Shade continued flipping through the ledger and finally found those conspicuously large deposits under "Income." Every entry exceeded five thousand crowns—more than fifty thousand pounds even at the exchange rate of that time—and their description was "Silver Ore Trade."
"Silver Ore Trade?"
Shade frowned suspiciously and thought for a moment, then recalled what the Demon Hunter from a century ago had said: he had discovered the Demon here while investigating a Mithril Mine.
"So this was how the Hoy Family made their fortune. That makes sense—at least more sense than making money by exploiting Lumberjacks. But the Hoy Family was just an ordinary family. Where did they find a sales channel? It was probably the Demon's doing."
The ledger also recorded the location of that Mithril Mine, as it listed monthly expenditures for "Slawen Mine."
Shade naturally had no idea where the mine was, but it was marked on the map sold by the Hermits. After checking, he found a marker in the dense forest labeled "Abandoned Mine—Slawen Mine." It was very, very far from the stone cave where the treasure had been hidden, located west of the city. So Shade first turned all the gold into toys, then went straight home.
It was nearly lunchtime when he arrived home. Shade went to find Vanessa first, and the Earth Witch gave him an Alchemy Item that could detect Mithril ore, making his afternoon plans easier:
"But didn't you say you wanted me to help you find that vein once you reached Vesta Woodland? If there really is enough Mithril, everyone will be delighted."
Those beautiful golden eyes turned toward Shade again, carrying an accusatory look.
"Shade, you held a party at home last night. Why didn't you invite me?"
"What party?"
Shade asked the beautiful blonde female opera singer in