Chapter 206
The Castel silver mine has problems?
Charlotte felt a slight movement in her heart.
The silver mine was the money bag of the Count Territory, and the precious Mithril was almost priceless.
Although in recent years, the revenue from commerce had become increasingly significant in the Castel Domain, before the depletion of the Mithril mine, the main income of the territory still came from the silver mine, especially the Mithril mine.
The depletion of the accompanying Mithril vein in the Castel family coincided with the time when the old witch drove away all the nobles around her. After Charlotte knew this, she felt something was wrong, and now it seemed… perhaps there really was something fishy going on.
With this thought, Charlotte almost instantly perked up and asked solemnly,
“What’s the problem?”
“Lord Charlotte, beneath the Castel mine… there might be some terrible monster hiding!”
Luf said with a heavy tone.
“Monster?”
Charlotte was stunned.
She frowned and said,
“Explain in more detail.”
Luf nodded, pondering and recalling,
“It all started when we, from the Blood Wolf Tribe, arrived in the Castel Domain about twenty days ago and went straight to the famously large Castel silver mining area.”
“I picked a few tribesmen who were particularly strong to work in the mine under the guise of hired miners. After about a week, we gained the trust of the noble Mine Supervisor, and I was allowed to work deeper into the mine, where my salary also quadrupled.”
“However, after going deeper into the mine, I noticed several strange phenomena.”
“Strange phenomena?”
Charlotte’s curiosity was immediately piqued.
Luf nodded,
“Yes, strange phenomena.”
“For example, despite being a mine that valued efficiency highly, miners as strong as my tribesmen and I were scarce; most of the miners—forgive my bluntness—appeared rather frail.”
“Therefore, my tribesmen and I quickly caught the Mine Supervisor’s eye. But it’s strange because we’ve seen the main silver vein inside; even if the accompanying Mithril vein had depleted, the silver mine hadn’t. I don’t believe the mine couldn’t attract strong miners…”
“Not only that, after joining the ranks of the miners, I noticed that the old miners looked at us in a strange way, so I got suspicious. I invited an old miner to drink at the tavern several times and voiced my suspicions.”
“At first, he didn’t want to talk, but after drinking my wine several times, he couldn’t help but urge me to leave and not to work at the mine anymore. Under my persistent questioning, he finally revealed the secret of the mine…”
“There’s a monster in the Castel silver mine! Those physically strong miners, they end up being eaten by the monster!”
A monster that eats miners?
Charlotte’s brows furrowed even deeper.
“Has there been any official statement from the mine about this?”
she asked.
“I’ve inquired indirectly, and the mine outright denies it, claiming it’s merely a rumor among miners…”
“But among the miners, it’s an open secret; not only do strong miners venturing deep into the mine vanish, but it’s said that terrifying roars and strange sounds can be heard from deep within the mine…”
“It’s said those roars are deep and thick, like a dragon’s roar from legends!”
“Therefore, there’s an even more astonishing rumor among the miners—that at the deepest part of the mine, there lives a giant dragon that feeds on the ore veins and miners!”
Luf spoke with a grave expression, his words startling.
A giant dragon?
Charlotte was completely dumbfounded.
She felt it more and more absurd; she just felt something was off about the depleting Mithril vein, but how did the investigation lead to a giant dragon?
“So, you mean to say… the Mithril vein was also… eaten by this… alleged giant dragon?”
Charlotte asked.
This time, Luf shook his head,
“No, I haven’t seen the Mithril vein; that site has already been sealed off. The mine gives the reason that the vein is depleted and there’s a risk of collapse, so it’s forbidden to approach.”
“However, I asked the old miners, and they told me there’s definitely a secret hidden there. In the past, one miner sneaked in when no one was around, trying to scrape away some Mithril residue…”
“You know, Mithril is valuable, even the residue is worth a fortune, but shortly after he entered, he ran out and went mad…”
“After that… he disappeared, and the mine never mentioned this incident again. As for the miners… no one dared to approach the sealed mine vein anymore.”
“But, the old miner had a guess that the monster is hiding somewhere near the Mithril vein. He said he heard a legend in his early years about a type of dragon that lives underground and feeds on various precious metals…”
“He said, it’s very likely that such a dragon is hiding in the depths of Castel’s ore vein!”
Luf’s reply left Charlotte both astonished and puzzled.
What surprised her was that she could hear rumors of dragons on her own territory.
As for the existence of giants dragons, like those in fantasy novels she had read in her previous life—where the protagonist often had a special connection with dragons, and in many novels from the Heavenly Dynasty, they would even tame a giant dragon as a companion or mount—Charlotte was not unfamiliar.
After her Crossing, Charlotte had also curiously searched for related information and knew that giant dragons also existed in the world of Mireya and had incredibly strong powers. They possessed at least the strength of a Blazing Sun in adulthood, and some old creatures even dared to challenge legends.