CHAPTER 529: ANOMALY IN THE MINES

With the matter related to the Underwater Breathing Potion settled temporarily, Elaina decided to head to the mines and fulfill her promise to the pixies who are currently waiting for the brooch to be examined. Julia already mentioned that the magic currently being used on the brooch is complex but not too hard to decipher if given the time to do so. Elaina did not understand what Julia had said related to the magic intricacies of the brooch, but she understood one thing: the brooch is quite complicated.

Julia already copied the main spell embedded on the brooch, so she is free to take away the brooch without leaving it with Julia permanently. Her original task is to replicate the brooch and hand the original back to the pixies. Once that is done, if the brooch and its effects are ever replicated, then she will also have to distribute the brooches.

But before she would go, Elaina had to ask her children if they are going to head over to the mines. It would also be a good way to accompany them if they are going themselves. However...

"Sorry, Mom. Since we have been going there everyday, I proposed yesterday to everyone that we should have even a single day of rest from going the mines and training there as a way to rest our bodies instead of stretching further into overstressing our bodies just to surpass our limits. Since everyone agreed, today was the day we decided to take a break. We will take a single day break every seventh day of the week starting today," Adelaide explained to Elaina as the siblings were instead doing their own things inside the house instead of preparing for their tasks to go to the mines.

"I see. That’s alright and I also agree with your sentiment. Still would have been great to see the progress of everyone."

"Don’t worry, Mom. We did what we could and made sure to limit ourselves to the areas where we can clear and avoid those floors where we can’t touch just yet. You will be surprised by our progress!"

Elaina smiled. She might not be entirely following their progress but just based on their abilities and how they are already showing advanced moves during practice sessions in the morning before they head to the mines, Elaina can tell that they are doing quite well in that regard.

"I am looking forward to know how strong you guys have gotten. Regardless, I am all proud of you all. Make sure to keep watch on the boys, alright? I know they get to do mischief but if they do, make sure to scold and reprimand them on the things you know."

"Naturally, Mother. Ah, right. Since you are asking us if we wanted to go to the mines, does that mean you are heading there?" Adelaide remembered something.

"Yes, you are correct. Is something going on?" Elaina inquired.

"Something did happen. We realized that the ores on mines seems to be under some sort of abnormal event or something. Whenever we visit, we see these huge veins of ores all around the cave. I know there should be times that we get lucky to strike a huge vein of ores from time to time, but it seems that it wasn’t the case since every veins of ore we find are all the same thing. That is also one of the reason we have plenty of haul of various ores stored in our storage due to that. We even handed Aunt Julia and Miss Yona gems since they said they do have some uses for it and we got so much of them that they soon declined to get more since they have already gotten a lot of them."

Elaina’s face turned serious upon hearing this. After all, she is familiar with this anomaly due to her business back when she was still the empress and even though it is very much a blessing due to how much things people can mine due to the overflowing and large veins of ores and gems, it is also a disaster in disguise that no one would ever think of.

Back then, the miners exploited this a lot and as a result, the business has been in a big boom due to the supply. However, little did we know that something deep under the mines would emerge and cause danger to everyone that was only resolved thanks to some adventurers who helped out on clearing the mines but thanks to that, the mines became abandoned and many miners retired in the process due to the trauma they received that day.

Thanks to the warning that Adelaide gave her just now, she is now sure that those dwarves are now getting ready to deal with the upcoming trouble.

"Thanks for the info. Enjoy your rest, Ade."

Afterwards, Elaina emptied her dimensional storage bag and packed in the potions inside it as well as the tools she will need for later. And of course, she didn’t forget her sword. After saying goodbye and getting the permission from Julia as always, she headed into the mines.

...

...

...

Just standing in front of the entrance of the mines, Elaina can already smell the same smell she remembered back then. She glanced over at the quarry outside the mines and even the small veins present there seems to be slightly affected as well due to how bigger most of them are compared to normal.

Fearing for the worst, Elaina quickly head inside and operates the elevator of the mines to send her to the village.

Upon her arrival there, the dwarves are all in full force and full mobilization. Majority of them are even armed and armored up as well, meaning that they are indeed getting ready for the trouble. A few dwarves stop by and talk to Elaina when they noticed her while the others continue to prepare.

"Human! Your timing is impeccable! We are in a dire need of help and the chief will be so delighted if he managed to get you to help out," the female dwarf said with a look of relief the moment she laid her eyes on Elaina.

"You are indeed very much on time! We are in dire need of someone who can fight and has experience in dealing with monsters. You are what we are looking for. If you didn’t come, we would have settled on doing it ourselves and potentially have some casualties," another male dwarf seems to be relieved as well seeing Elaina arrived.

"Right, I have heard the situation. How bad is the situation now?" Elaina inquired.

"Ask the village chief. He knows the current situation. We are too busy to learn how bad things were. Ask him if you want to know more."

After saying that, the two dwarves quickly returned to their preparation, leaving Elaina to head over to the village chief.

She quickly made her way to the chief and for the first time, the dwarves who are usually just lounging from time to time to either drinking themselves to drunkness are now active and are more mobile than she ever have seen them. Even the Village chief who is usually busy forging something most of her visits is not doing his usual job and is more on discussing the situation and the strategy.

Elaina did not wait for the village chief to notice her, she immediately insert herself to the meeting.

"I heard the news and the current predicament. If you are short on hand to head over and fight, I am available and ready to fight. Just tell me the current situation first."