Well No. 338

The Tenth Reconnaissance Squad surrounded a well in the inner courtyard of the fortress, from which a constant knocking sound emanated.

Roy discovered that a large crane was indeed installed at the wellhead. Instead of water buckets, the crane carried a large Wooden Box containing some remaining ore fragments, which was placed next to the well. Not far away, there was also an ore screening platform, and several warehouses were connected together in the corridor.

Through the open door of the warehouse, Roy could see that the warehouse was filled with piles of rough gemstones.

The mine must be a Gemstone Mine, and the only means of transportation into the mine is the Wooden Box on this crane. Whether it's lowering the elf miners down or fishing up the ore, it's almost always done by this Wooden Box.

A foreman elf, his hands bound, stood at the edge of the mine shaft, explaining to everyone how they communicated with the miners underground...

'We send the slaves we buy down into the well in Wooden Box. We don't force them to dig out a certain amount of ore. Instead, every night we lower this large Wooden Box into the well. The amount of ore pulled up is the same as the amount of food we send down. If the amount of ore is particularly low, a penalty mechanism is activated, and the amount of food sent down is halved.'

"We never concern ourselves with how food is distributed underground; we only care about how much ore we can hoist up each day."

'If we don't receive any ore that day, we won't put food down the mine.'

Roy stood quietly in the crowd, listening to the mine manager explain how the mine operated...

No wonder the Mine Owners keep buying Elf Slaves and putting them into the mines. It turns out that a cruel food chain also forms inside the mines, and the miners probably have to settle things with their fists. Moreover, the newly arrived Elf Slaves will be subjected to the most severe exploitation.

"Aren't you worried that the miners inside the mine might band together and rush out from underground?" the elven knight asked curiously.

"It's unlikely that this will happen. The well is very deep. It's practically impossible for them to dig a tunnel out from underground. If they want to climb up the Wooden Box, a few miners climbing up at once wouldn't be a threat to us. Besides, the Mine Owner Grantham has other ways to prevent this from happening."

The mine manager recounted what was happening at the mine, and everyone who heard it felt a chill run down their spines...

If it were them who were put into the mine, what would be their chances of escaping? Roy and Langbo stood among the elves, listening to the mine manager's story, and couldn't help but look again and again at the dark mine shaft.

Through the grille above the mine shaft, Roy couldn't see what was inside the pitch-black mine.

However, one mine shaft was open and equipped with a crane, while the other shaft was sealed with an iron grating as thick as an arm.

Before long, the two captains, Hekelis and Hekelis, descended from the fortress together. The elven knights made way for them, and Commander Hekelis walked to the well, where an adjutant told him about the mine and the slave miners inside.

After listening to his adjutant's brief account, Commander Hekelis asked the steward, "How long has this mine been around?"

"It could take decades," the mine manager said tremblingly.

Commander Hekelis took a torch from his adjutant and threw it into the mine without hesitation.

The torch was extinguished by the cold air inside the mine as it fell.

A dozen seconds later, the sound of something falling came through.

Commander Hekelis saw a thick bundle of hemp rope wrapped around the wheel behind the crane, thought for a moment, then took out a moonstone the size of an egg from his Magic Pouch and threw the slightly fluorescent stone into the mine.

Then Commander Hekelis began to count. "One, two, three, four... eight, nine!"

When he counted to nine, the moonstone that had been thrown into the mine echoed as it hit the ground, but the faint glow did not allow him to see what was below.

The wellhead was less than two meters in diameter. Commander Hekelis turned his head, staring sharply at the mine manager, and asked again:

"Do you know where the first batch of slaves sent down came from?"

The elf steward thought carefully for a moment before saying:

"It should be during the final period of the Battle of Queen Ivini Island. At that time, the Naga Sea Clan admitted defeat and abandoned the Empress Ivini Islands. They also abandoned some Gray Dwarf Bandit on the island. I remember that they captured a lot of Gray Dwarf, so much so that the prisons on the Elf Continent were not enough. Our Boss bought back a lot of Gray Dwarf slaves at that time."

"Later, these Gray Dwarf slaves became increasingly difficult to buy, and they weren't behaving well in the mines, always trying to dig a tunnel to escape underground. So the Boss bought a group of serious elven criminals from the Dark Moon Elf Kingdom and put them in the mines. Unexpectedly, the two factions started fighting each other in the mines, all over the right to distribute food at the mine entrance..."

"Actually, it's not so easy to buy serious offenders from prison. There was a period when we were often out of stock. Later, the Boss somehow got in touch with a Slave Traders who would bring in slaves of various races from the sea, including not only elves and dwarves, but also humans, orcs, lizardmen, and so on."

"This slave trade didn't last long either. Many legions of the Silver Moon Elf cracked down on the slave trade along the coast, so those slave ships didn't dare to come over."

"Later, our Boss got a stable source of slaves, and that continued for a long time."

"Until three years ago, a large-scale riot broke out in the Pattington Plane. The Silver Pegasus Legion completely sealed off the Pattington Plane, and our channels for purchasing slaves were completely cut off. That period was the most difficult. We had no other choice but to hire headhunters to capture the Half-Elf on the highlands."

"I swear to the Moon Goddess, we have never captured any elves outside the Pagisto Plateau. This place is not the territory of the Silver Moon Elf, so these Half-Elf cannot be considered subjects of the Silver Moon Kingdom. Therefore, we have not offended anyone..."

The mine manager went on to say a lot more. He was a Silver Moon Elf, and no one knew how he ended up in the mines of the Pagisto Plateau and became the manager here.

Commander Hekelis squinted at the steward and asked coldly, "According to you, there are still three forces in the well: the Gray Dwarf, the prisoners from Prison Island, Half-Elf?"

The manager wiped the sweat from his forehead; his hands were still trembling. "Uh, more or less. There might be a fourth force, and maybe even a fifth."

He dared not meet Commander Hekelis's gaze and turned his head to the side.

"Commander Hekelis, has Earl Swynborne given any instructions?" Commander Hekelis looked up and asked the Silver Pegasus Commander standing opposite him.

Commander Hekelis smiled slightly and said, "The Earl's original purpose in launching this war was to rescue the Half-Elf on the plateau. Since some of the miners in the mines are innocent Half-Elf, our immediate priority is to think of a way to rescue them from the mines."

Commander Hekelis nodded, then turned to his adjutant and ordered, "Find a rope ladder. It doesn't matter if it's long, but it must reach the bottom of the well and be sturdy."

These rope ladders were considered essential items in the Cavalry Vanguard Regiment, and soon the adjutant had two elven cavalrymen carry over a large bundle of rope ladders.

Commander Hekelis ordered his cavalry to lower the rope ladder and assigned a cavalry squadron to guard the mine entrance, waiting for the miners to climb out...

Commander Hekelis then walked to the well where the iron bars sealed the opening. He peered inside through the bars and saw that it was also pitch black. He then asked the mine manager, "What's hidden in this well? Why is the opening sealed with iron bars?"

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

"What black bug? Could you be more specific?" Commander Hekelis asked curiously.

"There were black beetles about the size of a washbasin, their bodies as hard as iron. They seemed to really like eating rocks. Luckily, we found them early, and we also had some Armor-Piercing Arrow in reserve. As soon as they crawled out of the well, we shot them dead. Later, the Mine Owner Grantham was worried that they would come back, so he filled the mine with quicklime and sealed the wellhead with iron bars," the mine manager answered honestly.

Commander Hekelis nodded and turned to leave the well.

"We've also dried a few black insects and preserved them as specimens, sir. Would you like to take a look?" the mine manager asked, chasing after Commander Hekelis.

"It's worth a look!" Commander Hekelis answered without any hesitation this time.

Roy stood in the crowd and saw that the mine manager wanted to find some helpers, so he stepped forward and said to the mine manager, "If you need any help, just let me know."

"Thank you, could you help me carry that thing?" the mine manager asked tentatively.

"No problem!" Roy walked out readily.

Langbo followed behind Roy, also trying to get closer.

The mine manager said very kindly, "Two people are enough. The thing won't be too heavy after it's dried."

When Roy saw the dried black beetle, he was startled. If no one had told him it was a huge beetle, Roy would have definitely thought it was a sea turtle.

From the front, the shell looks more like a black tortoise shell.

Only by turning it over to look at its belly could one see that it was covered with long legs. Upon closer inspection, Roy realized that it looked more like a large woodlice...

The black beetle had many sharp teeth growing along its body edge, and its two eyeballs on its head had long since shriveled up.

The mine foreman and Roy carried the black beetle to the side of the well. Commander Hekelis covered his mouth and nose and walked closer to examine it closely.

Commander Hekelis also joined in, and the two even exchanged a glance midway through.

"How did Dark Creatures end up in the mine?" Commander Hekelis asked gravely.

"Could there be a connecting passage underground?" Commander Hekelis's face was somewhat grim. He asked the mine manager, "And these black beetles never came out again?"

"Never," the mine manager said firmly.

"It seems...it's necessary to go down and take a look," Commander Hekelis said.

"Before we take action, we should at least dig out all the quicklime from the well..." Commander Hekelis said, frowning.

As the two were talking, a large iron cage was pushed over to another well, and the ladder leading down from the well was shaking inexplicably, indicating that something was climbing up from the well. A group of elven cavalrymen drew their longswords from their waists, pointing more than a dozen sharp blades at the well.

After waiting for quite a while, there was a very clear sound, and even very heavy breathing.

A withered, dark hand rested on the edge of the well, its fingernails resembling eagle claws, and its arm a mass of skin and bone. Then, a disheveled Old Elf emerged, looking almost exhausted from climbing, his eyes nearly slits...

Unfazed by the several longswords in front of him, he exposed his upper body above the well opening.

He was clearly an elf, but he was so thin that his ribs were clearly visible.

His thin body struggled to climb out of the well, then he plopped down on the stone slab beside it. Panting, he looked up and said in a hoarse voice, "Heh heh, I never thought I'd actually be alive enough to see the color of the sky again..."

The elven cavalryman walked over warily, lightly dragged him into the iron cage, and then questioned him, "Do you remember where your hometown is?"

The elf hesitated for a moment, then said, "Saint Margret City."

"Are you a prisoner?"

"I used to be, and I've been a mining slave for over sixty years now..."

The gaunt Old Elf answered with difficulty, revealing a mouthful of rotten teeth as he spoke.

Unexpectedly, the elf who asked the question simply took an apple from his pocket, threw it into the Old Elf's arms, and said to him, "Answer my question properly!"

The Old Elf eagerly grabbed the apple and began to devour it, completely ignoring the elven knight's question.

"Approximately how many Elf Slaves are still underground?"

"..."

Roy thought the Old Elf must have climbed up to scout ahead, and sure enough, a little while later, another elf climbed out of the well.

Although the elf was somewhat thin, he looked very energetic. When the longsword at the wellhead pointed at him, his muscles suddenly tensed up, but he then wisely raised his hands above his head.

Roy noticed that he even had a badly worn pickaxe tucked into his waistband.

This time, the elven cavalry placed their longswords on his shoulders and chained his neck and hands before pushing him into the iron cage.

The treatment she received was completely different from that of the first Old Elf...

Commander Hekelis instructed the elven knights guarding the wellhead, "Be careful of these guys. Those who can survive in the mines probably don't have clean hands..."