Chapter 1911: The Aullazire Mine
Ning walked out of the room once Frostveil and Lightspeed were gone and stared at the mine in the distance. Groups of miners entered and exited continuously, bringing out barrows full of coal.
While this was an Aullazire mine, this was initially a coal mine as well, and that was what was being mined more than anything else. As Ning watched, a group of soldiers, led by a high-ranking officer, made their way toward their building.
Ning could see that they meant business, so he turned toward the two inside. “Guys, it might be time for us to get to work.”
The officer introduced himself to the group as Major Markhal, one of the 3 Majors that were in charge of supervising the mines. He was a short orc with giant mandibles and grayish-green skin.
“Welcome to the mines, heroes,” the Major said. “You should all be aware of your duties, are you not?”
“We have a surface-level understanding,” Threadreaper said. “Anything else, you’ll have to explain in detail.”
The officer nodded. “Please be ready in 5 minutes. We’ll be heading into the mines where I’ll explain the rest in detail.”
Silverstreak was the only one who bothered taking the time to change into something a little more comfortable. Ning and the old man decided to stay in their costumes instead.
Once they were ready, the officer took them in.
They got onto a large carriage that could hold up to 6 different people. Tracks were laid throughout the mines, an easy way to carry things that were mined out.
Two officers, along with the Major, accompanied them as they ventured deep into the mines.
Large wooden structures held up the opening of the mines, and as they headed deeper, there were more such structures available. The tunnelway got smaller a short distance in, but that only lasted for a while before it expanded into something larger. There was enough space now for two tracks to be laid down side by side. One to wheel out the mined resource, and the other to send back the empty containers.
Ning could smell the carbon in the air, the black dust that was just a spark away from detonating the entire mountain range. They had to be extremely careful how they worked there.
“Here, you should wear these so you don’t end up breathing in the coal,” the officer said, handing them all some masks. Ning wore one without a word and waited for the officer to continue.
“This coal mine splits into 3 different branches a short distance from here. The Aullazire vein is in the 3rd branch, which is where we’ll be heading,” the officer said.
As the man said, they saw a split in the path ahead. One went straight on, while the other split to the left. They continued on the one that went straight and ended up at another split, with one going right while the other one continued straight.
The one that diverged was the one they went through.
“At first, the miners merely thought it was some sort of quartz mine they had come across, but once we realized that it was Aullazire, the military was immediately alerted and sent here to handle everything else,” the officer explained.
“Does this mine belong to the government?” Threadreaper asked.
“Partly. The Aullazire is completely of the government, but the mine itself is private property. So the government doesn’t have any laws on the coal that is mined here,” the officer said.
“And are we to work to defend the coal too?” Silverstreak asked.
“No, you will only be working within this branch. Your task will be to defend not just the workers here, but the tankers outside that will be filled with what is mined here. We won’t force you to choose where you want to work, so you may decide upon the schedule and location you wish to work in yourselves. We just ask that two people be available to work at any given moment.”
“Two people?” Silverstreak asked. “That means you want us to work 16 hours a day. That’s quite the ask. There should have been 4 heroes so we could at least do 12 each.”
“I don’t decide that, so you’ll have to talk to the president,” the officer said.
The sound of pickaxes and mechanical drills sounded not long after, getting louder and louder as they approached the end of this tunnel. When they slowed down, they finally arrived. The crystals were something else.
As the carriage finally stopped, Ning slowly stood up, staring at the Aullazire vein that peeked through the walls.
He hadn’t thought much about what the Aullazire vein actually looked like before coming here. He’d been more focused on the logistics of the thing and what one could achieve through it. But deep in the mine, where the overhead lights stopped being enough and the stone itself seemed to take over, the crystals grew from the walls in sparse formations as patches of sky blue that seemed to give out more light than they took in.
The biggest patches were taller than he was. The smallest were thin fractures in the rock face that caught the light and scattered, seemingly appearing no different than glitters in the dark.
He wasn’t the only one fascinated by what he saw. Both Silverstreak and Threadreaper were similarly fascinated by what they saw. They walked out of the carriage and stepped at the edge of the slope before looking down into the giant cavity where the people worked, constantly mining away at the stuff.
And still, there was so much of it in the walls. To fully mine it all, it could take them years, if not more. They probably didn’t even know how deep the entire thing went. Had they even mapped out the mine yet?
“Impressive, isn’t it?” the officer asked from beside them. “This is what you’ll be working to protect for the next few years. Our country’s greatest new asset.”