Chapter 60 : Farming

Chapter 60: Farming

According to the Continental Calendar, this year was 1,351.

The first Grandmaster, Machina Abrasax, crossed the Bright Sea with 1,000 subordinates and set foot on Oldland.

At that time, humanity had not yet formed nations, scattered everywhere and ravaged by monsters.

Machina Abrasax established the very first nation, unified Oldland, and liberated Gloryland after passing through Roberland, thus opening the Age of Humanity.

That meant 1,351 years had passed since then.

Records from before that were virtually nonexistent.

Which meant—

Between the ancient Ruceras civilization and the present-day civilization that used the Continental Calendar, there existed at least 8,000 years of blank history.

A rupture that was almost perfect.

That was why modern magicians could not reproduce the artifacts of old.

Just like swordsmanship, the magical system was completely different.

In other words,

in our era, these were truly priceless treasures.

‘This must be the very first clue to deciphering ancient magic.’

Cask set down the tattered books and notebooks with trembling hands.

“Here... here...”

But the amount was staggering.

Chuk, chuk! Cheochuk!

He carried something like a treasure chest, which turned out to be a Subspace Artifact.

Books, bundles of papers, memos, and notebooks poured out endlessly.

‘...This is beyond imagination.’

I was a little flustered.

I had expected, at most, about twenty combined books and notebooks.

So if Cask had brought fewer than ten, I was prepared to extract the rest through persuasion—physical persuasion, if necessary.

But...

‘Just the books alone number seventy, and the notebooks two hundred, with memos and paper bundles easily exceeding ten thousand sheets...?’

Looking at the towering pile of books, I felt a strange sensation.

‘Cask, don’t tell me... you really brought everything?’

Of course, that had been the wager.

Every magical book Cask owned. On top of that, notes, annotations, absolutely everything.

I had indeed asked for it all.

But...

He actually kept that word...?

Coming from Roberland, where “Cut my belly open if I’m lying!” was the baseline and betrayal, scams, and trickery ran rampant, this was nothing short of a refreshing shock.

Perhaps, this guy... was unexpectedly a decent fellow?

“This... is really precious...”

Cask said so.

His pale yellow eyes swelled with tears above faint freckles...

So grieved, so reluctant, and yet, he still kept the promise he had made to me.

Sting!

For some reason, I felt a prick of guilt.

What was this?

“Alright. I’ll put them to good use.”

One by one, I stored the books Cask had laid out into my Subspace Necklace.

As the books and notebooks disappeared in real time, the shadows on Cask’s face grew darker and darker.

He asked in a trembling voice.

“But... why do you need this? It’s not like you’re going to use it yourself, right? Since it’s secondhand, it won’t fetch much of a price anyway... If it’s money you want, I could just give you...!”

“There’s someone who wants to learn magic.”

“Ah...”

Cask lowered his head.

Meanwhile, I kept busy, scooping things up and had already stashed nearly two-thirds into the Subspace.

“Who’s going to learn...?”

“There is someone. A beginner in magic.”

“A beginner?”

“Yeah. Ah... But now that I think about it, they won’t be able to read this, will they...? Am I supposed to personally teach them word by word?”

Suddenly, a sharp pang of headache struck me.

After all, I was probably the only person in the world who could still read the script of the Age of Magic.

Did that mean I had to translate and give guided readings for all of this?

‘Forget it. I’ll just translate two or three books and then leave the rest for them to decipher on their own.’

As I reached for the final book to store it, Cask asked again.

“They can’t read? Is that person really young?”

“Mm. Yeah. Five years old. Doesn’t know how to read yet.”

What flashed through my mind were our smart twenty-year-old girl, Seah, and Asha, who came from a magician’s family...

But I gave a vague answer and moved on.

Cask seemed to sink into deep thought, then, watching the last book vanish into my necklace, made one more earnest request.

“Really... these are precious. Please take care of them and use them well... Pass that along.”

No.

Why did it feel so bittersweet?

Sting!

Damn, my chest was starting to itch again.

What was this?

*         *         *

It had already been four days since I came here.

Lorraine’s laboratory bustled every single day without a moment’s rest.

And it was all thanks to the tyrannical employer who couldn’t stand to see anyone idle, even for a moment.

“Strange~ I heard another fresh Magic Terminal came in just yesterday. It’s already eleven o’clock today, and it still hasn’t been analyzed~?”

Lorraine, smiling brightly while pressuring her researchers, was no different from mountains or the sky—something you saw several times a day without fail.

“Oh~? This analysis looks strange here, doesn’t it? You didn’t notice? Wouldn’t it be a little embarrassing if someone of your salary got this wrong?”

Everyone looked at her as if she were a witch.

It wasn’t uncommon to see people turn pale and flee at the mere sight of her white robe in the distance.

But I was different.

“Ah, Sir Ransen! I heard you made another breakthrough yesterday! I’ll be counting on you again today...! The future of our laboratory rests on your shoulders!”

When she spotted me, Lorraine waved brightly. If she had a tail, she would have wagged it furiously too.

“This... is good when your sugar drops!”

Then she would pull out sweet treats from her pocket and hand them over.

Something that scattered like smoke on the tongue yet tasted sweet, something that melted softly and sweetly, something crisp yet still sweet...

Little by little, I grew accustomed to the splendid snack culture of the Age of Magic.

Of course, I wasn’t the kind of man to be swayed by mere sweets.

“The other day, I noticed you even had artifacts like this...”

“Alright, alright! I get it! They’re not that expensive, so I’ll set some aside for you. Didn’t you say you wanted your wages in artifacts, too? You really are strange, you know. Anyway... You promised, right? Don’t forget?!”

“Yes, yes.”

Friendship with Lorraine? Or was it a tightrope walk under the pretense of human experimentation? Or perhaps it was her steady stream of bribes aimed at me, the ace of the Exploration Team?

Call it whatever you like.

Either way, thanks to her, my Subspace Necklace was steadily filling up.

Though, in truth, the artifacts she gave me were no more than light-orbs and other trinkets lying around everywhere here... Even such things were priceless treasures in our era, impossible to obtain with money.

‘Plus the snacks. The kids will love them when I get back.’

Day by day, my heart felt fuller.

*         *         *

The exploration never ceased.

It was mysterious, wondrous, and even fun, but there was no avoiding the exhaustion that piled up as time went on.

The deeper we went, the more frequently monsters appeared. The pounding madness in our heads and the fine mana bullets piercing through our shields unsettled both body and mind.

Naturally, our exploration speed slowed down, and Lorraine was not the sort of person to sit by and watch that happen.

Lorraine urged us for more results, while the Exploration Team was weighed down by fatigue.

In the end, the inevitable happened.

“I can’t do this anymore.”

The mercenary, Mitsi, stated flatly.

“How can you demand we increase exploration speed by fifty percent here? Director, have you even been inside? Do you know how brutal it is?”

Mm, Mitsi had a point.

On the third day of exploration, yesterday, we had ventured quite deep... even I had felt uncomfortable.

“I hear things! There’s a constant buzzing in my ears, like flies, and then suddenly I see it! A pitch-black man standing in the corner! When I panic and draw my sword, my comrades have to shake me awake. That’s when I realize—it was all hallucinations. But it’s not just me. Everyone is experiencing it! This place really drives you insane!”

And that was with our shields constantly active.

The deeper we went, the more it felt like something was burrowing into our minds.

At times, I too felt so disturbed by it that I had to grip my sword hilt tightly. Whenever I communed with my Sword Spirit, it always brought me far greater peace.

Anyway, for that reason, everyone harbored complaints against Lorraine.

Ah, of course, excluding Cask, her fanatic.

He was fidgeting all by himself.

Even so, Lorraine did not waver in the slightest.

“Do you have any idea how much research costs decrease and how much faster research progresses when we gain just one more sample?”

“I don’t know. And I don’t care.”

“Mitsi...!”

At Mitsi’s sharp retort, Cask shot her a look to restrain herself, but she merely snapped her head away.

However, Lorraine’s next words, spoken with that ever-sparkling smile, were impossible to ignore.

“You should care~ Because if you increase exploration speed by fifty percent compared to the current schedule, you’ll be awarded a two-hundred percent bonus~”

Flash!

The mercenaries’ eyes gleamed.

What were mercenaries, after all, if not people who staked their very lives on money?

“B-but...”

Hesitation clouded Mitsi’s face.

But clever Lorraine delivered the answer before she could even voice it.

“And we haven’t just been idling away either~ The waves of madness generated by the ruins—we’ve been researching a way to block them. We’ve updated your [Shield] skill. It should be a little better now.”

With that, the negotiation was over.

Of course,

That didn’t mean the hardship disappeared.

On the 5th day, the 7th day, the 10th day of exploration.

I had no idea how it was possible to change so drastically in just ten days... but Lorraine’s laboratory was beginning to look less like a place where people lived and more like the land of the undead.

The only one still shining brightly within it was Lorraine herself.

She still tied her hair flawlessly without a single strand out of place, fluttered her unique long white robe, and never seemed to tire, not even for a moment.

“She’s a witch...”

“No, she’s a money demon...”

“At this rate, we’re going to die...”

“That witch wouldn’t care in the slightest if we did...”

During breaks, the researchers would gather like trembling sheep, shivering together.

Then the Royal Chamberlain—no, the senior researcher who diligently assisted Lorraine, Master Eodran, would smile awkwardly and defend her.

“It’s hard, isn’t it...? I know. But our Director... she’s not a bad person.”

“Uh, Master Eodran? Your nose is bleeding...”

“Huh...? Ahaha, well, you see. I’ve only slept about five hours total over the past seven days...”

“Ah...”

Seeing even the white-haired elder researchers enslaved and exploited under Lorraine left me with an indescribable solemn feeling.

The mercenaries weren’t much different.

“That witch!”

“That director’s insane for money. You can’t reason with her.”

Whenever the mercenaries spoke ill of Lorraine like that, the fanatic Cask would immediately jump to her defense.

“No! We’re mercenaries, aren’t we?! Isn’t the best employer the one who pays the most?! What’s wrong with that?!”

Then Mitsi gave a low warning.

“Captain... please, just be quiet.”

The chill of her killing intent cut straight through.

“...Okay.”

Even Cask, who had always asserted his authority as captain, had no choice but to tuck his tail.

Incidents like this happened several times a day.

But the only person Lorraine treated with caution, the only one she openly favored, was not her faithful assistant Master Eodran, nor her fanatic follower Cask.

It was me—Ransen Banroa.

“At last...! Today is the day! Time to uncover the secret behind your unique constitution!”

Lorraine’s eyes sparkled.

How many sweets and artifacts had she lavished on me until now? Of course, she’d be delighted—the day of her reward had come.

“Now then~ Come this way.”

I let Lorraine guide me, and she prepared by sticking countless needles into my body.

“One hour per experiment. The payment is one Mana Heart. Correct?”

“Yes.”

A Mana Heart.

That was the balance struck between me—pretending not to care—and Lorraine, who could not hide her greed.

Mana Hearts were consumables.

Once depleted, they could no longer supply mana to a Magical Armor.

There was a method to recharge them, but the recharging device was far too large to fit inside a Subspace.

So I wanted to collect as many Mana Hearts as possible.

Lorraine, on the other hand, had been reluctant, saying they were one of the laboratory’s core technologies.

Well, in the end, I won.

“To be honest, I do wonder. Is this experiment really worth even one Mana Heart? They’re quite expensive, you know?”

By the values of our time, one was said to be worth around twenty Dallon.

Considering an elite warrior’s monthly wage was fifteen Dallon, earning twenty Dallon an hour was not bad at all.

“Just know you’re profiting thanks to my curiosity.”

With that, Lorraine took her seat and began the experiment.

“You called it Aura, right? Use it.”

I drew forth my Aura, just as she instructed.

Glance.

Lorraine looked at the readings appearing on the magic analysis panel, then glanced at me.

Her voice trembled slightly.

“Do it again.”

I complied.

Lorraine bit her lip, slowly rolled up her sleeves, and spoke.

“Again.”

Her voice grew rough.

She had undoubtedly discovered something within my physical data.

This time, she unfastened her buttons.

“Again!”

“Again, stronger this time!”

Her breathing quickened. She began muttering to herself.

“Ah, this data! Aah, so that’s the principle! This could perhaps reveal the operating mechanism of the magical weapons from the Mythic Era...!”

And yet, she turned on me again in frustration.

“What are you doing! Faster! Stronger!”

“More! More! More!”

At this rate, she was going to start foaming at the mouth...

Lorraine had already lost her reason.

But I no longer followed her orders.

Silently, I rose from the experiment table and removed the densely stuck needles one by one.

Lorraine snapped.

“What do you think you’re...!”

“The one hour is up.”

“What? Th-then extend it! Add more! I’ll give you more Mana Hearts!”

At that, I replied—

“Good. But the price has gone up.”

“What?”

“Ten Mana Hearts per hour. Or equivalent artifacts.”

“...What?”

Like a rabid dog suddenly silenced, Lorraine went quiet.

Struck dumb in the face of a tenfold price hike, was she? But—

Sorry.

You were far too easy to read.

“Ten Mana Hearts. Or no more experiments.”

She couldn’t refuse.

I had seen it. The gleam in her eyes, shining wildly.

Lorraine bit down hard on her lips, her eyes wide as if she were about to cry.

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