Gold Mine

Gold Mine

When he woke in the morning, that feeling would slowly fade, but strangely enough, he would feel refreshed, and his strength would grow by a little.

Before this, whenever Dole woke up in the morning, his whole body would ache as if he were dead. He had never felt anything like this—light, happy, as though his entire body were filled with strength.

When had it started? It seemed to have begun on the third day after he picked up Aoduo.

After thinking it over, Dole figured perhaps Heaven had rewarded him for doing a good deed. With that thought in mind, he climbed out of bed and checked himself over, finding nothing seriously wrong.

Just then, Aoduo crawled over from the corner and licked Dole's palm and cheek.

With that thought, Dole liked Aoduo even more. Even his resentment toward the Aoduo outside for stealing his money seemed to lessen considerably. He patted Aoduo's dog head, gave it a casual scratch, and smiled. "Stay home. I'm going to work." Whether Aoduo understood or not, he went outside to wash up.

Running through the middle of the slums was a half-meter-wide waterway. Water from the mountains flowed down through the slums and into the Domon River beyond the city.

Dole splashed water on his face, wiped it with his sleeve, and headed out of the city. Passing through the market, he bought three vegetable balls from the same stall, wolfed them down, and only then went to the mine.

When he arrived, Dodu had only been there a short while. Seeing Dole, he called out, "We're not smashing rocks today. The foreman said we're going to the riverbank to sort small stones. They dug up some colored ore today, and they want us to sort through those stones."

Dole nodded and followed Dodu.

No matter what work he did, as long as it put food in his mouth, it was enough. His only goal was to stay alive.

The mine was huge. Outside its entrance lay a stretch of flat ground piled high with all kinds of stones. The work outside consisted of smashing the ore apart piece by piece, picking out the portions containing minerals and piling them together, then tossing the remaining rubble onto the ground for someone else to haul away.

The miners working on the open ground outside earned little, while those working in the mountains earned more—roughly five times as much. But it was especially dangerous there. People died almost every day for one reason or another, often horribly. Still, plenty of people were willing to work in the mountain mines because the wages were high, and so was the compensation for death. Even if they died one day, their wives and children would be well cared for afterward. That was the main reason they were willing to go.

Those who worked on the open ground were mostly the elderly and weak, people who were the sole laborer in their household, or those who lived alone, like Dole.

Dole followed Dodu and several others to the riverbank. There, he saw quite a pile of small stones already waiting. These stones differed from the ones he usually saw on the open ground. They were grayer, denser, and looked much heavier.

Only after Dodu explained did Dole understand that they needed to break these small stones into even smaller pieces.

Among the stones were some tiny golden ones. They needed to sift out the golden portions and ignore the rest.

Dole nodded. The two claimed a short stretch of river and began working. The job still involved swinging sledgehammers and smashing rocks, but unlike before, they did not need to identify the ore by eye. This time, they used sieves to sort the stones.

Dole had seen this kind of golden stone before. It was real gold. Yet he felt little greed. Gold ore was not common in the mine. Iron, tin, and copper ores were the most abundant, especially iron, while gold ore only appeared occasionally and in small quantities. Some people had tried to keep gold ore for themselves, but they generally met miserable ends. The mine had an alchemical creation that could detect whether someone carried metal on their body, and it never failed. Anyone passing through the gate could be easily checked, so no one dared try it.

Besides, miners had no rights to speak of. If caught on the spot, they would immediately be reduced to slaves and hung at the entrance for three days as a warning to others. Those lucky enough to survive the three days were basically crippled, and would only die horribly later anyway. So generally, no one dared do such a thing.

Having lived in this city for so many years, Dole had seen plenty and had long since become numb to it all. All he needed to do now was survive as long as possible. Whatever ore was in his hands, he simply had to finish his work honestly and avoid causing trouble.

Dodu had worked with Dole for a long time, so he naturally knew what kind of person Dole was. Seeing his expression, he grinned. "Get to work. Today's pay is good. You can give me any copper coins beyond five Mafa copper coins, and I'll take them out for you. Let that bastard Aoduo steal those three if he wants."

Hearing that, Dole's eyes lit up, and his numb demeanor suddenly came alive. "Then thank you, Uncle Dodu."

That was probably the best news he had heard all day. Dole was instantly full of energy, feeling strength course through his entire body.

There were many stones, and they needed to be smashed into chunks with hammers. But gold ore was different; it had to be crushed even finer. Dole had been smashing stones for several months and had long developed considerable strength. He picked up a sledgehammer and began looking for a place to work.

Small stones had this advantage: one person could handle them alone. With large stones, they first needed to be split using sledgehammers and iron chisels, then broken into small stones before being slowly crushed into fragments. That took a long time.

Small stones did not need any of that. They only had to be placed on hard ground and smashed directly.

After working for a while, one of them smashed while the other began sifting. Their coordination was seamless. Before long, some gleaming yellow metal pieces appeared along the riverbank. They were all gold.

Supervisors were stationed near the miners, but as long as someone worked hard, the supervisors would not bother them. Only those who were lazy and unwilling to work would receive special attention. At best, they would get shouted at; at worst, the whip in the supervisor's hand would come into play. Those whips were made from water-soaked ox sinew. One strike was enough to split skin and flesh, an agonizing experience. Few people dared challenge a supervisor's authority.

About two hours after work began, a supervisor came before them, collected the gold without expression, and then delivered two small rice balls.

Because they did heavy labor, the miners usually ate a lot. Most mines arranged meal deliveries, but there was one rule: they had to finish quickly. Anything left unfinished would be taken away. On this point, nearly all the miners were satisfied, and it was also why Dole liked Bianchi Mine.

After wolfing down the food, Dole felt strong again and resumed work with Dodu.

There was nothing novel about smashing stones, only swinging again and again, pouring out sweat. Under the sun, everyone's skin was bronze and their muscles bulged. Even the frailest person would become like this after a month of working by the river, and Dole was no exception.

The work itself was unbearably dull. Only while sifting the stones, when he saw those golden-yellow grains, would he feel a sense of accomplishment.