Chapter 277: Act 44 – The Silver Mine (Part 5)
The room fell silent as Brendel entered.
However, Brendel did not mind. He walked into the shed and sat down on the only empty straw mat. All eyes followed him, focusing intently on him—especially the boy named Mahler, who stared at him with a furrowed brow.
Brendel couldn’t help but shake his head silently, wondering if he really looked so terrifying. He made no outward movements, but the strength of his golden domain allowed him to keenly sense every twitch and pulse of those around him, confirming their evident tension.
But he chose not to alleviate that tension, thinking it was for the best—these folks, while unlikely to speak of his business for now, who knows? It would be beneficial to observe their every move here.
His presence maintained a bizarre and tense atmosphere in the room that lasted until after dinner.
Most of the workers had arrived at the mining area on the evening of Sunday, and the silver mine would generally not operate until the next morning, giving Brendel plenty of time to familiarize himself with the situation here.
However, he did not attempt to eat that dreadful dinner, as it was impossible to discern what was cooked in that pot; the green sludge looked like a witch’s brew and even carried a sour odor. Just a glance made his stomach turn—let alone actually eat it.
He was just glad that he brought enough food with him on Juliette’s advice. He also questioned whether the female mercenary captain had previously done something similar, given her apparent experience.
After strolling around and intentionally confirming the positions of several other camps, Brendel returned to his shed. This time, however, he immediately spotted the somewhat malnourished boy sitting alone inside.
It seemed he hadn’t joined the others outside; Brendel glanced sideways and saw the girl sitting beside him.
He paused for a moment. “Aren’t you eating?”
Brendel thought the boy might have been ostracized by the others, which was not uncommon in such groups. But the weak-looking boy shook his head, saying, “I’m not having dinner.”
He appeared unfazed by Brendel, answering calmly.
Not having dinner? Brendel was taken aback. “Fasting?” He immediately thought that this might be a believer of the Silver Lily sect. As far as he recalled, only the impoverished ascetics would have such strange habits.
The Silver Lily monks abstained from dinner to remember the days of the Fire King Harut on the Great Plains—that was humanity’s most challenging time during the dark ages, wandering in the wilderness to escape the Minren’s pursuit. Countless individuals perished from hunger on that road of escape.
In response to Brendel’s question, the boy nodded.
The Silver Lily sect was a small branch under the Temple of Fire, common in the Anlek region, but typically, regular followers did not fast unless they were trained by monks.
Brendel looked at the boy and asked, “Have you studied under a monk?”
The boy nodded again. “I studied with a monk for a while. Although I haven’t been initiated, I’ve received some teachings. Sir.” He answered politely.
“You can read?” Brendel asked.
The boy nodded.
That was remarkable. In the past, even Freya, as the militia captain of Buche, could only recognize a few characters, and that was thanks to her fortunate encounter with Marden as the Chief of Security; Marden, known vastly in the context of the game, was not like the typical Erluin veterans because he could read and was quite knowledgeable.
In that respect, Brendel’s grandfather was similar. However, Brendel knew that his ancestors were once well-off; his father was a miller, and it wasn’t surprising for the family to maintain some education.
As for Romaine, it was completely due to her aunt; it would be a joke to say the descendants of witches couldn’t read—many others were almost as illiterate, as literacy among commoners in this world was quite rare.
With that in mind, Brendel simply sat down and curiously asked, “If that’s the case, why did you come here? The Silver Lily Church, though impoverished, is still a recognized and formal sect of the Temple of Fire.”
“Sir, I don’t know if I should belong to that sect; the monk who taught me has passed away,” the boy replied.
Brendel enlightened, realizing that the boy likely had not received formal teachings and could only be considered an ordinary believer.
His interest in this minor anecdote lasted only a moment, as his thoughts quickly returned to their current operation. Through previous explorations, Brendel had a preliminary grasp of the situation in the mine, but it led him to feel somewhat troubled.
As far as he knew, the swordsman—the greatest threat to their current action—rarely appeared in the mine, instead spending most of his time in the military camp. They, of course, could not simply approach the camp to eliminate the opponent; sneaking in was easy, but eliminating the opponent unnoticed was a bit far-fetched.
Brendel couldn’t think of a complete plan at the moment, but it was fortunate that he had already decided to stay here for a week, hoping to wait for some opportunities during this time.
However, just as he pondered this, he heard the frail boy cough beside him; turning around, he noticed the girl, supported by the boy, was coughing heavily. Perhaps noticing his gaze, the boy apologetically raised his head and smiled slightly, saying, “It’s an old problem, sir. If you find it uncomfortable, feel free to sit further away—”
Brendel, however, was unconcerned. With almost 100 in constitution, he couldn’t say he was invulnerable, but at least traditional illnesses had no effect on him. Therefore, he shook his head and pulled a water pouch from his backpack. “This has clean water.”
He knew the water in the mining area was hardly fit for drinking; some stored in barrels had already gone bad.
“Thank you.” The girl with faint freckles took the water pouch at the boy’s suggestion and glanced curiously at Brendel.
Brendel was puzzled by her look; he hadn’t thought much when handing over the water—after all, it was just a pouch of water. Having lived in an era of material abundance, Brendel obviously wouldn’t consider such trivial matters.
But he did not realize that in a world like Vaunte, most people living at the bottom of society adhered to the jungle law of survival of the fittest, venerating the strong, and not everyone here was willing to lend a hand to the weak without a price.
Regardless, Brendel’s unintentional gesture won him the favor of the other party; after taking a sip of water, the boy’s coughing noticeably eased. However, he still lacked the strength to speak, remaining silent for a moment before the girl asked first:
“Sir, I heard you are very powerful?”
Brendel was taken aback. He thought it was a strange question, and it seemed he had never truly considered this aspect of himself. Was he really considered powerful? After comparing his past experiences, reaching level 130, he shook his head and replied, “Barely competent…”
“Barely competent is already quite powerful. I heard that those adventurers outside have a rank called Black Iron or something, you must be one of those, right?” the girl asked.
“Yes, it’s the Black Iron rank,” the boy chimed in.
Brendel glanced at them both, momentarily unsure as to why they were interested in this. However, the categorization of profession ranks was not a secret there; in fact, many commoners were familiar with it.
“Just about sufficient, still a bit lacking,” Brendel thought—that he had Black Iron strength at such a young age was already noteworthy. Most of those mercenaries on his hands were at least in their thirties or forties upon entering the Black Iron rank.
However, being inconspicuous here was best for him, so he casually replied.
He saw the two exchange glances, and then the girl asked again, “Sir, are all adventurers like you? I mean the… Black Iron rank?”
Brendel looked at them. “Of course not. As you know, those with Black Iron strength are already considered quite powerful among adventurers.”
He didn’t lie; who’d wander as adventurers if they were a bit more powerful? Unless they were the sort who naturally loved to roam, but such individuals were certainly not in the majority.
After answering, he added, “Why do you ask this?”
“We want to see the outside,” the boy replied this time.
“To go on an adventure?”
The boy nodded.
Brendel thought becoming an adventurer was not a good choice, but he did not discourage them. In some ways, working as a miner here didn’t seem any better in his view—he was young himself and understood their thoughts.
Yet as he looked at them, he suddenly remembered that they likely knew this mine much better than he did, and it appeared that they had relaxed some of their wariness towards him. Wasn’t this an excellent opportunity to gather information?
So he thought for a moment and asked, “I heard that in Schafflund’s silver mine, there are rumors of tunnels that connect to the underground world of Jotungrund below, is that true?”
“Sir, I don’t know what you mean by Jotungrund.” The boy shook his head. “However, there are indeed some tunnels in this silver mine that lead underground. Legend has it that no one has ever reached the end and some have gone missing because of it.”
Brendel thought to himself, just as expected; it seemed the information provided by Tagib wasn’t wrong. A vague idea suddenly formed in his mind, so he said, “Sounds interesting. Are there any related legends?”
The boy exchanged a glance with the girl beside him, but this subtle action did not escape Brendel’s eyes. In fact, they likely already understood that Brendel had ulterior motives for being here; it now appeared that he was indeed here for those strange legends beneath the mine, which fit the identity of an adventurer.
“Of course, there are.” The boy nodded slowly.
“Would you like to hear it, sir?”
“Of course,” Brendel replied. “Please tell me in detail, and I can offer you a reward—” he suspected the other party might misunderstand his intentions and was happy to maintain this misunderstanding.
……
(PS. I lost track of time while drawing today, so there’s only one update. I uploaded a hand-drawn Freya to the public; if you like it, go and take a look.) (To be continued. For more chapters and to support the author, please log in and read the official version!)
