Chapter 29
＊ Six Heavens Mine ＊
After receiving the report that Duke Achenbach had died at the mine and the mine slaves had rioted, an advance party of 100 was sent to assess the situation.
Six Heavens Mine was so important to the Duchy of Achenbach—and, by extension, the Keithgran Federation—that 100 people had to be sent merely to investigate; indeed, it was considered indispensable to this world.
The captain of the advance party was a woman who had been promoted at a young age, thanks in part to the Talent she possessed: 【Command Arts★★★】. Thanks to this Talent, her orders reached even the lowest-ranking soldiers, allowing the unit to maintain discipline.
Even she, however, could not dispel the ominous atmosphere that spread through the unit as they drew closer to Six Heavens Mine.
——It was a monster... A monster...
——We mustn't go anywhere near Six Heavens Mine...
The information obtained in a town some distance from Six Heavens Mine, from adventurers who had been at the mine on the day of the riot, was fragmentary. They were trembling too badly to speak coherently.
The mine was open to adventurers, and those who discovered rare Talents could sell them for a high price, so adventurers seeking to get rich quick often visited it.
They were passionate about the mine, but that also meant they had no loyalty whatsoever. When the riot broke out, they fled at full speed.
The real problem, however, was not the riot itself, but the "monster" that had appeared afterward.
"You mean it was a dragon?"
"Yes. Nearly every adventurer says so. Since it appeared at night, though, they seem to have seen only its silhouette..."
Every report from the subordinates assigned to gather information pointed to the existence of a "dragon."
"If a dragon—one that might be slain only once every few years—has appeared here... this is serious. It's frustrating that we can't get any information from the mine guards."
The mine guards were stationed to protect the mine and could not leave it. On top of that, communication from the mine had ceased, perhaps because the magical communication equipment had been destroyed, leaving escaped adventurers as the only source of information.
They had questioned the escaped slaves captured in the towns along the way, but the slaves had seen almost nothing. Apparently, they had been too busy running for their lives.
"Even so, isn't it strange that not a single messenger has come?"
Even if communication had been cut off, they had horses; and even without horses, they had feet.
Yet it was strange that they had not encountered a single mine guard.
"The worst possibility is... that only the bare minimum of guards needed to protect the mine remain. ...No, I mustn't lose heart here. Let's hope the town at the foot of the mine has some answers."
The captain had placed her hopes in that town—but those hopes would soon be dashed.
"——W-what is this...?"
The site where a town seemed to have stood had been reduced to ashes.
The remains of burned houses, black smoke still rising, collapsed walls—and human remains scattered here and there.
One of her subordinates began to retch, and the captain held herself together by ordering, "Everyone, stay alert!" Empowered by their Skills, the soldiers spread through the town to search for survivors. Of the town's approximately 1,000 residents, only about 100 remained—they had taken refuge in the mansion of the mayor, who had somehow escaped unharmed.
——It was a dragon.
——I want to leave this place already. But my mother hurt her leg...
——Light rained down. I thought it was the end of the world.
——The town burned... We couldn't do anything...
They questioned the dazed residents. A dragon had indeed appeared—and it was one capable of flight.
But there were no mine guards here, either, and the townspeople had not seen any.
"What is the report on the escaped slaves? In particular, I want to know the whereabouts of the six-star Talent Jewel."
The mine's shutdown was certain, and it was practically certain that restoration would take a long time. That would be a serious blow, but if they could find the six-star Talent Jewel 【Shadow King★★★★★★】, they could at least save face.
Every subordinate shook their head. They had no information.
"...In the end, we have no choice but to go to the mine. We won't know anything until we ask the mine guards."
The captain decided to leave 30 people in the town as communications and security personnel, while the remaining 70, including herself, would head for the mine.
But no one knew at the time that this decision would lead to the worst possible outcome.
The captain and her troops camped in the ruined town—and this was the night Reiji walked through the city with Rikila—and set out for the mine the following morning.
It was an arduous journey.
The road between Six Heavens Mine, which produced Talent Jewels, and the town at its foot had naturally been well maintained. Yet it had been gouged in places, and trees had been knocked down and jutted into the road.
They found the burned and motionless bodies of mine guards. Once the number exceeded ten, the captain and her troops abandoned the effort to transport them, deciding that confirming the mine's condition had to take priority.
The deep forest ended, and the mine came into view—but it looked nothing like the mine the captain had seen once before.
"It's been carved away...?"
The mine, which had once risen like a hill, had been split into left and right halves, as though a kitchen knife had been driven through it. Parts of the surface had turned glassy from exposure to tremendous heat.
There was no sign of human life. Not even an animal.
The captain and her troops stood at the mine entrance, on maximum alert. From there, they should have been able to see the buildings spread throughout the great cavern, including the dwellings along its walls—or so they should have.
Nearly all of them had collapsed, been crushed beneath rubble, or burned to the ground. The bodies of mine guards and slaves lay scattered everywhere, filling the air with the smell of burning flesh.
Several soldiers vomited, but the captain gave them no words of encouragement.
She couldn't.
At the center of the great cavern—which could no longer truly be called one, since the hole in the ceiling had widened enormously and the ceiling itself had collapsed—there was a gigantic yellow mass.
Its body was covered in scales larger than the shields carried by the duchy's soldiers, with a slick sheen and wavering light covering their surfaces—magic power coursed through them.
Its body was squat and bulky, with hundreds or thousands of quills like a porcupine's sprouting from its back. Its tail was coiled around its body.
Its wings were folded. Once spread, they would be large enough to easily exceed the cavern. Hidden behind those wings was a gigantic head.
"————"
Everyone was speechless.
The yellow mass was so perfectly formed that it even conveyed a kind of consummate beauty.
But the emotion assailing the soldiers was—fear.
The fear humans had felt in the distant past, when they lived as animals—the fear of being paralyzed before an overwhelmingly powerful foe.
Click.
An eye opened beyond the wings. Though they should have been unable to see it hidden behind the wings, everyone present somehow realized that it had opened.
The yellow head lifted and surveyed the unit.
Its round, golden eyes seemed like enormous jewels in their own right.
Its mouth split wide open to either side, and each of its teeth was thick enough for a person to wrap both arms around.
"——How unpleasant——"
It had not spoken aloud. If they had been able to hear its voice, the sound pressure alone would have blown them away.
Instead, a thought reverberated directly inside their heads.
"——Greedy children of man. Would you defile my abode any further?——"
The captain suddenly understood.
The "dragon"—she had no idea whether it was a genuine dragon, but if this wasn't a dragon, what else could it be?—possessed intelligence and was attempting to converse.
And the dragon was angry. She had no idea why, but the cause was either the mining or the fact that they had come rushing in.
This devastation was the price of its anger.
(Pull yourself together, me!!!!)
The captain cast 【Command Arts】 on herself and fixed the dragon with a determined stare.
"No! We only came to assess the situation! If you want us to leave, we'll leave right now!"
Whether or not it had heard her rebuttal, the dragon raised its head and looked up at the sky.
Its wings spread open.
"Waaaaaaah————"
With that single beat of its wings, everyone, including the captain, was blown away and sent tumbling.
"——If that hasn't taught you a lesson, I will have to show you even greater fear——"
When the captain got back to her feet, she saw that the dragon had already risen high into the sky. It shook its wings, flew off somewhere, and soon vanished from sight.
Though the captain was profoundly grateful to have escaped with her life, a chill ran through her body the very next moment.
"Th-this is bad... Bad, bad, bad!"
"Captain, are you all right?"
"That dragon intends to launch another attack!"
All because they had come here...
"The map! Bring me the map!"
"Y-yes, here it is."
"——Oh no...!!"
Then the captain confirmed the direction in which the dragon had flown and was aghast.
It was the direction of the ducal capital—the most populous place in the vicinity.
"Everyone! Find a long-distance communication magic tool! Everyone who can still move! Treat the wounded later! Hurry!!"
The "order" was no longer an order so much as an anguished cry.
"Otherwise, the ducal capital will be destroyed!!"
The soldiers hurriedly dug through the rubble, searching the mine guards' garrison and the Adventurers Guild branch office.
An hour later, they found the long-distance communication magic tool intact at the Adventurers Guild branch office. The one belonging to the mine guards was completely destroyed and showed no signs of functioning.
Thirty minutes later, they successfully activated the tool and sent a transmission to the Adventurers Guild in the ducal capital.
'Emergency transmission from Six Heavens Mine. The mine has been wiped out. A dragon is heading for the ducal capital. Prepare defenses immediately.'