Locke and Er (4)

Chapter 24: Locke and Er (4)

Christo Hills lies on the edge of the Malichu Plains, connected to the Tidani Mountain Range. It also serves as a buffer zone between the forces of the Forde Commercial Alliance and the Dwarf Kingdom. Legend has it that during the Age of the End of Magic, the remaining mages, for the future and development of Galintea's humanity, opened a dimensional gate and sent all other intelligent races of Galintea to other sub-dimensions. However, for some unknown reason, this Dwarven tribe in the Tidani Mountain Range was overlooked. Over more than two thousand years, this Dwarven tribe slowly developed, establishing the Dwarf Kingdom with the Tidani Mountain Range at its center.

This is currently the only intelligent civilization discovered in Galintea that resembles humanity. However, Dwarves mostly prefer to inhabit mountainous regions. They have had contact with humans without major conflicts; on the contrary, there have been occasional trade exchanges.

Christo Hills nominally belongs to the sphere of influence of the Commercial Alliance, but in reality, the Commercial Alliance cannot effectively divide and govern it administratively. To put it bluntly, the mountain folk living here are naturally unruly and warlike. A casual remark or a bump could easily escalate into a large-scale bloody brawl. Currently, the Commercial Alliance is pursuing a policy of appeasement. It is rumored that there is a proposal to divide Christo Hills into various regions as fiefs for those who have rendered meritorious service to the Commercial Alliance, a proposal the Commercial Alliance is still considering.

After three days and two nights, Fatty Shi led Lorist and the others to their destination, a small village called Baka. Their host was the client for this private job, the village chief of Baka Village and the owner of the mine, a middle-aged man named Bam.

Speaking of which, Bam was also an alumnus of Lorist and the others, having graduated from Dawnlight Academy. Bam's father had participated in the Commercial Alliance's war against the Krissen Empire's invasion. After being injured, he returned to his hometown. Having seen the world, he wanted to change the poverty and backwardness of the village, so he gritted his teeth, scraped together the tuition fees, and sent Bam to study at Dawnlight Academy. Bam studied for three years, majoring in Resource Exploration and Mineral Development. However, these two majors at Dawnlight Academy had always been unpopular, and the instructors teaching them were not very professional, merely lecturing by the book and engaging in theoretical discussions, which eventually led to the academy discontinuing these two majors.

Upon returning to his hometown, Bam spent five to six years combining his theoretical knowledge with practical experience, finally discovering a mineral vein beneath a small mountain ridge near Baka Village. After excavation, it turned out to be a silver-tin symbiotic deposit. Although the output was not large, this small mine became the survival pillar for about five to six surrounding villages. With this small mine, no one in the surrounding villages starved to death in the past decade, and basic sustenance was ensured. Bam also used the profits from this small mine to send talented children from the village to Molent for schooling, hoping they would have better development when they grew up.

After a conversation with Bam, everyone greatly admired their senior, Bam. Giving up opportunities in Molent City to return to his hometown and change the impoverished situation was not something everyone could do. Especially after opening the small mine, using the earned money to send the village children to school was even more commendable. Lorist and Yuri deeply understood this; the tuition fees for a few children in Molent City were not a small sum.

Senior Bam was very straightforward. He explained that a year ago, traces of Gold-Eating Rats had been found deep in the mine. As a Black Iron Swordsman, he had led people down to kill two of them, and then things quieted down for a while. Later, whenever traces of Gold-Eating Rats were found, he would personally lead people down to patrol, killing about a dozen in a year. It wasn't until two months ago, when miners were working, that they were attacked by Gold-Eating Rats, resulting in three deaths and five injuries, that he felt something was wrong. He gathered all the awakened Battle Qi users from the surrounding villages, a total of three Black Iron and eleven Bronze Swordsmen, including himself, preparing for a major extermination of the Gold-Eating Rats in the mine.

However, this extermination operation failed to achieve its objective. Bam's team was fiercely attacked by nearly a hundred Gold-Eating Rats in the mine. The fourteen-person team was caught off guard, and almost everyone was injured. Although they killed over thirty Gold-Eating Rats, they couldn't withstand the wave after wave of attacks from the rat swarm. They barely managed to retreat to the surface, at the cost of nine severely injured individuals.

At this point, Bam realized that the Gold-Eating Rats in the mine had become a plague. The only solution was to post a mission and hire mercenaries to eliminate them. However, he was a bit short on funds. After paying the miners' compensation and his own and others' medical expenses, he had less than thirty gold coins left. Furthermore, because the mine had been closed for over a month with no income, he had to keep some money to buy food and distribute it to the surrounding villages. Therefore, the mission reward he could offer was only a little over ten gold coins. The news he got from inquiring at the Mercenary Guild disappointed him greatly; for a mission request like his, the commission alone would be five Gold Fude, leaving insufficient funds to pay the mercenaries for the mission.

Bam suddenly remembered that when he was studying at Dawnlight Academy, the students there often formed adventuring teams to take on missions for extra income. So, he asked the children studying at the academy to inquire, and they found Fatty Shi.

After listening to Bam's explanation of the situation, everyone felt relieved. This private job should not be too risky, and they trusted Village Chief Bam's character. Fatty Shi analyzed the situation for everyone. According to the intelligence provided by Senior Bam, the number of Gold-Eating Rats in the mine should be around two to three hundred, considered a small rat swarm that was developing into a medium-sized one. If it were a large rat swarm, the group that attacked Senior Bam's party would have numbered at least nearly a thousand. An attack by nearly a hundred would be manageable for the five of them, with three Silver Rank and two Black Iron Rank individuals. Even if they couldn't kill all the Gold-Eating Rats, they could kill the queen rat, forcing the remaining rats to leave the mining area.

Although the eighteen Gold Fude reward offered by Senior Bam was a bit insufficient, it was enough for everyone to earn a good sum. Moreover, Senior Bam would bring two Bronze Swordsmen to join the team, one as a guide and the other to help carry luggage, all free services. The most important point was that all spoils from this mission would belong to the adventuring team. In the nests of Gold-Eating Rats, valuable metal ores could often be found. In the past, someone had even found large nuggets of native gold, which were valuable items. Therefore, this adventure was very worthwhile. Everyone should rest well tonight and depart tomorrow.

"...Generally speaking, the meat of Gold-Eating Rats is slightly sour but safe to eat. It tastes better when made into smoked jerky. The internal organs and blood must be discarded as they are inedible and contain heavy metal toxins. The most formidable parts of the Gold-Eating Rat are its two large incisors, which are extremely hard. The market price for one incisor is one small silver coin. However, their fur is useless; mainly, the smell cannot be completely removed. No matter how it is tanned, it retains a foul odor similar to that of a sewer, attracting flies and mosquitoes, so it is usually discarded..."

In the mine, Er was assigned to scout ahead, while Fatty Shi, Yuri, and Telman walked in the middle. Lorist, Senior Bam, and two Bronze Swordsmen carrying iron cages followed behind. As they walked, Lorist showed off the knowledge he had learned in his Magical Beast Lore major to Senior Bam: "Gold-Eating Rats detest the smell of pine trees, especially pine roots. The potion we smeared at the fork in the road just now was extracted from old pine roots. This is to prevent the Gold-Eating Rats from scattering and to isolate their activity space..."

"Yes, that's right. This is a research result published last year by Professor Snade Borg, our academy's instructor for the Magical Beast Lore major. He received the Forde Research Award for this, along with a prize of two hundred thousand Gold Fude, and became rich overnight. This discovery is a boon for all mine owners. As long as the potion is regularly applied in the mine, it can drive away Gold-Eating Rats from the mining area, preventing harassment."

"It's not expensive; a large barrel costs only three Gold Fude and can last for a month. In fact, if you use it for a long time, the mine will naturally retain the smell of pine, and after a year or two of use, you won't need to apply the potion anymore. This is really cost-effective! Senior Bam, if you're interested, let me know. This potion is currently in high demand, and the academy's production is limited. You can't get it without being an insider. If you need it, I can definitely get it for you based on our friendship."

Lorist felt quite proud. As long as Senior Bam was interested, one barrel would earn him a profit of one gold coin. Twelve barrels a year would mean he could earn twelve Gold Fude effortlessly. This was a good business. Perhaps after returning this time, he would specifically go around to the mines to promote this potion.

As Lorist and the others went deeper, they encountered two waves of Gold-Eating Rat swarms. More than two hundred Gold-Eating Rats lay dead at the swords of the adventuring party. Not to mention the strength of Fatty Shi, Er, and Telman, the three Silver Rank individuals, even the performance of Yuri and Lorist, both Black Iron Rank, made Senior Bam and the two Bronze Swordsmen gasp in amazement.

Yuri stood in the triangle formed by Fatty Shi, Er, and Telman. Facing the swarming Gold-Eating Rats, he did not take the main offensive role but instead picked off stragglers and filled gaps, freeing Fatty Shi and the other two to focus on killing. Lorist was even more astonishing; with one sword, he stood alone on one side, killing one Gold-Eating Rat with each swing, and after killing dozens, he hadn't even gotten a drop of rat blood on him, and he wasn't killing any slower than Fatty Shi and the others.

The three of them, Bam, felt ashamed. Their party of fourteen had entered the mine and encountered a similar number of Gold-Eating Rats, and they had been in a complete panic, fleeing the mine in disarray, with nine people severely injured. Now, watching others, they killed with such ease, as if they were practicing sword forms.

After killing these two waves of Gold-Eating Rat swarms, Fatty Shi decided that everyone should take a break, rest, and collect the spoils. Yuri took a large pair of pliers and prepared to pull out the teeth of the Gold-Eating Rats. Senior Bam asked if anyone wanted the carcasses of the Gold-Eating Rats. Remembering Lorist's words about the meat being edible, he asked a Bronze Swordsman to return to the village to find some people to move all these rat carcasses back to provide more meat for the villagers.

After eating some dry rations and taking a short nap, Fatty Shi decided to split the group into two. He would take Telman and Yuri down the left fork, while Lorist and Er would take the right fork. There shouldn't be many Gold-Eating Rats left, and now they just needed to find the nest and kill the queen rat to finish the job.

Lorist carried the bag containing the rat-repellent potion, smearing it around as he walked.

Er asked, "What are you doing?"

Lorist briefly explained the potion's efficacy. Since Er didn't own a mine, he didn't bother trying to sell it to him.

Er was very skeptical about the potion's effectiveness, so the two of them started bickering.

After walking for half a day with no discoveries, and seeing that the main mining tunnel was almost at its end, with neither any findings nor any Gold-Eating Rats encountered, Er said, "Let's go back. There's nothing here."

As soon as he finished speaking, the rock wall in front suddenly bulged, then cracked open with a "boom." A huge, dark head emerged, sniffed the air for a moment, and then lunged directly at Lorist and Er.

"What is that?" Lorist was so scared that he dropped the torch in his hand. This thing was too big! The diameter of its head alone was two meters.

"Run, quickly!" Er grabbed Lorist and turned to flee.

"Damn it, I knew meeting you would bring trouble. The last two times were bad enough, and this time you insisted on joining, so I've been worried sick about when the bad luck would strike. Now I can finally relax. Killing rats and running into something like this, my bad luck has reached its peak," Lorist grumbled as he ran behind Er.

"Aren't you going to thank your brother for pulling you along? Otherwise, you would have been swallowed by that thing. Didn't you see you were so scared you dropped your torch?" Er retorted.

"I just suddenly remembered the Unicorn Rock Python from the mine incident legend. I was afraid that thing behind us was it. When I saw that head and thought of its long body, I froze," Lorist said, his face feeling a bit hot. He had indeed been stunned by fear, and luckily Er had pulled him along.

Er looked back as he ran. After a while, he said, "It doesn't look like a Unicorn Rock Python. The thing behind us isn't fast, its head is round, it doesn't seem to have eyes, and it doesn't have scales..."

"No way, you can see in this darkness? Don't treat me like a child, do I look that gullible? Also, don't run so fast, we can't see anything clearly, be careful you don't run into the rock wall," Lorist said.

"Haha," Er smiled proudly. "You know I practice Dark Attribute Battle Qi, right? But you don't know that cultivating Dark Attribute Battle Qi grants night vision, do you? It's dark here, but to your brother, it's like daytime. This is your brother's innate ability. How about that, impressive, right? Envious, aren't you? Unlike you, who becomes blind when you drop your torch."

"Damn it, brother, I have plenty of gold coins, I can afford lamp oil. Unlike you, who never lights a lamp..." Lorist said with mixed envy. This guy's night vision seems to be no worse than my Dynamic Vision, especially at night, it's a huge advantage.

"So, you must have had a great time that day when you snuck into the women's bathhouse, right? Even though the light was dim, it wouldn't be a problem for you," Lorist asked, panting.

"Can we please not mention that day? Your brother was truly facing the wall... " Hearing Lorist mention it, Er was reminded of those agonizing four words and panicked. As a result, he wasn't paying attention and tripped over a rock.

Lorist quickly went over to help him up. Er grabbed Lorist's arm and got to his feet. "Huh? Locke, how are you injured? Your clothes are all wet?"

Lorist was startled and felt himself up. "Oh, it's not me who's injured, it's the bag of potion that broke, and the potion spilled on me. Are you okay? I think I heard movement behind us again."

"I'm fine. That thing is chasing us again, let's run!"

A short while later, they saw Fatty Shi and the others waiting where they had rested before. Both of them were so out of breath they couldn't speak, so they just waved their hands, signaling everyone to run quickly. Fatty Shi and the others found Lorist and Er's frantic gestures amusing and stood there laughing. Then they saw a huge creature chasing them from behind with a "rumbling" sound. This caused quite a commotion, and everyone scattered like startled birds, desperately running towards the mine entrance.

Despite his size, Fatty Shi was the fastest, leading the charge out of the mine. Yuri, Telman, Bam, and one Bronze Swordsman followed, with Er and Lorist bringing up the rear. The other Bronze Swordsman outside the mine and the villagers preparing to load the Gold-Eating Rat carcasses onto carts to transport back to the village were stunned to see them escape, looking terrified. What happened now?

Fatty Shi shouted at them, "Run, scatter, don't stay near the entrance! A magical beast is coming out!"

Everyone immediately dispersed like birds and beasts. Fortunately, the large creature chasing them from inside the mine seemed to be afraid of light and retreated back inside when it reached the entrance.

Fatty Shi breathed a sigh of relief and asked Lorist and Er, "What was that thing? How did you encounter it? Ptooey, Locke, what's that smell on you? Did you pee yourself?"

Lorist said, "No, it's the potion that spilled on me, the one invented by our academy's Professor Snade Borg to drive away Gold-Eating Rats. Since this job is to kill Gold-Eating Rats, I brought a barrel with me."

"Damn it! You screwed me over, bringing that potion here! I know what's inside it now," Fatty Shi exclaimed, jumping up and down and raising his fist to punch Lorist.

"What do you mean? Fatty Shi, explain yourself. This potion repels Gold-Eating Rats, isn't that a good thing?" Lorist asked, dodging.

"Good, my ass! It repels Gold-Eating Rats, sure, but it attracts Earth Dragons! What's inside is an Earth Dragon, drawn by your potion!"

"Do you even know what an Earth Dragon is? It's a mutated earthworm, and it absolutely loves this potion brewed from pine roots. If you don't believe me, dig under a pine tree yourself. You'll find a whole nest of earthworms. Some people at the academy even use this potion to hunt Earth Dragons."

"Professor Borg invented this potion hoping to make a fortune. But he drove away the Gold-Eating Rats and attracted Earth Dragons, causing him to lose that two hundred thousand prize money. The potions he produced are still piled up at the academy, unsellable, didn't you know? Damn it, only a fool like you would fall for the professor's trick!" Fatty Shi was furious.

I'm the fool, Lorist thought, no wonder the professor promised me three gold coins per bucket, and I'd only get one gold coin for each bucket I sold. Where else could such a good deal be found? Lorist squatted down, holding his head. "Go ahead and hit me. Everyone, come and beat me up to vent your anger."

No one came to hit him. Since things had reached this point, they had to figure out how to resolve it. Compared to other magical beasts, Earth Dragons were relatively easier to deal with. After much discussion, they decided that fishing was the most reliable method.

Earth Dragons are essentially giant earthworms. They fear water and light and are a relatively docile scavenger magical beast. They don't actively attack moving targets, which is also related to their large size, slow speed, and sluggish reactions. Fatty Shi, with the help of Chief Bam and the villagers, spent six days crafting a nearly hundred-meter-long thick rope and a large anchor-like iron hook. Then, Lorist, to atone for his mistake, single-handedly carried the large iron hook tied to the rope into the mine.

As he walked in, he noticed someone beside him. It was Er. Lorist asked, "What are you doing here?"

Er replied, "Of course, I'm here to accompany you, Brother. If Fatty Shi hadn't had Yuri and Telman help pull the rope, they would have come too. Because we are companions."

Lorist was so touched he almost shed tears.

After walking for a while, Er said it was about time. He then put down the large iron hook, wrapped it with rags, and Lorist poured the remaining half-bucket of potion onto the hook and rags.

Soon, the sound of "huffing and puffing" echoed from the mine again. Er said, "Let's run!" and the two of them rushed towards the cave entrance.

Before they reached the entrance, the thick rope on the ground suddenly jumped up, tautly stretched in the air about a meter high. Lorist rejoiced, "It's hooked."

Outside the mine, Fatty Shi was directing the villagers, using several large winches, in a tug-of-war with the Earth Dragon from inside the cave. They pulled from morning until afternoon, finally managing to drag the Earth Dragon to the cave entrance. However, the Earth Dragon was holding onto something inside and refused to come out. Finally, amidst everyone shouting "One, two, three, pull!" Lorist saw a torrent erupt from the mine. Black, foul-smelling blood and mucus gushed out, and the large iron hook flew out, with various tubular shapes, large and small, hooked onto it.

Fatty Shi walked closer, examined it, and said with satisfaction, "Good, all the internal organs are pulled out. The Earth Dragon is dead. We'll come back tomorrow to pull out the skin."

Earth Dragons have strong regenerative abilities, and external damage to their bodies can be easily healed. Therefore, people devised this hunting method of fishing for Earth Dragons, utilizing their habit of swallowing prey whole into their intestines. Once the internal organs are pulled out, the Earth Dragon is finished.

There wasn't much valuable on an Earth Dragon. The only useful part was its thick hide. People would cut the hide into pieces, put them in a pot, and when it boiled into a thick liquid, it became an excellent adhesive. Mixed with mud and sand, it could be used to build walls and foundations, and once dry, it would become a solid, extremely sturdy structure.

Since Lorist had caused the trouble, Fatty Shi gave the Earth Dragon's hide to Senior Bam, which made him very happy. With the Earth Dragon's hide as an adhesive, he could build a batch of good houses for the villagers.

It took another three days for Lorist and his companions to clear all the Gold-Eating Rats from the mine. They then hung iron cages in the corners, placing the carcasses of Gold-Eating Rats inside to rot naturally. This way, any future Gold-Eating Rats passing by would smell the scent of death left by the iron cages and naturally avoid the mining area.

With all this done, they bid farewell to Senior Bam and set off on their journey back to the city.