a village with roads made with stone paving.
"Hey."
Lilina called to us lightly.
"Eh?!!"
"I can use 『Fly』 after all.
I used after finis.h.i.+ng the work that is needed, and went ahead of you."
"I see……"
"However, Fly would not have an effect if you"re not wearing light equipment.
It is a fact that you guys were needed to carry the baggage."
"Well, I don"t mind as long as I"m getting paid."
"Hahaha. I see."
Lilina lightly laughed.
The carriage advanced deeper into the village.
We arrived at a place that could be described as a tree field with short trees lined up.
However, the thing that must be mentioned wasーー.
"Their leaves are……white?"
The leaves of the trees that lined up were white like snow.
"It is being adjusted so that it would be like that after all."
Lilina who casually said that called out to an elderly man.
"Hey. Bon-jii1."
"Well well, isn"t it Lilina-sama."
"Rorona carried the supplies again this time you know."
The elderly man called Bon-jii made a slightly complicated face.
On the other hand, Rorona harrumphed like usual.
"Hmph……"
Bearded men that really seemed like dwarves came.
They quickly unloaded the supplies from the carriage.
When its lid was open, it was a silver colored metal.
When that thing was put under the sunlight, it released a brightness mixed with rainbow color.
Bon-jii checked what"s inside.
Femil shouted.
"Is it Mithril silver?!!"
"Do you know it?"
"Y-Y-Y-Y-Yes! I saw one being displayed in the academy"s reference room!!!"
"Is it that amazing?"
"One gram of it is equal to one gold coin you know?!!"
"We are monopolizing its vein after all. It"s "like that" with the price sold in the market."
It"s similar to the diamonds in Earth.
At a certain time, there were lots of diamond mined.
However, because too many of it appeared, the price started to drop.
Workers who become poorer and poorer the more they worked increased.
And there, organizations monopolized it and controlled its distribution.
Although, I don"t know whether it"s true.
Femil shouted.
"Even so, it"s very rare right?!!"
"I"ll admit that. But, having one gold coin for one gram is too much."
The men who checked what"s inside the boxes carried them to the workshop-like place at the back of the field.
"Since you"re here. You want to take a look?"
"Is it alright?!"
"I won"t say it if it is."
"Haha", Lilina laughed.
Femil"s face shone brightly.
"What about you? Rorona."
"I will……take some rest."
"Is that so."
"……yes."
Rorona nodded very sleepily.
Well, she was on guard both day and night after all.
We left Rorona and went to the workshop to take a look.
GAIN! GAIN! GAIN!
Guiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin
GAGAGAGAGA
That was a men"s workplace.
If there are ones who crushes the mithril silver using a huge nata-like sword, there are ones who activated drills using magic powers, there are also ones who were hitting it using their fists.
Lastly, they would crush it using a mortar.
"How can I say this……what an amazing scene."
"That"s why I wanted you to take a look."
"Fufu", Lilina laughed.
Elf girls sifted the powder that the men crushed using a mortar.
They returned the remaining pieces to the men, and placed a new batch of powder.
We went outside.
The powder was being scattered to the fields where the white low trees aligned.
"T-T-T-T-The mithril silver, it"s, it"s, it"s…………hauuu〜〜〜〜〜〜"
Femil started to tremble.
Well, from Femil"s perspective, it"s probably raising beans using gold.
Well, she can"t be blamed for getting startled.
"When the mithril silver is mixed into the soil, the Green Wood"s leaves will become white."
"Their leaves are white but Green Wood? That"s a little funny."
"Hahaha."
A different elf girl from the one who was scattering the powder stared intently at the field"s leaves.
She carefully looked at every each one of it, and crushed the insects with her hand.
Although she"s wearing thin gloves, it"s a little disgusting.
While she was crus.h.i.+ng insects, she would take some leaves and place it in a basket.
Rather, is there a standard for the leaves? She won"t take them randomly.
She would take every each one of them caringly after checking each and every one of them closely.
She lifted the basket full of leaves and went to the large and long house.
"Kehma boy."
"Yes."
"Are you someone who"s not good with insects?"
"It depends on what insect."
"It"s a caterpillar called silkworm."
"If it is that, I"m quite fine with it."
"I"m fine with it too! If it"s just looking!"
"I am, I am……"
Femil made her body small while she embraced her staff.
PuruPuruPuruPuru
Her body trembled as her face became pale, and her bunny ears drooped as well.
Her lovely tail on her b.u.t.t entered between her legs.
"Don"t push yourself if you"re not good with insects?"
"I-I-I-I-I, I hate getting away from Kehma-san even moree!!"
Femil who is a half of bunny beast-kin and dog beast-kin hugged me as she trembled.
Kawaii.
And so, with that, the three of us went to the long house together.
I opened the door that was a little thick.
An unpleasant heat came welcoming us.
"We found out through testing and experiments that the silkworms would eat a lot of leaves during an 85% humidity and at 36 degree Celsius, so."
"I see……"
I endured the unpleasantness that was coming and looked at the middle of the room.
There were five thin and long trenches like a pool that did not have water.
Each of them probably has a width of 50 cm.
An elf girl looked at the trench. She placed the white leaves there while she checks the remaining amount.
Insects with silver l.u.s.ter were eating the leaves.
"Just as you saw, we are giving the insects here the leaves that had grown in a soil that was mixed with mithril silver."
"I see."
"How extravagant……"
Femil muttered with a slightly envious gaze.
"This voice……Lilina-sama?!"
"Lilina-sama!"
"Lilina-sama?!!"
The elf girls who were working stopped there hands and looked towards us.
"I am happy that you admire me, but can you stop resting your hands?"
" " " Yesss ♪♪ " " "
The girls continued their work.
Lilina casually walked and checked the insides of the trench.
There are white part.i.tions in the trench and each girl is in charge of different ones.
"You"re working quite well today too huh, Saria."
"Yes!!"
"This is……did you change the mixture? Riel."
"Yes!!"
"From how its color seems……aside from the usual mithril silver"s leaves, Flame Stone"s powder and Salamander"s scale. You also mixed in Magma Slime"s core huh?"
"I think that it is somewhat……about the profits, but……"
"That"s true, it"s a little over the default budget."
"Yes……"
The Elf-san became crestfallen.
Butーー.
"However, the ones who need to think about that is our, the merchant"s, side.
You girls only need to think about making good ones."
"Yes!!!"
Lilina advanced as she praised them like that.
There are also red, blue, green, and gold other than the white silkworms.
I feel like I was looking at an aquarium, so it"s quite fun.
"Hauu……♪"
Femil who said that she hates insects was smiling as well.
Lilina started explaining.
"The silkworms that were raised with the diet of eating leaves that have the property of mithril silver would make coc.o.o.ns of mithril thread.
And by adding materials that have different attributes, threads that have strong attribute of that would be made, but……"
"Its defense against other attributes would probably be weaker."
"You, your head really works fast."
Lilina slightly widened her eyes.
She continued to explain.
"Aiming for a plus while the maintaining the high defensive capability of mithril silver.
I really respect these girls who are daily experimenting."
She would respect and appropriately praise the people in the workplace.
It could be said that Lilina is a good proprietor.
We advanced up to the wall side.
White flat boxes were aligned, and there"s a big shelf.
Jewel-like things were lined up inside the box.
It"s as big as quail eggs.
If one would look at them without having prior knowledge, they might see them as Ruby, Sapphire, or Emerald lined up.
However, unlike normal gems, there are spider-like threads stuck to it.
"How beautiful……♥"
Hauu……♥"
Both Laura and Femil had their eyes sparkling bright.
It"s a little unexpected that Laura would also make a face like this.
I completely thought that she likes food more than flowers2.
"Lilina-sama, please move move on the side side."
"Ahh, umu."
When Lilina moved to the side, the elf girl who spoke in a strange way pulled a box from the shelves.
She carried it to a backyard-like place.
She put them on top of an anvilーー.
"Fire!!!"
And burned it.
" " EHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!?!?!?!? " "
Laura and Femil"s voice overlapped.
"People who see this scene for the first time would show similar reactions."
"That"s completely true true, it"s very fun fun〜."
The girl and Lilina grinned.
The fire disappeared after about five minutes.
The spider-like thread around the coc.o.o.n had disappeared.
What remained was the pure, gem-like part.
"Just like that, the ones with low resistance will be removed using flame magic."
Lilina picked up the gem-like coc.o.o.n and observed it closely.
"This time looks very good as well."
"Thank you very much much."
The girl bowed her head.
"After this, the coc.o.o.ns will be boiled, and it"s complete after making them threadsーーam I right?"
"Exactly."
When we were talking like that, Lilina said.
"By the way, Kehma boy, are you interested in cake and tea?
"Pretty much."
"Well then, I"ll treat you then."
"Is it alright?"
"I have something to talk about while we"re at it too."
Lilina casually said and added a simple explanation.
"Two things as a merchant, and one thing as a person."
"I understand."
爺 - gramps or grandpa 花より団子 - hana yori dango