The mines were dim, but there were enough lanterns on the walls to provide visibility. It also had all the equipment it needed for mining to begin: pickaxes, rope baskets, and wheelbarrows.
Taking in each facility as he passed it, the Demon Lord muttered, “It’s been a long time since I came here. This place used to be packed...”
Weeb quietly watched. He sensed mixed emotions behind the Demon Lord’s comment.
The Demon Lord reached for a pickaxe and struck the wall with it. “Look, Hero. This one’s a plain rock—a dud.”
“Dud...?”
The Demon Lord held a rock that, beyond throwing it as a primitive projectile, had no discernible application. Continuing to wield the pickaxe, the Demon Lord tossed Weeb stone after stone, rattling off their names as if he were a jaded professor. “Blacksea, Granite, Bluestone, Whiterock, Asama Volcanic Rock, Matsuba Gravel, Ise Gravel, Shirakawa Sand, Pinkstone, Canyon Rock in red, pink, white...”
“H-How can so many different rocks be hewn from the same mine...?” Weeb asked.
“So they’ll fill up players’ inventories. Just a way to make them waste resources.” The Demon Lord guffawed.
“Player...? What are you going on about?” Weeb asked.
“These stones were never worth much, but even gravel can be used for irrigation or a little curb appeal. We’d need gravel of all sizes for the railroads,” the Demon Lord continued, lost in a juvenile bragging spree over his own world. “I haven’t excavated in a while. We’re not stopping now!” Several more swings of the pickaxe produced more rocks...and something incredible, which the Demon Lord carelessly tossed to Weeb. “Another dud, but at least this one can be used as fuel.”
“This...is incomprehensible!” Weeb shouted. “How do you get Charcoal from a mine?!”
“This place is for obtaining fuel,” the Demon Lord said plainly.
Weeb felt a sense of dread at the object in his hand. Even though it looked like Charcoal, he was careful enough to pass it to the Trinary for inspection.
“This is...Charcoal, indeed.”
“How does a piece of wood come out of a rock wall...”
“Impossible! Utterly impossible! ’Tis but an illusion!”
The Demon Lord ignored the commotion as he kept swinging the pickaxe until he found another Charcoal to throw at them—this time, a rarer white Charcoal. Proudly, he explained the difference. “Black charcoal is quick to catch fire and quick to burn out. White charcoal is a little hard to start, but burns longer and has no odor. Both of them are useful, depending on the situation.”
Fire had different uses: cooking, staying warm, blacksmithing... Akira Ono had designed a huge variety of fuel for no reason. Some players had loved his attention to detail, while other players had found it tedious.
“Hmm. This one’s the worst hit, but it could be useful in this world.” The Demon Lord chucked a piece of bamboo charcoal at Weeb. In the arena, there was literally no use for it—it burned too fast to use for fuel, and it couldn’t even be thrown like the array of rocks that could be hewn from the mines. “If you bake it into bread, it could help with stomachaches and diarrhea.” It could also prevent hangovers and soak up extra sugar and fat when ingested, so the bamboo charcoal had a lot of uses.
Weeb and his Trinary caught one item after another, staring at them blankly, until a black stone finally came flying at them.
“That’s the black stone you’ve been waiting for,” the Demon Lord said. “Of course, that’s still not the best thing you can get here.”
“Is it really...?!” Weeb breathed, staring at the treasure in his hand—one that had been exhausted in ancient times. Goose bumps coated his arms as Weeb felt the hair on his neck stand up. “You can really mine black stones from this mine...?!”
“It’s just a fuel from a bygone era,” the Demon Lord said. He thought of “fuel” as natural gas or electricity—as far as nuclear or solar. Coal wasn’t even close to his first option for energy, beyond a vague thought of battleships and steam engine trains using them.
“Finally!” he announced. “This is the real hit—Smokeless Coal.” In the game, this had been the most powerful and longest-burning fuel, not to mention that its minimal smoke meant the user didn’t risk detection while burning it. Unlike normal coal, Smokeless Coal shone with a metallic sheen.
Weeb shuddered, realizing that this mine produced ancient treasures left and right. “You can recreate the ancient times...? The ancient world?” he asked.
The Demon Lord shook his head. “Not exactly.” To him, everything about these mines, from its tools to fuel it produced, was much more tangible than some abstract concept of a bygone era. “This is the very world I have created and ruled...”
“Wh-What does that mean...?” Weeb asked, seeing in the Demon Lord’s eyes that the Fallen Angel meant every word he said.
The Demon Lord did mean it, of course. Satisfied with how the mine functioned, he started mumbling to himself again. “For starters, the refugees will start digging for fuel here. We can sell anything they dredge up to Gorgon. Charcoal will be spread throughout the country. Fire Spell Stones, or whatever they’re called... Those should sell for a pretty penny to foreign countries.”
Weeb and the Trinary just stood there, minds reeling. They couldn’t discern if this new development would prove beneficial or detrimental to the common people. Still, Weeb had to make one thing clear. “Wait! Do you mean to work those people without compensation...? Or in exchange for housing them in that ancient town?”
“Watch your mouth...” the Demon Lord spat. “What do you think I’m running here, a black company?!”
Weeb had no way of comprehending the term describing a predatory employer in Japanese work culture, but he could see that the Fallen Angel was pitch-black from his dress to his wings.
“We’ll work out the details when it comes to housing, pay, work hours, and days off,” the Demon Lord said. “No one will come work for me if rumors go around that I’m running a black company.”
“May I sit in on that meeting...?” Weeb asked.
“Wonderful idea. They’ll be relieved if you’re there to bear witness.”
Weeb had requested to attend the negotiations as a means to check the Demon Lord and his potentially inhumane demands, but the Demon Lord could not have asked for more. The Paladin was more popular than just about anyone on the continent. His seal of approval would be a huge boost to the Demon Lord’s PR. Ironically, the more Weeb tried to fight it, the more he slipped into the Fallen Angel’s grasp.
“Let’s call it a day. Kondo can show you around the village. Lots of things to see. You won’t be bored.” The Demon Lord vanished with Quick Travel, leaving behind nothing but deafening silence...and ancient treasures strewn about the ground.