Three days later.
Led by Brain, the group traveled east from Fairy Academy, switching from land to sea to reach a small island on the southeastern border of the Kingdom of Fiore.
Sparse vegetation covered the island, which was a desolate landscape of jagged rocks. After landing, they walked for half an hour without seeing a single bird or beast, though faint wagon tracks and human footprints were visible on the ground. Following these clues to the center of the island, they found themselves standing before a valley.
The valley wasn't particularly large—roughly five or six hundred meters high. Most of it was composed of bare gray stone. What little greenery existed was so sparse you could count the individual shrubs. The tracks and footprints vanished into a pitch-black tunnel at the base of the valley.
"The tracks and footprints stop here. Did they go inside the valley through this tunnel?" Descartes peered into the darkness. The tunnel was deep and void of sunlight, but a faint breeze drifted out, suggesting another exit existed.
"Serena, come over here and take a sniff!"
Serena hopped over and took two deep breaths, inhaling the air from deep within the cave.
"Well?" Descartes asked curiously. "How's the bouquet? Pure?"
"Mixed! Way too mixed!" Serena shook his head repeatedly. "The scents in this wind are a chaotic mess. There are definitely a lot of people in there. I think it's safe to confirm that the people kidnapped by the R-Organization are being sent here for hard labor."
"What's the combat power like inside?" Descartes pressed.
"There are many people, but I don't smell any powerful auras. We should be able to flatten them!"
The senses of a Dragon Slayer are far beyond those of an ordinary human. With eight types of Dragon Slayer Magic within him, Serena's sense of smell had been developed to a level that surpassed even a hound's. With just a whiff at the tunnel entrance, he could estimate the enemy's numbers and the strength of their opponents.
Just then, Gildarts noticed some tiny, reflective objects scattered near the ruts in the ground. He knelt down to investigate.
"Find something?" The others crowded around.
Gildarts didn't answer immediately. He swept the glittering fragments into a pile and inspected them in his palm. "These don't look like stone shards. It's some kind of special crystal?!"
Silver leaned in for a closer look. "Now that you mention it, I saw similar things on the path coming here. It looks like this stuff isn't local to the island; the R-Organization must be shipping it in from outside."
"What exactly is it?"
Hearing this, Layla's head immediately swiveled left and right. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. She ran a few meters away, picked something up from the ground, and brought it back. "Look! It's this!"
The group looked down. The crystal she had found was identical in nature to the fragments in Gildarts' hand, just much larger.
"Oh wow, Layla-chan really does have a height advantage!"
"You found something we all missed!"
"That's impressive!"
Ur laughed and patted Layla on the head, causing her blonde twin-tails to bounce.
Layla was speechless. "What kind of height advantage is that? Ur-senpai, you clearly just wanted to call me short!!"
"No way! I was praising you!"
"Hehe... thanks for that, but your praise isn't making me happy at all!"
With a large crystal in hand, they no longer needed to squint at Gildarts' shards. Descartes took the crystal from Layla, stared at it intensely, and gave it a flick with his finger.
Ding, ding—
The texture was quite hard. Was it some kind of ore? Descartes waved Serena over again. "Come here a sec!"
"What now?"
"Take a bite. See if you can taste what kind of stone it is."
Serena froze, then erupted in anger. "Ha?! What do you take me for?! Take a bite?! Why don't you taste it yourself?!"
Descartes replied with perfect logic, "Don't be ridiculous. I don't have teeth like yours; I couldn't possibly bite through it."
Judging by the texture, this was likely a special mineral. Since it was an "ore," then regardless of its specific properties, Serena—who possessed the power of the Diamond Dragon and the Cavern Dragon—could eat it like bread.
"You little..." Serena huffed, then let out a sigh of defeat. "You actually have a point..."
"Right? Right?" Descartes smiled and pushed the crystal toward Serena's mouth. "Go on, eat up. Tell me the reaction..."
Suddenly, Bluenote spoke up from behind. "It's a Lacrima, a magic crystal with storage properties capable of holding vast amounts of magic power. It's the same power source currently used for magic trains and some magic four-wheelers on the market."
Descartes' smile stiffened. He muttered under his breath, "Usually you're as quiet as a mute gourd, but you sure spoke up fast this time..."
The others were also surprised, looking at Bluenote with curiosity. "You recognize this?"
Bluenote nodded, his face as stoic as ever. "The elders in my family used to mine for noble lords."
The group fell silent, their eyes turning into blank dots.
Ah... that doesn't sound like a fun story...
...
Inside the Valley.
A group of wizards dressed in black hooded robes—all looking well-fed and arrogant—were relentlessly lashing slaves with cowhide whips.
Despite the slaves being dressed in rags, emaciated, and utterly exhausted, they could only grit their teeth against the fierce overseers and the threat of the whip. They forced their nearly broken bodies to haul heavy stones to designated spots.
Thud—
An elderly man with white hair slipped, falling to the ground along with the heavy stone he was carrying. Seeing this, an overseer's brows narrowed in fury as he strode forward. The other slaves quickly scattered.
Whoosh—Snap!
Without a word, the long whip fell mercilessly.
"You old geezer, why are you slacking off?!"
"I... I wasn't... it was just..."
"Daring to talk back?!"
Snap, snap, snap—
"What do you want to say? That you're old? That you've got no strength? That you haven't eaten today? Excuses, nothing but excuses!!"
Snap, snap, snap—
"Useless trash! You think your life is miserable? I've had no wine for three days, no women for five, and no hot bath for seven, all because I have to supervise you!! Can't you think about things from my perspective for once?!"
The overseer lashed out with every sentence until the old man lay motionless. Only then did he stop, give the man a kick, and turn away grumbling, aiming his rage at a group of children nearby.
"What are you looking at?! If you don't want to end up like this old bag of bones, move faster!!"
The terrified children could only tremble, resuming their mechanical labor with numb movements.
Just then, a thunderous explosion echoed from the sky—