Displaying Her True Strength
Amira effortlessly unlocked the door with magic.
Even a professional locksmith would be amazed at how smoothly she did it... but I guess that’s to be expected from someone recommended by the McCreed family.
Honestly, since we hadn’t seen any signs of her abilities until now, I had started wondering if we were being deceived.
Anyway, I was just about to tell her she did a great job—when:
"That was splendid, Amira!"
"Ehehe~"
Elina praised her thoroughly before I could.
She’s completely doting on her.
Well, having such a sweet and earnest little girl around must be soothing.
But setting that aside for now, our focus is the mana ore.
Beyond the heavy door lay pitch-black darkness.
Not even a few meters ahead was visible; it was complete and utter darkness.
"Walking into this kind of darkness takes some courage,"
As Gary pointed out, it was indeed frightening to proceed in such conditions.
There might be vicious monsters lurking, and worse, the footing could be unstable, or we could face cave-ins.
Then—
"Leave it to me!"
Riding the wave of success from her unlocking spell, Amira gave her chest a gentle tap with her small hand and stepped forward.
"There’s a lighting spell that brightens dark places. With this, we shouldn’t have trouble moving forward."
"That’s reassuring. With your unlocking magic earlier too, I can see why you're being called a promising future magician."
"N-Not at all... Ah, but I also used a detection spell to examine the surrounding area, and I didn’t find any monsters or signs of a potential collapse."
"That’s wonderful!"
Gary, who’s used to dealing with kids, praised her further.
He seems to be the type who believes in encouraging through praise.
—Wait, did she say detection magic?
"Amira."
"Yes?"
"With that detection spell, couldn’t you check if there’s mana ore buried around here?"
"Of course I can."
"Then, do you sense anything in this area?"
"Absolutely nothing—ah."
…S o she realized it too.
Her detection spell had evolved to the point that it could pick up not just monsters but even the risk of a cave-in.
Which means... if there’s no response, it confirms the hard truth we didn’t want to face—there’s no treasure lying dormant here.
"W-Wait! We haven’t checked the entire mines yet!"
"Is that so?"
"Yes! To expand the effective detection range, let’s keep moving down this path!"
So there’s still hope.
Still... it feels like we had our momentum crushed right from the start.
What do you think about this chapter?
