The Regressed Magic Swordsman Devours the North - Chapter 59

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 59. The Mana Stone Mine
Somewhere in the vicinity of the Croem Mountain Range.
————Whoooosh.
The bitter cold wind from the Northern Region swept in relentlessly. No flame, it seemed, could withstand such a gale.
Could any living thing survive in such a place?
No. It could not.
Unless one were a frost beast that fed on cold itself, survival in this environment would be impossible.
That was what most would think.
But there existed a place where the sun’s warmth lingered unmistakably.
That place was the barracks Sion and Seed had prepared for their mining operation.
Dozens of barracks, erected like a city amid the desolate mountain range devoid of human presence.
The prefabricated steel barracks, constructed swiftly, each resembled a vast dormitory, and their outer walls were densely lined with Insulation Mana Stone Film, so the interior remained serene regardless of the howling winds outside.
Inside each barracks stood rows of bunk beds, and wall-mounted lockers lined the corridors. Between the barracks lay restrooms and shower facilities.
Every barracks’ center held a Sun Stone, and all Sun Stones were coupled with the “Radiator” invented by Doctor Chrombell, warming each barracks completely.
The fusion of a legendary ore that dispelled the cold within a radius of dozens of meters and cutting-edge technology was greatness itself!
Snowflakes falling on the barracks turned to lukewarm droplets before touching the roof, trickling down in streams.
“A warm greenhouse in the heart of a mountain range where bitter cold rages.”
Seed Karsen, observing the sight before him, was struck by an idea.
With Sun Stones available, wouldn’t it be possible to construct a resort for the wealthy in this snowfield?
The warmth within contrasting with the cold without. Deck it out luxuriously, prepare sulfur-roasted eggs, sour beverages, spirits, hot pot, and then…….
‘It could become an incredible tourist destination.’
Gather firewood from the mountains, construct a building packed with insulation, use double-pane windows to maximize heat retention—
Creating an onsen where guests could gaze upon the snowy landscape would hardly be impossible!
Seed Karsen’s mind churned with countless business ventures.
This would sell well. That would succeed too. In an environment like this, anything could work!
“Ehehe. I’m getting a good feeling about this! Business ideas are exploding!”
Meanwhile, Roman, sitting across from him, set a large pot over crackling flames.
Inside the pot simmered beef bone broth.
Into it went red pepper, crown daisy, water dropwort, napa cabbage, leek, radish, onion, bok choy, enoki mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, tofu, and beef.
A hot pot dish that made one’s mouth water irrepressibly!
“Young master. Dinner is ready.”
“Hmm? ……Yes. Thank you.”
Seed glanced at Roman as he spoke.
“Roman, you’ve been working hard.”
“Ah, no sir. I’m quite comfortable here, actually.”
“How long has it been since you returned home?”
“About two weeks now, sir.”
“I’m sorry my younger brother has caused you trouble.”
“Not at all, young master. Please don’t say such things. I’m genuinely fulfilled right now. It brings me joy to work like this for Young Master Sion.”
Seed Karsen chuckled, then turned his gaze to the bubbling hot pot.
‘Hot pot, I’ll absolutely build a resort. And I’ll serve hot pot there too.’
With such thoughts, he read the newspaper. The newspaper from Daily, which had been gaining popularity in the Northern Region lately.
“That fellow Sion is making waves again. These days, instead of seeing him in person, I spot him often in the papers.”
Roman answered with a pleased smile.
“I truly didn’t know young master was such a remarkable person. I’m simply awestruck.”
Seed thought Roman was quite impressive. Sion had certainly changed so much that Seed sometimes wondered if he was truly the same person.
But before that, Sion had been such a failure that Seed often questioned whether he was truly his brother.
‘There must have been some catalyst for the change. And I suspect the one who created it was……you, Roman.’
“My younger brother’s fortunate with people.”
“Ha, well, having an elder brother like you, he was born with great fortune indeed.”
“That’s not what I meant. But anyway, the business seems to be progressing smoothly.”
“We should pass the break-even point within a month.”
“Right. Right. We’ll be wealthy soon.”
The mining operation was indeed proceeding smoothly.
Reluctant as he was to admit it, Doctor Chrombell’s inventions in the field of Mana Engineering were nothing short of genius.
Thanks to them, they’d succeeded in discovering ore veins in the Croem Mountain Range.
First, they deployed machinery to excavate the earth, established safety measures, then sent in the miners.
“There’s still much to do—workplace safety inspections, managing the miners’ physical and mental well-being.”
“……So knowing there’s that much work to be done, why hasn’t that fellow shown up?”
“Do you mean Young Master Sion?”
“Right. You’re working yourself to death here too! And you just got back from Travis!”
“Ah. Young Master was here just a moment ago, sir. He’s already left.”
“What?”
“He said he’d look over the barracks, the mining sites where the workers labor, and the factory before departing. He asked me to pass this along to you.”
Roman handed the Iluna Noble to Seed.
Seed stared at the bottle in disbelief.
“Look at this. He comes but doesn’t even bother seeing his brother before he leaves. And on top of that, he brings his favorite drink with him?”
He was irritated, but not in the way one feels toward someone they hate. It was something else. Annoying, perhaps. Or presumptuous.
Whoooosh—
The sound of the blizzard outside echoed distantly through the barracks.
“Let’s have a drink, then.”
“Yes? It should pair nicely with the hot pot.”
“Remember this sensation when you’re planning the business venture.”
“Sir?”
Between Roman and Seed Karsen, a somewhat peculiar conversation continued.
***
Crunch. Crunch.
I walked across the snow-covered expanse in my uniform and military boots.
I was here to inspect the Croem Mine—what would soon become my financial lifeline.
Money is a blessing in abundance. No joke: the more, the better.
Before humanity perishes and it becomes worthless paper, it will serve as a powerful tool of influence.
So I’ll earn quickly and abundantly, and spend quickly and abundantly.
In any case.
I’d originally planned to visit Seed, but he seemed absorbed in something like a madman, so I just showed Roman the courtesy and made my way toward the barracks.
[Mana Detection]
Thump-thump.
I activated Mana Detection while surveying the entire barracks. It would be problematic if someone carrying Dark Mana had slipped in.
There could be ordinary informants without Dark Mana, but filtering them all out would make it impossible to accomplish anything.
At minimum, I intended to catch the obvious ones by walking through myself.
Fortunately, no Dark Mana was detected from the miners resting in the barracks or the women working in the dining hall.
‘Next is the mine itself.’
I entered the mine to inspect the Mana Stone extraction site.
Crunch. Crunch.
Instead of lanterns, Luminous Mana Stones fixed to the walls shone brightly.
Clang! Claaang—!
The sound of pickaxes rang out from a distance. The noise was loud enough to make your ears ring.
“One! Two! One! Two!”
Ringing cries echoing off the eardrums. The stale smell of sweat. Underground moisture. Mana density difficult for ordinary people to endure. And so on.
‘This place definitely needs more environmental improvements.’
The miners were tough men.
If I’d asked knights to endure these conditions, there would be plenty who couldn’t hack it.
Why? Knights are fundamentally sensitive beings.
Those who perceive and handle Mana can’t afford to be dull. Such people were sensitive to all manner of things.
Light levels, noise decibels, tactile sensations, the smell seeping into your nose—everything.
So miners and knights were bound to differ in every respect.
That doesn’t mean these conditions suit them well. They’re simply less perceptive.
Following the sound and smell, I spotted the miners. Beads of sweat dotted their foreheads.
The pickaxes in their hands were Mana Stone Resonance Percussion Equipment—the Athul. One of Chrombell’s inventions.
The Athul was an extension with a small Mana Stone cell mounted at the pickaxe head, and the moment it received force and speed from the miners’ hands.
Claaang————!
A vibration matching the Mana Stone’s frequency rippled through the wall, and following the grain of the resonance, only the rock crumbled while the Mana Stone remained intact.
Rumble—
High-purity Mana Stone ore tumbled down.
“I thought that old man Chrombell was insane, but he’s a genuine genius!”
The miners worked with admiration, and high-purity Mana Stone ore spilled out in streams.
‘Remarkable. And Chrombell gets called a madman even here. Just what does he do all day?’
In any case, this was my first time entering the mine, and the yield was beyond imagination.
If we kept earning money like this, even a full year’s budget for special operations would be pocket change.
“All right, move what we’ve extracted right away!”
“Yes, sir!”
The miners loaded the Mana Stones they’d extracted into sacks and transported them by rail. Following the rail led directly to the Mana Stone processing plant.
‘Chrombell was involved in that facility’s equipment as well.’
I jotted down improvements I’d noticed in my notebook. A few of the miners recognized me and offered greetings.
I stopped them and asked what improvements they’d suggest.
Of course, I activated Mana Detection at intervals to check whether any spies might be lurking about.
‘Still nothing here either.’
Perhaps because of the war in the Western Region and the expedition coming soon—those human traitors had gone quiet.
Which meant……
This was my opportunity.
I could exploit this moment while those traitors focused on the expedition.
I’d strengthen my position from multiple angles while preparing for the expedition, and when those defectors finally showed their faces, I’d execute them with style.
That’s how it had to be. Otherwise, the Northern Region would fall.
After steeling myself with that resolve,
I walked along the rail.
How long had I been walking?
The Mana Stone processing plant appeared.
“Mana Stones arrived! Move them to Line B!”
“Line C is short-staffed too!”
“We’ll source those next!”
“Yes, sir!”
Whirrrr—bang! Bang!
Clink, clink.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat—
Amid the enormous machinery roaring into motion, technicians moved about urgently.
They brought measuring devices to the raw Mana Stones that had arrived on rail and pressed buttons.
Beep—beep—
“Purity above 95%! Premium grade!”
“Roger! Move them!”
“Yes, sir!”
Following the foreman’s shout, the inspected Mana Stones were transferred to the processing line, and raw Mana Stones poured into the machinery.
Shwoooosh—
Inside the machine, refined water was sprayed to wash the stones, and heat was applied to restructure them.
The Mana lost during processing? It seeped back into the stones inside the machinery.
The Lattice Refining Processing Line—it had reduced the loss rate that occurred during Mana Stone processing from the previous 50% to under a mere 10%.
Or so I’d been told.
‘I can’t quite grasp the mechanism myself.’
In any case,
the raw Mana Stones that had undergone the refining process emerged as high-purity Mana Stones.
The stones traveling along the rail were each the size of a palm.
Still soft from having just been produced, they were pressed in a high-pressure press to form uniform shapes.
Eventually, perfectly cuboid processed Mana Stones were complete—these high-purity stones would fetch twenty times the market price of ordinary Mana Stones and still fly off the shelves.
In this age, such pure Mana Stones are difficult enough to find that demand far outstrips supply.
Money would pour in like a mountain.
I activated Mana Detection again.
Thump—thump—
I searched for Dark Mana, but found none here either.
“Phew.”
I exhaled in relief. Still, the Mana concentration in this place was incredibly dense.
Knights and mages might be fine, but ordinary people exposed frequently to such Mana concentration could develop Mana Sickness.
It wasn’t fatal—more like severe influenza—but environmental improvements seemed necessary regardless.
However, the factory workforce was different from the miners.
They wore masks and gloves to resist the Mana concentration, and they seemed mindful of it.
I went straight to find the foreman.
“Foreman.”
“Oh! N-no! M-Master Sion! This humble one, your servant, Foreman Gawen!”
“Gawen. What’s the distribution route for selling these stones?”
“Well… for now, we load them onto transport trucks and move them that way, but……”
“With the need for escort personnel and guards, efficiency takes a hit.”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
If this place were the capital, Seiren, we could simply transport by vehicle. But this is the Croem Mine, far from Seiren.
Beasts might appear along the way, and there’s no telling who might attack.
In other words, escort personnel are constantly depleted. Without protection, there’s no way to transport these quickly enough…….
‘I’ll need to think about this problem more carefully.’
“All right, I understand. Gawen. Thank you for your work.”
“Yes, yes! At your service!”
Gawen saluted crisply. Had he been in the police before?
In any case, I continued walking, turning the matter of transporting Mana Stones over in my mind.
Tap. Tap.
‘Wait.’
My pace had slowed without my noticing.
‘Now that I think about it… what if I lay track from the Lumeia River in Seiren all the way here, and run a Mana Stone locomotive?’
I stopped walking.
‘I could transport the mined and processed Mana Stones easily. The escort personnel could be concentrated in one place and simply make the journey back and forth.’
I pivoted on my heel.
Tap, tap.
I began walking in the opposite direction.
“Hmm. Yes. I should discuss this sort of thing with a merchant.”
There was no doubt about it.
I needed to see Seed.
The Reincarnated Swordmaster Devours the Northern Region
Author
: Bangshim
Production Date
: June 16, 2026
Publisher
: ACES Media Co., Ltd.
Editor
: ACES Media Editorial Team
Address
: 10F Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
※ This work is published by ACES Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder,
and no part of its contents may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
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UCI
: G720:N+A129-20260615032

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