To begin with, Alexei had been responsible for the administration of the estate since before he succeeded to the title, so it seems that people did not believe that he was only eighteen years old. It might be inevitable, since he looked like he was in his twenties.

“This lady, Ekaterina-sama, is the younger sister of His Highness the Duke. She is the legitimate Duchess of Yurinova, a descendant of the first Duke Sergei.”

Forli had to repeat this to the villagers every time.

“It is a happy mistake to say that I am Big Brother’s wife.”

Ekaterina chuckled.

As a brocon I was happy! Me, as Big Brother’s wife…oh no, that sounded so exciting!

Stupid me!

We arrived at a rather large town along the road as planned that night and stayed at an inn.

The next day, the journey continued smoothly, and soon, a sheer rock cliff came into view.

“Young Lady, that is the old mine. The mountain temple is beneath it.”

“That’s…”

The deep forest has been cut off at some point, and the surrounding area is once again a field. The trees were probably cut down and cleared for fuel. Steel manufacturing consumes tremendous amounts of fuel.

Beyond the undulations of the verdant land, the gray Rocky Mountains loomed in Ekaterina’s view with a strange intensity.

What was this feeling…? Something about it seemed familiar.

The old mine was once an iron mine with a large vein of ore, and mining had already begun during the founding period of the Imperial Kingdom. At that time, this place belonged to a powerful indigenous family skilled in mining and iron-making techniques, but the four founding brothers of the empire pacified it, and Sergei, the founder of the Dukes of Yurinova, married Christina, the daughter of a powerful family, and peacefully acquired the mine along with mining/iron-making techniques.

However, the veins of ore in this mountain had already been extracted, and the iron ore was mined in other mines. However, the reason why the mine was still existing, even though it was called an “old” mine, was because rainbow stones could be extracted here.

Even though the mining site was moved to another location, this was still the center of Yurinova’s mining industry. Beneath the old mine was the Mining Division, which oversees not only the mountain temple, but all of Yurinova’s mining-related operations.

It was directed by Aaron Kyle, the Mine Director.

“Young Lady!”

When the carriage arrived, Aaron greeted us as if he had been waiting for us.

“Thank you for meeting me despite your busy schedule, Aaron-sama.”

“I’m glad you arrived safely. I am sure you must be exhausted, so please rest first. I hope you will say hello to Professor Isaacs later, he was looking forward to meeting the Young Lady.”

Ekaterina smiled at Aaron, who was still in total adoration of Great-Uncle Isaac.

“It’s a pleasure, I was looking forward to meeting him too.”

The person was writing something in a cluttered room in a corner of the mining operations headquarters.

He was facing a simple table, not a magnificent desk, but just a board with four legs. It was just a board with four legs, but it was huge.

Here and there, seemingly innocuous-looking stones were placed, crushed with a hammer and soaked in some kind of chemical, or heated in a beaker that had been seared by a lamp, or placed in a magic circle and flickered.

At the back of the room, a row of cupboards were lined with various ores, all neatly cased and carefully stored with nameplates bearing their names.

It reminded me of the laboratory in my college days. It made me want to wash test tubes.

“Aaron?”

A calm voice asked.

“I’m writing a letter now, can you please send it for me later? To the observatory beneath the [Mountain of the Gods].”