The next hour was a blur for Kurose. The sound of music and chatter filled the air, and Kurose found himself being dragged into conversations left and right, sometimes even having to juggle multiple conversations at once.
It was tiring for him, but all he had to do was get through the night, then he could escape to his room. Nothing difficult, just tiring and time consuming.
The most memorable conversation he could remember from the past hour was one with a noble who was obviously drunk. He was wearing light blue robes, with dark, purple eyes. The glass that he held in his hand, still full of liquid, sloshed around, with a small amount of it escaping over the rim of the glass and covering his hand and slightly staining his robe.
If the noble noticed, he didn't say or do anything to bring attention to it, instead happily smiling at Kurose..
"Hero!" He had bellowed, earning a few looks of disappointment from the other nobility that was around. Did they dislike him shouting or something?
"May luck be at your side." The noble spoke, just as loud as before. He seemed to ignore the few looks he was getting, whether by choice or simply being oblivious, Kurose wasn't sure. And he definitely wasn't going to be the one to point it out to him.
"May the stars watch over you." Kurose spoke in return, lowering his head slightly. They were words he had repeated over and over this night. He was sure that if he heard someone say those words out in public, he would have to force himself to not give a response.
"How fantastic that you know how to respond properly! Many of the younger generation don't even bother to complete it!" The noble spoke, his smile from earlier growing wider.
"Say, why don't we find a quieter place to speak, Hero? I would quite like to get to know you better after all!"
Before Kurose could reject it, the man had already put a hand on his back, pulling him along with his deceptively strong grip. Kurose tried to struggle against it for a moment, but upon realizing he wasn't going to escape, he slumped, but continued walking forward.
They eventually stopped at the edge of the room. People still shot them the odd look, but they seemed much more content to ignore them.
"So, Accessory Hero." The man spoke with a smile. "It is certainly a great honour to meet you. Could I perhaps interest you in visiting my home? I'm certain you would enjoy yourself!"
"I… Maybe?" Kurose spoke, forcing a small smile onto his face. "Maybe when I'm a bit more prepared, I'll consider it."
"Ah, of course, of course." The man spoke, nodding his head. "Though, I am curious about your plans, if you would tell me?"
By this point, any hint of his previous drunkenness was gone, leaving Kurose confused. Was it all an act before, to get him to lower his guard?
"I'm not sure at the moment." He spoke honestly, earning a nod from the man. "The person who was supposed to help me instead had to prepare for this."
"I see, I could see how this might have been an issue. It certainly wouldn't have been good for you to not have turned up. Certainly isn't good for a certain someone…" The man trailed off, shaking his head.
"Never mind that. If you have nowhere in mind, it means even more reason for you to come to my lands! I'm certain I can assist you in your endeavors! Plus, you can even meet my daughter! I'm sure you two will get along perfectly!"
Kurose blinked at that. "What?"
"Oh yes, I'm certain you two will get along perfectly fine! Why, if you so wished, we could probably sort out some sort of marriage between you two!"
Kurose couldn't help but be shocked at the sudden change in the conversation.
"Isn't it a bit early to talk about this sort of stuff?" He asked with a small frown on his face.
"Some might say that, yes." he conceded with a small nod. "But I'm absolutely certain it would work out!" He spoke with a grin.
"...Maybe not." Kurose spoke after a few moments.
The noble seemed to want to say something else, but nodded his head anyway, seeming to not want to argue. "If that's what you want, Accessory Hero." He spoke politely.
"However, my home is still open to you if you so wish. Me and my family will do our best to assist you. I just hope that you may be able to do us a few favors here and there in exchange."
Kurose could accept that. "I'm fine with that, but I'm afraid I haven't gotten your name, Mr…"
"Of course! It was not my intention to mislead you. My name is Grome, Accessory Hero." He spoke, bowing once more.
"Well, Mr Grome-" He was cut off.
"Please, just call me Grome! I would like to foster a good working relationship with you!" He insisted.
"Well, Grome," Kurose waited a few moments, to see if he would cut him off before continuing. "As I said, I would be fine to, but I guess it will depend if my travels actually bring me to your lands or not."
"Naturally. I have hope that they will, and even if they don't initially, I'm sure you will eventually find your way over to my territories." He spoke with a smile.
Grome took another sip of his drink, clearly thinking about something. "Accessory Hero, I truly did mean it. If you do need help, whether it be something as small as funding, or even needing a temporary party, I would be more than happy to set you up with it. I would obviously expect some sort of favour, but if it does help end the threat of these waves, then I'll do what I can."
He seemed like he wanted to speak some more, but his sight seemed to catch something behind Kurose, and despite him turning around, he couldn't figure it out.
"Pardon me Accessory Hero. It seems as if some of my associates want to speak to me. If you'll excuse me…"
Grome bowed to Kurose once more before moving away, and Kurose simply watched the man fade back into the crowd.
Kurose found himself alone once more, thinking about what the man had to say. He couldn't deny the helpfulness of his request, but he wasn't yet sure if he wanted to owe a favour to anyone yet.
He let out a small sigh, pressing his back into the wall and taking a moment to breathe.
After taking a bit longer than he needed for a breather, he managed to grab the attention of a servant who was moving around the area, handing out drinks.
The servant moved towards him, a soft smile on their face as they gracefully dodged around everyone, coming to a stop in front of him.
"You would like a drink, yes?" The servant asked kindly, holding out a tray towards Kurose.
Kurose nodded hesitantly, looking over the tray. There were several different drinks on there, and Kurose knew a grand total of zero. None of them looked familiar to him.
With a small, nervous smile, he looked back up towards the servant. "Can you tell me what each of these are?"
"Of course sir." The servant responded immediately
He listed out the details of each drink, enduring Kurose's questions about each of the drinks. He mainly asked the same couple of questions for each drink. Did they alcoholic, what were they called and other such questions.
After a few more repeated cycles, Kurose decided to go with a simple water. Whilst he felt tempted to get something with alcohol, he still couldn't shake off the thought of not being able to drink back home.
If the servant felt like Kurose had wasted their time by asking all of those questions, they didn't voice it, instead offering him a small smile before disappearing back into the crowd, likely to give out more drinks.
Kurose took a sip of his water, as he continued to lean against the wall. He had to imagine this was probably what it would have been like if he had actually accepted any of Sheryls offers to go to any sort of party, though he likely wouldn't be sought out by people there.
He could almost imagine that he wasn't in another world, that Sheryl had just… disappeared into the crowd to drag someone over for Kurose to talk to. That brought a small smile to his face.
He was so lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice the man who had walked up beside him, a beaming smile on his face.
"Ah, the man of the hour!" A voice spoke joyfully, jolting Kurose out of his thoughts..
He turned to face whoever had spoken to him, seeing a man of similar height to him. His hair was a light brown, with similar hazelnut coloured eyes.
He wore a rather expensive looking set of robes, coloured a royal purple with a white fur trim along it. Kurose only had to wonder for a moment who it was as his eyes caught sight of the crown on his head.
"Ah," Kurose cleared his throat. "May luc-"
"No no! None of that!" The king spoke cheerfully, cutting him off. "We don't need to greet each other like that. We are of equal status! With you perhaps being even higher than me, my boy!" The king declared, smiling widely.
"I-If you are sure, your majesty…" Kurose responded, his nervousness evident in his voice.
Just how was he supposed to act around royalty? He had absolutely no idea, with his only knowledge being from shows he had watched which showed that quite a lot were pretty temperamental, if the shows were accurate of course.
"None of that either! Just call me Ronald, please. I have a feeling we will be seeing plenty of each other, and I wish for us to be on good terms, wouldn't you agree?"
"I… Yeah, I would like that." Kurose agreed slowly, still cautious of the man before him.
"Fantastic!" He clapped his hands together, his beaming smile still on his face. "I am sorry for not being there to greet you upon your summoning, I had other matters I needed to attend to. In fact, I still do have other matters to attend to, but you take precedence over them. I hope everything has been well so far."
"Ah, yeah it has. Everyone's been nice so far. Especially Orith and Amarita." Kurose spoke happily, feeling himself relax slightly.
"Ah, I expected that of Amarita, she has been helpful ever since she started here! Her advice is really quite helpful, I'll admit. I would recommend listening to any advice she may give you. Though, that is a bit hypocritical of me, considering I ignored her advice just yesterday." He shook his head at that, a small smile on his face.
Kurose remembered Amarita saying something about that, but he couldn't remember the exact details.
"What do you mean by that?" Kurose asked, fishing for answers.
"Oh, it's just she recommended that you and the Dagger hero go out to grow stronger immediately. Much as I am loath to reject her advice, I simply had to meet you before I set off."
"Set off to where?" Kurose felt a bit stupid asking all of these questions, but he really couldn't help it. Thankfully, the King didn't seem to mind the questions.
"Ah, to meet the Jewelry Tools hero. We, along with a representative from Dajero will be going over preparations for the waves, you see. It would be much better for us to stand united than at each others throats when all of this is going on." he spoke, nodding his head.
Kurose nodded along with him, agreeing with what Ronald had said. "Yeah, it would be."
"Indeed it would… Ah, forgive me, I don't believe you introduced yourself." Ronald asked with a smile.
"Oh, um, my apologies. I'm Kurose, Kurose Amiya." He spoke with a small, nervous smile. "Sorry again for not introducing myself."
"Think nothing of it." Ronald waved it off easily before continuing on. "Tell me, Kurose. How have you found the feast so far? Is it to your liking?"
"I mean, it's… It's fine" Kurose spoke with a small shrug before taking another sip of his drink. "There have been a lot of people trying to talk to me."
"That is to be expected. You are the star of the show, as it were. Though, I am a bit saddened that I wasn't able to introduce you to him before I leave…"
Kurose looked at Ronald curiously, and the king let out a laugh.
"Ah, I can see you wondering who I was talking about. I was talking about my son. He's about the same age as you, you see. I was rather hoping he might turn up, but alas…" He shook his head at that.
Can his son just… not turn up? Isn't this an important event or something? Kurose thought to himself.
"He would much rather stay up in his room, doing whatever it is he does." He spoke, waving his hand. "Its unfortunate, but I can't force him to do something he does not want."
"Why did you want me to meet him?" Kurose asked curiously.
"Ah, I wanted to see if you would take him on as a party member!" He declared, a smile on his face. "He's my only child you see, and he is… rather precious to me. It would do my heart a world of good were I to know that he was safe by a hero's side." Ronald explained.
Kurose nodded his head hesitantly. "Are… Are you sure I would even be able to keep him safe?" He asked him.
He couldn't really see himself protecting anyone with his weapon. And what if he and his son just didn't get along?
"I'm certain you would try. And my boy could certainly do with learning a few things for himself. He's lived his life getting what he wants, but he has no real, practical experience, and I am concerned for him…"
The king let out a sigh, seeming to think back to something, and Kurose didn't dare interrupt him.
The moment passed and the king shook his head. "Ah, but it is not the time to be looking to the past. Is there anything you wanted to ask, Hero Amiya?"
There were plenty of things Kurose wanted to ask, but he wasn't sure where to start. His mind wandered back to the gems embedded into the railings before speaking.
"Where did all of those gems come from? The ones embedded in the balconies railing outside of my room?" He asked him/
"Hm? Oh those? They came from the south. We found quite a natural treasure based on reports found by Amarita you see. Some past hero made mention of it in the history books, and Amarita managed to convince me to send an expedition down there. Quite fortunate that she did." He seemed rather proud of that.
"So, it was just a bunch of gems?" Kurose asked him.
"I guess you could say it was only gems, yes." Ronald spoke with a nod. "But we found a way to convert monster corpses into gems, you see. Some of the text was deleted, but we found that by letting a monster's body touch it, over a period of time it will crystallize. We can then break it off, and separate it into the gemstones you see here!"
He gestured towards the window, and Kurose moved towards it, Ronald not far behind him. Once he looked out of the window, he was greeted with a beautiful looking garden. There were plenty of different flowers.
Kurose would have attempted to name them all, if he knew anything about flowers, but considering he knew nothing about them, he opted to enjoy the scenery before him. As his eyes moved across the garden, one thing caught his eye.
In the center of the garden stood a crystal tree. It was a mixture of several different gems. Green gem, which Kurose could only assume were emeralds were used for the leaves, with small, apple shaped gems hanging from the branches. The branches, along with the trunk of the tree, were made of a blue crystal.
Kurose let out a small breath, and Ronald spoke up. "Beautiful, is it not? It was a gift from the dwarves, specifically the Ir Yut clan. They carved out each individual piece and made it for us after we gave them access to the gem mines."
Kurose completely blanked out the mention of dwarves, still completely focused on the gem tree outside. Ronald let out a laugh at that, clapping a hand onto Kurose's back, knocking him out of his daze.
"Ah, Sorry, it's just…" Kurose froze, but Ronald shook his head.
"No, No. its fine, truly. It is a beautiful thing, and I'm glad to have been able to make this addition to the castle in my lifetime. I'm glad that you can enjoy the beauty in it, Kurose. I'm sure that if my wife were here, she would have loved it…"
He got another far away look in his eyes, and Kurose didn't want to disturb him.
After some time, Ronald came back to his senses, shaking his head "Go, don't let me keep you here, whilst I think about the past. Enjoy the party whilst you can. I'll have Amarita give you some funds tomorrow. Good luck with everything."
Kurose nodded his head at that. "I will, I'm just… going to stay here for a moment longer."
Ronald nodded his head. "Ah, I forgot that this may be a bit much for you. I understand, take your time, Kurose. I'll certainly be enjoying myself." He spoke with a small chuckle before walking off.
He… had enjoyed the king's company, for the short time that they talked, if he was being honest with himself. Maybe it was the fact that the king had not tried to put himself above Kurose, but had instead treated him like a person, similar to what both Orith and Amarita had done.
Kurose watched as the king sank back into the crowd of people, a small smile on his face before turning back towards the tree. He took it in for a moment longer before turning around, making his way back into the crowd.
Kurose let out a small breath as he stepped outside. It was still overwhelming, having several people wanting to talk to him. He had went from talking to two, maybe three people in his world on a daily basis, to being bombarded with propositions and offers to marry several different people,
Kurose let out a groan as he leaned against the balcony. It was starting to get pretty late, with the sun beginning to go under the horizon. It was a beautiful sight to see.
He was so absorbed in watching the sunset that he didn't even hear the sound of footsteps behind him.
"...Hello?" Someone spoke behind him, slowly and cautiously.
Kurose jumped slightly before quickly turning and getting a look at the person who had just spoken.
The first thing he noticed was that she was shorter than him, something he didn't expect. The next was her eyes, a brilliant bright green staring up at him as if he was something curious for her to figure out.
"Hey, I haven't seen you around here before!" She spoke cheerfully, A small smile on her face.
"Ah, wait… what did Amarita say I had to do again?" She spoke, more to herself than to Kurose.
She brought her hand to her chin, humming slightly, and Kurose caught sight of a small, sheathed blade on her side, with a small red gem in the pommel, similar in size to the one in his amulet.
He paused on that thought. She had mentioned Amarita, and she said her duties were split between him and the Dagger Hero. Could she be the Dagger Hero Amarita had mentioned?
Only one way to find out… Kurose thought to himself.
"Are you a hero?" Kurose asked her,, getting a look he couldn't identify from the girl in front of him.
She stared at him for a moment longer before deflating slightly.
"All I wanted was for someone to speak to normally…" she muttered to herself, just loud enough for Kurose to hear before standing back up.
Before she could speak, Kurose took hold of his amulet, showing it to her. "I'm… I'm the Accessory hero?" He spoke weakly.
She stared at the amulet, before switching her gaze to Kurose. She did that a few more times, making Kurose nervous.
"Did I-" He was cut off as she stared at him with wide eyes, finally speaking up.
"Finally! Someone I don't have to do that greeting with! It's so weird being in there with all those nobles, they keep trying to get me to marry someone in their family or something! Or asking me to visit them!" She exclaimed.
Kurose blinked at her outburst before nodding his head. "I can't say that I've had dinners with them, but at least a few of them have offered for me to marry some of their daughters. It's just… weird."
"For real!" she shouted, slumping slightly. "Ugh… it feels so good to just get that off my chest! Its been annoying me ever since I got here . It's just been dinner after dinner, with a few nobles, all asking me to marry into their family! I don't wanna hear about any of that whilst I'm eating!" She cried out.
After a few moments, she shook her head, standing back slightly, coughing nervously. "Ah, I um… I probably shouldn't have said all that to someone I just met…" She spoke, with a small, nervous laugh.
"Oh, but I should probably introduce myself!" She tacked on quickly. She stood up straighter before speaking once more.
"I'm Eorna, the Dagger hero! It's nice to meetcha!" She exclaimed, her smile never leaving her face.
Kurose let his amulet fall against his chest before responding in kind. "I'm Kurose, and I guess I'm the Accessory hero?" He spoke, still unsure about the whole thing. "It's good to meet you."
"When were you summoned?" She asked quickly, catching Kurose off guard.
"Huh? Today? Why?" He responded just as quickly.
"What?" She seemed shocked at that. "Is that why Amarita wasn't as available today? Why didn't she bring me along? I wanted to see a summoning happen!"
As much as she seemed like a nice person, Kurose thought that he probably wouldn't have wanted anyone else to be in the room whilst he was sorting himself out. Just having Orith and those other two there was enough to cause Kurose to panic, so imagining Eorna there, already shooting a ton of questions at him would have made him panic even more.
Despite that, he kept a small smile on his face as he responded politely. "Ah… yeah it would have been an… experience to have you there."
Eorna smiled at that before speaking once more. "I knew someone would appreciate me being there! Anyways, do you know what you're doing tomorrow? If not, I wanna go level up!"
Kurose was getting whiplash from how fast Eorna seemed to jump from topic to topic.
"Uh… I have no idea what I'm doing tomorrow." He spoke truthfully. "Amarita was more focused on getting me prepared for this, so I'm not really sure."
"Well, it's decided then! I'll be your teacher for a bit, and teach you everything I know about our weapons!" She spoke with a wide grin.
Her grin soon faded as she leaned forward, poking at the amulet on Kurose's chest, much to his shock.
She didn't seem to have a care in the world! If he was being honest, Kurose wished he could be like that.
"How are you supposed to fight with that anyway? Are you just gonna wrap it around your fist and punch a monster with it?"
"Well, I'm apparently supposed to use magic, though I still have no idea what magic Is."
"I see… Do you have no attack at all?" She asked suddenly.
"No, I still have an attack stat, even if it is a bit low. Why?" Kurose asked in confusion. Where was she going with this?
"Well, it's just that I'm trying to think of where to go tomorrow, and I want you to actually be able to do something so you don't feel left out!"
Kurose… actually felt pretty happy about that. The fact that she was making an active effort to include him in levelling up, despite having only known him for five minutes at most made him happier than it should.
"If you'll have me, then sure." Kurose spoke with a smile of his own, matching Eorna's.
"Great! Let me just…" She hummed happily as a small pop up appeared in Kurose's view
"Accept it! It'll put you in my party so that when one of us kills something, we will both get experience for it!" she explained eagerly.
Kurose didn't waste a moment after hearing that, immediately joining her party.
"Great! I'm not that much of a higher level than you! I can't wait for tomorrow!" Eorna spoke cheerfully.
She was right that her level wasn't that much higher. She was level five.
"Huh, I'll be honest, I thought you would have been at a higher level" Kurose spoke to her.
Eorna stopped, looking at him curiously. "Why would you think that?".
"Well, you've been here your whole life, right?" He asked, earning a slow nod from Eorna.
"So you would have at least levelled up a bit more right? It should make it easier to take care of stuff."
"Ah…" Eorna rubbed the back of her head, and her eyes couldn't seem to meet Kurose's.
"Well, yeah that's true for most people…" She began slowly, as if she was uncertain about saying anything about it.
"It's just…" before she could say anything else, a familiar face stepped out onto the balcony.
"Accessory Hero, Dagger Hero. I was wondering where you two had disappeared off to." Amarita spoke, announcing herself to the pair. "I see you are both getting acquainted with each other."
"Haha, yup!" Eorna spoke quickly. Kurose looked at her for a moment, wanting to question what was up, but he opted to leave it for now.
It wasn't his business, considering they had known each other for a grand total of five or so minutes. Maybe if he got to know her better, he would have tried pushing the subject some more.
"...So I wanna take him out tomorrow to help him grow stronger!" Eorna finished, just as Kurose focused back on the conversation.
"And is the Accessory Hero fine with this?" Amarita asked, looking towards Kurose.
Kurose froze for a moment before nodding his head, unsure about what he was agreeing to. "Y-Yeah! I'm fine with it, don't worry!"
Amarita gave him a look, as if she knew that he hadn't been paying attention, but she didn't push it any further. "I see. Truthfully, it was something I was going to have you both do tomorrow regardless. Dagger Hero, would you-"
"I told you to call me Eorna!" She cried out, being expertly ignored by Amarita, who looked as if she had been through this plenty of times.
"-please teach the Accessory Hero how the both of your weapons work tomorrow? I'll have someone to guide you through the city and into the forest, so that they can keep the pair of you safe whilst you get used to it all."
"Whaaaat?" Eorna spoke with a frown. "But I already know how to fight. It's not hard to just…"
She unsheathed her dagger once more, swinging it through the air, as if to show off how easy it was.
"See? It's not that difficult!" She spoke happily, seemingly proud of what she had done.
"I'm aware that you know how to fight, Dagger Hero." Amarita spoke, nodding to Eorna. "I did get the reports on you taking out some AranSilk Spiders on the way into the city after all. I was more speaking about the Accessory Hero. For that purpose, he will be having a magician sent with him, to see if he can impart any knowledge on the go."
"Ohhh, I understand!" Eorna spoke with a grin, nodding her head enthusiastically.
"I should also mention, His majesty has set aside some funds for the both of you. It's not as much as he would like to have given, but a lot of the kingdom's treasury is going towards outfitting our soldiers to help you heroes fight against the wave."
Ronald had already mentioned this to Kurose, nodding his head along. Eorna seemed happy with that as well.
If anything, he was actually thankful that they were getting some money to do stuff with. How would he even get money to do stuff here anyways? Would he have to rely on some sort of allowance from the kingdom?
He didn't want that, it would just make him feel worse. If he was a hero, he couldn't just be leeching off the kingdom! Maybe he could open a knitwear repair shop? He could also probably chuck out his title as Accessory Hero to guarantee some customers…
He shoved those thoughts to the side for the time being. He didn't need to worry about that now.
"So, how much longer is all…" He gestured towards the open door, in which the feast was taking place. "This going to go on for?"
"That's up to you, Accessory Hero." Amarita spoke kindly. "It's up to you whenever you want to leave. His majesty understands you have other things that are required, and he's simply glad he has gotten to speak with you prior to his departure."
Kurose nodded at that, looking back into the room before making his decision.
"I… I would like to go back to my room. I'm…" Kurose hesitated with what he was going to say next, but it was the truth. "I'm tired."
Amarita didn't question it, which Kurose was thankful for, simply answering instead. "Of course. Let us go then."
"Actually, before that…" He turned towards Eorna, who was watching the pair calmly.
"It was nice to meet you." Kurose spoke with a small smile. "I'll see you tomorrow then, I guess?"
"Yup! You aren't getting rid of me that easily!" Eorna responded without any hesitation.
With that said, Kurose would turn around, beginning to follow Amarita back into the room and through the crowd.
When Kurose had finally entered his room, he was met with a set of nightwear neatly folded on his bed. He would check if it was the right size, but Amarita had likely asked the Tailor to make it using the measurements they had gotten earlier.
Though, for some reason, he just didn't feel like changing into them at the moment. He moved over to the bed, taking off the shoes they had put him in before laying down, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Just…what was he supposed to be feeling? As much as this place seemed nice, he just didn't want to be here. He wanted to be back in his world, relaxing in his small studio apartment. It wasn't anything fantastic, but it was his. Here, he had nothing to comfort him. Just the bare walls, and a feeling of loneliness.
Everything he had was there, ranging from small trinkets he had bought, to gifts he had been given by Sheryl over the years. Each and every single thing in that studio apartment meant something to him, and now…
Well, now none of it even mattered. He would never get to see Sheryl ask about something random in his room, he wouldn't get her sudden visits to his place, or her springing sudden requests to watch a movie with her.
He wouldn't see her again. That thought had tears pricking at the corners of his eyes, and he rubbed at them harshly.
It…It was fine. Amarita had said she would try and find him a way home. He just had to do his job, it was as simple as that. He just had to grow strong enough to beat the waves, and it would all be fine.
He tried to take his mind away from that line of thought. He opened up his help menu, reading through it slowly. It wasn't the most riveting of stuff, but it gave him something else to focus on, which he was glad for.
His eyes began to close as he went further, a small yawn escaping him. He couldn't put off sleeping any longer, and so with a sigh, he closed his menu. He hadn't found anything new, except for something about unlocking the abilities of a weapon form, but even that was fuzzy. He really shouldn't have checked it out in this state.
As Kurose's eyes finally shut, he found himself hoping that this was all just some sort of odd dream, and that he would just wake up in his own bed.
[Accessory World Info]
This piece will be a short overview on the gem mines that were mentioned in this chapter.
As the King mentioned, they are located to the southernmost point of Ortensca. Hidden deep underground, they were only found by a previous heroes notes that were translated by Amarita over a period of time. The book written by a previous hero had plenty of missing pages, as well as information that was not relevant to the gem mines. Whether this was intentional, or accidental damage remains unknown.
The Gem mines, once found by a group of adventurers hired by the kingdom, were quickly transformed into a workable environment, with the six separate nodes being protected by guards, whilst workers transported monster remains into it, and the gem stones out of it.
Some workers claim that they have seen the nodes that start the crystallisation effect shudder, or even move slightly, but they are brushed off as rumours. They are usually given a few days off, with most other workers assuming that they have simply been worked to hard over the last few days.
[End notes]
Unfortunately for Kurose, this is not a dream. A bit sad for him, but it is what it is. But hey, at least he gets to be a hero! Only good things happen to heroes, right?
A bit of a shorter chapter. Hopefully next chapter will be actually getting Kurose out and about, hopefully fighting monsters. Next chapter should hopefully be somewhere within the two week range, but I can't promise that due to Destiny slowly dragging me back in.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, until next time!