Ekaterina was full of ulterior motives, hoping to get her great-uncle into the camp of breaking Alexei’s death-by-overwork flag.
“Would great-uncle please ask Big Brother to take care of himself, so he doesn’t work too hard?”
“Is he that busy?”
Isaac’s eyes widened and he looked shocked.
“I guess my brother was the same way. All I do is create more work for him, and I can’t be of any assistance…”
Oh, there’s a landmine hidden here!
No, Great-Uncle, the work you were creating was for Yurinova’s future…and you were admitting that you were creating more work for Yurinova. I didn’t say it out loud, so it was safe. I almost got myself in more trouble.
We left the Mining Division with a conversation like this and climbed the gentle slope to the old mine.
It was rare for a duchess to walk on her own feet outside the grounds of the mansion or school, even for such a short distance.
Moreover, on this road, muscular miners from the mine were passing by with wheelbarrows carrying the rainbow stones they mined.
If Alexei had been here, he might have arranged for a carriage or a palanquin for Ekaterina, believing that it would be unthinkable for her to walk under the gaze of such lowly men.
However, Alexei was not present, and Isaac, who was supposed to be Ekaterina’s guardian in terms of his position, was waving his hand and saying “Thank you, how are you, sir” in a friendly manner when the miners that called out to him.
“You’re with a pretty girl, aren’t you?”
Some miners would smirk at her, but when Ekaterina would smile back and say, “Thank you very much, and have a good day”, they would look at her with a blank stare, and then Aaron and Mina would stare at them as if they were going to kill them, and they would get scared. A pheasant would not be shot unless it chirps.
The entrance to the mine, which opened up into a gray rocky hillside, came into view.
And the azure-gray rocky hill was still looming over us with a strange power, or rather, pressure.
“Young Lady, is the slope too hard for you to climb? Shall I carry you with me?”
Ekaterina shook her head.
Mina was a battle maid who could carry Ekaterina in a princess’s carry and walk fast, so what she suggested was possible, but that would be too embarrassing.
“No, I’m not tired. I just…”
Unable to find the words, Ekaterina raised an eyebrow. She felt like she remembered this feeling, but she couldn’t remember.
Isaac looked at Ekaterina and gave her an awed look.
“Ekaterina, have you ever met any of the gods?”
“What⁉︎?”
Ekaterina shouted at the unexpected words.
“It seems that there are about three mountain gods descending on this mountain right now. I guess it’s because the priests told them that the Duke’s family is going to visit the mountain.”
Isaac said something amazing without hesitation.
“Great-Uncle, do you know anything about such things?”
“Yes, I see the Mountain Gods often.”
Isaac said something quite outrageous.
Who really are you, my great-uncle⁉︎?
What kind of attributes do you have in addition to being a genius scholar of history!
But with that, the question Ekaterina had been feeling was cleared up.
Oh, right, this was divine majesty. This was what she felt when she came face to face with the God of Death.
The mountain deities enshrined in the mountain temple were not just one. They were to worship the deities of all the mountains in Yurinova’s territory.
The main role of the mountain temple was to appease the anger of the gods, especially those of the mining mountains, by asking for forgiveness for the sins of damaging the mountain surface and extracting minerals from it.
