At the same time Calliphe and Lynen had fallen into the ground and were exchanging secrets.

“Not here either…”

Crash!

“Not here…”

Bang!

Allen, with crazed eyes, was muttering ominously while recklessly using his holy power.

It was to find the passage leading underground.

Noah, who was watching quietly from a distance, turned to Imelen.

“Is there really a passage leading underground?”

“Grrrn.”

Imelen nodded.

However, since she had passed through without much thought when she was a mindless monster, she could only indicate ‘roughly this area’.

Thanks to that, part of the mountain was almost completely destroyed.

Bang! Crash!

“…Shouldn’t we stop him?”

“Eeng.”

Imelen shrugged her shoulders (or what appeared to be shoulders). It was a gesture suggesting stopping him would be useless.

While scratching her ear with her front paw.

At her attitude that was beyond cool to the point of being indifferent, Noah concluded he could only rely on himself.

“…Uncle.”

Noah approached Allen a bit closer and calmly tried to dissuade him.

“You’ll collapse at this rate.”

“But, Lady Calliphe, is trapped.”

Allen mumbled with unfocused eyes. His face was already drenched in sweat from overusing his holy power.

“Both of them are probably hurt. And if a familiar is targeting them too, isn’t it a dangerous situation?”

“Mmm.”

Noah nodded seriously.

Right after Calliphe and Lynen disappeared, Noah had panicked more than anyone and tried to jump into the hole with them.

But now he was more composed than the saint siblings.

“Anyone can die or get hurt. But my benefactor can’t…”

“Eeeeeng…”

Allen muttered coldly and Imelen howled in agreement. The siblings had the same obsessive look in their eyes.

Noah said firmly in his characteristically calm voice.

“Still, we can’t rush. Uncle needs to conserve his strength too.”

“Noah… are you worried about me?”

“Yes. Because uncle becomes useless when he runs out of holy power.”

“Gasp.”

“Eng!”

At the malice-free fact bomb, the saint siblings dejectedly hung their heads. They truly felt he was Lady Calliphe’s child indeed.

Feeling like he might cough up blood, Allen patted Noah’s head.

“Y-yes… you’re right. We don’t know what might happen so I should save my strength. Alright, then let’s have Imelen search for the passage, and I’ll dig it up.”

“Grrrr.”

“I’ll help too.”

The three divided up roles and began searching for the underground passage.

Noah and Imelen would search, and Allen would dig up those spots repeatedly.

Noah felt Allen’s behavior was particularly passionate. Remembering how Calliphe used to hit Allen, he felt a bit anxious.

‘…Does uncle really like Lady Calliphe? What if he really does?’

While observing Allen with a worried expression.

“…!”

His eyes met Imelen’s, who was glancing at Allen with somewhat fond eyes.

“…!”

The two children(?) who noticed each other’s contrasting expressions instinctively realized.

That child is my rival!

“…”

“…”

Noah and Imelen, who had been narrowing their eyes at each other, moved simultaneously.

“Kids?! What are you doing right now?”

Allen shouted in surprise.

Babababat!

Noah and Imelen began competitively digging up the ground.

“Aah, why are you suddenly digging so much? Imelen, why are you acting like this too all of a sudden?”

Allen, caught between the two children, got covered in dirt without understanding why.

“Pft… kids, wait…!”

Just then, Imelen and Noah stopped moving. Allen’s eyes widened too.

“Found it!”

They had finally discovered the hole leading underground.

“Wait, before we go down let’s make a rope to climb back up first.”

“How do we make a rope?”

Noah, who was asking, was startled.

Allen suddenly pulled off his loose top shirt.

Revealing the toned physique and lean muscles that Allen, the seaweed incarnate, had been hiding.

“Whew.”

As he brushed back his disheveled hair and straightened his back, his hunched shoulders regained their original width.

From his surprisingly firm forearms to the smooth waistline dropping in an inverted triangle.

Adding his white skin, he looked like a marble statue that belonged in a temple.

Noah, who had been admiring unconsciously, discovered Imelen looking at him arrogantly.

The gentle capybara’s face was smirking annoyingly.

“…Eng? (See that?)”

“…”

A small fist clenched tight.

Noah, who had been beaten(?) by Imelen, took it out on Allen.

“You look weak.”

“Huh?”

“The Duke has more muscles.”

“…”

“I feel bad because I saw something I didn’t want to see suddenly.”

“…Sorry…”

Arrows pierced Allen’s chest as he hurriedly made rope from his removed clothes.

Sniff. Children are cruel…

Anyway, after quickly preparing the rope, they looked down the hole leading underground.

Thanks to the light from minerals embedded in the underground walls, they could faintly see below.

The distance between here and the underground floor wasn’t far.

That’s when Noah, spotting a familiar golden light, shouted excitedly.

“Lady Calliphe!”

* * *

“It’s all mine!”

Looking at the white spirit stones felt like being surrounded by gold coins.

“Are you that happy?”

“Of course!”

The nagging problem had been money after all!

My dignity maintenance allowance was from House Offensa’s budget so it couldn’t escape Young Marquis Caiman’s surveillance.

‘That’s why I tried to extort… no, borrow from Dietrich.’

As planned, Dietrich became my information and funding source, but due to receiving karma for his own misdeeds, he wasn’t very reliable.

At most, he could only sponsor Dovion.

‘But now I have my own money. My money that I can use secretly!’

The white spirit stones look beautiful. I want to be together forever. Is this… love?

‘But the event at this location doesn’t end here.’

The real treasure is elsewhere.

With a low laugh, I began thoroughly examining the walls of this place filled with white spirit stones.

“…What are you doing grinning like that?”

“Just follow me, darling.”

“…”

Lynen’s expression soured.

Regardless, my mood was good enough to willingly use creepy words.

“…Found it.”

Shortly after, I discovered a narrow gap cleverly hidden behind a large white spirit stone and rock wall.

It was just big enough for one person to barely pass through.

“To think there was a path in such a place…”

“Let’s go.”

As we emerged into another space.

‘As expected, it was here! The real treasure!’

In the middle of a cavity smaller than before, a large crystal stood tall like a tree.

Lynen admired it while touching the crystal’s surface.

“It feels similar to white spirit stone’s energy. But different.”

“The color is different to start with.”

That massive mineral resembling white spirit stone was uniquely transparent black.

“It’s black spirit stone.”

“Have you seen it before?”

I saw it. In the game.

When I shook my head, Lynen observed the black spirit stone again.

“It’s certainly a very rare mineral. The magic tower or temple would love it.”

“They’ll go crazy over it. Because it’s unique and new. The price will be whatever they name?”

“That much? Aren’t you too optimistic? Even if mages love research…”

“No.”

I looked at the black spirit stone with a slight smile.

At that tiny thing curled up inside.

“Not the magic tower, but the temple will be desperate to buy it.”

In <Marino>, Noah tried to sell this unique mineral. Since he couldn’t use it himself.

At that time, appearing as a dark horse that overturned everyone’s expectations, the highest bidder was the High Temple.

The reason they wanted this ore wasn’t for the ore itself, but for that tiny thing trapped inside.