They ended up on the shores of Lake Bayeux.

The high concentration of toxic salt prevents the presence of all fine microorganisms and algae, so even in the middle of summer, it is impossible to see the reeds around the lake. The sea of grass that used to be everywhere has become nothing by the lake.

Except for a few blades of grass and ladybugs carried by the wind, the water of the lake beneath his feet was as pure as a huge hedrons. You can clearly see the water waves slightly distorting the sunlight, and the shadows swaying slowly on the snow-white sand bed a few blades deep. The lake in the distance looks like a fine-polished silver mirror, reflecting the clouds in the sky. It's an emptiness that is hard to see anywhere else.

"That looks like the body of the Minotaurs?" Richard pointed to a few pieces of dead wood floating on the surface of the lake, so far away that he could barely make out the outline.

"Throwing a corpse into a lake avoids decay and plague. Sendak explained to him.

"Oh. Richard nodded knowingly.

The salt water is very dense, so the corpses will float on the surface of the lake for a long time, and will be exposed to the wind and sun all the time. As the salt in the water grows and becomes attached to the surface of the corpse, a layer of snow-white salt crystal shell will form, until the salt crystal becomes thick enough to sink the corpse to the bottom of the lake, and they can finally attain eternal peace.

The whole process can take years.

The dwarves threw the corpses of their enemies into the Bayeux Lake, which must have served as a precautionary measure, but Richard had to suspect that there was also an element of anger. For any kind of intelligent life, it is cruel to treat the body after death.

"Good day, Lord Richard. "A few old dwarves have been waiting by the lake for a long time.

Richard almost couldn't hold back a laugh, each of them had a long soup pot, and it looked like they were preparing to join the halflings en masse. Dwarves and halflings were about the same height, and if they were willing to shave off their proud beards, it would be quite like that.

He was able to hold back because the elders didn't seem to be joking. Most of the dwarves usually have sparse expressions, but even by dwarven standards, they are too solemn.

"Good day, Elders. Richard noticed that there were three more soup pots around them, which looked like they were for himself, Robbie, and Sendak.

In addition, there are several pieces of chain mail on the ground, and each of these chain mails has a large cake-like iron lump on the front and back of the heart, and the weight is not light at a glance, and I don't know what it is for.

Sendak patted Richard's crotch, "You should know there's an iron mine at the bottom of this lake. The tribe usually forges and relies on the ore that is fished out. ”

"I heard Anne say it. Richard simply crouched down so that he could be eye level with the dwarf.

Sendak picked up a piece of chain mail with an iron lump and handed it to Richard, motioning for him to put it on. The lord weighed forty or fifty pounds, and it seemed to be a large size specially prepared for himself.

Then Sendak and the others began to put on the unusually heavy chain mail.

The more Richard looked at it, the more furious his heart became—they were wearing deformed armor and carrying soup pots in their hands, and they looked as funny and funny as they were, but the expressions on their faces were more serious than the other.

The lord silently swore in his heart that if the dwarf atsuko couldn't say one, two, three, he would use the soup pot to stew all these neuropaths with local materials.

"One time we were looking for a mine, maybe it was an earthquake or something, but there was a gap between the ore at the bottom of the lake that was big enough for people to enter. Sendak grinned.

"Initially, in order to get a glimpse of the ore reserves, we sent people to try to sneak in. But the results we never expected. For the dwarves, it is a treasure like no other in the world. ”

Sendak could see that he was trying to restrain himself, but his lips were still trembling uncontrollably. He, not just him, but all the dwarves present had their breathing rates all disrupted at this moment.

"Gold mines?" Richard's imagination immediately began to fly, and he gritted his teeth with jealousy. The dwarf's luck was too good for him to expect such a pie from the sky, for there was never only hail and no pie on his head.

"Not worldly possessions. The grumpy Sendak was at a loss at this time, but he refused to make it clear.

"Brother Richard, let's go and see for yourself. Robbie took the lead and walked to the water's edge.

The water was clear enough that you could see that the salt crystals and sand on the lake bed had been cleared, forming wide pits of at least ten blades on the left and right, revealing red mud and stones.

"This is where mining is usually done. Robbie whispered to him.

"Diving mining?" Richard vaguely remembered that the salt in Lake Bayeux was poisonous. But even if it's non-toxic freshwater, diving mining has nothing to offer.

"There is a lot of ore scattered around, and we usually use trawl nets. Robbie handed Richard a soup pot, "But this time we'll have to dive in." ”

"What's the use of that?" said Richard, holding the soup pot to his head, thinking that he must look like a mallet now.

"When you enter the water, you can hold a little air in the bucket to breathe, but you have to hold on to both handles firmly, because the saltwater is very buoyant. Sendack gave a demonstration, and he became very much like a mallet, or a short mallet, "Be careful not to splash water in your eyes, it hurts to sting." ”

"Oh. He understood that the soup pot was the equivalent of a small diving bell.

"But you can't see anything. Richard put his head in the bucket and tried it, and found that the most he could see was through the gap between the walls of the barrel and his chin to the square feet of his feet.

"I can see the heels of the people in front of me, and I can follow them all the way until I get there. Sendak was the first to put the bucket on his head, walked to the water's edge and jumped in.

Richard and a few other dwarves also entered the water in turn, all wearing heavy chain mail, so they didn't have to worry about sinking into the water. Stepping on the ground, splashing mud and sand flying, it suddenly mixed up the originally clear lake.

"I feel sick to the thought of how many corpses are soaking in this lake. The lord's voice came from the iron bucket, and the urn sounded.

The dwarves were silent, and he had no choice but to follow the heels in front of him. Compared to the land, the water is almost completely another world, and the restraint of gravity is reduced to a minimum, and you can float slowly forward in the lake with a slight kick.

The group floated into the corridor one after another, and the light dimmed suddenly.

Richard lifted the pot slightly and glanced at it, it was indeed an extremely wide rift, not to mention the dwarves, even if it was more than enough for the trolls to enter.

The price of this glance was that a series of bubbles floated straight above his head from the edge of the pot, losing some of the air, and he quickly covered the edge of the pot and did not look at it again.

The team moved silently, and Richard didn't know how long the tunnel was, only that the air in the barrel was getting more and more muddy, and the light was getting thinner.

It was like marching through the stomach of some huge creature, and for a moment he could only hear the sound of rushing water, and the dull and oppressive environment made him feel a little irritated.

I don't know how long it took, Richard suddenly felt the buoyancy of the iron bucket in his hand getting lighter and lighter, until it drooped and pressed his hand. As soon as he lifted off the iron bucket, he found that the water had come out of his chest above, and he quickly ran forward two steps and stood on the shore