「Then, I’ll be going」

「Take care」

「Onii-chan…」

Jin had decided to do a full-scale collection on the remote mountains of Kaina Village where you could collect 《Magic Crystals》. Because it may be dangerous, Hanna was left to watch the house. He was going together with Rock.

「Tou-chan, see you later」

「Dear, you better not let Jin get hurt!」

「What if I got hurt…」

Rock had a child who was good at swimming, he was the father of Mario. Because it was the off-season, he asked to be guided. Leaving Gon in the village, and bringing Gen along to go collecting. Rock brought along his favourite bow and arrow.

「Although, Jin a 《Magic Craftsman》, huh? Ya pretty incredible」

Seeing the large amount of luggage Gen was carrying, Rock murmured.

「A long time ago, I wanted to be a knight, and I did go to the capital. In less than 2 years, I woke up from that dream and returned to the village」

「Is that so?」

「Aa. That’s why I know the lifestyle in the capital reasonable well, however I’ve never seen magic tools like the ones Jin made, and there weren’t any talking golems like Gon and Gen」

「A-Ahaha」

「Well, you’ll probably be leaving the village some day. That’s probably what ya want to do. However, I’ll be happy if you showed your face at the village once in a while」

Unusually, Rock told this earnestly, and Jin seeing such an unusual thing, he made a face as if about to say something.

「Why… why are you making such a face?」

「Eh, no, that is, I was surprised that Rock-san was a person to be concerned」

「That compliment doesn’t sound like a compliment」

while saying that, Rock’s eyes looked like they were laughing.

「The people of Kaina Village are all good people, therefore of course, Rock-san is too.」

「Somehow that sounds forced but oh well… So, we’ll be descending that valley?」

A valley that could be seen from the mountain pa.s.s. It was the valley he came to along with Hanna the other day.

「Ee. Last time I only went down a little bit, this time I want to go much further down」

He had planned to stay for night, so he had prepared the camp. Gen was carrying it.

「Okay, let’s try going down」

So 2 people and 1 golem carefully descended the valley. They would take a detour if there was a waterfall, but continued if it was a thicket by having Gen deal with it.

And when a considerable amount of the day had pa.s.sed, they arrived at an open area.

「Let’s make camp here」

Rock had made such a judgement.

As he was told, he prepared the camp.

「First we’ll remove things like the stone to flatten it. Gen, help me out」

「Yes」

With the help of Gen, the ground soon became flat. There he set up poles, using string so they wouldn’t fall. Furthermore he laid beams horizontally across it and then covered it from above with a large cloth.

He first laid some cloth down for the ground, and then laid out furs for beds to finish it.

「Really, the various things that Gen has brought along has really helped us」

The two did not desire more for their camp.

「Okay, I’ll do the preparation for dinner now, you can go find the things you’re looking for Jin」

「Sure, now then」

So Jin left the preparation for dinner to Rock, and began searching for minerals.

「《Grand Search》!」

For a while, he used the magic 《Grand Search》 to look around, a large response appeared.

「Found it!」

Jin involuntarily shouted, and Rock came to look.

「Oh, let me see what you’ve found」

「Yeah. Now then Gen, dig here」

「Acknowledged」

Jin instructed Gen to dig the ground. Gen vigourously dug a hole.

「Oooohh, this is pretty incredible」

The hole became deeper before their eyes. Gen stopped after digging about 3 metres. It then carried out a large black rock.

「What? It doesn’t look like a good stone does it?」

「It’s iron ore」

Because the iron and copper used in the village was running out, this was indispensable.

「Continue mining more, Gen」

「Hai」

Last time was when he came with Gon, that was before he had improved them, so the golem could not make a distinction to a rock by itself. But this time it is different, with the limited knowledge Jin gave them, the materials Jin needs, excluding special ones, could be found autonomously to some extent.

A mountain of magnet.i.te piled up. Sometimes, chalcopyrite came out mixed with it. Rock,

「Is that gold!?」

was excited about it, but became dejected when Jin explained.

Doing it until dusk, he was able to mine a considerable amount of minerals. The minerals were piled up distinctly. He planned to come back with Gon and Gen in the future.

「So, you weren’t able to find the number one thing you were looking for?」

Rock asked while eating dinner.

「Ee, I’ll leave that for tomorrow」

The night for the valley came quickly. Without anything to do after dinner, he had Gen stand on guard and decided to go to sleep. Being tired from the walk, the two soon fell asleep.

The next morning, after breakfast, Jin once again used 《Grand Search》 to search for veins of 《Magic Crystals》.

Further down from the camp, a response finally came back.

「Okay, well then Gen, I’m counting on you」

「Affirmative」

The same as yesterday, Gen began to dig the ground. The first thing to appear was a yellow earth type 《Magic Crystal》. The thing Jin had wanted.

「Alright, keep on going. Steadily dig some more」

「Yes」

After that, a further two yellow 《Magic Crystals》 were dug out, and for a while nothing appeared (other than the usual rock), but then suddenly Gen’s body gave out a sound and stopped moving,

「Master, my hand has broken」

Gen showed its broken hand while coming up from the hole.

「What!? For your hand I used 《Hardening》 on to break… could it be Adamant.i.te!?」

Adamant.i.te was the hardest mineral in this world. Jin entered the hole and examined the rock,

「It’s definitely Adamant.i.te. For it to be in such a shallow place」

murmuring that, he took out a flask from his waist,

「《Water Jet》!」

And cut the Adamant.i.te vein.

And with that the mineral was barely cut.

「Well, I’m pretty lucky to have found it in such a shallow place. There’s also a bonus」

The bonus was about the small amount of Mithril silver he found. Mithril silver or simply called Mithril is the best material to conduct magic. It’s true ident.i.ty is an isotope of silver. 47 protons, 60 neutrons or otherwise 62, would be regular silver, but for Mithril, neutrons are mostly replaced with the substance of magic power.

Enough of that, having found the materials he wanted, he made preparations to return home. Needless to say, he promptly repaired Gen’s hand with engineering magic.

「Are you all good?」

「Yes, thanks to you I was able to find something good」

「Alright, the day is short, so lets return home」

At that time, Rock’s eyes began to s.h.i.+ne.

「Rock-san?」

「S-Shhh, be quiet」

Stopping Jin, Rock nocked an arrow to his bow. And then shot it towards the valley. Pii, with that sound he heard a scream,

「Alright I did it! A mountain deer!」

Rock ran over towards the valley and after a while, returned dragging a large deer.

「Look! This is an incredible spoil. Once we get back I’ll make some dried meat」

A mountain deer was a valuable source of protein. They decided to come pick up a majority of the luggage later and it was decided they would bring back the mountain dear, camp tools and some of the minerals.

「However, I don’t usually like such places like this during this season」

Rock said while looking at the mountain deer on Gen’s shoulder.

「Eh? Is that so?」

「Aa. Usually I’d have to go to a mountain further north to catch something, and that requires luck」

Apparently you need to prepared to stay on the mountains for a few days to catch something usually. Though Jin was worried, he began to think about how to use the minerals he found and his worries disappeared to somewhere.