Chapter 213 213 - Capitalism
Chapter 213 213 - Capitalism
Maki, with a delighted smile, stroked the little girl's head. "No, darling, that's a mana lamp," she explained tenderly, "and you can thank Master Ryan for this gift."
The little girl ran towards Ryan and humbly bowed her head, whispering in a low tone, "Thank you, Master Ryan."
Ryan, seeing the gratitude in the child's eyes, took a step back and, kneeling in front of her, said, "If you want to thank me, just be a good little girl and help your village, okay?" He smiled gently, conveying a sense of responsibility and generosity.
The girl nodded happily and, with a beaming smile, ran back to Maki. As she hid behind the elf, two other children approached.
"Master Ryan is amazing," one of them commented. "He looks like a prince," added the other.
.cοm As night enveloped the village, something surprising was about to happen. Ryan stretched out his hand, casting the spell "Judgement of the Sun" into the community's skies. Immediately, the firmament came alive with an incredible symphony of colors and light. Tiny spheres of light, like shooting stars, appeared and began to dance among the clouds.
The Wisps, graceful and radiant, floated in a serene movement, creating shimmering patterns that caught the gaze of everyone, from exhausted peasants to curious children. It was a truly dazzling sight, as if dozens of luminous fairies were performing a nocturnal choreography in the sky, spreading joy and magic with every movement. They left a brilliant, ephemeral trail, as if the sky itself were telling a story of enchantment and mystery.
The children, unable to contain their fascination, approached the spheres of light, cautiously reaching out to touch these magical Wisps, which seemed to be made of pure, brilliant energy. When they touched them, instead of being burned, they felt a soft, cozy warmth, like warm hugs. The light show continued for a few more minutes, filling everyone with a sense of wonder and belonging to a magical and welcoming world.
The entire village gathered to witness this astonishing phenomenon. As the spheres of light began to disperse, taking with them some of the magic they had shared, the villagers shared smiles and animated conversations, knowing that they had experienced something truly special. Ryan, with a modest smile, headed for the portal
Finally, Ryan said goodbye with a wave of his hand and started walking towards the portal.
"Wait!" shouted the same girl as before. Ryan turned around to find her panting in front of him, her arm outstretched as she held a small stone.
"Here! A present!" she said, Ryan took the stone in his hand and widened his eyes.
"Thank you very much! Is it a present?" He asked.
The girl nodded in confirmation. As Ryan appraised the stone, he realized that it was something a little more special than the girl had imagined. Stroking the little girl's hair, he asked, "Where did you get that?"
The girl turned around and pointed back "After the village, near the beginning of the forest. There are several stones like that, some about this size" she said, as she held out both arms trying to show Ryan.
"Thank you very much for telling me, and thank you for the gift" Ryan said, and then the two of them went their separate ways.
<What is that stone?> Nyx asked, confused.
As Ryan stepped through the portal, his eyes glowed with a red light as his Demon Sight was activated. "I have no doubt, that's magical iron," he said.
The stone was a little heavy, made of a shiny material that looked like silver. As Ryan passed his mana through the material, it was easily absorbed and stored within the composition of the material.
'The children were probably attracted to the shine of this item, when they touched it the children's unstable mana flow made the metal shine even brighter,' he concluded.
A smile appeared on Ryan's face as he walked.
'I'd never heard of magical iron reserves larger than a human child'
<Wait... that means>
Ryan nodded, turning to look at the portal again.
'This is probably the largest reserve of magical iron ever found. There's no doubt about it, the Silvermoons' economic sovereignty is now guaranteed.
Magical iron was an extremely important material in the First World economy. A pure magical iron sword was extremely expensive and hundreds of times more efficient than an artificial magical iron sword. Most of the magical iron used in buildings or weapons was made from alloys of materials combined in a chemical and magical process.
Quickly, Ryan walked towards Kyouko's office, where Rin was now working on the paperwork for the transfer of ownership of the family representation. Running down the corridors, Ryan opened the door with force, startling the girl.
"Ryan?! Did something happen?" Rin asked, confused.
Ryan's red eyes stared into Rin's face, "How much money do we have in the clan coffers?"
"We have a few billion, do you need it for the village?" the girl replied confusedly.
Ryan said in an extremely serious tone of voice, "We're going to buy the entire stock of pure magical iron on the market."
Rin's first reaction was to think it was a joke. But Ryan's serious look was screaming at her that it wasn't a prank. Confused, she looked at him and at the bills on his desk.
The Silvermoons' financial situation wasn't bad, the clan had a good reserve of coins on the Lacaster stock exchange. In addition, the number of travelers affiliated with the clan meant that the inflow of working capital was constant even in a period of falling product sales. However, it was a period of uncertainty now that the Lightstones were taking control of the clan's sales.
Rin closed her eyes and breathed deeply for a few seconds, opening her eyes she said to Ryan, "You... You know that's too high a price. Don't you?".
Ryan nodded and threw the stone to the girl. She caught the item in the air with ease without even having to look in its direction, in a surprising display of dexterity.
"Nice catch!" he said, but the girl's eyes were startled as she looked at the item.
"Magic iron... Did you go into a dungeon today?" said the girl.
Nodding his head, Ryan pointed back with his thumb "I found this at the portal to the village".
Within seconds, Rin's worried face changed to one of surprise. Her eyes were wide and she had a big smile on her face, "Yeah, we have a magic iron mine?!" she shouted, jumping up from her chair.
"Yes, we do," Ryan replied in the same tone of voice. The girl jumped up from the table and ran to hug her master. The two grabbed each other and Ryan spun her around in the air as they danced in celebration of their victory.
* Knock Knock
The sound of the door opening caught both their attention and they looked at the woman standing in the doorway. Ayumi was scratching behind her ears, her face a little flushed with embarrassment.
"I didn't want to disturb you two," said the fox.
There was silence in the room until Ryan released Rin to the floor. They both cleared their throats at the same time, and in that awkward situation Ryan said, "Do you need anything?"
Ayumi sat down in the chair next to Rin's desk and began to explain what she was thinking.
In the second world, there was a more efficient method for extracting iron ores, at least this method was applied in the icy mountains where Ayumi was born. Using rivers and tributaries, magicians experienced in elemental water magic used these streams to clean the land and mine the materials.
The contact between the water and the earth didn't wear away the magical iron, which made it easier to clear the land afterwards and avoided the biggest problem in mining this type of material. Pure magical iron is extremely fragile against impacts, which makes it difficult to mine.
However, once the material receives a little more mana, it increases its resistance exponentially until it becomes practically indestructible.
"The only problem is that the main islands don't have the water flow to do this kind of mining," said Rin, who had already visited the village during the afternoon.
Ryan shook his head in denial, "We can use one of the smaller islands to create a waterfall over the area we want to mine."
The two girls looked at Ryan in awe, they hadn't thought of this possibility. "The water reserves on the islands are almost infinite with the energy crystals, we just need to put them in place and control the water we use," he concluded.