Rian approached one of the smaller clusters protruding from the cavern wall. The crystals themselves were far more radiant than the ones in Nadine’s room.
Even from several steps away, his mana sensitivity could perceive the energy circulating within them, dense and pure.
He reached out, wrapping his fingers around one.
[Life Force Synthesis Lv. MAX — Activated.]
The crystal’s tranquil blue light flowed into his palm. The surface rapidly dulled, turning gray before eventually crumbling between his fingers.
[Estimated Lifespan: 24 days, 12 hours, 12 minutes.]
’An hour and thirty minutes? These are far more efficient...I really need to take over this mine, whatever it takes.’
They were real, and there were thousands of them.
And with the spirits residing inside as well, the only thing that needed to be supplied really...was rocks that were able to be turned into mana crystals.
But the more Rian thought about it, his mind continued to wander off. This deposit was large enough to fund an entire territory, yet Rosalia only excavated a tunnel barely wide enough for one minecart?
"Why did Rosalia have to dig this tunnel so small?"
His own complaint returned to him.
At the time, he had assumed it was another result of her cost-cutting. Rosalia knew Adrian would eventually confiscate the mine, so she had spent the bare minimum required to extract what she could.
But that explanation no longer made sense.
Rosalia was greedy, impatient, and occasionally careless. So if she was going to extract, knowing it would be cut-off...wouldn’t she have gone all the way?
Rian turned back toward the tunnel, studying the passage more carefully now.
The warped rails hadn’t followed a deliberately excavated path. Rather, they had been bent and hammered into whatever space was available. The support beams were crude additions, wedged against irregular walls that had none of the usual scars left by pickaxes or Earth Magic.
A sudden, gnawing realization became clearer and clearer as he continued examining them. The mining equipment was here, yes. But it almost felt like...
"Rosalia didn’t dig these tunnels..."
"She found them."
Rian turned back toward the cavern. He placed a hand against his chin, thinking deeply about the implications of the discovery
"So...Rosalia lied about finding the mines?"
"No, she was telling a half-truth," he shook his head. "But that begs the question..."
"Who the hell dug these tunnels?"
He wasn’t an expert on mining, or well, tunnel digging for that matter. But from just a glance, Rian knew that they were not some kind of ancient tunnels dug by the ancestors of Eisenbran or anything.
Though a bigger question that had suddenly popped into his mind, was the consistency of it all.
"If Rosalia had abandoned the place a few days ago at my request...who had been disturbing the seals outside?"
Rian closed his eyes and allowed his mana sensitivity to spread throughout the cavern. The overwhelming concentration made him almost throw up as mana from thousands of crystals bombarded him at once.
Finding any foul play among them was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Still, from sensing mana all this while, Rian had found a pattern to them.
Natural mana felt...free, going along with the currents. Human magic on the other hand, always left some kind of pattern.
It took several minutes, but sure enough, Rian eventually noticed faint traces running along the cavern floor.
They were nearly imperceptible, faint remnants of earth mana being buried beneath the dirt. He crouched and ran his finger over the ground.
At first glance, the soil appeared untouched. But it felt too flat. Even loose stones had been pressed back into place, while every indentation had been carefully flattened.
Someone had used earth magic to erase their footprints.
"Clever...whoever did this was a professional at covering their tracks."
Rian followed the residue around the edge of the lake. The trail occasionally disappeared beneath clusters of crystals, only to reappear several steps later. Whoever had covered their tracks had taken the same route numerous times.
Eventually, the trail ended in front of an unremarkable cavern wall. There wasn’t even an opening or a narrow crack someone could squeeze through.
Yet the mana trail led directly into it.
"An illusion spell...?"
Rian placed his palm against the wall. Rather than trying to overpower the entire spell, he traced its structure until he found the thread connecting its outer edges.
Quickly, he found out that job had been haphazardly done. Like the caster had understood the spell’s concept, but was lacking in technical skill in order to pull it off.
On the surface, it looked like a complex knot. But with just a single pinch, like pulling on a loose shoelace, Rian dispelled the whole thing.
The stone distorted beneath his palm, rippling like the surface of disturbed water before dissolving into drifting particles of light.
As the illusion collapsed, one final thread of mana slipped from Rian’s grasp and vanished into the hidden passage. He frowned but thought nothing more of it.
Behind it was another passage. And unlike the tunnel Rosalia had occupied, this one was definitely well-maintained.
Several meters inside stood an iron gate. And beyond that—
Rian’s mouth opened, his breath catching on the absolute inhumanity of it all.
Men, women, and children were crowded throughout the hidden chamber. Some were shackled to iron rings embedded in the walls, while others huddled together beneath thin blankets.
Their clothes ranged from those of merchants, craftsmen, to ordinary laborers. There were dozens of them, yet they all had a common point:
These were struggling craftsmen, indebted traders, fishermen, laborers, and children without anyone influential enough to search for them. They were people Eisenbran could lose without being forced to notice.
The moment the illusion vanished, several captives raised their heads. They couldn’t see Rian beneath [Curtain of Darkness], yet their instincts kicked in immediately.
A man recoiled against his chains.
"Please..." he rasped. "Please...not us."
Rian recognized his clothing. It was the same man he had watched being dragged from his home and loaded into the unmarked carriage—
Otto Kehl.
’The missing citizens...they’re all here?!’
He rushed to the iron cell bars to try to find any mechanism to set these people free. "Hold on, I’ll try to—"
Yet instead of gratitude, all they had in their eyes...was a look of horror. That was when Rian realized they weren’t looking at him, but past him.
"No..."
Soft footsteps echoed from behind Rian, before a voice spoke out.
"Well, well...we meet again?"
Rian quickly turned, hand already reaching into his sling bag, prepared to grab a spellbook out in case a confrontation was to occur.
But what he saw...was a monster.
"...Felix?"
"Glad you still recognize me."
He looked nothing like the composed noble who confronted Rian at the reception. His clothes were disheveled and his dark hair clung damply to his forehead, along with a feverish smile across his face.
But the most disturbing change was his left eye.
It had become a deep, unnatural blue, with no visible pupil or sclera. Its surface shifted like dark water, rippling like it had been disturbed by an unseen current.
"What the hell are you doing?" Rian asked, even if he knew what the answer would be. "Why the hell are you capturing innocent civilians?"
"Always so...nosy," Felix casually sighed. "Why do you always insist on sticking your nose into my affairs, baby brother?"
With a single swipe of his hand, the Curtain of Darkness was torn away from Rian’s body, dissolving into strips of black mana.
[Curtain of Darkness has been forcibly dispelled.]
"No matter. At least now I can finish what I started—"
"...All those months ago."
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter