Path of light

Chapter 337 338. Well

The 10th Reconnaissance Team gathered around a well in the inner courtyard of the fortress. There were constant knocking sounds coming from the deep well.

Roy discovered that there was indeed a large boom installed at the wellhead. The boom was not a bucket, but a large wooden box with some residual ore debris inside. It was placed next to the well. There was also a large wooden box not far away. The ore screening platform and several warehouses are connected together in the corridor.

Through the open door of the warehouse, Roy could see mountains of rough gemstones placed inside the warehouse.

There should be a gem mine underground, and the only means of transportation into the underground is the wooden box on the boom. Whether it is lowering the elf miners or fishing up the ore, this wooden box is almost always used.

A steward elf in the mine stood on the edge of the mine with his hands tied, explaining to everyone how they contacted the miners underground...

'We send the slaves we bought back into the well in wooden boxes, and we don't force them to dig out as much ore as they want. Instead, we put the big wooden box into the well every night, and we will send as much food as the ore is hoisted up. If the amount of ore is particularly small, the penalty mechanism will be activated and the food put down will be halved. ’

‘Generally speaking, we never ask how food is distributed underground. We only care about how much ore can be hoisted up every day. ’

‘If we don’t get the ore that day, we won’t put food down the mine. ’

Roy stood in the crowd and listened quietly to the mine manager describing how the mine operated...

No wonder the mine owners keep buying some elf slaves and putting them into the mines. It turns out that a cruel food chain will be formed in the mines. The miners inside probably need to use their fists to speak, and the new elf slaves will be squeezed the most harshly. .

‘Aren’t you worried that the miners in the mine will unite together and rush out from underground? ’ the elf knight asked curiously.

"This kind of thing is unlikely to happen. The wellhead is very deep. It is basically impossible for them to dig a tunnel to escape from the underground. If they want to climb up along the wooden box, it will be impossible for several miners to climb up at one time. It may threaten us, and the Grantham mine owners have other means to prevent this from happening."

The manager of the mine told what happened in the mine, and everyone felt chills down their spines after listening to it...

If it was you who was put into the mine, what were the chances of you being able to escape?

Roy and Rambo stood among the elves, listening to the mine manager's story, and couldn't help but look at the dark mine shaft again and again.

Through the grating above the mine, Roy couldn't see what was inside the dark mine.

It's just that one mine entrance is open and has a crane installed, while the other is covered by an arm-thick iron grille.

Not waiting long, the two captains Hercules and Hercules walked down from the fortress together. The elf knights made way for the two captains. Captain Hercules walked to the well, and a man stood next to him. An adjutant told him about the mine and the slave miners underground.

After listening to the adjutant's brief account, Captain Hercules asked the steward: "How long has this mine existed?"

"It's always been there for decades." The mine manager said tremblingly.

Captain Hercules took a torch from the adjutant and threw it into the mine without any hesitation.

As the torch fell, it was blown out by the cold air in the mine.

After more than ten seconds, the sound of falling came through.

Captain Hercules saw a thick bundle of hemp rope wrapped around the roulette wheel behind the crane arm. After thinking about it, he took out a moonstone as big as an egg from his magic pocket and directly put the slightly fluorescent moonstone into it. Stones were thrown into the mine.

Then Captain Hercules began to count: "One, two, three, four...eight, nine!"

When he counted to nine, the moonstone thrown into the mine reverberated with the sound of falling to the ground, but the weak fluorescence did not allow him to see clearly what was going on down the mine.

The diameter of the wellhead was less than two meters. Captain Hercules turned his head, stared at the mine manager with sharp eyes, and asked again:

"Do you know where the first batch of slaves were brought back from?"

The elf steward recalled it carefully, and then said:

"It should be the last period of the naval battle on Queen Egwene Island. At that time, the Naga Sea Tribe admitted their defeat. They abandoned the Queen Egwene Islands and left some gray dwarf bandits on the island. I remember that they captured a lot of them at that time. There were so many gray dwarves that the prisons in the Elf Continent were not enough, so our boss bought back a lot of gray dwarf slaves."

"Later on, these gray dwarf slaves became more and more difficult to buy, and they were not very honest in the mines. They always wanted to dig a tunnel to escape from the underground, so the boss bought one from the Dark Moon Elf Kingdom. The felons from the elves were placed in the mine. Unexpectedly, the two forces fought in the mine, all for the right to distribute food at the entrance of the mine..."

"Actually, felons in prison are not that easy to buy. For a period of time, they were often out of stock. Later, the boss contacted a slave trader from nowhere. They would transport slaves of various races from the sea, including not only elves but And dwarves, and humans, and orcs, and lizardfolk, and the like.”

"This kind of slave trade did not last long. Many legions of the Silver Moon Elves severely cracked down on the slave trade along the coast, so those slave ships did not dare to come."

"Later, our boss got a stable supply of slaves, and it has been maintained like this for a long time."

"Until three years ago, a large-scale riot occurred in the Partington plane. The Silver Pegasus Army completely blocked the Partington plane. Our channels for purchasing slaves were completely cut off. It was the most difficult period, and so were we. We had no choice but to hire headhunters to capture the mixed-blood elves on the plateau."

"I can swear to the Moon God that I have never captured elves outside of the Pagisto Plateau. This is not the territory of the Silver Moon Elves, so these mixed-blood elves cannot be regarded as subjects of the Silver Moon Kingdom, so we have not offended you. …”

The manager of the mine said a lot in one breath. He was a Silver Moon Elf, and for some unknown reason he ended up in the mine on the Pagisto Plateau and became the manager here.

Captain Hercules squinted at the steward and asked coldly: "According to you, there are three forces under the well: gray dwarves, prison island prisoners, and mixed elves?"

The steward wiped the sweat from his forehead, his hands trembling all the time: "Well, almost, there may be a fourth force, and maybe a fifth force."

He did not dare to look at Captain Hercules and turned his head to the side.

"Commander Hercules, does Lord Swinburne have any instructions?" Captain Hercules raised his head and asked the leader of the Silver Pegasus Regiment standing opposite.

Captain Helekhs smiled slightly and said: "The original purpose of the Earl's war was to rescue the mixed elves on the plateau. Since some of the miners in the mine are innocent mixed elves, our top priority is to find a way. Let’s see how we can rescue them from the mine.”

Captain Hercules nodded, turned around and ordered to the adjutant next to him: "Find a rope ladder. It doesn't matter if it is longer. It must fall to the bottom of the well and be stronger."

This kind of rope ladder is also a must-have item in the cavalry vanguard group. It didn't take long for the adjutant to ask two elf cavalry to carry a large bundle of rope ladders.

Captain Hercules asked his cavalry to lower the rope ladder, and arranged for a cavalry squadron to guard the mouth of the well, waiting for the miners underground to climb out of the well...

At this time, Captain Helekhs walked to the well with an iron fence at the entrance, and looked inside through the fence. The well was also dark, so he also asked the mine manager. : "What's hidden in this well? Why is the well's mouth sealed with iron bars?"

"Some black bugs kept crawling out some time ago. Later, the owner of Grantham Mine added a large amount of quicklime into the well, and finally sealed the wellhead with iron bars." The mine manager said honestly.

"What kind of black bug is it? Can you be more specific?" Captain Helekhs asked curiously.

"The black beetles are about the size of a washbasin and are as hard as iron. They seem to like eating rocks. Fortunately, we discovered them early and we also stocked up on some armor-piercing arrows. As soon as they climbed out of the well, they They were shot dead by us. Later, the owner of Grantham Mine was worried that they would come back, so he filled the mine with quicklime and sealed the mouth of the well with iron bars." The mine manager answered honestly.

Captain Helekhs nodded and raised his legs to leave from the well. .

"We also dried a few black bugs and preserved them as specimens. Sir, would you like to take a look?" the mine manager said after chasing Captain Helekhs.

"It's okay to take a look!" Captain Herlekhs answered without any hesitation this time.

Roy stood in the crowd. When he saw the mine manager looking for some help, he took the initiative to stand up and said to the mine manager: "If you need help, just ask."

"Thank you, can you help me lift that thing?" the mine manager asked tentatively.

"No problem!" Roy walked out cheerfully.

Lambo followed Roy and wanted to move forward.

The mine manager said very kindly: "It's enough for two people. It won't be too heavy after it's dried."

Roy was shocked when he saw the dried black beetle. If no one told him it was a huge beetle, Roy would definitely think it was a turtle.

From the front, this carapace looks more like a dark turtle shell.

Only when you turn over to look at the belly side, you will find that it is covered with long legs. When Roy looked closely, he found that it was more like a large woodlouse...

Many sharp teeth sprouted from the edge of the black beetle's body, and the two eyeballs on the top of its head had long shrunk.

The mine manager and Roy carried the black beetle to the entrance of the well. Captain Herlehus covered his mouth and nose and walked closer to look at it again and again.

Captain Hercules also came over, and the two even exchanged glances midway.

"How could a dark creature run into the mine?" Captain Helekhs said with a solemn expression.

"Is there a connecting passage underground?" Captain Hercules looked a little ugly. He asked the mine manager: "Then these black beetles never crawled out again?"

"Never." The mine manager said firmly.

"It seems...it's necessary to go down and take a look." Captain Herlekhs said.

"Before taking action, we must at least dig out all the quicklime from the well..." Captain Hercules frowned and said.

While the two were talking, a large iron cage was pushed next to another wellhead, and the ladder tied from the wellhead was shaking incomprehensibly. Something must have climbed up from the well. A group of elven cavalry pulled out their long swords from their waists. A dozen sharp swords pointed at the wellhead.

After waiting for a while, there was an obvious sound, and there was even a very heavy breathing sound.

A dry, dark hand rested on the edge of the well. The nails on that hand looked like eagle claws, and the arm was covered with skin and bones. Then an unkempt old elf showed his head. It looked like he was almost losing strength in crawling. My eyes almost became a line...

He was not afraid of the several long swords in front of him, and exposed the upper part of his body to the mouth of the well.

It was obvious that he was an elf, but his body was extremely thin and his chest ribs were clearly visible.

His thin body struggled to crawl out of the well, and he sat down on the stone floor beside the well. He raised his head while panting, and said in a hoarse voice: "Hehe, I didn't expect that I could still live to see the color of the sky." …”

The elf cavalry walked over with a wary look on his face, dragged him lightly into the iron cage, and then asked him: "Do you remember where your hometown is?"

The elf hesitated for a moment and said, "Saint Margaret City."

"Are you a prisoner?"

"I was and have been a mining slave for more than sixty years..."

The skinny old elf answered laboriously, showing a mouthful of rotten teeth when he spoke.

Unexpectedly, the elf who asked the question took out an apple from his arms, threw it into the arms of the old elf, and said to him: "Answer my question well!"

The old elf couldn't wait to grab the apple and gnawed it, ignoring the elf knight's question.

"Approximately how many elven slaves are there in the well?"

"..."

…

Roy thought that this old elf must have climbed up to explore the way, and sure enough, after a while, another elf climbed out of the well.

Although this elf was a little thin, he looked very energetic. When he was pointed at by the long sword at the wellhead, his muscles suddenly tightened, but then he still raised his hands above his head very wisely.

Roy saw that he even had a badly worn mining pick on his waist.

This time the elven cavalry put their swords on his shoulders and tied his neck and hands with chains before pushing him into the iron cage.

The treatment is completely different from that of the first old elf...

Captain Hercules ordered the elf knights guarding the mouth of the well: "Be careful with these guys. Those who can survive in the mine may not have very clean hands..."