Chapter 136. Countermeasures for the Future

I observed the ore placed by Milt.

Recently, I had been putting an effort into weapons production, but even I had no idea what kind of ore it was. And I didn’t sense any magic power coming from it, either.

「What is this?」

「A sub-Mithril ore, also known as the Fool’s Mithril.」

「It certainly looks like a Mithril ore.」

「The only similarity between the two is the appearance.」

「Is that so?」

「Yes. It has low affinity with magic, corrodes quickly, and is brittle, so it has no commercial value.」

「That is why it’s called Fool’s Mithril, huh.」

Maybe it’s called that way because someone might foolishly believe it is Mithril when they come across it. There may even be a scamming ring that sells this as a real Mithril.

「So, what about this ore?」

「The demons were commanding the goblins to mine it.」

「For what?」

As far as I’ve heard, this ore doesn’t seem to have many applications.

Even if you run a Mithril scam to earn funds for war activities, it is an inefficient way to go about it.

「At first, I didn’t know what it was used for, but I found out after investigating this core.」Milt said, and pointed to the Cardinal’s core.

Then, Milt started his explanation from scratch.

After we left for the Dragon Mountain Range, Xenovia and Milt remained at the academy. And when information about sightings of demons came in, Milt headed out to investigate. He arrived at the site and quickly defeated the demons.

「It was easy because there were only three demons.」Milt said, like it was no big deal.

Three demons would certainly be easy for Milt, but a serious threat to the average first-class warrior. That’s why Milt was called in.

「The demons seemed to be commanding the goblins and doing something, so I examined around the dig site.」

Apparently, it turned out that sub-mithril ore was being excavated. Milt was previously confused because he couldn’t understand what they could be using the sub-mithril ore for.

「But I finally found out after examining the core of the Cardinal that you brought in, Master.」

It seems that a considerable amount of sub-mithril ore was used in the Cardinal’s core.

「Hmm, that’s quite interesting.」

「Yes. Master. It’s interesting, isn’t it?」

「Where was it used?」

「On the whole core.」

Milt explained in detail that it was found in the joint between the magic stone in the center and the flesh that wrapped it, and the joint between the central magic stone and the smaller magic stones. And it seems that the flesh itself contained a large amount.

「It has piqued my interest quite a bit.」

「Yes. We need to investigate what function this ore serves.」Milt said.

I picked up both the sub-mithril ore and the Cardinal’s core.

Even when I re-examined it, I couldn’t understand what kind of technology was used.

「There is no doubt that this technology is better than ours.」

「Yes. Apparently the Tenebris Cult is studying body modification techniques.」

Technology related to the transformation of human to demon and from demon to beastkin.

And the technology used to create the Cardinal’s core is also a technology that we do not have.

After exchanging information, we discussed what is to be done moving forward.

From now on, Milt and I will proceed with the elucidation of the enemy’s technology and countermeasures.

Dion will investigate the movement of the Cult, while Xenovia and Regina will take command of the defenses.

That’s how we divided our roles.

「We were able to get all this information thanks to Master defeating the Cardinal.」Dion said.

「Even I didn’t realize the enemy was there. It was the same for you too right, Regina?」Xenovia said, as she was the one who was the first to arrive on-site.

「Yeah, totally. The enemy’s concealment technique was amazing. We were saved because Master was there.」

「Actually, I didn’t notice it, either. It is all thanks to Rubeum.」

「Kyuru?」

Rubeum cried in a small voice, while rolled into a ball on my lap.

「If Rubeum didn’t notice the enemy, he could have brought the information back to base. So thank you.」I said, and stroked Rubeum.

「Kyu-kyuru.」Rubeum cried out happily.

「In the first place, if it wasn’t for Rubeum’s speed, I might have been dead. Thank you.」Xenovia bowed to Rubeum.

「…Was it that dangerous? Kyuru?」

Rubeum seemed surprised. Probably because he has seen the strength of my disciples.

「I was quite exhausted. Demons are not weak by any means. And a beastkin is much stronger.」Xenovia continued.

「Yeah. Fighting multiple enemies is quite tough, isn’t it?」

Even Regina, who cleaned up several beastkins like it was nothing, said so.

「Kyuru? It looked like you were overwhelming them, though.」

「Maybe it looked like that, but it was pretty close.」Regina said.

「Besides, fighting one-to-many is vastly different from one-to-one.」Xenovia added.

「Is that so?」

Regina reached out from behind me and started stroking Rubeum.「Yeah. The reason I rampaged as much as I liked was because Xenovia was nearby.」

Xenovia was fighting one-to-many.

However, Regina was fighting two-to-many.

Even if Xenovia didn’t directly participate in the fight, just her presence alone made a huge difference.

「Moreover, Ruu-chan was also circling in the sky.」

「I see… kyuru.」

「Even for me, the fight was easier because Shiro, Fluffy, Fay, and Rubeum were there.」

「Kyururu.」Rubeum cried delightedly, while shaking his tail.