Chapter 14: The Dwarf's Zhenbao Mine

"Tiger-headed eagle?" Several Dwarves looked at each other; they hadn't even heard the name of such a monster.

"Do we have this kind of hawk here?" the old Dwarf asked the others.

"Doesn't seem like it, I'll go back and ask," one Dwarf replied.

Among their small group of Dwarves, there was one who was quite skilled at taming various animals. The Communication Fruit Bats that the Dwarves often used in the underground passages and mine shafts were meticulously tamed by this person.

Besides that, the Blind Moles that some Dwarves secretly used for gambling were also tamed by this person.

"Is that thing really so terrifying? Does it require a powerful Human Knight like you to be so cautious?" the Dwarf Soldier asked in confusion.

Everyone now understood Jier's strength; being able to crush the armed forces of their Dwarf group almost single-handedly had truly made them admire him sincerely.

And if even Jier had to be so cautious and guarded, what a terrifying monster that must be!

Jier briefly described the intelligence on the tiger-headed eagle and the situation he had encountered outside Changmai Village, which made the Dwarves find it unbelievable. If such a predatory bird of prey really haunted Babotali Valley, the Dwarves, who liked to wander around at night, would have likely been snatched away one by one and disappeared long ago.

But they had lived here, some for decades and others for nearly two hundred years, yet they had never seen or heard of any records of such terrifying giant nocturnal birds of prey being active.

There weren't even any records of similar potential attacks by such monsters.

"So, it's likely not within their range of activity? That's the only possibility. After all, this place has big mountains and continuous Forest; it shouldn't be convenient for birds of prey with huge wings to operate." The old Dwarf let out a sigh of relief and rubbed the wound on his forehead that had just healed.

Because of his advanced age, even though the wound Jier had inflicted was healed, it would throb faintly whenever he felt troubled.

But the atmosphere that had just relaxed became tense again because of a remark from a Dwarf Soldier in the group: "If this kind of tiger-headed eagle only operates in open areas outside, then perhaps that is the reason why the former-former Soldier Captain failed halfway through his journey out? What do you think? I mean, is there such a possibility?"

The atmosphere grew tense. Xiaoxuezi was still dazed and hadn't reacted yet, but the other few Dwarves had already laughed it off to move past the topic. Although they all felt that what the other said made a lot of sense.

The former-former Soldier Captain had superb martial arts; he wasn't a combatant like these ordinary Dwarf Miners, but a specialized professional soldier. He was not only skilled in martial arts, but his body had also undergone multiple Dwarf mechanical and Magic modifications. To put it bluntly, he alone could suppress rioting miners in the Zhenbao Mine under any conditions.

But no matter how powerful, if snatched abruptly at night by a giant, silent bird of prey and dropped from high in the sky.

Oh boy, no matter how powerful a Soldier Captain is, if they aren't prepared for a high-altitude fall, they would all be smashed to death.

Don't look at Jier jumping ten or twenty meters high every day; if he didn't land on his feet, it would also be very dangerous. Landing on his head would kill him instantly.

Several Dwarves let out a breath and stopped talking about that subject.

Soon, walking north along the edge of Tuito Village, they arrived at the entrance of the Dwarf Zhenbao Mine before long.

Lighting braziers were lit outside the stone gate here, and the heavy stone gate for entry and exit was not open.

If one didn't know the method of entry, anyone facing this stone gate would be turned away.

A Dwarf went to call for the gate, but he didn't fiddle with the front of the stone gate; instead, he squatted down and spoke to an inconspicuous hole in the wall a few steps away.

If not for the Dwarf leading the way, it would have been basically impossible for Jier to notice this hole at first glance. Because at this height, Dwarves had to squat to reach it; unless they were children, it was hard for Humans to discover that this inconspicuous hole was a speaking tube for entry and exit.

The squatting Dwarf shouted a sentence in Dwarven Language into the hole. Jier didn't know what it meant, but soon, there was the sound of someone moving inside the stone gate.

It wasn't human labor opening and closing the ten-plus-ton thick stone gate, but rather the use of a mechanism Jier didn't understand, which opened the heavy stone gate inward along a sliding rail.

Boom—, the bottom of the stone gate rubbed against some small pebbles, and in an instant, those small pebbles were crushed into powder.

And after it opened, inside was a downward-sloping Rock Passage. On both sides of the passage were stairs, while in the middle was a sloped ramp with high friction.

The entire Dwarf mine was built underground; the only thing on the surface was a tall mound of earth that was relatively eye-catching.

Led by the Dwarves, Jier followed behind them and walked downward.

After entering the downward passage, Jier saw the gatekeeping Dwarf who had just opened the stone gate after only a few steps. The other party was leaning against a metal lever mechanism, also looking at him with surprise in his eyes.

Few Humans were invited into the Dwarf mine. In recent years, only the Herbalist had the honor of being invited into their mine when teaching the Dwarves about wild Herb picking and the preparation of Healing Ointment.

And Jier was the second Human to be invited in recent years.

"'Iron Fist'! Why did you bring this guy in? Others might be fine, but this Human's strength..." The Dwarf in charge of the mine gate looked strange and couldn't help but ask.

The old Dwarf waved his hand and said helplessly: "It's all because of you guys, wasting time one by one. Now the Human Knight leading us home has finished his business and returned, but you still haven't packed up! You've made me lose all my face!"

Once this was mentioned, the middle-aged gatekeeping Dwarf looked embarrassed. He had also been fiddling with things for many days, but he couldn't bear to part with his personal items. This looked good, that wasn't bad, he wanted to bring this item full of memories, but that item also had commemorative value and couldn't be left behind. As a result, after all these days, he simply couldn't carry the many things he wanted to take.

The other Dwarves were the same.

Having been here for over a hundred years, everyone had acquired quite a few personal items due to their own personal preferences and hobbies.

Although none of them were valuable, every Dwarf was reluctant to leave them behind. Because they weren't young anymore, and leaving here to return home this time, it was basically impossible to return in this lifetime.

No matter what, this was already the Human Kingdom. And the Zhenbao Mine was located in the heart of Human territory, so it was basically impossible to return.

The group continued to walk downward. The passage was three meters high, which was wide enough for Dwarves, and this height was also quite suitable for Humans. Every few meters in the passage, glowing Baishi were embedded in the walls at a height of one meter, providing basic, neither dim nor bright lighting for the entire downward-extending passage.

A rumbling sound came from behind; clearly, the mine gate had been closed once again by the gatekeeping Dwarf.

After walking downward for about two minutes, the middle downward passage turned in two directions, then the slope became gentler, a large platform appeared, and the space ahead suddenly opened up.

The air here was relatively fresh; clearly, the Dwarves had reliable and mature air ventilation technology. Even though they were dozens of meters underground, there was still fresh air circulating here.

"How do you ensure the air exchange underground?" Jier asked curiously.

But the few Dwarves beside him looked at him without answering this question, which made Jier a bit embarrassed: "Okay, okay, I know this is something I shouldn't have asked. Pretend I didn't say anything just now."

The end of the passage was a relatively open place underground, like a hall.

The hall was five meters high, about twenty meters wide, and about forty meters long.

This hall's height was considered very high for Dwarves. With this hall existing, even if the Dwarves stayed here for a long time, they probably wouldn't feel stifled. Moreover, the color scheme of the hall was also very interesting; the top of the hall was blue, and a bright glowing object hung in the middle, clearly imitating the sky and the sun. The lower-middle walls were light green, and the rock on the ground—who knows how the Dwarves managed it—was actually brownish-yellow, the color of soil.

Although these decorations were a bit fake, if one didn't observe the ceiling and the surrounding walls carefully, one's subconscious would probably feel like they were truly living on the surface.

The ground in the hall was repaved with sturdy brownish-yellow rock. It was estimated that this was originally an important gathering place, but nowadays, besides the glowing plants that were stuck everywhere growing against the supporting stone pillars, the most abundant things were large piles of scattered items.

Many Dwarves had messily piled the personal items they intended to take on the floor of the hall, making it almost impossible to find a place to step.

Seeing this scene, Jier raised his eyebrows at the old Dwarf, and the old Dwarf shrugged helplessly: "You see, this is how it is now."

Jier used his foot to push aside some Fine Linen clothing belonging to a Dwarf that was blocking the way, and leaned against a rock support pillar in the hall: "I think I understand your current situation. How about this, let's gather everyone first? I'll tell them about the essential items needed for the trip, and then they can each carry a few small items that don't take up space or weigh much. As for those countless sundries, hmm, I will convince them."

"That would be great. You guys, did you hear? Call everyone over, whether they are guarding the gate, running to the kitchen to fiddle with a midnight snack, or organizing inventory minerals underground, or even setting traps in the deep passages to seal those tunnels. Call everyone over, run fast!"

At the old Dwarf's order, the three middle-aged Dwarves subconsciously straightened their bodies, and after responding in unison, they immediately split up to call people.

As for the remaining three who stayed, they moved some items belonging to other Dwarves to use as temporary stools and sat in the middle of the hall waiting for people to return.

"Should we tidy up here first?"

Xiaoxuezi was a bit embarrassed to let an outsider see this messy scene of theirs. It was clearly neat and clean before, but ever since everyone planned to leave the Zhenbao Mine, not only was no one cleaning, but more and more personal items were being moved here by others.

In the past, Grandpa "Iron Fist" would have flown into a rage over even a speck of trash here, but now he acts as if he doesn't care about anything at all.

This made Jier, who had been born in the mine and raised in the orderly and tidy lifestyle of the Dwarf mine, feel very uncomfortable. Packing luggage was clearly a simple matter, so why was everyone agonizing over it?

"No need..."

The old Dwarf waved his hand and sat on a bulging leather Backpack that belonged to someone unknown. He pulled a stone pipe from his bosom, but then looked at the various items scattered all over the place—many of which were flammable—and regretfully put the pipe away again.

"If we're going to pack, we'll wait until everyone arrives and let them pack it themselves. It was them who made the mess, so whoever made the mess should clean it up. Besides, don't look at how messy it is here; everyone's things are basically in the same place. If you start tidying up, you'll completely scramble everyone's belongings, and they'll lose their tempers, hehe."

"Young Human Knight, tell me, can things be handled as quickly as possible like this?" the old Dwarf asked, looking at Jier.

Jier sat on a small wooden barrel and gave it a shake, guessing that it was likely a full barrel of Dwarf ale. This was good stuff; he figured the Dwarves wouldn't take it with them, so why not leave it for him?

Although he wouldn't bring a barrel of ale onto the carriage, he could send it into the lady's dreamscape. Occasionally, when resting in the dreamscape, having some Dwarf ale to drink would be incredibly refreshing.

He just had to make sure it was sealed well every time he drank, otherwise it would definitely be ruined by the old sprite and those Mushrooms.

"I suppose it'll be fine."

Jier looked left and right: "Your place here is quite large. Although it's piled full of things now, it doesn't matter. It hasn't rained these past few days, so it'll be fine to leave the supplies you've sorted out and intend to take on the surface outside. In the end, just abandon these things here, turn around, and seal the passage, and that'll be that."

"It won't rain?"

The old Dwarf stroked his beard and then asked Jier: "We are often underground, so we don't pay much attention to the weather outside. Has it not rained in the Valley recently?"

Jier gave a wry smile: "Not only has it not rained here in Babotali Valley, but ever since spring began, not a single drop of rain has fallen across the entire Southern Province. However, it doesn't really affect the Village much; the Village's water source is the melted snow from the high mountains nearby. Most other Human villages rely on wells to live. It's just that this will obviously have a major impact on this year's grain harvest."

Dwarves naturally grow crops, but the Miner Dwarves here at the Zhenbao Mine rarely grow agricultural produce.

Therefore, they didn't care about the impact on the Human grain harvest, nor did they have any concept of it.

"An anomaly in the weather is not a good omen," the old Dwarf muttered, and then he stopped speaking. He had clearly involved Jier, a Human, in their packing process not only with the intention of urging them along, but more so to let Jier see their situation and give the Dwarves more preparation time later.

After all, seeing the current situation, Jier could understand the complexity of the status quo; with urging proving ineffective, giving them more time was the only option left.

Not to mention others, even the old Dwarf himself had a pile of things he couldn't bear to leave behind. After all, he had invested nearly half his life into this Zhenbao Mine. How could he bear to part with those items filled with memories, knowing he would leave here and never return for the rest of his life!

One after another, the Dwarves walked out from the various passages and wooden doors around the hall. Some were still wrapped in aprons, clearly having been cooking; others held tools in their hands, though it was unclear if they were dismantling something or assembling something.

Some Dwarves were covered in mineral dust, walking out while patting themselves off and grumbling; others carried precise mechanical items on their backs, squinting as they sized up Jier, the only Human here.

When everyone was called over, they already knew that a Human had come to the mine—not the Zuojigela everyone was familiar with, but the Human Knight who had defeated them, Qiao—Jier!!!

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