Chapter 114 (part 2)

Looking behind him, Harold found a woman who appeared to be a few years older than him. She was wearing gla.s.ses, had light purple hair, and had taken a quite imposing stance.

Harold did not recall seeing this character in the original story.

The woman stepped up with a determined stride, raising her even more determined eyes.

【”You were about to enter the mine just now, weren’t you? Entry in the mines is prohibited. It’s dangerous.”】

【”Ah, yes, we are aware. But we’re visiting precisely to investigate any danger that might be inside.”】

【”Investigating the mine…? I wasn’t told about this.”】

【”Well, it’s not anything grand after all. Of course, we have the town’s permission.”】

Saying so, the man took out a sheet of paper from his bosom and handed it to the woman. It was likely some sort of certificate.

As a member of the same clan as Elu, he was quick and well-prepared. He was not going to expose himself due to a mere oversight.

【”This certainly is the right paper… But why now?”】

【”Now is as good a time as any. In my humble opinion, this should have been done even sooner. Well, the closing of the mine probably caused some delays.”】

Harold watched the two people talk to each other with his arms crossed and his back against the stone wall.

He figured the situation would progress much more smoothly if he let the man do the talking instead of his untactful mouth, however…

【”Well then, if you’ll excuse us, we’re going in.”】

When the man turned around and started heading towards the tunnel, he was stopped once again.

【”Please wait.”】

【”What now?”】

At this point, Harold let his mouth roam free.

He still believed that staying silent was the right choice, but he was in a hurry to see what was inside the tunnels.

That feeling of irritation was translated into a freezing tone of voice.

【”I’ll go along with you.”】

【”I refuse. That would be pointless.”】

【”No, it would not. I might not look like it, but I am a member of the town’s council.”】

【”…What?”】

The woman was likely in her early twenties.

Though the town was not very populated and had a different system from a country like j.a.pan, it was still hard to believe a woman this young had been chosen as a member of the town council.

She was either particularly talented or popular, or she had connections with the upper-management of this town.

Either way, if Harold and the man could win her over, perhaps she could put a good word for them.

【”Besides, I’d think it would be hard for two people alone to explore Barston’s enormous mine on their own.”】

“You’re suspicious.” was the implicit meaning behind the woman’s words.

The man was looking at Harold as if asking what to do.

He probably had a good grasp on the risks and returns of taking someone along, hence why he did not hesitate to let Harold decide.

【”You may come. But if you slow us down, I’ll leave you behind.”】

◇

Fiona Gwyn was careful to keep a close eye on the every move of the two men in front of her.

That was all it took for her to realize they were suspicious.

Their claim that they were here to investigate the mine was somewhat odd but not incomprehensible.

The problem was that there weren’t that many people in the council, and yet she somehow hadn’t been informed.

Moreover, this ‘investigation team’ had far too few members and far too little equipment.

The middle-aged man had declared that this was a preliminary investigation, but that did not explain why he was carrying nothing but a map and a lamp.

As for the young man who seemed even younger than Fiona herself, he wasn’t even carrying anything and was wearing a black cloak that Fiona could tell from a glance was valuable and not fitting to explore a mine.

(Were these two men really sent by the mayor and vice-mayor? Even if that’s true, I don’t see the need of investigating the tunnels so secretly… If they’re really just looking for potential danger to make sure the mine is safe, that should have come up at the council.)

Fiona was aware that she could be a bit troublesome due to her straight-laced personality, but that trait of hers also meant she was not the type to want to oppose a valid opinion.

If this really was just an investigation to look for dangers inside the tunnels, she would not have been against it. The mayor and vice-mayor would have known that.

(Either my expectations are true and there are some other secrets that they’re hiding from me, or this was so urgent that the others did have the time to tell me about it…At worst, it could be both.)

The first thing that came to Fiona’s mind when thinking about a danger in the tunnels was the sudden collapse from about a decade in the past.

Back then, Fiona, like many others, had lost someone. In her case, it was her father, a miner.

However, Barston’s mine had been closed for a long time.

Given the circ.u.mstances, if there was to be a collapse worth anyone’s fear nowadays, it would have to be on the same scale as the one from a decade in the past.

Foina kept worrying about such things for a while as she walked forward with the two men.

They walked deeper and deeper for their exploration, without ever getting distracted.

【”Lady Gwyn, may I ask something?”】

The man who was holding the lamp suddenly started talking to Fiona, while still looking straight ahead.

【”What is it?”】

【”Forgive my rudeness, lady Gwyn, but might I be so bold as to inquire your age? You seem considerably young for a member of the town council.”】

【”I’m 21. My uncle was the former mayor, that’s probably why they picked me.”】

Fiona had ran for a position in the town council 2 years ago, after her uncle had retired.

It was more accurate to say that she had been recommended rather than this being her own initiative, but she liked the town and she understood the people’s feelings of not wanting to see young people like her leave.

That being said, her acceptation in the council had come as a surprise to her.

But since that was how things had turned out, she had every intention to give it her all. That was her nature.

【”How far do you intend to walk?”】

【”…Are you so dense that you failed to notice there was something odd here?”】

The young man answered Fiona’s question with another question. Unlike the polite middle-aged man, this young man was very rude, right down to his manner of speaking.

However, Fiona put up with it and asked in return.

【”What are you talking about?”】

【”The size of the tunnels.”】

Only when the young man mentioned this did Fiona notice that, indeed, the tunnels were considerably high and wide compared to the entrance.

Even a.s.suming that it was meant to make the environnement more s.p.a.cious for miners, it was still overkill.

【”Moreover…”】

As he said so, the young man opened his cloak and pulled something out.

Following his movements with her eyes, Fiona was able to tell, thanks to the reflection of the lamp on it, that the object the young man had pulled out was, in fact, an actual sword.

【”W-what are you d-….!”】

【”Silence, you’re being noisy.”】

Could it be that he lured me here to kill me? Tough such a scene crossed Fiona’s mind, the young man did not pay any attention to her and instead slashed his sword at the tunnel’s wall.

Once it seemed unlikely that she would get harmed, Fiona regained some peace of mind and shifted her attention to the wall that had just been cut, while standing behind the two men.

The sight she was met with stuck her with a feeling of astonishment.

【”What in the world….”】

Though the young man’s ability to cut through a rock wall so easily was surprising, what surprised Fiona the most was what was revealed from behind that wall.

As far as Fiona was aware, the walls and ceilings of the tunnels were basically just natural bedrock, with a bit of reinforcement added on some of the parts that were the most likely to collapse.

However, what was revealed behind that bedrock was an extremely artificial brick wall that did not belong in this tunnel.