Chapter 274: Act 41 – Silver Mine (2) (Second Update)
“That’s hard to say,” the innkeeper lowered his body and leaned closer to the group while whispering, “If you don’t lack money, you might try looking for some famous adventurer groups in the area; those adventurers have been to the forest many times and have even drawn maps of the surrounding regions—”
“Maps?”
“Worth quite a bit.”
Brendel nodded and then inquired about the local situation, mainly concerning the working hours of the laborers and the patrol times of the soldiers in the mining area, all while posing as an adventurer himself. The innkeeper, however, regarded him as a naïve noble heir who was simply looking for entertainment.
Neither of them cared about this misunderstanding, and their conversation continued smoothly without taking up much of Brendel’s time. Shortly after, he turned back—at this time, several ladies had found a place to sit in the hall. Brendel looked over and was about to walk over, but stopped before he could take a step.
A dwarf blocked his path.
“Excuse me.” The already somewhat inebriated Odum squinted his small eyes, barely making out the young man before him—he thought it was the same person who came in earlier—but that didn’t matter to him; he only wanted to know:
What was the other party’s intention in blocking his way?
The old dwarf shook his head, wanting to clarify the situation.
But Brendel found it somewhat amusing, as if the wide road was clearly a full ten feet wide, yet the damn dwarf insisted on standing in front of him, claiming he was blocking his way.
However, he didn’t have time to make a fuss about it and hesitated before stepping aside. Just then, Brendel froze.
The dwarf’s face was flushed, leading Brendel to initially think he was just a common local hill dwarf. But after taking a closer look, he noticed the pale gray skin on the dwarf’s arms.
The young man’s heart skipped a beat.
Rune Dwarf.
He nearly thought he was still half asleep and almost pinched his own cheek to confirm whether it was him who was drunk or the other party.
In the history of Vaunte, rune dwarves were not as prominent as silver elves; they, like troglodytes, came from the underground of Jotungrund. However, unlike typical subterranean races, they were of the long-lost People of Silver.
It was said that the rune dwarves became extinct during the wars that preceded the end of the chaotic era.
Another legend suggested that there was a city existing at the other end of the mercury sea in the underground world. But regardless of which was true, Brendel had not expected to see a living rune dwarf here. Indeed, the pale gray skin was their most prominent characteristic.
No other dwarves in this world bore such skin tone.
These dwarves from the Silver Age were the builders of the Steel Plains; their architectural artistry was once renowned alongside Bud’s artisan wizards during the chaotic era. However, the rune dwarves were dissatisfied with this comparison—after all, one creation was underground while the other was above ground, and they had never had the opportunity to compete with each other.
But after a brief moment of astonishment, Brendel had calmed down somewhat.
Perhaps it was a lost bloodline; Brendel understood that regardless of their characteristics, every race had some adventurous and wandering groups.
However, such descendants mostly inherited only the common traits of their bloodlines to varying degrees, and as for how much cultural transmission remained, only the heavens truly knew. There were more than a few ancient survivors in Vaunte; many had no idea of their own origins.
Just like Brendel, if he had not seen descriptions of rune dwarves, he wouldn’t have been able to recognize this drunken fellow.
Yet, just as he was thinking this, Odum wobbled past him. Brendel turned around to watch the old dwarf part the crowd and walk out, leaving only his back.
After some thought, Brendel did not immediately follow. There was no point in discussing things with a drunken guy, especially since the other party looked like a worker here and presumably wouldn’t disappear suddenly.
His goal was to take control of this silver mine, and it would be much more effective to approach the dwarf later. Nevertheless, he turned back to ask the middle-aged man:
“Who was that?”
“An old fellow, I believe he’s called Odum. He’s been here for a while,” the middle-aged man was puzzled as to why this young noble was interested in a scruffy dwarf. “He’s a minor overseer in the mining area.”
“What does he do?”
“Just supervises.”
“Is there any word on his specialties? For example, in construction or engineering?” Brendel further inquired.
The middle-aged man hesitated, shaking his head. “Not that I’ve heard.”
“Oh, I thought all dwarves were construction experts,” Brendel chuckled, saying this intentionally.
“That’s the mountain dwarves from the north, my guest.”
Brendel nodded, setting aside that matter, then turned to walk back to the table where the ladies were seated. As he approached, Romaine and Medisa were engaged in a casual conversation, but as soon as they noticed him, they both stopped simultaneously and looked at the young lord.
“What’s wrong?” Juliette asked.
“Nothing,” Brendel shook his head. “I just gathered some local information, and the situation isn’t looking great.”
“What happened?” A hint of worry flashed in Juliette’s eyes; apart from Brendel, she was the most concerned about the outcome of this matter.
“We originally thought the workers would come and go from the mine every day, but the information I just found out indicates otherwise,” Brendel said softly. “The workers, in fact, only come to town once a week. They return to the mine on Monday morning and don’t leave until after Saturday.”
“They manage the workers quite strictly.”
“Yes, this diminishes our chances of taking advantage of the situation,” Brendel said.
“What’s the problem?” Xi asked, puzzled.
“There are two points. It’s not difficult to take control of the mine; we just need to deal with that gold mid-level swordsman. The remaining hundred or so aren’t much of a threat. But it has to be silent, without drawing attention from Parsons—then it gets a bit challenging.”
“But if I, you, and Princess Medisa attack a single gold mid-level enemy, what problems could we have?” The red-haired girl frowned, countering.
“Of course not, but you should know how much commotion a battle at the gold level creates,” Brendel replied.
“As long as someone knows the mine is under attack, that news will spread quickly, and in a few days, Sir Parsons will be better informed than we are about this matter!”
“We can block the news,” Romaine suggested.
“Sir Parsons isn’t a fool; if there are no reports from the Shaffedron direction for an extended period, he will be suspicious.” Brendel shook his head. “We can only take control of the place and keep it running as usual, secretly supplying silver to Firburh.”
Brendel didn’t need to finish his thought, as everyone understood what would happen next.
This silver would be secretly transported to the mint and cast into private currency. This was a secret that local lords needed to keep hidden; in fact, before setting off, Brendel had already entrusted Charles to search for the location of any secret mints that Grudin might have hidden in a manor outside Firburh.
In reality, these were all acts deserving the gallows, but as Brendel often said, a condemned prisoner wouldn’t care if the noose around his neck was one rope or two.
After a moment’s daze, Xi slowly nodded in understanding.
“Can’t we lure him out? Or take action while he’s outside? That human can’t possibly stay in the mine forever, right?” The silver elf princess suggested softly.
“It can be done, but if he doesn’t come out for a month, shall we just wait here for a month?” Brendel shook his head. “So we still need to take the initiative. At the very least, we need to infiltrate the mine and observe his operational patterns; moreover, to control the mine, our people will eventually need to penetrate inside—”
Medisa nodded as well.
“So what shall we do, my lord?” Juliette asked softly.
“Shh, don’t call me ‘my lord’ here,” Brendel glanced around before speaking. “Actually, I’ve gathered not only bad news but also two pieces of good news!”
This time, no one interrupted, seemingly waiting for his next words.
“The first piece of news is that nearby adventurers may have privately drawn maps of the mine. I think this news might be true, as I’ve heard that adventurers often do this kind of thing.”
“Yes, young… master,” the leader of the mercenary band hurriedly corrected herself as Brendel glanced at her, struggling to articulate that title. “Sometimes adventurers even team up with local thieves’ guilds; nobles usually turn a blind eye to such matters since they don’t typically cause serious problems.”
“And the second piece of news?” the Merchant Miss asked curiously.
“I learned that some of the adventurers actually go to work at the mine for a time. You know, adventurers can’t always support themselves.”
Juliette paused for a moment upon hearing this news: “The nobles are willing to let those troublemaking fellows into the mine?”
“Why wouldn’t they? The mine needs labor. Weapons aren’t allowed inside the mine, and one can’t take even a piece of ore away when leaving; they trade ore for money and food while in the mine, so how much trouble could these adventurers stir up?”
“Besides, on Count Rendener’s territory, who else would cause trouble besides us?” Brendel countered in a low voice.
“Then can’t we blend in?” The red-haired girl’s eyes brightened.
“You can’t; I can, and others can too,” Brendel shook his head. “The mine doesn’t accept women; otherwise, it would truly cause chaos.”
The group exchanged glances, each seeing the feasibility of the plan in the other’s eyes. If they could blend in as workers in the mine, it would be incredibly easy to ascertain the operational patterns of the guards inside.
But how exactly should they proceed?
……(To be continued. For what happens next, please log in; for more chapters and to support the author, support legitimate reading!)
