"I've heard that whoever is strongest here is the boss. I'm stronger than you, so I should be your leader," Unas said, almost giving an inaugural address as he saw the other side's hesitation. "I promise to lead you to acquire more resources for humanity."
The third brother, who had brought out a weapon, shouted, "Without the approval of Boss Half-Face, no matter how powerful you are, you're not qualified!"
Whose Half-Face is that?
"He's the leader of the entire Blackbeard Gang. You're no match for him. Our boss has a very special relationship with him!"
This Half-Face, who could lead a slave force, must have some extraordinary abilities. But Unas wouldn't be intimidated by his bluff. He sneered, "So what are you all waiting for? Go and cry to your Half-Face father. Maybe he'll take pity on you and throw you a few bones?"
"You!"
The third brother, enraged, grabbed his weapon and charged forward, but was immediately stopped by Riedel.
"We're all human, let's not kill each other," the bald giant suddenly became a pacifist. "You are indeed stronger than us, but you can't do anything here alone. We can become allies and help each other."
As the saying goes, even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake. Unas, being new to the area, was quite unfamiliar with the situation and definitely needed guidance. He was also a bit wary of the Half-Face; the Softbone Agent and his injuries needed time to heal, and temporary peace was essential. So he said, "Boss Riedel's words are more powerful than fists, haha. We've become friends through this misunderstanding, and we'll all be good friends from now on."
Riedel swallowed the barb in his words and laughed, "No fight, no friendship, well said, well said."
They had just been fighting to the death, and now they were being forced into an alliance. For a moment, none of them were able to say anything, and the atmosphere was a bit tense.
Unas then carefully examined the brand on the foreheads of the three men. It was a hoe pattern, which seemed to be the Blackbeard family crest. He was sure that the one on his forehead was the same as theirs.
"This Cave is quite large. Don't you think it's too spacious for the three of you to stay in?" Unas broke the silence, trying to make conversation.
"Your Paladin, you may not know this," Riedel waved his hand, "But this is still our warehouse. Let me show you around."
Seemingly very sincere, Unas nodded and followed the three inside. After passing the hot spring, there were some household utensils such as pots and pans in the corner. Further inside, there was a hole at the bottom of the room, which led to the warehouse that Riedel had mentioned.
The warehouse wasn't large; sacks of grain were piled up on the left, and various ores were on the right. Riedel explained the situation as they walked through:
Every day, the human slaves belonging to Blackbeard would hand over the ore they had mined to him, and he would then distribute food to the slaves according to the quantity and type of ore.
Before each weekly "trading day," Half-Face would come to collect the ore. After Half-Face and Blackbeard finished their trade, he would go to Half-Face to collect the food he had received in exchange.
Half-Face is essentially Blackbeard's agent in this area. He provides protection for these transactions but also collects a considerable "protection fee." Riedel, in turn, becomes Half-Face's agent among human slaves. Of course, he also collects protection fees. The lowest-ranking slaves are forced to accept these two forms of exploitation.
"When is the trading day, and how did Half-Face and Blackbeard trade?" Ever since he came in, Unas had been thinking about how to escape. Since the two sides were going to trade, they must have opened a passage, and perhaps that was their chance to escape.
"The trade is done through the tunnel we came in through; it's the only passage to the outside world," Riedel explained. "Every week, the central hot spring dries up as the underground water veins recede. That's the trading day. The people above open the tunnel and lower the ropes, and then the people from the four districts transport their week's worth of ore to the Central District to trade for food with the slave owners."
"If they don't come down, how can we tell who mined the ore?"
"Each district has specially made mine carts placed by the four major mine owners, just like the ones on our foreheads; each mine cart also has its own unique mark."
"No one dares to climb up the cable? Or hide in the mine cart and escape?"
"Yes, but no one has succeeded. On each trading day, the number of guards increases several times over. Going up is a dead end. Moreover, there are Dark Iron Dwarves mages monitoring the area below. If there is any large-scale disturbance, they will cut the ropes and close the passage. At that time, the trading will be interrupted, and everyone will have no food for the following week and will starve. I heard that there was a mass uprising a long time ago, but not only did no one succeed in escaping, the starving slaves even resorted to cannibalism. Since then, there has been no mass rebellion."
It didn't sound like it was impossible to escape; as long as one had incredible personal strength, they could hide in a minecart, be hoisted up, and then break through the encirclement. However, Unas didn't believe his own strength was up to that level.
"I know everyone who just arrived wants to escape, especially powerful people like the Paladin," Riedel said, seeing his furrowed brow and guessing his thoughts. "But after staying here for a while, you won't have that thought anymore."
"So you're just going to sit here, eating and waiting to die, spending your whole life as a slave to the Dark Iron Dwarves?" Unas retorted. "Don't you miss the outside air and sunshine, your home and your family?"
"We mercenaries roam the world, what family do we have?" the bald, dejected man said, "I advise you, sir, to give up the idea of resistance as soon as possible, lest you implicate others."
Unas roared, "Humans? Slaves are considered human? Let me tell you, I will not only not implicate everyone, but I will save everyone!"
He stormed out of the warehouse, finding himself with nowhere to go. He turned back and said, "Show me a place to stay; I need to rest."
Riedel gestured to his brother beside him, "Quinn, take the Paladin to the White Cave to stay."
Quinn, the third brother who had brought the weapons earlier, snorted defiantly and walked in front of Unas to lead the way.
The two left the warehouse and walked only a short distance through the passageway before quickly reaching their destination. The so-called White Cave was a white Cave, neither too big nor too small, with a pleasant environment and a small pool of steaming spring water.
Quinn saw the man off and turned to leave, but Unas stopped him and asked, "Where did you get your weapons? The slave owners couldn't possibly be supplying weapons to their slaves, could they?"
"We used the ore to make it ourselves." Quinn didn't want to say another word.
Unas wanted to ask for more details, but seeing the boy's stubbornness, he lost interest and waved him away.
A short while later, the guard dog Unas Riedel had kicked earlier brought over a small bag of grain. The guy hurriedly apologized and begged for forgiveness, but Unas had no interest in arguing with such a small fry. He took the grain, kicked the guy again, and then let him go.