Chapter 266 Discovery
The tip had actually been a bit strange, as she had obtained it without asking around like she usually did.
After taking the deal in the Black Raven Kingdom, she had been searching with no luck for months. Suddenly, yesterday, she had been treating herself to an expensive wine in an inn near the border of Lanthanor when she heard two men discussing a peculiar incident.
Apparently, some sort of crops had been harvested in the fields near where she was. Strangely, at a specific spot on the empty land, four sparrows had been circling a specific spot on the ground.
The man who was talking about it had been passing through, and he had dug at the location but found nothing. He had said that he would have dug more, but the soldiers who were on patrol had been about to spot him.
She had even managed to hear the approximate location, as the other man had asked this question.
This resulted in her setting out immediately, as she knew very well that this was a clear sign that there was a Key Gem nearby.
Directly digging at the spot of unusual activity was not the way to go about it. Usually, it only meant that the mine was close, and it was the job of the mine hunter to find the entrance using their experience.
After trudging through the field and falling two times more, Sherry finally reached the location.
It looked no different than any other, but as she got on her knees and started observing further, she started to spot a few signs.
There were minute differences in color in a few particles of the soil in front of her.
Beaming at this discovery, Sherry started searching around to see if she could find more of these particles. This was usually a dead giveaway, as it meant that the earth had been affected by the high-level Energy below it.
Thinking that this would definitely be one of her easiest discoveries yet, Sherry moved on all fours for a few minutes before finally zoning in on the spot where this differently colored earth was most concentrated.
Taking out a trinket and enlarging it into a shovel, she started digging.
As an Eminent Human Level Fighter, she made short work of the Earth and almost shouted with joy as she reached a hard spot.
After observing this spot for a bit, she put back the shovel and took out another trinket which enlarged into a sharp object with a handle.
Using this, she carefully tapped at this hard spot with a steady rhythm.
After a few seconds, the hard spot caved inwards to form a hole.
Taking out a torch trinket, Sherry shined it into the depths of this hole to have a red glow reflected her eyes.
"Who's there? What are you doing here? This is a restricted area!"
Just as she was about to jump in, she heard this shout which made her move back instinctively.
Quickly, she started shoveling back the earth but turned around to see with frustration that the guards on patrol had almost already arrived.
Taking one last look at the spot, she started running in a different direction.
Thankfully, it seemed that the guards were only Amateur Human Fighters. Hence, with a quick burst of speed, she left them behind and headed out of the fields while hoping that reinforcements wouldn't intercept her.
It seemed that luck was on her side, as she safely made her way out before quickly changing her clothes and even her appearance in a nearby bush using a portable make-up kit.
Such things were needed in their line of work where they might be chased around by Kingdoms for trespassing in multiple places.
Making sure that no one was watching her, she took out a trinket and started sending a message.
…
In the throne room of the Black Raven Kingdom.
"Are you sure? And you say that Lanthanor might be aware of the discovery?"
Saying these words into the trinket he held, the Black Raven King waited for the reply while the old man watched on with hopeful eyes.
His body seemed to have withered in these two months. His face was sunken, and his lips were bloodless.
After hearing the response, the Black Raven King said, "She says that the Ker Gem mine is definitely there, and that it is larger than the one found before near Eldinor. She even says that it is a very old mine, meaning that the gems can be directly plucked out instead of having to be extracted."
These words made the eyes of the old man light up, as he finally saw his salvation.
Ker Gem mines had different properties based on their age. According to a study done by eminent scholars in multiple kingdoms, the age decided whether one would have to expend a lot of time and effort to extract the gems from the mine.
The idea was that the gems would be much more attached to the surroundings around them if they were newly formed. With time, this connection would weaken, making it so that they simply might even fall off and accumulate into a treasure pile.
Of course, these type of mines would be the best as it would mean that whoever found it could simply take the gems and run away instead of in the case of the mine near Eldinor where the elves had had to go to such lengths to delay for time in order to extract the gems.
"The problem is that Lanthanor might know about it. What should we do? Should we offer to buy it from them? We don't have enough money unless we risk the Kingdom itself collapsing. Besides, the King may choose to keep them for himself."
This made the old man frown, as he knew very well that Ker Gems were strategic resources which any Kingdom wouldn't sell.
Thinking for a few seconds, a savage expression appeared on his face as he said, "Snatch them. Send the soldiers. It's possible Lanthanor doesn't know yet, but even if they do, they won't have time to react properly. I'll call in an old favor to distract them. Order the soldiers to kill anyone who stand in their way and come back with the gems no matter what happens."
"But aren't they our allies?", the Black Raven King asked but winced the next second as he felt something tightening around his heart.
"Don't act smart. I know very well that you don't care about anything like that, just like you didn't when we gave them the deal with the Echer seeds in the first place. You're only saying that because you hope that I die if I don't get the Ker Gems. Send the soldiers with the order to kill. And remember, if I die, you and even this Kingdom will cease to exist. I'll make sure of that."
Saying these lines with an expression of madness on his face, the old man walked out the door with a firm stride.
Sighing and seeing that his ruse had been found out, the Black Raven King took out the trinket to send the orders. Indeed, he was a ruthless individual who hadn't hesitated to kill multiple people in order to become the King along with the old man's help. Although time might have changed him to care for his people, he still had only disregard for those of other Kingdoms. In fact, he couldn't care less about their fate.
The past two months had actually been very difficult and taxing on him. If it weren't for the spars with Elanev who was constantly improving, he might even have gone insane. The unrest that came due to that incident was still prevalent, with some soldiers even rushing off to the Valley of Mist to search inside because they couldn't take the questions of the people who kept asking when that arrogant man would be brought to justice.
Of course, they all met their demise, leading the King to pass an order to forbid everyone from going to the valley.
The families of the two waiters who had been killed by the old man had also come asking, but they had been sent away with remuneration after being told that the waiters were on a secret assignment in the service of the Kingdom and hence could not contact them for the time being.
Along with this was the constant pressure from the old man to find Ker Gems. Being bombarded from all sides with worries and problems, Tenebrol felt more and more like everything was falling apart in his hands.
Hopefully, obtaining the gems would at least get the old man off his back.