Bermuda [bl]

Seeing the man unexpectedly welcoming him, Flynn answered a bit awkwardly.

"Hello? We meet again. I still haven't found that person yet."

"Ah, not yet? You came all the way here while investigating."

"Yes, somehow... Um, I have something to ask. Could I possibly request your cooperation?"

"Huh? Ah. It's possible, but I need to move all these things quickly right now. Actually, I should have moved them early in the morning, but I drank so much last night that I overslept." 

The brown-haired merchant group member scratched the back of his head and said with a laugh.

"Could we talk after I finish this first?"

If it were the Commander, he probably would have disregarded any excuses and told him to cooperate with the investigation. That would be the right thing to do in this situation, but Flynn couldn't bring himself to be like that.

Since the man didn't seem to be lying or showing signs of avoidance, Flynn soon nodded and said, "Shall I help you a bit? Then we can finish faster."

"Oh..., really? I'd be grateful if you helped."

As the brown-haired merchant group member spoke, Flynn approached the cart and took out his medium-sized artifact next to it. The artifact, which was small enough to hold in one hand, touched the ground and grew to the size of the cart, then soon transformed into a large box.

Soon, Flynn began moving the boxes loaded on the cart into the artifact. The man's eyes widened in surprise, and he asked in an astonished voice, "Wow, could this possibly be an artifact?"

"Do you know about artifacts?"

"Yes! We sometimes deal with magical tools in the merchant group, and I've seen them a few times then. But this is the first time I've seen one that grows this big."

"Ah, most of the ones available on the market are small, but mine is a medium-sized artifact, so it can hold more items inside. If you shrink and lighten it, you can carry it around just like a small artifact."

"Wow..., then are you a mana holder, Investigator?"

'Oops.'

Only then did Flynn realize he had made a mistake.

Generally, when using an artifact, mana is always required. Because of this, people who do not possess mana do not experience much change even if they touch an artifact.

Sometimes, artifacts are made with mana injected into them so that even ordinary people without mana can use them, but in such cases, the price is quite high, making them difficult to find.

Thinking of helping with the work quickly and conducting the investigation, Flynn momentarily forgot that he had been concealing his mana until the fire broke out in the neighboring village.

However, the fact that he and the Commander had extinguished the fire last night was now probably known to all the villagers who were outside at that time, so he figured it didn't matter and answered naturally again.

"Yes, I'm not on the combat side, but to some extent...."

"I see. Really... seeing things like this, mana is so convenient. I'm envious."

"Haha, that's right. It's great to have mana. Convenient."

As his brown eyes sparkled, Flynn felt a bit embarrassed for some reason. So he awkwardly laughed and focused on putting the boxes into the artifact. As Flynn silently carried the boxes, the merchant group member also moved the remaining boxes.

After putting in the last box, Flynn shrank the artifact again and picked it up.

Those with mana are commonly said to be blessed. At least they are stronger and have more convenient lives than those without mana. It was like an innate talent that was not manifested through effort.

So whenever Flynn had this kind of conversation with someone without mana, he felt a bit of embarrassment and discomfort at the same time. Because no matter how humbly he spoke, the other person would feel a sense of deprivation.

Usually, even people referred to as non-mana holders are often born with a small amount of mana. Even if it's an amount that cannot directly use magic, if they possess even a small amount of mana, they can stand out in areas of physical development or academic fields that use the brain.

Because of that, it was commonly believed that the more mana, the better, and especially in the Raina Logia Empire, which was called the empire of mages, there were many mana holders.

Perhaps because of that, there were more people who possessed a small amount of mana even if they couldn't manifest it meaningfully compared to other countries. In this empire, surprisingly, the young man in front of his eyes had not even a hint of mana.

Hoping he wouldn't feel deprived, Flynn tried to change the subject.

"Now, where do we need to go?"

"Ah, it's near here! Come this way."

Unlike Flynn's concern, the man didn't seem to have any particular thoughts. Flynn felt even more apologetic for pitying him and being mindful on his own, so he silently followed the man's steps.

The place he followed the man to was the outskirts that appeared when going a bit to the side from the mountain path. Contrary to the expectation that they would move the boxes to a store, Flynn was quite puzzled as the man went deeper into a place with few people.

Worrying that he might be intentionally leading him to a secluded place, Flynn tensed up and looked around.

After walking for a while, the man suddenly examined the ground here and there, then stopped at a certain spot and swept away the fallen leaves to the side with his foot. As the leaves and dirt were cleared away, a surprisingly large wooden board was revealed on the ground.

As a very secretive hidden door, seemingly concealed in the ground on the outskirts, was revealed, Flynn was startled that such a thing was hidden there. However, the man who brought him here casually lifted the wooden board.

As the seemingly heavy board was easily lifted by his hand, a hole large enough for two people to enter appeared, and a very chilly air flowed out from inside.

Seeing that and just blinking, the man who brought him here pointed inside with his hand and said, "If you put them in here, it'll be fine."

"In... here? What kind of place is this?"

"I think I was told this is a place our merchant group uses as a material storage, but it's always hard to find because it's in a remote place. Haha, I'll get scolded if it's known that I brought an outsider, so please keep it a secret."

"Ah. Yes, I will. Don't worry."

Flynn, who had unintentionally learned one of Delberg's secrets, thought he should investigate the interior and entered inside with the man without revealing his intentions. To see if it was really a place used as storage, the man took a lamp hanging at the entrance and walked down first.

Then, waiting for Flynn to follow, he shone the lamp in front of him. Flynn was a bit nervous but soon stepped into the dark hole one step at a time.

As they went deeper into the storage, a very chilly air swirled around. The Frost region itself was quite a cold place, and going underground felt like being inside a freezer. Flynn wrapped his arms around his body and rubbed them. Perhaps because of the cold, his senses had become quite numb.

The man walking ahead also shivered as if he was cold. He was wearing much thicker clothes than yesterday, but he seemed to be unusually colder despite being more bundled up than Flynn.

"It's quite cold, right? There's a ledge here, so watch your step."

The man shone the light at Flynn's feet and spoke. Flynn, who almost tripped anyway, laughed awkwardly and followed him. After going down a bit and reaching flat ground, a large room with several lamps hanging appeared. Various sizes of boxes were piled up there.

"If you stack them here, it'll be fine."

"Wow..., there's quite a lot of stuff. I had no idea there were so many things under here."

"The temperature here in the Frost region is very low. Maybe because of that, it seems to be a culture for the residents to store things in the ground like this. Thanks to that, the merchant group people were happy that they didn't have to install a separate freezer. The underground acts as a natural freezer."

"A natural freezer...?"

"Could you take out the boxes we put in earlier?"

"Ah, yes!"

Flynn opened the artifact again. The two moved the boxes and stacked them neatly on top of the other box piles. Thinking that they had stacked them too high only in the front, Flynn tried to take a box to the back of the box pile, but the man said to Flynn, "These boxes need to be moved to another place later, so it's better to stack them in the front."

"I see."

At the man's words, Flynn stopped trying to go back and stacked the boxes in the front again.

He had been thinking about it for a while, but the weight of the boxes was not as heavy as he expected, so Flynn wanted to check the contents. However, he decided to finish the work first and leave this place, thinking that unnecessary actions might cause strange misunderstandings.