Investigation

That's how Roy brought the dwarf craftsman Putejisi out of the mine.

The first thing Roy did upon leaving the mine was to find an axe and cut the chains on the old dwarf's ankles. His ankles had been chafed and healed countless times, always covered in layers of scars, making them look rather frightening.

Dwarves are born with large feet, and Putejisi's feet were also very large. He was almost always barefoot in the mine, and the long periods without shoes had caused his soles to develop thick calluses. However, his toenails were rather frightening, with gray nails covered in cracks.

The old dwarf had almost no strong muscles, and his aged skin had become extremely loose. His only redeeming feature was his filthy beard.

When Putejisi came out of the mine, the first thing he did was not to rush to the restaurant to enjoy a meal, but to take a comfortable bath in the steamy bathroom, and to wash his beard very carefully, even applying a little oil, before braiding it back into three braids.

As for the Mediterranean-style hair on his head, the old dwarf simply trimmed it, and then cut off his nails, which had softened from soaking in the bath.

When he came out of the bathroom after changing into a linen robe, he looked somewhat thin and hunched over, but he was still quite energetic.

Roy led him to a separate suite on the fourth floor. The small living room wasn't very big; it could easily be converted into the old dwarf's workspace. Next to it was a very private bedroom with a soft, clean quilt on the single bed. Through the grid-patterned glass window, one could see the vast grasslands of the Pagisto Plateau.

The room was exquisite. Putejisi stroked the sofa and coffee table in the living room and said to Roy, "Move all this furniture out. I need a sturdy and durable workbench with a flat surface, and preferably a set of cauldrons from a magic laboratory. Also, please set up a row of shelves along the wall for me."

"I'll have the workbench and shelves moved over right away. We don't have the Magic Crucible yet, but I'll try to buy it from Padesto City!" Roy said.

The old dwarf nodded, then looked at Roy again and asked, "Mine Master Roy, what do you want me to do?"

"Let's fill our stomachs first, then we can talk while we eat..." Roy suggested.

The old dwarf frowned. He clearly didn't approve of discussing work during a meal, but since it was Roy brought it up, he couldn't say anything.

The Half-Elf people aren't very good at cooking; they can't even make bread, but they have no problem making a few flatbreads.

Soon, a fruit platter, two flatbreads, and a piece of cheese were placed in front of the old dwarf, along with a glass of ale that exuded a rich malty aroma.

When the old dwarf saw the food, his lips trembled. He first lowered his head, brought his nose close to the plate, and sniffed the aroma of wheat emanating from the flatbread with a look of ecstasy. Then he picked up the wooden mug and took a sip of the ale...

At that moment, the old dwarf Putejisi seemed to come back to life.

Throughout the meal, he kept his wine glass in his hand.

After taking a couple of sips of ale, the old dwarf's eyes regained some light. When he looked at Roy, his face was no longer full of wariness. He put the last piece of cheese in his mouth and licked the cheese crumbs off his fingers before saying to Roy, "Now you can tell me? If you don't tell me... what you want me to do, I might not be able to sleep soundly!" the old dwarf urged.

Roy smiled and gestured for the Half-Elf cook to remove all the plates from the table.

After the table was cleaned up, Roy took out a roll of parchment from his Magic Pouch, untied the rope binding the scroll, Roy showed the parchment to the old dwarf.

The scroll depicts the expanded mine shaft, with support frames erected around the shaft and two elevators inside, one going up and the other down.

Roy only drew a simplified diagram; the structure of the elevator was not shown at all.

The old dwarf's gaze fell on the hastily drawn blueprint. He didn't say anything, but studied it for a while before looking up at Roy and asking:

"You want to build a double-cabin elevator in the mine?"

Roy nodded and added, "My initial idea was to build a reliable elevator, but then I felt that one elevator might not be enough, so I changed it to two cars, one going up and one going down. When one car is up, the other car has to be stopped down in the shaft, and they can be connected together with pulleys and cables..."

Roy told the old dwarf his initial idea, and the old dwarf nodded repeatedly.

After Roy finished stating all his requirements, Putejisi said, "I will draw up the blueprints as soon as possible. After the blueprints are drawn up, I will also make a simple model for verification. It will probably take about three weeks to complete."

Roy said to the old dwarf, "I look forward to your first set of design drawings..."

The old dwarf's eyes seemed incredibly confident, suggesting he was quite sure he could design this elevator that could move up and down without the need for a human winch.

Although there are only about twenty Gray Dwarf miners in the First Mine, basic order has finally been restored in the mine.

Roy found a warehouse full of spinel from the Gray Dwarf Bandit, so he wasn't worried that Spinel Mine production would be severely low in the near future.

In addition to mining, the Dark Moon Elves underground in the First Mine also supervised the work of the twenty-odd Gray Dwarf.

Although the mine can continue to operate for the time being, the obvious problem is that there is a severe shortage of miners in the mine.

First, the Half-Elf miners were rescued, and now the Gray Dwarf Bandit have been almost all killed or wounded, leaving only a little over a hundred Dark Moon Elf... Could Roy really expect them to mine much Spinel Mine? There's no way around it; these problems were left behind by the previous Mine Owners, and now that Roy has taken over the mine, he has to find a way to solve them.

The elves aren't cut out for mining; he needs more Gray Dwarf in the mines.

I've heard that dwarf pirates have been frequently appearing in the Empress Ivini Islands lately. Roy wants to write a letter to Earl Swynborne to ask if the Seventeenth Silver Pegasus Legion has captured any Gray Dwarf prisoners of war. If so, he'd love to add them to the mines of the First Mine.

Roy stamped the envelope addressed to the Earl Swynborne with ink and waited for the Logistics Regiment to send it out when they transported supplies to the mines.

The First Mine was back to normal operation, and Langbo managed the First Mine Guard Team very well. Not only was there internal guard work, but patrol teams were also arranged around the mine. These Half-Elf Warrior patrolled within a ten-mile radius of the First Mine every day.

Once everything was on track, Roy led twenty Half-Elf Warrior and ten Dark Moon Elf Warrior away from the First Mine.

In fact, this battle not only changed the situation underground in the First Mine, but also changed the thoughts of some Dark Moon Elf.

In particular, the ten Dark Moon Elf Warrior who accompanied Roy on the mission developed a strong desire for battle after this fight.

They didn't even want to go back down into the mine and live that kind of hard and mundane life anymore.

The other twenty Half-Elf Warrior were also discussing the battle the whole way. For them, being able to defeat those Gray Dwarf Bandit was definitely a big deal worth spreading around.

Back at the Second Mine, the expansion project was nearing completion, but the shafts were still empty, and it was unclear when the elevators would be installed.

The stables built outside the mine fortress have also begun to have their roofs installed. The only thing affecting the progress of the project is the shortage of materials. The timber that should have been delivered this week is still nowhere to be seen.

It is said that the first batch of timber has arrived at the Valley Camp, but the Logistics Regiment has not yet made a transportation plan...

After Roy returned to the Second Mine, Leishande's caravan arrived Second Mine the following afternoon. His argali caravan had expanded from the initial thirty-odd sheep to more than seventy.

Moreover, several young Half-Elf had joined Leishande's group; they were all Leishande's assistants.

When Leishande arrived at the Second Mine, he first met Roy, Roy handed Leishande a prepared purchase list. The list mainly consisted of food supplies—fruit and fish.

The journey between the Pagisto Plateau and the Padesto City was too long, Roy suggested that Leishande go to the Bulwark Village to purchase these supplies.

After accepting Roy's commission, Leishande didn't even stop at the Second Mine, heading straight to the First Mine. He planned to take one last look at Langbo, and then lead the caravan to Rampart Town...

The thing that gave Roy the biggest headache was that after the Commander Berkeley went to the heart of the plateau, he hadn't returned for a long time.

Since Roy offended that adjutant last time, his relationship with the logistics department has become increasingly tense, and various supplies have been held up at the Valley Camp and have been delayed in being delivered to the mine.

Roy submitted a request to the logistics department, hoping that they could purchase a batch of salted fish at Castleton Harbour.

Because most of the people living in the mine Half-Elf, they are different from the Silver Moon Elf and do not object to eating fish.

The application has not received a response from the logistics department.

Moreover, at the Second Mine, although Mulin led the patrol team out to patrol every day and search for bushes to collect Red Berry, the food reserves in the mine were still being consumed rapidly. There was no way around it; there were nearly seven hundred Half-Elf at the Second Mine alone.

The Guard Regiment in charge of guarding the Third Mine recently wrote six letters to Roy, all with the same message: he hoped Roy could come to the Third Mine as soon as possible and take it over.

Roy consistently ignored him...

In fact, the third Spinel Mine had never been handed over, which was Roy's deliberate act. Given the strained relationship with the logistics department, it was impossible for Roy to take over the Third Mine.

The officers of the Guard Regiment responsible for guarding the Third Mine did not want to stay in the mine fortress forever, so they applied to the military headquarters at the Valley Camp to send another mine manager to take over the Third Mine.

The military headquarters at the Valley Camp would never dare to easily change the manager of the mine. Not to mention how difficult it is to find such a manager, the manager of this Spinel Mine was personally appointed by Earl Swynborne.

Unable to replace the mine manager, the military dispatched an investigator to the Second Mine to inquire about the situation from Roy.

It was under these circumstances that Investigator Yalilu came to the Second Mine alone.

Yalilu is an overseer of the Seventeenth Silver Pegasus Legion's Cavalry Vanguard Regiment. Due to the Cavalry Vanguard Regiment's poor performance on the Pagisto Plateau, Commander Hekelis is currently under investigation in Padesto City, so many officers of the Cavalry Vanguard Regiment have been assigned new tasks at the Valley Camp.

That's why Yalilu became an investigator, mainly to investigate officers within the legion who were passive and unwilling to carry out military orders.

Yalilu rode to the Second Mine with only two followers. The three of them had traveled from the Valley Camp to the Second Mine. When they saw the magnificent fortress-like building on the distant ridge, Investigator Yalilu sighed.

Everyone knows this is a troublesome matter.

Among the investigators at the Valley Camp, only Yalilu had no background, so this task was assigned to Yalilu.

"Boss, it looks like the Second Mine is just ahead."

After the attendant finished speaking, he took off the water bottle he was carrying and handed it to Yalilu...

Yalilu nodded. He had just left the outskirts of this fortress last month. The fact that Commander Hekelis had failed to capture the fortress was not only a stain on Commander Hekelis's reputation, but also made all the Elf Warrior of the Cavalry Vanguard Regiment feel ashamed...

Now that Yalilu has seen this mining fortress again, his mind is naturally filled with many thoughts.

He pulled on the reins, banishing the chaotic thoughts from his mind, and rode his horse toward the Second Mine.

Upon closer inspection, it became clear that construction was in full swing outside the Second Mine, with at least four hundred Half-Elf working outside the fortress. One group of mixed- Half-Elf Half-Elf was building stables, while another group was constructing Shooting Range.

Another noteworthy point is that a mountain path outside the fortress also appears to be newly constructed.

Investigator Yalilu went directly into the mine fortress, and found that the mine shafts were being expanded in the courtyard...