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****
A light divine power continued to erupt through the gaps of Seria's fingers. Even if it felt weak to her, it was a sacred power that purified the magi of the vast land at once. Therefore, it wouldn’t take long to purify the magi hidden in this mine.
Even if it took a long time, she had to purify them all unconditionally.
It was a constellation gold mine.
It was the first constellation gold mine to be discovered in a hundred years.
Once again, Seria was dumbfounded.
Is the star that guards Lina also a constellation gold?
The constellation gold was expensive.
It was also the reason behind the regulation of the amount that was taken out of the Grand temple without permission, but the amount that was being reclaimed itself was on the low side. If it were to be depleted due to reckless excavation and use, it would be a serious problem. And ultimately, it would be impossible to deal with the demons.
That was why the temple was always nervous about the amount of reclamation of the constellation gold mine. As Linon had said, it had been a long time since a new constellation gold mine had been discovered on the continent.
But this was such a huge constellation gold mine…
It was a discovery that was possible because Seria was a Stern.
Just as priests were sensitive to divine power, Stern was sensitive to the energy of other Sterns and to the energy of constellation gold. That didn’t mean that it was like a metal detector looking for iron, but if there was such a large constellation gold mine nearby, they would naturally know.
Still, Seria was wondering.
Because she kept getting the odd feeling that she could feel the energy of the constellation gold from within the walls.
‘How much of it has been reclaimed, I wonder?'
"We won't know for sure until we explore further, but there are certain rules to the path the veins follow."
The most experienced miners seem to continue all the way to the back. In other words, this constellation gold Seria was seeing now was an extremely small part of it.
It was strange enough to make her keep thinking about it.
The new constellation gold mine was never mentioned in the original story.
So she had more feelings of bewilderment than amazement that she had now found something so tremendous that it could move the emperor of a country.
How could Lina not have known that the power of the constellation gold was so strong in this mine?
In the original story, Lina had visited this Magic Crystal Mine many times with Cassius. Seria remembered it clearly because she was the one who strangely had bad luck with Cassius since she read the original story.
Was it because the entrance was different? Because the opening position was different.
At that time, it was the workers under Duke Dietrich's command who were in charge of Lina’s mine. Now it was the workers under Berg's command who touched this mine.
However, the power of the constellation gold was felt on such a large scale that Stern would have been able to tell just by walking along the wall like this. This was enough for even a high-ranking noble to have a good idea of what was going on. So why was it that Lina didn’t know?
‘Did she pretend that she didn't know because she didn't want to give Cassius a share?’
‘Then I can sympathize with her.’
Lina got Cassius quite a bit of the net profit coming out of the magic crystal mine. Cassius was touched by Lina's generous spirit of sharing. This was actually the most likely scenario, but the problem was that there was no mention of the Constellation Gold Mine until the end of the original story.
Then the conclusion would be that Lina could not use this constellation gold mine.
“I don't understand."
It wasn't like they were building the Crystal Mine mine in front of a large constellation gold mine. Price is price, but how great is the symbolic significance?
If Lina had announced to the world that she had discovered the Constellation Gold Mine, her fame would have truly hit the heavens.
‘I hope the novel doesn’t keep turning into a mystery like this….’
‘I thought this was a romance novel ….’
Seria slowly put the circlet into her pocket. Then she gazed at the altar, thanking the god in charge of money and treasure if there was one.
And then suddenly. Some letters caught her eye.
"This is…."
…What is it?
Seria blinked slowly. The Stern insignia. On that sacred token, there was a lurid inscription that looked as if it had been carved with a cone. No, it was engraved. It wasn't fast enough, but it wasn't slow either.
"This is still…."
"……."
The number of characters increased.
“Does this place still look like it belongs in a novel?”
"……!"
For a moment, the circlet in Seria’s hand began to cool rapidly, like a glacier taking away all the heat. The temperature was a stark contrast to the very hot temperature that day when it knocked out Duke Dietrich.
When Seria was about to withdraw her hand from the circlet…A pale human being with a gag in his mouth crawled towards her on all fours.
Seria swallowed a scream, her mouth clogged up in the blink of an eye. Immediately after, a long, thin hand covered her eyes. In an instant, her entire field of vision turned to darkness.
***
*Seria’s pov*
‘Did I just faint there? What was that earlier….’
Seria blinked blankly.
‘Why am I having this dream all of a sudden?'
It was. I was dreaming.
People's traumas often manifest themselves as dreams. Ever since I possessed Seria, I've been dreaming about being killed. Not as often as that, but I also had dreams like the one I'm having right now. It is the kind of dream where I am sitting comfortably and reading the original novel, that helps me expand my horizons.
Like now.
"……."
Anyway, people really change a lot. Only a year ago, the day I had this dream, I woke up and immediately hit my pillow. I had to tear that book up instead of reading it.
But now it’s different. I don’t cry out when I wake up from a dream. I don’t need to say why. It’s the face of the man I like that comes to my mind reflectively.
Thinking about these things, I have no doubt as to why I’m aware of the dream. I just saw myself reading the original novel as if enchanted, and suddenly….
I saw things that I shouldn't see.
For example, the color of the hair that flows down her waist.
It's that dark green….
Green?
"……?"
Instantly, a vivid sense of unease hits my chest hard. I feel a twinge in my chest. I slowly lift my gaze along the green hair that is climbing up my chest.
"……."
I saw the face of Seria, the face of "me" reading the original novel.
"……!"
I woke up with a gasp. I bit my tongue in reverence, for a white, disgusting being with a sack in its mouth was standing nearby like a doll.
I was as hard as a stone. The unknown being must have crawled over to me earlier and blocked my mouth and hands. As I did so, I realized. I couldn’t move a muscle.
As soon as I had the instinctive realization that I couldn't move, I hurriedly looked around. I wasn't in the constellation gold cave where I had fainted. It was more like the night sky, but there was no trace of light, and only that unknown being stood in front of me.
I was struck by how strange it seemed after all this time. The body was in the shape of a person, but I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, and the gag in his mouth was the same. The gag in its mouth also made it difficult to tell whether it was a man or a woman.
Above all, its long bangs, like a horse's mane, were densely covered up to just above its lips, so I couldn't see its face at all.
If I lifted up its bangs, would there be eyes?
This is when I felt fear.
Suddenly, my gaze fell on my hands. There was an insignia on my hand. Funny enough, it was a fact that I realized a beat too late.
The Stern insignia was too big and heavy for me to hold in one hand, but now it was strangely light.
As soon as I became aware of this, the Stern insignia was inscribed. It was not fast.
‘Tuban.’
"…Tuban?"
I made an involuntary sound outside my mouth, and something like a shiver ran down my spine. I asked, my shoulders shook.
“Is that your name?”
There was no response, but I knew instinctively that it was the name of that being.
The hand that held Stern's insignia strengthened. I asked Tuban, intending to smack him in the head with the Stern insignia if this Tuban tried to threaten me.
“You carved those letters I saw earlier, didn't you? What do you mean, it's not in a novel? Where are we then? What novel did I read?”
Tuban stood still like a mannequin. There was no movement. I don't even need to explain how bizarre it was. To tell the truth, I was still in a state of blankness.
Slowly, the writing began to appear on the Stern insignia.
“What you* read….” (The writing) (*you=Seria)
Though it seemed to be slower than before. I bit my lip tightly.
"Do you remember the title of the novel you read?" (The writing)
"……!"
I froze in place.
I remembered the contents of the original novel that I possessed, but I couldn't remember the title. Nothing came to mind from the beginning. While I can generally remember a novel's title in one way or another… it was a fact that passed naturally because my life did not afford me the luxury of being buried in questions.
That's right.
I've never once remembered the title of this novel.
My mouth was already dry. My body began to tremble a little.
“Then… What are these things that you know?" (Seria)
“You…” (the writing) (Tuban meant he knows Seria)
This time the speed at which the letters were engraved was definitely slower than before.
“Because you want to live." (The writing)
I got nervous and looked at Tuban. How did he know that? It might have been true to say that I looked at his face because his dense head of hair was covered like a curtain. But that didn't mean that this Tuban was alive and moving. He just stood there motionless.
He didn’t even seem to be breathing….
A body without any movement as if it’s a statue. The power to engrave letters on the insignia is probably his, right? If it’s this slow, does that mean he’s exhausted?
"The times you returned because you wanted to live." (The writing)
As I stared blankly at the Stern insignia, I covered my mouth with one hand in a panic. I felt nauseous.
It was the first time I learned that when one is confronted with a fact so shocking that it makes them nauseous beyond help.
****
*So basically when Seria was in a cave, she saw an unknown being like a zombie crawling on four. And that unknown being reached out and covered her eyes then everything went dark. She was magically taken to a space where only her and the unknown being exist. Like a dream. And that unknown being named Tuban. He doesn’t talk or move. He has the power to communicate with her by magically writing what he wants to say to Seria on the insignia. Somehow, this Tuban being knew who she was and where she came from, which she came from the novel she was reading (that’s what Seria thought anyway). He knew how she wanted to survive. So Seria felt nauseous because how could he know her secret.
