"Uh… what's this…?"
As the morning sun painted the sky, I stood on a gravelly beach along the coastline, picking up a fist-sized stone and inspecting it closely.
It was milky white, somewhat translucent, and had a jagged shape…
"Quartz… nope."
Muttering to myself, I tossed the stone aside. It was too transparent to be what I was looking for. Its crystalline cleavage was also different. The stone I sought had no cleavage at all.
Like me, everyone wandering around here was after jade. While large quartz crystals were considered rare in other regions, only jade could fetch a high market price.
Quartz could be valuable as crystal if it was of high purity, but the quartz found around here was pure white, making it worthless.
"Hm?"
I picked up a greenish stone and examined it without much interest.
Rounded, with a speckled black pattern…
"Serpentinite."
I tossed it away. It was a dull, opaque form of olivine. While geologists searching for new gemstone sources might get excited to find it, since it often appears near gemstone deposits, this area's gemstone-producing layers had been known for ages. It was nothing new.
Besides, this wasn't even raw bedrock—it had already broken down into small pebbles scattered around. At this point, nobody was getting excited over it.
I picked up another greenish stone.
"Fox stone."
Tossed it aside again. It was a common fake jade that often fooled people. When wet, it looked deceptively beautiful, leading many to be tricked.
The jade I was looking for had a milky green, milky lavender, or pure milky white appearance and let light pass through faintly when held up. The deep green variety was the highest grade, but since tourists and local stone hunters grabbed those first, they were rarely left behind. That's why targeting whiter stones was the best bet. But focusing too much on white meant risking picking up quartz or albite by mistake.
In the end, finding real jade required time, patience, and knowledge. However, for locals, this was a practically free hobby, making the local waterways a gathering spot for idle people.
This whole process was second nature to the locals—even kids knew these geological tidbits. I wasn't the only one knowledgeable about this.
"Hmm, not great today…"
I muttered to myself as I continued my stop-and-go pace along the beach, pausing more often than actually walking. After storms or typhoons, when river levels surged and the tides turned, today should have been a prime hunting day—but it seemed my expectations were off.
"Maybe I should go further down the coast?"
I decided to head toward a treacherous stretch of coastline, a once-functional ancient highway, now largely abandoned.
This area had once been part of an old trade route, but the shoreline was mostly rocky, forming passable ground only at low tide. The fierce currents made it a risky spot, one even locals avoided.
Despite this, it had been a major road in the past, and many travelers had vanished into the sea here. Officially, the area was known as "Oyashirazu Koshirazu", meaning "Where Parents and Children Lose Sight of Each Other," an eerie reference to how treacherous it was. Some cynically called it the Underworld's Path, comparing it to the mythical road to the afterlife.
Because of its notorious reputation, few people searched here—making it a potential goldmine. The whole stretch ran about 15 kilometers, and with the tide low, I figured I could dash across it.
"Alright."
With a small pep talk to myself, I started moving forward.
At the time, I thought this was just another casual stroll.
I had no idea that I was about to stumble upon something incredible.
Author's note :
I wrote the opening scene inspired by a trip to Niigata. As a writer, I like to draw from real experiences—it helps keep things within acceptable limits.
A note on local laws: Recently, there's been a crackdown on stone collecting. Taking raw stones larger than a fist can now lead to arrest for illegal extraction.
For context, the real-life Oyashirazu Koshirazu area is dangerous, and much larger stones than a fist are scattered around. This story does not endorse illegal activities, so be cautious!
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This novel has been lovingly translated by https://www.patreon.com/Jenuinez_translation