Chapter 158: Abandoned Mine Refugees

The first thing Rino noticed about the switch he found was how it automatically led to nothing happening. Was this a dud? He did not remember dwarves being this crafty in his previous world, but maybe craftiness was required to survive in a world as harsh as this.

Rino went around trying to look for a second switch or level but found none. Surely, that wasn't the only switch in the area if the first was a dud, right? 

While looking for the second switch, Rino thought he sensed something strange about the cave's layout. The tunnel might be mined by dwarves. However, the switch he found was placed in such an odd position that made Rino wonder if it truly was placed by the dwarves. He didn't know that their short and stock arms could reach so far into the thin crevice of these rock cracks closer to the ground and upwards. If Rino wasn't all bones already, he would never find that switch.

The next switch that Rino found was inside the wall surface. This time, the suspicions ringing in his head screamed at the lich that no dwarf, sane or otherwise, would place the switch inside a wall.

Dwarves could not use magic of any kind in his previous world. The signs of manual mining used to create this broken tunnel were exactly the same as what Rino saw in his previous world. With magic, there wasn't a need for support beams. Magic could strengthen the internal wall structures, but traditional mining activities weakened the wall structures and increased rock fissures, threatening the chances of cave tunnels falling inwards without support beams.

This hidden switch was definitely not the work of dwarves, as Rino suspected. The lich was instantly on high alert for other intruders and mine dwellers that may have settled in the abandoned mines. It wasn't unheard of for other creatures to find abandoned mines comfortable to live in, especially those that thrived on minerals like crystal crawlers.

Crystal crawlers were a nightmare for the empire for the longest time because they threatened the rare minerals needed, eating everything from rubies to quartz and sometimes mithril. They ate coal, iron and sulphur, and were difficult to kill depending on their diet.

Many top adventurers and heroes were forced to retire after running into crystal crawlers if they did not die on the extermination quest assigned by the kingdom. After losing too many talents, the king told the magician tower to deal with all crystal crawlers, and Rino spent a long time trying to develop something that could protect his tower mages.

Crystal crawlers were like living furnaces, digesting everything they ate in the mines and turning them into polished processed armour skin, using that as a shield against attacks. Magicians could easily melt and cook crystal crawlers using intense fire magic after a heavy binding spell. However, the same trick did not work on mithril or diamond. If anything, the crystal crawler with gems on its armour could absorb magic attacks and reflect it back at magicians.

The first encounter with a magic deflecting crystal crawler caused Rino his first serious injury, and the monster took out more than a third of the tower's forces sent to subdue it. They retreated, and the mage struggled to revive his dead magicians before sending a report to the king about the predicament.

Eventually, the dwarves who helped the kingdom exterminate that menace and Rino decided that magic wasn't everything. He needed to use magic to better the lives of everyone in general, using the dwarves' unusual mechanical gold golem as an inspiration. He founded the art of alchemy, a kind of magic science that focussed on fusing magic into objects that could be used by non-magicians.

That said, the hidden switch did not look like the work of crystal crawlers. If anything, there was only one other possibility.

Even though Aiden, Griffith and the gnomey pals did not show any indications of knowing how to use magic, some gnomes were capable of it. This hidden switch looked like the typical tricks of earth gnomes, and Rino grinned to himself. He finally found some faes.

Most faes were elusive and lived in seclusion. When he first started Town Zera, he wondered why there were no faes in the rocky mountains, but now he understood that he simply wasn't looking in the right places. Everywhere else was too hostile for weak earth gnomes. While gnomes were terrific builders and crafters, their community was a little bit of a mess without a capable leader to give them directions.

Gnomes, like fairies, had the trickster nature of all faes and were egocentric. They spent most of their time wasting their talent by pranking each other and taking petty revenge instead of building a better community for themselves. If it wasn't for Rino uniting the gnomes, faes and brownies, they would never be able to create wonderful items at such a fast pace. Rino's appointment of managers also helped, and a higher authority was always available in case of a dispute. He normally tried to turn a deaf ear and blind eye to petty fae disputes because it was common and a needed distraction from the stressful peaceful, progressive pace. It was also why hot springs were only available as a reward for behaving faes.

Now that Rino knew the true culprit behind the cave's mysterious entrance, he changed a technique to locate the true opening. It might not even be in this tunnel, and the gnomes might just be throwing him for a loop with the distraction. Then again, the switches that did not open the secret mine entrance could act as something else to alert them of possible intruders.

Whichever the case, Rino didn't care. Some petty cave refugees did not spoil his plans. If anything, it made things easier when he found them. One could never have too many crafters in an expanding kingdom. Gnomes were always welcomed, and Rino was very convincing if he wanted to be.

After tapping the walls repeatedly in various spots, Rino called this cave ending a true dead end. The lich retraced his steps and tried a new tunnel, searching for hidden devices before tapping to listen for a possible cave continuation behind the rocks. Most of the spots sounded solid, and Rino was about to call it a night and return tomorrow when he heard something else moving.

He was tempted to throw a powerful spell in the direction of the tiny noise to blast open whatever it was, but Rino contained himself. It could be those pesky cave refugees responsible for his misleading tour in the abandoned mines.

Rino created a shadow clone using tendrils and used the cover of darkness in the cave to sneak up on the little troublemaker while he pretended to tap and listen to walls.

The unsuspecting earth gnome screamed when a hand rose from the ground behind him, securing him in its clutches as a shadow summon rose from beneath. The cowardly earth gnome fainted almost immediately when he saw Rino's hollow eye sockets staring at him.

Rino studied the earth gnome. He looked like a teenager, rather young for those of his kind. Even Aiden and Griffith looked like they were well into their retirement ages with pot bellies and greying beards. This lad was scrawny and stank of inexperience. He should be less than thirty human years, and Rino wondered if the rest of the earth gnomes taking refuge in the dwarves' abandoned mines were the same.

It reminded him of beggar children cults. The leader was only twelve, but he took in abandoned children as young as infants. The twelve-year-old provided for everyone even if he was exploited by unscrupulous adults for dirty profits.

Child trafficking, child prostitution, pickpocketing gangs and children scammers were not unusual to see around the capital. The kingdom's knights and public order did not do much about the social situation as many nobles claimed helping one wouldn't make a difference, and commoners were so irresponsible to give birth and not care for them. It wasn't fair for honest tax-paying citizens like them to contribute to such a cause.

To appease both sides, the king left the church in charge of tackling the orphan situation. Of course, not every parent would turn their child to the church, and the only future for orphans raised by the church was to serve the church unless they found a way to repay the church's debt in money to become free again. Brainwashing children was common in the church. After a while, Rino could not stand back and turn a blind eye. He started recruiting quick-witted orphans under his baron title for information services on behalf of the magician tower and even offered orphans wages for running magician tower errands.

For the earth gnome in his palm, Rino decided to do the same. If these refugee gnomes were truly a family of orphans who valued each other, they would come to find him in Town Zera. Rino was nice enough to leave them a sign and a way to follow them should they come. If they were selfish creatures like they proved to be, Rino need not hold back on annihilating them for forced recruitment.