Chapter 182: Treatment, the Old Dwarf's Hesitation

"Some cunning young Knight, I am already aware that these Dwarf mercenaries can understand and speak our Human Common Language. You have your concerns, and I will not say much more, but such deception does not befit the spirit of a noble Knight. I hope you understand and keep this in mind—honesty is also an important weapon in the hands of Knights."

The Baroness chided Jier, but her hands did not stop; she used a Magic Gem Ring possessing Healing Magic to perform emergency treatment on the two unconscious Mr. Kasi and his companion.

Jier scratched his head, let out a 'heh', and unable to say anything, could only feign ignorance with a bitter smile.

His whole body was aching, and every time he breathed, his entire lungs felt a burning pain; it was difficult to maintain his body's balance. He appeared to be standing firmly on the ground, but in Jier's intuitive perception at this moment, the entire earth was undulating like waves, just as if he were on a boat.

Although his physical sensations were chaotic, Jier's mind remained clear. Seeing everyone standing steadily through his slightly reddened vision, he knew that the cochlea deep within his ears, which maintained balance, had been damaged.

It was very strange; logically, if the cochlea were injured, the ears should not be able to function normally, yet Jier could still hear the voices of others, even though the sounds were muffled and not as clear as usual.

Jier did not know that Life Energy had caused some changes to his hearing; his ears did not rely solely on the vibration of the eardrums to receive sound vibrations, as even the surrounding ear canals were synchronously participating in the work of receiving air vibrations to distinguish sounds.

This allowed Knights to maintain their hearing during intense noises, and they would not lose this important means of perception directly after a loud blast caused their eardrums to rupture.

In fact, under the intense vibration and the impact of the confined environment just now, Jier's vision, hearing, and even the touch and temperature perception on the surface of his skin had suffered huge damage. Injuries that would be fatal to an ordinary person were no longer fatal to the current Jier.

As he woke up, the Life Energy within his body gained the control of his will, and some minor injuries were rapidly receiving slight repairs, while the severe impact injuries inside his body could only rely on Jier going into the Lady's dream later for treatment.

Feeling that his body did not need much rescue and could still hold on, Jier swallowed the blood in his mouth and leaned over to check the condition of the two Dwarves with 'Shishou'.

The condition of the Wild Priest of the Wild Power God looked serious, with spiderweb-like bloodstains all over his skin, which looked frightening. But upon touching the pulse on his wrist and the blood flow in his neck, Jier found no problems. He lifted the Wild Priest's eyelids and found that the pupils were not dilated; it seemed he had seen something, and his consciousness was also rapidly recovering.

As for the old Dwarf who looked less frightening, his condition was not very good. 'Shishou' was muttering apologetically about forgetting that one could not use high-power methods in a sturdy, confined space, otherwise, it would have the same result as using an Alchemical Explosive in a confined space.

The power of an explosive would be several times greater than in an open environment due to the constant reflection of the impact force.

Extending a similar logic, powerful methods were the same. A greatsword filled with Divine Power colliding with a Magic Shield full of Magic Power—the air shockwave produced in a place with air was already very large, and added to the back-and-forth reflection of the shockwave in a confined, sturdy space, the power was even greater.

"My Lady, could you please help treat our elderly Dwarf leader as well? He is the oldest, and he himself has no special power to protect his body..."

Jier turned to the current Baroness of the Bostafa Family for help. Seeing her hesitate slightly, Jier continued: "Using brute force is impossible now as it seems. If we want to find a way, I suppose we can only look to our elder to see if he has any relevant experience and techniques from his long life."

"If he remains unconscious for a long time, or dies because of this, since the error that caused all this was on our side, we will not blame you. But the long-cherished wish of the Bostafa Family will likely lose its solution."

Faced with Jier's request and 'reminder', the Baroness looked at the state of the two middle-aged men at her side. After confirming they were fine, she came over and knelt down to help treat the old Dwarf.

However, unlike Mr. Kasi and Mr. Bogete, who were wearing ordinary clothes and were easy to treat, the thick Dwarf Metal Armor worn by the old Dwarf greatly affected the treatment effect. The Baroness could only barely use the Magic Ring to treat the old Dwarf's head and hands.

But fortunately, because his body was protected by thick armor, the main reason for the old Dwarf's unconsciousness was just the severe impact to his head. With the continuous release of the Healing Magic, the nature of which was unknown, the old Dwarf slowly woke up from his unconsciousness.

This caused 'Shishou', who had made a huge mistake, to heave a heavy sigh of relief. If his error had caused the old 'Iron Fist' to remain unconscious for a long time or die, then he would have no need to live; 'Shishou', having no face to see his other companions, would have had to commit suicide immediately.

He did not even dare to run away after making such a huge mistake.

"Where am I..."

The old Dwarf was still dazed upon waking, but he soon remembered what happened before he lost consciousness. He wiped the blood off his face and viciously scolded 'Shishou' in the Dwarven Language: "You fellow, how long has it been since you went down into the mine that you've forgotten all the rules of mining?"

'Shishou's' ugly bronze-colored face barely managed a bitter smile: "It is my fault. I will find a wooden board to carve the relevant regulations ten times, and I will voluntarily reduce fifty Work Points."

The old Dwarf spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva: "Where are there any Work Points left? Next time, wait for my order before acting."

"I will, I will." Seeing that the old Dwarf did not continue to criticize him, 'Shishou' hurriedly nodded and agreed.

"Don't be so happy too soon. After we are on the road, find a wooden board and carve the mining regulations fifty times within three days!" the old Dwarf finally scolded.

Seeing the old Dwarf cough and climb up, seemingly without any major issues, Jier also breathed a sigh of relief. He was actually in pain all over; if it weren't for the analgesic effect that appeared after the Life Energy in his body became active, he would have been rolling on the ground in pain long ago.

Even now, in Jier's field of vision, the whole world was swaying slightly.

However, others could not see these anomalies in Jier, and it even made 'Shishou' and the Baroness feel that Jier was the one with the lightest injuries among those who were hurt.

In fact, Jier was the one most severely injured.

After the two people from the Bostafa Family woke up from their unconsciousness, and the Wild Priest also woke up, the group continued to face the terrifyingly thick Protective Magic on one side of the hall.

Shishou rubbed his hands awkwardly and said apologetically: "Actually, the test just now was effective. After all, no matter how you look at it, this Protective Magic has suffered great damage."

The awakened Wild Priest was not very satisfied, seemingly feeling that 'Shishou', who was favored by the God of Strength, should not only be able to do this. But he could not ask 'Shishou' to do anything more, as the old Dwarf had just been knocked unconscious, which had also broken him out in a cold sweat.

All the Dwarves in the Treasure Mine deeply loved their old leader. After more than a hundred years of being together, the old 'Iron Fist' was not only their mine leader and the Village Chief of Torito Village, but more like a competent 'father' of their big Dwarf family. All the Dwarves were cared for by this worried old 'father' in this family, whether strictly or gently. Everyone could feel it, and they all loved their old leader.

Fighting for him was a small matter; many Dwarves were even willing to die for the old 'Iron Fist'.

The old Dwarf coughed, his lungs still feeling uncomfortable, and interrupted: "Cough, it's useless. Although it looks like the Protective Magic has signs of shattering from the impact, in fact, according to the Bostafa Family, this Protective Magic resets every midnight. By then, everything you did to the Protective Magic that day will be undone. The Magic Source inside this vault can release this intensity of Protective Magic once a day. Can you guarantee that you can release the combat power to break the Protective Magic every day?"

'Shishou' smiled awkwardly and gestured with his hand: "Every day I can only ask the generous God of Strength for this much, using that kind of Divine Power state for about a second or more."

They were all speaking in the Dwarven Language, and Jier and the other Humans around could not understand.

At this time, after Jier spoke a few words to the Baroness, he came over and whispered to the old Dwarf: "Obviously 'Shishou's' method won't work. So, have you seen anything on your end? If we can help the Bostafa Family, they promised to give each of us a sum of funds. Moreover, Suishi Cheng has abundant supplies. Let the Bostafa Family prepare a carriage convoy for your team that is convenient for long-distance travel, and equip it with all kinds of supplies. This will greatly facilitate our subsequent journey."

Seeing that the old Dwarf was still hesitating, Jier added: "At least all the Dwarves won't have to walk. Everyone can move by carriage. By then, our entire convoy can move forward quickly by carriage. I can quickly find Kendall's army, and you can also reach some big cities as soon as possible to inquire about the traces of Dwarves active in Human society. After all, for this Underground Secret Vault, the Bostafa Family seems to have looked for some Dwarves before; they should know some intelligence."

Hearing this, the old Dwarf nodded slightly: "I certainly have some ways, but I am hesitating whether to tell the local noble family about these things."

He looked at Jier and explained after a cough: "After all, no matter how you look at it, this Underground Secret Vault stores some important things that were not taken away at the time. Their value is hard to measure, but just by looking at the discarded Mining Picks, one knows that this will not be a small amount of wealth. Compared with those riches, promises, credibility, and even agreements witnessed by gods are just small things that can be considered."

Jier's expression changed, though his complexion was already poor, so the change was not very obvious. But he still moved his feet slightly, putting his back to the three people from the Bostafa Family, and whispered to the old Dwarf: "So, you are sure you can open this secret vault? But you are afraid that the wealth stored inside is too astonishing, leading them to betray us and forcibly keep us here? After all, only the dead can keep secrets."

The old Dwarf coughed a few times: "Isn't that so? I am not blind. Those two middle-aged Humans clearly also have the same Knight skills as you. Although they look inferior to you, Jier, what about the other young people of the Bostafa Family at the banquet above? And those elite castle guards, hundreds of town guards. Jier, can you fight against those indeterminate numbers of enemies? If they decide to keep it secret after opening the vault, they will keep us here."

Thoughts churned in Jier's mind, but at this moment, the first thing he thought of was a sentence: The dead, perhaps, cannot keep secrets either.

Seeing Jier's ugly expression as he remained silent, the old Dwarf muttered to himself: "I now understand how difficult it was for that fellow Warboots to go out and explore alone. If he avoided places with large populations, it would be fine, but once he got too deeply involved with Humans and fell into the affairs of some powerful Human Nobles, no matter how capable he was, he would eventually be completely trapped in the quagmire."

"Sigh, Warboots, oh Warboots..." 'Shishou' and the Wild Priest also heard the old Dwarf's words and couldn't help but sigh.

Previously, when they were in Torito Village, they always guessed how the capable Warboots could not complete the exploration mission; most likely he just ran off for his own sake. But after they set out on the road themselves, how long had it been before they encountered something that would cause all the Dwarves to perish if they were not careful?

After all, forty Dwarf Warriors were quite capable of fighting, but compared to the Bostafa Family that controlled the entire Suishi Cheng, they were nothing. Perhaps 'Shishou' himself could cause some big trouble before his Divine Power was exhausted, or even escape alone, but the other Dwarves clearly could not do that.

After considering for a while, Jier whispered to the old Dwarf: "If you trust me, then 'Iron Fist', tell me the situation. Let's discuss how we can make a profit from this matter and have everyone leave Suishi Cheng and the Bostafa Family's controlled area safely."

Jier did not expect that what was originally a good thing would turn into a troublesome matter because the wealth involved might be too large.

Really, why did these Dwarves build such a large secret vault under the castle, and build it so sturdily? If the scale of this secret vault were smaller, and the things inside were not expected to be many, the Bostafa Family would not have been so concerned about this thing for so many years. And if this thing hadn't been built so sturdily that the Bostafa Family still couldn't open it until now, then the matter wouldn't have ultimately fallen on Jier and his group.

Giving up and leaving directly was certainly possible, but Jier was reluctant to give up the money he had come for, and the old Dwarf also wanted to prepare a sum of funds for their subsequent journey; it would be even better if they could replace a batch of carriages in Suishi Cheng.

Therefore, they had to really help the Bostafa Family with something, but they could not really open this Dwarf Secret Vault on the spot.

It would be best to inform the Bostafa Family in an effective way that could delay the opening, letting them handle the secret vault themselves after Jier and the others left.

By then, whatever treasures were in the secret vault would have nothing to do with Jier and his group.

In fact, just looking at the huge scale of this Dwarf Secret Vault, Jier did not feel that he could really obtain anything. Sometimes, being too greedy will cost you your life.

"Alright, then I will briefly tell you some things I just observed and judged; these things have a high probability of being able to open this storehouse." The old Dwarf then began to tell Jier about what he had observed, as well as some protective facilities of similar Dwarf storehouses that he had known and understood before.

?? I took a rest for the past two days, updates will be normal afterwards, everyone need not worry.