Chapter 070
At my words, Roman looked surprised, as if he had heard something completely unexpected, and asked back.
“My lady? Ah, of course, you can come along, but it might be a full day of climbing mountains. Are you sure you’re okay with that?”
“I’m fine. I’ve been curious about what’s in the outskirts for a while now.”
“Yes. Understood. Then I will prepare.”
Roman seemed to hesitate for a moment but soon agreed to my request cheerfully.
“Okay. See you in two days!”
Roman wanted to continue the conversation but hurried back the way he came, looking regretful, as he had tasks to organize.
Once Roman left, I turned my head back toward where Evan was, and interestingly, our eyes met immediately.
Was he curious about what I had talked about with Roman?
His eyebrows were raised, and a mix of curiosity and displeasure seemed to show on his face.
‘Train well.’
I smiled widely to make sure Evan, who was far away, could see me, and waved my hand at him.
After giving him a final wave, I turned my body and set off with hurried steps.
‘I’ll give you a big gift soon.’
Imagining Evan’s joy at receiving the gift, I walked forward with a determined expression.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Before leaving for the expedition, I spent quite a busy day preparing in my own way.
“I wonder if this will really be helpful…”
I gathered the books piled high on my desk and leaned over them as if to collapse.
I had read every book related to minerals, hoping that any prior knowledge might be of some assistance.
However, since what I was looking for was a mineral that had not yet been reported in academia, it could be said that there was not much useful information available.
“There’s no one to ask, ah.”
Just as I was about to feel down due to the lack of any significant findings, a figure suddenly flashed through my mind.
“I remember seeing that he seemed to know quite a bit about minerals.”
I recalled the scene I often saw whenever I visited Joy’s tower.
Aside from completing potions and protective spells for the border areas, Joy always seemed very busy with some kind of research.
Surrounding papers covered in incomprehensible, very complex magical formulas were always scattered around specialized books about plants and minerals.
“Does he want to create magical tools?”
He never answered when I asked, so I could only speculate.
In any case, judging by that appearance, he undoubtedly had quite a bit of knowledge about minerals, so I thought it would be much better than aimlessly reading books.
Before heading to the tower, I also packed some snacks for the child who was staying with Joy.
I was curious whether the child would get along well with Joy over the next two days.
“Joy!”
As soon as I arrived at the tower, I checked the first floor, but neither Joy nor the child was visible.
“Are they upstairs?”
After confirming that no one was on the first floor, I immediately climbed the stairs to the second floor.
As I got closer to the entrance of the second-floor room, a huge laugh echoed throughout the entire tower.
“Ugh ha ha! What is this? A dust monster?”
Rushing into the room at the sound of Joy’s playful laughter, I was met with an astonishing sight and momentarily lost my words.
“You’ll never become a painter later. It can’t be helped. No matter how cruel my advice is now, it will all turn into bones and flesh later, little one.”
I stared at Joy, who was speaking in a mock serious tone, with a bewildered expression before bursting into laughter.
It turned out that Joy was getting along much better with Aires than I had expected.
“What’s so funny?”
“Ah!”
As I approached Joy, who was giggling, he jumped up from his seat, trembling.
“Wow, you scared me! When did you come in?”
“I kept calling, but you didn’t hear me.”
I replied while taking the paper from Joy’s hands.
I was curious about what had made him laugh so much.
“This is…”
Looking at the drawing on the paper, I tilted my head in confusion.
“What is this? A dust monster?”
It was a drawing that instantly made me understand why Joy had said that earlier.
Inside a wobbly, mixed white and gray shape, there were dots that looked like eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
The four lines extending from the sphere were probably meant to represent arms and legs.
It was indeed a cute drawing that fit the name “dust monster,” but I couldn’t laugh carelessly.
I had noticed that as Joy continued to giggle, the child’s chubby lips were starting to pout a little.
“What a wonderful drawing! Who did you draw?”
As Joy’s laughter continued, I quickly changed the subject, noticing that Aires’ shoulders were drooping.
“Who else? Dust… Ah!”
It was an added bonus that I secretly stepped on Joy’s foot while he continued to be oblivious.
Lowering my body, I sent a warm smile toward the child, and I could see the gloomy expression on Aires’ face brighten.
Eventually, the child seemed to hesitate for a moment, wiggling their fingers before pointing at Joy.
“Little one, did you really draw this picture of me?”
Watching the child’s actions, Joy looked at the drawing again with a bewildered expression.
“Ahem. Well, now that I see it, it seems quite well drawn. Why don’t you draw a few more?”
Just a moment ago, when he was teasing about the dust monster, Joy now spoke to the child in a rather cheerful voice.
The child nodded at Joy’s words and immediately ran to the sofa to start drawing again.
“I’m glad to see you’re getting along well with Aires.”
I said softly to Joy, who was looking at the child with a pleased expression.
Even though Joy said he was getting along well with the child, watching Aires alone was no easy task.
“Actually, it’s more of a problem because it’s too easy. Until I suggest doing something, he just stares out the window all day.”
Hearing my words, Joy opened his mouth in a slightly subdued tone.
His voice clearly revealed his complicated feelings.
He mentioned that today, aside from mealtime, Aires seemed ready to stare out the window again, so he had intentionally suggested drawing.
“He’s worried because your mom still hasn’t woken up, right? The doctor said she would definitely wake up in a few days…”
With Joy’s voice lowering, I also lowered mine in response.
Contrary to the expectation that she would wake up soon, Arles’ mother had already been sleeping like the dead for a week.
Though they said there was nothing wrong, she should regain consciousness in a few days; still, it was unavoidable to worry about a child living without her mother.
“Well… I wonder why there are so many sick people around.”
“What? What did you just say?”
When I asked, having heard Joy mutter something in a troubled voice, he shook his head and quickly changed the subject.
“Just talking to myself. By the way, what brings you all the way here?”
“Oh, I wanted to ask you something. Do you know much about ores?”
“Ores?”
Joy seemed taken aback by my sudden question about ores and even asked if I meant the ores he knew.
I nodded in affirmation and then continued to speak.
“I was wondering if there’s a way to know in advance where ores are buried.”
“Are you planning to go mining for gems? Why the sudden interest in a mine?”
In response to Joy’s question, I explained in detail about the investigation schedule set to start tomorrow.
“If there’s a way, I thought I’d focus on that part, so I asked.”
Joy shrugged, saying that if he had known such a method, he would have taken it and sold it himself.
“That makes sense, right?”
“Oh, wait a minute. It’s not like there’s absolutely no way.”
Just as I was about to accept this and turn back, Joy clapped his hands together as if he had thought of something, his voice ringing out.
“If we use detection magic underground, it might be possible. In the past, someone found silver coins or gold trinkets that were left behind using that magic and sold them.”
Recalling the old days, Joy murmured in a nostalgic voice that the stew they had bought with the money from selling those gold pieces was really delicious.
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midori
thanks! detection magic? interestiiiing