Chapter 96: The Mine Shaft

Kraft saw that Peter, to say nothing of other things, at least had a decent demeanor, possessing a temperament different from the other residents here.

It was clear he had at least wiped his face before coming to the church, removing the dusty, face-covered feeling, making him look more like an outsider than a local resident; his eyes lacked the low earthen-wall-like alienation of the locals—neither hindering communication nor willing to make contact.

Frankly speaking, this attitude was acceptable; after all, in places where the church held dominance outside, they would not welcome a heresy appearing openly. If it stemmed from a divergence in faith, then at least they were friendlier than the church.

He first greeted the priest, and upon learning that Kraft's group were believers from outside, became enthusiastic, stepping forward to embrace William, who led the way. It was as if they had instantly become close friends and family, making the captain, who was never shy, feel somewhat embarrassed.

"Truly unexpected to meet compatriots who share the same faith in the Heavenly Father here." Peter smiled and released William. Being welcomed so warmly as a believer was a first; he had found a slight sense of identity in a foreign land.

"Please get in the carriage. The priest said we should be like brothers, and helping each other is only right."

Being able to find a devout believer in Gravel Town meant the priest's situation was probably not as dire as previously thought. Although he hadn't asked for it, Kraft still grabbed his hand as he passed by, shoving a few coins into it. "Brothers in the church shouldn't be shortchanged; the rest of the journey depends entirely on you."

Kup tightened his cloak, offered no comment, and found an empty spot to sit at the rear of the carriage. He couldn't bring himself to say the words "brothers in the church," but since the atmosphere had reached this point, in his simple view of social intelligence, it was best to reduce interaction.

"No need for this." Under Kraft's urging, Peter put the money in his pocket, untied the rope binding the mule, and asked, "I heard you want to see the mine shaft?"

"Preferably one that stopped work within the last two years, because the church has a type of building material that hasn't been available for purchase in recent years, and I heard only this place produces it; replacing it later would be troublesome."

It was the truth; Kup pondered for a while and realized nothing seemed wrong, yet it was completely not the same thing.

"Not easy. The mine shaft just sits there; no one watches it, so no one knows if anyone has gone in. What exactly does the thing you are looking for look like?" Sitting in the driver's seat, Peter cracked a whip, and the carriage shakily began to move toward the other side of the town.

"It might be a newly discovered ore; we aren't clear on exactly what it looks like. How many mining areas do you know of?"

"Everywhere, including this town, which used to be a mine site before it stopped and became what it is now." The carriage drove out of the small town, turned a bend, and Peter pointed to a cluster of low-growing plants on the right. "Over there is the original mine shaft, but it was abandoned before I arrived; now we make a living by trading grain and minerals."

The passengers turned their heads to look where he pointed; under the cover of vegetation, a mountain cavity that was not easy to notice almost slipped past their eyes.

It was only a little over a person's height; new shrubs grew on the pile of earth and stone at the entrance, blocking most of it, while the drooping stems and leaves on the upper edge covered the other half, vaguely revealing a small path branching from the main road to the entrance.

The plants had almost completely eroded the traces of human entry and exit; the nearly circular entrance had returned to nature, as if it originally belonged there. Under the visual fatigue caused by the vast green-yellow background, if no one had pointed it out, one would not have discovered it even after passing by several times.

The surrounding ground was intact, showing no traces of construction, transitioning seamlessly from the living area to the mining area, which also made it even harder to notice.

William, who knew a little about minerals, felt slightly puzzled. "How did you know there were minerals down there?"

On the ice plains, minerals were mostly exposed on the surface, and even with the tribe's primitive mining level, they could obtain ores. But in the North Kingdom, it was different; once a mineral deposit was discovered, they would chew out chunks of pits on the surface, exploring in all four directions, expanding the mining area and striving for as much open-pit mining as possible.

A mining method involving a direct shaft required knowing beforehand that minerals lay below; even with complete knowledge and rich experience, it was difficult to hit the target on the first try.

Even if someone truly reached that level, could they be willing to live obscurely in the southern hills while holed up in a place the size of Gravel Town?

Peter didn't quite understand his question. "Just go down with a torch and look."

"Natural mine shafts, a gift from the Lord. How do they handle it in other places?" That kind of circular entrance indeed didn't look like it was artificially constructed; it wasn't easy to chisel out, nor was it suitable for placing supports.

"The same everywhere; as long as you can find a common water source and settle down, you won't worry about having nothing to dig."

William looked back at that entrance, repeated his words in a questioning tone, finding it hard to believe. "Everywhere?"

"Yes, but those people don't think this is a gift from the Lord." Separating himself from the other local residents in his words, Peter spat. "They chant day and night but can't name a single one."

"There is another one on that mountain, but it's too close to the summit and too deep to use." He pointed again; it was an ordinary hill, but this time no one saw the entrance. Beyond a certain distance, distinguishing exposed rock from a partially covered entrance was too difficult.

From the sound of his words, similar natural mine shafts here were too numerous to count, no fewer than the number of hilltops.

"There is such terrain?" In Kraft's memory, no term could summarize it; a mass formation of natural deep caves appearing in a water-scarce hilly area was like numerous small holes inexplicably growing on a dried piece of cheese, making one suspect it had developed maggots.

"Are they very deep?"

"Yes. I mined before; you can walk inside for a long time and have to endure that group of non-believers in the Heavenly Father chattering for a long time. It's better to drive the carriage." He had quite a grudge about this; he rarely had a chance to vent and feared annoying the priest by repeating himself.

"They lazily take the parts closer to the exit, then move to another place, squandering the Lord's gift. They will surely face retribution sooner or later."

Kraft and William both covered their heads and sighed; the former was not so discouraged, having prepared mentally beforehand; setbacks were expected. "Sigh."

The approach of checking by mines was wrong; they could at least check by people. Settlements capable of producing large amounts of raw materials and trading with the outside world couldn't just be hidden by weeds and shrubs like mine shafts.

Peter misunderstood the meaning of their sighs and continued complaining about his dislike for those people. "They won't listen to me, nor to the priest. They stubbornly cling to a set of rules that are impossible to figure out how many there are, and they can't say who made them."

"Can't go too deep, mustn't leave the mine too late, must constantly remind which way is outward... too many. To be honest, I've never used any of them. Those who came later picked up the bad habit of being superstitious after staying long; I don't want to become like that."

Amidst the complaints, the carriage turned the next bend, and the sense of direction became blurred; the winding road was unclear whether it led inward or outward, and Kraft had to recall slightly to conclude they were moving away from the canal.

In other words, they were penetrating deeper into the southern hill range, and another cave appeared on the other side of the mountain. Intuitively, it was large enough to fit a house from Gravel Town, extending diagonally downward from the mountainside, with light stopping not far from the entrance.

The circular outline of the cave walls was not the smooth, gentle style of a karst cave; the rock walls retained angles and small straight ridges, showing not many erosion traces; at least, with Kraft's level of geographical knowledge, he didn't think it was formed by water erosion.

Deeper parts could not be seen; judging from the section that could be illuminated, the width and narrowness didn't change much, resembling a rough prototype of a tunnel.

"Hey, then what do you say is at the end of these caves?" A certain sailor, unable to bear the boredom, spoke up to Peter; seeing a cave in other places was quite difficult, so curiosity was unavoidable.

"I don't know; I haven't heard anyone mention it."

"Is that so? That's strange; haven't you tried going down to look?"

Peter pondered for a moment, as if searching his memories of working in the mine shafts. "It's too deep; one cannot continue walking."

The topic ended, and the carriage fell silent. Yin Feng took out his small notebook and looked at it for a while, but Kraft blocked it and pushed it back. "Don't read on the carriage; it hurts the eyes."

There was still plenty of time; Yin Feng didn't need to seize this moment to memorize a few more words, nor did he need to rush. The mines wouldn't run away from their spots; finding them over a few weeks or a month was acceptable.