How long had it been since they entered the mine?
―CLANG! CLAAANG… CLANG!
The sound of pickaxes striking stone rang out at a steady rhythm.
Alongside it came the sounds of shovels digging into the earth.
SHUNK. SHUUNK.
Then, all of a sudden, it stopped.
The sounds that had been ringing out without pause fell silent.
Before long—
“Found it!!”
A thunderous shout burst from deeper inside the cave.
Luciel, who had been observing the work from behind, hurried over.
A bluish stone was visible where the worker had just been digging.
“All right. Let me have a look.”
With a crisp motion, he pulled a pair of glasses from inside his coat and narrowed his eyes.
“Hmmm.”
An inscrutable sound slipped from his lips.
After examining the bluish stone from several angles, he carefully put on his glasses.
“So, we dug where you told us. Is this that mana ore?”
The worker beside him asked with his pickaxe resting over his shoulder.
Instead of answering immediately, Luciel let out a brief exclamation.
“Well, I'll be.”
He slowly nodded.
“Yes. It is mana ore.”
The raw stone gave off a distinctive bluish glow.
Even its color shifted subtly depending on the angle.
There was no doubt about it.
It was mana ore.
Exclamations of awe erupted from the surrounding workers.
“Well, I'll be. Then His Grace was right.”
“Ha! That's our Grand Duke for you~”
“But how in the world did His Grace know? He really can do anything.”
The men of the North each chimed in as they murmured among themselves.
Who would have imagined that mana ore would actually appear?
Luciel, their foreman and a man who had visited countless mines, felt the same way.
“……This was really here?”
Considering the average height and depth of the mountain range, as well as the surrounding conditions, it was not impossible for mana ore to be found here.
No, the environment actually had a fairly high chance of containing mana ore.
But even the engineers of the royal capital would have needed dozens of surveys to determine that.
The Grand Duke of the North had found it on his first attempt.
It was astonishing even after Luciel saw the ore with his own eyes.
Most surprising of all, Walter had chosen a mountain that was particularly easy to develop.
―SWISH.
Luciel looked down the path stretching far ahead of him.
Most of the cave they currently stood inside had not been dug out by the men of the North.
They had certainly excavated the earth to mine the mana ore, but they had not touched the path leading farther inside.
‘In other words, this path was already here.’
Naturally, the ones responsible for creating it were the Mine Centipedes.
Mine Centipedes were monsters that commonly inhabited mining regions. They used their powerful jaws to dig caves and create burrows.
Luciel recalled what Walter had told him before the mining operation began, when he handed him the blueprint.
―There is a Mine Centipede nest nearby, but they should have taken their queen and moved away by now.
Just as Walter had said, numerous passages that appeared to be Mine Centipede burrows already ran through the cave.
All the workers had needed to do was follow the passages and dig into the surrounding earth.
Thanks to that, the work was progressing far more smoothly than expected.
Luciel let out another incredulous chuckle as he turned the mana ore over in his hand.
Some people really were born to succeed.
“So what do we do now?”
The worker beside him asked.
Luciel smirked and shouted loudly.
What else could they do?
They would strip the entire place bare.
“Everyone, listen carefully! From this point on, split into two groups and begin mining at fifty-meter intervals! As you dig, you will find stones that look particularly bluish. That is the mana ore we are after!”
At his words, Baldus, the young village chief, nodded and shouted toward the other men behind him.
“Boys. You all heard him, right? Gather every last one you see!!”
“Aye, boss!!”
The men immediately scattered and put even more force into swinging their pickaxes.
Before long, the cave was filled with the deafening sound of mining.
***
While everyone was enthusiastically mining the mana ore, Rubia had settled down to one side and was watching the scene with narrowed eyes.
“Damn, those forearms are insane.”
White snow was still pouring down outside, but the deeper they went into the cave, the hotter it became.
The men of the North had taken off their shirts and were swinging their pickaxes with tremendous force.
―CLANG! CLAAANG!
Each time they did, their bulging muscles moved dynamically as though they might burst.
The sight before Rubia was truly—
@Any boys curious about the legendary muscle-packed work starring a famous Northerner?@
$A scorching atmosphere not even the snowy mountains can stop. Ah, hot, hot, hot$
@Those bursting muscles are absolutely unreal, tremble tremble@
Thanks to that, Rubia began conducting an in-depth study of the Northerners' physiques, which contrasted starkly with the scrawny men of the Magic Tower.
They were clearly members of the same human race.
Was it really possible for them to be this different?
But that did not last long.
“Did you not say you were here to experience mining?”
Rubia flinched at Lenin's sudden voice beside her and hurriedly cleared her throat, pretending nothing had happened.
Ahem. No, that was not it.
“O-Of course. But where is His Grace……?”
“Do not change the subject. His Grace said he had something to check on the neighboring mountain and went for a walk with a pickaxe.”
“Really? N-No, more importantly, I came here to make sure there would be no disruptions in the supply of mana ore.”
Rubia stammered as she answered.
Although her attention had been elsewhere until a moment ago, what she said was not a lie.
‘The mana ore supply needs to remain steady if I am going to build it according to the blueprint.’
Based on what she had seen for herself, there would be no problems with the mana ore supply.
That meant she could begin production immediately.
―THUMP-THUMP!
Rubia's heart began pounding wildly as her desire to conduct research flared up.
At last.
At long last, she had been given the opportunity to develop something that made use of her specialty.
She could not help feeling excited.
Before she knew it, she was watching the mining operation with a smile on her lips.
“Heh heh…….”
As long as I have mana ore, I can finally build a big, beautiful Grand Duke Cannon!
But it happened at that very moment.
Tap, tap.
Fragments of stone suddenly fell from the cave ceiling.
“……Hm?”
Rubia initially thought it was only happening above her, but she was wrong.
Soon, large and small vibrations rumbled throughout the cave as fragments began showering down from several places.
The workers stopped what they were doing and looked around.
“Huh? What's all this?”
“See? I told you to swing a little more gently.”
“You can't use any strength at night, but the moment you come outside, you get so excited that you start swinging around like a madman.”
“Well, listen to this bastard run his mouth. Want me to open another breathing hole in you?”
The workers laughed and exchanged jokes without treating the situation as anything serious.
They were only a few falling fragments of stone.
There was no way the entire cave would collapse over something like that.
But then—
―BOOOOM!!
A massive explosion rang out from one of the sealed walls.
It was not limited to only one place.
BOOM! BOOOOM!
Explosions erupted simultaneously throughout the cave.
―FWOOSH…!
A thick cloud of dust instantly filled the cave and obscured their vision.
Amid the dust came an unpleasant rattling sound, like pieces of smooth metal scraping against one another.
Then something burst through the cloud.
It was none other than—
―SKREEEEEE!!
A red centipede that appeared to be at least two or three meters long.
Lenin knitted her brow slightly as though things had become troublesome, then stepped in front of Rubia to protect her.
“Be careful. It is a Mine Centipede.”
“What? A Mine Centipede is…….”
Was that not the name of the monster Walter had mentioned before they entered the mine?
But he had clearly said they had taken their queen and moved elsewhere.
Then why were they appearing here now?
“Bah. I should have known that bastard would do this. I knew this would happen!”
Luciel, who had somehow appeared beside Rubia, stood with his hands clasped behind his back and clicked his tongue.
There were not merely one or two Mine Centipedes.
An entire colony had appeared.
Rubia looked back and forth between Lenin and Luciel before speaking urgently.
“W-We need to evacuate immediately……!”
Unlike the panicking Rubia, however, Lenin and Luciel remained where they were with strangely relaxed expressions.
Luciel even scratched his head and muttered.
“Damn it. Things were going so well.”
Rubia grabbed his collar and shook him again.
“N-No, this is not the time for that!”
“For what?”
“What do you mean? Monsters have appeared! We need to stop the work and evacuate everyone before it becomes even more dangerous!”
Was it really acceptable for the foreman to behave like this?
Despite trembling with fear, Rubia spoke firmly.
Luciel burst out laughing and tilted his head.
“What? Dangerous? Who is in danger?”
“Obviously, the other people…….”
Rubia pointed toward the men of the North.
Or rather, she tried to.
The sight that unfolded before her was—
“Holy fuck! You scared the hell out of me!”
One of the men of the North had seized the head of a Mine Centipede that had lunged at him and slammed it directly into the ground.
“……?”
―CRAAASH!!
And that was not all.
“Huh? Isn't this that… centipede? A Mine Centipede! These are good for your virility!!”
“W-What?! Damn, you're right! Ha! Get over here!”
The workers grinned from ear to ear at the mention of virility.
They seized the centipedes with their bare hands and literally tore them apart.
Several of them had already gone wild and were chasing after the Mine Centipedes while bringing their pickaxes down on the creatures' skulls.
“Hey! You could give this one to your boy as a toy!!”
“Come on, he outgrew centipedes when he was six. Something like this would break after a day or two!”
“Oh, has he already grown that much? Hahahaha!”
The men of the North chatted pleasantly as they twisted off the centipedes' jaws, smashed them apart, and folded their bodies backward.
Rubia furrowed her brow in utter confusion.
“……???”
What is this?
No, seriously, what is this?
With her eyes trembling violently, she pointed at the workers and looked back and forth between Lenin and Luciel.
Luciel placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke quietly.
“Yes, Mine Centipedes are dangerous. But you see……”
“…….”
“Northerners tear monsters apart.”
Mine Centipedes were monsters that lived in colonies and boasted a correspondingly high level of danger.
But Luciel could say this with confidence.
The most terrifying social animals he had ever seen were none other than Northerners.
“Look at those insane Northern bastards. They are having the time of their lives.”
Luciel crossed his arms and shook his head in disgust.
He had not understood when he first came to the North.
He had not understood why Northerners were called slaughter-crazed warmongers.
How had they survived in such a barren environment?
Why had neither the hordes of monsters nor the barbarians ever managed to cross the North?
It had not taken long for him to find the answer.
“Hahaha! This one's nice and plump!! You're going in the liquor jar!!”
“Hey, boss! What are we supposed to do if you catch so many for yourself?”
Some of them were smiling innocently as they dismantled the centipedes.
“Boys. Be careful not to get bitten.”
“Huh? A centipede bite heals if you rub some spit on it.”
“Aye. That is true.”
Others forcibly pried apart the jaws of the centipedes biting their forearms, twisted them until they broke, and then crushed the creatures' heads with a CRUNCH.
Luciel watched the Northerners and muttered.
“The North is functioning beautifully, as always.”
These were the proud people of the North.
The northern reaches of the continent.
It was a land inhabited by bastards worse than monsters.