Ⅱ
"Where?"
Joy flashed in Arthur's eyes as he lowered his voice to ask.
Arthur had never forgotten why he had come to the Inner Bay.
Besides seeking justice for his mother, there was the gold mine!
He needed enough gold to make his bloodline complete and pure.
And the Golden Lion Family's gold mine...
No!
It was the gold mine his mother had left him, and he would have it.
"The Lion Palace!"
Under Arthur's gaze, Potteriman named a place Arthur had not expected.
The Golden Lion Family's possession of a highly productive gold mine was no secret.
But where exactly was the gold mine?
That was a secret.
Or, more precisely, no one knew which location it was in.
The Dupont Hills, Noir Town, and the Smaud Abandoned Mine.
These were the three places widely believed to contain the Golden Lion Family's gold mine, but ordinary people could approach none of them-not the seldom-visited Dupont Hills, the densely populated Noir Town, or the long-deserted Smaud Abandoned Mine.
Not only were they heavily guarded, but rumor had it that the Old Lion's Lion Pride had once been stationed there.
The Construct Maker!
War Elephant!
Bloodshadow Thorn!
It was precisely because these three had appeared at those three locations, and because people had seen carts loaded with gold, that suspicion had fallen on them.
Yet no matter how many people were sent to investigate, no definite information ever emerged.
Those sent out either vanished without a trace.
Or they were turned outright, inflicting considerable losses on those behind them.
The Smaud Abandoned Mine, in particular, had seemed so likely that someone had sent an elite force of a hundred men deep inside.
The result?
They disappeared.
And who had sent them?
The Old Count of South Los, of course.
This