Memoirs of the Returnee - Chapter 24



Only Krnovel

＃Returner’s Notepad Episode 24

mine(3)

Behind the mine. There’s a woman looking at me with her hair flowing, a mysterious chroma of gold and white.

“Oh my goodness.”

Elise opens her eyes wide, pretending to be surprised.

I had a brief headache.

“What are you doing again?”

“What do you mean? Shouldn’t you apologize first? “I failed because of you.”

She pointed to a fragment of the Strong Magic Stone. I clicked my tongue.

“… … “Since when did you hear this?”

“Because I have good ears.”

It means from the beginning.

When I sighed, Elise shook her head with a disdainful expression.

“Are you bringing up Nightmare to Solliet for money? Why do you live? “Right now, scoop up the magic stone and die.”

“… … “It’s not just about money.”

I know Solliette pretty well. Perhaps even more so than Solliet herself.

Because the future girl I loved is a person connected to this present.

“What if it’s not about money? “Do you like it?”

Elise snorted.

“… … .”

I was speechless for a moment. I couldn’t think of anything to say in response.

Then Elise’s mouth opened slightly. The expression on his face was filled with shock, regret, and despair.

I quickly changed my words.

“… … “Not even that.”

If you don’t touch the disgust or force it out, there are people who will just fester and rot inside. There are people who kill themselves.

That’s Soliet.

That’s why I bothered to provoke her.

“You need to self-objectify. Do you think you are objectively a better person? Soliet-”

“Is it because of money? And be quiet. “It’s so hot I’m dying.”

I was about to take off my miner’s uniform but stopped.

“Oh no. “Why is it cold?”

The wind was cold. The sweat on my whole body was so cold it felt like it was freezing.

I put on my miner’s uniform again.

“… … “Did you hurt your brain?”

Elise sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

“Soliet went up there, right?”

“You can’t do it?”

“Because I’m not a high-flyer. I’m not even aspiring to be a knight. Rather, could you please stop talking to me?”

“You talked to me from the beginning? “Is there a hole in your brain?”

It was then.

Sssssssut.

A strange breathing sound rang out from somewhere.

“… … .”

“… … .”

Our bodies both stiffened.

Seuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

A howling sound of wind sweeps through the basement. Abnormal coldness freezes my entire body, and my breath spreads every time I breathe.

Elise swallowed her saliva, pretending to be calm. I looked beyond the darkness of the mine. My body twitched almost like instinct.

“… … “It’s a ghost.”

A magical being was captured in “SZX-9500.”

Unclear outlines and blurry shapes. A coldness that radiates like an aura. A human-like magical power whose unstable magical energy glows red like the pupils of its eyes.

To be precise, it is a magical power that attempts to ‘imitate’ a person—a ghost.

“… … Ghost?”

“Shh.”

I moved my feet carefully.

Tuk-

I kicked away some stone chips. At that moment, the ghost looked back.

Elise said in a miserable tone.

“Why don’t you just kill yourself?”

“… … greatness.”

I saw the guy. The guy’s aura had already turned red.

Ghosts instinctively loathe the ‘living’, but a person who has taken on the form of a person to that degree is difficult to handle at my current level.

You’ll probably be cursed the moment you come in contact with it. Once you’re noticed, you can’t run away.

I looked back at Elise. She twitched the corners of her mouth confidently.

“What do you see? “Fix it on your own.”

“… … Am I the only one here? “Are you there too?”

“I can run away on my own.”

It’s really cheesy.

Well, rather than begging him for help, I’d rather just search around… … .

at that time.

I saw ‘something’ in my eyes.

“wait for a sec.”

A particularly bright blue dot in the ghost’s vague shape.

It’s very small and fine, like dust, but it’s clearly ‘visible’.

Magic core.

I picked up a pickaxe. Elise frowned.

“A pickaxe… … It’s like you. “It’s like you.”

Ghosts are magical beings.

Therefore, the method of dealing with it is also ‘magic power’.

“The ghost’s vital point is the magic core. However, it is too small to be observed with the naked eye, and because it moves constantly, it is practically like a fluid, so it cannot be destroyed by physical force.”

I recited the contents of a textbook I once read.

It’s all true. Because there are no lies in textbooks.

“Textbooks say that.”

“Go and die.”

Elise hates it, but I can see it now. The ‘magic core’ as large as a grain of sand floating within the magical power of a ghost appears more vividly than a pebble in “SZX-9500”.

“… … hey! Come! “You bastard!”

I shouted to the ghost.

“under.”

Elise laughed as if she was shocked.

——!

Almost at the same time, a ghost let out a scream of mana.

I grabbed the pickaxe. “Perion” was activated throughout the body, including the body vision.

The ghost rushed through the air. The leap of fluid was like a gale. But for me, with my nervous system amplified, it was enough time to hit the guy.

Squirt——!

The moment it got close, I swung the pickaxe.

Pinpoint.

The awl blade accurately broke the magic core.

Hehehe… … .

The ghost whose magic core was pierced immediately dispersed, dropping something on the floor and disappearing.

It was a piece of magic core. I put it in my pocket.

“… … what.”

A dull sound echoing from behind.

“Where did you go?”

Whip – Elise is turning her head left and right. She seems to be looking for a ghost who has already died.

I told her.

“Even ghosts have magic cores. “I saw it and stabbed it.”

“Nonsense-”

“Oh, it’s okay to say thank you.”

Because I am your manito.

Elise was blank for a moment, but then frowned and took a step forward.

“More than that, a ghost appeared, so-!”

I tripped over something and stumbled.

She almost fell and looked down nervously.

“what… … !”

Both eyes widened.

“… … ah.”

Elise steps back hesitantly.

I walked towards it. Something was buried in the dirt.

I looked more closely.

“here… … “I see what happened.”

It was a remains.

A trace of an old person who has become a bare skeleton in a miner’s uniform.

“Ha, ha, take that away.”

Ignore Elise for now, as she looks like she’s having trouble breathing.

There was a notebook on the chest of the miner’s uniform. I picked it up and opened the page.

It was very worn, but the writing was readable.

「March 1, 1995」

1995.

This is a work diary from 18 years ago.

[…] … Next week is my son’s birthday. It seems like he wants slightly expensive sneakers, but there’s nothing he can do about it. I just need to split the overtime pay and collect it.]

“What are you looking at?”

Before I knew it, Elise approached, covering her nose and mouth with a handkerchief.

“Work log. The name is Hans. man. He is the father of an eleven-year-old child. “It was 18 years ago, so the child must have been around 29.”

Elise responded indifferently.

“Because accidents are common in mine shafts.”

“… … “That’s right.”

I raised my eyebrows and turned the pages.

[These days, there are people who keep saying they saw strange things underground in the mine. Since overtime is quite common these days, young people who don’t have any skills can be tired. From today onwards, I decided to take over. What could happen if I work overtime for a few days?]

Although the omen was already there, Hans volunteered to work overtime to earn money.

The result… … .

[It’s a ghost! I saw a ghost! This mine is haunted! It’s definitely a ghost. Those who said they saw something wrong were right. No, it wasn’t in vain. Holy shit!

Still, my family will come to my rescue. If you wait a little longer, Libra will be——]

The next page was difficult to read.

Handwriting becoming increasingly rough, hunger to the point of eating my own flesh, regret and longing for my family, resentment toward Libra, self-reproach blaming myself for volunteering to work overtime… … .

“It’s haunted by ghosts… … . “It can’t be used as a regenerative mine.”

Then Elise spoke. I came to my senses.

A ghost is a being made up of only magical power. It often occurs in places with high mana concentrations, such as under the ground, in the mountains, in the deep sea, or on remote islands, and mines that are haunted by ghosts are legally closed.

This is because of the revision of the Human Rights Act 20 years ago.

The curse of ghosts is more vicious than carcinogens.

“No way.”

I shook my head.

Libra in the past would have ‘already’ known that ghosts haunt this place. The person in charge of the mine, or a member of Libra’s family, must have caught the ghost while searching for Hans. And I would have thought about it briefly.

Was it one day, two days, or did I not even think about it?

As a result, Libra chose to be buried alive, dividing the upper and lower levels.

“… … ‘No way’? “Do you know what the law is?”

Of course, Jade wouldn’t have known that past.

Libra’s succession inheritance process began 7 years ago, and in the first place, he didn’t even know what he had.

“It’s a reclaimed mine that’s about to open soon. “I will never abandon Libra.”

Therefore, the future developments are obvious.

Libra and Jade will do whatever it takes to cover up this fact again.

That should be it.

“No, I can’t throw it away.”

I chewed my lip. I grabbed the pickaxe tightly.

Sigh——!

He struck the remains with it.