Ch.16Exploration

“Here, take this with you.”

“What is this…?”

Enormous stones were revealed, exactly thirty of them prepared and ready.

“They’re magnets. When you bring them near a mineral vein, the magnet will be drawn to it. Just let us know where that happens.”

These stones were indeed magnets, specially processed to detect metals with magnetic properties.

“Hmm…”

Titania’s reconnaissance team quickly arrived at Amurtat.

Their passage through the city streets of Amurtat drew the attention of citizens, but since they were all well-armed with bows and swords, no one dared approach them carelessly.

“How should we notify you? Do we need to come back?”

“You can use this.”

The supervisor handed them cylindrical objects about 60cm long. Despite their lightweight appearance, they were quite heavy, with a string attached to one end that appeared to be for pulling.

“What’s this?”

“It’s called a flare. Here, point this recessed part toward the sky, then pull the string at the back all the way, and smoke will pour into the sky. I’ll distribute these, so fire them when you find a mineral vein.”

“Understood. Just in case, what if we encounter monsters or beasts we can’t handle?”

“Then you may flee. We’re close to the border anyway, and monsters can’t break through the Earth Core’s barrier.”

The supervisor said this with a grin.

This was the luxury only city dwellers under the Earth Core’s protection could afford, and also the reason they lived in the city.

“The Earth Core’s barrier…”

As an elf who had never experienced the Earth Core’s protection, it was a smile she couldn’t possibly understand. But since it wasn’t her concern, Titania prepared to lead her reconnaissance team on their departure.

Since their purpose this time was exploration rather than trade, they fully stocked up on consumables including food under Amurtat’s support before heading toward the northern mountains.

*

Tap-tap! Tap-tap-tap!

Elves were famously known for their slender bodies, which was generally true.

However, this was simply because they couldn’t eat well enough to gain weight in their environment, and as a hunting race, they moved their bodies frequently, resulting in prominent muscle development. The rumors that they only ate vegetables or were genetically unable to gain weight were nothing but myths.

“We’re not here to hunt, so ignore trivial beasts. The Illius will handle them.”

“Yes!”

“Move in pairs of two. Lily, you’re with me. Everyone else, spread out!”

“Yes!”

The mountains rose high enough to be called a mountain range, but the terrain wasn’t particularly rough.

Mountains could generally be divided into two types: those with gradually increasing slopes, and those with steep inclines.

The former were usually the result of accumulated deposits from volcanic eruptions, while the latter resulted from tectonic movements like continental plate collisions.

The northern mountains of Amurtat fell into the latter category, with streams of melted snow flowing at the base of the mountains, surrounded by thick moss and trees.

Slip!

“Whoa!”

“Be careful, Lily! Unlike the forest, the ground here is slippery.”

“Ugh… it doesn’t seem soft, but I think it’s because the moss is full of moisture.”

“I see.”

Titania patted her shoes.

Plop! Plop!

Indeed, the moss they had been walking on was full of water, leaving their shoes completely damp.

Unlike plains covered with tall grass, the northern mountains were blanketed with lichens and moss. Though the total amount of moisture was similar, most of it was contained within the surface moss, making the ground essentially a damp muddy mess.

“Hmm…”

Crunch… squish.

As if to prove this, when Titania twisted her foot on the ground, the moss was quickly scraped away, creating soft mud.

“It hasn’t rained for a week, yet there’s this much moisture… exploration will be quite difficult.”

Everyone knew that walking on soft ground was more difficult than on firm ground.

Titania looked around and soon spotted a protruding rock.

“Lily, let’s rest for a moment on that rock.”

“Yes, Captain.”

The two set off again and soon reached the rock.

*

“Phew… it’s been a long time since I’ve walked on ground like this.”

Titania muttered while massaging her ankles. Though she wasn’t particularly old, she was still an elf who had lived for over 300 years. Even for her, the mossy terrain at the base of the northern mountains was an unfamiliar experience.

“At least there’s plenty to eat, which is reassuring. Our reconnaissance team was always short on food.”

“If they don’t feed us properly while we’re working this hard, that would be a serious problem.”

Lily took out dried jerky and hardtack from her bag and handed them to Titania, who accepted them and tossed the jerky into her mouth.

A salty taste momentarily dominated her mouth, followed by the hardtack that began to drive away the saltiness.

As a result, Titania, now thirsty, took a sip from her water canteen and swallowed.

It wasn’t particularly nutritious, but what mattered was that they had enough to eat.

As Lily said, the rations given to reconnaissance teams were always tight.

“Let’s get moving now. As the captain, I can’t just lie around all day.”

“Yes, Captain.”

The two elves stood up again and began poking around with the magnet.

The sight of two women carrying around a large magnet was quite amusing, but they were just trying to make a living. Anyone who criticized them would experience firsthand why elven archery was so famous.

“Oh! Here! Over here, Captain!”

“Did you find something?”

“Look at this.”

Lily called Titania over to show her the black sand particles sticking to the front of the magnet.

“Iron sand.”

“Iron sand?”

“It’s a mixture of sand and iron. If you filter out the impurities, you can make iron from it. Where’s the flare?”

“I’ll fire it.”

Lily picked up the flare and pulled the string, releasing red smoke.

The sight of red smoke rising vertically into the clear sky was so beautiful that Titania and Lily momentarily lost themselves watching it.

Whoosh…

“Ah… it’s gone out.”

“Well, it would be nice if the smoke continued, but…”

After breaking apart and disposing of the spent flare, Titania and Lily began moving again.

Finding the iron sand deposit alone would be sufficient as an exploration achievement, but it might be dismissed for reasons like lack of economic viability. Finding as many resource deposits as possible would increase Elfium’s chances of survival.

*

“My goodness… there’s so much smoke?”

“The miners will be screaming with joy. Even if only a tenth of those signals are real, we’ll have more than enough iron to meet our needs.”

“And if they’re all real?”

“Then from that point on, we’ll be sitting on piles of money.”

Iron was the foundation of civilization.

Without iron weapons, one couldn’t win wars; without iron reinforcements, buildings couldn’t be constructed; and without iron tools, work couldn’t be done. Since humans began working with metals, they gained incomparable power over other creatures.

And even now, when countless metals were being combined, separated, and newly created, iron still remained the metal of metals.

The value of many metals, excluding precious ones, was established based on iron.

That’s why those red plumes of smoke coloring the sky made the officials of Amurtat smile with satisfaction.

Of course mountains would have mineral veins, but with so many, how could one not smile?

“His Majesty will be pleased.”

After saying this, the supervisor prepared a feast for the soon-to-return elves.

Although not originally planned, after all their hard work, they deserved at least a good meal to oil their stomachs, didn’t they?

As a result, five cows were slaughtered, and the returning elves were so distracted by the smell of beef that they had difficulty remembering the exact locations where they had fired the flares.

“Everyone did well this time. This is His Majesty’s favor, so enjoy it to your heart’s content.”

“F-five whole cows…?”

“Ah yes, this is what we call animal husbandry. You elves cannot imitate this because you have no surplus production.”

With a slight air of pride, the feast began, and the elf reconnaissance team members, who had been forced into a semi-vegetarian lifestyle, pounced on the beef and began devouring it.

A few days later, the elves smoked the remaining beef, packed it into their bags, and returned home, recording an average weight gain of 11.4kg.