“Well, I guess it’s not that easy to find a vein, huh?”
“Yeah, sorry about that.”
“No, no need to rush for results. Just don’t overdo it, okay?”
“Got it. I’ll report back tonight.”
“Okay!”
The first two days of the survey in the Restio Mountain Range yielded no results.
Then, on the third day, Yuri reported in the morning, “Nothing notable discovered so far today either.”
“Noein-sama, does it seem like the survey in the mountains isn’t going well?”
“Looks like it. But we’re surveying a vast, unexplored area. It’s no surprise that we haven’t found anything in just a few days.”
It was lunchtime when Noein responded to Mathilda, who asked while serving tea after the meal.
Noein had planned to continue sending survey teams to explore the mountains repeatedly. It was less likely they would find anything convenient in just a few days.
Just as Noein thought that, Yuri’s voice came through earlier than the usual scheduled check-in.
“Noein-sama, do you have a moment?”
“Yuri? You’re early. Did something happen?”
“Yeah, we found something interesting. There’s… a blue section on the rock surface.”
“Blue? Not like a crystal, but the rock itself is blue?”
“That’s right. It spans several meters and is taller than me. It doesn’t seem to be a precious metal or gemstone, but it looks like some kind of ore vein.”
“I see… can you bring some back?”
“Yeah, I’ll chip off a piece and bring it with us. We’re planning to wrap up the survey and head back tomorrow morning.”
“Sounds good. Looking forward to it.”
After ending the ‘Far Talk’ with Yuri, Noein pondered over the “blue rock” Yuri mentioned.
There was one thing that came to mind based on the description, and if it was what Noein thought…
“That would be a huge fortune. Heh.”
Muttering to himself, Noein turned back toward the forest, resuming the golem-assisted logging with a sly grin.
The next day at noon, Noein welcomed back Yuri and the survey team. Among the team, Dant, the largest member, carried a basket with the reported “blue rock” on his back.
While the gathered villagers buzzed around the unfamiliar chunk of rock, Noein quickly received a report. The others, curious, crowded around as well.
“This is the blue rock I reported. It was exposed on the mountainside.”
“Is there a lot more of it?”
“Yeah. We chipped out this chunk and dug a bit further in, but the blue section seemed to continue. It didn’t feel too hard to dig through either.”
“So, it’s not that hard of a material…”
“Yeah. Do you know what this might be?”
“Probably. Let me take a closer look.”
Noein tapped the rock with a knife, easily breaking off a fist-sized piece.
Scraping the fragment, a blue powder flaked off.
Then, Noein tapped the surface of the fragment with the handle of the knife, bringing it closer to Yuri’s face.
“Take a sniff.”
“O-Okay…”
Yuri sniffed the fragment as instructed, wrinkling his nose and frowning in discomfort.
“What does it smell like?”
“Like rotten eggs… sulfur?”
“Haha, just as I thought… Yeah, it’s definitely the smell of sulfur.”
After confirming Yuri’s reaction, Noein took a sniff of the fragment himself.
“Hey, did you know this would happen? If you were going to check it yourself, why’d you make me smell it first?”
“Just a little prank. Come on, laugh?”
Grinning mischievously, Noein placed the knife and rock fragment on the ground.
“Do you know what this is?”
“Yeah, this is… Haha… Oh, I can’t hold it in!”
Noein started to answer but burst into laughter, barely containing his excitement.
Yuri looked somewhat bewildered, and the others chuckled awkwardly. Only Mathilda, standing quietly behind Noein, remained expressionless as usual.
“Hey, stop laughing and just tell us already.”
“Sorry, sorry. But I can’t help it! This is a raw chunk of lapis lazuli. It’s an incredible discovery!”
Finally calming down, Noein said with a grin that still hadn’t fully left his face.
Lapis lazuli is a stone known for its deep blue color.
Unlike diamonds, it doesn’t emit a strong sparkle, and unlike rubies or sapphires, it doesn’t have a transparent sheen. However, it’s still considered a gemstone and has been valued since ancient times.
Even in the northern region of Lordberg Kingdom, where mining is abundant due to the Restio Mountain Range, discoveries of lapis lazuli veins are rare. It’s one of the more precious minerals.
“Huh, so this is a rare find?” Yuri muttered, finding it hard to believe it was a gemstone based on its appearance. The others in the survey team and the curious villagers seemed similarly puzzled.
“Well, it doesn’t have a flashy shine, so it’s hard to tell. When polished, it becomes a beautiful blue gemstone that seems to draw you in… But its real value lies elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?” Bart asked, prompting Noein to nod and continue.
“Yeah. When ground into powder, it becomes a pigment for painting and pottery. It’s called ‘The Blue of the Mother Sea.'”
“Now that you mention it, I’ve heard of that,” Edgar, who had been listening to the report nearby, chimed in.
“It’s an extremely rare and expensive pigment. The powder is worth more than its weight in gold, and even famous painters can hardly afford to use it.”
“Exactly! You’re well-informed.”
“My grandmother was from a noble family and had an interest in painting, so I remember hearing about it.”
It turned out that Edgar’s grandmother was a former noblewoman who had married into the family of the village chief, Edgar’s grandfather.
“By the way, how did you recognize lapis lazuli in its raw form, Noein-sama?”
Yuri asked, prompting Noein to recall his late mother.
His mother, who had risen from a poor commoner to become a concubine of a great noble through cunning and manipulation, had shown little affection for her son. However, she often dragged the young Noein around to boast about the luxury items she collected, using him as an audience.
If Noein didn’t react the way she wanted, she would quickly become irritable and hit him. So he’d learned to respond with phrases like “That’s amazing, Mother,” while being dragged from place to place. Among the many rare items his mother had shown off, lapis lazuli, as well as paintings made with the pigment known as “The Blue of the Mother Sea,” had left an impression on him.
In addition, while confined to a remote building on his family’s estate, Noein had read books that helped him learn how to distinguish lapis lazuli from other blue minerals.
“Well, it’s due to my background.”
“Ah…”
Only Yuri and the other former mercenaries, as well as Edgar, who oversaw the new residents, knew the details of Noein’s background. Since other villagers were present, Yuri refrained from asking further questions.
“Anyway, if we can mine a lot of this, we won’t have to worry about money for a while.”
“Noein-sama, how much do you think this chunk alone would be worth?”
Radley asked eagerly.
“Hmm… Yuri, how heavy is this?”
“Probably just over 50kg.”
“Well then… If we go by retail price, it should easily exceed 100,000 rebro, but as a raw gemstone, the wholesale price would be lower. Even if it’s only a fraction, we’re still talking about tens of thousands of rebro.”
The mention of tens of thousands caused murmurs among the former mercenaries and those who could calculate its value, like Edgar. Even Mathilda, usually expressionless, widened her eyes.
The other villagers, unfamiliar with such large sums, were still confused, but when Noein explained, “Basically, this one chunk of rock could get you several gold coins,” their eyes widened in shock.
One gold coin worth 10,000 rebro was enough for a common family in a farming village to live modestly for a year. If this chunk of rock could be turned into enough money to live off for several years, and there was still more in the mountains, it was impossible for them to even imagine the scale of such wealth.
“So, if we keep mining from that vein, we won’t have to worry about the funds for settlement development for a while. We can build houses for everyone, set up various facilities, and more… Hehe, haha…”
As Noein started laughing at the future prospects, Yuri and the others looked at him with a mix of admiration and exasperation.
