Anyhow, by the time Alan brought her back to his room, Lithisia had quieted a bit. She was holding her little red shovel up against her chest, her eyes still watery and her expression uncertain. In Alan’s hands was his shining adamantine shovel, perfectly polished.
I suppose I should say this first, Alan thought. “You have my thanks, Lithisia.”
“Shovel?!” Lithisia raised her voice in surprise at his expression of gratitude.
“You did one helluva job polishing my shovel. Even I could never get it to shine this bright.”
“Um, um…sh-shovel…”
“Not that I’m surprised. You’re probably the best shovel polisher on the continent.”
“Uuuh, ah…” Lithisia put her hands on her cheeks and squirmed, her gaze cast downward. “Thank you, very shovel…”
She looked flustered, but she also seemed extremely happy.
“And then, um, I’m sorry for peeping on you.”
“Nnnngh!!!” Lithisia’s body trembled again.
“No, no. Don’t worry. I’m not going to pry, I promise.”
“Huh? Scoopy? (But why?)”
(Only Alan could have understood her.)
Why? he thought. One reason was that he likely wouldn’t understand anyway. Another was that Lithisia herself was so worked up. He didn’t really get what was going on, but he knew unearthing a young woman’s secrets by force was not a good thing (the noblewoman Lucrezia was a special case in that she enjoyed it).
Lithisia scooped with her shovel. That was all he needed to know.
“Ugh… U-um…” Lithisia appeared to be at ease for a moment, but she didn’t leave the room. With her red shovel in hand and an awkward expression, she managed to look Alan directly in the eyes. “I…I have something I want to talk to you about… It’s about earlier.”
Alan understood this was of great importance to Lithisia. Hell, she hadn’t even attached “shovel” to the end of her sentence. Something was different about this. “Are you sure you want to tell me?”
“I-It’s embarrassing, but, but, but!” Lithisia squeezed her shovel tightly. “I hate the idea of burying and hiding my secret from you even more, so…”
“Hrm.” Alan could do naught but be quiet and listen after hearing her so resolutely say something like that.
“Um, Sir Miner…do you remember our promise?”
“Of course I do.”
At the beginning of this journey, Lithisia had sworn an oath. In exchange for Alan helping her search for the orbs, she would do anything he asked. Alan had asked that she gather successors for him, and she agreed to do it.
There was but one orb remaining. The time to fulfill her promise drew near.
“So, um, that’s why I was, um, thinking I need to prepare for the big day…”
“The big day?”
“Er, you know… How I’m going to make you a child…”
This was Lithisia’s way of saying she was going to “make him a successor.” Or at least, that’s what Alan had convinced himself she meant. As far as Lithisia was concerned, she meant exactly what she said: birthing his child.
“But I’m not like you,” said Lithisia. “I’m just a regular human.”
If Catria were present, she would have cut in with an “excuse me?” but fortunately, she wasn’t in the room.
“S-so in order for me to, um, successfully scoop and shovel with you…” Lithisia held her red shovel tightly and proclaimed, “I have to become a shovel myself!”
One could argue the conversation had been scooped up and launched into the stratosphere.
Lithisia continued her confession as if the dam of her consciousness had been blown to bits. “That’s why I tried to refill my Shovel Charge with your shovel…! A-and then my body got all hot, and I felt like I had to scoop a little with your shovel…ah! I’m so, so sorry!”
Tears poured from her eyes as she apologized profusely.
“I’m so sorry…I’m so sorry I’m such an unbecoming Shovel Princess!” Her face was bright red as she bowed her head again and again while on her knees.
Alan said nothing. Well, it was more like he couldn’t find the words. As for why, it was because around the second half of Lithisia’s explanation, he’d completely lost track of what she was trying to say. Why did finding him successors mean she’d have to become a shovel?
Even so, he couldn’t find it within himself to pry any deeper.
She’s serious… He could tell by the tone of her voice and the look in her eyes that she was trying to be honest with him. This young woman in front of him really was trying with all of her might to become a shovel.
“Make Alan a child.”
In order to fulfill that singular promise, she was shoveling as best as she could. Every shovel action she took was for that purpose.
I see…
It didn’t matter how little Alan understood Lithisia’s beliefs, she would persevere and hold true to them. This adherence to her beliefs was one-to-one with Alan’s own way of living. A thousand years ago, people had laughed at Alan for implacably digging up jewels. What was the point in doing what he did? Was something wrong with him? But Alan continued. He continued being “weird,” and eventually, digging became a part of who he was.
Bowing in front of him was a young woman who knew those same feelings. How could he not want to cheer for her? Support her? Even if he didn’t quite understand her motivations, did he need to?
“Lithisia.” Alan once again caressed her head with his shovel.
“Ah… Shovel…?”
“Thank you, Lithisia.” Alan embraced her delicate body from behind and squeezed her gently. She was distractingly soft in his arms, but this was important. He then brought the handle of his shovel close to Lithisia’s face. She seemed puzzled by his actions, but she was also dazed with joy.
Alan was holding her from behind as if they were lovers. Was she dreaming?
“Ah…um, Sir Miner…?”
“If that’s the case, let me do everything I can to help you.”
“Huh? Eeeeek?!”
Alan channeled power into his shovel. The gleaming adamantine metal came alight with blue energy, and that energy wrapped around Lithisia’s body, lifting her into the air. This Shovel Aura enveloped Lithisia’s very being. Alan didn’t precisely know what Lithisia meant by refilling her “Shovel Charge,” but he imagined this might help.
“How does this feel, Lithisia? Can you feel the shovel?”
“Eeek… Ah…”
Lithisia let herself lean against Alan’s chest as she breathed in and out. Her body was being caressed by the shovel. She couldn’t have been happier. Lithisia wanted to stay like this forever.
“It’s so…shovelly scoop…!”
“That’s right. Scoop it is.”
“Aaaaaah!”
Alan continued to embrace Lithisia from behind as the Shovel Power ran through her. Her face relaxed, her body grew terribly hot, and she left her heart in Alan’s hands.
For the rest of that night, Alan continued to tenderly hold this young woman, this sweet, lovable young woman, in the aura of his shovel.
It was already too late for both of them.
✦ ✦ ✦
The next morning, when they were about to set off on their next journey, Lithisia came down with a Shovel Fever. She was forced to lay in the carriage pressing a shovel to her forehead to cool down. Nonetheless, she wore an unbelievably happy smile.
“Alan, what did you do to the princess?”
“Hrm, well…”
Alan explained to Catria that the previous night, he saw Lithisia on the roof polishing his shovel to refill her Shovel Charge. She desperately wanted to become a shovel, and after she expressed the earnestness of this desire, he decided to support her with an equally earnest shoveling, and…
“I TAKE IT BACK. I DON’T WANT TO KNOW!” Catria was dripping sweat as she breathed in and out.
Within the carriage, Alice was unconscious. Lucy, meanwhile, had fled to Heaven, at least in her head.
“Are you trying to kill us?!”
“Nooo…the shovels are coming to get us…”
“I’m sorry.”
As this stupidity progressed, the party arrived at the border of the Kingdom of Darkness, where they were met with a vast Obsidian Gate that stretched up into the sky. Beyond the wall as tall as a mountain, black smoke floated into the air.
“Excellent. Now then, let’s go over the mission once agai…” Alan trailed off. “Huh.”
Something was approaching them from the gate. A horse.
“Haaah… Haaah… I can’t die here. I refuse to die here!” A bronze-skinned young woman with long black hair rode the animal. She looked a wee bit younger than Lithisia, and as far as Alan could tell, she wore an expensive tiara. The young woman who appeared to be some kind of princess was being pursued by five men in black robes.
“Don’t let her go! We’ll make bank if we catch her!”
The bronze-skinned princess was apparently a mark.
A princess and her pursuers… This was just like what had happened with Lithisia. That meant Alan had but one course of action available to him.
“DIG!”
KA-CHOOOOOOOOM!
Alan blew away the robed men with his Wave Motion Shovel Blast, causing the bronze-skinned princess to look behind her.
“Huh?” She looked forward, then back again. “What the?!”
She stopped in her tracks, entirely flabbergasted by the change in her situation.
“Catria, we’re saving her!”
“I feel like not getting involved qualifies as saving her, but, oh well.” Catria sighed and followed after Alan.
This bronze-skinned princess was fleeing from someone just as Lithisia had been, but there was really only one thing Catria was concerned about: would this young woman also be able to escape shovel corruption?