She Opens the Ores

Robin didn't need to look for very long before she came upon a yard piled high with discarded pieces. She walked into the yard, where only an old dwarf sat nearby, manning the measuring station. Eager to get started, she began at the nearest rock pile, and started looking through the stones there. When she saw a half cut small boulder, Robin suddenly let out a massive grin.

----

a short time later, Robin had returned to Boughton via Quinn Express. The first person she happened to run into was Christian. He raised his eyebrows with a knowing grin.

"Er...What is it?" Robin asked.

"You collected the full set?" He asked. Robin blinked, and then grinned in response.

"You bet!" She nodded.

"I knew it! Ha ha!" Christian was looking forward to Freddy's dumbfounded look, as he chuckled gleefully.

"Why, did you want one?" Robin asked.

"Eh?" The cogs in Christian's head must have spun furiously as he suddenly realized. "You...have more than one?" He asked.

"Obviously, I got multiple sets." Robin shrugged. "What can I say? I wanted to be certain I had enough."

Christian suddenly felt sorry for the stone gambling plaza. Robin must have surely cleaned out the entire venue. 'Well, that's Robin, for you.' He thought to himself.

"Where is Freddy? I suddenly realized I didn't confirm how much she needed for this." Robin looked around.

"Ah, her. Yes... She's in her room." Christian replied. It seemed like he did not need to wait long to see Freddy's dumbfounded face.

----

"So, you say there are magic gems in here?" Freddy asked. She was poking at the raw stone ores that Robin had piled upon the counter.

"Yup." Robin replied. Then laughed when she saw Freddy scrunch her face up in complete disbelief. "Now, don't go doubting me right away. I can prove it, obviously." Robin chuckled as she picked up one of the ores.

The others had no idea what she did, but the outer crust was peeled away from the gem cleanly like it was a banana peel instead of solid stone. inside of her palm lay a fist sized magic emerald. Freddy's eyes widened. She swallowed.

"So... you're telling me that all of these ores hold magic emeralds inside of them?" Freddy asked.

"Nope!" Robin shook her head. Freddy tilted her head, but before she could ask anything, Robin tapped a small circle of ores.

"Only these eight ores hold magic emeralds, now. I got nine of each type, just in case you needed a different kind of magic gem." Robin explained. Freddy's eyes were about to bug out of her head.

"Pardon me, did you say... nine of each type?" Freddy squeaked, in utter shock.

"Yes. Is something wrong?" Robin asked.

"Robin...you do know that magic gems are considered rare, as they don't often escape Rag'nok City's screening process." Jasmine had mercy upon the gnome's fragile heart.

"Outside of Rag'nok, magic gems go for hundreds of gold by the gram. Not even the dust from cutting these stones is let go, as it still goes for dozens of gold per gram. That one emerald that you hold would make enough gem dust to create a year's worth of runic ink. A single gem is worth such a huge sum."

"...Ah." Robin suddenly realized that she had amassed quite the fortune. Perhaps even King Zephron would be a little envious of her good fortune. "Then, would you like a set?" She asked Jasmine.

"Of course I do! This is something any magician or magic craftsman could only dream about having!" Jasmine asserted emphatically. "However, I currently cannot afford it. Perhaps only the Magician's Tower in Peg Leg City could even dream of affording an entire set."

"I wasn't asking if you wanted to buy it." Robin chuckled.

"This is a priceless collection! You're telling me that your heart doesn't even ache the slightest bit when giving it away?" Now Jasmine was also feeling a bit fragile at heart.

"Past a certain point, any wealth accumulated is just numbers on a page. Besides, you are my magic teacher." Robin then smiled mischievously. "Oh, that's right~ How thoughtless of me! I haven't yet given you a proper gift for becoming my magic teacher! As the teacher of the hero, it must surely be a one of a kind magic gift~riiight?"

"Pfft!" Jasmine suddenly broke out into laughter. "That's right, why should I be refusing? You can just find another set anytime you want, after all! Very well then! I shan't refuse!"

Robin nodded and swiftly opened up one of each kind of magic ore to hand only the gems to Jasmine. It was a rather interesting sight to see the original shape of the stones before they had been cut. The natural shapes were sometimes very different from their cut versions.

Robin also peeled a set for Freddy. "Here. As a thanks for helping me on this quest, you may have one as well. After all, I originally got these for you."

Freddy looked very much like she wanted to take it, but she hesitated. Robin had already given her so much, as a new vein of magic enchanting research had been created based upon a simple toy. She slowly withdrew her hand.

"Umm...While the offer is extremely tempting, I don't deserve this much for the little that I've done." Freddy shook her head.

"Oh?" Robin was surprised. "Not you, too, Freddy?"

"Having something beyond my means is not just a temptation to myself. If I brought this set back, I wouldn't have a moment of peace to work to myself until everyone had chipped out their own pieces from it." Freddy explained. "The remaining pieces from just this one emerald would be more than enough for me."

"In that case...aha! How about you take this back, too, Freddy?" Robin pushed a small magic stone into the set, and then pushed it towards Freddy.

"I told you, I can't-" Freddy was about to refuse again, but Robin beat her to it.

"What I am saying is, you take this back, and give the full set to the enchanters guild as a token of my esteem. You can keep the last one as payment for the safe delivery." Robin explained.

"Huh?" Freddy blinked, dumbfounded.

"I don't feel right just giving you scraps and leftovers from this project, so giving you the smallest gem I have is the lowest I am willing to go." Robin explained. "Of course, you can still keep the leftovers, so long as the job is done well. How about it?"

"...Hero Robin....You've got yourself a deal!" Freddy exclaimed, sweeping the small pile of stones away. "If only other humans were so generous, we wouldn't have had to hide away from them at all!"

Christian suddenly had a coughing fit. Robin shook her head.

"Well, it's probably best you did anyways." Robin glanced down at her hands with a mysterious smile. "Humans are somewhat like a mixed bag of ores. You can't tell which one has a magic gem inside until you get underneath their outer mask."

"How can you tell them apart?" Freddy asked.

"I suppose you could try pretending to be ruined. There's a saying that I believe is quite fitting. 'You never know who your friends are until you're going through hell and back.'" Robin mused. "But, the unique circumstances of your current identity might be enough for them to keep up face for a time."

"Huh? So even if I pretend to be unfortunate, I still won't be able to shake the bad humans?" Freddy asked confused.

"Just as there are those who discard ores before they had fully searched them for magic stones, there are those who pick through the discard pile for diamonds in the rough. Opportunistic folk are hard to shake." Robin made a bitter face, recalling her heartless relatives. She sighed.

"Just...treat them the way you would in Nine Tails City and you'll be fine I suppose." Jasmine suggested. "You could also stock up on some blank magic contracts to ensure that they stick to their part of the deal."

"Oh! That's a very good suggestion. Why didn't I think of that?" Freddy pondered, thinking about a few projects she could finally work on.

"Because your mind is full of research, you can't be bothered to deal with relations or diplomacy, probably." Christian shrugged.