The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 231

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

Chapter 231

Rita continued stroking the Black Dragon’s head, thought for a moment, then shook her head.

‘No, it wouldn’t be a deposit. We don’t have the technology or time to mine it.’

[Consideration: …That’s certainly true. We need to arrive at Lamcard in May 821, so even if we knew of a natural mana stone deposit, we wouldn’t have time to mine it.]

‘Then the remaining possibility is….’

She removed her hand from the Black Dragon and rubbed her lips. Something suddenly came to mind.

‘Treasure hoarded by the Black Dragon. If it’s mana stones someone already collected, we could use them right away.’

[Hypothesis: Could it be treasure hoarded by the first Empress? Both she and her mentor are long-lived elves, so there’s a possibility they accumulated many mana stones. Since she’s later identified with the Black Dragon, it would match the explanation of treasure hoarded by the Black Dragon.]

‘It’s a reasonable hypothesis, but… in our current situation, ‘Jurlene’ and the ‘Black Dragon’ aren’t the same entity. Since we’re in the ‘Black Dragon’s’ position, we might need to obtain the treasure ourselves now.’

[Question: Are you considering a different hypothesis, user?]

‘There were gremlin-type monsters in the Ash-covered Era. Monsters with the habit of stealing anything with dense mana and hoarding it in their nests, originally monsters.’

In the Ash-covered Era, monsters had long been extinct due to the monsters, but monsters originating from monsters still existed.

This was why ‘Rita Pascal’ knew about monsters like orcs, goblins, and trolls that only appeared in old tales.

‘They were troublesome creatures that constantly raided the command center’s artificial mana stone warehouse, so extermination missions came up quite often. But from an autonomous squad’s perspective, they were like lottery monsters, so we tracked them more often without taking missions. The magical tools and mana stones pouring from their nests were often more profitable than mission rewards.’

Beacon also used to quickly track down news of gremlin-type monster appearances. It was a good opportunity to secure operating funds without receiving support from the command center.

Rita raised her eyes to gaze into the depths of the Black Forest that would be crawling with monsters.

‘A gremlin living in such a forest… might have mined and hoarded natural mana stones from deposits. In that case, we have a way to find them too. We could use a similar method to how we used to track gremlin-type monsters.’

[Analysis: It’s a sufficiently possible hypothesis, user.]

‘Let’s keep both possibilities open for now. According to the myth, the Imperial Council will soon worry about funding for relocation. We’ll reach a conclusion by watching whether Jurlene steps forward then.’

Meanwhile, she generously infused ode into the magic gun in her bracelet.

‘In the meantime, Minewg, use this to create several clones and search for gremlin-type monsters. Will this much ode be enough?’

[Confirmation: It’s sufficient, user. I’ll deploy clone bodies.]

A swarm of golden butterflies bloomed from the bracelet and scattered in all directions. Rita watched the scene and thought of Isaiah’s summoned creatures.

It would have been much better if Senior Is were here, but fortunately Minewg could play a somewhat similar role. Grumbling while reciting knowledge like Oli, and nagging about her health like Sister Sera….

As if partially replacing Beacon who wasn’t by her side.

‘Did Oli consider even this situation when making the artificial spirit like this?’

She said she made it while waiting for her return, and since she seemed to have made it hoping it would always watch over, no, protect her by her side instead of herself, it might really be true.

Whether it was true or not, thanks to it she wasn’t completely lonely. The weight on her shoulders seemed to lighten a bit too.

Rita wore a faint smile as she watched the butterfly swarm scatter into the darkness, then headed toward the Whispering Cave with a peaceful feeling, holding the Black Dragon clinging to her chest.

[Anger: But user… regarding your physical condition that I examined while absorbing ode just now.]

“Ah… I’m, I’m better than I look! No, I will be fine! I’m making ode concentrate! I’ll be fine if I drink that!”

[Resentment: The bad user who arbitrarily shut down this artificial spirit has finally… Little Minewg will never forget this incident….]

Though she did break out in quite a cold sweat along the way.

* * *

March 7th, 821.

Lillieta, who had been steadily consuming and applying ode concentrate while recuperating for three days, had almost finished recovering.

Especially her left hand – she poured concentrate on it to completely heal it so the Black Dragon bite wouldn’t be discovered. Fortunately, since it was a complete rest period without combat, she didn’t need to worry about ode overuse.

Priest Dorin, who visited Lillieta daily, was amazed at her recovery despite not receiving proper divine power treatment.

“You won’t need my help anymore. That potion you made yourself has amazing effects. Dragon Knight, you truly seem to be a special person.”

That’s what Dorin said while giving her a complete recovery diagnosis. Rita casually asked a question before she left.

“The cave has been unsettled for the past few days, did something happen by any chance?”

“Oh, that’s….”

The priest showed a troubled expression. Rita added more to ease her burden.

Since she was already roughly guessing what it was about and just asking for confirmation.

“Is it something you can’t tell me? If that’s the case―”

“No, no, it’s not that… Everyone kept quiet so it wouldn’t disturb Dragon Knight’s rest. It was also something we could resolve on our own.”

Dorin waved her hands and spoke with a sigh.

“After the Inquisitor’s attack that you defeated, Dragon Knight, opinions arose that this cave is no longer safe. There was a bit of… dispute between the Village Chief and Prince over that issue.”

It would have been a clash between the Kingdom Refugees and the existing cave residents. Even if it was just a wasteful argument, there was no way there wouldn’t be people wanting to blame the Kingdom Refugees when the village was discovered because of them.

‘Still, the Imperial Council would have handled that well.’

Someone who couldn’t resolve this level of conflict couldn’t possibly establish a new country.

Sure enough, Dorin continued with a somewhat brighter expression.

“But that’s fine now. Prince persuaded everyone well. In the end, everyone decided to leave this cave and go somewhere else according to Prince’s opinion. For the past few days, our kingdom people have been helping the residents pack, so it must have felt unsettled.”

“I see.”

Rita nodded and asked back.

“Then has it been decided where to go?”

“Oh my, that’s….”

The priest’s expression darkened. She soon composed her expression and made the sign of the cross.

“May almighty Sha guide us. Prince is discussing with the people, so it will be decided soon. Dragon Knight, you don’t need to worry.”

After Dorin left, Rita fell into thought while putting away the now-unnecessary bandages.

‘The Imperial Council won’t discuss such matters with me. Here I’m a foreigner who doesn’t know much about the Holy Empire and a difficult guest to deal with.’

So she had to step forward actively.

‘I’ve already obtained the information I wanted, and preparation for persuasion is complete.’

For the past three days, her body had quietly recuperated, but her mind had been extremely busy. She continuously discussed with the artificial spirit instead of the absent Beacon and incomplete Gid, establishing a framework for what to do next. Both achieving the myth and the means to obtain the ‘Star’.

Now it was time to move her body.

As she stood up and stretched her arms, the small Black Dragon that had been lounging buried in a pile of bandages smelling like her on the bed suddenly raised its head.

Without being called, it flew over on its own, wrapped its tail around her arm, and clung to her shoulder with a smack. A pleased rumbling sound could be heard from her nape.

[Pathetic: Honestly, isn’t living as this human’s pet monster more suited to his nature than playing Crown Prince, user?]

‘That can’t be true.’

Rita laughed off Minewg’s grumbling and left the room.

A child waiting on the first floor offered to guide her when she said she wanted to meet Elision.

The prince of the fallen kingdom and future Imperial Council was in the Village Chief’s drawing room with a map spread out, seriously discussing something with several scholar-looking people and elderly people who seemed to be village elders.

Rita stopped outside the door for a moment to observe the young man with long silver hair hanging down.

Come to think of it, silver long hair, handsome appearance, and even the name Sion.

Could it be mere coincidence that the Imperial Council resembled the identity that Gid Pascal of the Ash-covered Era had disguised himself with this much?

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