Volume 4 Chapter 1.1
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Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
A week after entering Forre. Hiroshi’s group had yet to reach the capital, Stiren. The reason was simple.
「Well we can’t have this, mate. It’s all an isolated dimension.」
「Yeeeah…and you can’t use transportation magic to get out.」
「From the looks of it, we best think ‘bout makin’ sure it don’t spread to town from the tunnel before we try ‘n dissolve the isolation.」
Crest Cave boasted the highest quantity of ore that could be found in Forre. About two days before Hiroshi’s group arrived, the tunnel had suddenly begun shifting into an isolated dimension. Related to that matter, around yesterday or so, anyone who was Class 7 or above got sent out to investigate. By this point they were in the middle of checking the deeper areas.
「Is it pretty well underway？」
「That, and also, I think that the core’s in a fairly deep area that can’t be reached via the tunnel. So at that point when it’s an area that ain’t even on a map, we definitely ain’t screwin’ wit that.」
Makoto asked Hiroshi about the isolated dimension, since she was the dullest in sensing these things out of all the party members, and Hiroshi replied by discussing the flow of miasma and whatnot as well as physical elements that anyone could understand. This area was practically a dungeon already.
「Hiroshi-kun, what do you think about all this？」
「I mean, I dunno. From my own thoughts, somewhere fairly deep in these mines there’s a puddle o’ miasma that’s a bit difficult to reach (unless ya cause an artificial cave-in) but it’s expandin’ as we speak.」
「I give my vote to Sensei.」
「From what I gather about the miasma, I’m guessing that’s all we can do……」
「Well, it is certainly unnatural…」
Hiroshi’s group continued their conversation in a rather fed-up tone as they knocked down oncoming bats. Unfortunately, they knew a ton of people who might be responsible for this sort of thing.
「Well, even if they’re the ones responsible, I dunno if we can find a way to contact them anytime soon, so I say we search the heck outta this area for now.」
Ending the fruitless conversation, as they did not have sufficient information, Hiroshi recommended they focus on the current quest. For some reason, he was holding a pickaxe.
「So with that bein’ said, how ‘bout we dig a lil’ bit here ‘n there to check for a dungeon?」
「Is that okay？」
「I got permission, since this is a crucial investigation ‘n all.」
Hiroshi said as he handed pickaxes to both Haruna and Mio. His face spelled out exactly what he was thinking: “I wanna dig out that wall right now!”
「For now, Bro ‘n Makoto-san, y’all can go ahead ‘n look out fer monsters.」
「Alrighty. And how far are you digging？」
「A full basket per person, then go a bit further in, ‘n then a full basket per person, and repeat that about ten times.」
「You’re really going to dig that much？」
「It’s a mine after all. It’s purty important to figure out if there’s ore, what the distribution is, ‘n then what happens after we dig it up.」
The reason Hiroshi gave for his sudden desire to dig up a wall made a lot of sense. Even though he probably wanted to do it most because it was his hobby to gather materials, it seemed to also be that Hiroshi was not only considering that in this moment. Then again,
「This area’s lookin’ purty nice.」
As they looked at Hiroshi all cheerful swinging down his pickaxe, the group realized that the pretext he gave for this was only to justify his own desires.
「So what do you plan to do with the ore you dig up?」
「Whaddya mean? Of course I plan to send it all to the mining guild.」
「Really？」
「Yup. Gotta submit paperwork with the proper map ‘n everything tellin’ ‘em where I got what kind of ore.」
「And all for free？」
「Nah. Separately from the distribution map I’m givin’ em, they’ll buy off the ore I give ‘em with rangin’ prices dependin’ on the substance ‘n quality. It don’t seem like the other adventurers got the energy to spare to dig up the wall, so we get the rewards fer the distribution map ‘n the ore all to ourselves.」
Hiroshi said as he fulfilled his quota in a heartbeat. Mio finished her side of the deal in about five minutes.
「Hiroshi-kun…this basketful…is kinda hard to get……」
「That’s just an issue of skill proficiency, so it’s to be expected」
「Yeah, I get that, but……」
Haruna’s stamina was expended at such a rate that it felt like the ground was sucking the energy out of her. This feeling of weariness, which she had also experienced with other crafting skill training, was not something she could get used to, no matter how many times she did it. Haruna didn’t finish her quota until fifteen minutes later.
「Ugh, I’m tired……」
「Good job. After we rest for a bit, it’s time for the next point.」
「Ka～y……」
Responding to Hiroshi with the uttermost exhaustion in her voice, Haruna took out towels and drinks from her belongings. There wasn’t any real stamina restoration effect in these drinks, but she didn’t care about that; she was simply thirsty.
「I think the work’ll end purty soon after we finish all the points.」
「That would be good, yeah……」
「The first wall for beginners in proficiency’s generally somewhere between ten ‘n twenty five. If ya get past that, the stamina cost will begin to git closer to the reward, so it’ll feel less like a drag.」
「It just naturally happens like that？」
「Sure does. Haven’tcha experienced similar things？」
Pondering Hiroshi’s question, Haruna recalled all the times she had woven with thread and nodded. True, at first she had gotten extremely tired (not just physically, mentally too) and the thread often broke anyway. As she continued the work daily, eventually she began to weave without as much difficulty, and even the physical strain become a bit more bearable. She probably grew rather quickly for such a beginner level.
「Well now we should prolly get goin’.」
「Yeah, understood.」
Encouraged by Hiroshi, Haruna got up a bit wearily. Though she had regained much of her stamina, Haruna was still not quite rejuvenated. From the standpoint of beginning crafting skills, Haruna had revised quite a bit of her stamina throughout the various levels, battle skills and crafting skills thus far, and yet she still had it pretty bad (though not as much as Makoto did).
After all, beginner level tasks drained 1% of your overall stamina in a matter of a few seconds and did not boost your overall stamina in any way after the fact. While it was true that once you got past intermediate (which fixed the energy consumption), the people with the highest stamina points were at an advantage, the work time and frequency were not to be underestimated in the beginner bracket. In addition, excavation drained one’s stamina even faster than other crafting tasks.
When you considered the balance breaker that crafting was, it was very easy to understand why the initial level was so severe, but understanding and actually experiencing the difficulty were two completely different issues.
（I definitely should have raised my crafting skills to a more suitable level before……）
Though this was something she had wanted, Haruna truly regretted putting herself into a position where she had to struggle so much.
「Howdy again. We’re here to pick our reward, mate.」
Returning to the ore guild’s inn, Hiroshi took out a bag filled with coins and announced their arrival.
「Welcome back. So how was it？」
「The ore was, well, just about as we expected.」
As he answered Haruna’s question, Hiroshi spread out the map and information on the ore they had collected on the table.
「First, the distribution seems to have a tendency where the deeper ya get, the more slightly elemental ore ‘n magic steel ya find. Anywhere within a certain radius of the core will prolly have the same sorta things ya find.」
Hiroshi explained to Haruna and the others in an easy-to-digest manner about the tendency as they gazed intently at the list. Everyone could only come to one conclusion after hearing the information.
「So everything went to plan, basically？」
「Exactly. Well, I didn’t sample enough, and I ain’t check anything past a surface level approach, so it ain’t totally confirmed.」
Makoto inquired on everyone’s behalf, and Hiroshi affirmed, but with some caution in his words. But then again, things like this were to be expected in games, so there was no need to be surprised about it.
「Next we got the percentage of minerals, but well, this was also within expectation.」
Haruna and Mio nodded. Tatsuya and Makoto didn’t nod, but neither did they seem to be surprised.
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