Archmage's Restaurant - Chapter 41: The Northern Forest and Chestnuts (2)
“Sit!”
Since when do bears obey commands like dogs?
But there’s no creature that can resist when Rurin starts radiating her Dragon Fear. The bear, which had been growling and thrashing around, was immediately subdued by the pressure and plopped down to sit.
“Stand up!”
The bear obediently followed the next command as well.
Leaving Rurin to her fun with the bear, I turned my attention back to roasting the bonin.
The shells turned a charred black as the bonin inside roasted to a perfect yellow and brown hue. Quickly extinguishing the fireball, I inspected the roasted bonin.
They were cooked just right.
I cracked open the shell and popped a bonin into my mouth. Mmm, the sweetness was just right, and with each bite, that unique texture spread through my mouth.
It’s a flavor you’d call savory-sweet, the kind that keeps you reaching for more.
“Aaah!”
Seeing Rurin staring at me with wide eyes, I peeled one for her and placed it in her mouth.
“Oh! It’s delicious!”
Rurin exclaimed in delight.
“Right?”
If even Rurin, who’s all about meat, is satisfied, there’s nothing more to say.
“Hehe, my clothes got dirty because of that bear, but you’ve given me plenty to eat, so it’s okay.”
Rurin flipped the bear onto its back and then plopped down next to me, happily munching on the bonin.
After finishing our snack, I cleaned up the branches and pondered how to restore the crater. Should I cover it with leaves?
“Ellesion!”
Just then, Rurin called out to me, staring intently at the center of the crater where I’d lit the fire, her gaze fixed on the bear digging furiously.
“Something’s weird here. There’s something shiny!”
“Huh?”
“Shiny?”
As I approached, I could see it too—something was indeed shining. It wasn’t gold or silver. It had the glint of a gemstone. Could it be a vein?
The Grayke Mountains already had an iron mine.
The mining accident that happened recently occurred at the iron mine on the Grayke Mountains.
Of course, this northern forest is on the completely opposite side. To be precise, the iron mine is on the southern side facing Grayke City, while this northern forest is on the opposite side. Beyond the northern forest, if you descend the Grayke Mountains, you’ll leave Grayke City behind.
So, it’s not shocking that there could be another vein here. I carefully dug around the shining spot. What emerged was a deep red ruby.
A perfectly round, red gemstone—something considered as valuable as diamonds in the modern world.
Naturally, in this world too, it’s a highly prized gemstone. One of those luxury items nobles covet but rarely get their hands on.
However, one thing is clear: this crater is no gemstone mine.
What kind of vein would produce a perfectly cut gemstone? It’s impossible.
Yet, the ruby in my hand was flawlessly cut. It had clearly been crafted by a master jeweler.
So, it has nothing to do with a gemstone vein.
But then, why was a gem buried in a place like this?
Could it be that someone lost it and it got buried over time? Or is it part of a treasure trove?
The word “treasure” piqued my curiosity. Rurin, who’s always drawn to treasure, lit up as soon as she saw the gleaming ruby in my hand.
“That’s pretty!”
“Isn’t it? The craftsmanship is exceptional. It has to be the work of a dwarf master.”
“One of those shorties? But why would something like that be buried in the ground?”
“Who knows.”
I examined the crater that Rurin had created with renewed interest. I started digging more at the spot I had just unearthed. My fingers soon hit something again.
More kept coming out as I dug. It felt like the ground was half dirt, half gemstones.
And what my fingers touched was none other than a diamond.
A diamond.
And not just any diamond—it was set in a ring. The transparent diamond shimmered with a dazzling light, almost as if it would suck you in.
While Rurin was still fascinated by the ruby, I discreetly pocketed the diamond ring.
It seemed there was some hidden secret in this northern forest.
The fact that access to it was restricted was a clue. It likely had something to do with an ancestor of the Grayke family.
But if it was just a hidden treasure, why didn’t they pass it on to their descendants? And if they did hide the treasure, why is it coming up from the dirt like this instead of being stored in a chest or even a coffin?
Simply burying it in the dirt is unusual. It also makes it extremely difficult to find.
This mystery only made me more curious. Secrets are meant to be uncovered.
And I have just the magic for that.
I stepped out of the crater and backed away. Rurin, who had chased the bear away, trotted along behind me.
“Ellesion?”
“Stay still for a bit, I want to check something.”
“Okay, got it!”
Rurin crouched down behind me, resting her chin in her hands as she watched. She never really questioned what I did, simply observing. Though, if I asked for help, she’d grumble about it being annoying.
But in the end, she’d always follow my instructions. Recently, she’s even been grumbling less.
Anyway, with Rurin behind me, I started channeling my mana. The spell I was about to use was a 9th-class spell, Earthquake Blaine.
As I chanted, the ground began to tremble.
RUMBLE!
CRACK!
Centered on the crater that Rurin had created, a powerful magical earthquake shook the area. The ground split open with a loud crack, revealing the layers beneath.
Just like how an earthquake with a magnitude of 8 on the Richter scale can split the earth and reveal the layers below, Earthquake Blaine allows for controlled quakes of a magnitude 7 or higher within a designated area. It’s no wonder it’s a 9th-class spell. Moreover, it doesn’t cause any damage outside the targeted area.
So, even though the ground in front of me was splitting, it was only within the range I had set. Beyond that, everything remained peaceful as if nothing had happened.
“Why are you suddenly splitting the ground?”
Though she rarely questions me, curiosity sometimes gets the better of her, and she asks anyway. That’s Rurin. She tilted her head in confusion and grabbed my arm.
“It’s nothing serious. I just thought there might be something hidden under this ground, so I split it open.”
“Hidden?”
“Yeah.”
I descended into the split in the earth.
The depth of the fissure was moderate. Since it was created by magic, there were differences from a natural earthquake.
In other words, there was a bottom.
Using Rurin’s mana, I safely landed on the bottom and looked around. I could see that the ground was filled with more rubies, diamonds, and even gold and silver nuggets embedded in the layers. The amount was staggering. It was like discovering a treasure trove fossilized in the earth.
Rurin, gazing at the treasure-filled layers, let out a sigh of wonder. But what intrigued me was the reason these treasures were buried here.
This was definitely the result of some other force. It was absolutely not a naturally occurring phenomenon. So, there had to be some cause and effect at play here. In other words, there had to be a reason why these treasures were buried in this spot.
“Ellesion! I think I know what this is!”
Suddenly, Rurin pointed to an area below the treasure layer and approached it. There, beneath the split ground, were bones. The earthquake had exposed part of them, leaving them dangling.
“You figured it out? What is it?”
“This is a dragon’s grave!”
“A dragon’s grave?”
“Yes, it’s certain that a dragon lived in this Grayke region. It seems to have died a long time ago. And…”
Rurin stared at the bones intently before releasing a burst of mana. Her dragon magic caused a round orb to rise from the ground and float in front of her.
It looked like a pearl, but it definitely wasn’t. The orb glowed with a red light, not the kind of red that rubies or gemstones have. It was more like the glow of modern neon signs.
“A dragon’s grave is where a dragon without an heir returns to the earth along with their lair at the end of their life. It’s the path I would have taken after my mother died. So, I know all about it! If you hadn’t been there, I would have been alone.”
“Is that so?”
Now that I think about it, neither Grayke City nor its surroundings were claimed as the territory of any other dragon. It was an empty area.
Just as humans have their own territories, a typical dragon declares the area around their lair as their territory.
However, no dragon had claimed Grayke City and the surrounding area as their domain. That’s why the elder of the black dragons said that once Rurin established her lair, they would declare Grayke City and its vicinity as her territory.
So, there was once a master here, but now it’s vacant.
Judging by the bones, they were quite old, but the sheer size left no doubt that they belonged to a dragon-sized creature.
Rurin’s explanation seemed to be spot on. That meant that the treasures buried above the bones were likely part of the dragon’s hoard that was buried with it.
“Then, what’s that red orb?”
“This… is something I hate.”
“Hate?”
“It’s a condensed mass of dragon mana.”
“Dragon mana?”
“Yes, my mother told me about it. Our lifespan is typically between three to four thousand years. Four thousand years is considered exceptionally long-lived. But I’ve heard that occasionally, a rare ancient dragon can live for more than five thousand years. This orb is a condensed mass of mana that forms after such a dragon naturally passes away.”
A mana orb from a dragon that lived for five thousand years?
Is it like the relics left by monks?
Of course, the concept seems entirely different, but with a dragon that’s lived for five thousand years, I wouldn’t be surprised if anything came out of it.
“I think it’s called an Ancient Marble. My mother also had one of these orbs that she got by chance. But it got her killed. Those bad people! They’re evil.”
“So, even dragons covet this thing?”
“That’s right. It amplifies mana.”
The mana orb in Rurin’s hand was just one of five. Even one orb is enough to incite conflict, and here were five of them.
“Ellesion, this is only useful to dragons. Other beings can’t handle the mana in these orbs anyway. But you’re fine! So you should take them all.”
Rurin approached me, opened my palm, and placed all five red orbs into my hand.
“They say dragons will go to any lengths to get even one of these, right?”
“That’s why I hate them. These orbs caused my mother’s death and left me alone! But I don’t mind if you use them. It makes me happy if you become stronger. After all, you promised to protect me forever!”