Volume 6 Chapter 56 The Great Thief Of The Century
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Despite last night’s major incident, Tizzy guided the townspeople with even more precision than before—no, sharper than yesterday.
As for me, I kept up my usual act, playing the role of the clueless green mentor.
Was the trust between her and the people different now? No, it felt like something deeper—like overwhelming charisma.
I didn’t know whether it was something in Tizzy’s bloodline or just raw talent, but whatever it was, it was incredible. People don’t move for justice or profit. They move when someone with true presence stands before them.
Of course, there are charismatic figures even among the cardinals. But Tizzy… she’s on another level.
She might be capable of becoming both a saint like Joan of Arc and a tyrant like Hitler.
Is that a skill? Or maybe something beyond?
Honestly, I’m a bit jealous. But I don’t feel bitter. If anything, it makes my job easier—and I’m grateful for that.
I focused on carrying out orders, quickly storing people, household goods, fruit trees, and livestock.
When I was told to take the mountain grapes growing in the yard, I thought, “Makes sense.” You can turn them into wine, and kids like eating them fresh.
The chestnut trees behind the mountain were a little more trouble. They were tall, so I cut off the top half and stored them forcibly. As long as the roots stayed intact, they’d probably grow back. Just in case, I stored the top halves too—for grafting or cloning later.
The hardest part was definitely the livestock. They had proper resistance, so I couldn’t just store them with magic.
If their owner led them, sometimes they’d go in peacefully. But the stubborn ones that ran off… they had to be bought on the spot and turned into meat.
When I handed over the usual silver coins, the villagers seemed happy. Apparently, some shady butcher had been ripping them off.
”Mr. Chaa, huh,” I muttered. “No matter where you go, there’s always one like that.”
By nightfall, I escorted Tizzy to Kasgar Castle. The people’s attitudes had already shifted dramatically—too quickly, honestly.
They were underestimating her.
It wasn’t Ms. Lime’s fault, even though she had disguised herself as the false Tizzy. This was part of the plan all along.
If Tizzy had responded to last night’s attempted raid with force, the hidden traitors would have risen up immediately.
So instead, she pretended to panic. She acted shaken, shut herself in her room, and gave them the illusion of victory.
Now those traitors were celebrating. They believed a woman couldn’t lead as lord. But thanks to that, we’d bought precious time—enough for the Larse Empire’s army to close in on Kasgar.
Still, I had to wonder… didn’t they realize they’d be the first to get purged once the Empire took over?
Traitors are only useful once. Whatever deals they made in secret—those won’t save them now.
Listening in on their drunken chatter, it sounded like the Hero army had already crossed the river.
That shouldn’t be easy. But they were practically cheating—carrying massive supplies inside magic bags and pushing forward without a supply line.
Even the snow-capped mountains wouldn’t slow them down. At this pace, they’d arrive at Kasgar by the evening, two days from now.
Normally, I’d assume something this convenient was a trap. But Yakou’s intel matched perfectly.
Are they really that careless? Or do they just think the game’s over now that they’ve been found out?
* * *
So, two evenings from now. Just barely enough time to complete the evacuation.
As for the ore thieves, tonight and tomorrow are the only safe windows to move.
”Alright. Let’s go,” I whispered, clenching my fist. “If I have the Dragon God’s Herb, I can stay up all night.”
Just two more days. I’ll push through.
I’d flown over the land during the day, so the terrain was fresh in my mind. I chose the most efficient route.
The open-pit copper mine was the main target. It was the heart of this region’s environmental ruin—entire mountains carved into massive bowls.
Before the mining started, this place had been a hidden hot spring retreat.
Now, though, there was no one around. Mining had stopped.
Too much ore had been pulled up, and refining couldn’t keep pace. Were they adjusting output to manipulate prices?
No… it just seemed like chaos. Poor decisions, low manpower, and the higher-ups ignoring Tizzy’s orders.
Her charisma didn’t seem to reach those already stained by greed. Once the ore ran dry, they’d panic soon enough.
I had to remind myself—when it comes to money, bureaucrats become monsters.
To avoid suspicion, I left a year’s worth of ore on the surface, then dug deeper to store the rest.
Extracting only the copper elements used too much mana, so I stored chunks of brass ore instead. I gave it a loose designation to make things easier. The veins stretched out for hundreds of meters.
It was oddly satisfying, watching them roll out like bundled cables.
I summoned Pii-Pii over and over to refill my mana. Each summon let me mine about ten carts’ worth.
Was it just me, or was Pii-Pii getting chunkier with each call?
Time flowed differently in the Elemental Plane. Maybe it had a good meal in there.
After an hour, I’d stored most of the accessible ore. I’d gotten a bit too into it—probably hauled out tens of thousands of tons.
Refining that would be a nightmare… but I could just sell the ore directly to dwarves.
It would be worth a fortune.
In fact, I’d just taken away centuries of wealth from the Duke Mineley Territory. Felt kind of criminal.
But no, this was all on Tizzy’s behalf. Legally speaking, I was just recovering stolen assets.
With all this gold, silver, and copper… it was tempting to start minting coins. Flood the world with our own currency.
But if I overdid it, the Larse Empire or Totoana Empire might retaliate.
Maybe it was safer to circulate them as bullion, shaped like coins. Let the value shift with the market.
Even now, the Empire’s “common gold coin” buys less than its weight in pure bullion.
If our country started selling coins made of real ingots, the Empire would probably melt them down and reforge them as standard coins.
They’d profit off the value gap and wouldn’t interfere. But clever merchants might start hoarding our coins instead.
The results were hard to predict. But crashing the gold market wasn’t the goal. Something more interesting might happen.
Copper coins, on the other hand—those were safe to mass-produce.
The reason currency hadn’t developed here was simple: not enough circulation.
Turning metal into coins adds huge value. Processing takes effort, and there’s no gold standard to hold us back.
If we could produce them in bulk, everyone would benefit.
And now, we had more copper than probably existed in the whole world.
* * *
Anyway, I learned that this brass ore was ridiculously easy to mine with my power.
Once I got used to it, I could pull out ore chunks with almost no effort—like harvesting root vegetables. It was kind of fun, actually.
There were three more good copper mines nearby. I might just clear them out tonight.
The mithril mine was another story. Mithril reacted with mana, turning into useless scrap.
To store it in a magic bag, it needed a special container.
Ruining mithril like that… it felt like a crime. Even if it was good for harassing enemies.
Then it hit me. I remembered a nasty idea.
I’d scatter rock centipedes around the mithril mines.
If those pests nested there, they’d become a nightmare.
Even overpowered summoned heroes could wipe them out easily—but the moment they used mana, the mithril would spoil.
The only clean solution would be bug spray or some mundane method. But if that were easy, dwarves wouldn’t be struggling.
They weren’t powerful monsters, but rock centipedes bred like weeds. Once they dug in, you’d never get rid of them.
So I stopped by the abandoned mine and gathered a few larvae. They were immune to storage, so I had to carry them in a pot.
Even as larvae, they were huge—about the size of a straw sandal. I didn’t know which were male or female, but three should be enough to start.
Carrying that heavy pot while flying on the Hover Shield was an experience. Mischievous spirits kept trying to curse the shield mid-air, tripping me up—but I managed not to drop it.
With how much I’ve flown around lately, I felt like I could try snowboarding or surfing next.
Balance didn’t seem so scary anymore. Maybe losing balance was the key to mastering movement?
It felt like I was on the verge of discovering some kind of hidden technique… but now wasn’t the time for that.
* * *
The abandoned Misril Mine lay ahead, its gates shut and rusted. It stood near the edge of Schulz’s territory, left to rot after a tangled mess of disputes. Even now, misril ore remained stacked deep within, untouched and glittering in the dark.
To release rock centipedes into such a sacred mine… For dwarves, that’s an unforgivable act. If you’re going to do it, you should stop here.
I could almost hear Mr. Zenom and Mr. Gino’s screams ringing in my ears.
It’s just in my head… A trick of sound and guilt. I knew that, but still—doing something so clearly wrong made my chest ache.
Buying misril ore, even from the Larse Empire, isn’t a problem for dwarves. That’s how rare and valuable it is. Still, knowing it’s tied to kidnappers makes me hesitate. For now, maybe I’ll just leave things be.
Even as my thoughts wavered, the night grew deeper. I didn’t have time to sit around feeling guilty.
In the end, I decided to walk away. But since I had already gone through the trouble of bringing the young creature here, I left it sealed in the jar.
I felt a bit bad… but in truth, it was a dangerous pest that should’ve been exterminated long ago. It could survive without food for decades, lying dormant in silence.
On the side of the jar, I scrawled a warning in this world’s script: Do not open. Then, I sealed it tight.
If someone from the Larse Empire found it and chose to release it… well, that would be their own fault.
There were still two or three more mines I could visit before dawn. The brass mines were especially thrilling—rich with ore and full of excitement. Digging around felt weirdly fun… maybe this was a good way to unwind.
Compared to that, uncut gemstones were kind of boring. Until I sliced them open, I couldn’t tell which ones were worth anything.
My inexperience didn’t help either. I needed to study more, to learn which raw stones were truly valuable.
The biggest gemstone mine was said to produce high-quality rubies. Technically, they were just aluminum oxide, mixed with tiny impurities. When the mix was just right, the colors turned a brilliant red or deep blue—but I still didn’t understand the balance. For now, I just gathered anything that looked promising. I could polish them later during my free time.
Rubies weren’t just for accessories—they could be used as parts for precision tools too. Even dull-looking ones weren’t completely useless.
* * *
After hours of digging, I finally started to grasp the pattern of the ore veins. I even discovered a few new, untouched veins no one had noticed before.
Despite the time crunch, I’d pushed myself far. The work piled up, and for a moment, I thought I might cry from exhaustion.
Duke Mineley’s land really was a goldmine—no, a treasure trove buried in stone. There were traces of ancient mining civilizations scattered everywhere. No wonder the Larse Empire wanted it so badly.
Of course, I couldn’t recover everything in a single day or two. But I could do as much as humanly possible.
The ticking deadline only drove me harder. I had until tomorrow evening… no, it was already tomorrow. I’d keep going without rest, until the very end.
* * *
Morning came at last.
By nightfall, the summoned Hero army under the Larse Empire would reach Kasgar.
But I’d finished most of my tasks ahead of schedule. Pretty neat for me, huh? Tizzy and Ms. Shirakaba were dependable to the core. They were the kind of girls who kept detailed household budgets.
The evacuation was almost done. Only two villages remained, and they’d be handled by morning.
I’d gathered about eighty percent of the notable resources across the territory, working without sleep. I’d spotted rare metals even in the discarded slag heaps, but there was no time left to deal with that.
If one of the summoned Heroes had a metallurgy-related cheat, I’d let them handle it. I didn’t care anymore.
Mica and marble were lower on my list. They had uses, sure, but they weren’t exactly high value.
I wanted to collect graphite and cinnabar too. There was also quartz and fine silica sand along the river. And even uranium ore, though there was no real use for it right now.
The idea of handing all this over to the Larse Empire left a bitter taste in my mouth. This was Tizzy’s homeland. If I ever had the chance… maybe I’d take it back.
If the mines turned out to be a money sink, the Empire might back off. But if pride was involved, they’d probably cling to it no matter what.
* * *
Our last breakfast in Duke Mineley’s territory was a quiet one. Tizzy, Ms. Shirakaba, and I sat together in Tizzy’s private room. The maid had brought a suspiciously altered meal, so I took out my own set meal instead.
I’d already completely won their stomachs, hadn’t I? I didn’t know much about married life, but if I had control over the kitchen, I figured I had at least half the advantage.
In my mind, I pictured Ms. Shirakaba in full armor—and so, today’s meal was a chicken cutlet sandwich and cup soup. A common favorite among women.
Ms. Shirakaba usually wore armor, but since yesterday, she’d been fully geared up. Her imposing figure looked straight out of a fantasy game. If I didn’t know she was a cross-dressing beauty, I might’ve mistaken her for a striking male protagonist.
”There’s something strange in the air,” Ms. Shirakaba said quietly, her eyes narrowing. “We should hurry. Something might happen before evening.”
As Tizzy and I stood to leave, her words clung to us like fog. With the Hero army approaching, the traitors hiding within were getting restless.
Would they act early? If so, it’d ruin the sneak attack the summoned Heroes were planning. Not that there was much surprise left—the information had already leaked.
”Their target is probably Tizzy,” she added, glancing over. “If it were just me, I could slip away without trouble, but…”
If Ms. Lime had taken Tizzy’s form, I could have used her as a decoy. She just had to sink quietly into the earth.
”In that case,” I said, “we should leave and never come back. Let’s make our escape now.”
”Then I’ll go before the summoned Heroes get here,” Ms. Shirakaba said, nodding. “I’m not worried about their levels, but those weird cheats they might have scare me.”
”By the way,” I added, turning to Ms. Shirakaba, “you’re one of the veteran Heroes, right? I’ve heard you’re among the strongest in the capital. Your combat skills are practically legendary.”
”They say she’s rescued entire parties on the verge of collapse,” Tizzy said softly, looking at her with awe. “She’s stood alone against hordes of monsters… and always survived.”
”Fame cuts both ways, though,” Ms. Shirakaba murmured. “That means enemies will be planning around her too.”
”I think we’ll be fine,” I said, reaching into my bag. “But just in case—take these.”
I handed her three Dragon God’s Herbs, though my magic bag couldn’t carry more.
”Thanks,” she said, tucking them away. “That’s like having three extra lives, right?”
”Don’t treat it like a shooting game,” I said with a wry smile.
”Haha, it’s going to feel like one,” She said, laughing. “I’ll clear the small fry on horseback while heading to Hollowvale. Let’s meet there.”
”So that’s your route,” I said, nodding. “I was going to use the teleportation gate in the mine, but Hollowvale works too.”
”If I follow the Gorigan army’s old invasion path and slip into the Totoana Empire’s zone, the Larse Empire won’t be able to chase me. I’ve already made peace with Totoana, so they shouldn’t treat me as an enemy.”
”I’ve never been inside Totoana’s territory,” I said with a small smile. “Maybe I’ll get to meet Princess Auroora again.”
Notes:
• Tizzy – Claims to be Duke’s daughter, a noble with advanced magic skills. MC and Ms. Shirakaba lover.
• Mr. Chaa – The Butcher of Toyata Village.
• Kasgar – The capital of Duke Mineley Territory. Located in a mining region, it is known for its acetylene lamps and mica windows. The city is bustling, with taverns and merchants, but it lacks the exotic charm of the royal capital.
• Yakou – A newly created kunoichi spirit with high specs from Mubiel. She pledges loyalty to the Narrator as her ‘Lord Shogun’ and seeks to punish villains.
• Schulz – A male dragon who collects human women and holds the rank of Duke within the Anti-Magic Alliance.
• Mr. Zenom – Tough dwarf blacksmith from Toyoata Village. Repairs weapons, improves accuracy. Charges 100 gold/arrow. Becomes protagonist’s strict master. Assigns hard tasks like pre-dawn cleaning, firewood, water pumping. Owns well-equipped forge. Challenges protagonist to prove ideas.
• Gino – A dwarf blacksmith with advanced magical and crafting skills. Regularly uses the hot spring facility like Escalion the Hero. Calls the protagonist his ‘grandchild’ and offers to train him.
• Shirakaba – A paladin who seems to be a skilled fighter. He’s introduced as someone with a strong defense and healing abilities.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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