The Burning Stone Shortage

When we exited the barrier, the shrine returned to its invisible state.

Fields spread out around us, and aside from our group, the only people in sight were farmworkers tending the land.

No one would ever suspect that an Elemental Stone was here.

Even if someone tried to steal it, the barrier Elza and Alexia set up wouldn't be easy to break, and we'd know immediately if anything happened.

Azu had just received the Earth Elemental's blessing, but there didn't seem to be any changes.

She looked as energetic as always.

When I stared at her, Azu noticed and turned toward me.

"Master, is something wrong?"

"No, I'm just wondering belatedly, doesn't having the Apostle's power and spirit blessings put a strain on you? You have three spirit blessings now, right?"

"I don't feel like anything has changed. I do feel power welling up inside me, though."

"There's no problem as long as she lives normally. The spirits are holding back their power. The Apostle's power depends on Azu-chan, but… the Azu-chan who's been tempered through experience and monster hunting can handle it now. It'll take a little time for the earth blessing to settle in enough for her to use it."

"If that's the case, good."

There's usually a catch with things that sound too good to be true.

Spirit blessings seem to have only benefits, but there could be some kind of risk.

But if Elza, who knows best about these things, says so, there shouldn't be a problem.

With this, we just need the Wind Elemental's blessing and it'll be complete.

I wonder what would happen if that came to pass?

According to Alexia, it's said that a human who receives the blessing of all Four Great Elementals gains supernatural power.

But there are no actual examples. We won't know anything until it actually happens.

Luido seems fine to maintain as is.

Thanks to the reforms, it's being properly managed.

With the Earth Elemental Stone, a bountiful harvest is practically guaranteed.

 

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We returned from Luido to Kassad and stopped by Ramiza-san's shop.

When we did, Ramiza-san was sprawled face-down on the floor of her laboratory.

Wondering what had happened, I hurried over and lifted her up, only to hear her stomach growling.

"I'm hungry… so famished…"

"What on earth are you doing?"

Apparently, she'd been so absorbed in her experiments that she skipped meals while working.

And then she became too hungry to move and had been lying on the floor.

Being devoted to research as an alchemist is a good thing, but this is too much.

It's not that she's too poor to afford food. On the contrary, she's one of the wealthiest people in Kassad. In other words, this was simply the result of laziness.

Her homunculus and the fairy she employed were hovering anxiously, worried about Ramiza-san.

In any case, I couldn't just leave her like this.

Since there was no food in the shop, I decided to take her outside.

Even if we went home, we hadn't done any shopping… Might as well go to Cat's Paw Inn and eat out.

I carried Ramiza-san on my back to Cat's Paw Inn.

Despite her nice figure, she was lighter than I expected.

Was she even eating properly on a regular basis?

Cat's Paw Inn was past its peak hours and had a relaxed atmosphere.

This meant we could stay a while without any issues.

Kazusa noticed us from the kitchen and immediately came over.

"Owner, welcome."

"Looks like business is thriving as always."

"Yeah. Thankfully, we've had a steady stream of customers."

"That's good. I'll use a table in the back."

"Okay. Let me know when you're ready to order."

Kazusa guided us to a table in the back.

From here, it was hard to hear the other customers' conversations.

We ordered a variety of dishes and focused on eating first.

The table was overflowing with food.

This place had really become a proper restaurant, not just light fare.

Ramiza-san kept eating non-stop with her knife and fork in hand.

It was like she was storing up food.

Could it be that she was eating whenever she could so she could dedicate her mealtime to research?

After focusing on our meal for a while, we took a break.

The color had returned to Ramiza-san's face.

It really had just been hunger.

"Haah, I'm full. I've been surviving on just bread lately to save time, so this grease really hits the spot."

"If you keep doing that, you'll ruin your health. You're not young anymore, so you need to eat properly."

"Look at you, lecturing me. I do take care of my beauty, so I'm confident about my appearance."

"True, your appearance hasn't changed from way back when… So what were you researching?"

"Hmm, I was wondering if I could make a substitute for burning stone."

"A substitute for burning stone? It would be faster for you to just buy it, Ramiza-san."

"That's not an option. Burning stone isn't available anywhere."

"Not available, not just expensive? That's strange. The price has been going up lately due to ironworking demand, but not to the point where it's not circulating."

Burning stone is a daily necessity.

It's especially used for heating in winter. So the Kingdom has policies ensuring burning stone is distributed to all citizens.

Prices might rise due to war preparations, but it shouldn't be unavailable.

If something happened, it was probably at the source: the mines.

"We're having trouble getting it too. We're receiving small quantities from your shop, Owner, but it seems hard to come by."

"Since I source from various places."

It seemed Kazusa had been struggling with this too.

"Can you spare some for me? I need it for experiments."

"I'll tell Kaimol."

"Yay."

Ramiza-san was delighted.

Speaking of burning stone, I used to have Azu dig for it back in the day.

Those were the days.

No matter how much the price of burning stone has gone up, we wouldn't make that much money doing the same thing now, so we don't bother.

Thinking about it that way, we've really come to earn quite a lot with Azu and the others.

However, I didn't hear anything about this when working at Her Majesty Tianis's place…

Perhaps they were prioritizing supply to the Royal Capital while putting rural areas on the back burner.

If that's the case, burning stone might be running out in rural areas.

Winter is still a way off, but if we enter winter in this state, heating options will decrease and it'll become a major problem.

In the worst case, people could die from the cold.

I need to look into this.