Chapter 580: What Are You Looking For?
I went to the fortress to help Amijin.
It was already in order.
No, I mean, how did they manage to shape my vague vision of the building so well? Sure, I had some ideas while guiding Haulon, thinking about how things should be, but still! Why are the Spirits here so motivated?
I guess it’s because I had been generous with the amount of magic power I allowed them to take. My own magic power has increased quite a bit, so when I think, “Make sure to leave at least 10% behind!” it feels like I might be giving away too much.
The Stone Spirits seem to have redirected their surplus power to fulfill my wishes rather than using it to become stronger themselves. When I think about it that way, the one at fault is definitely me.
However, I have no idea how many Spirits actually want to come to me, so adjusting the amount is tricky. Even if I say, “Just a little bit!” the amount of magic power I give varies depending on the strength and nature of the Spirit. Plus, checking each one individually would take too much time.
I feel like I’m bound to run into trouble again, so I want to figure something out. I’ll consult Haulon later.
So, here I am, with my schedule suddenly free. I don’t want to just go home feeling defeated, so I might as well head out.
What should I do? Maybe I’ll look for the Traveler’s Stone that Retze mentioned.
There are several stones referred to as Traveler’s Stones, each passed down by different ethnic groups. Some belong to people who have long since disappeared or those who have stopped traveling, and it seems some Traveler’s Stones have fallen into disuse.
Among them, I was told that the Esha, located on the Nakahara side of the mountains separating Talia and Nakahara, are definitely within that range.
The landscape within these mountains consists of dark coniferous trees and the shadowy outlines of distant peaks from the same mountain range. This mountain is no exception, with rocky terrain starting from about halfway up.
“Is there a group of people living around here?”
“I don’t know~”
“I think there was one~”
“I feel like there was~”
I walked while asking the Spirits of the coniferous trees, the small stones, the streams, the moss, and various mountain Spirits.
“Was it over there~?”
“Yeah, isn’t it that way~?”
“It’s this way~?”
If people were living here, I’d think it would be in the area of coniferous trees rather than the rocky upper regions, but even that area is vast. After all, the mountain range stretches from Shurmtus to the far east of the Cavil Peninsula.
I did ask roughly where they might be, but since the Esha are supposed to be constantly moving, Retze said he couldn’t pinpoint it exactly.
“I don’t know about the Traveler’s Stone~”
“But you can find crystals around here~?”
“Yeah, you can dig for them here~.”
They might not know about the Traveler’s Stone, but they say you can find crystals. Well, if that’s the case, I’m definitely going to dig for some crystals.
I thought about how Japan’s national stones were quartz or jade as I dug, cleaning off the mud and other white minerals sticking to them.
“Master, that one’s small.”
“Yeah.”
A quartz crystal the size of a grain of rice was stuck to another stone.
“Master, that one looks murky.”
“Yeah.”
It was a whitish? Ivory-like? It had low transparency.
“Master, that’s not quartz.”
“Yeah.”
It was just a stone nearby.
“Master, Master, that one’s big! Transparent!”
“I did it!”
I found a palm-sized quartz crystal! It even had a small one attached at the base, making it a nice piece!
“Is that what you like~?”
“There are more over here~.”
“The ones here come out clean without needing to be cleaned from the start~.”
So, I used the Ex-Staff to smash the stone and continued my search for quartz. I could dig at a slightly whiter crack than the others, so I focused on breaking that apart.
“Oh! This spot! Wahahahaha!”
It wasn’t overflowing with crystals, but that made it all the more exciting for both the Ex-Staff and me, and I spent some time playing around with the Ex-Staff and digging for quartz.
Esha?
I found you, you know? It was getting close to evening, but yeah, I found you. So, I came to Kanum.
“You went digging for crystals, but I can’t tell what you were really after. Did you get the all-important ‘Traveler’s Stone’?”
I came looking for Haulon, but he was out, and Retze was here.
I thanked him for the directions and shared the story of finding Esha, along with my quartz digging adventure.
“I got it.”
I plan to display it alongside the Sunstone on the collection shelf in the Island Tower.
But, thinking about it, the effect of Esha’s Traveler’s Stone is said to be “You can return to a loved one” or “You can go to someone you want to meet,” so maybe it’s better to keep it on me?
“You’re quite diligent with your reports.”
As I was talking with Retze, Haulon returned.
He walked into the living room looking a bit tired; the national festival must be approaching, and he’s probably swamped with work.
“You found the ‘Traveler’s Stone’ you were asking Retze about?”
I offered him a glass of wine as he sat down.
“Yeah. By the way, Esha turned out to be a descendant of the Fire Nation.”
“Blub!”
Haulon spat out the wine he had just sipped, and Retze deftly avoided the spray, though it wasn’t exactly graceful.
“Haulon, that’s disgusting!”
“Wha-what!?”
I went looking for the Traveler’s Stone and came back with news of a descendant of Karn’s Country, so please give me some praise.