Chapter 18 : Chapter 18
Chapter 18 : Treasure-Hunting Little Mouse Cosette
After returning to Room 207 in Silver Fir House, Ryan carefully placed the package of old Magic Tool parts he had bought onto one corner of the desk. Then he picked up the dull, unremarkable white crystal ore and set it in the center of the desk, examining it closely in the afternoon sunlight.
It felt heavier in the hand than ordinary crystal, and the texture was also more... solid.
He picked up an old dagger that he normally used for prying apart small components or as an improvised lever and nail, and used its tip to scratch the stone’s surface. It left behind only a nearly invisible white mark. Then he struck it a few times with force. The sound was dull, nothing like the crisp, fragile ring of ordinary crystal.
“The texture is not quite right...” Ryan murmured, his curiosity growing stronger.
Cosette stood nearby, her hazel eyes fixed unblinkingly on Ryan’s movements, equally full of confusion.
Could Master really think there was something inside this ugly stone? She had only felt that it was a little... special.
After thinking for a moment, Ryan pulled a small metal hammer out of his toolbox. With his left hand, he pressed the dagger tip against a thicker part of the crystal’s surface, then swung the hammer in his right hand and lightly struck the dagger hilt.
Clang!
The dagger tip bounced away, and not even a proper mark was left on the crystal’s surface.
Ryan’s brows drew together even more tightly. This hardness far exceeded that of ordinary white crystal. He increased his strength and tried several more times, but the result was the same. The crystal remained utterly unmoved. Instead, the dagger tip had started to curl a little.
“Tch. Ordinary tools are clearly not enough.” Ryan set down the hammer and dagger and rubbed his slightly sore wrist. He glanced at Cosette, who was watching him nervously from the side, and said, “Take two steps back.”
Cosette did not understand why, but she obediently moved back two steps. Her eyes, however, remained fixed on the stubborn stone atop the desk.
Ryan stood up and pushed the chair farther back, clearing some space in front of the desk. He closed his eyes, drew in a deep breath, and focused his mind. The body’s instinctive talent for fine Mana control quietly stirred.
He extended the index finger of his right hand and silently recited a short, precise wind-element guiding incantation.
The air at his fingertip warped slightly and gave off a faint hum. A pale cyan wind blade about three inches long slowly formed there, dense and nearly tangible, its edge shimmering with razor-sharp light.
This was a variant application of the basic wind spell Wind Blade, forcefully compressing and condensing what should have been a fired offensive spell onto the fingertip, turning it into a high-intensity cutting tool. It demanded extremely precise Mana control.
Ryan controlled the alarming sharpness gathered at his fingertip and carefully aimed it at one of the deeper natural cracks in the white crystal ore, then slowly cut downward.
Screech—
As the wind blade touched the crystal’s surface, it let out a harsh grinding sound, even scattering a few tiny sparks. Yet the crystal still did not split open. It merely left a deeper scorched mark along the edge of the crack.
“This...” A trace of astonishment flashed through Ryan’s eyes. The sharpness of that compressed wind blade was more than enough to slice through ordinary granite, yet it could not do anything to this piece of white crystal?
Just as he was preparing to increase the Mana output and try again, an extremely faint tug suddenly came from the wind blade gathered at his fingertip.
It felt as though... something was actively drawing in and accepting the pure wind-element Mana within the blade.
Ryan’s heart stirred. He stopped increasing the pressure. Instead, he relaxed his control and allowed a thread of pure wind-aspect Mana to slowly flow along that sensation of attraction toward the point where the wind blade touched the crystal.
At that very moment, a sudden change occurred.
Within the cloudy, impurity-filled crystal, deep inside that gray-white chaos, a tiny, faint, and gentle green light suddenly flared to life.
At first, the light was no larger than the tip of a needle. But as Ryan deliberately guided more wind-element Mana into it, it quickly brightened and stabilized like a firefly being awakened. It shone through layers of murky crystal, casting a hazy green glow throughout the interior.
Cosette could not help letting out a small cry. She covered her mouth, her hazel eyes round and wide as she stared without blinking at the stone that had begun to glow.
Ryan also held his breath and slowly increased the Mana output, feeding even purer wind-element energy into the green-lit core.
Hum—
A resonant sound, as if coming from inside the stone itself, rang out. The impurities and cracks on the crystal’s surface began to tremble slightly. The inner light grew brighter and brighter, almost bursting straight through the shell.
Then came a crack, like ice splitting apart. The incomparably hard white crystal ore split neatly into two halves from the middle, following the very crack that had been scorched by the wind blade.
Its outer shell peeled away and crumbled to either side like withered petals, turning into a pile of gray-white stone fragments without the slightest luster.
And in the shattered core, lying quietly amid the stone fragments, was a gemstone roughly the size of a pigeon’s egg, perfectly translucent and shining with a vivid, luxuriant emerald-green light, radiating a gentle yet unmistakable magical aura.
The gem was an irregular oval, smooth as a mirror on the surface. Inside, it seemed as though green liquid were slowly flowing. Its radiance was restrained, yet unfathomably deep. At a glance, it was clearly no ordinary object.
“There really... really was something inside!” Cosette finally cried out, her voice trembling slightly with excitement.
She set down the basket, trotted to the desk, stood on tiptoe, and craned her neck to look at the astonishingly beautiful green gemstone. Her little face was flushed red with disbelief and excitement.
“Master! Th-this looks so beautiful! It must be worth a lot of money, right?”
She had helped Master make money!
That realization made her heart feel like it was holding a joyful little bird, fluttering wildly inside.
Yet Ryan did not immediately respond to her excitement. His gaze was fixed tightly on the green gemstone, not because of its beauty or value, but because—
At the instant the gem was fully exposed, the familiar translucent text appeared once again above it in his field of vision.
[Discovered unknown magical gemstone]
[Action: Go to the academy library’s ancient texts section and attempt to search records related to ancient gemstones, wind-element crystals, or specific magical seal objects]
[Probability of direct consequence: Probability of obtaining the gemstone’s exact name, properties, and historical clues ≈ 85%]
[Probability of hidden chain consequence: Probability of triggering information fragments related to “Emerald Courtyard” or a specific ancient magical inheritance ≈ 42%]
The library... the ancient texts section... an 85% chance of obtaining clues? And it might also be related to Emerald Courtyard?
Ryan’s heartbeat quickened slightly.
What exactly is this thing?
He was filled with uncertainty. This object had never existed in the original game.
Could it be that the little maid at his side was not some fool with nothing to offer but a pretty face, but instead a walking treasure-detecting radar?
And once again, it was connected to Emerald Courtyard.
Why had everything around him recently begun circling this hidden thread, which was only supposed to formally appear in the middle of the story? His father’s side, the muddled accounts of the Wood family, and now this mysterious gemstone that might also be linked to it...
Had the butterfly effect already flapped this hard?
Suppressing the doubt and faint unease in his heart, Ryan turned his gaze away from the gem and looked at the little maid beside him, who was gazing at him expectantly, clearly waiting for praise.
The undisguised excitement and hopeful expression on that delicate little face strangely swept away some of the irritation in his heart that had come from all this trouble.
Whatever else it might mean, this was indeed her accomplishment.
This was an unexpected gain worth far more than a single silver coin, perhaps even something tied to major consequences.
Ryan extended a hand and, with a motion that was natural and casual, ruffled Cosette’s fairly neatly arranged hair.
“Mm.” Unlike his usual indifference, his voice seemed a little softer. “You did very well.”
Cosette had still been immersed in the joy of having earned merit for herself. The moment she felt the warmth of that hand on her head and the gentle stroke of his fingers, her whole body froze.
That warmth spread down from the top of her head, and the little bird fluttering in her heart suddenly grew still. In its place rose a pounding excitement that made her cheeks burn.
So... so reassuring...
So warm...
It was as though all her fear and unease had been gently brushed away by that hand.
She could feel her heartbeat skip once, then start hammering rapidly in her chest. It felt as though all her blood had rushed to her cheeks and ears.
Instinctively, she shrank her neck slightly, yet at the same time she did not quite want to move away. A strange warmth spread through her body, and her legs unconsciously drew a little closer together.
Ryan ruffled her hair twice and was just about to withdraw his hand when he noticed that the girl beneath his palm was not reacting at all.
He looked down and saw that Cosette had lowered her head. The tips of her ears were so red they looked ready to drip blood. Her profile was stained with an obvious blush, and even her neck had turned pink. She looked like a shrimp that had been boiled through.
...What is wrong with her?
Ryan was a little puzzled. He assumed his voice had been too quiet for her to hear clearly, so he repeated himself, this time more firmly.
“You did very well this time. Do you want some kind of reward?”
In his view, when a servant accomplished something, it was only natural for the master to grant a reward. Besides, this little fool had, by some lucky accident, found him this mysterious thing that seemed far more impressive than it first appeared. In the future, she might genuinely be useful as a little treasure-hunting mouse.
A reward had to be given, and it had to be appropriate. Only then could she be encouraged to keep producing this sort of luck.
At that moment, Cosette’s mind was still full of the lingering warmth from his hand on her head. Her heart was pounding, and the heat inside her had not yet faded. It was only when Ryan asked again that she jolted out of that dazed, floating state. She lifted her head slightly in confusion. Her hazel eyes were watery, still carrying the shame and bewilderment that had not yet faded.
“A... reward?” she repeated softly, her mind in utter confusion.
Good food? New clothes? Of course those would be nice, but...
She stole a glance at Ryan’s hand, the one that had just stroked her head and now hung naturally at his side, and a bold thought suddenly rose in her mind.
After hesitating for a moment, she spoke in a voice soft as a mosquito’s hum, almost mumbling it under her breath.
“Th-that... Master... in the future... c-could you... pat my head more often?”
Ryan: “...?”
He paused, genuinely caught off guard.
That was all?
He had intended to offer a real, tangible reward. Since when did head-patting count as a reward? That was only something casual he had done on impulse.
Looking at Cosette’s expression—expectant, shy, and gazing up at him with shining eyes—he fell silent for two seconds, then... really did reach out again and gently rub her head twice more.
“That doesn’t count as a reward.” He withdrew his hand. “You can ask for something else. Good food, new clothes, or... perhaps some basic little magical tool you could use?”
He thought he could probably make her the lowest-grade protective charm, or some small convenience item for cleaning.
Yet after being stroked again, Cosette only felt that the warmth inside her heart had grown even stronger, as though she were soaking in warm honeyed water.
She could not help narrowing her eyes slightly, and the corner of her mouth secretly curved into a tiny smile. Then she shook her head hard.
“N-No need, Master.” Her voice was soft. “This is enough... I-I am Master’s maid. Helping Master is... is only what I ought to do.”
As she said this, she even puffed out her still-slender little chest slightly. But combined with her flushed face and watery eyes, she looked less like someone making a solemn declaration and more like a little animal that had just been soothed and was now shyly seeking affection from its owner.
Ryan looked at her and the corner of his mouth lifted faintly.
So after raising her for this long, this little thing has finally become a bit useful. At least for now... her loyalty does seem fairly high.
His mood improved for no particular reason. There was still one trouble after another, but having a little tail at his side who occasionally brought him surprises and clearly stood on his side did not seem so bad.
“All right.” He did not insist on giving a material reward. Sometimes, perhaps, encouragement worked better. He carefully wrapped the warm green gemstone in a soft cloth and locked it in the desk drawer. Then he picked up his student badge and a blank notebook.
“Come on,” he said to Cosette, who was still immersed in the afterglow of being patted on the head. “We’re going to the library.”
“The library?” Cosette came back to herself and quickly nodded. “Yes, Master!” She had no idea why they were going to the library, but following Master could never be wrong.