Chapter 63 – 64

Chapter 63 – I asked about the secret of the underground!

"…Of course, I will dig."

I answered. Shiel chuckled.

"…I see that I didn't even need to ask."

"Well, it's like a reason to live for Lord Heal."

Fule said with a grin.

"Hey, you're talking about me as if I was obsessed with mining! Well, perhaps you're right…"

It really did give my life some meaning.

And I would continue to dig even if Shiel didn't ask me to.

That being said, discoveries like this one brought up a new concern for me.

After all, there were people who had lived here. And I was digging through their facilities and taking things without permission.

And so I asked Shiel,

"…But, is it really fine for me to continue digging like this?"

"Yes. It is our wish."

She said. And then a sphere of light appeared in front of me.

After a while, the light transformed until it looked like a tree branch.

"…What is that?"

"It's a map of what our city looked like before the meteor hit. It likely looks very different now. In the first place, there are many places that aren't connected with passages, as we used Teleportation Stones to travel."

"Teleportation Stones… Ah, that stone we found in the winery recently."

It allowed you to travel between stones.

"Yes. With those, we could move from place to place within the small mountain. Now, could you look at the bottom part?"

Shield said. And so I looked towards the bottom of the three-dimensional map.

Here, there were a lot of passages and large open spaces.

"This is where the majority of our population lived. It is here that you will find the city's control devices."

"Control devices?"

"Yes. There is a device that controls all of the golems in the city. And another that will unfreeze our bodies."

"So, your body…"

"Yes. My body is within this grave, but if you use the device there… Well, I don't really mind staying here. The reason that I'm telling you about it, is that if you do not do something about that device, the golems underground will continue to attack you."

"I see… But then why aren't the golems here attacking me?"

I asked while looking at the golems that waited near the wall.

"Acts of aggression of any kind are strictly forbidden here. In any case, if you are going to continue to dig, I think that it would be safest if you head to this device first."

"I understand. The location…it's straight down from here."

"Yes. There used to be stairs, which would have made the journey very easy… But when I searched for it, I saw that it had collapsed."

"I see… Also, I wanted to ask you something. Did you know Taran?"

"Yes. Though, Taran was much smaller when we first met… Aside from humans, this was the last fortress for various other species as well."

"Indeed… Well, I suppose Taran is a survivor from that time then."

I said as I looked at Taran, who nodded in reply.

"Yes… In regards to that… As far as I am aware, they were all peaceful creatures. However, so much time has passed. I cannot promise that things haven't changed."

Taran and the cave spiders hadn't attacked me when we first met.

However, that didn't mean it would be the same with others.

"So, I might very well be attacked… I understand."

"I am very sorry. I just do not know what is happening now… And I cannot give you anything that will be useful…"

"It's fine. Besides, I just enjoy digging…"

Digging meant discovering the unknown. That was the reason that it was fun.

Though, I didn't like to fight…

"Hehe. I thought you would say that, Lord Heal. Ah…I am running out of magic, which I need to talk…"

As Shiel started to be enveloped by light, her transparent hands reached towards my right hand.

"Lord Heal… Please continue to keep me by your side."

Eventually, she turned into light completely, and only the slime remained.

"Shiel… Yes, I will."

To this, Shiel answered by hopping around happily.

0

0

0

Chapter 64 – I drew a plan for mining!

"So, according to Shiel, we must do something about this device, or the Golems will continue to attack us…"

Baris, who now looked like a devil, was folding his arms as he sat down on a chair made from the branches of the World Tree.

After the discovery of the underground graveyard, we had gathered around the marble table at the roots of the tree, and held a meeting.

Erevan, the muscular goblin who sat next to Baris, opened his mouth.

"I don't know, since I never fought them. But are these golems really that strong?"

"That strong? The only reason the others were defeated was because of Lord Heal. I don't think even five of you could beat one of them, father…"

Said a human girl with black hair… It was Fule, a former goblin.

"That's preposterous! I could definitely beat them!"

"Ha… You've never even fought them before. Why are you so confident?"

Fule said with exasperation. Then Ashton the Kobold said,

"Hmm… Leaving Erevan aside, how many fighters would we need to win against them without Lord Heal?"

And so I answered.

"Well, I think everyone's safety is more important than winning…"

Yes. That was what I was worried about.

What if someone was digging, and then a Golem suddenly appeared… I was afraid of that.

That's why I had made Golems myself, so we could deal with such situations.

However, we had a limited number of Golems.

But then again, if we kept defeating Golems, that meant I could make more…

But it just seemed too dangerous for all of us to go and try to reach this control device.

…Hmm?

Everyone was looking at me with surprise.

Then Haines muttered.

"You really are different from us, Lord Heal…"

"Mmm. We were only thinking about how we could defeat them."

"I see. Yes, perhaps it's not even necessary for us to defeat them…"

Said Ashton and Erevan. Then Fule chuckled.

"It can't be helped. We have been fighting for so long, after all. So we can think of little else."

"It's as Fule says. We just thought about fighting, and ignored our safety. We should think of ways that we can dig while staying safe."

Rienna said. And I nodded.

"Aye. According to the map that Shiel showed me, there aren't many facilities that are close to the surface. So we should be safe as long as we don't dig too deep."

There was also the path that Roydon, the dragon merchant had come… Judging by how deep and the direction it went, it wasn't part of the mountain at all.

"It would be easier to plan if we had a detailed map… Huh?"

Shiel had hopped up onto the round table and then a light appeared over her head as she stood in the center.

It was shaped like a mountain, and there were lines and squares…

This was the same map that the human Shiel had shown me in the graveyard earlier.

"Thank you, Shiel… So the entrance to the cave was actually the top of the mountain."

I pointed to the three dimensional map that Shiel had conjured.

"As you can see here, there are almost no other hollow spaces near the winery that we dug up. So as long as we don't dig any lower than that, we should be safe."

The mountain itself had not been very steep, and as you went down, the amount of lines and squares gradually increased.

"Of course, this is an old map, so a lot of it might be different now. But this control device should be located underneath the entrance of the cave… In other words, in the center of the mountain. I doubt that part has changed. So maybe I should dig downward in a spiral."

I looked towards Mappa. Even when sitting in his chair, he was busily playing with his tools.

"At the same time, I want Mappa to continue extending the tracks for the iron carriage. As for who will be digging this spiral, it will of course, be me."

No one had any objections in regards to that.

They all nodded.

However, Rienna did have a question.

"But Lord Heal, we cannot allow you to go alone. As a guard…I must go with you."

Rienna said. Fule then spoke up.

"No, no. You are much too busy with running everything up here, Princess. I will go with him. Besides, I can use magic!"

"But… Very well. But do not stay down there too long. You must always return for lunch and for dinner."

Rienna said with a worried expression. I nodded.

"Don't worry. I don't think anything is actually going to change."

"I understand… Yes, I have nothing to worry about."

She said, still looking very worried.

"Well, it would be nice to have other people come with me once in a while."

"Lord Heal…yes! Please let Baris and I go to inspect it as well!"

"Aye. You can all come whenever you want. But…just don't appear suddenly without warning…"

I said. And they agreed.

Mappa continued to fiddle with his tools. I wasn't sure if he was even listening.

"Alright, let's just… Huh?"

Shiel had suddenly erased the three dimensional map. But there was something strange.

Her energy was gone, and she stretched out weakly over the table.

"Shiel!"

I rushed forward and picked her up.