Part 7: The Miner Becomes Fioriel’s Uncle

Part 7:
The Miner Becomes Fioriel’s Uncle

 

THE ELF WOODS stretched out far and wide before the party. The massive forest had existed long before the nations of men came into existence on this continent, back during the age of legends and fairy tales. This was where the long-eared demi-humans known as elves had lived…once upon a time.

“I heard from Gramps that the elves had gone extinct,” Lithisia explained at the entrance to the forest. “During the War of Genocide hundreds of years ago, the demon king not only managed to kill half of humanity with his army, he also annihilated the elves. To the demons, this forest was something like a hunting ground. All kinds of beasts snuck in and ate the remaining elves.”

Alan had spent hundreds of years beneath the surface, so to him, this was brand-new information. “How unfortunate…” he said. “I would have loved to meet an elf in person.”

“Why is that?” Catria asked him, but Lithisia jumped in instead.

“Elves and shovels. Elves and shovels… They just kinda feel like they go together!” Lithisia explained proudly.

Wait, what? the miner thought, confused. “Well, either way, we have to get through here. Don’t worry, I once got permission from the elf elder to come and go as I please.”

“Excuse me? The elf elder?” Catria questioned the miner. “You make it sound like you were pals.”

“We were. I was the one who got the elder the Blaze Ruby that sealed away the Great Spirit Ifrit.”

“The Great Spirit Ifrit? No way. When did that supposedly happen?”

“Hm, about three hundred… No, it was 420 years ago.”

“Wha—?”

“Yup! Sir Miner is actually 1,011 years old!” Lithisia giggled. She still didn’t seem to believe him.

“The Elf Woods are dangerous, but fear not. You see…” Alan held up his shovel. “The shovel shines brightest when used to explore vast forests.”

“Shoveltastic!”

“...Somebody please explain to me how a shovel could be useful in a forest? Actually, no, don’t.” Catria knew all that awaited her was another mystifying answer.

Alan motioned for the ladies to stay. “Wait here. I’m going to check on ahead.”

“Ah, Sir Miner! Please wait!” Lithisia drew close to Alan.

He was unsure of what she was thinking as she stabbed her red shovel into the dirt. She then took a knee next to it and looked up at him.

“May the Great Shovel God be with you,” she whispered.

An uncomfortable few moments passed. “...What just happened?” Alan knew better than to ask, but he did so anyway.

Lithisia giggled with a smile on her face. “It’s my country’s new religion! God exists everywhere, right? Therefore, God exists within the shovel.”

Silence set over the forest. At what point exactly had this nutty princess created a completely new religion? Alan shook his head. “I should have never asked.”

“As far as naming goes, I’d like to keep it nice and simple: the Holy Shovel Faith. And I would be its high priestess!”

“You’ve completely lost me.” Alan was now certain that Lithisia had been entirely corrupted by the very concept of the shovel.

“I’m just having trouble coming up with a phrase of blessing. ‘Scoop’ feels a bit cheap, don’t you think?”

“Please don’t ask me.”

“Maybe we should go with something like ‘Dig’ or ‘Alan’?”

“Seriously, don’t ask me.” Alan looked at Catria. “Look, you handle the princess. I’ll be back by nightfall.”

“What?! W-wait, what do you expect me to do?!” Catria sputtered.

“Sir Miner, take care! Alan!” Lithisia made the sign of the cross in the air with her shovel. Alan paid her no mind and entered the forest.

 

***

 

Upon entering the Elf Woods, Alan noticed something strange.

The trees were twisted out of shape and had turned purple. In fact, they were pulsating creepily, as if they were undead flora. This was nothing like the vibrant Elf Woods of Alan’s memory. The river water had been corrupted by the black liquid streaming from the trees. All of this served as proof that the elves really were no more.

What happened to this place?

Alan held up his shovel and used its “Shovel Search” ability. He’d learned this technique in Layer #103 of the mountain, the Underground Sea of Trees. It allowed him to locate the origins of water, places where the liquid had gathered, and also ascertain the liquid’s quality. All he had to do was focus his power into the head of the shovel. Same old, same old.

“Hrm…there’s still a clean spring left,” he muttered. Just then, he heard the sound of water splashing from beyond the trees. Was it an animal of some sort? He had a bad feeling about this.

Alan quickly ran through the forest and came out beyond the shadows of the large trees. “Who’s there?!”

“Oh!” came a startled voice.

“...Huh?” Alan looked at the figure standing in the spring.

It was a girl. She almost looked like the spirit of the spring. She had a beautiful, slender body, and the water came up to around her knees. Water dripped from her shoulder-length blonde hair. The girl was completely nude, which meant that Alan could see everything. When she turned to face him, her breasts jiggled.

The girl’s body was perfectly mature, despite her young face. The light of the moon reflected off of her beautiful skin.

“Eh…? Aaaaaah!!!” The girl immediately covered her breasts and began to scream. At the sides of her surprised face were two pointy ears. She was an elf! “Don’t look! Wh-who are you?!”

Alan finally realized that he was peeping at a young elf girl as she tried to bathe. This was bad. He had to apologize. Of course, first he had to stop staring. Just as the gears in his brain began to turn, his shovel started vibrating.

It sensed something. The enemy from earlier!

“Run!” Alan shouted at the elf girl.

“Huh?!”

Alan leapt into the air just as a four-legged beast came flying toward them from out of nowhere. He recognized the creature. It was a powerful Dark Beast from the Dark World, and it was aiming for the elf girl, its fangs shining in the light.

“What?! A beast?!” The elf girl panicked but nonetheless quickly moved her hands. She was clearly trying to use Spirit Magic.

But Alan and his shovel were faster. “DIG!” he commanded. The Dark Beast was flattened against the ground with a roaring KA-CHOOOOOOM! But Alan didn’t stop there. He pushed the creature further down, shoving it beneath the ground, until it had been completely covered with soil.

“What…” said the elf girl in shock. “What just happened?”

“I buried it,” Alan replied.

“You what?”

Alan explained that a shovel could do two things: It could dig things up, and it could bury them. By hacking into an enemy’s body, Alan could kill them. By burying them, he could seal them under the ground. He’d gone with the latter for the Dark Beast. He called this technique “Shovel Sealing.”

“More importantly, are you all right?” he asked the girl. “Did you get any blood on you?”

“Uh…no, I’m fine.” The elf girl raised both hands and examined her moist body. “I don’t have a mark on me… Oh, excuse me! Thank you so much!”

She politely bowed her head. Her golden blonde hair was stuck to her beautiful skin.

“I’m sorry,” Alan said. “I have my eyes closed, so could you put on some clothes?”

“Huh? Clothes…? Oh! Oh my gosh!” The young girl finally remembered that she was in the buff. She quickly covered her private bits with her hands.

“I-I-I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry you had to see me like this!”

“No, no, you don’t need to apologize,” Alan said quickly. “You’re quite beautiful.”

“Eep!” The elf girl gave a little shriek, and tried to curl herself up into a ball.

The miner probably could have chosen his words better.

 

***

 

After she’d dressed, the elf girl implored the miner to let her express her gratitude, so he allowed himself to be led to her home. She led Alan deep within the woods to a small cabin made from a hollowed-out tree. It seemed like the demons and beasts hadn’t encroached this far into the woodland.

“Mr. Human, thank you very much for saving me,” said the elf girl as she lifted her teapot and poured some tea into Alan’s cup. Judging by the way her pointy ears twitched, she was clearly glad just to have company. “My name is Fioriel. It’s a bit of a mouthful, so you can call me Fio.” She had a very calm and tranquil air about her, apparently no longer bothered by having been seen in the nude earlier.

“I didn’t think there were any elves left,” Alan said. “Are you alone?”

“Well…” Fio looked down at the floor. It didn’t take much for Alan to guess at her situation. The strange presence he felt when he entered the forest, the Dark Beast from earlier… The young elf girl was the last of her kind. If anything, she should be praised for surviving at all.

“Do you have any means to protect yourself?”

“Yes. I know a little Spirit Magic. Branch Slash, it’s called.”

“Oh, you can wield Spirit Magic? Impressive.”

Fio’s expression darkened. “No… I’m a failure of a Spirit Mage… A failure of an elf…”

“Huh...?” Alan was puzzled. Fio had reacted swiftly to the attacking beast from earlier. It was clear that she had undergone training. If anything, it was safe to say that as a Spirit Mage, she was quite adept.

“S-so, um, Mr. Human… May I have your name?” Apparently not wanting to continue down this line of conversation, Fio changed the subject.

“Ah, my apologies. I’m Alan. Alan the jewel miner.”

“Alan…?” Fio tilted her head. “Why does that name sound so familiar…?”

“I’ve been to the elf village before. Maybe that’s why.”

“Huh?!” the elf girl raised her voice in surprise.

“At the time, I gave a jewel to Elder Pasarunak as a gift.”

“Pasarunak?!” Fio gasped. “You knew him?”

“Yes. Do you?”

Fio’s eyes were shining. “Elder Pasarunak, King of the Silver Tree… He’s my ancestor!” She looked at the miner carefully. “Wait, Sir Alan… Does that mean y-you’re the legendary Old Digger?!”

“Most likely.”

“O-oh my gosh! This is incredible! You’re the man from the book!” Fio was so happy that she was jumping up and down, her breasts bouncing along with the rest of her body. Alan had no clue where to look, but eventually settled upon her face. She did resemble Pasarunak in some ways.

“Then that’d make you his descendant, eh? Man, that takes me back.”

“Um, er, but…” Fio looked down at the ground as though she wasn’t sure what to say. “Um… I know I said Pasarunak is my ancestor and all, but…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I think, well, this part of my body is…” Embarrassed, Fio gestured at her extremely buxom chest. “…a little big for an elf, isn’t it?”

Fio brought her breasts together tightly, an action that was nearly impossible to look away from. Her chest was so big that Alan felt magnetically drawn to them. If she lived in a human village, men and women alike would constantly be trying to woo her.

“I mean, I guess in some ways you could describe them as weird…but, uh, I quite like them,” Alan admitted.

“Huh?” Fio exclaimed.

Alan immediately tried to correct himself. “I don’t mean that in a perverted way!” He was unsure of how to phrase his words. After thinking for a moment, he decided to just be honest with the girl. “I don’t know how elven standards of beauty work, but I think you’re, um, quite cute.”

“Cute?!” she repeated in shock.

“Yeah. Speaking as a human, I think you’re extremely cute. I bet there are men all over the place who wish they could make you their wife.”

“Wife?!” Fio was flustered as she looked at her body, then back at his. Her cheeks turned bright red and she quickly averted her gaze. “Um, I-I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

Why is she apologizing?

“A-anyway, um, regardless of whether I’m cute or not, I don’t have the body of an elf.”

“Well, sure.”

“That’s why, um, I think that I might not be related to him by blood.”

“That can’t be,” Alan immediately replied. “The color of your eyes, the shape of your ears… You look just like Pasarunak.”

“Huh?!”

“I can guarantee it. You are definitely his descendant.”

Fio was speechless as she stared at Alan. “E-excuse me, I… Really? I look like him…?” She closed her eyes and brought her arms together.

Alan could tell that she was truly moved by his words, but he was a bit puzzled. “Fio, do you really trust me that easily?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you find it odd that I’m saying I knew Pasarunak personally?” He had met the legendary elder some four hundred years ago. Most people wouldn’t believe that sort of tale. Catria certainly hadn’t, and even Lithisia thought he was bluffing. Nobody actually believed Alan was that old.

“Huh? But…” Fio tilted her head, befuddled. “You’re the Old Digger, are you not?”

“I am,” he nodded.

“Then, um, there’s nothing odd about it.” Fio was legitimately confused by his question, like she hadn’t been taught to doubt. Despite Alan having seen her naked, she hadn’t been angry with him, either. Considering how she’d lived alone in the woods all this time, she was probably even more naive about the ways of the world than Lithisia. The princess had received a proper education due to her position as royalty, but Fio likely had no one to teach her anything.

Although, Alan thought, Lithisia had gone off the deep end as of late, so maybe he shouldn’t compare the two.

“Um, Sir Alan? Could you tell me more about yourself and Lord Pasarunak?”

She wanted to know about her great ancestor. Alan nodded his head. “Sure. let me tell you about the time he greeted me with a ‘World Tree Cocktail’.”

 

***

 

Alan ended up telling Fio all kinds of old stories. The elf girl listened quietly and intently to every word he had to say, but the tale that got the biggest reaction out of her was when he told her about how Pasarunak once offered to marry his little sister off to the miner.

“Oh my gosh! That’s amazing! Amazing!” She just couldn’t stop using the word amazing. “Sir Alan, had things been different, you might have ended up living here in the forest…”

“Yeah, but I’m a miner at heart, so…”

The little sister in question had looked every bit as beautiful as Fio would be when she grew older. Now that Alan thought about it, that young woman was likely Fio’s ancestor as well. If he was being truly honest, he had been tremendously attracted to Pasarunak’s little sister. But if he had taken a wife and had a child in the Elf Woods, he wouldn’t have been able to go digging around the mountain. He’d ended up declining the offer and returned to the depths from whence he came.

“I should have waited a little longer before heading back…” Alan muttered to himself. He thought about the forest’s current condition. It was clear to him that the Elf Woods were dying. If he’d stayed here, he would never have let things get this bad. “Are the Dark Beasts to blame for the undead state of the forest?”

Fio was hesitant to answer, but nonetheless nodded. “Those beasts are the servants of the Devil. They corrupt the trees and the water wherever they settle…and they’re what killed all the other elves.”

Alan didn’t need to hear anything else. “Got it. Give me some time.” The miner grabbed his shovel and stood up. He was about to leave before Fio panicked and grabbed his arm.

“Um, what are you planning to do, Sir Alan?!”

“I’m going to crush the Dark Beasts.”

Fio’s jaw dropped. “N-no! You can’t!” Fio grasped his arm more firmly, desperately trying to stop him. “You can’t! You absolutely cannot! You’ll be killed!”

“I’ll be fine. I’m pretty strong.”

“I-I know you are, but the beasts are endless!”

“That’s fine. I’ve got infinite shovel powers.”

“Infinite shovel powers?!” What the heck are those?! Fio thought. She tightened her grip. “P-please, I beg of you! It’s too dangerous!”

The tears began to fall from her eyes. Alan couldn’t just brush her off, so he decided to explain himself. “But Fio, if I don’t defeat the Dark Beasts, this forest is doomed.”

The elf girl didn’t know what to say. “But, but… There’s no reason for you to put yourself in danger, Sir Alan.”

“You’re wrong. There is a reason.”

“Huh?”

“You’re a descendent of Pasarunak, which means you’re basically family.” He may have turned down the marriage proposal, but he was forever recognized as a friend to the elves. That meant Fio was his friend, and someone who fell under his protection. “I mean, if I’d married the elder’s sister, you would have been my niece.”

“Your niece?!”

“Mmm-hmm. Feel free to call me ‘Uncle Alan’ if you want.”

“U-Uncle Alan…?!”

Fio had a huge smile on her face despite her shock. Uncle. The human who saved her life, the legendary Old Digger…Uncle Alan. It had a beautiful ring to it. Fioriel was, at long last, no longer alone in the world.

“Ah!” Fio shook her head back and forth. “N-no! You can’t! I mean, I… I….” Her expression hardened. “I don’t n-need you to eliminate the beasts.”

“You don’t?”

“No, I don’t! I mean…” Fio cast her gaze out of the window. Outside was a beautiful field of flowers. A spring was nearby, its crystal waters glittering in the light. “There’s an ancient energy barrier around the house that keeps the beasts out.”

She wasn’t lying. Alan could feel traces of holy power in the area.

“Plus, I’m the only elf left. I live here on my own, so there’s no reason for someone to defeat the Dark Beasts.” Fio clenched her fists tightly. “Uncle Alan, I, um, don’t need your help.” The elf girl flashed him a radiant smile—one that was obviously forced.

Which was why Alan made his decision. “You’re a liar,” he said bluntly.

“Huh?!” Her smile collapsed in an instant. “No, I’m not!”

“Then why are you crying?”

Fio froze. “Um, uh…I-I’m just sweating! Elves sweat from their eyes!”

There was no talking her way out of this. Regardless of how she tried to spin things, she was in tears. Should he stop pushing the subject? He briefly considered the option before tossing it out. In order to help Fio, he needed to know why she was so insistent on rejecting his help.

He also had to know why the elf girl was crying those jewel-like tears. After all, Alan was a jewel miner. Digging up precious jewels was his entire reason for being.

“Fio. You’re gonna explain to me why you’re crying. Here, use this shovel.”

“...Huh?” Fio wasn’t sure what Alan was getting at as he turned the handle of his shovel toward her. More accurately, he turned his shovel to her past. By offering the shovel to her, he would be able to unearth her past the same way he’d unearthed all manner of precious things.

In other words, it was a “Time Shovel.”

“DIG!” he commanded.

A booming noise shook the cabin, and just like that, Alan had dug up Fio’s past.

A translucent double of Fio was seated at the nearby table. She seemed a bit younger than the flesh-and-blood elf girl with Alan, whose jaw had dropped in shock. “H-Huh?!” she gasped.

The transparent Fio spoke. “Hey, hey, Dine, um, I got stronger!” she said excitedly to a water spirit nearby. “If I keep it up, maybe one day I’ll be able to defeat the Dark Beasts!”

“...Yeah, maybe,” the spirit replied. “It’ll be really, really hard, though.”

“But I’m going to do my best!” Past Fio said. “I’ve made my decision, and once I chase the Dark Beasts out, the forest will come back to life! Then…I’m sure the elves who are living somewhere else will come back.”

Past Fio raised her head and looked out the window at what the village of elves once looked like. There was a shrine made of some kind of white tree, and in the public square, elves sang and danced. Past Fio smiled. “I’m sure they’ll become my friends!”

 

***

 

The vision ended there, and Fio was reduced to a mess of tears. Alan had forced her to confront her painful past—the dream she’d given up on.

It was some time before Fio spoke again.

“I… I couldn’t do it.” She took a shaky breath. “I tried to fight the Dark Beasts, and I lost… Dine bought me time to flee…”

It was then that she lost her only friend, the water spirit.

“There isn’t just one beast…” Fio gripped Alan’s wrist once more. “Dozens… Hundreds… Thousands… Their numbers are beyond comprehension.” Her voice was trembling. It was the voice of someone who had experienced horrific things first-hand. “So it’s impossible. I can’t do it anymore.”

Fio looked up at Alan. The look in her eyes was familiar. Catria’s eyes looked the same way in the pit, just before she tried to… He didn’t have a chance to finish the thought before Fio spoke up again.

“Please. I’m serious. Please don’t go.”

Both women’s eyes held the pain of one who was facing an insurmountable wall and had fallen into despair. Both had had dreams that were shattered into pieces.

“I can’t take any more friends dying because of my mistakes…”

Several moments passed. Alan considered his words carefully. “Fio, you’re just like me,” he finally told her. “You’re a miner.”

“What?” Fio wasn’t following, but Alan was certain of it.

Fio was absolutely a miner. Ordinary miners dug holes into the ground to look for jewels. In Fio’s case, her jewels were called “friends,” and the way she delved for them was by using Spirit Magic to drive the Dark Beasts from the forest. What else was she if not a miner?

“Which means it’s my responsibility to help you.”

“Uncle Alan!” Fio panicked, but the miner simply smiled.

“Don’t worry. I have an idea.” The Dark Beasts rose endlessly from the depths, but Alan knew the depths of the earth better than anyone. He’d already come up with a plan to deal with these creatures. “My shovel can handle this.”

Fio was completely taken aback. “Huh? Your shovel…? What are you saying, Uncle Alan?!”

There was a certain type of structure Alan had built numerous times during the Jewel War as a barrier against the dragons and demons. He glanced out the window to guess at the time. The sun hadn’t set yet, so he still had plenty of time. He decided to get right to work.

“I’m going to build an elf castle right here,” the miner stated simply.

Thus was the origin of what would later be referred to as the legendary “Overnight Elven Castle.”