The most important raw material for making glass was sand, and the sand used by Glass City came from the Yalahan Desert directly south of the city. But making glass required more than just sand. The most important reason Mikella Blast Furnace City had become the "Glass City" was that there were also abundant limestone deposits nearby.
Those servants, attendants, and hired hands who had been transferred away had not, of course, been driven by the Gray Gloves into the mines to work. They had been relocated to the Hesseng Mining Area on the southern shore of Green Lake. It was the largest rural settlement north of Glass City, and the Gray Gloves had found a small farmstead at the end of a country lane far from the village. In fact, even if Shade had not come to investigate, those eventually cleared of suspicion would soon have regained their freedom.
The journey was rather long, so Shade borrowed a horse and rode outside the city. With Enhanced Space Perception and a map, he was not worried about getting lost even in unfamiliar countryside.
But at ten-thirty that morning, as he rode through the fields toward the farmstead, Shade saw unnatural black smoke rising from the fenced-in buildings by the field ridges.
Worried that the borrowed horse might be harmed, he hid it in a nearby grove first. After hurrying toward the farmstead, he discovered that it was indeed on fire.
The farmstead stood atop a small hill amid the fields. Shade ran up the road and immediately saw a bloodied man staggering toward him, clutching a pistol as though fleeing for his life.
"Monsters! Monsters!"
He was too badly injured. The rasp in his voice as he spoke meant his life was nearing its end. He did not even reach