Exploration inside the second-story hut yielded unexpected discoveries.

Through the experience of missionaries who were familiar with local folklore and mythology, as well as the experience of the aborigines Lulu and others, they were able to understand that this was the place where the leading class of the village lived, from the clothes and items that were placed in the house that could only be used by the higher ranking people of the Moon Country.

The overall style of this village chief's house is very similar to the village house I have stayed in before, both of which are made of wooden structures with paper doors and windows, but the area and internal structure are very different.

The village chief's house has five cubicles on the first floor alone, of which in addition to the largest master bedroom and two second bedrooms that appear to be for the owner's wife and children, the rest is the main hall for receiving guests and daily life. Connected to the main hall is a cubicle that is known as the "Tea Room". This tea room is small in size, but the floor and walls are thicker than other places, so it is better soundproofed, and it is a place to discuss important matters with people.

In addition, there are four other bedrooms on the second floor. Compared with the villagers' houses that I stayed in before, the bathrooms and thatched huts were set up in the backyard to prevent moisture and odors from affecting the residence.

The backyard can be accessed from the main hall or through another door in the tea room. The design is clearly designed to make it easier for someone to sneak in through the back door to discuss something that needs to be hidden, and to slip from there in case of danger.

But that's not all, after separating to ensure the safety of the whole room, the sage who entered the tea room stopped the moment he stepped on the floor.

"A little lower. He said that the thicker walls and floors should theoretically make the foundation of the room higher, but the sage with one foot in the aisle and the other in the tearoom was keenly aware of the difference.

This detail aroused his suspicions, and several others watched him in the moonlight and began to push and push the whole tearoom, and finally after the dull "thump" sound turned into a clasp, the sage drew his short sword from his waist and stuck it in a gap in the wooden floor.

"Squeak-" The blanket on the deeply hidden wooden door slipped off as it was pried up.

"Click-squeak-" underneath the lifted planks revealed an entrance to the underground space surrounded by mortar. It's just that this entrance is so narrow that it makes one's scalp tingle at first glance: in the clear blue moonlight, only the passage less than half a meter wide is visible, except for the top three steps, and everything else is in darkness.

Because the lights could not be lit, this dead darkness made people feel uneasy that something would rush out at any moment.

"It's a bit tricky. Henry frowned, the average of the people of the Moon Nation was shorter than the Lamanid commoners, and such a passage might be just right for them, but it was a little uncomfortable for the 195-centimeter-tall sage.

He had to turn sideways to get in, and even for the other people who were a little smaller, it would be very inconvenient to turn around when he walked into this passage.

"Do you want to go down?" asked Edge, whose voice trembled and stammered slightly, rubbing his hands slightly. Mira, Lulu, and Caleva touched the candles and oil lamps they had found in the house. Unlike the poor peasants, the village chief's house has a lot of various materials, and lighting equipment can be found everywhere. But none of them lit it.

The fear of poor visibility gave way to the fear of unknown creatures, and after learning that those creatures would follow the heat source, they became much more cautious about fire.

"Underground, ignitions are harder to detect. Henry glanced back at the crowd, and the young missionary's voice trembled and stuttered not only out of fear, but also in the middle of winter and the lack of heat in their haste to escape, and now not only him, but everyone else unconsciously began to rub their hands or rub their arms.

These were all signs of cold, and although they didn't realize it now that the tension hadn't subsided, the cold could cause more damage to the team than the unknown creatures if something was not done.

"Then you're not sure if there's going to be one down there. Edge hesitated, the dark and narrow hole didn't know where it led, but he didn't feel at ease staying on it.

In a dilemma, it was Lulu who acted first.

The Yi people are all hunters, and the aboriginal girl from this squatted down, stretched out her hand and licked her fingers familiarly, and then put it at the mouth of the hole: "There is wind." She said that this kind of underground passage is connected somewhere, and if it is a pocket terrain with a single entrance, a group of people may suffocate from lack of oxygen even if they do not burn wood for heating after entering.

It's a good thing to have air currents passing through, because it means that the space below is perhaps larger than you think.

"I'll go first. Sensing this, and knowing that she was the smallest of her size, Lulu spoke, picked up an iron oil lamp, and began to walk down the stairs section by step.

This made the big men next to him feel a little gloomy, especially Edge, who completely shut his mouth and was embarrassed to say anything more frustrating.

Lulu walked down lightly, and for a moment her surroundings were completely plunged into darkness due to the lack of direct light. The Aboriginal girl had to hold on to the cold wall with one hand to prevent falling, but luckily the stairs weren't too long, and after about 15 paces, she explored the wider ground through her fur boots.

"I've arrived. Lulu's voice came from the darkness, and although she wasn't as timid as Edge, she unconsciously lowered her voice because of the circumstances.

"I'll go down too, Galeva and the teacher?" said Mira as she said with a nod of her head, apparently noticing the uneasiness in her lowered voice.

The girls touched their gear, and in their haste they left their tools in the hut. However, the fire tools used in the Moon Country are similar, except that the style of the fire sickle used for striking is quite different from that of Rigal. Naturally, this was "borrowed" from the village chief's house.

"Ahh

Mira was very annoyed by the wide hem of her pants in the Moonland costume, and she always had the worry of stepping on the edge of her pants when she bent her legs. And because of the narrowness of the passage, the long sword tied to the waist also hit the passage either at the end of the scabbard or the end of the hilt, and from time to time there was a sound of "click-click-click".

If she hadn't said it beforehand, I'm afraid that Lulu, who was still in the dark, would feel very uneasy.

"Where are you. After coming down, Mira immediately felt that the air was cold and smelled of earth, she opened her mouth to ask, and Lulu's voice immediately sounded: "On your right." She said, the sound so close that it startled Mira, and she didn't notice that she was in such a position because of the darkness.

"I'll put the fire on ...... How to read it, the tools used to make fire have been taken down. Still a bit of a lame language forced her to add some Loan words to try to make sense, and Lulu let out a small "um" before Mira felt her fumbling around the corner of her dress.

"Yes, on your fanny pack. You light the fire, I stand in front of you, to prevent danger. She said this, and then after Lulu had taken out the fire sickle and flint, she leaned against the wall, and slowly moved her toes forward to make sure it was level, and leaned a little bit forward.

"Whew-" The light of Lulu's ignition behind her was a little conspicuous in the darkness, and Mira barely grasped her surroundings with the help of the sparks, and after coming down from the entrance, this part of the passageway was relatively spacious. Although it was only about 1.8 meters tall, she could reach the top on tiptoe, but it was wide enough to accommodate two people side by side.

There are some wooden support structures next to it to prevent the tunnel from collapsing, and the unobstructed view of the passage is not dangerous in the vicinity of this area, at least.

"Boom-hoo-" The velvet that finally came out of the dark red spark after a long day was picked up by Lulu, and she blew long and steady to make it brighter and brighter, and finally turned into an open flame. Then he leaned close to the oil lamp and burned for about two seconds to melt and ignite the grease that had solidified due to the cold.

The initially dim glow of the fire grew rapidly as it burned, and a familiar slightly fishy smell of whale fat began to be caught by the two of them.

"Whew-" The slight movement of the air caused the sparks to flicker a little, and something in the corner was squirming to avoid the light, and Mira squinted her eyes to see that it was some tiny beetle.

In the middle of winter, the insects on the surface of the ground will freeze to death by the heavy snow, but the temperature in the land is slightly warmer, so they must hide here.

With the faint light of the fire, she could almost discern that there was no creature larger than a beetle within at least a few meters nearby, so she turned her head, "Safe, it looks pretty big down there!" Mira shouted into the passageway, while Henry above shrugged his shoulders at Edge, who was still hesitant.

"......" The young missionary kept swallowing, and stood by until the other three older missionaries had all gone down, and then he had no way out, and then he was forced to go down under the pressure of Henry and Caleva's eyes.

He was so nervous that he forgot to breathe, but the three of them who had gone down beforehand also had some oil lamps and candles, and with the oil lamp that had been lit by Lulu, they could easily make more light.

As soon as the light became abundant, Age breathed a sigh of relief, he had never felt so precious in this orange color, and even couldn't help but kneel down and start praising the gods.

"Come, take one too, and put one next to the passage. Age's emotion was interrupted by the two lit oil lamps handed him by the fellow missionary in front of him, and the young missionary took one after putting his things back.

"It's time to move on. Mila walked in front with Lulu with a small shield and a candle, and turned back to say a word.

The people behind them were separated by a short distance to avoid being burned by the oil lamps or candles in each other's hands. Henry and Caleva, who came down at last, not only brought weapons and food, but also quilts and other items, and tied a large handful of firewood with ropes found in the house.

"It's uncomfortable. Nearly a meter nine in height, Caleva walked with his back hunched through the passage, and the young porter almost immediately began to feel a sore neck, and the sage, for the sake of safety, placed a clay bowl at the entrance of the staircase, which was supported by a small stick, and maintained a delicate balance, so that they could immediately notice that anyone or something had come down from it.

In the dark, sound is more reliable than sight. Although a similar security system had been bypassed once, this time the entrance to the hallway was very narrow, and the environment around the room was very different, so the alarm was more useful - at least they wanted it to.

While vigilant for a possible attack, the crowd approaching suddenly brightened up after walking a distance. A room-like place of no small size appeared in front of them, but compared to the spacious place itself, what was placed on it gave them a greater shock.

"A lot of ......."

"Gold. ”

Like the treasure chamber of the legendary dragon, a mountain of gold of various strange shapes is piled up. On the other side, there are some Luna Country-style armor and weapons. The sheer number of weapons and equipment piled up there seems to have been some years, as many of them have been covered in a layer of scarlet rust.

"There are rats. Mira and Lulu saw a few gray shadows hiding from the fire, and since there were beetles hiding from the winter, it was not a very surprising thing that there were small animals that fed on them.

"I saw the hole. "The presence of rat activity is evidence that there are caves connected to the outside world, and after a little search around, the group saw some circular holes with bricks and tiles that were clearly man-made. The moonlight doesn't come in directly, so it may be crooked, after all, if it rains or the snow melts, the basement will be flooded, causing damage to the belongings inside.

"Whew-" The flames were blown and swayed as the candle approached, apparently this was the ventilation node of this underground network system—

Yes, underground network systems. After scattering around to inspect the group, they immediately realized that this was not a simple storage room, there were multiple passages next to the gold pile, and one of them was narrower, and it was somewhat familiar from the direction.

"I guess it's connected to the whole village. The sage was quick to draw conclusions.

"Why, go back, those guys may be gone, and we'll have to get our stuff back. Mira spoke, and the others looked back at the gold that glittered in the firelight.

Gold is an inherently allure to humanity, even when the crisis has not subsided.

"Tomorrow, I suspect these guys are attracted because it's too cold at night and they have a fire. During the day, when the sun comes out, it may go somewhere else. Henry said this, and the others who came back to their senses nodded in agreement.

"Explore the surrounding passages first, make sure it's safe over here, work in pairs, be careful. The sage re-ordered, and the eight-man team could be divided into exactly four groups, and the passages on the other side of the hall were exactly four.

But after a few moments, the group exchanged their findings, only to find that the situation was a little more than they had expected.

"Another pile of gold. The two older missionaries on the far left said.

"Me too. "It's the same with Mira and Lulu.

"Again. "The combination of Kaleva and Aegie made the same discovery.

"Is that the four piles......" The same goes for the passage where the last sage walked with another missionary.

"Then there were passages that looked like they led to farther places, and in some places there were stone masonry, and the words on them looked very old. Encountering something that could be recognized in his own field of expertise, Aegie calmed down a little.

"I've found bronze and rusty iron. Mira spoke.

"This place is probably as old as this country. One of the missionaries spoke.

"There were so many strange things going on tonight. Kaleva couldn't help but complain that although the wealth made the group a little excited, the mixture of this large amount of wealth and the unknown made them a little uneasy.

"There was a place on the side we were exploring that was connected to a ventilation duct that looked like a storage room that had been emptied, and was the right size for us to spend the night. Henry said this, and led the way to that side.

They walked over there separately carrying various supplies on their backs, the ground with a thick layer was relatively warm, and a few candles were enough to make them feel less stiff. The crowd that walked in scared away a few of the rats that were staying there, and they quickly jumped up the wall and into the vents, and then ran outside.

"I just hope these guys don't come around in the middle of the night and steal bad food. Edge grumbled, and Mila next to him glanced at him, "There will be a vigil, and there will be a bonfire." ”

She said this, and when the weary people finally arrived, they laid out their cloaks and robes and the bedding found by the village chief's house against the wall, and began to light a fire with candles and oil lamps.

"Don't add too much firewood, it's not open here, and I'll be choked by the smoke until I suffocate." The helper's Galeva was anxious to build a large fire because of the cold, but Henry stopped him.

"Ahem—" As soon as the sage's voice fell, the smoke from the firewood that hadn't burned large enough at first choked Kaleva's face.

"Nerd. Mira rolled her eyes and despised Caleva, while Lulu leaned over and handed him her little scarf.

"Thank you, thank you. Some of the flattered young porters thanked them, but this drew a second scorn from the young lady of Luoan: "You speak Lamanite and she understands it." ”

"Ah, that's ......," Caleva slapped her forehead speechlessly, then thanked Lulu again in a broken Chinese of the Moon.

The fire slowly burned, and the smoke rose up, causing the temperature of the cave to begin to rise.

"It's so sore. Galleva, who had bent his neck for a long time, finally sat down in the bed, moving his neck from side to side and making a "click" sound, and the tired and frightened group finally breathed a sigh of relief and regained their warmth, and sleepiness began to strike.

"Sleep, I'll keep watch. Heng used a wooden stick to stir the fire and said to the girl who cast a look at her.

"Okay, good night, teacher. Mira, yawning, blew out the candles and put them aside and got under the covers. The sage continued to watch the firelight as he peered out into the dark opening.

The interior of the cavern was so quiet that nothing could be heard except for the burning flames and the long breathing of the people.

He kept an eye out for the sound of the open passage in the distance, and in such a quiet environment, the sound of a clay bowl breaking could still be heard far away.

In other places, the entrance panels of the caverns were covered, and only the one they had entered was opened.

But for several hours there was no sound, and our sage began to close his eyes and recuperate.

The flames burned quietly, and after the group had slept for a while, the sound of rustling came from the passageway.

A small mus rat popped out and sniffed at the smell of food due to the rising temperature.

It stole along the corner of the wall and began to lean towards the place where the food had been placed, but as it was about to climb up to the package where the food was kept, a burst of fire suddenly illuminated its figure.

"......" The sage looked at the little creature quietly, and the little house mouse, realizing that he had been found, quickly disappeared from the other side, but instead of running back to the surface through the ventilation pipe, he ran towards the storage room on the outside.

"......." Henry shook his head a little helplessly, this cunning little mouse obviously didn't plan to give up so he didn't run back outside, it planned to wait for him to let down his guard and run to steal again.

Rodent opportunists, like humans, are always indomitable.

This is also the reason why they can leave a trail everywhere.

"Sniff—" The little mus mouse, still hungry and keenly catching the slightest movement next to it, ran over and grabbed a slow-crawling beetle with its paws, then quickly flipped over and devoured its soft belly.

But the beetle, which is all hard shells, can only plug between its teeth, and it is still hungry.

"Click-" The upper body of the beetle with its belly gnawed off was still moving slowly, and the mus rat heard some kind of loud "click" sound from the other side, and keenly raised its head and pricked up its ears.

— was the larger food, and it scurried and jumped over it, approaching the pile of gold, which was full of belongings, and therefore had many gaps for small creatures to move around.

And then.

"Boom-" The ground was preyed upon by a hidden black shadow.

Even the screams couldn't be made.

"Click-click-" The smoke from the fire drifted down the air from the vents to the rest of the passage, causing them to heat up as well.

The piles of densely packed, strangely shaped "gold" have reached a temperature suitable for activity.

He unfolded his knotted body and stretched out his paws.

They quickly climbed down from each other's bodies, densely covering the ground.

Move closer in the direction of warmth.