Part 11: The Miner Becomes Alice’s Hero

Part 11:
The Miner Becomes Alice’s Hero

 

THE SELF-PROCLAIMED QUEEN of the undead, unable to withstand the intense shovel interrogation, began to tell Alan and his party about the circumstances that led her down this path.

“I died once… And was brought back to life.

Riften was destroyed in the great war 300 years ago, when Alice was the princess of the kingdom. The defeated royal family was murdered in its entirety. The king at the time, Alice’s father, used “Veknar’s Crown,” one of Riften’s royal treasures, in a last-ditch effort to save his daughter. It was said that the human who donned the crown would be able to return from the dead.

“I’ve heard of it before…”

“You know about it, Alan?”

“Layer #451 of the mountain was connected to the ‘Shrine of Veknar,’ where they worshipped the guy. His followers ended up summoning this monstrous version of him that I had to fight. The thing had a death ray and everything. It was super powerful. If I didn’t have an anti-death attribute on my shovel, things would’ve been bad.”

“Yeah, real bad (like your very existence).”

“Wow! You can even overcome death with your shovel!”

“No, I can’t. I just managed not to die is all.”

“Feel free to die when you want to. Anyway, let’s just hurry up and get the rest of her story.”

“O-okay… When I revived, my country was no more.”

Alice had awoken in the family grave beneath the once proud castle. The building itself was falling apart. Tens of years had passed since Alice died, and the citizens of Riften had long since fled, leaving the territory to become home to all manner of monsters. That was when Alice decided to make citizens of her own.

She couldn’t explain why or how she knew how to do this, but she did. The wisdom of necromancy came flooding into her from the crown on her head.

“Huh, so that thing is filled with Veknar’s knowledge?”

“Precisely.” It wasn’t rare for Artifacts to grant their holders some kind of knowledge.

“On that day, I began to call myself Alice Veknarl. That’s what my heart told me I was. It means ‘successor of Veknar’.”

Lithisia nodded, struck by a revelation. “Sir Miner! Could we not make a Shovel Crown capable of passing on shovel knowledge?!”

“It already exists. The helmet I gave Catria has that kind of effect.”

“Wha?!”

Catria immediately ripped off the safety first helmet on her head. How could she have been so foolish as to wear this brainwashing device without question?!

“Fear not. All it does is make sure you prioritize safety first.”

“‘Fear not’, my ass! I’m not wearing anything you give me ever again!”

“Aw, c’mon. Don’t be like that!” Lithisia added.

“Y-your Royal Highness! Let’s hurry up and get the rest of Alice’s story!”

“I suppose you’re right. Lady Alice, look! A brand-new shovel.”

“Eeek! Don’t wave that thing around in front of me!”

Alice nervously continued her tale.

“B-but the citizens I made were all soulless corpses…”

Braindead skeletons and zombies. Low-tier liches. That was the limit of Alice’s abilities. And so, Alice sat on the throne of a castle filled with the shambling undead. She considered returning to a human village, but her very existence was tied to her coffin.

“That’s when a man claiming to be Rostir’s prime minister paid me a visit.”

“?!”

“I could tell at first glance. He was a tremendously powerful demon.”

Lithisia gripped her red shovel tightly, causing it to exude a blood-red aura. Alice cried out in fear.

“Your Royal Highness, you’re scaring her. Please put away your shovel.”

“I refuse, Catria. As a member of the royal family, it is my obligation to always keep my shovel on hand.”

What an unnecessary obligation.

“Now, Alice. Continue. What did the prime minister shovel to you?”

“I’m pretty sure he didn’t shovel anything,” Catria interjected.

“If I corrupted the Blue Orb, he’d grant whatever wish I had,” Alice somehow continued, on the verge of tears.

“Corrupted?”

“Deep in Veknar’s knowledge is a type of magic known as an Ancient Curse. It requires the use of human sacrifices.”

“Why would he want you to do that?”

“I know not. But as proof of our contract, he handed me this jewel,” Alice explained as she pointed to the stone in her forehead.

The jewel in her head shone a creepy black.

“A diamond of the Dark World. Absolute proof of a contract with a higher demon.” Alice sighed. “And so I faced you all in battle with the hopes of turning you into sacrifices, and ultimately lost. Nothing matters anymore… Wait, I take that back! No more shoveling, please!”

“...What do you mean, ‘no more shoveling’?”

“Er, I mean shoveling is tremendous! All hail the shovel!”

“You finally get it?! Yay! All hail the shovel!”

“All hail the shovel!”

The two continued like this for a time.

“...So, Alice. Is that everything?”

“Yes. That’s all there is to tell you.”

“You left out the most important part.”

Alan pointed his shovel at Alice’s chest.

“What do you want?”

“Huh?”

The girl instantly stopped moving.

“You made a deal with the prime minister to get something, but you never told us what that something was.”

“I-It has nothing to do with any of you.”

“I’m asking because I want to know.”

Alan was a miner. He lived to mine. The thought of letting a mystery remain forever buried went against his sense of self.

“Wh-who cares?! I don’t have to tell you anything!”

Bling! Lithisia’s red shovel shone.

“Please answer the question, Lady Alice.”

“Ah! Aaaaaggggh! No, I refuse!” Despite being threatened by Lithisia’s dreaded shovel, Alice shook her head from side to side.

“Shall we try a different, more intense kind of shoveling then?”

“AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”

Alice looked at Lithisia’s shovel, then back at Alan. She lowered her head, and in a weak voice, said…

“...I wanted warmth.”

Tears began to fall from her cheek and onto the ground.

“Warm food… Warm words… A warm bed…”

Alice continued.

“Not the cold chill of a dead body… I just wanted something warm.”

She raised her face and reached her hand up toward the sun.

“Since the day I died 300 years ago…”

Despite being under the intense beams of the sun, Alice’s body reflected none of its light. She was just as pale as she was deep within the castle.

“All I feel from the sun is a chill.”

Catria and Alan were left without words as Alice finished telling her tale. Lithisia stared at the miner as though she’d come to a conclusion.

“Sir Miner… Is there any way you can bring Alice back to life with your powers?”

A few moments passed.

“I...can’t.”

Alan’s words were laced with regret.

“A shovel can dig things up and bury them,” he said as he pointed at the massive graveyard in front of them. “I may be able to bury the dead, but I can’t bring them back to life.”

“Is that...so…”

Lithisia’s expression darkened, her voice growing quiet. Catria was in the same mental space. You mean there’s something this guy’s shovel can’t do?

“I’m sorry. I’m not some god with power over death. My shovel has its limits…”

Alan gripped the shovel in his hand.

“At best, it can make someone with an astral body feel warmth, taste food, and move around freely without being tied to a coffin. And even that would only last for a hundred years.”

Some time passed.

“I...see… Only 100 years…?”

“Yeah…”

Five seconds. 10 seconds. 20 seconds passed without anyone saying anything before Catria was forced to interject, as usual.

“Alan.”

“What is it?”

“ISN’T THAT MORE THAN ENOUGH?!”

Why did Catria always have to play the straight man in these situations?

“W-w-w-wait just a second! Y-you can really do all of that?!” Alice had been sitting in silence the whole time, but could keep her mouth closed no longer.

“I mean, Lithisia did it earlier.”

“Wha?”

“When she was tickling your feet with her shovel, did you not sweat profusely?”

“Oh my GOOOOOOOOD!!!”

Alan’s shovel had the power to mine a person’s senses from where they were buried deep within. For example, even if they weren’t a physical being, it could still unearth the senses buried in their heart. Of course, Alice would have to subject herself to shovel tickling who knew how many times for this to work.

The whole coffin issue was much simpler. Alan could just walk around with it. The miner was especially good at carrying things.

“I see!”

Lithisia’s eyes were shining.

“In other words, I just have to shovel Alice every day!”

“Wait, wait! Aren’t we missing something important?!”

“Like what?”

“I-I mean, you guys have no obligation to save me.”

“Actually, we do,” responded Lithisia with a smile as radiant as the sun itself. “We’re already shoveling buddies now!”

 

***

 

Alice’s expression was one of both joy and fear. Nothing mattered anymore. Meanwhile, Catria simply watched the proceedings. She was a knight who knew how to read the room.

But then, Alice noticed something.

“My...hand…”

She had feeling in her hand for the first time in so many years. Even the tears falling from her eyes were warm.

“I…”

Immediately after.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

“...Ngh?! Alice, your forehead!”

The diamond from the Dark World. The jewel in her forehead that served as proof of her contract with a higher demon.

The black aura erupting from it was wrapping itself around Alice’s body.

“I see… This is because I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain…” Alice whispered as she ran her finger across the jewel.

“Alice! Your body!”

It was beginning to melt.

“Only death awaits those who do not hold up their end of the contract. It’s only to be expected from a demon. But hey, I’m already dead, so all that’s left is for me to disappear.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Alice seemed oddly at peace.

“No! This is too unfair! We were going to be shovel buddies!”

Even with things spiraling downward, the princess’ mind was nonetheless filled with matters of shoveling.

“As if! Plus… I’m okay now,” Alice said with a smile. It was the gentlest smile of the day.

She once again reached up for the sun, then looked at Lithisia.

“I’m finally warm.”

Just as Lithisia broke down into tears…

“DIG!”

Alan leapt into action.

His shovel smashed into the black diamond in Alice’s forehead with incomprehensible speed. An aura of blue energy surrounded the tool, and like a talented jeweler removing a precious rock from a ring, Alan plucked out the diamond.

Thunk.

The black diamond rolled along the ground. The dark aura surrounding it was still attempting to make its way toward Alice, so Alan smashed it with his shovel once more, burying it deep underground. Just like with the Dark Beasts, he had buried the diamond some 10,000 meters beneath the surface and sealed it away.

This Shovel Seal was unbreakable even by the emperor of hell itself. A higher demon’s curse would stand no chance.

“?!”

“Didn’t I tell you?”

Alice looked up at Alan, the man bathed in the light of the sun. He shone more brightly than the sun itself.

“My shovel digs, and it buries.”

Alice couldn’t look away from Alan. All she could do was continue to stare at the hero who had saved her from the depths of despair.

 

***

 

As promised, the party made a trip back to the elf castle to tell Fio all about what had transpired. She could barely hold back her own tears.

“Amazing… I’m just so overcome by all this weirdness.”

“Hrm. What part of the story was weird?”

“All of it, duh!” Catria interjected, still internally asking herself what a shovel was. “...By the way, where’s the princess?”

“She’s shoveling Alice.”

“Ah, got it.” The knight had given up trying to intercede.

“Stop it! You’re not supposed to dig anything up from there!”

“That’s not true. There’s no spot on a girl that shouldn’t be shoveled.”

Catria could hear the young girl’s screams, but chose to pretend she couldn’t. The princess finally had a friend to shovel with, and Catria wanted nothing to do with it. Instead, she turned back to the miner to discuss continuing their journey.

“Alan, our next destination is the desert.” According to Lithisia, the Red Orb was buried within a pyramid in the desert.

“The desert, eh? Perfect.” Alan grinned. Catria could already picture his next words.

“It’s shoveling time.”