Lake of Hals.
　We looked at the lake from inside the open structure of the carriage.

　A cluster of small, village-level buildings around the lake.
　A series of buildings building as if they were growing further around it.

'It's finally starting to happen,'

　Next to me, my sister murmured.

Yeah, there aren't many people who can refine salt, so we'll take it gradually.
Isn't it still difficult to extract salt by magic?
''Well it's funny that no one has ever thought of that before.

　He said it like a whine and made it a reply to his sister's question.

　It's not such a difficult idea.

''They say that an expert in something and a layman's point of view who is not an expert in something are two different things to begin with, don't they?
Hey, you know what?

　Sigh.
　This one has made me famous again.

　There are still few wizards - artisans who can do it - but the refining of salt by magic extracts only the salt, so it becomes a very high quality salt of great purity.
　It is said to be so pure that it is impossible to make it by the usual method of boiling and drying.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes, I've sent the salt from here to their highnesses.
Wait a minute, sis, I have a really bad feeling about this.

　I held my temples, almost getting a headache.

'What's the first thing your highnesses say?'
Master Shaw and Lady Rina.
At last!

　Shaw the Aegina, and Lina Mi Aegina.
　They're royalty from the kingdom of Aegina, and they both love me.

"What did you say to them?
You'll be fine.

　She smiled.

With the purity of that salt, it would be impolite not to present it to His Majesty,
Mmm....
'Hermes understands, doesn't he?　The purity in that way is going to be tremendous and unrivaled.
I shouldn't have done it.

　I did it by accident, and it's a mess.

And here we are.
What?

　I turned to my sister to tell her how this happened.
　She was holding an envelope.

'A reply from His Highness the Prince.
I'm afraid to read.
"Figuratively speaking, His Majesty liked it so much that he allowed me to name it after him as a reward.
Name?

　Sweat trickled down my back.
　I have a horrible feeling.

'Cano salt or Hermes salt. I mean, it doesn't matter which one you choose.
Or at least Cano salt!
I responded with Hermes.
Oof!

　I nodded as hard as I could.

'It's still a decision I made with Hermes in mind, though.
How?
'You don't think Hermes would be happy to pile any more cross orders on top of the slime lords, do you?
Mmm.

　I nodded, but looked up and saw my sister.

　I took down a slime lord.
　That's an achievement in its own right, but only in its own way.
　On the other hand, for that, I was awarded two Xixos Cross medals, the highest level of the Aegina Kingdom, for that.

　Shaw and Lina, because they gave me that as a good excuse to show my appreciation.
　Even one is a lot, but two.
　If something happens in the future, I might be able to build on that even more.

　It would be even more suspicious and conspicuous if they kept piling on more and more to something as small as defeating a slime lord.

''Their Highnesses are also outstanding, they will be on top of this in the future. After all, it's so much that His Majesty likes it, the quality - no, the way it's done in the first place is revolutionary.
I see.

　I jumped off the carriage and walked toward the lake.
　With that being said, perhaps my sister's choice was indeed the right one.

　...I'm going to be careful, but there's always the possibility that I'll do something wrong in the future.

　The salt might be a good bulwark against that.

　With food, the king likes it.

　There have been quite a few cases in history where this pattern has been over-commended.

"...thank you, sister.
You're welcome.

　She and her smiling sister walked along the shore of the lake.

　She stopped and bent down to scoop up some water in the palm of her hand.

'Just a little boost from Hermes' awesomeness at finding a way to produce that fine salt from here, though.
'If you could, in the future, it would be nice if you could say something before you do it.

　I crouched down and scooped up a handful of water, too.

　I tried to pull out the salt in front of my sister, as if to comfort her, since there was no one else around.

　--Hmm?

　This, this feeling.
　It wasn't in the tub of water that Nassos sent me, but when I'm in direct contact with the lake itself, I can feel it.

　I know it's there.

What's wrong, Hermes?
No, I didn't.

　I answered immediately, and I'd better act normal, so as not to get caught.

　But...

"I heard from a girl named Ortiz. Hermes gets a little twitchy when he lies.
I'm not going to fall for that one, sister.

　It's the same hand that hooked me.
　Don't ever get stuck with that hand again.

Yes, it was a cock-up. In fact, after a discussion with Ortiz, I found a way to properly identify when Hermes was lying.
So I didn't get stuck...
'You have a straighter, more serious face than usual.
"--

　It was a zing.

　I knew in an instant that it wasn't a joke or a lie.

　It's a time to lie, or is it a time to get bogus?
　I know that I'm really thinking about it and trying to hide it.

'....is it showing on your face?
Yeah, he's a sharp guy.
I'm not happy.
I'm not happy about it, Hermes.
Huh?
'Already ... what do you mean by hiding your seriousness from the most serious of people?'

　My sister jabbed her index finger at my nose with a jolt.
　I didn't have a word to say in reply.

'So what happened this time?'
Yeah.

　I nodded and told my sister in contemplation.

'There's a mithril in this.
Mithril... the metal that can make magical items and store magic itself?
Yeah.
You're metal and you're in water?
It's in. The quantity is far less than the salt, though, so it wouldn't be profitable to do it the same way.

　That's what I thought, so I decided to tell my sister.
　Because if I can't actually get it out, it's okay to tell her.

　I thought.

'That's an amazing find, Hermes. That mithril, which is only found in certain mines, can be found in water.
I don't care how good you are.
I'll have them look for it as soon as possible. There's gotta be a lake with high content somewhere.
Oh...

　I've done it.
　I just thought I was going to be careful, and now I've done it again.

"Sis, I don't want this to happen.
"It's called the Hermes Method, I'll call it, and I'll present it to their Majesties.
Stop it!

　I stopped, but my sister didn't stop.

　The new discovery about the rare magical metal mithril was quickly passed on to Shaw and Lina via her sister in the blink of an eye.