Abandoned Empress's Survival Manual Beside the Male Lead - Chapter 53

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 53
“I suppose that’s to be expected…. Are you all right?”
Erichi scratched his head.
“The carriage is rattling terribly. I haven’t the faintest idea what sort of road they’ve taken us down….”
We arrived at the mines without incident.
But when I said I wanted to see the abandoned mines rather than inspect the iron mine, the managers were taken aback.
They cautioned me there was nothing to see and that the place was desolate, but I pressed stubbornly—claiming I absolutely had to visit the abandoned mines, that I’d heard the scenery was beautiful, trotting out every excuse I could muster.
And so here we were, rattling along in this carriage as if we’d deliberately chosen the most treacherous road possible!
I gritted my teeth and endured it in silence.
“Grand Duchess.”
Erichi whispered.
“Just now, when you insisted on going to the abandoned mines, I noticed they immediately sent someone to the Council of Elders. Is there something valuable hidden in that place?”
His voice dropped even lower.
“Could it be that a spirit has blessed you with gold or something of the sort?”
Ratku, perched on my head, tilted his head curiously.
“If Relei want and sky-talk, I give all the gold in the world from the day I born.”
For a moment, I felt tempted.
“But if sky-talk do it that way, Relei give in three minute!”
……
I swiftly shed my worldly greed.
“Ratku?”
In any case, Erichi seemed to be an even more devoted spirit-worshipper than I’d vaguely suspected.
‘And he’s sharp. Remarkably so.’
As a rule, it’s invaluable to have capable people on one’s side.
Having made my decision, I spoke softly to Erichi.
“Listen. Erichi. This is a secret.”
“Yes, Grand Duchess.”
Erichi swallowed hard.
“The spirit of the sun sometimes appears to me in dreams and speaks with me.”
“……!”
“The spirit hasn’t pointed me toward any veins of gold, but he’s promised to always protect me. He said he’s watching over me constantly.”
I glanced upward slightly, gazing at Ratku in the empty air.
“Ratku?”
Ratku winked.
“He’s watching over you even now.”
“……!”
Erichi clapped both hands over his mouth.
“Grand Duchess!”
“What?”
He sprang to his feet and then collapsed to his knees on the jolting carriage floor.
“Why are you doing this? Get up.”
I asked in alarm, and Erichi lifted his head, eyes glistening with tears.
“Please forgive the rudeness I showed you on my first day. From this moment forward, I shall regard you as a second Grand Duke and serve you with all my heart!”
‘A second Sherkan?’
No—I’d been elevated to that degree?
“Grand Duchess, I should tell you—I studied Spirit Studies as a minor at the Academy. And as a double major. And as a linked concentration and self-designed major as well in Spirit Studies…….”
“I understand. I understand. I get it.”
Just how many majors did this man have?
True to form, the Grand Duke’s senior aide possessed extraordinary intelligence and an equally exceptional history.
‘I had no idea he was this obsessed with spirits.’
In any case….
“Don’t mention this to anyone else, would you? The Emperor of Gaia is apparently an extraordinarily devout spirit-worshipper.”
I still had much to accomplish in Gonet.
“If he learned that I could commune with spirits in this way, he’d summon me to the Imperial Palace at once and want to spend the entire day discussing nothing but spirits.”
Erichi’s eyes flew wide open, and his gaze hardened with unmistakable wariness and hostility.
“I, Erichi, swear from this day forward to obey you absolutely and to speak not a word about spirits to anyone.”
“Really?”
“I stake my name upon this oath.”
I smiled widely.
“Then I’ll share with you from time to time what the spirit tells me.”
“Your Grace……!”
Erichi covered his mouth with both hands, his eyes glistening with tears.
“Now I understand why Head Maid Briget is so devoted to you, Your Grace…….”
I had gained someone with an intelligence stat of 999!
* * *
Some time later.
After climbing and climbing the mountain, I finally arrived at my destination.
“Whoa there.”
The carriage lurched to a halt with a heavy clatter.
The Abandoned Mine at last.
It was the complete opposite of the Iron Mine we’d passed on the way up.
Not a single blade of grass was visible, and the ground was coated with a thin layer of black dust that crunched softly beneath each step. Even a passing breeze would send the dry earth swirling up, gritty against the teeth.
The collapsed mine entrance gaped like a black maw. What seeped from within was neither light nor sound, but only the peculiar chill of a place left empty for far too long.
A land where nothing lived, a land no one bothered to look at.
‘Perfect.’
The moment I stepped from the carriage, people startled by the commotion came rushing out and bent at the waist.
Erichi smirked beside me.
“Normally they wouldn’t come out like this at all, but the moment word spread that the Order of Knights had returned, the treatment suddenly became quite different.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Several armed knights trailed behind me.
Even if the same person arrived, people treated them differently depending on how many swords bristled at their back.
The manager approached, wringing his hands.
“Oh my, what brings such an esteemed personage all the way out to this place?”
“I thought I’d see what there is to see.”
“Ah, but there’s truly nothing to see here, Your Grace…… Or—could it be that you’ve received a divine revelation from a spirit?!”
It seemed the word had spread far and wide that I had been chosen by Phasa’s Sun, a legendary spirit of immense renown.
I glanced at him coldly and moved on.
I could feel the manager sweating profusely behind me, but it was no concern of mine.
After surveying the place once, I suddenly looked up.
“If I purchase this Abandoned Mine, the mountain becomes mine as well, yes? I’ll buy it.”
“Pardon?”
The manager’s expression suggested his ears were deceiving him.
“I said I’ll buy it. It’s abandoned anyway, isn’t it?”
“Your Grace. But…… why would you wish to purchase such an eyesore?”
“Why, for the fine ladies of Gonet, naturally.”
“Your Grace?”
“A new Grand Duchess has arrived, yet no one visits. It seems the bleakness of the territory displeases them, does it not?”
I continued in a measured tone.
“I shall install a gazebo on the peak of that barren mountain and host a tea party. I’ll watch with my own eyes to see if they still dare not come to see me.”
“……!”
The managers couldn’t bring themselves to speak.
Build a gazebo on such a high mountain, on top of a desolate abandoned mine with nothing to see?
And if it’s a tea party, the ladies would have to dress in elaborate gowns and wear shoes?
This Grand Duchess was clearly furious.
“Why are you all standing there stupidly? I said I want to buy it, didn’t I?”
“Ah…….”
As I lifted my chin with aristocratic authority, the manager turned to Erichi.
“As Her Grace has stated, bring the relevant documents at once.”
“Y-yes, of course!”
The moment the manager left, Erichi leaned in close and whispered urgently.
“Your Grace. You’re not ill, are you?”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“Then…….”
Erichi whispered again.
“When an abandoned mine is fully closed, it reverts to territorial property. So they’re nearly free, Your Grace. There are about ten abandoned mines scattered throughout the territory, and all of them together cost barely a hundred Ribe. But Your Grace, they’ve already been worked dry—not a stone remains…….”
“I’ll buy them. All the abandoned mines in Gonet.”
“All of them?!”
Erichi cried out in surprise and reflexively drew out his abacus.
Then, as if realizing there was nothing to calculate, he quietly slipped it back into his side pouch.
“They really are free, aren’t they…….”
One hundred Ribe.
In local currency, that was roughly one hundred million won.
Ten mountains for a mere hundred million won.
‘Not bad.’
Of course, if these were truly abandoned mines as the name suggested, it would be throwing money away.
I unfolded my parasol and strolled deeper into the terrain, feigning casual interest.
Soon I reached the mouth of the mine.
I picked up a black lump rolling near my feet.
Rubbing it between my fingers left black powder on my skin.
In the sunlight, the cross-section gleamed with a dull shine.
My heart began to race.
‘I found it!’
This was the Black Gold of Gonet that appeared in the original work.
Through Sherkan’s relentless efforts, the Grand Duke’s House of Gonet had repaid a debt that was supposed to last a hundred years in less than a few years.
Of course, a person paying off their debts didn’t suddenly become wealthy.
Moreover, the Grand Duke’s House carried an unnecessarily high rank, and the expense of maintaining that dignity was considerable.
That was the point that troubled the original work’s heroine Ayu, and it was also what drove her to discover Anthracite in these abandoned mines.
‘Anthracite.’
To put it more simply—coal.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————