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21–36 What They Found

Since Goliath could not enter the mine tunnel, all work inside had to be done by the team members.

However, the collapse was mainly near the entrance. Deeper inside the tunnel, rocks were scattered, but there were still gaps wide enough for one person to pass through.

“It’s tight… but we can get through.”

The Klein Kingdom survey team went in first. Still, the female knights stayed outside on standby.

Also, Fritz, who held command authority over Goliath, remained outside as well.

“Then we’re going in.”

With those words, the Klein team entered, led by Captain Bernardo, with five members total. The Egerea team also entered: Captain Bruno and five others, plus Jade Nefloy.

That made thirteen people heading into the tunnel.

“The air inside is often stagnant. Be careful, Sir Bernardo.”

“Understood.”

Lighting the ground with a magic lamp, Bernardo advanced slowly.

The members moved any rocks they could, clearing the way to make walking easier.

At the very back, Jade Nefloy used the engineering spell “Pressure Wind (Blower)”, sending fresh air forward.

They proceeded about twenty meters like that.

Ahead of them was a wide space. The walls, ceiling, and floor were smoothly shaped, making it look like a hall.

“Oh?”

“What’s that?”

Deep in the hall, many gold-colored objects reflected the magic lamp’s light. They were stacked in a pile.

When Bernardo came closer, he saw they were cylindrical containers made of gold, about 30 cm in diameter and 50 cm tall.

He gently shook one. It moved.

“Hm. Hollow inside?”

He lifted it slowly. It was heavy, but he could still raise it.

He heard a plop sound, so something liquid was inside. In other words, it was like a small drum can.

“Sir Jade!”

Bernardo called Egerea’s magic craftsman, Jade Nefloy.

“You called?”

“Sorry, but is this container really gold? Please check it.”

“Understood. Analyze… Yes. It is definitely gold.”

“Can you tell what’s inside?”

“I’m sorry. I can only confirm it’s liquid…”

The engineering spell Analyze could not identify something the user did not already know.

“Well, even so… if we have this much gold, our finances can breathe again.”

There were around fifty gold containers. Even if you ignore the contents, each one likely had about 20 kilograms of gold. That meant one ton total.

If the market price was 300 toll per gram, that would be 300 million toll.

“That’s an incredible amount,” Bruno said, impressed.

One ton of gold would enrich a nation’s budget.

“Carry them out.”

Bernardo ordered his men to bring the gold containers outside.

Each container was about as heavy as an adult man, but they could still carry them out by hugging them.

The members made several trips, moving the containers out.

When about half were removed, something else appeared behind them.

Same size… but a different color.

A silver-black container. Bernardo recognized it. Bruno did too.

“Analyze… as expected.”

Jade Nefloy confirmed it. They were containers made of adamantite. Ten of them.

When Bernardo lifted one, it felt lighter than the gold container. Adamantite was rarer than gold, and its strength was hundreds of times greater, so it was clearly made thinner.

Even so, he estimated about 10 kilograms per container. Ten containers meant 100 kilograms.

Adamantite’s market value was 10 million toll per kilogram. That meant one billion toll.

And beyond the money, simply obtaining a rare metal like adamantite was a major gain.

Bernardo decided to have these carried out as well.

“Hm… we’ve found something truly impressive.”

Bernardo and Bruno searched the room for anything else.

“Hm?”

Bruno stepped on something.

“What is this?”

He picked it up. It looked like a sheet of iron.

Because the hall was very humid, it was rusted red, and the letters that were probably written on it were almost unreadable.

“…he…re…do…not…se…al…tou…ch…da…nge…r…”

That was all they could barely make out. It didn’t clearly tell them anything.

“Is there anything else?”

They swept the room with the lamp’s light, but nothing else stood out.

“Still… we’ve gained something valuable.”

Bernardo began thinking about how to divide these finds, which totaled more than 1.3 billion toll.

And then—

“Gyaaaah!!”

A scream came from outside.

It seemed someone had fallen while carrying a container.

“Hey, what happened?”

A member who had already placed his container down and was free tried to help the fallen man up, but suddenly jerked backward.

“Ugh—!”

“W-what is it!?”

“His hand… his hand!”

The man’s palm had turned dark, almost black.

It seemed there was a hole in the container, and when it was dropped, the liquid inside spilled out.

The man who got soaked was writhing on the ground.

“Don’t touch the liquid! Be careful!”

Bruno shouted instructions in panic. Bernardo was slower to react.

“W-what happened!?”

The female knights outside, including Gloria, tried to rush in, but Bruno stopped them.

“Don’t come close! Water, get water and pour it on him!”

Luckily, a narrow river flowed near the Botsfa Ruins.

Not fully understanding what was happening, the female knights filled a large container with water and poured it over the knight who was groaning in pain.

The knight whose hand was affected went to the river himself and soaked his hand in the stream. That seemed to ease the pain a little.

“…What on earth happened?” Fritz asked Bernardo.

Fritz had been lining up the containers using Goliath. Bernardo had just come out of the ruin.

“…I don’t know the details, but the contents of the containers were dangerous. He fell while carrying one, and got splashed. That’s the result.”

A female knight named Tiffany Bardack, who handled healing, was treating the injured knight.

“This is terrible… what is this?”

Both hands and the chest area were discolored, as if burned. They cooled it with water, but the pain seemed intense.

Still, as they kept washing it with water, the pain slowly began to lessen.

“Recover.”

Tiffany used the best healing spell she could: the surgical mid-level spell Recover. His condition improved greatly.

“That’s a relief…”

By then, the remaining members had finished carrying out all the gold and adamantite containers.

“Are all the gold containers filled with that liquid?”

“Most likely. Maybe they used gold because it was dangerous.”

Captains Bernardo and Bruno discussed it.

“Then… what in the world is inside the adamantite containers?”

No one there could answer that.

That day, they decided to camp there on the spot.