Chapter 9: The Mine Shaft

“I mean… will you really not consider it anymore?”
This was the third time the guard captain repeated those words on the road.
It wasn’t out of fear—though those fierce wolf packs did look terrifying—but as a guard, he had a minimum sense of dignity. An imperial soldier would never turn his back on the enemy!
Even fierce beasts weren’t an exception!
What truly disturbed him was something else—those children behind him…
They were all future magicians. Even if they were just commoners now, they were students of the Rexox Academy, which meant they were practically half-nobles. What if something happened to them here…?
The guard captain didn’t dare think any further.
Glancing secretly at the children beside him, the man in his early thirties could tell that at least two of them were of imperial noble origin. One was a calm boy wearing glasses; his tone and gestures clearly indicated he had received excellent noble education. The other was a girl with red hair, speaking with the arrogance of someone of higher status, though she might not even be aware of it.
The children clearly had no intention of accepting the guard captain’s kindness, which left the man in his thirties somewhat disheartened. He silently prayed that nothing would happen along the way.
“Everyone, there’s a pack of mountain wolves ahead…” Lisa said, pulling at Allen’s robe sleeve.
“Hm?” The children looked up and saw a dozen or so mountain wolves standing on the road not far away, seemingly watching them.
“Be careful!” the guard captain shouted in a panicked voice, standing in front of the group with his spear in hand.
But strangely, after a long time, the wolves remained motionless.
This puzzled Scott. He pushed past the guard captain and stepped forward amid his cries. After a few steps, he seemed to notice something and turned around, saying, “Come here, everyone. These wolves are dead!”
“Dead? Really?” The guard captain stared at the wolves, hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward with his spear. A few seconds later, he reached the wolves, who still didn’t move.
Out of caution, the guard captain poked one of the wolves with his spear, only to find that after a slight shake, the wolf simply fell over.
“Phew, they’re indeed dead…”
After checking the entire pack, Scott said to Jiang Zhe and the others who were approaching, “They’re all dead!”

“All of them?” murmuring, Jiang Zhe stepped forward, crouched down to examine the wolf corpses on the ground, his expression grave as he couldn’t figure out the cause of their deaths. To him, these wolves showed no signs of external injuries; they seemed to be asleep, merely without breathing… “Strange,” Allen, who had also noticed something odd, muttered to himself before turning to Scott and saying, “How did these wolves die? They weren’t frozen to death, were they?” At Allen’s absurd remark, Scott rolled his eyes, pushed up his glasses, and said to Jiang Zhe, “From what I’ve observed, it might be due to mind magic, but…” He shook his head, not entirely sure himself. “Is Professor Hodde good at mind magic?” Dia asked Jiang Zhe softly. “Well,” Jiang Zhe hesitated before shaking his head, “I’ve always thought the professor is quite mysterious, but I believe his strongest skill is fire-based magic…” “So… it’s not the professor?” As she spoke, Dia pointed toward the road in the distance. In the distance, along the road, there were still many similar wolf corpses… “…” Staring at the wolf corpses along the road, Scott was astonished. Mind magic is a high-level magical discipline that requires great mental strength; not everyone can master it. To kill dozens of wolves at once, one would need considerable magical power and mental strength—probably that of a seasoned magician… But strangely, wouldn’t such a seasoned magician also know other types of magic? After all, casting mind magic is extremely draining on mental energy… It’s really strange! Scott shook his head in confusion. “I wondered why we hadn’t encountered many wolf packs along the way,” Jiang Zhe said with a smile as he murmured. “But it’s good too!” Then he turned to the head guard and asked, “Uncle, how far is it from here to that abandoned mine?” “Uh, oh,” the head guard, who had been staring blankly at the children discussing the cause of the wolves’ deaths, finally snapped out of it. He looked around, pointed ahead, and said, “It’s about three or four hundred yards more…” As he spoke, he glanced at Jiang Zhe curiously. In his eyes, this little boy didn’t speak like a noble, but he seemed to be the leader of these children… How strange! “Three or four hundred yards? Alright, let’s go!” Three or four hundred yards wasn’t much of a distance. In just a few minutes, they arrived at their destination—a deserted mine.

But strangely, they still encountered quite a few wolves with peculiar causes of death along the way, all along this path… Could it be that besides Professor Hodde, other magicians had also discovered the strangeness of this place? Jiang Zhe had no idea. They arrived at the foot of a mountain valley, and the captain of the guards pointed to a cave-like structure ahead and said, “We’re here!” Before this, Jiang Zhe had been puzzled as to why it was called a mine pit rather than a mine, but after arriving at the destination, he finally understood… Such a structure resembling an entrance to a small cave could indeed only be called a mine pit! Scouting the surroundings, Scott asked, “Is this the only one?” “Yes,” the captain nodded and said in a somewhat amused tone, “A few years ago, there were rumors of a silver mine here, so some people who dreamed of getting rich came here…” “Imperial law strictly prohibits private mining of precious metals, and silver is a precious metal!” Scott said calmly, pushing up his glasses. “Ahem,” the captain, interrupted, felt a bit embarrassed, coughed, and continued, “That’s true… But after investigation, it turned out to be an ordinary iron mine with limited reserves. It was abandoned two years ago. Still, some people refused to give up and dug around for a while, but they didn’t find anything…” “Are those people still here?” “No,” the captain shook his head, his expression filled with mystery and fear, “Because a strange thing happened a few years ago…” “A strange thing?” “Yes. According to those who escaped, they seemed to have dug through something… Um, I heard there was also a magician who entered the mine pit but never came back. So the villagers nearby were very scared, not knowing what had happened, and no one dared to approach this place again… Later, some persistent people sneaked into the mine pit, but they also never came back…” “Never came back?” Scott raised his head, puzzled. “Yes. There’s a legend that a demon is sealed underground, which is why the villagers nearby avoid this place…” “A demon?” Allen said jokingly, “If there’s really a rumor of a demon here, I’m sure many magicians would be very interested!” A demon… Jiang Zhe helplessly shook his head, glanced at the dark mine pit, and said to his companions, “Alright, if we’re going in, let’s do it soon!”

“Do you really want to go in?” It seemed the guard couldn’t understand Jiang Zhe’s words and spoke anxiously, “Although the rumors about demons might not be true, don’t be fooled by how unimpressive this mine looks—it’s actually very deep. I bet those guys dreaming of getting rich have dug at least a hundred yards down! What if they get lost in there…?”
“Thank you very much for showing us the way. You can go back now; we’ll be back soon!” Scott said politely, but in an unyielding tone.
At that moment, Lavia, standing outside the mine, also said impatiently, “If you’re going in, stop dawdling!”
“Well…” The guard captain hesitated for a moment before nodding and saying, “Alright then. May the gods bless you!”
“Gods?” Allen chuckled.
The guard captain left, feeling somewhat relieved. After all, if anything happened to these kids while he was there, he might also face legal consequences. In the empire, nobles and commoners were completely different.
“Um…” Standing next to Lavia, Lisa poked her head into the mine and said anxiously, “Do we really have to go down? Avi?”
“Don’t worry!” Before Lavia could speak, Allen grinned and said, “Your knight will protect you, in case there are any monsters!”
While he spoke, Jiang Zhe and Scott had already stepped into the mine past him, both rolling their eyes at Allen.
“Why are you slowing things down, Allen?”
“Yeah, yeah…”
It must be said that girls naturally feel fear in dark places.
Like Lisa and Lelira, they didn’t dare speak since entering the mine and clung tightly to the boys beside them. Allen, on the other hand, just smiled. Scott, however, felt uneasy. He frowned several times at Lelira, who was stuck close to him, but seeing her anxiety, he ultimately said nothing more.
This mine might have been dug downward from a cave. At first, it was fine, but as they went deeper, the ground was covered with rocks, making it difficult to walk.
Although the kids had prepared some torches before coming here, unfortunately, their light covered only a very limited area.
Looking at the darkness ahead, even though they knew nothing was there, the girls still felt uneasy.

“Ouch!” Perhaps slipping on the rocks beneath her feet, Laila instinctively grabbed Scott’s robe.
“…” Glancing gloomily at the girl who had lowered her head, Scott patted Jiang Zhe’s shoulder. “Sos!”
“Mm!” Jiang Zhe nodded and snapped his fingers with his right hand.
As the sound of the snap echoed through the tunnel, five fireballs appeared almost simultaneously before the children.
Jiang Zhe controlled them slightly, positioning the five fireballs in front of, behind, and to the sides of the group. Though they were just ordinary fireballs, they were sufficient for lighting.
Using fireballs for illumination was indeed a good idea, but aside from Jiang Zhe, few would likely go to such lengths. After all, for magicians, mana is extremely precious—it is the foundation of their existence. I doubt many magicians would waste such valuable mana; in the dark, they would rather carry torches.
However, for Jiang Zhe, the cost incurred by these five fireballs was negligible. He kept four fireballs floating around the group while controlling the remaining one to explore ahead.
“Dude, it’s great having you around!” Allen said with a grin.
“Hmph!” In response to Allen, Ravia snorted. Clearly, the fire-based magic she had learned was not suitable for lighting. Although she could cast a fireball, she lacked Jiang Zhe’s strong recovery ability, and moreover, she couldn’t control multiple fireballs at once…
“She controls them pretty well!” Ravia muttered in a barely audible voice.
“Is there a fork in the road ahead?” Scott asked.
Jiang Zhe looked up and saw that the tunnel ahead had split into three paths, all appearing roughly similar. After hesitating for a moment, he controlled the three fireballs to fly into each fork, and then…
“Boom! Boom boom!”
“I just praised you… Be careful, dude! I don’t want to get buried!” Allen warned in a strange tone.
Rolling his eyes, Jiang Zhe said helplessly, “Am I not controlling them well enough?”
Indeed, the explosions of those three fireballs didn’t cause much shaking in the tunnel, as Jiang Zhe had merely transformed the fireballs into flames.
With that brief light, Scott hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. “All three paths look similar. What should we do?” As he spoke, he suddenly looked up, scanning the surroundings warily.

Meanwhile, in a room-like place underground, a person wrapped in a black robe was facing a crystal ball, inside which the figures of children appeared…
“So there are a few little mice after all…”