Valley Town is located on the west side of the Railway Valley, and the town is divided into two parts.
The residential area is built against the cliff, with rows of houses forming winding streets.
Behind each house, there is a small open space enclosed by a wooden fence, used for daily activities such as drying clothes or raising poultry.
Continuing west along the dirt road for a few hundred meters, you'll find a cross-shaped street area.
(The crossroads area is very lively even at night.)
The blacksmith's shop clanged incessantly, the tavern sign swayed slightly in the wind, and all the shops and workshops in town were concentrated in this area. If you ignored its glorious history of prosperity based on silver mines, then Valley Town was just a typical rural mining town in the Northern Kingdom.
Simple, united, and closed off.
There is no police station here; neighborhood disputes are mediated by the foreman.
Only in cases of bloodshed or more serious incidents will someone be dispatched to a large town more than ten kilometers away to report the crime.
Nobody here knows how to farm, and the barren soil on both sides of the canyon is completely unsuitable for cultivation.
All the food, vegetables, and meat that everyone ate depended on supplies brought in by horse-drawn carts from nearby farms.
The townspeople here earn meager wages by selling ores and metals to buy the necessities of life.
Tin, iron, and those rare silver mines that always gave the townspeople a glimmer of hope—these were the lifeblood of this small town.
But for the young people here, going down into the mine means there's no future.
They go down into the mines, dig for food, and trade their health for sustenance, only to collapse one day due to an accident, lung disease, or simply old age.
Becoming a mechanic, a pilot, or even joining the military—any of these paths is better than mining.
So every few months, young people would pack their bags, climb onto mining trucks bound for big cities, and never return.
If nothing unexpected happens, this town will completely disappear within twenty years, becoming just another abandoned place name that will no longer be marked on the map.
But if nothing unexpected happens, something unexpected is about to occur.
A Storm triggered by relics of an ancient civilization is about to shatter the peace here.
Five hours have passed since Sheeta and Pazu fell into the mine.
As the sun began to set, wisps of smoke rose from the chimneys of the town, and the aroma of freshly baked bread filled the air.
Suddenly, the distinctive hum of a pulse engine cut across the sky, and three iron-gray "big birds" circled above the canyon.
(Pulse jet fighter, which could serve as the carrier-based aircraft for the airborne carrier Goliath )
Moments later, one of the planes landed outside the town, and several men in black suits disembarked.
--
Immediately afterwards, five dark green military trucks rushed into the town, screeching to a halt on the street.
The rear panel of the carriage was lowered, and soldiers dressed in the same dark green military uniforms and helmets filed out, forming a line of more than a hundred in the middle of the street.
Before the alarmed townspeople could figure out what was happening, the soldiers had already split into several groups and pounced on both sides of the street like wolves, starting to smash doors with their rifle butts and boot soles.
"Open the door! Military search!"
"Everyone out! Assemble in the street!"
"Squat down! Put your hands behind your head!"
However, "robbery" seems a more appropriate description than "search".
The soldiers kicked open the door, rushed inside, and began ransacking the house.
Upon seeing valuable trinkets like pocket watches or jewelry, he would simply stuff them into his pocket.
Some people tried to stop them, but were forced out of the house at bayonet point.
These men were General Muoro's soldiers; several nearby counties were their territory.
As long as you don't provoke the city gentry, no one dares to gossip about them.
Chaos erupted throughout the Valley Town, with residents' screams and soldiers' shouts mingling together.
At this time, most of the men and boys were still working in the mines, while those remaining in the town were mostly the elderly, women, and children under ten years old.
Faced with those gun barrels and bayonets, they could do nothing but silently endure it.
Soon, thousands of townspeople were roughly pushed and shoved by soldiers and driven to the open space in the middle of the residential area and the crossroads.
Several Intelligence Department agents dressed in black suits stood aside, observing coldly.
Seeing that most of the residents had already gathered, an agent took out a hands-free device and faced the crowded people.
"Dear residents of Valley Town, please remain quiet. We mean no harm."
"We have received reliable intelligence that a spy with vital military information may be hiding nearby. For the safety of the kingdom, we must conduct a thorough search."
His tone sounded polite, but the sight of soldiers smashing doors and ransacking chests around him made it all the more ironic.
Then, the agent pulled a photo from his pocket and held it up to show it.
That was a photo of Sheeta. The image was a bit blurry, but you could clearly see the girl's face and braids.
"This girl is the key witness we need to find. If anyone knows her whereabouts, please report to us immediately."
The agent handed the photo to a soldier next to him, who then walked along the edge of the crowd, showing it to every town resident.
"Anyone providing useful information will be rewarded with ten gold coins."
Ten gold coins are enough for an ordinary family of three to live a good life in a big town.
But no one paid him any attention; people kept their heads down, staring at the ground, or hugging their children tightly.
The silence lasted for thirty seconds, and the gentle expression on the agent's face gradually faded.
"I'll ask you one more time," his voice turned cold, "Who has seen this girl?"
Still silent.
Not to mention that people don't even know Sheeta, even if they did, no one would give a group of bandits a friendly look.
"Very well." The agent sneered, "It seems you all need a little 'help'."
He made a gesture, and the soldiers immediately rushed into the crowd and dragged out the few who had tried to protest.
Immediately following was a merciless barrage of punches and kicks.
"You can't do this! The union won't stand idly by!"
One of the elderly men, with a gray beard, struggled to raise his head after being hit several times, and loudly protested.
"The union?" the agent asked the old man coldly.
He calmly took out a small black leather-bound notebook from his suit pocket and waved it in front of the old man.
It was a well-made printed certificate bearing a bright red official seal.
"Special Advisor, Northern Kingdom Mining Workers' Federation." The agent read out the title word by word, "I am a member of the union."
This is just one of the many identities he possesses for the sake of convenience.
This is the perfect opportunity to subdue these workers who only know how to bury themselves in mining.
"We only protect workers who have paid their dues. How many of you here pay your dues on time, hmm?"
"This, I----"
"The entire Valley Town isn't on the guild's membership list, so to whom do you intend to file a complaint regarding Her Majesty the Queen's authorized search?"
The old man stared wide-eyed, speechless.
The miners in Valley Town already earned meager wages, leaving them with very little after deducting living expenses. Where would they get the money to pay membership fees?
The brochure says "the union is a friend of all workers," so why the sudden change of heart?
The agent's patience had run out. He waved his hand, and the old man who had dared to question him was knocked unconscious by a soldier's rifle butt.
From morning until now, except for the interior of the mine where a large-scale search is not possible, they have searched the entire mining area, but still have not found any trace of the target.
This was something he couldn't explain to his superior, Colonel Muska.
So he had no choice but to expand the search area further, hoping they would sneak back to their own town.
"Keep searching, we must find that girl!"
The soldiers quickened their pace; this time, they didn't even bother with acting anymore.
Pots, pans, tables, chairs, and benches were all smashed.
They searched every possible hiding place: the beams, the floors, the window sills, the beds.
Some soldiers dug out iron cans hidden under the floorboards and stuffed the few silver coins inside into their pockets; others took a fancy to the wall clock, took it down, smashed it, and only picked out the few thin silver hands inside.
Some residents, their eyes red with anger, tried to stand up and fight back, but were met with even more brutal beatings.
Time passed second by second, and the sun sank a little further.
At the end of the street, on the dirt road leading towards the mine, came a series of noisy footsteps.
The men, having heard the news, finally returned.
Hundreds of miners hurriedly returned from the mine, covered in coal dust and rock powder, still carrying their mining picks and pipe wrenches.
At the very front, a middle-aged man who was 1.8 meters tall with broad shoulders like a door panel stopped in his tracks.
His name was Duffi, he was Pazu's mentor, and the leader of the workers in the whole town.
Seeing the chaos on the street, his chest heaved violently, and a surge of anger rose to his head.
"Stop it, all of you!!!"