Chapter 176 - Coal Rush!

Seeing the odds he has with this little exploration he urged to doo, he firmly decided to not go there alone. It is simply too risky! So he made his way out of the Cave and started heading towards the Town with a sprint on his walk. As mentioned a couple of Chapters ago, he requested the Blacksmiths to temporarily Cancel any given task they had and make a few Pickaxes as soon as possible. That was their main focus now, they couldn't disagree if the town's official Business Governor requested them. The main Blacksmith at least, was quick to guess that this sudden request necessarily links to a time worthy business!

He seeked Guard Commander Delrus Aze right after. Why would he seek the Guard Commander for such a unique case? Well for two reasons actually! He needs to inform him about this astonishingly profitable opportunity, and make a request from him. To seek out the toughest, strongest Platoon Guards. The reason behind his second intend is simple, he needs able bodied men for that cave exploration. A smaller reason he barely thought about, was to give Delrus Aze the honors of helping to establish such a Business worthy of song!

But once informed, Delrus Aze was shocked about the fact that this place has a natural Source of Coal. Actually, he felt very stupid too! Because he has been here a lot longer than Gustav Iron. Furthermore he didn't ask the Revolutionary Leaders about natural resources. He figured that Farming is the only big resource here so he didn't bother asking more questions about that particular topic.

"Coal? Are you sure it is Coal?" At first it was hard to believe, of course. It was hard for him to believe the fact that he missed such a tide changing town characteristic. To clarify, he didn't mean to disrespect Gustav's word on any way.

"Yes Guard Commander! I held it with my own hands and even made a Torch out of it!" When it comes to Coal, Gustav would notice it by smell before even getting the chance to see it with his own eyes! He would notice it by smell without a chance of confusion! To clarify, he didn't finance a Coal Mine nor did he earn a Percentage from any Coal Mine business in particular. It is simply because a part of having a higher Financial standard, is avoiding to buy cheap Wood which is hard to Ignite, it takes a lot of effort to start a Fire with. It can even take above an hour if one doesn't know how to properly start a Fire, they use tinder as an easily Ignitable Fire starter which can be rather hard to obtain on a daily basis. As for Gustav, he used Coal for cooking and warmth purposes. 100 Kilograms of it costs around 500 Gold Coins in average. But he could afford it, so why not live easier!

With Gustav's words, Delrus got convinced swiftly so he cut to the case right away. "Where is the Coal Cave? Can you take me to it? Is it far? By the God of the 8 Sources this is amazing!" Delrus was overly excited! He had a boatload of questions and didn't even let Gustav answer one of them. Because as soon as he was about to answer, his word was cut short by another sentence! Furthermore, Delrus was quite happy!

Glad that at least Delrus cut to the case in a short time instead of stopping and asking for every question to be answered in detail, so he started working up the conversation to form a list of requests for a bit later. Requests for this task that is. "Yes yes I can take you there! But we can't go down there without proper equipment. I noticed that after going a few meters deep, a huge drop followed. I wanted to go down there myself but I'm not nearly prepared for such a task. The drop was at least 10 meters." The request was made almost clear right now. When it comes to finding proper explorers for such a deep drop, a tight strong grip both with one's hands and feet is necessary.

He was taking the conversation to borrowing some Guards. Well bororrow can be a strong word to describe this forming conversation, because at the end of the day they are all trying to help this town. So let's best call it an expression. Luckily (Time-wise at least.), Delrus was quick to catch on such a topic. He swiftly stated. "I got you! I will prepare five of the finest Guards. I'll ask them to find Torches since it appears to be a very valuable tool for such a task." That wasn't hard to guess, Caves are usually dark, Delrus knew even though they aren't used to Caves on such a Flatland(Clear Lands.).

Confident no doubt, "No no. Leave the Torches too me!" Stated Gustav as he pulled a Couple of Coal Chunks from his pocket and held it on his hands for show. "You just get the Guards and at least three long and dependable ropes." He surely carried more Coal Chunks in his pockets. Imagine how much time he took to pick out the most appropriately sized Chunks of Coal! Putting Coal aside and focusing on the Ropes now, he continued with fairly enough sympathy on his tone. "Just because the Guards are strong, it doesn't mean that we aren't obliged to assure that they get down there as safely as possible. Please get strong Ropes."

Knowing that they brought a few Ropes along with them from Pameres Kingdom, Delrus was confident with what he can guarantee. "Don't worry about the Ropes, we have fine ones we bought from the finest bargainers in Pameres Kingdom." Moving on to the main topic, Delrus asked in utmost curiosity. "Do we need anything else?"

"Um yes. But I will cover the rest of the requirements." At this point the least he could do is give a quick preview of what he is looking for. Maybe the Guard Commander can help filter out bad ideas from this plan thought out with a strong rush. "We need thick pointed Sticks that we can nail to the ground. There wasn't a single Tree around that Cave so we will need to depend on sticks to hold the Guards as they go down there." 

Gustav didn't take one thing into consideration thanks to this rush of excitement I suppose. They likely won't be able to find a Rope that can stretch at least over 15 meters. Not to mention finding three in that length. It would be playing Crazy! But maybe if they find enough, they can tie them to a reliable knot! I suppose he will figure it out once he continues with this task. But I have a feeling that it will prove quite a time consumer in the near future.

Why do they need a 15 meter long Rope you might ask yourself as you are reading this? Well it is because the floor of the Cave is mostly made of Stone and Coal. You can't bash  a pointed wooden stick on it, or a piece of metal for that case, even if they found a patch of soft deep dirt inside it wouldn't of proven safe. It would never be reliable and they can quite possibly risk killing the Guards or at least heavily injure them. Breaking one bone would be the easiest way out of such a predicament, out of such a drop!

Parting ways with Delrus, he made his way to one of the Construction Workers to ask of the Nearest Lumberjack, he didn't quite learn their schedule yet since the Lumberjacks were quite confident of their own daily work and barely required any guidance. To his time saving luck, one was lending the Construction Workers a hand since he brought his daily Lumber to the town for the day already. So this work can be considered voluntary no doubt, it's nice to see people contributing.

"Hello Sir." Gustav greeted the Lumberjack as he gazed upon the Lumber he brought. Looking for an appropriate peace he can use to describe while barely making any eye contact(With the Lumberjack.).

At last he grabbed one stick, but it didn't meet what he was looking for. However, it was great to use as a proper description to make the request. "I need about nine sticks almost similar to this one!" It was indeed hard to request so many sticks at once, especially since Gustav made the requests rather unique. The Lumberjack put in a lot of effort to bring this Lumber here. He was heavily sweaty from all of his work and felt like his work is being judged even though Gustav didn't nearly have such intentions.

"I hope it's for a Good reason." Commented one of the Building Constructors, who came from Pameres Kingdom. This special request is rather a lot to ask. 9 very straight sticks, thicker than two arms combined. Plus they would have to be sharpened. It would take at least an hour to prepare all nine. Plus he was noticing how the Lumberjack was reacting, no Lumberjack wants his results easily questioned. Don't offend a Man who carries a Sharp Axe even if your offension was accidental! Luckily though, there are 9 more Lumberjacks who can prove useful in providing the proper Lumber if one couldn't provide all!

"Oh trust me. This little contribution will make BaleTown rich! Rich I tell you!"