Mining Rights

"Yes, my lord."

The Baron looked at Sebas again. "Summon Zenof for me. I know he just returned last night and is likely tired, but tell him that this is urgent and he is needed immediately."

"Understood, Master!"

'Hm? What for? I've already told Captain Zenof that I've been attacking that armored ant nest.'

That one night Allen had spent camping out with the chivalric order after the whole orc village incident, Captain Zenof had asked him to share the details of his hunting activities whenever he visited the mansion. Ever since then, Allen had ensured that he kept the Knight Captain in the loop.

Although the man was often away, Allen remembered clearly informing him two months ago that he had wiped out all the orc villages and was now moving on to attacking armored ant nests.

"And Allen, you mentioned bringing back a Queen armored ant's shell?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Then let us take a look at this shell while waiting for Zenof to arrive."

'Oh? Am I already forgiven? The Rickel-style apology really worked?'

Allen led everyone to the garden, secretly rejoicing at the fact that the Baron never veered back to the topic of his staying out without permission.

Just as he had said, there lay the gigantic pink-gold shell that he had harvested from the Queen armored ant. The shell of normal armored ants was silver, so the difference was obvious at a glance.

The Baron nodded repeatedly and went "Hmm" while touching the shell all over. Thomas followed suit, his curiosity piqued, when Sebas returned from calling for Zenof.

"Master, Captain Zenof said he would be here shortly."

"Good. By the way, Sebas, Allen claims that this is the shell of a queen armored ant. Have you ever seen another before?"

"I-I'm sorry, Master. Unfortunately, I am not too familiar with monsters."

'Mm? Oh, queen armored ants are quite rare, I imagine, what with being Rank B, plus living so deep inside the nest. Are they summoning Captain Zenof because they have no way to verify my claim themselves?'

After admitting that he had no idea whether this was truly the shell of a Queen armored ant either, Sebas also reached out with curiosity to touch it all over. Before long, the Knight Captain rushed into the mansion.

"May I ask why I have been summoned with such urgency, Your Lordship?"

Both his clothes and his hair look really well-groomed for someone who had been suddenly called over at an hour when everyone's normally lounging about after lunch.

"I apologize for interrupting your rest, Zenof. There is something I need you to confirm for me. Is this a shell from a Queen armored ant?"

"A...Queen armored ant, my lord?"

Zenof approached to take a closer look, but then shook his head. "I'm sorry, my lord. I have never seen a Queen armored ant myself."

"Allen tells us that this is the shell of a Queen armored ant. My memory might be fuzzy, as I heard this quite far in the past, but aren't armored ant nests supposedly unclearable?"

'Huh? Unclearable? Not just difficult to clear, but outright impossible?'

"Yes, my lord. It is impossible to clear an armored ant nest. Even if our entire order was to be dispatched, we would not be able to do it. I believe it is beyond Silver Fang of the Gale as well."

Hearing how certain Zenof had sounded, Allen inadvertently blurted, "But armored ants are only Rank C, right?"

Silver Fang of the Gale was the name of a Rank A adventurer party. Allen had difficulty understanding how even a Rank A adventurer party would struggle against Rank C monsters. How could anything be impossible for Rank A adventurers and the Knight Captain?

"Well, that's because..."

To sum up Zenof's explanation, clearing an armored ant nest involved killing more than a thousand armored ants that would keep emerging in a seemingly endless flood.

'I mean, yes, that's how it was for me too. Though it was over five thousand in my case.'

Zenof continued to explain that his chivalric order would suffer severe casualties if they really had to fight more than a thousand Rank C monsters without rest.

What's more, killing a Queen armored ant meant going into a nest with all its countless branching passages and finding the cavern where she resided. The monsters still remaining within the nest would use their bodies to seal the passages, especially when the exploration party was turning back from a dead end. The party could kill the ant that was in the way, but its body would remain, leaving them still trapped. Then only death awaited, as it was nigh impossible for another group to find them within the labyrinth.

'Ah, that's true. My Summons did get trapped quite a few times.' Every time it happened, Allen had simply recalled the trapped Summons by reverting them to card form and then sent them back out right away.

"For all these reasons, clearing an armored ant nest is, for all practical purposes, impossible. If someone really had to clear one, the question would be one of how many casualties the process would incur. However, this is entering the realm of academic deliberation. In any case, I have never heard of an armored ant nest ever being cleared before."

No one, be they knight or adventurer, would willingly step into an armored ant nest. Over the past year or so, the chivalric order had been mobilized only to deal with goblin and orc villages. There had been no mention whatsoever of attacking ant nests.

Allen looked confused. "Huh? But I heard that some of the mithril mines that we currently have used to be armored ant nests."

"The queens in those nests happened to die. Then the armored ants abandoned them of their own accord."

After hearing this explanation, Allen finally understood the blank look that the Baron and the butler had exchanged. If there was no one attempting to clear these nests, then obviously there were no accounts of anyone having succeeded. The two of them had been bewildered by the report of a feat that they had understood to be absolutely impossible.

"So that's what happened. Oh, right. The shell isn't the only thing I brought back. I also have these."

Allen lowered the sack that he had forgotten about from his shoulder and took out one of the rocks inside.

"What is this?"

"I picked this up in the cavern where the Queen armored ant was. I was wondering if it might be mithril ore."

Everyone's heads snapped around as they exclaimed, "WHAT?!"

Now, this they understood, much more than all the talk about the Queen armored ant and nest clearing. The Baron and Knight Captain both walked over briskly and peered closely at the rock.

"Allen, tell me the rest in the conference room," the Baron ordered, beckoning Allen to follow along as he, Sebas, and Zenof headed to the third floor together.

***

"So, can you empty the contents of your bag on the table for us?"

"Yes, my lord."

Allen was a little hesitant to place the rocks that might possibly be dirtied with the Queen armored ant's bodily fluids on top of the stately, antique-looking table, but he had no choice but to follow a direct order.

The Baron promptly stepped out of the room, quickly returning with a heavy-looking lump in his hands.

"This is mithril ore."

'Whoa! There's the lord of a realm that used to thrive on mithril mining for you. I guess it only makes sense that he has a sample.'

The mithril ore was placed right next to Allen's rocks. They both gave off the same luster and had identical textures.

"They...look the same," Allen commented.

"So they do," the Baron replied. "Sebas, bring me a map."

The butler fetched a map of Granvelle from another room. This was not Allen's first time seeing a map in this world, as Zenof had previously brought one out when the two discussed their relative progress in wiping out the orc villages.

Upon being asked, Allen was able to point to the location of the armored ant nest that he had just cleared, indicating that it was somewhere between the two northernmost mines.

"I see. It's quite close to the village we're developing," the Baron murmured, stroking his beard.

Zenof agreed, then said, "I strongly believe that we should be dispatched with haste to secure it before other monsters move in."

Despite having just returned to town, the Knight Captain was proposing that he and his men set off again immediately.

"Oh, right," Allen interrupted, having remembered something else that he had yet to report. "If I may have a sheet of paper, I can draw a simplified illustration of the entire layout of this nest."

It was simply a matter of copying over the finished map in his grimoire, so Allen did not think much of it. This was, after all, a labyrinth more than five kilometers long. Having a map, even a simple one, would make an enormous difference for those who would be managing the place.

"You mean it?! Bring him a large piece of parchment immediately!" the Baron barked.

However, instead of immediately heading out, Sebas said, "Master, this would be a good time to give Allen an explanation about the mining rights."

"Mm, I know. I'll do it now," the Baron replied before turning to Allen.

"Allen, you have done incredibly good work today. Naturally, you will not be penalized for the unauthorized night out."

"Thank you, my lord."

"As for this mithril vein, the credit for its discovery goes to you."

"Thank...you, my lord?"

"In this country, those who discover a source of a natural resource—not just limited to mithril—are granted thirty percent of the harvesting rights."

"That much, my lord?"

"Indeed. As such, thirty percent of the harvesting rights for this mithril mine goes to you, Allen."

'Seriously?! Damn, I feel like I just figured out a way to get filthy rich in this world.

'I see, harvesting rights, huh?'

According to the explanation that followed, the actual amount that would enter Allen's pockets was a lot less than thirty percent of the full profits.

First of all, the revenue from the mithril would be used to pay for all costs associated with the mining operation, including the maintenance of the mine, construction and maintenance of the furnaces needed to smelt the ore into ingots, and the personnel expenses for the knights, miners, laborers, and guards.

Sixty percent of the remaining amount would then go to the royal treasury as tax. The amount actually left after all the abovementioned subtractions was what the term "harvesting rights" referred to. This was the sum that Allen would be receiving thirty percent of, with the other seventy going to the feudal lord.

In this way, Allen managed to gain thirty percent of the mining rights of a mithril mine at the young age of eleven years.