Chapter CXLVII

Two days had passed since they had passed through Springwell.

The village itself had turned out to be exactly what it appeared to be. A small village in a valley lost in the middle of nowhere.

Except for the woman who thought someone like Nero was her deceased nephew.

Which was rather funny, considering... necromancer.

Not that Seres could make any jokes about it with the adventurers around.

On the other hand, they had spent most of the two days wandering through the mountains while Nero searched for his mine.

With Nero becoming increasingly frustrated, in a quick repetition of the wandering they had done while searching for the Temple of Divine Trials.

Which, despite Nero's reaction, left Seres relatively relaxed.

This wasn't new, and the last time everything had turned out fine.

Well, more or less fine...

“I don't understand... It should be around here!” Nero exclaims, looking around in confusion.

They are on a path that is more like a ledge along the side of the mountain than an actual path.

Especially since they are now looking at the end of that same path.

There is still enough space for a cart to pass through, although it would be a tight fit.

So they have some room, but not much.

All of them are gathered around Nero as he looks around, even moving toward the edge to see what is below.

Seres takes the risk of doing the same.

Only to see a very long drop.

He quickly steps back, a little frightened.

The two adventurers exchange looks, as if trying to decide between themselves what to do about this situation.

“I can't believe this is going to be like...” Nero begins grumbling, until he pauses and stares at a tree they passed earlier.

The tree is thin and grows out of a pile of rocks that has narrowed the passage.

So much so that they left the mule on the other side of it.

Nero slowly walks toward the tree, now extremely interested in it.

They all follow him.

When he reaches the pile, he crouches down and begins looking at the rocks and around them.

“Could it be?”

Adar begins to speak. “Nero...”

But he is interrupted when Nero stands up and says,

“Move the rocks.”

“Hmm... Nero... judging by the moss and the... tree, these rocks must have been here for a very long time,” Axe begins, obviously disagreeing with what Nero wants.

“Years,” Carrion adds in support of her companion.

They don't understand that Nero is usually right, and that if he wants the rocks removed, it is because he knows something.

Nero simply looks at them expressionlessly and repeats himself.

“Move them.”

Seres looks at Adar, who returns his gaze.

The two of them let out sighs at the same time.

There is no way they can escape this.

So they throw themselves at the rocks.

With some effort, the two of them pull out a large stone that is halfway out. They must have both thought at the same time that it looked like the easiest one to remove.

But if this was the easy one, Seres dreaded the others.

With difficulty, they manage to carry the stone away from the pile.

At this, the two adventurers look at each other and seem to give up on trying to argue.

They also go after a stone.

Seres and Adar walk for a little while before realizing they don't know where to put it.

The first idea that comes to him is to throw it over the edge, but Nero speaks again.

“Leave it a little farther along the path. It won't get in anyone's way there.”

Seres has absolutely no idea why. Only that he really doesn't like the idea of keeping carrying the rock.

But both he and Adar know that it probably isn't worth asking.

When they let the stone fall to the ground some distance from the pile, and feeling a few drops of sweat forming on his forehead, Seres can't help remembering Nero's skeletons and how useful they would be right now.

“Nero, it would be useful to have a few more hands.”

It seems like a sensible idea to him.

But Adar gives him a shove, giving a look toward the two adventurers approaching while also carrying a large stone.

Seres feels a little offended by the shove.

After all, he didn't mention the skeletons.

And he doesn't even understand why they are trying to hide them.

Sooner or later, the adventurers are going to discover the skeletons at the very least.

Why continue with this farce?

“For now, no. Let's save my magic for now,” Nero answers, remaining focused on the pile of rocks for some reason.

Seres feels pleased.

He can see that Nero isn't simply ignoring his opinion.

He seems to be preparing for something.

On the other hand, he can clearly see Carrion silently mouthing I told you! to her companion.

Seres and Adar return to the pile.

This time, each of them removes a stone, since these ones are smaller.

As they move away to deposit the stones on the ground, he can see Axe struggling in frustration with a piece of the tree's root.

When he drops this new stone on the ground, he hears some commotion from them.

“What the hell is this?”

Looking back at them, he can see that Axe and Carrion are very interested in something among the rocks.

Seres and Adar immediately run over to see what is happening.

Nero is already there.

And when Seres gets close enough, he notices a small, dark opening that seems to extend into the stone wall.

When Axe pulled the root away, he must have moved enough debris to uncover it.

“There really is something here!” Axe comments.

Apparently unaware that, obviously, there had to be something here.

Otherwise, why would Nero have been interested in this place?

“But with this root, this pile of rocks must have been here for decades. How did he...” Carrion begins, looking between the pile and Nero.

She falls silent when her companion gives her a brief glance.

Nero, meanwhile, remains as he is, simply saying without looking at Seres,

“Blondie, light.”

Seres almost instinctively extends his hand, palm facing upward, and, focusing on the light, declares,

“Last Light of Magic.”

A familiar light immediately appears in his hand, gathering until it forms a ball of light that begins to rise above his palm, illuminating the area.

Even though the area is already lit by sunlight, it becomes brighter, since the mountains and a few clouds block some of the sunlight.

“You're a mage too!!” Carrion announces, amazed by the sudden discovery.

Seres can't deny feeling a little pleased by the woman's surprised expression.

“Mage. More like an idiot...” Nero comments unhappily while rubbing his face.

“Blondie, tell me, why do I want a ball of light here?”

Seres can only look at him and then at Adar, who also doesn't seem to understand what Nero wants.

He tries to figure it out.

After all, Nero clearly told him to illuminate something.

“In there, Blondie. In there,” Nero says, pointing toward the opening.

That makes Seres realize just how stupid he has been.

What Nero wants is to see the details inside that space.

Axe moves aside. Allowing Seres to put his hand inside the opening and illuminate the space behind the pile of rocks.

With that, Seres is the first to see that there really is at least a cave on the other side. And one that continues farther than Seres can see, even with the ball of light on the other side.

With this discovery, all four of them gain renewed energy and begin removing enough rocks to allow them to enter.

But even with that motivation, it still takes them several hours to move enough stones to create an opening large enough to enter.

When Nero finally announces,

“Enough! This will have to do.”

Everyone except Nero is covered in dust and dripping with sweat.

Although the opening is large enough for Axe, the largest among them, to squeeze through, it is not large enough for the mule to enter.

Which will be one of their most important tools for any realistic exploration of this 'mine.'

“Rest. Then you two are going in there with me,” Nero instructs the two adventurers, indicating the entrance with his head.

They become slightly rigid at this command, silently confer among themselves, before nodding in acceptance.

“And us?” Adar asks before Seres can.

“You two are going to take the mule and find a good place for a camp. This will be a quick exploration for now, just to see how much I remember.”

Before the quick exploration part, Seres had considered complaining.

He was getting tired of always being left behind with the mule.

But taking this opportunity to set up camp is a good idea.

Delaying things too much could become annoying.

If they come out of the cave later and can have something hot to eat, that will be nice.

Of course, it would be fantastic to be the first one inside the mine alongside Nero.

But he isn't going to leave Adar working out here alone.

And so they rest for a while as Nero studies the entrance.

All of them trying to prepare themselves for what is to come.