C98
When I encountered an unexpected situation, I felt confused.
"How did this happen?"
Before coming here, I reviewed the content of the novel several times.
From the meteorite's fall and the discovery of high-quality magic stones in an abandoned mine, it was as in the novel. However, it was the first time I saw a transparent wall suddenly blocking the escape route.
"Could it be that the situation is so different from the novel because the meteorite fell early?"
Then Terence stepped forward.
"Wait a moment, excuse me."
Dark red magical power flickered from the sword he unsheathed. Clank! When the sword quickly pierced the transparent wall, a dull sound resonated throughout the mine.
Clank! Clank! Clank! After that, after a few more sounds of massive amounts of magical energy colliding, Terence shook his head and turned around.
"That won't work. It doesn't mean it won't be damaged, but it will be repaired in the blink of an eye."
Vinetta presented her own method.
"Is it impossible for only Ethel-nim to escape?" While striking the barrier with His Highness.
"It's difficult. Instead of the thin wall-shaped barrier we commonly think of, it's closer to a thick mass of magical energy contained in this space."
Terence frowned.
"Even if the front is cleanly cut, there's a high chance the back will be safe. It's a truly ridiculous amount of power."
"...No matter how great a wizard is, I wonder if this is possible. Even if it were possible, it would be an extremely inefficient use of magical power."
His suspicions were quite natural. If reality is not completely different from the novel, the culprit behind this turmoil wouldn't be a simple human.
"A Divine Beast."
In the novel, the entity that blocked Liena's path when she entered the mine was a divine beast dwelling in a meteorite.
Furthermore, it was also the miracle that transformed an ordinary stone into a high-grade magic stone.
Later, it is revealed that the divine beast possesses enormous and unique magical power, and that magical power transforms the surrounding rocks into magic stones.
A phenomenon that can truly be called a miracle.
However, Liena did not obtain such a miraculous magic stone mine for free.
The divine beast gives her a test before recognizing her as the owner of the mine.
That was the reason why the Wallace Count's family, who made a fortune thanks to Liena's sudden luck in her first life, went bankrupt within a few years.
Unlike Liena, they discovered the anomaly in the mine much later after the meteorite fell, and by that time, the divine beast had already gone elsewhere.
As there is no one who can continuously produce magic stones, the magic stones in the mine will soon run out.
"It's not that sad. In any case, those bastards probably wouldn't have shared even a part of their wealth with their daughter."
On the other hand, Liena was very lucky as she intuitively knew in advance that there was something hidden in this mine.
She happened to inspect it after hearing the news that a meteorite had fallen and was even recognized by the divine beast.
But it's strange. In Liena's terrible experience in the novel, there is no mention of being trapped by a transparent wall.
Moreover, the terrible experience expressed in the novel was not particularly difficult.
Liena and her group, who found it, also had some problems but passed through unharmed.
At that time, the people Liena came with were Matisse and Tara. So, I decided that if Terence and Vinetta were with me, they could overcome the tough trial easily.
"Besides, I knew there would be a test, so I carefully packed supplies like artifacts."
So I thought it was an easy victory, but then something like this happened.
Naturally, I felt resentment toward the goddess who thought it was a gift and dropped the meteorite ahead of time.
Looking at the current situation, it seemed that the difficulty of the trial had only increased, but I couldn't understand where the gift was.
But I couldn't just sit and blame others. Solving this problem was now a priority.
"Your Highness, for now, I think we have no choice but to move forward."
"Well, the way back is blocked."
I stood in front of the two people who were in the midst of a discussion.
"Everyone, I have something important to tell you about this situation."