C254: Seridan Iron Feet (1)
Rudger and Hans waited until late at night.
Even if the surveillance is strict, not everyone can stay up all night and stand guard. As expected, more than half of the guards left their seats at the end of the work hours.
The remaining guards glared at the slaves with hideous eyes as if they would pull the trigger immediately if they did anything suspicious.
There was already a precedent, so the slaves tried to keep themselves as low as possible.
Most of the subspecies, who had been captured as slaves, had no fire in their eyes. They just lived for a day, and they only endured for a day.
But not all slaves were like this.
A determination to escape without fail and the zeal to free herself from this suffocating underground coal mine. She who had such a hot flame in her eyes existed even in this extreme environment.
Seridan Iron Feet was just like that.
"You'll see. I'm going to blow up this damn mine."
In the deep night when everyone was asleep Seridan planned to escape the stuffy mine, while acting as if she were accepting orders from humans.
Rebellion was impossible since she was a small dwarf and wouldn't be a match for the armed guards. In addition none of the captured slaves would agree with her.
If the opponent was a wizard, it would be hard to win even if she took him by surprise, but there's no answer in a head-to-head fight so Seridan took a different route.
"If only this was completed."
While mining rare metal, she steadily took other metal by-products. The guards don't know, but Seridan, who specializes in knowledge in this area, knew.
It was the raw material of gunpowder and if used properly she could maximize the explosive power.
Seridan worked hard collecting gunpowder materials for the past month of being trapped here and building bombs away from the eyes of the guards.
"There's not much time left now."
Seridan secretly installed bombs in narrow gaps throughout the shaft, taking advantage of her unique small frame.
Of course, special attention was needed since the bombs were not made in a proper environment there was a risk of exploding if touched incorrectly.
Moreover, if the force of the explosion had not been properly calculated, the mine would completely collapse and she would not be safe either.
A more detailed adjustment was needed by taking that into account but she couldn't guarantee how long that adjustment would take.
It has already been a month, and it could have taken twice as long after the adjustment period but by then it would be too late since by that time the people who captured them could change their minds and kill them all.
"I'd rather now……."
At the moment when Seridan was so determined.
"I don't know what you're thinking, but you'd better be careful."
"……!"
Seridan shuddered at the sudden voice and looked back in a hurry. There was a man in black standing there where no one was supposed to be.
"How?"
The patrol route and timing of the guards were already known. Right now was not the time for them to come; however, Seridan did not just let her guard down.
She always kept her senses sharp, assuming that someone might come unexpectedly. Nevertheless, she didn't even know someone was standing there until the man spoke to her. He was literary like a ghost.
"Benefits…!"
Rudger shook his head as Seridan tried to detonate a bomb in her hand.
"The momentum is good, but if it explodes right now, everyone will die. Is that what you want?"
"… … Better than doing nothing."
"That's certainly true. In this situation, it would be much better to do something."
"Who are you? You're different from the people here."
Seridan suddenly realized that something was wrong. Upon reflection, the man in front of her was quite different from those who watched over this place.
Not only his clothes, but also his demeanor.
"I see you're finally willing to talk."
Rudger smiled at her.
"Let's get the bombs out of the way first."
* * *
Sheridan opened his eyes wide when he saw all the patrolling guards lying down. It wasn't just a suppression, all of them were killed.
The number of people on patrol was not small at all. Nevertheless, it didn't take so long for everyone to die.
What was even more shocking was that no one knew about this fact.
"How the hell did you do that?"
"I killed them one by one. That's all."
Sheridan trembled at the fact that it was a young man who had done such a ridiculous thing.
"So what do you want from me?"
"I watched you closely as I entered here. You made something quite interesting."
Rudger held up a special bomb that Seridan had installed.
"I can't believe you made a bomb in this environment. There's even a timer and a safety device."
"What, did you know that?"
"Dwarves are very dexterous but what they touch is purely iron-related weapons. They wouldn't handle a bomb like this, yet it's so well made. Did you develop it on your own?"
The words made Seridan flinch and she smiled trying not to show it.
"You do have a good eye."
"So let me help you, and I will free those held in slavery here, including you."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Can you help me blow up this coal mine? I could use your help."
Seridan's eyes narrowed.
"Don't you think it's weird?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm a dwarf, and I'm making these dangerous things."
"Gunpowder and bombs? Well, from a normal perspective, I suppose."
"From a normal perspective?"
"I'm afraid I'm far from the common man who has such narrow-minded thoughts."
Who cares if a dwarf makes a bomb? Rudger was saying that now and the words hit Seridan like a giant wave.
"……It's fascinating. The old people in our village didn't say that."
Sheridan was an unusual dwarf. When other dwarves were interested in hammers and anvils, she was interested in complex mechanical devices.
Building, inventing and blowing things up.
She was obviously a 'maker' too, but the other dwarves didn't think so. They regarded her as eccentric and shunned her.
Seridan looked at them and whined that they didn't understand her but despite her words, deep down, she was disappointed.
She wanted someone to understand what she had created.
It was the invention of the century and she wanted to be complimented for it.
"Those who don't have eyes to see don't know, but I do how great are the things you've made, and how great a talent you have."
But the man in front of her admitted it. He told her that she is talented when her relatives said she was crazy.
Seridan was unable to control his joy and smiled as bright as a child who received a gift.
"Nari has an eye for things."
"Nari?"
Rudger wriggled his eyebrows at a title he had never heard of.
"Nari means lord. It just seems like the right thing to call you."
"I don't know why, but it's not a bad feeling to be recognized."
"Nari, what do you want me to do, blow this place up?"
"Can you do that?"
Seridan grinned at Rudger's question,
"That's what I wanted the most."
Seridan realized that she had endured that long contempt and oppression for this moment when she met someone who could recognize her while everyone pointed their fingers at her because she was abnormal.
"Brother, I'm here."
"Yes, Hans. What's the situation?"
"For now, brother removed the patrol team, and we have about two hours left until the next patrol."
"What about the rest of them?"
"They're taking a rest at the accommodation now. Looking at the atmosphere, it seemed like they were about to drink heavily and get drunk…… What's with that kid?"
Hans opened his eyes wide looking at Seridan.
Sheridan also glared disapprovingly at Hans, who called him a kid.
"Nari, what is that? Why does it smell like a dog?"
"Who's the dog?"
Hans, who was stabbed for no reason, got angry and Rudger shook his head.
"This is Hans. He's a colleague I work with. Hans. This is……Come to think of it, I didn't ask for your name."
"Seridan. It's Seridan Iron Feet."
"Yes, Seridan Iron Feet. I'm called James Moriarty for now."
"Now, when you say that, you mean it's a pseudonym, right?"
"Yeah. I can't tell you my real name because of complicated circumstances."
"Whatever. I will call you Nari anyway."
The two shook hands with each other.
"More than that, Seridan. I have a question. What were you going to do after detonating the bombs installed in the shaft?"
"Oh, the bombs? I didn't take it very seriously. If it explodes, we all die together. Don't you think that you only live once so you have to go big?"
"……."
Rudger was glad he came here quickly.
* * *
There were two hours left before the next patrol so Seridan and Hans worked hard to open the cells where the slaves were trapped and released them.
The trapped slaves glowed at the appearance of a savior. They were all filled with hope when they got the weapons of the dead guards.
Looking at them, Rudger said to Hans.
"Hans, you're in charge of the people here. Even if they were given weapons, they didn't rest or eat properly for a long time. It will be hard to fight a proper fight."
"What about you?"
"Although their numbers have decreased a little, there is still a dangerous person."
The wizard who monitors the slaves in this coal mine was likely to belong to the Delica Kingdom and when it comes to kingdom wizards most of them were war wizards.
Even though they are wizards, they think about how to effectively defeat the enemy with magic in real life rather than exploring magic and there were as many as three such wizards in this mine.
"If they've made it this far, they must be a rare breed."
Given that rare metal mining is done on a national scale, the mages here are probably not your average war mages either.
"Why would someone like that be here…….?"
"Probably because they can't be seen in public. They've most likely caused problems within the army, but if they're here, they're probably skilled enough to overcome those problems."
And right now, there was only one person who could take on the war mages.
"…… Okay, don't push yourself too hard."
"Don't worry, I also got some fun stuff."
Rudger showed a gun attached to his waist. It looked like a gun, but what was inside the gun was not a bullet, but a sharp hook. A prototype of the "wire launcher" that Seridan made to escape here just in case.
Seridan handed it to Rudger, saying, "I don't need it anymore, so use it."
As soon as Rudger saw the wire launcher, he realized it had a lot of uses. Later, if he improved it a bit more, he could make it less bulky and hide it on his wrist or something.
"Then I will make the first move. When I give the signal, you follow."
"Understood."
Rudger immediately covered his body with Aether Nocturnus and the slaves, who had been watching him from afar, widened their eyes at the sight.
Then Rudger spread his raven-like black wings and disappeared down the passage at breakneck speed.