"It's an amazing place."

The entrance to the cave was about four meters wide and high.

He explained that in the beginning, people lived only here to protect themselves from the snow and cold in winter, but as the number of people increased, they were forced to set up houses outside as well, and so on.

"Come on, come here."

Adriana's two golems were also let in without being asked any questions, but that was no surprise, as there were many golems inside performing various tasks.

In the back of the cave we could hear the sound of mining, and in one room we could see what appeared to be vegetables being cultivated.

Adriana is taken to a room in the back.

It was a sort of parlor/meeting room with a square table with rounded corners and about ten chairs around it.

He said, "I am preparing the room for you now. May I ask you a few questions in the meantime?

"Uh, yes.

First you can have a drink.

A steaming drink was placed in front of Adriana and the others.

The chief, Herkiler, who was seated in front of them, sipped it first.

Then Bashaco, who sat next to Adriana, sipped his drink as well.

Adriana also took a sip of the tea and found it sweet and tasty.

It is called "tee-tee". We buy it from the south, but we are trying to make it around here.

Herkiler explained about the tea, and then it was time to get down to business.

"Well, let me ask you a question first.

Yes, what is it?

"Yes, what is it?" "I'm Adriana," she said. The two golems you brought with you, were they made by you?

"Yes, I did.

Herkiler seemed a little surprised at this answer.

"...... Well, if that's true, then you must be a very good engineer. So, what did you expect to find here?

"Yes, to satisfy my thirst for knowledge.

Adriana looked Herkiler in the eye and answered him directly.

Somehow, she felt that it was better to be straightforward with this person than to use a roundabout way.

And it seems I was right.

"Ha-ha-ha, funny!　Miss, no, Miss Adriana. < clan.

With that Harkiler clapped his hands twice.

Then three golems arrived with trays containing dinner.

First, eat your dinner.

They served him boiled potato-like food, vegetable soup, and hard bread.

Hakirah eats the same thing, so this seems to be his daily routine.

"I am sorry that my food is so poor. I am sorry that our food is so poor, but the land does not grow many crops.

"Then why don't you move to ......"

Adriana asked him why he did not move,

"I can't leave the land where my ancestors have lived for generations," came the answer.

She replied, "I can't leave the place where my ancestors have lived for generations.

"That's why we're trying to find ways to make things better."

Golem's cultivation of some kind of vegetables seemed to be a part of that.

"I see. ......"

"If you are such a brilliant engineer, can you do something about this problem?"

They suggested something like, "Well, yes.

"Yes, ......"

Adriana is unlikely to be able to advise on this aspect, since she has little knowledge of agriculture. But...

"Then why don't you just buy it from a certain place?

I suggest something quite obvious.

I thought he would laugh at me, but he did not.

"That is certainly one option. But you need money to buy it. And our clan doesn't have a ."

"Yes. ......"

Adriana could not imagine what life would be like without money in the sense of currency.

"By the way, don't they have a currency on this continent?"

Adriana asked after all these years.

"No, we don't use it. We barter for it.

"I see. ......"

Each clan has its own role to play so that life is complete within the clan, Herkiler explained.

"We get what we need from outside, but we don't use currency," he said.

That's how the economy works, Adriana said.

Adriana wondered for a moment if this was the way the economy was going to work, but then she realized that it was not her place to interfere as a layman, since that was how they had actually worked.

Adriana did not know, but even in the places she had visited, ordinary people often bartered without using currency.

I thought, "If we don't use currency, what if we can do something from a different angle?

"Why don't we get foreign currency, or should I say, something we can sell?

"Something to sell?"

Hakira looked doubtful.

"Yes, that's right. I saw a little while ago that a golem was mining resources, right?

"Yes. They are digging out metals and magical crystals.

We can sell some of them for a small amount.

I see. But to whom?

To the southern continent.

Here, means the continent south of the one Adriana has just visited.

"Fuumu......"

"The people who live on the southern continent......<>, as they call it, are warmer there than here, and they harvest more crops. Why don't we buy from there?"

"...... This continent is called ."

After a short pause, Harkiller opened his mouth.

"<> or ......, to be honest, I don't like the people who live there."

"Why is that?"

I am from the continent of Lorren myself. Adriana questioned.

"There is a legend that in the past, people who fled the continent of Gondor settled on the continent of Lorren, as you call it.

"E......"

"A branch of the family, so to speak. And they are the ones who gave up on the original family. You can't buy necessities from them."

"......"

It is not a question of whether the tradition is correct or not. It is a matter of pride.

Adriana wanted to hold her head in her hands.

She was an engineer, and she had come to the because she thought that there were people in the north who might have knowledge that she did not have.

Or, rather than <>, I should say <>.

Shuki told me that there are people who live far to the west.

Countries called Mitsuho and Huso.

I drew my guess from them, and when I came to the north, it turned out to be right on the mark.

But I digress.

Adriana knows from experience that these feelings of are troublesome.

When she used to travel with her father Shuki, those who were stuck in the old ways stubbornly refused to accept engineering magic.

(Really, it's a nuisance, isn't it? ......)

Sighing in her heart, Adriana thought of some way to convince them.

"I'm not so much buying necessities as I am selling them."

"What do you mean?　What do you mean?

< elicited a response.

There are many things that are missing or lacking on the other continent. I will sell them to you. Of course, you will have to pay us for them."

"Hmmm... ......"

Hakirah ponders this proposal. This could work, Adriana thought.