Chapter 347 - Valtera Katelyn the Seventh

In aims of describing some rather important specifics, we will be rolling back in time here to fish out a little parchment resembling a map to specify how many tons of Coal have been mined out of the third section.

As you might have figured it out from the previous paragraph here, yes the third section has been successfully established and mined. Going back on August 28th... best described when the Head Miner Bill estimated that the second section would he clear out of coal to mine.

With a team of five miners, Bale Town managed to tap in to more Black Riches a.k.a coal. However we can say that it did prove troublesome at first and in a way it still is!

That large hole, almost located at the centre of the Second Section went 50 meters down! That deep even after the Second Section's flooring was dug down for 20 meters. So it is well determined that before the annual mining this drop was 70 meters deep!

Working with such a drop is troublesome enough when going down, specifically dangerous because one slip can inevitably lead to death or being disabled for a long time and even permanently.

It is even more difficult when trying to bring material out of the third section, because they can't do it at large quantities and the hole doesn't exactly have smooth perfectly Vertical walls!

Building a 50 meter tall Staircase isn't the best idea either, nor is it possible due to the fact that it would require at least a 150 meter wide opening to spread on, while the second section itself is only 50 meters long, not to mention the hole who is only several meters across.

How did they handle this situation then? Well one of the Lumberjacks came up with a bright idea, in a way inspired by these long, straight almost branchless forest trees called "Ponderosa Pine".

They are favoured by Lumberjacks since removing the branches after cutting it down isn't exactly hard, since it requires several hits only at the higher spot. By higher spot I mean the top where most of the Branches are at.

The top can be cut off and disposed off, it doesn't really play an important role. Not to forget that in half of the cases this tree can have its lower body covered with branches, but they are considerably scarce and the Lumberjacks still favour them.

The part of the tree that is left over for use on the other hand, stretches commonly for 5-20 meters. It is straight, strong and usable in many tasks.

Here the idea is to connect these trees one over the other, to form a tower like structure which will make transporting coal easier. But it comes with a twist! Apart from the fact that it is hard to build such a structure without any casualties, it requires a lot of manpower.

Because the concept is, to lift the coal up while it is still on a crate. A special platform that carries the crate has been made as well and it hugs all four of the tall support beams with four holes on each side, meaning the platform has 4 holes on each side. It is a bit hard to put in to description.

Now the problem here is that one Crate measures up to 200 Kilos, so when they want to pull it up for 50 meters it requires the strength of 4 men at least or 6 to avoid casualties.

To prevent the rope from snapping, they also have built much like a crane like figure on the right which holds the rope up, away from the rocks. It can easily hold a mass of 200 Kilos, but once the platform is pulled up, 4-6 more men have to throw a rope over the Crate and pull it closer to the rocky floor of the second section.

Obviously this work is a lot harder to do compared to anything they worked on the second section, and to make it a bit more troubling it isn't as rewarding as the second section.

At the second section they managed to mine out around 50 tons of Coal! Yet at the third section 50 meters deeper, we can consider it as only 1/10 of the previously mentioned amount.

It became a problem, because at the second section they ran out of Coal to mine and for the third section, building that 50 meter tall tower like figure required 2 weeks to accomplish with the aid of 50 men! It sure ruined the order, but it wasn't impossible.

In August 28 when Bill got a deep and detailed view of how much the third section can offer, he alarmed that it won't be enough to meet the monthly requirement of 7 tons! Hell, on August 28 the entire second section depleted and they had piled up only 4 tons. They are supposed to send the coal out on the 15th of every month so it can reach on the first.

In a way, it screwed up their income just a little bit, but they didn't necessarily end up breaking even profit-wise or go negative. They still pocketed a fresh 15k.

But it became embarrassing in some terms, because the middle of September arrived yet they were just done building that 50 meter tall tower, they could only send out 4 tons of Coal instead of 7!

Now, they have started working on the third section but as mentioned before it isn't so promising and they would be lucky if they manage to mine out 6 tons of Coal! They've sent an apology letters to the Zamerians about it, but they didn't make a big fuss and told Bale Town to not worry since it can happen often in such businesses.

Regardless of what the Zamerians think, Bill estimates that they will only manage to mine out around 4.5 tons! Meaning, the Delivery they have to send out in the middle of October might end up being half full as well.

With the 50 men finally able to return on their other duties, farming became their main focus at the moment since it is the harvest season and it will provide a dependable year around food supply even though it is just wheat. Still, 250 Hectares of Wheat Grain still isn't little and won't only feed them for one year but two!

Now getting back in to deeper specifics of the third section and why Bill thinks it isn't enough. Well he actually has drown an excellent parchment, estimating how much each portion of the third section can write with pin points to mark spots and statistics on the other side, he is indeed gifted.

Well to start it off, once reaching down the 50 meter drop they see a main tunnel leading to three smaller branches, while the main tunnel leads to another drop after a couple of turns.

Specifically, once accessing the third section, there is a tunnel on the right about 10 meters away and another tunnel on the left 20 meters away from the start point. This portion of the main tunnel itself before leading to other paths is 20 meters long and 5 meters wide.

Its walls and cieling contain around 50% Coal, 35% rock and a good 15% of dirt. All of which are useful be it for monetary or structural reasons. When given a rough estimation, it should have around 170 Kilos of Coal! Now we can describe each branch and portion of the second section but that would take far too long! So let's list the three main deposits instead.

The very first branch on the right from the start point, goes on for 30 meters before it leads to a 20 meter long and 15 meter wide opening! Now the tunnel itself should have an estimated 150kg due to the fact that stones take 60% of its space but the large opening deserves to be number one on the list.

This opening, will help fish out a nice profitable 1.4 tons of Coal. In Value it is almost enough to cover the town's monthly salaries but considering the monthly order from the Zamerians being 7 tons, it isn't so promising.

The second biggest deposit is almost at the end of the third section, and it grants a nice 1 ton of Coal! Now although in size bigger than the first in the ranks by a few meters, its walls, ceiling and floor contain 65% stone. It isn't the best deposit monetary-wise but the stone can be useful.

The third biggest deposit, is found once taking a right turn 20 meters from the spawn point. It takes almost a U turn and leads to an opening 35 meters long and 10 meters wide. This Contains 70% rock, 27-29% Coal and the rest is just dirt. All together, Bill estimates 500-600 Kilos of Coal.

With those portions of specifics out of the way, due to fairly detailed research Bill estimated 4.5 tons. But as a couple of weeks passed, he was forced to change his mind since he seemed to have over looked one fact.

Some portions of coal can lead to bigger portions connected to it or very close to it, even if it isn't visible behind these coal, stone and dirt walls. Those deposits could either be 20 kilos more or 2 tons, you can never really tell for sure.

But still his guess wasn't too far off and it won't prove equally embarrassing for BaleTown again. Now he estimates it to be 5 tons or a bit over it, well he still got very close. They mined out a nice profitable 5.3 tons. So at the beginning he was around 800 Kilos off, it is still a good estimation though.

The've finished mining out what the third section had to offer, in a span of 3 weeks. Now they are on the tenth of October and are looking to expand towards new deposits.

Now there are two possible ways to attain such a task, and I apologise if this Chapter is getting expansive. Coal doesn't just grow on trees and we need to specify the struggle of maintaining an income, it isn't all sweet meet and warm ale after establishing an income, it still requires hard work.

After walking around 40 meters in the main tunnel, there is another branch to the right and it has a 15° upwards form. It stretches 60 meters and the miners only managed to get 200 Kilograms of Coal out of it. But to more important matters, it looks like it can lead them to what they can call the right wing of the third section.

The tunnel meets... something that can't be called a dead end but can't be called an opening either. It looks unstable, and it shows signs of a past collapse. But if Miners work against the rumble, they could be discovering more deposits.

The second option is all the way to the end of the main tunnel, after taking a sharp left turn for 20 meters and another sharp right turn for 50 meters after, they meet something they are both glad and angry at. Another drop!

From the first view, they can see the ground. It has to be at least 20 meters deep, as for what it contains they can only find out by dropping down there and optionally drawing a map.

...

A couple of days after, with the possible fourth section still in examination and the possible right wing still under work, the Guards came back from Black Tail Town. They came here a bit early come to think of it, but their response to it was. "There wasn't much to see."

However, they didn't really fail at their task. Delrus specified that it would be beneficial even if they found one Stonemason there who would be willing to come in to BaleTown. Coincidentally, they actually found just one!

Specifically, she is a lady going by the name Valtera Katelyn the seventh. Long name I'm aware, but the entire town there agreed that she possesses the craft, furthermore she doesn't have any family there due to her parents dying off old age and the rest of her family scattered around Ignis.

She is 36 years old, a mild body size and has light blonde hair. She has a bit of an attitude problem, but it won't necessarily prove troublesome. Also, with working men being on a shortage and with the other fact that women can work better with women, it is best to put gender differences aside and hire 5 more women.

The Amount still low even after the 5 recruits, but it is better to hire a small amount now so teaching can become less difficult. When these 5 are taught well, more apprentices can be hired.

They might not have to hire more apprentices at all if Gustav Iron returns back here with Stonemasons, but just in case if he doesn't succeed they still have a base of Stonemasons.

Salary wise, both Valtera and the recruits will earn 110 Gold Coins. Rather unfair considering that one has a lot more experience. But when food, warmth and clothing is covered for free than who can complain?

Now all that is left to do, is consult with the Blacksmiths about what kind of tools Stonemasons would need, and get in to work on making that wall. Little progress is better than none.