Episode 70. Let's move it all together.
A day has passed and just before dawn.
"Everyone come out!"
The scarred man called the children out of the mine. He made them work in the dark of night, when visibility was poor, so as not to be caught using the children for mining. Before daybreak, he took the children and made them sleep in tents that were hastily set up in a remote corner.
"Gather here and follow me! If you try to run away and get caught..."
The man who was about to say something soon snickered with an amused expression.
"If you're curious about what will happen, it's okay to run away."
The giggling continued. Aiden frowned at the sight. He didn't forget to keep a close eye on Dino and Philip.
"Brother Aiden..."
Aiden comforted Dino and Philip, who were feeling anxious.
"It's okay. We can get out of here. But there's something I have to do before that, so just hold on for a little while. Just trust me. Okay?"
"Yes."
Dino and Philip held Aiden's hand tightly and nodded. They followed the scarred man's orders. The man stopped walking in. front of a shabby cabin a short distance from the mine entrance.
"Everyone stay here today, no tents."
It was so old and shabby that it was difficult to even call it a mountain lodge. It seemed to have been used as a temporary shelter for workers when the mine was first discovered and tunnels were dug. The mountain lodge, which was roughly made of wooden planks and looked like a small hut, looked like it could collapse if the wind blew.
"Don't even think about stepping outside. If you're seen today, you'll really die."
The man warned them sternly and sent the children inside, locking the door from the outside. There were more children inside than Aiden had seen before. Judging by their size, there seemed to be about 50 to 60 of them. They were small, but because there were so many of them, there was no space for them to lie down. The children had to squat down inside the small cabin and sleep.
All of the children had dark complexions. Some were sobbing, while others had blank expressions from the hard labor. Several of the children's stomachs were growling. However, on the way here, the scarred man had told them that they had not yet reached their full mining quota, so there would be no food. Instead, they had been told to go inside and sleep quietly If they did not want to be beaten, so the children looked very scared and just held their hungry bellies.
The walls of the old cabin did not block the cold wind at all. The children had to stay close to each other to share body heat and keep warm. Two guards stood outside the tent to prevent the children from running away. But even if the children ran away anyway, it was impossible to escape through the rugged mountains to the village. The guards seemed more guarded against anyone breaking in from the outside or discovering that the children were there than inside. Aiden sat down at the farthest point from the entrance to the mountain lodge. Inside, Aiden, who had been taking care of his younger siblings, waited for Karina to contact him without sleeping.
30 minutes later, Mikhail contacted Aiden.
"Aiden. Are you okay?"
A small voice came from beyond the window behind Aiden. Aiden recognized it as Mikhail's voice and answered calmly.
"I'm okay. I found my siblings too."
"That's good. What were you doing in the tunnel?"
Mikhail asked Aiden for more details just in case.
"I dug out the stone by breaking the dirt with a hammer and nails."
"As expected, it was child labor exploitation."
Mikhail clicked his tongue. While listening to various things from Aiden, Mikhail heard something unexpected.
"I saw a stone inside that I had never seen before."
"A stone you're seeing for the first time?"
When Aiden first came here, he heard that this was a copper mine. So he thought they were mining copper, but when he actually saw it, it wasn't.
"It wasn't copper."
Aiden had a rough idea of what copper was since it was mainly used in making fairy tales. Aiden took a stone smaller than a fingernail and pushed it through the crack in the window.
"This is it."
Mikhail's eyes widened as he noticed the stone.
"You really think this came from inside that mine?"
"Yes."
Aiden's nod made Mikhail look troubled. The mineral Aiden had brought out was a piece of magic stone. Mikhail, a magician, recognized this fact at a glance.
'If I do this wrong, I might have to throw the plan away.'
Mikhail's eyebrows furrowed. Aiden, unable to see Mikhail's expression, continued speaking.
"First of all, all the kids I worked with are here. There are also kids I haven't seen before. I think they're all gathered here."
Mikhail also agreed with Aiden. He had been watching from outside as they gathered the children from several tunnels and brought them all here. Mikhail, who seemed to be thinking for a moment, was silent before speaking again.
"We're planning to go inside the tunnel now and take a look inside. Could you please show us where this stone was mined?"
"Yes."
Mikhail quietly let Aiden out the window, leaving Hasten to stay outside and watch over the children.
Karina, Mikhail, and Aiden used stealth magic to avoid the eyes of the guards standing outside and hiding inside the tunnel. Originally, it was to check the inside of the tunnel and determine a suitable explosion point, but Mikhail said there was more to check. There were lights installed in certain areas inside the tunnel.
Nevertheless, it was dark and eerie. The inside was very chilly due to the cold wind blowing in from somewhere. When they thought they had entered quite deeply, their pupils dilated.
"It seemed like they had collected dirt and rocks here and then sent them out."
"Then this is about the halfway point."
"I think so. We went into that passage yesterday and dug out the red stone inside."
"Red stone?"
Karina looked puzzled at the first word she heard. Aiden took the two to the place he had been yesterday. But they couldn't go inside.
"It's too narrow, I can't go in any further."
Mikhail and Karina stopped at a junction where the passage narrowed.
"I'll get the stone out from inside."
Aiden was about to step forward.
"No. There's no need for that."
Mikhail stood still and used his magic to carefully examine the inside of the narrow passage. As he was examining the inside, Mikhail's face changed for a moment.
"Ah, as expected."
Mikhail opened his mouth with a troubled expression.
"Karina, we have a problem."
"What's the problem?"
"They weren't mining copper in this mine. They were mining some other mineral. And that mineral..."
Mikhail showed Aiden a small rock the size of a fingernail that he had been hiding.
"What is this?"
"It's a magic stone."
"Magic Stone?"
"It is a stone that is naturally imbued with magical power. Among them, this one is a fire stone with the fire attribute."
When Karina heard Mikhail's words, she felt a little bewildered.
"Firestone? A fire attribute in this cold northern land?"
"The ground is cold because of the temperature, but the ground contains the energy of fire."
"I see."
It was interesting, but now was not the time to be feeling that way.
"But. Why is this a problem?"
Karina asked the main point.
"You can't blow up this mine."
"Huh? Why?"
Karina looked uncomprehending.
"If we blow this up, the magic stones will be affected and cause a chain reaction of explosions. And the magical power contained within will be released temporarily at the same time. Given the amount of magic stones buried here, the entire western area will be blown away."
"What?"
Karina's eyes widened in surprise.
"If it's the western area, then all of the western villages?"
"Yes."
Mikhail continued, looking at Karina's shocked face.
"Since it has come to this, why don't we just move it all?"
"Move what?"
"This entire mine."
Karina was even more surprised than before.
"Stop talking nonsense."
Karina said seriously as if telling him not to joke around.
"I'm not kidding. It's not impossible if you use the magic stone here."
Of course, if it were any other normal wizard besides Mikhail, it would have been considered crazy. But it was possible for Mikhail.
"Of course, that would require using about half of the magic stones here, but that doesn't matter. Right?"
He was right.
"I don't care, I just want to get rid of this mine. As long as we don't get caught."
"Don't worry about that. I'll move it all away without a trace."
Mikhail's smile deepened.
***
Mikhail, Karina, and Aiden moved to where the large pupils were from before.
"Moving it, not just blowing it up, requires some preparation time. It'll take a little while, so please wait."
"Okay, I don't mind."
Karina didn't want to disturb Mikhail. Karina and Aiden decided to keep a lookout in front of the passage around the area to see if anyone was coming. Mikhail looked around for a while and muttered as if he was estimating something. Then, as if he had finished calculating, he began to draw a magic circle without hesitation on the floor in the center of the pupil. It took a while to draw a complicated pattern on a fairly large magic circle.
Karina watched the scene with wonder. At that moment, a faint sound of footsteps could be heard from the passage where Karina was standing.
"...!"
Karina, startled, held her breath and looked inside the passage. The sound of footsteps and sporadic voices echoing through the passage began to grow louder.
"...Mining only takes place at night..."
"Surroundings... thoroughly... caught..."
"...Drink... During the day, there are... laborers..."
"...Then there will be no needless suspicion.”
Someone was coming. Karina quickly signaled to Mikhail. Mikhail then quickly cast a stealth spell to hide the magic circle drawn on the floor and their figures.
"I see."
"Yes, don't worry."
Meanwhile, the sound of conversation was rapidly approaching. Mikhail silently motioned for them to gather in one place. Karina and Aiden followed Mikhail's signal and clung to one wall. Soon, Revals and three men who appeared to be mercenaries walked out of the hallway.
'Revals?'
Karina frowned when she noticed him.
"Then how much more do we need to reach our target amount by then?"
"Yes, if we had half as many kids as we have now, we should be able to mine to our target number without any problems."
"You need half as much?"
Revals asked nervously. The servant opened his mouth in confusion.
"It's because the kids are young, so they drop out quickly. To maintain the current pace, we need to keep filling in the empty spots with energetic kids. Considering the empty spots that are falling out, we need at least half more..."
"Forget the excuses! Those who joke and trick people will have their workload doubled!"
"Oh, yes."
"Don't even let them sleep! Don't you know how important this is? You have to do whatever it takes to get in his eyes! You can't make a single mistake!"
'Him?'
Karina tilted her head after hearing Revels' words. It sounded like there was another reason why he was acting so recklessly.
"They said they'd send someone to check today, so we have to prepare thoroughly...!"
Boom, boom.
"...!"
Before Revels could finish speaking, a loud noise was heard from one side. When Karina turned around in surprise, she saw Aiden, pale and stunned, tripping over his work tools.
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