Path of light

Chapter 338 339. Gem Mine

Although Roy didn't feel any dangerous aura from him, Captain Hercules still showed him enough respect, shackled his hands and feet, and locked him in an iron cage, obviously treating him as a human being. Extremely dangerous person.

He is a middle-aged mixed-race elf with a cross-shaped scar on the left side of his face. He pursed his lips slightly and sat in the corner of the iron cage without saying a word.

Although the clothes on his body were a little damp, his sleeves and trouser legs were badly worn, and the mining pick on his waist was sharpened.

There was also a bag hanging on his waist, which looked like it contained some ore.

Captain Hercules stood outside the iron cage, stared at the mixed elf, and asked him: "Approximately how many mining slaves are there underground?"

"Not counting the gray dwarves deep in the mine, there are about two to three hundred elves." The mixed-blood elf's voice was a little hoarse, and he lowered his head and said.

Captain Hercules wanted to continue asking questions, but his eyes happened to fall on the arm of the middle-aged mixed-blood elf. There was a magic pattern on his arm.

Captain Hercules looked at the magic pattern in surprise and said nothing.

"Are you a regular army of Silver Moon elves?" The middle-aged mixed-blood elf raised his head and stared at Captain Hercules.

"We are the cavalry vanguard of the 17th Silver Pegasus Legion." Captain Hercules said casually, and then asked: "Are there gray dwarf slaves underground?"

The middle-aged mixed-blood elf curled his lips and said:

"These gray dwarves are no longer mine slaves. They have dug a huge tunnel group underground. Usually these gray dwarves will only hide in the deepest part of the cave. They don't even need to fight with us for the ones thrown from the wellhead. Although the food has never left here, those gray dwarves have formed a relatively independent life circle."

Dwarves like to live in mountains with volcanic lava, and obviously living underground on the Pagisto Plateau is not impossible.

"What about you? Which force do you belong to?" Captain Hercules asked.

The middle-aged mixed-blood elf raised his head and said:

"Ever since the mines started pouring in half-blood elven slaves, our group of half-blood elves have united together to fight against the gray dwarf bandits and the group of Dark Moon Elf prisoners."

Captain Hercules handed the half-blood elf a water bladder and a piece of breadfruit, and said to him: "Tell me about the prisoners down the well!"

The middle-aged mixed-blood elf held a fist-sized piece of bread pulp, first put it under his nose and smelled it, then took a small bite.

It felt like there was nothing wrong with it, so I took a big bite and swallowed it directly into my stomach.

He pulled out the cork of the water bag and took a sip of water, showing that he was enjoying it very much.

Sure enough, Captain Hercules's method was very useful.

Originally, the middle-aged mixed-blood elf didn't want to talk anymore, but after he ate some breadfruit, he immediately became energetic and listened to him say:

"These prisoners came only later than the gray dwarves. At first, they controlled the entrance to the mine and the distribution of food. Later, there were more and more half-blood elves. All of us half-blood elves united and drove away those prisoners in one fell swoop. The Dark Moon Elf prisoners successfully occupied the entrance to the mine."

The old Dark Moon Elf who was the first to climb up was huddled in the corner. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the sunshine, as if he didn't hear the middle-aged mixed-blood elf's words at all.

…

The third slave who climbed out of the mine turned out to be a Silver Moon Elf.

He looked a little pale, but he was wearing a set of clean clothes and a dagger at his waist.

He poked his head out of the mine and looked at the long swords hanging on the edge of the well. There was no fear on his face. He smiled and said to the elf cavalry who pointed the sword at him: "Thank you for taking the sword from the well." I rescued you."

"You are the Silver Moon Elf?" Captain Hercules stood at the edge of the mine, looking at him.

"My home is in Buenos City. I came to Padsto City to sell magic herbs, but I was framed in the city and sent directly into this mine by slave traders." The Silver Moon Elf said.

"Get him a basin of water..."

Captain Hercules gave instructions to an elf knight.

The elf knight quickly brought over a basin of water and placed a dry towel next to the basin.

The silver moon elf stood next to the wooden basin, carefully washed his face, and then took an apple and a cup of warm fruit tea from the adjutant's hand.

"Besides the gray dwarves and prisoners, are there other forces below the mine?" Captain Hercules asked seriously.

The Silver Moon Elf ate the apple in several bites, and while holding the cup of tea, Captain Hercules said:

"Well... there are also some lone wolves. They never join any party. They mine ore alone in the mine. Occasionally they will bring the ore to us and exchange some food with us." Silver Moon Elf explained.

…

Immediately afterwards, the mixed-blood elf miner slaves crawled out of the mine one after another.

The first mixed-blood elves to climb out were in good physical strength. Although they were in ragged clothes, they could at least maintain their dignity. However, many of the mixed-blood elves who crawled out later were half-clothed and covered their vital parts with rags. His whole body was almost covered with black ore powder, and he hadn't taken a shower for an unknown amount of time. His hair and dust condensed together and became lumps.

The mixed-blood elf miner slave who crawled out from behind even used his last bit of strength to crawl up from the deep mine.

Captain Hercules asked his men to find some clothes from the mine and let them wear them.

An iron cage was simply not enough, so Captain Hercules could only lock these mixed elves in a warehouse in the mine.

Subsequently, the identities of these mixed elves will be verified. The mixed elves from the Partington plane will be released on the spot, and the mixed elves from the Elf Continent will be brought back to Padstow City.

But the prisoners and gray dwarves will not be released, and they will continue to mine ore in this mine.

Therefore, several prisoner slaves who took the opportunity to crawl out of the mine were controlled by Captain Hercules. When no more mixed-blood elves crawled out of the mine, he put the prisoner slaves into wooden boxes. Use the boom to send it back underground.

Before leaving, Captain Hercules said to the prisoner slaves with a straight face:

"In the future, the daily food supply will remain the same as before. When we receive the ore, we will put the food in..."

The entrance to the mine was guarded by elf knights, and the few prisoner slaves had no choice but to return to the mine.

…

Because of the assistance of the Silver Pegasus Regiment, Captain Hercules defeated the mine without much effort.

The owner of the Grantham mine has a private army, but unfortunately this private army has not been able to play any role. In addition to the private army, there are also the family members of the owner of the Grantham mine, and Some elven servants and maids.

They have lived in this fortress for a long time.

Now they are also locked together in a warehouse in the fortress, without shackles or chains on their bodies.

According to Captain Hercules' plan, the mine owner and his private troops will be escorted to Padstow City to face trial at the Tribunal.

However, Roy felt that the journey was too far, and Earl Swinburne might not agree with this decision.

Roy lived with the 10th Reconnaissance Team in a room on the top floor of the fortress, and the 10th Reconnaissance Team had security duties at night.

This time Rambo did not follow Roy. This time Rambo stayed at the entrance of the mine to help the officers of the Cavalry Pioneer Regiment identify the mixed elves on the Partington plane.

As Roy guessed, there are indeed several forces below the mine.

The gray dwarf slaves who were the first to enter the mine seemed to have escaped the control of the mine owner, because they found strains of bacteria that could cultivate some mushrooms underground.

After the gray dwarves solved the food problem, they dug intricate mines and escaped into the depths of the mines. They rarely rushed to the exit of the mine to compete with the elves for resources...

The half-blood elven slaves are the most powerful, because in the past ten years, the owner of the Grantham mine has been continuously releasing half-blood elven slaves into the mines, and a steady stream of half-blood elven slaves have led to the death of half-blood elven slaves below the mines. The most powerful.

These guys occupy the entrance to the mine and control the distribution of food in the mine.

The Dark Moon Elf prisoners themselves are a group of bandits. They are the smallest in number, but they are the most powerful in the mines. The prisoners usually hide deep in the mines. They will only run to the mouth of the mine when they are short of food. , occasionally exchanging ores for food, and more often these prisoners would rob the mixed-blood elf slaves in the mines.

Now Captain Hercules invades the mine and rescues the mixed elves.

In fact, they released the slaves who actually mined the ore in the mine, leaving those who did not mine much ore in the mine.

As a result, Roy felt that the mine would enter a state of stagnation.

…

Recently, Captain Hercules has been in trouble.

Although he successfully captured a mine, he never thought about how to manage the mine later.

The Earl of Swinburne required that the mine be functioning properly so that the Cavalry Pioneer Regiment could rush to the next mine...

But now the entire mine is in a mess. The owner of the mine, his family, private soldiers, and servants have been locked in a warehouse, and the mixed-blood elf slaves were released on the spot.

There are only prisoners and gray dwarves in the mine now, as well as a few lone wolves with strong survival ability.

In this way, there will be no mining slaves in the mine.

These days, the daily production of gemstones ore is only one-tenth of previous production.

Roy was also preparing to capture a mine with the Cavalry Pioneer Regiment, but after waiting for nearly a week, the Cavalry Pioneer Regiment was still trapped in the mine fortress, and Captain Hercules could not escape at all.

Captain Helekhsli took the Silver Pegasus warriors out to look for other mines...

The owner of the Grantham mine was locked up in the warehouse. He had two hours of activity time every day. Every time he came out for a walk, the mine owner would observe the cavalry vanguard in the mine and the gems piled in the yard. Piles of raw rocks.

These days, the pile of gems in the yard has not grown larger, which also made the owner of Grantham Mine think of the problem...

Captain Hercules sat on a chair and asked the adjutant next to him: "Has the output of gemstones in the mine increased today?"

"Not yet!" the adjutant replied.

"Is there any news from Earl Swinburne? It is estimated that the mine's gem output can only be increased by throwing the prisoners on Parram Island into it." Captain Hercules said, and then he scratched his hair again, distressed Said: "I don't want to stay here all my life and be a mine owner!"

‘Tuk-tuk-tuk! ’

There was a knock on the door, and an elf knight walked in from the outside and said to Captain Hercules: "Master, the owner of the Grantham Mine wants to see you!"

Captain Hercules waved his hand impatiently, and then said: "No, keep an eye on him, don't let him escape..."

"yes."

The elf knight turned around and walked out.

But when the elf knight reached the door, he was stopped by Captain Hercules:

"Wait...let him in, I want to hear what he has to say!"

Later, the owner of the Grantham mine was brought to Captain Hercules by the elf knights. The mine owner had lost a lot of weight in the past few days, and his eye sockets were also black...

He walked into the room and came directly to Captain Hercules.

"Master, can I talk to you alone?" the owner of Grantham Mine said humbly.

Captain Hercules sat up straight and glanced at the adjutant.

The adjutant walked out with understanding, closed the door, and stood guard outside.

The Grantham mine owner took a few steps closer and whispered beside Captain Hercules: "Master, if you can let me leave the Pagisto Plateau, I can give you the most valuable treasure I have stored." I’ll give you a batch of gems, there are fifteen boxes of these high-grade gems in total.”

Captain Hercules shook his head.

The Grantham mine owner wiped his sweat. He knew that he didn't have much time left for him. Obviously, the first condition failed to impress the group leader.

He thought about the cards in his hand, gritted his teeth and said: "I still have several boxes of excellent quality magic weapons hidden in Castletown City. I can give these boxes of excellent quality magic weapons to you."

Captain Hercules still shook his head and said:

"I sit in this position and represent the entire Hercules family. I don't think those gems and magic weapons are of any use to me!"

The face of the owner of Grantham Mine became even more ugly. He glanced at Captain Hercules secretly and couldn't think of anything else he could do to impress the leader.

"Grantham Mine Owner, the mine is almost at a standstill now. If it were you, what can you do to restore the mine's gem output to normal?"

Captain Hercules asked the Grantham mine owner.

The Grantham mine owner's eyes lit up. He thought for a moment and then said: "You released all the mixed-blood elf mine slaves. They are the main labor force digging gems during this period. It is inevitable that the mine will reduce production." , If you want the mine to temporarily restore gem production, there are actually some methods, but these methods cannot last too long..."

"If you want to restore production to the mine, the best way is to add new miners to the mine!"