After that, we went for breakfast, and it was in one of the few wooden buildings that wasn't a ruin in the camp. There must have been over three hundred people crammed into it, and the sour smell of unwashed bodies was thick in the air.
By the time we fought for space and sat, there were workers already standing since there were no seats left for them. Tiber had told me that this was how he wanted to eat the food when it was hot.
I glanced around. There were a lot of tables, but I saw some in the distance on a raised platform. It wasn't that crowded and the food there seems more filling and different.
"Why don't we go for those ones?"
"It's for the top three wings. They get to eat good food while we eat wherever it is they serve," Slya scowled.
I didn't say anything after that, but they did tell me what was expected of me from their wing leader. I had to produce ten carts of the resources we mined every day, or I would be punished or reassigned to another place. They warned me there were places even worse than here.
Eventually, we were served food that was somehow worse than what I ate in prison. It looked and tasted like hot vomit, but I ate it all. If I didn't, what would I eat? I had no other option.
Then I followed the others as we made our way to the mine and entered the yawning opening. In the first chamber, I was led to the offices that were set up inside, where the overseers stayed, to get my name and wing recorded before I followed them into the narrow tunnels and to our side of the mine.
There was a big tunnel that ran through the whole mine, and spaced along its length were openings for caverns called wings. Inside each chamber were additional tunnels where workers mined.
"This is our wing," Tiber said with little indifference.
He gestured to the dirt-filled room that smelled of dust and stale air. We were the first workers there for now. Torches had been driven into the wall to light it up, but the light was low, which suited me just fine.
Our wing was the last in the tunnel. It was the final occupied cavern because the deeper one went, the more likely they were to encounter monsters, and it wasn't as if the resources were any better further down.
I glanced at the carts, hammers, pickaxes, and shovels.
"Are you listening? Don't forget that this is a ruin, and although it was cleared, monsters still pop up now and then. These tunnels weren't made by us, so they go deeper than you think. Don't go too deep. Mine closer to the chamber," Tiber grunted.
"What type of monster?" I asked. I swallowed. If I can see the monster, maybe I can find a way to kill it and see if my core reacts again… wait, wait, what am I even talking about? I just want to survive!
"Imps. Very dangerous creatures. They like to play tricks, and although they are considered weak and can be killed by even normal people like us, what they lack in power they make up for with numbers. So anytime you see one, just run before the rest arrive," Tiber said. His voice echoed.
Slya lifted her hammer and pickaxe. "And they can also move through solid objects. They can walk through walls. They infest the mine further in, so just stay close."
With that, she turned and went into a tunnel.
Tiber grunted as well. "That's most of it. You haul your cart back to that first chamber. Make sure they mark your name before you return. Lunch is anytime you haul five carts. Don't die."
I watched his retreating back, then piled my axe and shovel into the cart and wheeled it into a tunnel that seemed unused.
Near darkness closed around me, and I breathed a sigh. Those two seemed friendly, but I had been a prince, and I knew when people were keeping an eye on me for something. My heart quickened as I scanned the wall. Did they already know I was a Squire?
I don't even know ways to detect a Squire unless they use their power or say it themselves. I should just focus on adjusting to this place first.
There wasn't much light in that tunnel because there wasn't much need for it. Some parts of the wall glowed faint white where the main resource of the mine was embedded starsalt.
A crystal-like stone that contained unaspected essence, they varied in size, and when refined by alchemists, they could be used in many things, converted directly into potions and pills that boosted the core, used to craft other potions, or to cook high-ranked monsters. But the biggest use of all was as fuel for enchanted tools and objects.
In short, the Steelclaw were mining money. Their leader must be rich. Lucky bastard, I thought.
I grasped my pickaxe and lifted it with an ease that surprised me. Then, clang! I slammed it into the wall with force. Vibrations ran down my arm, and my bones shook.
I winced and glared at the rock when I saw I had only managed to chip a tiny piece off. I looked at the cart and remembered the dead expressions I'd seen on the workers the day before.
I understood now. I lifted it again. "It's going to be a long day."
It was. I had underestimated the work and how weak my body was. Each swing of the pickaxe made my whole body quiver, and the dust made me sneeze constantly. By the time one cart was full, I was ready to crawl back into the prison.
My body felt like painful rubber, and my palms bled. My eyes were red and watery. And I had only done one cart.