117 – Back on the Wolf’s Lair
After collecting the cardinite clean, I was able to come out with satisfaction.
At this amount, it was enough to match the weapons of both the Lizard troops and the Orc warriors. Of course, each of them must have the magic stone they hunted.
“Khehehe- hehehe-“
‘… I wonder if it’s really hard. Are you pretending to be tough…’
He patted the back of Fatty, who was still lying on the floor breathing hard, and said.
(Thanks dude.)
(…Keheuk…)
Judging by the fact that his ears turned red at my praise, it seems that he is not used to compliments.
Yeon-hee and the others let out a small exclamation as they turned around the cardinite they had brought.
“Corrosion resistance… Just reading the description, it sounds really good. How much would it cost if I sold it?”
“I don’t know. Still, it’s expensive for Ilwol to find and bring back things…”
“Wow- It’s time for me to set up my weapon- Wow-“
‘The weapon he’s holding is good, but what else?’
It is not an empty word. The sword Baek Ah-rin was holding was a sword of considerable value. Even so, the greedy rabbit was repeating the same words like a parrot.
“It’s time for me to set up my weapon- Wow- Wow-“
Arin’s eyes sparkle and she doesn’t hide her greed for rare minerals.
Actually, with the amount I dug up now, it wouldn’t be noticeable even if I handed it out to the party members little by little, so I handed out small daggers little by little so that they could be made.
‘I have to pay for it instead.’
In the end, we agreed to subtract the mineral value from today’s settlement.
“Kyaa! I love it! It’s such a festival today!!”
From noble mtl dot com
Arin dances and dances, and Eunyoung and Jooa show great interest in a mineral they have never seen before.
Even though I bought it with their daily allowance, they didn’t forget to say thank you to me.
Anyway, the four of them were busy laughing while touring every nook and cranny of the ore. Perhaps because the kids are nice, Ham Eun-young, who is passive in such a relationship, also joined in and went out with them.
Since they are in the same age group, they probably get along faster.
– Discovered and mined the rare mineral ‘Cardinite’!
– Acquired the achievement [Beginner Miner]!
Beginner Miner
– The speed of mining minerals in the mine is increased by 20%.
‘Achievements appear very quickly. Why do you think there’s a time gap in messages these days?’
······
Beginner miner was an achievement that I had obtained before, so I wasn’t very impressed, but I felt much better than when I first got it. It’s because I came to know the value of this achievement by doing the mining myself.
I went around and explored the interior to see if anything had changed, and I could see that nothing had changed except for the cave in the wall, which was noticeably larger than before.
Like an ant’s nest, it is a small burrow with countless forks.
‘How… That’s a bit embarrassing…’
Effortlessly ignoring the creeping anxiety, I moved next to Yeon-hee. Now is the time to get out of here.
As I approached, she smiled like spring sunshine, then put her mouth close to my ear and whispered in a sweet voice.
(Thanks, Ilwol. I’m sorry that I always only received it.)
With her short words, a small bolt of lightning penetrated deep inside.
‘Ugh…If she had a heart, she might have died.’
I was looking at her for a moment, enjoying the feeling of her body melting away, when she suddenly sensed a group of people approaching us.
‘What… Is this… A kobold? Being surrounded like this all of a sudden? Why so fast?’
Even if I was caught off guard for a moment, this was a speed that would have been inevitable in the first place. Even
‘There’s a lot… If you want to break through the way you came, you can. There is one risk factor… What should I do?’
“Clack!!”
At my urgent signal, people all at once gathered toward the entrance of the mine.
“What is it? These guys? This distinctive sound… Sounds like a kobold.”
As expected, Arin Baek also noticed their presence. But it was strange. I don’t remember ever hearing of kobolds appearing in this dungeon and in this mine? Could this be a change caused by the singularity?
After a while, kobolds appeared one by one from small burrows drilled throughout the mine walls.
I think there are well over 400 of them. Where did all those kobolds come from? It was definitely not detected within the range of my senses until I entered this place.
Anyway, when they approached us, it was clear that they were riding on something with wheels or something. I mean, there was a means of transportation that could reach this place outside the range of my senses.
“Have we been around too long? The owner of the mine has appeared.”
“It’s supposed to be 30 minutes… But it suddenly appeared!”
“But… I’m glad he’s a regular kobold like Fat.”
“……”
The kobolds that appeared were not mutants, or higher-level kobolds like the big kobolds.
No matter how numerous the common kobolds were, they were not afraid of hundreds of them. But one thing. There was a way they could get us into trouble, so I couldn’t let go of the tension.
‘They almost live in the mines. If I’m wrong, I’m sure he knows how to destroy this place.’
Since I’ve already seen the abilities of the mining specialist, I’ve been paying close attention to their movements.
However, they crawled out of the wall and stood in a line on the shallow cut into the wall, staring at us for a long time without taking any action.
-??
We tilted our heads in puzzlement, then suddenly our eyes shifted to the fat guy standing next to us.
Unlike his usual bewildered expression, Fatty was looking at them with a serious face.
“……”
“……”
In a brief confrontation, an elderly fellow with a graying beard on his chin stepped forward from among the kobolds. He shouted at Fatty, and Fatty answered the old kobold as if protesting.
‘What’s going on…’
It wasn’t a language that was normally used by summoned beasts, so I didn’t know what it was about. However, the conversation itself was a positive sign.
We all stood in bewilderment, hands holding weapons on our waists, and just stared at this rare sight.
The two kobolds exchanged shouts with each other for a while, but eventually turned their backs. The old kobold turned and looked at me for a moment, and I didn’t avoid his gaze either.
There was fear and greed that could not be hidden in the boy’s eyes. I can understand the fear of this guy who is infinitely weaker than us, but his greed…
‘…Cardinite? Because of this?’
As I gently lifted the mineral in my hand, I could feel him startling.
‘Hmm… That was it…’
Soon, the kobold who seemed to be the leader gave a hand signal, and the flocking kobolds disappeared back into the cave when the signal went down.
-Dr.
I can hear the kobolds struggling to drag something up.
‘Did you come down on a cart carrying minerals? Hee hee… I can see all sorts of things.’
Considering the height of the stairs we came down, I didn’t immediately understand that they had climbed down from above, but they started going back the way they came from with a grunt.
……
(Hey, fat. What is it now)
It was a really unexpected situation for us. To come in like that and then retreat again.
As soon as they disappeared, I immediately asked Tungi what the situation was, and Ttungyi replied.
Dduung-?
(Ha? That’s absurd.)
I could feel an unbearable sense of dejection and a bit of annoyance at the guy’s clumsy acting.
(Oh! Don’t pretend you don’t know, you bastard! You searched today!)
Wrapping Fatty’s arms around his legs and bending them in the opposite direction, I shouted for him to speak quickly, but he kept his mouth shut even though he was in agony as if to die.
Khehehehe-
“Stop that, Ilwol. I’m going to break my arm.”
“……”
In the end, after Yeon-hee called for a stop and released her arms, I suddenly remembered the sudden seizure of Fatie while the blue-eyed followers were conducting the ceremony.
‘Hmm… I think this guy has a story… sh*t! What do I know!’
With no reason to stay in the mine anymore, we returned, and on the way back, Yeon-hee asked Tung-i if we could take the mine with us.
‘Why else… Rather than that, tell me what you just said, yes, Yeonhee.’
Tungi nodded violently at Yeonhee’s question. His expression seemed to ask why he asked something obvious. Just by looking at his expression, he acted as if this mine belonged to him.
“Suspicious, this kobold…”
“Huh…”
“I’ll ask later… Maybe the dominance…”
Yeon-hee swallowed her gossip, but I listened carefully.
‘Dominance… Is that the kind of thing that requires you to increase your dominance to force questions? That’s a shame to hit the goal.’
We each climbed back to the dungeon with our doubts in our hearts, and fired a signal flare to inform the management staff of the news.
‘Did we fight earlier because of ownership… Maybe I’m trying my best.’
Did we steal what was originally their mine, or did the timing get messy and found the mine at the same time as us… No, this isn’t it.
Anyway, I had a hunch that it was Cardinite that I was aiming for.
I had a small question on my tail, but I decided not to think about it anymore because there was no answer even after thinking about it.
The official from the management office only showed up after an hour, and the process of registering the mine was not too complicated.
We were in a festive mood the moment he arrived, but somehow we felt embarrassed by the very calm response of the staff.
“Mine discovery isn’t something that happens often, right? He’s so calm.”
“I will. You’ll take care of it properly, right?”
“Yeonhee, I will report the progress of the transaction every day. Don’t worry!”
“That, until you have to…”
“No! I feel like I have to do something about it because I’ve been given too much.”
In just one day, Yeon-hee, who became the first in a relationship, only wiggled her fingers in embarrassment.
The processing by the public officials was faster than expected, but the delayed time made it difficult to go to the boss stage. Rather than being afraid that it would be night on the way back, the anxiety that he might not be able to participate in the raid now was greater.
“It’s a little jumpy, what. Finish it today!”
Baek Ah-rin didn’t seem to have any intention of entering this dungeon again.
We agreed with her opinion and ran hard all the way to the wolf’s den where the boss battle was to take place. No, it was the summoned beasts who ran, and all four of them moved comfortably on their backs.
At first, they were reluctant to be carried on by the vicious-looking Lizardmen and Orc warriors, but after a few minutes, they realized that there was no greater luxury than this.
Especially Ham Eun-young liked it, and she kept muttering, ‘It’s comfortable… So comfortable…’.
Thanks to the summoned beasts taking turns carrying the party on their backs, I was able to increase my running speed with Yeonhee on my back, and we managed to reach the wolf’s den on time.
“I, Sunwol… You can drop me off now…”
Nod-