“Is it enough to just point anywhere?”
Isha’s expression was more one of confusion than embarrassment. How could the usually clear-headed Lord suddenly act seriously with a bunch of craftsmen and head into the mountains to mine?
Wasn’t it just that luck had turned in their favor, with a meteor falling from the sky to help them defeat the enemy at the most dangerous moment? Did it really warrant using themselves to explore for minerals in such a manner?
“That’s right; you can point to a location based on your feelings.”
Lind was actually just trying it out, since it wouldn’t cost him anything. If they couldn’t find anything, then it could be considered a team-building exercise, and he could let Isha teach these craftsmen some basic knowledge about Derek’s notes to help them acclimatize.
“Then let’s go with that location.”
Isha casually pointed to a mountain peak, not really expecting to discover any ores.
Lind nodded, and his craftsmen began to set up explosives for mining.
Rena’s knights, still shaken, took the initiative to protect everyone. Although these craftsmen had become quite skilled at calculating explosives for mining after continuous practice and spending money, the uncertainty of the explosives still left plenty of room for caution.
The craftsmen were even more confused than Isha. The small mountain peak did not seem to have the characteristics of a mineral deposit, and while explosives were not exactly precious, this felt a bit wasteful.
Many craftsmen mustered their courage to advise Lind, saying that no matter how they looked at it, that mountain peak was unlikely to contain minerals, but it required a lot of explosives to explore, hoping Lind would reconsider.
Lind first affirmed these craftsmen’s thoughts but still decided to proceed with the mining. This made Isha, who was nearby, unable to bear it anymore, wanting to step forward and dissuade him. However, at that moment, Rena suddenly interjected, saying, “Even if there are no minerals, we can test the power of the explosives, right? Moreover, I trust my brother’s judgment. Since he feels this place is worth a try, then it should be worth a try.”
With Rena’s encouragement, the craftsmen from the Lars family finally finished placing all the explosives for mining.
As the fuse burned down, the anticipated explosion arrived as expected. The whole mountainous area trembled violently, and countless birds and beasts fled in panic. Smoke and debris rushed in like a colossal wave sweeping over the land; fortunately, the knights had long been prepared, casting protective magic, so much so that even Isha, seeing the power of the explosives for the first time, could feel the might of this man-made phenomenon with such awe.
Although she had heard rumors about something being researched in the territory that could cause explosions like magic, seeing it with her own eyes made Isha somewhat unable to believe this was power that mere humans could wield. It was not an exaggeration to describe it as splitting mountains and breaking the earth.
Once the explosion was confirmed to be complete, some experienced craftsmen took tools and approached to investigate. This process was slow, but as dusk approached, a crazed-looking craftsman ran over shouting, “We hit the jackpot! We hit the jackpot! Lord, we’ve found a large vein of magic stones!”
In that instant, as Isha sipped her tea, she was so shocked that the cup fell to the ground. She had casually pointed to a location and had indeed uncovered a rare vein of magic stones. Could it be said that she really had the goddess’s blessing?
But when did the goddess expand her responsibilities to include managing meteorites and mineral veins? It wasn’t written in the scripture, could it be that she was actually the saintess of the Earth Goddess? Should she go seek the Golden Dawn Association for authentication?
Isha fell into deep self-doubt.
Lind and Rena stood up excitedly; Rena, without heeding her knights’ objections, rushed over to the vein dug out by the craftsmen.
To be honest, Lind had not expected to succeed; he could only say that Isha was truly fated to achieve such an outrageous thing, but how on earth did such a lucky Isha end up replaced as the saintess?
Thinking of how there was still another transmigrator in the royal capital, Lind felt worried. However, considering he currently had no way to contact the other, he felt that the matter should be put on hold for now. Who knew what the other would think of other transmigrators? At the very least, he needed to become strong enough before he could confirm anything with the other.
Everyone present watched the old craftsman introduce the magic stone vein with tremendous excitement; however, as evening approached, it was temporarily impossible to set up a mine or start extraction. Lind decided to leave a portion of the party to keep watch overnight while the rest returned to the territory for subsequent arrangements.
Rena’s knights willingly took on the task of staying behind, and Lind agreed to their request, after all, they were the strongest fighters and were devoted to Rena.
So the group descended the mountain amidst laughter and joy. Meanwhile, in the shadows, several long-eared rangers recorded all of this and returned to the outpost of the High Ger Empire.
Lind’s Graywhite Territory had developed at the foot of the Giant God Mountain Range for so long without attracting the attention of the elves. After all, Lind was merely one of many ordinary lords around the Giant God Mountain Range.
What truly caused Lind to be placed under the observation of the rangers was the mining experiment with explosives. Afterward, the elf queen of the High Ger Empire seemed to have learned of this news and placed great importance on it.
“Your Majesty, that human lord not only continued to use a tool called explosives for mining but also successfully found a vein of magic stones. It seems someone pointed out the location of this vein among them, as there was a high-level professional among the visitors, so I didn’t dare to get too close.”
After reporting to a shadowy figure, a dignified female voice emanated from it.
“I understand. As usual, we need to collect a portion of the rare stones mined from the Giant God Mountain Range.”
The ranger noticed the queen’s wording was slightly different and asked, “Are we taking thirty percent as usual for environmental maintenance fees?”
The ownership of the Giant God Mountain Range was a historical legacy issue, and humans and elves had a complicated entanglement. In the end, they each compromised and established an agreement for common development—humans and elves would each develop one side of the Giant God Mountain Range.
But because of the numerous factions among humans, disputes were constant. Thus, they specifically invited elves to act as supervisors to prevent any encroachment or excessive exploitation. In return, all resources extracted by humans from the Giant God Mountain Range needed to be given to the elves, amounting to twenty to thirty percent.
Although this contract was still effective among the elves, many humans had mostly forgotten about it over time.
Most of the clauses on the contract couldn’t be fully enforced. For example, a portion of whatever resource was extracted needed to be given to the elves or exchanged for equivalent items, but now only precious resources were collected by the elves as “fees.”
Fortunately, the force of habit is strong. Even though humans had forgotten why they had to give the resources they developed to the elves, generally no human lord would violate this contract, which they considered an “unwritten rule.” At most, they would grumble about how the elves, known for being pedantic, were also so greedy.
After all, the ancient empires of humans had split into two major kingdoms and various smaller nations, yet the elves’ High Ger Empire remained firmly established on the other side of the Giant God Mountain Range, seemingly unchanged.
“No, this lord will be required to give fifty percent.”
The voice from the shadow was irrefutable.
Perhaps because of the ranger’s status, she dared to question the figure, saying, “I understand, Your Majesty, but why is that?”
The elf queen did not immediately respond but stated, “That lord will understand.”
After ending the call, the elf queen Aivelia slumped into an ancient chair and stretched.
Contrary to Lind’s imagination, not all elves embodied the image of being pedantic, serious, and noble. Although such stereotypes had a certain basis, elves were indeed very much secular and experienced emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
“Mother, I don’t understand. Is that human truly worth our attention? We are short on rangers even for patrolling the Primordial Forest, yet we must continuously send rangers to observe human activities. Aren’t they just a lowly race that even needs to learn to use magic? Is there really any threat?”
Facing her daughter’s questions, Aivelia remained calm and asked, “Have you been reading newspapers and books published by the Demon Clan?”
Calling Aivelia “Mother,” the young elf felt as if she had been caught in a secret. Her face turned red, and she turned away, knowing that most newspapers and books published by the Demon Clan were poorly made and often humorous, yet this young elf still found some redeeming qualities in them.
“You believe that we and the Demon Clan are naturally high-level races capable of sensing and manipulating magic power and using magic, while humans, who can only have one professional emerge among countless, are inferior races, correct?”
In response to the queen’s question, the elf princess did not respond, thus tacitly agreeing.
“Then why does our elf nation reside entirely in uncivilized forests, while the Demon Clan even used to have no land at all, only squeezing into the Eternal Frozen Land in the north? Why not take over the continent’s most fertile land and allow humans to farm and develop there? Is it because we don’t want to?”
“Of course, it is because we elves respect nature more and can gain the favor of the Nature God, so we choose to live in forests and trees to better feel nature.”
“That is just the official narrative, Tia. You are my heir; you should know that the Nature God does not care whether we live in trees. We live in trees simply because it is hard for both sunlight and faith to shine upon the forest floor.”
