"Hah… You really carried me all the way to this mountain!" Anna panted a few times. Even though she wasn't exhausted physically, she was too tired to react as Noel had been playing with her this whole time.
"It's your fault for losing to me." Noel shrugged while looking away as though he was trying to run away while he was ahead.
"Kh…" Anna gritted her teeth, wanting to berate him, but didn't know what to say. Ultimately, she let everything go for the time being and asked, "So, what do you want to know?"
"You said this mountain has a mining vein, right?"
"Yes. According to the information, the volcano has been inactive for more than a hundred years. But because the demons haven't done anything to the land, the minerals are still trapped within the soil. And more importantly, the lava in the past created a lot of gemstones."
"I see. So, the one eyeing for this mountain must be the Radiant Lord."
"Yeah. He has been gathering all kinds of gemstones and using them as his weapons, so yeah… it's really the Radiant Lord." Anna confirmed it.
Noel thought for a moment. "In our previous life, what do you know about this territory? I should have found the mine and taken advantage of it, right?"
"Previous life?" Anna widened his eyes in shock, not expecting Noel to drop a bomb all of a sudden.
"Come on. Anybody can figure it out sooner or later. I'm just refraining myself to avoid talking about it after knowing the truth from Old Ru." Noel raised one finger. "Don't forget what I said earlier."
Anna recalled that Noel was going to say something important about him. Because they had a draw, it seemed that it was better to disclose everything so that Noel would do the same.
Anna couldn't help but rub her cheek embarrassedly. It turned out Noel was bolder than she originally thought.
"Yes. You did take advantage of it."
"How did I take advantage of it? Do I sell it to the Radiant Lord or…"
"No. You didn't sell it to the Radiant Lord. I believe you used the gems to provide the funds for your territory."
"So, selling it to others… Considering the Radiant Lord's power, he would definitely use that as a bargaining chip or a favor, but other nobles would definitely bring me money." Noel looked down, falling into deep thought.
"Yes. It's just… I think that it's better to consider this properly. Our situation is different now."
"Indeed. That's why I'm planning to sell these gems to the Radiant Lord. Making him owe me a favor should be good enough in our current standpoint."
"If that's your decision, then we can do that. But getting all these gems will require money." Anna raised a problem.
"I know. For now, we can proceed with it, but not too much."
"Just enough to pique the Radiant Lord's interest?"
"Yeah." Noel pointed at Anna. "You were my enemies, so you must have learned a lot about me, right?"
"I want to say it's wrong, but you are not wrong…" Anna was slightly frustrated that she couldn't rebuke that statement. "Are you planning to visit another place?"
"We'll go around the territory. At least, every single place that can be reached within half a day with our current speed." Noel explained.
"If that's the case, there are two more spots you might want to consider. The first one would be the river."
"Is there something special about the river?"
"Well, I couldn't say it's special, but you surely built a dam back then."
"A dam? While it's true that it can bring a lot of benefits, I'm concerned about my brain… If I build a dam, it's going to be a primary target of the enemies. By striking that dam, you can cause a major flood in the city. Or you could go one step further by using poison."
"That's why you also built a water gate."
"Hmm?" Noel seemed to notice something important. "Now that I think about it, the river doesn't directly go toward the city. So, if I want to use the water, I have to create a canal toward this city. But if I create a water gate in a certain area, it will block the water from the destroyed dam. The poison is the same. If I close the gate and use my power to purify the water, it can stop the people from relying on groundwater."
"That's right." Anna nodded in agreement.
"That's not a bad idea to be honest. I will consider it later, and I might have to bring Douglas to inspect the area."
Anna agreed with Noel's decision and finally pointed at the north. "And lastly, the border. Since we're close to the border, you were actually building up posts for explorations."
"Explorations?" Noel widened his eyes in shock.
"Yeah. Well, the city was more mature back then, so I thought it wouldn't be an immediate project."
"Fair enough. Is that all?" Noel asked. If these were the only special things he did, it felt a bit lackluster. In fact, it wasn't enough to handle his current enemies.
Unfortunately for him, Anna nodded her head. "Yes. That was all."
Noel was startled for a different reason. Why would he build these three things in his past life?
Aside from the mine, he didn't think they were that necessary.
"This is weird. Why would I build them? They were not useful to the territory…"
"I don't know. I wasn't smart enough to know the reason back then. In fact, I was so obsessed with you that I didn't even know much about the current situation of the kingdom."
"…" Noel shook his head helplessly. "Sometimes… I couldn't help but ask, what the hell you were doing in your past life…"
"Unfortunately, I've been asking the same question over and over again. Why would you even choose me to return to this time period? Old Ru even said that if we turned back time, it wasn't that the time moved backward. Instead, you were just going to a different world in that period of time. Everything was the same, but that would be the future and your present had become a past that couldn't be changed."
Noel opened his mouth all of a sudden before grabbing Anna's shoulders and shaking her body. "What did you say earlier?"
"Huh? Everything was the same, but that would be the future and your present had become a past that couldn't be changed?" Anna frowned.
"That's it." Noel's expression brightened.
"What? What? I don't understand."
"It means that the me in the previous life was doing something to change the future. Let's think about it this way… I should know that these things are useless. Yet, why would I do it?"
Anna tilted her head in confusion. "Were you trying to annoy the future you? Something like, you both should have realized that these were useless, but because you did it, the current you would notice it."
"That's right. If we're still the same person, then these useless things are trying to give me a message."
"Wait, doesn't that mean…"
"Yeah. The message that travels through time."
"If that's the case, shouldn't you choose yourself instead of me?"
"That…" Noel shook his head with a pained expression. "I'd like to ask that very question… to the point where I wonder if I'm truly smart or just claim that I'm a smart guy while actually not. But I won't ask that today."
"All…right?" Anna didn't quite follow him in that part but continued, "So, what do you find out?"
"Nothing as of now. But if these three things were truly a message, there might be another hidden thing that I've been doing. Well, I'll think about it later, but those three should be important. For now, I will develop the mine…"
"Then, what do you want me to do?"
"You should go with Howard and bond with the soldiers. You don't have a good reputation, so it's better to build it through the soldiers. They're a rough bunch but easier to crack." Noel pointed to the east. "I want you to go to the east and crush all the monsters around the river. After that, go toward the north and inspect the area where I previously built that post."
"Alright. That should be enough for the soldiers to gather enough points to get their early runes on their bodies. It's going to promote our garrison." Anna nodded.
"As much as I want to kill those demons as well, I think it's better to give that task to you."
"You can definitely leave it to me. I'll make sure that the soldiers get experience and won't suffer any casualties." Anna smiled before asking, "That's right. What is the important thing you wanted to talk about earlier? I've told you everything I know about this territory."
"That… will be for later. Once we go back, I'll definitely tell you about it. I want to explore the mine this time. Do you mind?"
"I know you. You are a man of integrity. If you have promised something, then you'll definitely fulfill that promise. So, I don't really mind." Anna shook her head and pointed to the right. "In that case, you should follow me. I know the entrance."
"Hoh? I guess the saying that an enemy knows you more than yourself is true."
"I'm not your enemy anymore."
"I know. Just want to tease you a little bit." Noel chuckled. "Though, it's weird that you know so many details."
Anna fell silent after that, not daring to confess that she actually exploded that dam and destroyed the mine in the past to cause trouble to him. At the same time, her mind was still wondering about the important matter that Noel wanted to talk about.
