Delivery to Your Door

"Lord."

"Sir Colin?"

A warm, pure, gentle white light that wasn't the least bit harsh appeared before his eyes. Accompanied by a voice as warm as a spring breeze, Colin slowly came back to himself.

When he saw Shana's glowing fist right in front of him, Colin suddenly "woke up," as if surfacing from underwater.

Only then did Colin realize that everyone was watching him with concern.

"Did something happen just now that we don't know about?"

Shana lowered her hand. Her voice was like a hymn, carrying a calming power that made one feel as if basking in a spring breeze.

Seeing that Colin's expression had seemed off and his eyes were vacant, and that ordinary methods couldn't rouse him, she had decisively resorted to some special power.

After all, Shana remembered that she had once been a member of the Sun Chant Choir, but later seemed to have been transferred to another department of the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun to take on a different duty.

"It's nothing. I was just thinking about something else."

Colin rubbed his forehead. For some reason, while thinking about the population just now, he had suddenly thought of something important and fallen into a kind of whirlpool of thought, sinking deeper and deeper until he couldn't snap out of it for a while.

Even now, that feeling of anxiety and dread still lingered.

It was as if something terrible could happen at any moment, yet he was powerless to change it or prevent it.

Everything seemed to have become urgent.

But when Colin tried to recall what he had been thinking about just now, he suddenly found that he couldn't remember it, as though he had developed amnesia in an instant.

"What should we do now?"

Shana's clear blue eyes fixed on Colin as she suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

"Let's go mine in the cave first. Whatever happens later, we have to take things one step at a time."

Colin made his decision. Whatever happened later, for now he needed to increase his strength as much as possible.

And explosives were strength!

Soon, they returned to the Niter Mine, a cave roughly three meters high and four or five meters wide.

The entrance was pitch-black. There were clearly some Aberration creatures inside, but Colin hadn't received any warning that they were especially dangerous, which meant they probably weren't very strong.

Colin carried the Hurricane Lamp and prepared for danger. With Shana leading the way and everyone gathered around him, they entered the cave.

Inside, the mine was dark, cold, and damp, and the air was filled with a murky, rotten stench.

The floor had been trampled relatively flat over time, though plenty of rocks had broken loose from the ceiling and the walls on either side.

The interior was supported by thick wooden posts of an Unknown type, forming a series of elongated passageways about two meters high. Every few meters, they passed beneath a rectangular frame and had to duck.

The farther in they went, the narrower the passages became. The sound of water droplets falling somewhere deep inside made them tense up instinctively.

And because this mine was relatively damp, and because of niter's properties, the farther in they went, the colder it became—unlike other types of mines, which grew hotter the deeper one went.

Perhaps they were lucky. Colin and the others hadn't encountered a single Aberration so far. After walking a little farther, they finally reached the mining area.

The walls throughout the area were covered with large quantities of colorless, white, or gray crystalline minerals.

Without wasting words, Colin used some Crude Iron blocks and Timber he had bought earlier at the Trade Market to quickly make six iron picks.

Clang, clang—

Number Two immediately led several of his men in breaking up the rock.

As soon as they knocked a piece loose, Colin put it into his Inventory and processed it on the spot.

The others held iron axes and kept watch, ready to prevent any monsters from charging in and catching them off guard.

More than ten minutes passed, but not a single monster made a sound inside the cave. It was as if they had all died.

A few pattering sounds suddenly rang out.

Only then did Colin notice that his men, who were standing guard against danger and accidents, were shivering in the cold mine.

These men, wearing only a pair of shorts and a ragged shirt, were looking at the brothers mining with something like envy on their faces.

"Miss Shana, do you have any spells that could keep them warm?"

Colin remembered that her healing spell seemed to warm people up.

Shana looked troubled. After a moment's hesitation, she said, "Um, I do, but I don't have enough magic power to keep it up for long. Ten minutes is my limit."

What? Ten minutes is your limit too? Colin grumbled to himself.

Then, after thinking it over, he gave up on having her use a spell and called out, "Everyone, switch over every ten minutes. Work for ten minutes, then rest for ten! We'll start rotating now!"

He wanted everyone to enjoy the glory that came from labor!

"Hurrah!"

"Praise the lord!"

The Servants holding axes immediately cheered. They took the iron picks from the others and began swinging them with all their might.

For a while, the only sound was the clang of steel striking the walls. Every Servant swung his pick with all his strength, determination written across his face.

Shana wasn't among those mining, though. With her constitution and magic, she didn't feel particularly cold.

Shana glanced at the hoes in their hands, a little regretful that she couldn't join in. She could only stand aside and watch.

But she understood how important safety was. If she went mining, they would work more efficiently, but if anything unexpected happened, the Servants weren't strong enough to prevent injuries or deaths. So she had no complaints.

Ten minutes, half an hour, an hour, and nearly two hours passed.

Under Colin's efforts, the mine was no longer as cramped as before and had become considerably more spacious.

And as he grew more practiced, Colin became faster and faster at mixing explosives.

By then, the Black Powder in his Inventory was already nearing an astonishing two tons!

"Good thing the Inventory is divided into slots and nothing inside can jostle around. It's not as good as the Trade Market's absolute stasis, but as long as nothing touches it, it's basically motionless. Otherwise, wouldn't it blow up in my Inventory and send me flying?"

Just imagining that scene made Colin a little afraid.

After all, this was two tons of explosives!

Well, it was three tons now.

He was making Black Powder far faster than he'd expected.

But just then, Colin's expression suddenly turned a little strange, because he saw a notification.

[Through some subtle vibrations that most people would never notice—or perhaps sounds, intuition, or something else—you seem to have realized that someone is approaching this area.]

[You guessed at who they might be. You think they are fellow Survivors.]