Walking into the cave, as you move a little further away from the waterfall, the ground becomes dry and the traces of manual excavation become more and more obvious.

The natural caverns are carved by flowing water, with smooth stone surfaces, and in some places small clusters of raised stalactites, which cast reflections in the light of torches and candles, like creatures dancing their teeth and claws.

The artificially carved cave walls are more flat and rough, and many places retain traces one after another, forming a clear dividing line with the smooth surface of the natural cave.

It is only here that the real traces of life begin to appear. A row of cooking stoves against the wall of the cave leads to the periphery with multiple flues, and the narrow flues turn left and right, and the final exit is hidden downwind to avoid the smoke from being detected. As if this was not enough, the group found a large amount of charcoal in a nearby bamboo basket, apparently using charcoal, which is not prone to produce a lot of smoke as a heat source, than an open flame.

This area looks like the kitchen of the Earth Spider Clan who lived here in the first place, but it is simple but functional. The blackened clay pot and the rusty iron pot were still beside them, and some kind of food had spilled out of them, leaving only a black stain of dust on the surface completely dry and covered in dust in the light of the fire.

The pickled food that should have been stored for a long time in the overturned pickle jar also solidified under the action of the years, and Mira poked it with her hand curiously, and found that it was as hard as a stone.

"Walked in a hurry. It only took a torch to shine around Henry to come to such a conclusion.

The supplies were still kept, not even the food was taken away, and the people who once lived here did not move away in an orderly manner. Combined with the remains of the samurai seen earlier, if there were no bones, it should have been a very urgent and sudden evacuation, most likely a surprise attack by the Japanese forces.

Although this is the case, there is a suspicion that the traps used to defend against intruders near the exit near the samurai were not triggered, and they remained tense until they failed under the influence of time. Back to the original place, it is unknown how many people managed to escape in the sudden incident. It's just that this sudden scene hundreds of years ago seems to have been preserved forever.

Hemp rope, grappling hook, rope ladder. Since they are people who live in caves in the mountains, and they are a group of earth spiders who are known for their stealth travel, it is not surprising that they have these tools.

A short walk along, there are piles of usable supplies piled up in the corners. It's just that they retain the appearance of their original storage, but the interior has long since decayed under the effect of time.

With the idea of trying her luck, our Luoan girl picked up a piece of hemp rope. But as soon as she got her hands on it, she knew that something was wrong, because it didn't have the flexible and elastic texture of a rope, and it stiffened and hovered like a snake, and when it tried to straighten it with a little force, it "tore" and broke like a dry and rotten wood.

"I know. Mira rolled her eyes, she guessed, but after all, there was a shortage of ropes, so she still wanted to give it a try.

"This way. A few steps away, Henry inspected and found a stone door, about 15 centimeters thick, its iron hinges had long been rusted, and the stone door that had not been completely closed only revealed a gap about 5 centimeters wide.

"Uh-" Joshua and Narumi, two young men, tried their best, but they still didn't move.

"I'll do it. The sage said calmly, stepping forward and kicking it up.

The dust accumulated by the "Dong ——!!" for three centuries was raised, and the heavy stone door opened directly under the action of his foot and slapped on the cave wall behind.

"Ahem, ahem, you say it, teacher. The white-haired girl who had just come over glared at the sage dissatisfiedly, and when everyone else stepped away, she accidentally inhaled the dust and coughed very uncomfortably.

"......" Henry shrugged wordlessly, and the Miss Doctor next to her noticed something in the light of the torch in his hand, and she suddenly jumped up, and then sat down on the ground again in fright when she saw what it was.

"People, human hands. The scholar's inquisitive nature and unaccustomed to such things meant that while she was generally calm, she could not immediately come forward as if she were studying any other matter.

Our Sage and Maiden Roan, who had seen more of the dead, had no problem, and as Galeva stepped forward to care for Aya, they walked over to examine the dry bones of the palm that seemed to have been cleaned by a careful sculptor.

"Half of the palm is attached to the forearm. There is no sword break, the radius is still there, and the ulna is gone. Henry judged that there were two forearm bones, but only one remained. And the old medicine man in the back also glanced at it, and immediately took a breath: "Hiss-this is, it was torn alive." ”

"I guess I got stuck in the gap of the stone door, and I just fell off when I opened the door. "Henry, Mira and Joshua, who were adventurers, were still calm, and the warriors were a little discouraged when they went deeper into the cave to see the increasingly strange scene, not to mention the old medicine man.

"Old decay, can you go back first. He originally planned to make a fortune from Torotaro, but at the moment, he was afraid that he would have his life to earn or not.

But this opening detonated the emotions of Torotaro, who was already under a lot of mental pressure under various things next to him, and the son of the Chinese in Pingshan County immediately scolded hysterically and vented his emotions, and was quite incoherent.

Everyone listened quietly to him yelling over there, and his words changed from the last second, "Don't any of you care about Ah Hui?" "By the next second" I'm telling you, it's not a pity for someone like you to die. The ups and downs of emotions were so great that the sound of his shouting and insults was enough to reverberate inside the cavern.

Including Narumi old Joyajiro, the people who were also samurai did not speak, but just watched Torotaro hysterically accuse them of not working hard enough and not caring enough. Mira and Henry looked at each other, the latter shrugging his shoulders without any fluctuations.

Why did the assignment of picking up Margaret in Parniera hang up for so long and waited until they came. To a large extent, the mercenaries of the Rigal world are not very fond of the tasks issued by the noble lords.

Most of the tasks that civilians turn to mercenaries are relatively easy to solve, suitable for small teams or novice lone rangers, while the relatively large ones that can make a lot of money are the escort missions issued by caravans, especially merchant guilds.

The quest issued by the nobles is nicknamed "Fool's Gold" among adventurers - you think it's gold and you're happy with it, only to find out that it's worthless.

Most of the people who will become adventurers have a normal life, and the nobles of the Rigal world, such as our Sage and the Roan Maiden, are recognized all over again, and they are rarer than unicorns. The class gap made them have incorrect expectations of the nobility, and they felt that the aristocratic lords would be as generous as the big merchants.

But this is not the case at all.

One of the main reasons why mercenary guilds are able to gain a foothold in major cities is that they have contracts with local nobles and royal or royal families - under certain conditions, the listed mercenaries under the mercenary guild can be called up to fight as a force in the country. This condition has led many countries to allow the existence of private armed forces such as guilds. However, in order to avoid abuse, this condition is set quite harshly, and most of the time it can only be transferred with an official document issued by the local supreme lord. And the guild is not stupid, and it is generally sent out by some newcomers instead of valuable core combat power.

In addition, many nobles actually have their own private soldiers, so when they issue tasks in the guild, they often use mercenaries to do some unsightly work.

Aristocrats always have secrets, and the ones who can keep them the most can keep them.

It's someone who will never speak again.

This is one of the reasons, and the other is that although the aristocratic lords tend to be wealthy, they are not necessarily tied to extravagance.

Reason?

- Just look at the current Torotaro, who is separated by the ocean and is in a country that speaks different languages and even races, but has exactly the same aristocratic style.

Those who are above others do not need to be grateful.

All the dedication from the lower ones is taken for granted in their eyes, and even giving due rewards is the gift that you should be grateful for.

I was full of joy and thought that I could make a fortune by picking up the task issued by the rich aristocratic lord who everyone hadn't noticed, and even dreamed of being able to get in touch with the nobles. Such novice adventurers end up in devastation, dying, or being disabled in high-stakes missions that are tricked into being of low difficulty. And even sacrificing one's own life is a matter of course in the eyes of those in high positions, and they will not receive much pay when they return alive, and will be deducted for various reasons such as "not working hard enough" or "not completing the task well".

Torotaro hadn't even given money to the old medicine man, but now he was scolding over there, thinking that he had no spirit or anything like giving up halfway, and that he was a curse and a threat.

But the old man didn't open his mouth to refute, this is the proper posture in the peace society.

The people do not fight with the officials.

It's not that I don't want to fight, it's that I can't fight. He could only endure it, and he could only wait quietly for Torotaro to finish scolding, and the others could not open their mouths to show support, and if they spoke, it would only make the old medicine man's situation worse in the future.

After losing his temper, it will pass, and when the noble lord finishes losing his temper, it will pass.

They can't resist, and if they resist, they will be angry for longer, and the pain will last longer.

Resignation is to shorten the time of suffering.

"Ha-ha-you, spineless old thing. Torotaro scolded tired and continued breathlessly. He and the old medicine master only met today, and this hysterical anger was actually more due to the fact that this boy was powerless about the current situation.

In the past few hours, he has encountered too many unbelievable things that exceed his own ability, and his beloved maid was taken away without knowing life or death, he is anxious to rescue but he has no ability, he can only rely on others, but one of these people said that he wanted to go back.

So he got angry, and like so many people who were incompetent themselves, at times like these, only loudly accusing others of not doing things well could keep him from going insane.

"I'm still good, I'm still perfect, and it's all about these people who deserve to be spit on and who are not clean themselves!"

Deep-seated class differences fueled Torotaro's arrogance, and the girl and the sage originally agreed to participate, one because he thought he was a good nobleman because he cared so much to a commoner's maid, and the other because Torotaro had given him a lot of money beforehand.

Now after this out, the reason is only money.

"Caring for one person and having a good character as a whole seem to be two different things. Mira sighed, and when she thought of what happened to Megumi, she was in a hurry, full of concern, and had retreated from her companions in an incomprehensible danger and terror, and still insisted on moving forward, as if she had two people who had cursed viciously when facing the old medicine man.

He finally got tired of scolding, and the sage went up to give the quiet old medicine man some money and bought him some ointment.

The old man glanced at the tall stranger, nodded slightly, then took the lantern and began to crawl slowly towards the exit behind him.

After the episode, the group became even more silent, the mission was still a mission after all, and after one less member, they turned around and hurried through the stone gate.

Continue to the bottom.