The communication thods between the universal ship and the airship were limited to semaphore flags and light signals.
Semaphore used the positioning of two flags to convey letters, while light signals worked like Morse code, flashing patterns of light on and off to represent characters.
Both thods required a decent level of skill to transmit and interpret accurately, which often made it quicker to just have one of the winged angels fly back and forth with ssages.
Flying races sure are convenient.
That idle thought drifted through my mind as the day ca to a close.
By the following afternoon, we reached the area marked on the map, where the sword magic crystal was likely located.
The airship and the universal ship descended into an open clearing.
As they touched down, so of the kuro’s and spiderlings rushed out to establish periter security.
Don’t go too far, alright?
If anyone gets lost, I’ll co find you, so make sure you’re sowhere noticeable.
In response to my concern, they promised to be back before dinner.
…I hope they’re right.
Once we confird the area was safe, the ten workers we’d borrowed from Howling Village, whom I now dubbed the “test excavation team”, began their investigation.
-0-
We were scheduled to stay here for just one day.
Tomorrow, we’d head to the locations marked for the Silver Magic Crystal and the Fla Magic Crystal to conduct test excavations.
The day after that, we’d investigate the area noted for the Beast Magic Crystal.
And finally, we’d move on to our main target, the site marked for the Feather Magic Crystal.
Of course, real test excavating isn’t sothing that wraps up in a day.
Under normal circumstances, just one location might take anywhere from six months to several years.
Even deciding where to dig isn’t done lightly. First, they’d look for exposed veins, check rivers and streams nearby for traces, and only after narrowing down the possibilities would they resort to actually digging.
In that sense, digging is considered the last resort.
That’s why, for this expedition, our plan was to focus on scouting the area, looking for signs of previous mining activity rather than breaking ground imdiately.
…That said, we still loaded both the universal ship and the airship with digging tools.
Why?
「This spot here… I think it’s suspicious.」
「No, no, over here seems more suspicious, don’t you think?」
Because I’m the one doing the digging.
I used my AFT to dig into the areas Loo and Tier pointed out, sloping down diagonally so it’d be easy to get in and out.
Once I reached a decent depth, I left the rest to Loo and Tier.
After all, I wouldn’t even recognize the right crystal if it were glowing in front of .
Oh, you want to dig over here too while you analyze that?
Got it.
-0-
We dug in about twenty different spots, and before we knew it, the sun had set.
The kuros and spiderlings had hunted so demon beasts and monsters during the day, and now they were tossing the carcasses into the airship’s cargo hold. anwhile, we were preparing for dinner outside.
Gathered around a campfire, it felt a little like camping.
We could have eaten inside the airship, but doing that would’ve made it hard to interact with the test excavation team staying aboard the universal ship.
「We’ve located three rather old mining sites. All of them were dug quite deep, so today’s survey wasn’t enough to fully assess them. If possible, we’d like to request one more day of stay.」
The mines were tunnel-style excavations. Since there could be demon beasts or monsters lurking inside, the kuro’s and spiderlings had gone ahead to scout them out.
What’s more, the tunnels branched out into multiple paths. By the ti they finished marking the trails and stringing rope to avoid getting lost, it was already the end of the day.
So our schedule’s already off track.
But Loo and Tier were on board with the idea of extending our stay.
After all, in the holes I dug earlier, they found so promising signs, trace amounts of Sword Magic Crystal and small bits of Silver Magic Crystal embedded in ore.
There were also a few rocks that contained other rare minerals.
Chances were high this investigation wouldn’t be a waste.
Yeah, and I’d like to bring sothing back for Hiichirou anyway. I don’t mind staying an extra day.
「Thank you very much. Also, um…」
What is it?
「There’s a suspicious spot we’d like you to dig, Village Chief…」
…Show tomorrow.
「Thank you!」
-0-
The following night.
The newly discovered mining site, based on the traces and layout, appeared to have been intentionally abandoned.
It wasn’t the result of a sudden war, nor a monster or demon beast attack. Everything about it suggested a structured, orderly withdrawal.
Which raised the obvious concern: maybe there were no minerals left worth digging for.
After all, no one walks away from a profitable mine.
「Not necessarily. Even if there’s still sothing to extract, a site can be abandoned if the yield drops too low to stay profitable.」
One of the test excavation team mbers chid in. If you don’t factor in profit margins, there are often still materials left in a site that’s been shut down.
In fact, we’d already dug into so of the old tunnels and uncovered several small ores containing Silver Magic Crystal.
「Mining’s a bit of a gamble. I can’t guarantee you’ll co out ahead every ti. But I’d say the odds are in your favor here.」
Value shifts over ti, what wasn’t worth the effort back then might be valuable now.
So the risk is relatively low…
Still, no need to rush into it.
I’ll wait until the rest of the survey’s complete before making any decisions about whether or not to start mining.
「Understood.」
By the way… isn’t this supposed to be the Sword Magic Crystal site?
It feels like we’ve found more Silver Magic Crystals than anything else.
I wondered if there was an error on the map, or maybe we were at the wrong spot, but apparently, it’s rare for minerals to appear in complete isolation.
What’s marked on a map typically just represents the most abundant or noteworthy mineral found in the area.
So it’s not strange that Silver Magic Crystals are turning up here, is that it?
「That’s correct.」
I see.
-0-
We moved on to the sites marked for Silver Magic Crystal and Fla Magic Crystal.
They were listed as separate locations, but close enough that we anchored the airship and the universal ship sowhere between them.
After a full round of surveying, we got the results:
「We’ve discovered an old mining site for Silver Magic Crystals. But it’s completely exhausted now.」
「From what we can tell, another group took over after it was abandoned and dug it out thoroughly.」
You can tell that just from the remains?
「There are sections where the mining was done carefully, and others where magic was used in a more reckless, forceful way.」
Huh. That makes sense.
So that one’s a bust.
What about the Fla Magic Crystal site?
「That one’s no good either. Sa deal, overmined with brute-force magic.」
I see.
Too bad.
-0-
We moved to the site marked for the Beast Magic Crystal.
…….
The mountains were split.
And not just one or two of them, countless ridges had deep fractures running through them.
「Most likely, those cracks were once vein lines. The breaks line up in patterns.」
Yeah. I can see three distinct lines tracing along the cracked mountain faces.
Those must have been where the veins ran…
So if we follow that logic, shouldn’t there be sothing around this area too?
I pointed to a flat expanse at the end of one of the lines, no mountains there.
「Unfortunately, there’s a shift in the geological layers around here.」
So it’s no good?
「Correct. However, based on the direction of the shift, the displaced section should be over here, in this area.」
Oh?
「We tried digging a bit there, but the bedrock is extrely hard. We already broke three of our tools without getting any results.」
Hearing that, Loo and Tier pushed forward from behind.
Got it.
Ti to dig.
-0-
We extended our stay by one more day.
I dug thoroughly through the most promising areas, as deep as I could go.
Thanks to Loo and Tier’s magic, breathing underground wasn’t an issue.
But… we found nothing.
「Given the strata, this should be the right place…」
Well, geological shifts aren’t flat, they’re three-dinsional, after all.
It’s natural for predictions to miss sotis.
「I’m sorry…」
Both I and the trial excavation team were ready to give up, but not Loo and Tier.
「Over here. The stone color around here looks like the rocks from that mountain.」
「Yeah. Try digging straight down here.」
All right, all right.
I’ll give it a shot.
I kept going until even Loo and Tier were ready to stop.
-0-
And then…
…
We found what looked like a Beast Magic Crystal vein.
The geological layer around it was clearly different,
and small fragnts of Beast Magic Crystal kept showing up periodically.
That said, the size of the crystals was small, no bigger than a pinky finger, even at best.
We also found ore containing Silver Magic Crystals, Wind Magic Crystals, and even Feather Magic Crystals, but none of them were particularly large either.
Still, once we confird the vein, Loo and Tier wasted no ti, forcing the excavation forward with Earth Magic.
I see.
So this is how mines get completely mined out.
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