Episode 30
The method of confirming whether it is a core.
“I’m dropping it, alright?”
“Right.”
To avoid getting confused like the fake ruby last time, there was a method Aidan had devised. It was a verification method created based on Hedron’s core research records left at the Gate Research Institute.
A core made from Hedron’s core is almost indistinguishable from an ordinary gem when seen with the naked eye. However, inside, it possesses an ether crystal layer different from ordinary minerals.
That crystal layer, upon contact with a copper nitrate solution created by reacting copper with silver nitrate, exhibits a minute rainbow phosphorescence for a very short time.
In other words, by dropping just a little of the copper nitrate solution, one can know whether it is a true core or merely an ordinary mineral—a statement indeed.
I carefully dropped the copper nitrate solution I had prepared in advance. The split second a single water droplet fell onto the surface felt like dozens of minutes.
Drip—
Over the fountain pen, the solution dropped. Above the water droplet that fell onto the surface, a rainbow glow bloomed like thread, then spread along the crystal layer in an instant.
Red light, blue light, and purple light wavered like waves, then vanished without a trace upon blinking an eye.
“D-Did you see?”
“I saw.”
Aidan and I looked at each other at the same time. Seen only in report contents, the core’s reaction was unmistakable.
“This is precisely Hedron’s core.”
Aidan muttered in a low voice. I carefully gripped the fountain pen.
“Finally, one… we found it.”
The first key to finding Dad was finally obtained in hand.
***
Even after that, whenever news was heard of an unidentified gem-like mineral that had suddenly appeared, Aidan and I headed to that place while pretending to perform the surface-level role of ‘Special Audit Department’.
“Another wild-goose chase this time as well.”
However, not a single one was a true core. Since finding the core in Central Neodymium in the East, a time of over a month had already passed without being able to discover any clues.
“Tell me about it. This time, I thought it was real!”
Because it was said that a yellow gem-like thing had suddenly formed in a house, I thought it was real, but upon finding out, it was something the granddaughter of that house had picked up, and the reagent didn’t react either.
“Even though we came all the way to the farthest region, the West, at that.”
“At any rate, it was about time to visit the West once anyway.”
“As the Special Audit Department?”
“That’s right.”
By all means, Aidan seemed minded to perform properly even the fake duty of the Special Audit Department. Because while coming here, he meticulously investigated tax collection, after all.
“By the way, the West really has nothing, doesn’t it?”
It was a scenery completely different from the South bustling with tourists, or the East where fields and orchards continued.
Here, an endless grassland spread out in place of cultivated land, and atop it, herds of horses were running and playing leisurely.
“Because there are more animals here than humans.”
If the East was famous for agricultural crops, the West was famous for animals. Thanks to wide pasturelands, they raise many animals. Turning loose animals like horses, cattle, and sheep, Turtlely, where we are right now, was the best horse-producing region among them in particular. I heard most of the warhorses used in the knight order grow up here.
“The horses are certainly large, it seems. Their coat color is good, too.”
“Our family doesn’t use them either if they aren’t Turtlely horses.”
Blue sky and wide-open greenness. Up over it, down to pure white clouds floating around.
I wondered if this was what it meant to be leisurely. Looking at the widely spreading grassland, did it feel like even my heart was broadening?
The air was good too, so while I was staring blankly, a large brown horse abruptly stuck its head out from the side.
“Eek!”
Surprised out of my mind, backing away, I misstepped my foot.
“Ouch!”
The horse that had startled me went on its way leisurely just as it was.
“What are you doing? Sitting on the ground.”
Having looked around the surroundings briefly and returned, Aidan looked down at me disdainfully. I looked completely like a child enjoying a picnic, failing to read the room by myself, didn’t I?
“A-Ah, no. Just…”
Feigning composure, I got up and dusted off my bottom. Of all things, it’s a pure white skirt. It didn’t get grass-stained, did it? It’s difficult to launder.
“Since it wasn’t a core, and we finished the Audit Department work, let’s return first.”
“No, today we’ll return after staying a day at Turtlely village.”
“Pardon? Here?”
Of course, taking time from Turtlely to the capital is quite on the longer side, but the sun hasn’t set yet. If we depart now, we’ll be able to arrive in the capital at night, so why bother?
“Right, because there’s a public lodging here as well.”
“A public lodging?”
“Why.”
“No, just… I wondered if you didn’t have a separate villa here.”
At my question, he looked at me as if a bit flabbergasted.
“Do you think our family owns a villa in all the lands of the Empire?”
No, it felt like a disdainful tone of voice, too.
“O-Of course not. Just, because Young Lord suggested sleeping first, somehow I thought there would be a villa.”
Because he hates public lodgings!
“Of course, staying in such a place is something I dislike, but…”
Pupils blending in with the background looked at my leg.
“With that leg, rather than pushing yourself to move, resting is better, isn’t it?”
“Ah…”
Reflexively, I looked down at my leg. Come to think of it, did it swell up a bit?
“A-Ah, did you see me falling earlier?”
“Right, you fell down boisterously indeed.”
“No, when on earth did I fall down boisterously again?”
“How can a person be startled by seeing a horse?”
“Ugh, one can be startled!”
“At the academy, horsemanship was learned as basic cultivation, was it not?”
“Just because one knows how to ride a horse doesn’t mean there’s no rule against being startled by seeing a horse!”
Aidan and I moved our steps toward the carriage while bickering.
Fortunately, the distance to the public lodging was not very far.
“Ouch,ouch, this swelled up more?”
Lying on the narrow bed and looking at my foot, an ankle swollen noticeably more than earlier came into view.
“If only I could apply some medicine…”
I should ask the lodging manager if there is something like a first-aid kit. Limping as I went downstairs, the manager who was sitting on the first floor until a moment ago was nowhere to be seen.
Where did he go? I can’t rummage around as I please, either.
In that awkward split second, someone lightly patted my shoulder from behind.
“Excuse me.”
Turning back, there was a girl my age with brown hair braided into pigtails.
“What are you looking for?”
“Ah, by any chance, if there is medicine…”
“Where are you hurt? Please wait a moment.”
She skillfully fetched supplies.
“My goodness, how did your leg end up like this?”
“Earlier on the grassland, I got startled by seeing a horse and fell down.”
“Oh my, the horses let loose on the grassland are all gentle and nice. There’s nothing to be scared of.”
The woman smiled brightly and introduced herself.
“I am Melliot, who takes care of the horses coming to the public lodging. You are the person who came riding the carriage earlier, right? Star and Moon.”
“Star and Moon?”
“Yes, because both are kids I raised.”
Wrapping a bandage around my leg, Melliot began explaining what intelligent thoroughbreds the two were. She was a child who chatted a lot, more than expected.
“You really know well about horses.”
“Of course! Though I like other animals too, horses are animals that commune particularly well, after all.”
Finishing my treatment, she smiled.
“Actually, our family was a famous breeder family in this village.”
“A breeder?”
“Yes, an expert who researches lineage and decides breeding between thoroughbreds. However…”
Melliot smiled awkwardly.
“Our grandfather was a massive gambling addict. He wagered the thoroughbreds owned in the family on gambling tables one by one, and in the end lost all decent horses.”
Pointing at an official notice posted on the wall, Melliot spoke.
“So my father challenged that contest for several years to obtain thoroughbred breeding rights. However, falling off a horse last year, he came to limp in one leg. Right now, I am earning a living taking care of horses here instead.”
Following her finger, I too shifted my gaze toward the wall.
[Turtlely Equestrian Contest
Run together with a horse loving the vast land, and seize the opportunity to breed with a purebred thoroughbred!
Winner’s Prize: Thoroughbred Breeding Right
Silver bit and highest-grade saddle crafted by Turtlely artisans.
Special Commemorative Plaque]
It was a poster looking remarkably like a neighborhood market discount event promotional flyer, but the photo embedded there caught my gaze.
“Ah, that saddle is pretty, isn’t it? Particularly, the cubic zirconia embedded in the saddle this time was something our village head found in the warehouse, and it’s said to be pretty like a gem! So neighborhood girls are making a fuss right now to receive that, you know?”
“Found in the warehouse, you say? It wasn’t something originally there?”
“Pardon? Yes. He said it was something not in his memory.”
“They say it’s not a gem?”
“At first, thinking it was a gem, he went to get an appraisal, but it was said to be merely a pretty mineral.”
I looked back at the poster.
“According to the village head, he certainly has no memory of buying it, but don’t tell me such an item could have dropped right out of the sky all of a sudden, either. Having bought it, he just can’t remember it, I’m sure.”
Melliot spoke with a smile.
Suddenly appeared, not a gem, pretty mineral.
By all means, that… isn’t it a core?
