A real investigator.
The self-proclaimed investigator had just been a person hired by the slavers, but this time it was a mage with a definite backer.
It seems news of the mana stone had already entered the lord's ears.
Judging by his reaction, he wasn't certain. Did he come to confirm it while escorting the noble family's child?
I wish he'd consider that this "while he was at it" could shake the elf village. This village doesn't have the power to guard a greedy resource.
The mage's snake roamed through the undergrowth, flicking its tongue over the dirt.
Come to think of it, the rabbit didn't eat cleanly. Could invisible mana stone powder be scattered all over the forest?
I suppose it wasn't to that extent.
The snake found the taste of soil astringent and only flicked its tongue in the air.
I think I saw that appearance in the village chief's study. I retraced my memory and looked through the study.
Was it a list of game animals for elves? I remember reading it with amusement because humans were humorously listed too.
I found the book and read its contents.
Ah, snakes don't have noses, so they smell through taste with their tongues. Is it searching for the smell of mana stone?
It didn't seem easy. It repeatedly smelled in one spot, found it unsatisfactory, moved places, and smelled again.
At least we have time to respond.
That snake doesn't know, but in the area visible to me, there's no open-pit mana stone mine. I can currently check as far as four hundred meters underground, and I can't see the slightest hint of mana stone.
Its method of searching is smell.
Maybe an informant told them, because it seems to be searching under the assumption of an open-pit mine.
Wouldn't it be hard to find if buried deep?
—Can you possibly bury minerals underground?
I explained the situation to the droplet, who was sitting on a leaf and pretending to be night dew.
—You'd raise the underground soil to the surface and bury the mana stones underground. Can you do it?
After thinking, the droplet transformed into a girl and nodded readily.
—You have to do it precisely so a sinkhole, in other words the ground collapsing later, won't draw attention. Also, there must be no noise that can be heard even in the quiet night air, and you have to finish quickly before the snake finds it.
Now that I said it aloud, there were too many extra requirements.
The droplet girl shook her head rapidly. Then she looked a little apologetic. My branch hugged her tightly around both arms.
—No. I think I asked too much. I'm sorry.
Would it be better to tell the village chief instead of hiding it further?
I had hidden the open-pit mana stone mine because it was better not to know, but if they were going to face the situation without knowing, it was right to tell them.
Suddenly, the droplet girl waved her hand as if telling me to look at her.
—What's wrong?
Her small gesture pointed toward the grass.
The stone spirit was slowly changing into various forms.
It became a lump of stone, grew large like a boulder, then seemed to think that was too big and returned to being a stone before changing into a small girl, as if imitating the droplet's appearance.
The stone girl covered her mouth with one hand and gave a long yawn. A sleepy air covered her face. The grass crown was picked up and placed on her head.
Waaah?
The girl rubbed her eyes and walked lazily away. It was the direction where the rabbit with mana in its mouth usually appeared.
—Are you going to help?
I asked, but the stone girl only rubbed her eyes as she walked.
Maybe she doesn't like conversation itself. Is a quiet atmosphere to her taste?
—Will you help beside your sibling?
The droplet gladly followed.
The two of them disappeared beyond the trees.
I'm worried, but they'll probably do well, right?
***
The mana stones were buried beneath land covered in undergrowth. Under ground where trees stood like decorations, they existed as part of nature without interference from the world.
It was truly a coincidence that the rabbit digging a burrow discovered a deep-blue stone while digging under tree roots. It was even more of a coincidence that it bit it to see what it was and swallowed part of it.
Through repeated mining, the mana stones entered the rabbit's mouth one by one.
Things like a peddler who visited the village accidentally discovering the leftover powder and selling the information to the lord's castle were not important to the rabbit.
It only knew that ingesting mana stone was bearable and good to eat, so it ate.
At first, it had been to punish the strange sprout that had given it a shameful defeat. After learning that the sprout had become a tree, it ate so as not to be eaten by scary wolves.
After the wolf was beaten to death with a mana shovel by some blond girl, it simply ate mana stones out of habit.
That routinized habit was rewarded.
Before it knew it, the rabbit had grown tough enough to knock down a charging person with a headbutt. It was even quick enough to dodge if the opponent shot an arrow.
However, there were still opponents it could not beat.
For example, the droplet girl who visited the rabbit burrow in the middle of the night, grabbed the rabbit by the ears, lifted it, and giggled.
Squeeeak!
Believing in itself, stronger than yesterday, the rabbit twisted its body and kicked the spirit with its hind legs. However, the droplet only burst apart like water, splash, splash, then returned to normal.
Finding it amusing, the droplet girl giggled.
As if showing it off, or as if telling her to try too, she showed the rabbit to the stone girl walking behind her.
The stone girl, who had only been yawning long and lazily, ignored them both and entered the rabbit burrow. Her gaze swept over the mana stones commonly embedded inside the burrow.
A small hand extended, and the principle of nature changed the world. From the surface to the deep underground, mystery exerted its influence.
As if the earth were depositing itself and burying them, all the mana stones descended underground. As if the earth were being pushed up and uplifted, soil and rock rose and filled their places.
No grand noise arose in a process that was merely something that would happen someday happening early. As always, the earth changed quietly.
The stone girl gave a long yawn.
The work ended without any need to receive help.
The droplet girl, who had simply ended up coming to harass the rabbit, was dumbfounded.
After finishing her work, the stone girl turned, then suddenly discovered the rabbit and paused.
After thinking, she reached out to the ground again.
A small tunnel the size of a rabbit was made and connected to the deep underground. One mana stone popped out along the tunnel. The mana stone floated by itself and was placed in the rabbit's mouth.
The stone girl patted the rabbit's head. She kneaded the rabbit's cheeks, pressed its front paws a few times, then rubbed her eyes sleepily and simply went back.
The droplet hurried after her.
The rabbit was left alone.
The desolate night air entered the rabbit burrow.
The mana stones it had been able to eat easily were gone, and soil and rock decorated the rabbit burrow. Only a tunnel left at a depth that should not be called a rabbit burrow remained.
There was nowhere to direct a complaint about what they had done to someone else's house in the middle of the night.
***
The stone girl returned.
—Did it go well?
The girl approached without answering. She used a root at my base as a pillow for her hand, lay down, and fell asleep.
Yes, I knew you wouldn't answer.
I asked the droplet, who came after her.
—Did it go well?
The droplet thought about something, then nodded.
The mine burial achieved excellent results.
The mage's snake diligently flicked its tongue, but it couldn't even get the direction right. Even when the old mage wandered around the area several times, he couldn't find the mana stones.
Still, perhaps because he thought it might exist, the mage wanted to search more, but after the promised few days passed, he had to leave with the noble family's child.
Woohoo, we got through the crisis.
But mana stone really does seem to be a precious resource.
"You know the mage who came that time? It seems he liked our village's achievement. He sent us a cart fully loaded with salt as a gift! How generous!"
Termia nodded to herself.
"I think I was scared for no reason. To think I feared him blindly because he was a mage when he was that rich and broad-minded. I must reflect and reflect again."
I didn't tell the delighted Termia that all the porters with that cart were additional investigators.
That was because even though they rummaged through the forest every night, in the end they could not find anything and went back.
Of course, the additional investigation did not end with one time.
"I guess that salt cart last time wasn't free. A half-order came down from the lord's castle saying they would give us the honor of participating when there is a need to subjugate nearby bandits. I'm grateful for the salt, but I feel tricked."
Termia pouted.
I didn't tell her that this time they were the third wave of investigators. Because in the end, they could not find anything and went back.
After that, perhaps because they judged there was nothing, no more investigators came.
Waaah, so this is what a cursed resource is.
A greedy resource that is worse to have than not have if you lack the power to defend it. Our elf village doesn't need such a thing.
I think I like a simple life.
—Look. Don't you think I'm bigger than when we first met?
Termia narrowed her eyes and looked up.
"I think...... maybe. Or not? You were already big."
—Look carefully. I really grew.
·Maximum Height
3,200cm → 3,840cm (Max)
·Capture Amount
Average 200/d → Average 240/d
Woohoo, now I'm a 40-meter sapling.
—I know you don't think of me as a mysterious ordinary sapling from the local hill. But I've never lied. As you can tell from my growth speed, I'm a young sapling that has lived for less than one year.
I'm just an ordinary sapling that likes sunlight.
Termia, half convinced and half unsure, climbed up and down my trunk several times. Then she looked down at the village scenery, and her eyes rounded.
"You really have grown larger. I can see better than before."
—Right? Don't think of me too difficultly. I'm just a young sapling.
Termia's expression turned subtle.
"Um, Tree."
—Yes.
"I understand that you're not an enormous tree that gained intelligence and understood nature after passing through tremendous ages."
You even assumed that?
"But don't you think a young sapling that grew like this in less than a year is even stranger? No matter how I look at it, you're not just an ordinary sapling from the local hill."
Is that so?
Now that I hear it, I think it is.
"Ah! So that's what it was!"
Termia clapped as she realized something.
"I had been wondering why the village chief readily gave you that expensive lump of mana stone."
Waaah?
"I think I gave it to you because I nearly died and came back to life. But the village chief doesn't have that level of faith, does he? These days, more people are saying they got better after not eating meat and soup, but he gave you the mana stone before that. But now I know why!"
Termia snapped her fingers.
"A giant tree that definitely didn't exist before suddenly grew behind the village, and on top of that it can even communicate, and a droplet is flying around too, so there's no way he can avoid respecting you!"
Waaah?
So that was it?
No wonder he used respectful speech with me from the moment we first met.
***
The territory where the elf village was located was a frontier territory of the human kingdom. In the past, it would have been a place that received no attention.
But now, its status had risen to one of the territories watched most carefully from the capital. It was the place where the king had exiled his overly popular second son.
Among nobles, opinions were still divided on whether the king's check had worked properly.
He could no longer act in central politics, making it hard to gather power, but in exchange, an environment had been created where he could freely raise private soldiers. It had both gains and losses.
Thinking as the head butler who served that second son as lord, he tended to believe the advantages were far greater.
So much so that he was certain when time emptied the throne, his lord would be able to politely send his unworthy elder brother to the afterlife.
"So there is no open-pit mine."
"That is so. I sent people several times, but they could not find it."
The old mage smacked his lips and drank herb tea.
"However, it seemed possible that a mine itself exists. It will draw the central government's eye, but do you intend to send a large-scale survey team?"
"That is for my lord to decide. However, at present, my lord is not so idle that he would personally develop a mine for his elder brother to take."
It was unfortunate that it was not an open-pit mine, but it was not an important problem.
Because a frontier territory was a frontier territory, remaining manpower was often put into minor diversions. This open-pit mine investigation had also been done with the intention that it would be nice if there was one and fine if not.
But there had been an unexpected gain.
"Does such a mysterious sacred tree truly exist?"
"Perhaps because the village chief warned them, they hid it at the village level. I also did not approach, for fear of drawing unnecessary caution from the sacred tree. However, I confirmed it sufficiently. It is true."
Precisely speaking, the investigators' main purpose was not investigating the open-pit mine.
It had been at first, but after the old mage discovered the existence of the mysterious tree, their main purpose changed to verifying the sacred tree.
"A tree that can communicate and is large enough to serve as a watchtower."
Where could there be a more suitable existence for regional defense?
"From what I saw, it grew during that time as well. Considering its height and angle of view, the sacred tree should already be able to look down over the entire village, and by the time the moment comes, it will likely exceed expectations."
"That is a better gain than an open-pit mine."
Since they planned to advance on the capital, there was no military benefit to receive from it.
However, during the decisive battle where marching speed would be important, there could be no better place for his lord's family to hide safely.
The only regrettable thing was the village's scale......
"We will support the village and grow it."
"I prepared an external pretext, thinking you would."
After that, wandering elves were kindly sent to the elf village one after another.
The pretext was that they should replenish in advance the personnel for the eventual bandit subjugation.
However, unfortunately, just as high-ranking people miss field details one by one, this time was the same.
The elf village was wintering.
When people were continuously sent half-forcibly while food was already tight, the entire village went into emergency mode.
"At this rate, they say we won't have enough jerky to get through winter! The human mage from last time must have a bad personality! Why would he give us this kind of trial!"
—He did give us plenty of food, but it just had to be flour, which is hard to eat raw......