Chapter 300 - Dead End

At the moment when Osira and Ada were sent to explore yet again after they brought the found out information, Clarry and Jone walked in the sleeping area of the Second section or best described Room one on the left side, and brought some interesting information.

Well for a start, "We found a mine Miss Grand Leader but it looks empty at the moment." Clarry tried to explain without doing any greetings first, I mean if they were too greet like this several times a day it would feel more like a joke.

Paying attention at Clarry's wordplay, Bittore raised her eyebrow feeling puzzled and didn't hesitate at all to ask. "What do you mean with, "At the Moment."?" Bittore knows Clarry for years, she rarely expresses herself clumsy so Bittore has a strong itch to know for sure.

"I mean that the Tunnels in that mine are collapsed, there were three branches and they all had a dead end." Sitting near the Campfire to heat herself up now that she has the chance, she continued to express her theory of what happened. "There are Demon Skeletons down there so my theory is that they rammed on the Support beams and caused portions of the tunnels to collapse."

"That means this situation is rather manageable." Bittore felt like she could suddenly stand up in joy thanks to all the excitement but her wounds said otherwise, well at least they are getting better by the day. "If the tunnels collapsed because of the Support beams being broken, we should be able to dig ourselves through in no time."

Able to catch up on what Bittore means, as Jone stood on her feet near the fire because she didn't feel like sitting, she questioned just to be sure because for once she felt curious. "Are you saying that these portions of the Collapse are short in length?"

"Exactly!" Bittore replied with a smile on her face, feeling joy that Jone has chosen to connect for once. Since Jone is one of the oldest, Bittore has always treated her kindly. Especially after she heard about her history, but again she does wish for Jone to talk more.

However, Bittore continued to explain. "I'm not a Miner, nor did I ever spend time in a mining tunnel but I don't think that the entire branch could collapse due to one support beam being broken!"

Giving it a little bit more thought, trying to calculate from what she can use as an example. She at last added, "Maybe it would stretch for another 10-20 meters where it would take victim more support beams, but not entirely. We could be looking at branches sinking hundreds of meters deep here."

"You might have a point there!" Clarry answered without care, knowing that Bittore wouldn't be offended by the word "might". A thought popped in her head when Bittore mentioned Support Beams. "I saw a Support beam in tact even though it was halfly covered with dirt and dust."

"Well this proves it!" Bittore's willpower arose high and she instantly ordered. "Leave the rest to me, I will send men down there. Maybe 5?" She argued a little bit with herself before she officially ordered. "You go explore the Fourth Tunnel on the right side, Osira and Ada are already exploring the third."

"Oh you might want to send more men down at the mine." Jone recommended once she remembered a piece of information that Clarry might have skipped thanks to all her excitement. "There is a cart full of Iron Ore, it didn't seem Rusty so Osira can definitely use it in the Forge."

"Excellent!" Bittore became overwhelmed with joy while Clarry started rubbing her forehead in embarrassment because she forgot this part. "We need Iron Containers soon, and we can't wait for the tunnels to be dug through!"

At the moment the tribe has helping hands to spare, because most of these people have been working to clear out the Iron Storage room since the general Storage room has been cleared and cleaned as much as one could without a broom or water to throw.

All that room filled with Iron ore was nothing but a tiresome task since the Iron Ingots have caught rust and are unusable! They all would just need to be thrown down the mountainside, melted by Fire Controllers and afterwards covered with rocks to hide tracks of existence.

But now considering that task regarding the Iron ore, it won't be easy for the people who will be put in charge of bringing that Ore down to the forge. Because the forge itself sinks 30 meters deep below the elevation at the second section, when counting the stairs it equals to around 100!

Just tossing the whole cart down the stairs is an idea but not a good one, because all the stairs would be chipped and broken. Bittore's fate with the chipped staircase at the third section proves my point here, if someone tumbles down death could be the most preferable option.

So instead of tossing the ores down, each man will need to grab as much ore as they can carry and walk their way down there once they've dragged the Cart near the Forge's tunnel. It is the best way and at the same time the most tiresome and time consuming, but at least it will be done by several people instead of one.

As for the rest who will have to deal with the mine, Bittore thought of using the rusty Iron Pickaxe heads to dig through the collapsed parts until new pickaxes are made. She did not know that there are some pickaxes still in tact although rusty. Either way, she planned to have the men wear an extra pair of gloves in aims of avoiding any infections.

...

Meanwhile, at tunnel 3 on the right side. Ada and Osira found their selves with a rather difficult task. Good enough they aren't fighting any Demons or Ratbugs, nor are the they carrying a weight on their back. But this tunnel is sinking tremendously deep!

"Why is this place so deep! I've counted 150 steps already!" Ada complained, now that she feels like she can express herself more freely thanks to Osira being more approachable.

"I don't know but I think we might be finding something big here." Osira spoke in enthusiasm as she tried not to loose count of the steps, she wants to know exact measurement just in case it is required when assigning various tasks.

300 steps later, they found their selves with a mine! Yes another mine, but these two ladies weren't aware that the other team found a mine a while ago since they didn't manage to meet each other at that time and they left to explore before Bittore knew of this information.

"What do we do now?" Asked Ada, this is a new situation for her and she has no experience in exploring. Ada mostly stayed in the Horse Stable before so this proves the point, Osira is more experienced in exploring since she lived in the forest for years.

"We need to explore a bit further, to find out what this place offers." Looking at a couple of rusty Iron tailed Pickaxes at one side of these dirt and rock filled walls, she continued to express. "This is likely a mine, we need to know how deep it goes and for what it was used to mine."

Excellent plan, even proving herself as a worthy leader here. Yet at the same time it sounds reasonable, or they could just choose to turn back and leave older people to explore. But neither Ada or Osira want to portray their selves as weak.

As they walked further down to see what this cave has to offer, more questions popped up in their mind. Although they didn't find any Iron ore or anything dark enough to resemble coal, they did find out that this place is too dusty.

It was easy to figure that out considering how soft the ground is, signifying that these are just portions of dirt that have fallen from the ceiling. Good for them there are enough Support beams and although the wood rotten, the Iron enchantments on each four corners of the thick carved lumber helps to keep the ceiling above their heads at bay.

Counting their steps, they figured out that they have gone 30 meters deep already and the tunnel still seems quite empty. All they saw was a couple of pickaxes at the very beginning of the tunnel, nothing else.

No Skeletons, no ore, nothing! Which made it a bit confusing, but not frustrating. As much as they are concerned, they can just lightly walk above the ground and avoid touching anything in aims of avoiding any collapsing.

Walking in about 50 meters deep now, they've met with something they expected but at the same pace it still disappointed them. "This is definitely a dead end."