Vestal Mine.
It was a special mine that produced various metals, mainly iron ore and magic stone due to the influence of the magic dragon vein that was said to be running underground.
And what was so special about it? it was the fact that those metals could be found near the surface.
Normally a mine had to go pretty deep underground for getting the mineral in it.
But around this mine, the underground mana pushed up the metals to poke out from the ground like grass. There was no need for miner to brave danger and dig underground for it.
Although the ore in this mine couldn't be gathered all at once unlike digging up vein of ore, in exchange the mineral resources could be gathered in relative safety. It was a peculiar mine.
Vestal Village was a pioneering village that was built at the foot of the mountain.
The settlement was very developed thanks to the blessing of the ores that were extracted daily from the mine.
As expected it couldn't even be compared with the fortress city, but it was far larger than Argo Village that was destroyed from the dungeon outbreak incident.
「Waa. I had heard about it before but, this place look more like a town than a village.」
There were also a lot of workshops and similar facilities in the village in order to process the gathered ores. There were also quite a lot of stores that targeted the people working there.
The metals that were extracted from the mine were mostly normal iron and magic stone. The mining quantity was moderate but it was stable. It was such merit that was attracting people to here.
「Ahahaaa, this is nice! I can look forward to the bar of a village this large, and there should also be a gambling den somewhere here! Let's look for a notable playground before searching for an inn!」
Sister Claire laughed in great mood with smell of alcohol clinging on her.
She hid her face with a veil saying 「Outwardly we're in a pilgrimage!」 when they entered the village, but I got the feeling that it wouldn't serve as any camouflage at all....
W-well, it's pointless to say anything to this person at this point.
Her bodyguard Sylvia-san also sighed in exasperation, but she didn't really say anything else...this must be how she usually acted.
「Err, then we're going to start looking for a guide to help us with the material gathering.」
「...Yes.」
I walked along with Sister Claire while confirming with Alicia about our purpose for coming to this village――obtaining the material for appraisal crystal.
The material came from a powerful monster called Rock Turtle.
This monster had the odd nature of eating rock that was tinged with mana and iron ore to be used as material for its own shell, but one in every several of them was a picky eater that ate nothing but crystal.
The crystal that got turned into shell permeated with the characteristic of Rock Turtle that absorbed the property of the mineral it ate. That could be used as special material for allowing Appraisal skill to take hold to it.
Rock Turtle's estimated level was 80, which was very high. And considering that the individual that ate nothing but crystal numbered very few, the guild designated the difficulty level of the material gathering as very high.
It was no wonder there was a shortage of appraisal crystal.
One of the living habitats of this rock turtle was Vestal Mine but...there was another circumstance here that made this quest to be not straightforward.
Actually Vestal Mine was divided into two areas. One area was a safe place where the villagers visited everyday to gather ores.
And then the other area was a dangerous area that was filled with thick mana and powerful monsters.
Naturally Rock Turtle lived at the second area. It was far away from the village, deep inside the mountain.
Because of that it would be very troublesome to reach there without any local to show the way.
Although most villagers wouldn't get close to the dangerous area, so very few people could become our guide.
This village didn't have adventurer guild, so we would need to ask around at place like the bar in order to search for a guide.
And so we went together with Sister Claire and Sylvia-san to search for a bar but――.
.
「The village's atmosphere is a bit strange.」
「Certainly...perhaps there's something going on.」
After we walked for a while looking for a bar.
We immediately noticed that strangeness.
It felt like the whole village was in turmoil. The people were being very restless.
We tried going toward a crowd to find out what happened. There we found a lot of wounded receiving treatment in the plaza.
There were also some people among them who rejoiced from being able to be reunited together. It was quite a commotion.
「Umm, just what is going on here?」
「Aa, there was a landslide.」
I got that answer when asking a nearby villager.
「There was a strange shaking this morning. Turned out it was from one of the mines collapsing. Many people got worried that some of the men of this village who went out to mine might get caught up in it but, well, thank god it didn't turn out into a disaster.」
「I see.」
The villager talked with a relieved look. I also patted my chest in relieve.
I was worried that there might be another great trouble happening because of the restlessness in the air, but thank god that wasn't the case.
「...Erio, can I heal them with my skill...?」
「Ah, yeah. I guess. It looks like they also don't have enough potion. Let's help.」
They were about to talk to the people in charge of healing when,
「Oi you idiot! Don't force yourself! You yourself are seriously injured! Even if you aren't going to the dangerous area is too reckless!」
「Don't stop me! Let me go! She's my only daughter!」
They heard a loud yelling.
When they looked there, a man whose whole body was wrapped in bandage was trying to go somewhere without taking heed of the men around him who tried to stop him.
He had a ghastly air around him, as though he would still go even if he had to cut down the people who tried to stop him.
「W-what's going on here!?」
I reflexively interrupted them because how explosive the situation seemed to be.
Then the bandaged man glared at me.
「Don't get in my way! My daughter...Teresa went into the mountain searching for me! ...Uh, gafuh」
「Wait, are you alright!?」
It seemed that his wound was unexpectedly deep. The man collapsed on the spot.
「...Horrible.」
Alicia hurriedly tried to heal him but,
「Do you perhaps have healing skill!? Then wait, he'll go to his death if you treat his wound now!」
「W-what do you mean by that...」
「His daughter's whereabouts is unknown right now. According to what the village children said, it seemed she got worried when she heard that her father went missing and went off on her own to search for him.... But she wasn't found no matter how much the search party searched for her in the mountain. Perhaps she lost her way and went until the dangerous area...this guy is only level 40 and yet he's trying to go to that dangerous place. If you heal him then he'll only go there to die.」
The villager told us with a pained look.
And then to console the bandaged man he,
「I understand that you're worried because she's a memento from your wife. But we still don't know for sure that she went to the dangerous area. Teresa-chan still hasn't gotten her Gift so there ain't no way she can go until that far by herself. We're going to search at the safe area and around the village again, so just rest quietly here. What're we going to do if Teresa-chan return and find out that you've also departed huh?」
「Uu, Teresa...tsu」
But the villager's words didn't seem to be enough at all to reassure the man.
At this rate he would ignore his own condition and headed to his own death, or his wounds would worsen because of his mental fatigue.
There was no way we could just leave him alone.
That was why I looked straight into the man's eyes.
「I understand. Then I'll go to that dangerous area to look for your daughter.」
「Eh!?」
The villagers around us opened their eyes wide in surprise from my words.
.
Erio: Come to think of it, are you alright with money Weips-san? You gave us our weapons for free at the start. And your shop is also in this kind of state. What if there's thief...
Weips: Aa. Don't worry about that. Just between you and me, there is also SS-ranked adventurer among my regular customers
Erio: Eh?
Weips: Once when my weapons got stolen, an alliance of S-ranked adventurers worked together to take care of it. Not only they returned my weapons, they even completely crushed everyone involved in it, including a black market organization. It became a good example. Now I don't need to worry about my weapons getting stolen even without putting security. In the first place there ain't any thief with eye for art who will steal weapon here after seeing the state of my shop.
Weips: Well, I don't really have any interest in making anything other than equipment, and I've gotten completely used to this place. I'm glad I don't need to waste money for troublesome things like the building or crime prevention and can spend it for kiln or tool.
Erio: I-I see...(I-I know that she's a skilled blacksmith but, it looks like the blacksmith taking care of me is even far more amazing than I thought...)