“I suppose that’s it for today,” says the Time Keeper amid a big pile of stones and scraps of paper, rubbing his lower back and rolling his shoulders. There’s a tag attached to every stone I bring, stating who found it and where, as usual.
“Found by Rein Cascade, huh. He’s a sorcerer, so getting in touch with him should be simple.”
After checking the tag, I stow the stone. I’ll need to take this to the knights’ dorms on the Royal Isle next.
“Oh, you’re done?” asks Benjamine, poking her head out from the kitchen as I put on my coat and prepare to head to the castle.
She comes my way, wiping her hands on the frilly waist apron she supposedly got from Cambell.
“It sure is hard to find them...” she remarks.
“Yeah...”
“If you have time, how about stopping here for dinner? Naru said he’s working late today...”
I happily clap my hands without a trace of reserve. It will probably be about ten days before I come here next.
To collect stones gathered in other countries, lightning-type knights from our kingdom’s order head over there in person, report to the prince upon their return and learn of the house’s location, and then finally come here. It’s pretty complicated. However, this primitive arrangement is the best we have at the moment. And there are dozens of countries, so the knights must have it rough flying around them all.
Hoping to lighten their burden in whatever way we can, Harré has become their point of contact with stone collectors here in the Kingdom of Doran. My job would’ve fallen to the Director, but she’s busy and I didn’t have a fixed post anyway.
The prince must be busy too, telepathically issuing orders from morning till noon and fulfilling all his other duties. Having extra work must be tough on him.
Someone else will bring stones here tomorrow. All I can hope for is that one day this gets organized better.
“Dinner won’t be ready until late, so you can take your time. Elder, would you mind washing the potatoes for me?”
“You’ve got it.”
Looks like Benjamine knows how to handle this gnome.