Trouble Beyond the Territory

At the mines in the River Valley Territory, it was daytime, and both the miners and the followers that Fran had brought from the Northern Territory were working diligently.

In the past, these miners would stay at the mine, either digging with the tools they were given or carrying Ore onto railcars and then transporting it to the warehouse.

Today, Anna brought out half of the miners and had them start laying tracks outside the mine.

They used nails and sticks to install hollow objects on the ground. If they encountered uneven areas, they had to use shovels, hoes, and other tools to level the road before continuing their work.

Anna closed her eyes to rest, not watching how the mining tools actually worked, because she couldn't understand them; only a few believers dressed in gray robes were among them instructing them on how to do it.

After a period of initial unfamiliarity, the miners gradually became proficient in their new job. After all, Fran's requirements were not very high; they just needed to make sure the object didn't wobble when it was placed down and that it was laid flat.

Her plan was to build a temporary railway for transportation first, so Fran didn't even come to the site to direct how to do it. Instead, she let the believers and Anna come directly. She didn't even make a set of tools to help build the railway.

The miners carried nails, hammered them down with tools crafted by Fran, and then moved on to the next spot, taking turns.

After working for a while, some miners started to have crooked ideas. They knew that they had been taken away from the mine and that there were very few people guarding it.

He glanced at the two Gray Robes, a man and a woman, who were inspecting and instructing them on their work. Although one of them was a woman, he dared not underestimate these people.

Because he had witnessed these people lifting hundreds of kilograms of stones from the ground with their bare hands, and they were only slightly out of breath. Moreover, they possessed a glowing skill that could knock off several pieces of rock when hit.

Therefore, he had no intention of attacking the two people. He then looked at Anna, who was standing on a high place, with her eyes closed, seemingly unconcerned about what was happening here.

He swallowed hard, slowed his movements slightly, and carefully observed the escape route.

He wanted to escape, even though these people were kind to him, but then he thought of something else.

That means these people are taking over the mine, which, as far as he knows, belongs to the lord, and the guards are still in cages.

He wanted to return to the River Valley Territory to deliver the message, hoping that at least the lord would exempt him from corvée labor and grant him the status of a guard.

His hands trembled, his expression tense, and he unconsciously began to look around.

"Ah!" An unexpected situation occurred. A miner accidentally hit his finger, dropped the tool he was holding, and kept shouting while clutching his finger, which was oozing a little blood.

"A great opportunity!"

He immediately seized the opportunity, stood up abruptly, and used all his strength to run to the edge of the group in an instant, attempting to slide down the hillside.

The moment he moved, the others noticed his action and ran in all directions as well, but there were only a few of them, probably only two.

However, this is also good news for him, because other people can also attract his attention.

"Don't run!!"

The familiar voices of the two overseers came from behind him. He ignored them and instead swung his arms rapidly with all his might.

But the next second, he heard a sudden arrow shot, which made his hair stand on end. The environment was too noisy, so how could he hear such a faint sound?

And almost the instant the arrow rang out, he instinctively sensed danger, his body desperately telling him to run.

He did as instructed. Although he was very curious about the sound of arrows shooting behind him, he did not stop, but instead slightly increased his speed.

But the next second, the sound of an arrow rang out again, this time making his body tremble and almost causing him to fall to the ground.

However, he quickly realized that this was not the time to think about that; he needed to run faster.

As he continued running forward, the sound of an arrow that sent chills down his spine rang out again, and this time, the sound was getting closer and closer to him in the air.

As he continued to take a step forward, a tremendous force suddenly tugged at his cloth robe, pressing him firmly to the ground, making it difficult for him to stand up.

When he came to his senses and looked closely, he saw an arrow stuck in the side of his neck, piercing through his clothes and embedding itself in the ground. The arrow's endpoint was a large, somewhat rugged rock.

This sent a chill down his spine. His body instinctively tried to pull the arrow out, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't.

Just then, he heard hurried footsteps behind him, and then he felt a strong hand on his shoulder.

They were the other miners trapped here, just like him. He recognized them almost instantly. A surge of secret delight filled him, and he immediately said:

"Brother, let me go, let's run together."

After he finished speaking, he felt the large hand pause for a moment, and then he heard a panicked voice behind him.

"Go ahead and run if you dare. Don't you learn from your mistake last time? Is this the time for us to run?"

He didn't remember much after that, only vaguely feeling that several people pulled him away from the arrows, and then these people escorted him to the front of the group, in front of Anna, the one with her eyes closed.

"Sir, all those who escaped are here."

When he heard those words, he trembled and looked around. Beside him were two other people with faces filled with the same terror.

One of the people's clothes appeared to have several tears, likely due to being pulled too hard during the rescue.

At that moment, he looked up and saw a short bow that looked quite extraordinary behind Anna.

This made him understand everything instantly, and then a wave of regret and fear surged into his heart and filled his mind.

He began to regret his impulsive escape. He knew these people, though few in number, weren't stupid. Why would the other side dare to send so few men to monitor over thirty of them? Wasn't it simply because of the difference in strength?

At this moment, although the three of them were not restrained, they instinctively remained motionless.

Because they knew exactly what would happen next, based on their previous experience of being guarded by soldiers in the mine.

Those who escaped would be caught, some imprisoned, awaiting the lord's men to take them away, and finally beheaded in the square of River Valley City.

Others would be pushed to the edge of the mine and hung from the stone wall by the neck with ropes, while their hands and feet were also tied.

Then, when the corpses were almost completely decomposed, people would be sent to remove them and throw them outside.

Now, all three of them have been captured. If nothing unexpected happens, the official in front of them will choose to kill one of them first to intimidate the miners, and then torture the other two a little before killing them.

They foresaw their future fate and trembled uncontrollably, unable to move at all.

Anna glanced at them, then directed her men to tie them together with ropes, linking the three of them together, and sent a Gray Robes man to hold them back.

Anna spoke to the gray-robed man twice, and then the man told the three of them to stand up and walk out of the line.

As he left the group, he felt a sense of relief, because he hadn't been killed on the spot.

And then came panic, because he knew they would be taken to a place where they would be executed.

He turned his head slightly and saw the pitying gazes of the miners behind him, their eyes also carrying a hint of fear.

He walked a journey that felt like a year, even though the journey itself was short, only two hours, but his thoughts stretched that time out infinitely.

When he came to his senses, this is what he saw.

The scene before him was extremely noisy, with countless people dressed in cloth bustling about, using some rather ancient tools. His wording was correct; they were indeed rather ancient compared to the tools Fran had made.

The clothes these people wore were very neat, and looked like they were cleaned regularly. Seeing this, he knew they weren't a group of unlucky men who had been conscripted for service.

He immediately tensed up, because being brought here meant they were going to execute him here...

His body began to tremble again, and he could barely walk.

But there was no other way; he forced himself to stand up and walked to a high-rise building under construction.

Upon arriving here, he saw a figure in a gray robe. Clearly, this person was one of the same kind as the others.

"Hey, Brian."

Brian turned his head and walked over, while the Gray Robes beside him continued:

"These are the one hundred people the Proxy obtained from the Lord... What is their faith like..."

The believer asked the question with some urgency, indicating that he was genuinely worried about it.

Brian then said:

"These people were just organized... Actually, we only arrived here yesterday... Few of them have accepted the faith of the Lord."

"However, the Proxy has already made arrangements for these people, so you don't need to worry about them."

The believer showed a regretful expression, and then he continued:

"That's a real shame..." Then he changed the subject, pointing to the three people who were tied together.

"You know these three are the ones trying to escape. Although we could kill them to establish our authority, the Proxy won't let us do that..."

Brian waved his hand and immediately said:

"I know these three are valuable resources. Just leave them with me, and I'll assign them tasks."

"As for those over there, let's just pretend they're dead."

"This is really troublesome. If we don't execute people, those miners will be difficult to manage..."