Yggdrasil Year 1632, Month 11, Day 15, Scharlwarltz Royal Palace
Luciana is inside her office, working on the documents for negotiation with the Neptune Kingdom for sea trading. They have been in good terms of trading for hundreds of years. For every new commodity and technology, they share it together. There were also joint-pact defenses, where Mermaids handle the sea and Valkyries handle the sky. As she finished her work for today, she heard a voice inside her head.
"Oh, hear me, protector of this world. I have an oracle for you."
"G-Goddess Yggdrasil!?"
"There would be a new ore vein emerge near a certain family residence that you've been keeping an eye on for years. Guard it in moderation as I wish to see how these families would put these into use."
"Y-you mean Sage Ore!?"
"I would hope this would expand your knowledge."
"W-wait!"
Luciana was surprised as Yggdrasil gave the sudden oracle to her. For the Scharlwarltz Kingdom, Sage Ore is a key ingredient to creating a Valkyrie Armor. So far, the Scharlwarltz Kingdom only adds iron and steel to Sage Ore without any additional properties. Multiple experiments were conducted for decades, but they were postponed due to a lack of references and materials.
For Scharlwarltz, Sage Ore is vital to them, and the Valkyries would guard every mine that houses Sage Ore. The mining site is also hidden from the public's eye. According to the experiment record, Sage Ore saps the user's mana or stamina to regenerate damaged armor. For the refinement, Dwarves that work for the Valkyries make 50:50 components for Sage Ore and either iron or steel to create Valkyrie armor.
She rings the bell to call one of the guards.
"Call Marietta and Randgris at once!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Somewhere around Shills
Some of the Kingdom Knight went on patrol around the capital. They met some adventurers and guild staff who were preparing for inspection.
"Sir. Can you please come with us? We've found something that requires a Kingdom's attention."
"Yes, Ma'am. I will call Earl Lexington and Earl Sylvester."
Due to the sudden discovery of the unknown mine, the Guild sends adventurers to investigate first. Once the adventurers confirmed the existence of the mine, Earl Sylvester was called to the scene to check it. Earl Sylvester also calls the Lexington Family to assist in the investigation.
"Here is the mining area."
Located six kilometers north of Shills, they found a mountain with a cave recently discovered by adventurers.
"Before we found this cave. We don't see any cave. When this cave shows up, our magician sense magic power everywhere."
Kurt thinks about it, but he is surprised when Reynes and Klendiana go into the cave.
"Hey! Hey! Don't go in there until it's safe to explore!"
Both Reynes and Klendiana didn't listen, as somehow someone guided them to explore inside the mine, taking the pickaxe as they sensed magic power inside it. They began to mine the ore, emitting some magic power compatible with the pickaxe.
Once some of the ore was mined, Kurt looked at them as Reynes and Klendiana were dizzy. But, they still have some memories when entering the mine earlier.
"It's as the deity wants us to mine this."
"Talk about that later. Are you two alright?"
"Yes, father. The deity seems to want us to mine this."
"Let us try it."
The adventurers try to mine the unknown ore. The magician can feel some magic power when holding a pickaxe, and they begin to mine it.
"It feels like something was seeping into our body."
"So you can sense it, too?"
"Yes."
Kurt thinks about it as the adventurers, Reynes and Klendiana, begin to mine it; he recalls something. He encountered this type of ore as only a few dwarves were capable of forging it.
"I remember I've encountered this ore somewhere, but when?"
He would take some of the ore as a sample, same as Reynes and Klendiana, who took several ores for studying. Once the Guild completed the investigation, the mine would be off-limit to the miners until Kurt finished his research about the new ore.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Scharlwarltz, Fountain of Clairvoyance
Randgris was enraged when the Guild and the nobles on Shills found a mine that housed Sage Ore. Sage Ore is an ore that was issued exclusively to the Kingdom of Scharlwartlz as standard ore for armor and weapon.
"This is unacceptable! That Sage Ore is our national asset! We can't let them have our secret!"
Luciana stops Randgris before she can give orders to her subordinate.
"Hold your horses, Randgris! If you decide to exterminate them, we would be punished by the Goddess!"
"But, Your Majesty! Sooner or later, they will discover that it was a Sage Ore that they found!"
"Then complain about that to the Goddess Yggdrasil!!"
Randgris grits her teeth as Luciana receives Goddess Yggdrasil's oracle to guard the newly found Sage Ore mine in moderation. If it was the oracle from the Goddess, she can't do much about it.
"Let's observe them for a while. I've already asked Marietta to make an arrangement should they discover something that can provide us a breakthrough for Sage Ore. Whatever the Goddess is planning, we just have to move in moderation."
"Y-yes, Your Majesty."
Lexington Manor, Workshop
"I wonder how's this works?"
Kurt examines Sage Ore in his hand. He lit the furnace as he tried to transform it into a shape that was suitable for him to forge equipment from Sage Ore. Reynes and Klendiana examined the Sage Ore they took and went to channel magic power into it.
Kurt would try to make the basic shape of Sage Ore by smelting it, as he wants to study how weapons from Sage Ore are made. Dwarves use this method to create equipment for the Valkyries, smelting Sage ore and either Iron or Steel together.
Although Reynes and Klendiana possess [Item Box] skills, they made some small haul first to study Sage Ore independently. Since they saw Kurt and Yuki working in the workshop to create equipment and routine maintenance four years ago, they were at a basic level of blacksmithing, which was only limited to a dagger.
Gathering some of the ore into one place, Klendiana channeled her magic power, and slowly Sage Ore began to take its shape. But, as she tries to control it, the transformation stops.
"It seems that this Ore is more difficult than what I could expect."
"Is there something you found, Klendiana?"
"Yes, father. It feels like I want to try something using magic power later. If it were on Shina's rating, I would say it's at least Advanced rate for Magic Control."
"Okay. Since you're old enough to make a staff for yourself, you can try to make your own staff."
"Thank you, father."
Looking at Reynes, it seems that the channeling went steady like a river.
"It looks like Reynes tries to understand it first."
"Same as myself, father. I would say my brother may take a different approach."
"Hmm… Alright, I will see what I can do. In the meantime, I think what we've just discovered is a Sage Ore, which belongs to the Kingdom of Scharlwarltz. I would ask Madam Prophet to see if we can get proper authorization to mine it."
"Understood."
With that, Kurt writes a report regarding the discovery of Sage Ore, and he hands it over to Shina. Since Shina has a close relationship with the Queen of Scharlwarltz, Luciana, Shina brings the report to her when she's teaching Dawn in her class on Scharlwarltz.
When receiving the report, Luciana observes them for a while before making a decision. Once she observed them through Fountain of Clairvoyance, she gave the Lexington Family authorization to mine it by sending an authorization letter with Royal Order, as long as there was some potential that the Lexington Family could discover outside Scharlwarltz scope of knowledge. The Valkyries would move incognito as they would only provide security as covertly as they could.