Hour Empty Child

Vol. 2 Ch. 21 Mana Affinity and Rabacite Gear

"...Hinota..."

Though Kudo would like to complain, his Crafter's pride not allowing him to open his mouth.

"...Hah," Hinota could tell what happened and sighed. "Let me guess—from the look of your face, something happened to the ores."

"..."

Though Kudo was reluctant, he began to explain about what happened last night. Nobody in the world should know about his failures, but Hinota is the first person he would tell it to.

Once he was done—

"—Well, we better get more then."

Kudo widened his sleepy eyes, his glint from his eyes began to sparkle from Hinota's suggestion.

"R-Really? You would help me again?"

"Of course I would. Why wouldn't I?"

"B-But..." Kudo's face returned to normal after having woken up by Hinota's kindness, but he gazed downwards with a depressed atmosphere around him. "I kept failing... and you even said that there's no point if there's nothing to gain here."

"But of course there is something to gain. Don't you remember what I said?" Hinota extended her index finger towards Kudo.

"I said that if we didn't find anything at all, it's a bust and we should move along. But we found 136 incredibly rare ores. It's a waste not to use that chance to create some great armor!"

Hinota's lips curled into a smile, her sharp eyes glinting at the exciting armor Kudo could make. Seeing such an expression, it completely rejuvenated Kudo's body, as if it has boosted his morale.

"Alright! Got it!"

"Then, it doesn't matter whether you failed once or a thousand times. You're gonna create that armor!"

"H-Hey! Don't jinx me like that!"

●

The PlusFire returned back to the Yellow Diamond Forest, defeating several annoying imps in their way as they blitzed through the forest and headed straight to the cavern.

They could spare no time wasting on useless monsters.

Heading inside, with their rations fully packed and several other essentials, such as extra pickaxes and a few herbs that they bought from the Alchemy store to recover their fatigue—however bitter they may be.

At this moment, Kudo and Hinota were hell-bent on achieving their goal which is to get as many 【Rabacite Ores】 as possible.

Thanks to their maps that they made, they were quickly able to search through the cavern.

They headed back to the dome-like area where they first searched for the 【Rabacite Ore】. As usual, Hinota sat back down in the middle, crossed her legs to put herself into a good stance, and closed her eyes.

In the next moment, she was transported to an area that was nothing but the shadowy darkness. However, suddenly, a few lights began to bright up around Hinota. Her eyes followed these lights, forming a trail of surging energy around her, making a pathway in the darkness. She could tell that it was the energy—the mana that she has been searching for.

"Kudo, I found some!" Hinota opened her eyes and shouted. "They're over at the northwest!"

"Alright!" Kudo clenched his fist. "Bring me to them, Hinota! I'll dig them all out!"

Once Hinota stood up, the PlusFire headed directly towards the area where Hinota could sense the mana-charged ores. During the way, Kudo began to talk: