Chapter 30: The mystery under the floor
When the old man heard that, somehow, he expected Vlad to try to break out from the camp at some point in time. It worked perfectly for them either way. If Vlad was in the camp, he could train his Haki even more, but if he was out, he could experience more and see the world around him. It worked either way for him.
What he lastly said even picked his curiosity a bit. 'The boy is prepared to share some secrets of his with me? Well if this is the case, maybe I should also treat you in the same way.'
While thinking for a bit, Nius looked at Vlad. He smiled at him while nodding his head slowly and grabbed his shoulder. Staring at his dark-green eyes, he advised him one last time. "Boy, I think you know that even when the exit is guarded shallow when you're trying to escape, you could still meet around 50 guards or even higher. As for what you want to say to me on your last day here, there's no need to hurry yourself, this old man still has a lot of sand in his clepsydre. Sigh, but before that I also have to explain some things about this kingdom to you, the ways you can go towards your future and other secrets of this world. I will come later at night to explain this things to you."
'So you too old man are preparing to share some of your secrets with me? Heh, it seems I didn't misplace my trust in you old man.'
"Thanks, old man for offering your help whenever I'm in a pinch for it. While I might look a bit ignorant to you, this is because this environment is new to me. I only know this camp and the small village I lived in when I was young before getting captured." Said Vlad embarrassed a bit by the fact that he only knew two places, the small village from the boy's memories and the mining camp.
'This boy, don't tell me is he really? No, don't bother me with these small bits, the lad's attitude and personality is his real face.'
"That's why I will tell you, boy, what path you should focus on to reach the capital city or a port city to escape this kingdom. But let's leave those for another time. We got work to do in the mine. I have a feeling that we will soon get to find something interesting while cleaning out this path."
"Don't tell me? What if you guys find some mind-blowing stuff out there after I leave? Would that leave me sour?"
"That's your fault, boy, but I will tell you what we found out after we meet at some point. You don't have to be sour. What if we find something important when you're still around?"
Laughing out loud with an evil grin on his face, and while doing so, picking the other miner's attention on the boy and old man. "You're right gramps. We should hurry and put those lazy boys to work. Do you hear me guys, come split a bit and start forming the formation I taught you. Everyone on the line!." looking at some younger workers, he told them. "You go find some carrying boys for the stone, if they don't want, tell them that I will teach them some tricks to help them out in the future, but if they are really headstrong you can resort to dirty tricks. Such as beating them, or scaring them using my name, either way, works for me."
Taking a deep breath, looking at the miners, he said with a higher tone. "Get ready guys, for work. I don't want to hear any excuses from you. You see me working. That's the lead you will follow forward."
The rest of the miners felt his energy, took their pickaxes and chisels in hand, and followed Vlad's example. Some even chanted while having fun. "Yes sir, we'll follow your lead!"
Old Nius, when seeing the entire masquerade taking part, could only laugh with the same evil grin that Vlad had on his face. This made him resemble an older version of Vlad.
Like this, the slaves and miners started getting into the mood for work. When Nius saw this, he smiled slightly while thinking. 'This lad sure has the qualities of a leader. He might not want to show them to offen, but he's a true leader from top to bottom. His conqueror's haki isn't just a fortunate accident.'
The miners started breaking the stones that seemed to have collapsed at one point in time, slowly clearing the path forward while pushing the stones aside to let the carrying boys to get it outside of the gallery. Everyone worked without a problem. They looked to be coordinated well to know their respective jobs, while the stone breakers were synchronizing with each of Vlad's swings.
The stone breaks quickly smashed everything in their path, only leaving the people carrying the stones outside to suffer a bit. But usually, they took a break when the carrying people were overloaded. The slowest part was carrying the stones out to leave space for other batches and enforcing the roofs with supporting beams.
Vlad, when seeing that things proceed not as expected, would tag in to offer his assistance to the other miners. He would even be letting the boys who were tasked with carrying stones do different jobs, like, for example, chisel the roofs or the side walls. In exchange, he would do their jobs. It was comical to see Vlad fight out with the young boys tasked to carry the rocks out. At moments even yells a bit angry at them, but without ill intent.
"Shut up you brats. What "you can't do that, it's dangerous." Do you want to see the marks of my hard work? If not just shut up and do as I say, and tie this damned bucket to my back. I don't want to see them drop from my back. Do you hear me, boys!"
Like that, they would tie a massive bucket to his back full of stones while he also carried some smaller ones on his shoulders. The carrying boys, when seeing Vlad get that huge load, were simply dumbfounded and shocked. Their eyes were shining with hope when looking at Vlad's tall back.
The miners stopped from what they were doing to take a look at Vlad, and while doing so, they started cheering and cursing the upper floors. "Move out you snobbish bastards, your master is going up, don't you dare stay in his path, or we'll rough you up fuckers."
"Hmph, you morons that's not how you deal with people! You're only making my tasks harder by placing more attention on me. Sigh, stupid morons, I will deal with you when I come back. Who do you take me for, a monkey to offer spectacles, or do you want to take my place?" Saying that quickly shut the miners and slaves from cheering and cursing.
Going up to dump the stones was indeed a sight to be seen. Like how he went down for his job, going up aroused the people's curiosity to see this fabled young man carrying an insane load of stones. The miners from different sections of the mine stopped working. They turned instead to look at the tall young man, some with fearing eyes and some with curiosity. The guards were hating seeing Vlad too often going outside. They still questioned their boss for not ending this freak in all those two years since he killed some of their colleagues, but each time Belpel would shut them up, shifting the subject.
Right, now with Vlad disturbing the order of the mine, gritting their teeth, they turned their attention on the miners who stopped working. Some guards yelled at them, some whipped them, depending on how low their status was in the camp.
When Vlad reached the middle point of the mine, he was greeted by the view of Kipset and Inorra preparing to carry their batches. The two of them noticed Vlad and could only smile back at him while also following his footsteps to go up.
After climbing up to the dumping site without any incidents to follow him, he slowly settled his buckets. Starting with the smaller buckets of stones on his shoulders, he slowly went to his large bucket held on his back. Removing the tie while being next to the dumpsite, not assuring himself before doing so. When doing so, the bucket dropped instantly down and created a circle of dust from the impact.
"Fuck, I haven't thought about that." cursed Vlad in his head. He thought that the impact would be smaller than what he got.
Inorra and Kipset also finished with their batch. Still, they suddenly heard the hard impact of the bucket Vlad was carrying on his back.
Quickly the guards around the mine site started gathering around Vlad, giving him deadly stares. As they were giving Vlad those stares, Vlad just chuckled a bit, later looking at them coldly. Some of those guards were even with the hand on their sword's sheaths, preparing to strike him. They were clearly part of Belpel's faction from how they reacted to him, but Vlad didn't care much about their reaction.
"Sirs, you should go back to your posts. You clearly disturb the working men around here by being gathered like this." sneered Vlad at them while saying this in a calm manner, not thinking much of their reactions.
"Zagreus, you should be inside the mine. You're not supposed to leave the mine until your working hour is over. Have you forgotten that already?" said the guard who was closer to Vlad.
"Sigh, you guys are real pricks. I just helped a bit down there, clearing more efficiently the way for the boys working there. In the end, the ones profiting from me doing this are your bosses."
When he ended saying that, he got closer to the guard who talked to him, looking at his face and later turning towards his sword. Getting closer, almost face to face with him, he acted by trying to take the guard's sword. When the guard noticed that, he got scared and stepped back while drawing his sword toward Vlad.
"Step back, slave, don't you think that we didn't learn our lesson last time. We're now more than prepared to take you down without head guard Belpel intervention."
Looking at them with an emotionless face, after a bit, he chuckled and said while clicking his tongue.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. What big words come from your mouth when you're visibly scared to even see me grab or get closer to you and your sword."
Saying that, he turned to leave the encirclement, the guards looking at each other, could only concede this time and let him go back to the mine. They were left furious by their failed attempt to coerce Vlad, each one of the guards left slowly to go back to their watch post.
Getting out of the encirclement, Vlad turned to walk towards Kipset and Inorra. They were quietly staring at everything happening to him. Inorra panicked a little bit and said with a hint of worry. "Vlad, is everything fine with the guards?"
"Hmph, what can they do to me? Haven't you heard my little story yesterday? Do I look like someone who would even bother himself with some lowly soldiers? Regardless, they don't dare to kill me if they don't receive Belpel's orders, that's the mentality of a soldier? I hardly see that scenario coming to fruition. Belpel doesn't want to kill me because he still needs me to suck up to that fat Mayer. Right, they were saying something two years ago that they will kill me after a while, it seems that I will be the one to kill them."
"Indeed, you're an unworldly prince. Compared to us, you know better than us what to do." said Inorra before getting his bucket in place.
"That's the way things are lad, if little Zagreus' body was a bit stronger in the early years, I would simply break out without even telling you kids. But with time, I saw myself in you, small boys imprisoned to a cruel fate that lead to nothing. So here I'm still here. You better get prepared in 7 days, more mentaly than physically because you'll see a lot of blood."
"There will be no problems on our part, but Vlad, what about that kid that just came to us? Will you take him with us?" asked Kipset while having a confused face as they walked towards the mine.
"Hmm, that boy. I still don't know if he's truly trustworthy, even with all my experience. I feel that boy is keeping some greater secrets that he doesn't want to tell us. But no worries, he isn't dangerous to our plans. Everything will go according to the plan. Also you should also prepare to gave your farewells to old Nius, because regardless of what you say, he helped us a lot without even asking anything in return."
"Indeed, I almost forgot about gramps. It would really be weird to not see you and the old man bikker about all short of things, or see his frustrated face whenever he loses to you in that Batlle of Kings game." said Inorra to Vlad while his face was a bit sad.
"Are you really not going to come with us when you're breaking out?" insisted Inorra with this question.
"I have other plans for when I break out. There's certain people that did a lot of bad things to this lands and destroyed countless futures of kids like you. My situation could be to said to be a bit unique because I've seen everything to be seen on the darker aspects of the human mind, but you little brats? Your life just began. That's why I don't want you to be bound by my choices."
"Sigh, I understand that you want to kill that Mayer guy and the other bastards that are doing great harm to this kingdom and unfortunate kids. Who are dying mostly of malnourishment and exhaustion. At least we tried to check on you again, it would be quite boring without you around." said Kipset while signaling Inorra to stop his tried to convince Vlad.
"Kids, you should focus instead of convincing me to tag along with you a bit more on the breakout. If things go sour, I can't protect you guys as I imagine, which means you will have to fight the guards too."
Inorra could only keep that in mind while the three moved back to their respective parts. When Vlad got back to his zone, he was met by the sight of the miners and slaves working on smashing the stone and clearing the path. Like this continued the miner's day, Vlad would change out jobs with people who couldn't take it anymore. He would assist the people who installed the beams, chisel the roof, or even carry the stones out of the zone together with the younger boys. The people working with him didn't fear him one bit, especially the younger boys tasked with working in the highest depths with the most unfortunate ones. They looked towards Vlad like an idol, especially when he would teach them ways to hold the bucket without getting too tired or techniques he found out in his four years of working in the mine to chisel the rock quicker and faster to extract the required ore's.
With the young slaves and miners, Vlad wasn't known as the feared Blood Devil, but only as big brother Zag or Zagreus. Most slaves in the depths worked inside this zone for who knew how long? All their time was spent while slaving or working.
Time flew by fast while working, and so their working hours were done. The workers, followed by the young slaves, started to leave in order. Some tired, others were chatting about random things.
While the people were going, Vlad felt something wrong with the floor, turned to look at old Nius while wearing a confused face.
'This coldness, it feels as if a water source is flowing right beneath our feet. What should I do in this situation?'
He asked the old man. "Old man, have you noticed that the temperature dropped a bit since we pushed further in the depths? It's almost as if we broke something we shouldn't."
"What the heck? Are you dreaming lad how can there be any humidity down here. Don't tell me there's a new flooding incoming. Get away, let me check." said old Nius while pushing Vlad aside with a slightly angry face.
Dropping down to touch the floor, he checked diverse spots until he suddenly stopped like a stone statue. "Boy, come here, see for yourself what's here, so I don't curse myself for getting old." Getting closer to where the old man was, he heard. "Touch the floor in that spot" while seeing the old man point in a corner.
Touching, he felt humidity. It felt like underneath was some kind of body of water passing by, right beneath them. He made a sign to old Nius to keep quiet and feeling that the water would not rise in level, with a pickaxe, he quickly got in his hand gave a big hit on the floor, creating a hole that suddenly let him stare down. It didn't take long, and old Nius also arrived next to Vlad with an angry and confused face.
'What? How come it doesn't flood the gallery? This kid, does he know something that he made this hole?'
The two, old and young, stared like idiots with perplexed faces at the hole. Both said at the same time. "It doesn't flood."
"Damn! Old man, I think we've messed up the direction by choosing to go down." Said Vlad while frowning at the discovery he made while still having a confused face as he stared at the water source that didn't flood one bit the gallery.
"You think? We really messed up big this time. Do you know anything about this phenomenon kid? If not, why did you do that? Now, what else do I have to do in this shitty camp? So many years wasted clearing this path but to what end, to have it flooded? Argh, I want to kick your ass you stinky brat."
"Old man calm down. I don't know much about why this water doesn't start flooding the gallery but at least it's a good sign. We can just cover this hole up and abandon this gallery?"
"Hmmm, that doesn't work. People would get suspicious and try to figure out what happened here. However, I got another idea in my head. What if there are secrets inside this water stream let to decay inside? A lost civilization that built those tunnels first?" insisted Nius, angry.
"I don't know what to say old man. I also like secrets, but for real, an lost civilization? What kind of lost civilizations would be so crazy to flood an collapse an entire mine? Isn't this an old collapsed mine found by that fat pig man's?"
'Wait a minute, what idiotic things I'm saying, if old Nius guess is accurate, a civilization that would do such things. Either do it to hide a big secret before getting destroyed, or an enemy of theirs destroyed this mine to hide a big secret."
As Vlad quickly thought that, old Nius sneered at him and only said. "To hide a big secret."
When Nius heard Vlad saying that, he started laughing out loud, it was good that it was only the old man and the young man down there at the moment." Think lad, how could these tunnels not be dug by an advanced civilization? Have you noticed that the more we cleared when going down, the smoother and organized the cuts are? Look at the floor. It's so smoothly cut that you can't do such a feat with our technology. That's why boy, I believe that once before our kingdom was found, a more glorious kingdom existed living on this land."
"Ok, ok. I believe you old man, those fuckers left a big secret inside, but what now? Do we search down the water body?"
"Let me think about that. What if we instead flood the entire floor by enlarging the hole?"
Not willing to wait after the old man, Vlad taking his pickaxe in his hand, only said to Nius. "We can only find out by trying."
Like this, he started hitting around the hole he first made, creating a bigger opening. When Nius saw what the mad kid did, he lunged at him angrily and pushed the boy down. Later, he yelled, angry at him. "Did I gave you the ok boy? Listen to your superiors before doing things on your own." Looking around the enlarged hole, he heard Vlad's snort and calm tone.
"Why so panicked old man? Look at the hole. It's bigger, and yet it didn't flood the floor. Can you get up from me? You're heavy and also stinky, maybe you should also go take a bath in the water stream."
Snorting at Vlad's comment, old Nius got up and let Vlad get up. Looking together at the hole with a stable body of water inside, the first to talk was Nius. "What now? Do we make a bigger hole? Want to explore what's inside a boy?"
"Sure, why not? What's going to go wrong?" laughed Vlad at the insane idea the two had.
'Hoh, finally some ancient treasures. Maybe I find a way home, or some crazy immortality elixir the alchemist in my world speculated. Or, don't tell me a philosopher stone that can give me unlimited life and wealth. Ahh, my head. I should keep it more moderate with my thoughts. It's best if I can find any secret that might help me find a way home.'
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A/N: A slight adventure time. Hope you like what is about to happen in the following chapters. It will be good.
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