Chapter 173: The Mines

Tristan took Chieng the space knight and Herrera with him before took the horse and rushing towards one of the mines. 

"Sir Tristan, I am sure she is fine! There is no need to rush!" Herrera said, while running behind Tristan.

"Yes! She better be fine, or I am not sure how to explain this to the queen!"

Surprisingly they didn't go to one of the three mines crowded with all the workers. Instead, the space knight brought them to the abandoned one.

Yesterday, the space knight had gone through the three mines to find out which one Serene went to, only to find out that she already left from all three.

With the help provided by his implant ability to tracks, the space knight finally found white tiger tracks leading towards a different mine. He followed it and reached this abandoned one.

He found out there were too many tunnels inside, and it turned into some kind of maze. In addition, a strong acid smell permeated the place, making the space knight's tracking implants unable to work properly. It took some time to check the place, in the end, he found nothing.

As he was unable to fully check the layout of the place, Chieng decided to wait and see if the female elf would come out. He had waited until midnight, but there were no signs of her, he then decided to return back and report the situation.

Now, he had arrived back with Tristan to the said abandoned mine. 

The entrance looked like a massive cavern decorated with pointed glowing crystals. Pieces of rocks could also be seen amongst them, an indication that perhaps, without human intervention, the place would have collapsed long ago.

Chieng glanced at Tristan and politely asked for the ring that holds the space knight's item. He rubbed the ring and took out a small box written with the name 'Gremlin'.

Right after the wooden box's lid was opened, Tristan and Herrera saw a folded device inside, along with a small portable computer. Chieng unfolded it, revealing a one-meter square device complete with motors to propel it into the air.

It was a drone and a portable computer, presumably used to control it.

At the press of a button, the drone flew up high, and Tristan saw the computer show the map of the area. From the looks of it, the drone works by using something similar to infrared waves to do a geographical scan, creating a rough map of the tunnel.

Tristan looked at the computer screen and saw dots of glowing light start to appear in the tunnel map. It seems the drone was also equipped with a heat detector, and the scan revealed a spot in the mines that is dense with heat signatures. From the map, it looked like a large chamber filled with heat, certainly a good place to start.

"This is very useful, indeed."

With these items, at least Tristan could conserve a bit of blood essence, as he has no need to cast [Detect Heat] as long as it was usable.

Chieng explained that the drone could do much more, but Tristan was reminded to find his lost wife first.

Now that they have the map of the place and a clear destination, it was only a matter of time until they found the source of the heat. The caverns felt damp and dark, and the acidic smell made Tristan, Herrera, and Chieng scrunch their noses in disgust.

Herrera snapped her fingers, and a small ball of fire appeared on the tip of her finger before flying towards the torch she held. They decided to go through the tunnel carefully. There was no telling what they would find.

After walking for a while, Herrera saw a gem the size of her fist embedded on the rock wall. Though the light of the torch was dim, the gem shone brilliantly, orange from the fire reflecting on the purplish crystal.

"Ah, this is quartz. This is quite valuable." She muttered.

The group saw a few more quartz before finally reached the chamber as shown on the blueprint.

Right before they entered, Tristan stopped them

"This is the place, and from what I saw, there is supposed to be quite a lot of heat inside. There is no telling what it's coming from, and considering this place, it could be full of enemies." Tristan stare at Hererar and told her to stand behind him.

They walked inside, only to see a large empty chamber. The place was very muddy, and sticky layers of unknown substance clung to the wall. The heat was not from one or multiple people, but from the whole chamber. In other words, the place itself radiated heat similar to the heat of a living creature.

"What is this place…?!" Tristan said while pulling his foot from the sticky mud. Afterward, he took a few steps back.

It was Chieng who quickly responded. "It's an orc breeding lair."

Surprised, Tristan took careful steps towards one side of the sticky walls and realized there is something like a figure the size of adult size human inside. It was buried, but with enhance, hearing Tristan can tell their pulse.

From his venture to the orc camp before, he had heard that orcs grow on the ground like mushrooms. This must be what they meant.

"So, is this a normal thing, then?" Tristan asked.

Chieng rubbed his chin and answered. "Normally, it's not this deep, but I think their required depth varies between planets."

Tristan decided to take a walk through the huge chamber, while minding each step to ensure he wouldn't get tripped into the deep part of the mud. As he reached the middle of the place, Chieng used his portable computer to get a more accurate scan on the map.

"There are at least a hundred of them here." Chieng warned.

A hundred orcs seemed normal, Tristan thought. He nodded at Chieng, and continued to walk around. A messy part in the corner caught his eyes, and he saw that some of the cocoon-like walls had been broken open.

On the floor, he saw some kind of clear liquid that was still half-dried, but other than that, there was nothing else.

Chieng walked closer, analyzed the liquid and the cocoons, and concluded that half a dozen cocoons were slit open from the outside, a clear indication that someone forced the orcs to mature faster. He predicted the time of the sabotage to be similar to Serene's time of visit.

With the aid of his implant, he followed the smell of the liquid along with Tristan and Herrera, and they found another set of tracks they quickly followed.

Tristan walked faster, and after 10 minutes, they managed to reach outside the mines, but from a different entrance.

"I guess, this means she went out of this entrance, probably following new leads…"

Tristan was about to sigh in relief, until he heard the galloping of horses. He followed the noise and saw a group of riders approaching him atop their horses.

From their clothing, they seem to be the Caerleon adventurers, and there are at least a dozen of them.

Their sudden arrival in this place quickly made Tristan suspicious.

The horse stopped in front of the three, and one of the riders quickly shouted.

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

Another one of them quickly answered.

"Brother Jim, he is the new mayor."

Right as he heard the answer, the adventurer's expression suddenly changed. Although Tristan could only see it for a few moments, it was enough for him to notice. Jim jumped down from his horse, approached Tristan, and said.

"Greetings, Lord Mayor… May I ask what brought you here?"

Tristan shrugged and answered casually. "I am just checking the mines… What about you? Why are you all here?"

The adventurer paused, unable to answer right away. Though nothing was proven yet, Tristan became more suspicious.

"Lord Mayor… I must ask... Did you find anything down there?"

Tristan could quickly tell that the man was hoping for him to merely find the maze and not the orc lair. But, why are they so worried about the location of the lair? 

This made Tristan decided to confront them.

"Oh, you mean those orcs' lair? Yes, I saw them. Do you know about these things?"

The adventurers stared at each other and said.

"I am sorry you have to see that, Lord Mayor. Now, you will have to come with us."

"Hahaha!" Tristan laughed and smirked at Jim. "I have no reason to come with you".

From the start, Tristan had suspected where this exchange was going, but this event did nothing except play according to what he needed. For some time, he had been itching for a fight, but there was no reason to start any.

Now, it appears trouble came to him right as he expected. It was the perfect excuse to let loose his muscle and spill some blood..