Chapter 108

Unlike the two dragons from before, human fishermen were also participating in dismantling the sea dragon.

Perhaps they felt the sea dragon was closer to a fish.

Its huge body was being dismantled efficiently, and just like last time, merchants and craftsmen bought up parts here and there one after another.

Materials that would not rot were fine, but preserving the literal mountain of meat was difficult.

We would probably run out of salt again this time, but then imports from Roran would increase again.

Of course, even if exporting the dragon materials would put us in the black, since we were surrounded by the sea, could we not somehow produce at least salt on the island?

As I was thinking that, I saw Balan, who had returned from watching the fleet, procure a huge pot from somewhere and start boiling down seawater with magic.

Salt was expensive in this world.

Places where rock salt was produced were limited, and Jirenu’s land was narrow for making salt fields.

Also, salt fields only increased the salinity of seawater through various methods, and in the end, it still had to be boiled down with fire, so salt production ultimately came down to a battle against fuel costs.

So if we could boil it down using synthetic magic stones, we could procure salt almost for free.

And that sight was a bit of a shock.

If magic stones were almost free, then we could use magic roughly as a substitute for fuel like this.

I immediately thought of countless things I wanted to try, but unfortunately, I could not simply shut myself in a room and work out ideas.

Because when the dragon was towed into the harbor, it immediately turned into a festival.

It was probably also a reaction to the fear of being invaded by Roran, and there was a feeling that the slain dragon symbolized Roran.

We could not throw cold water on that, so Iiria took the lead, and it became a town-wide feast.

This time, since the dragon was dismantled at the harbor, cooking began right there, and it was widely served to the townspeople as well.

The sea dragon’s meat was somewhat watery, and at the suggestion of the innkeepers gathered at the dismantling site, it was served as a stew. When I tried some there too, the tender meat had a strong savoriness, and it also gave the soup a good broth.

After taking part in the feast for a while, we returned to the mansion, and Kururu once again made a sea dragon stew for us.

While Kengo, Marks, and the others were smacking their lips over it, I took the stew and headed to the room where Frost and the others were, and they stared blankly.

“……You already found the mine……and even defeated a dragon?”

Beside the bewildered eldest brother, the second brother, who had been handed a bowl, had an anxious face as though wondering whether it had been poisoned as their last supper.

“It is thanks to you two for telling us about the abandoned mine.”

So now, you are useless.

To the ears of the two who were thanked, that must have sounded like an auditory hallucination.

If one combined the efficiency with which the sea dragon was defeated and the discovery of a new magic stone mine, Jirenu Territory became an even more difficult enemy for Roran.

Frost, who had been holding his breath, picked up the wooden spoon, perhaps because he had decided that if it was poisoned, he had no choice but to eat it together with the poison.

“Hm……yes. Hm?”

Perhaps thinking that if he did not eat while trembling at the eldest brother’s reaction, he did not know what would happen to him, the second brother also closed his eyes and carried the meat to his mouth.

“Hmm……I see. So dragon meat is like this.”

Frost, who at least had not died, said that in a somewhat relieved manner.

“Since it is a sea dragon, it is different from land dragons, though. Wait, do people not eat dragons much?”

“There are rarely opportunities to eat them. Unless it is my father and the others.”

Frost hunched his shoulders.

“So even if you told me this was my last supper, I would believe you.”

At those words, the second brother seemed to choke up and began coughing.

“There is no poison in it. It would trouble us if you died.”

At my words, neither Frost nor the second brother looked very relieved.

Seeing their eyes watching me cautiously, I remembered Iiria’s words.

――Don’t you become like that too, Yorinobu.

Perhaps being an authority figure who was easily resented was not a very enjoyable position.

“It is not exactly payment for the dragon meat, but actually, there is something else I would like to ask of you.”

Frost and the second brother looked at each other, and then the eldest son answered.

“Is it something even harder to say than the ships?”

“Depending on the situation, yes.”

While I was handling various things at the harbor, which was bustling with the dragon processing, Yoshu came over and reported on the work I had asked him to do. Yoshu was also dizzyingly busy, so he gave the report while roughly eating the dragon soup he had been handed.

And among several reports, there was something I had faintly sensed, so I had come to ask Frost and the others again.

“Say anything. I am prepared.”

“Actually—”

When I explained the matter, Frost and the others were surprised, but showed understanding.

They promised to begin quickly after the peace agreement was formally concluded.

Then, when I left the room and went downstairs, Kururu, perhaps hot from cooking, was in the corridor, having removed the triangular kerchief wrapped around her head and fanning herself with it.

“Those guys were probably scared this might be their last meal, weren’t they?”

“You are sharp.”

Kururu laughed.

Kururu returned to the kitchen once, then brought out bowls for two people.

“But, Yorinobu. What are you going to do?”

As I received one of the bowls, I tilted my head at Kururu’s question.

“We know there are magic stones because there is a dragon, but how are you planning to mine a mine under the sea? I asked Badadam, and he said the reef barely shows itself even at low tide.”

I had been eating while thinking the sea dragon stew was close to oxtail soup, but I noticed that Kururu, who had a cat’s tongue, was waiting for hers to cool with a dissatisfied face.

I wanted to keep watching her, but I thought I would be kicked if our eyes met, so I pretended to consider the mining problem with an innocent look.

“Should we do it the same way as test drilling, blow it away with magic, then have the ones good at diving go pick it up?”

I had been considering a method like building a scaffold over the reef and breaking the rock with long iron rods and such to mine it, but then I remembered Balan boiling down salt with magic and changed my thinking.

We should use synthetic magic stones more boldly.

Of course, a method like the one Kururu mentioned was also possible, but if we thought simply, using synthetic magic stones made an absurd brute-force approach possible.

“No, let’s do it with the same principle as open-pit mining.”

“Open……pit mining? In the middle of the sea?”

When I explained the outline of the plan to Kururu, who looked doubtful, the catgirl hunched her slender shoulders, then bit into the cooled sea dragon meat with an exasperated look.