When the morning light first rose, Hutao opened her sleepy eyes, looked at the clear sky outside the window, and felt the warm quilt under her body. The little Loli grabbed the quilt with both hands, like a wild cat lying in the warm sunshine in the afternoon.
She moaned beautifully.
Turning over, Hutao was ready to go back to sleep. It had been more than a year since she had tasted the smell of a bed. Either she was camping in the wild and woken up by the dew, or she was harassed by wild dogs and security teams in the city.
"Get up when you wake up. I'm leaving soon."
Downton was packing his backpack. In order to hide the grimoires and potions books, in addition to some clothes and daily necessities, he also stuffed a few other books into it. Of course, the quills and ink bottles were not left behind.
Hu Tao suddenly heard a strange voice, and all his sleepiness disappeared. He sat up suddenly, and then the memories of last night flooded into his mind.
"I actually stayed at a stranger's house." Hu Tao stroked her forehead, a little surprised. Since the incident three years ago, she had never trusted anyone again. As for yesterday, she originally planned to leave after dinner.
of.
"Wash your face and I'll go cook."
Downton tied on the belt of his backpack, went out, bought a bucket of milk from a neighbor's aunt, and then poured it into an iron pot to boil.
Hu Tao hugged the quilt and watched Downton busy, slicing bread and smoked ham and putting them on the dinner plate. The sunlight shined through the glass and shone on his body, like a gentle picture.
"It's time to eat. Go wash your face quickly." Downton urged.
"Oh!" Little Loli agreed, but did not move. She really hoped that this scene could continue and never end.
Downton washed a few apples, took a bite, and threw one to Hutao, "Get up quickly."
"No, sleep a little longer." Like a groundhog, the little Loli got into the quilt and made it bulge out.
Downton lifted the quilt off Hu Tao and was about to say a few words when he saw her lying on the bed, her head buried in the pillow, and her shoulders twitching slightly.
The little loli cried.
Downton stroked Hu Tao's hair and sighed slightly. The little loli wandering alone must have suffered a lot.
No matter how reluctant Hu Tao was, breakfast had to be finished. Watching Downton locking the door with his backpack, the little Loli knew that in this life, she would never have the chance to come in and eat the breakfast cooked by her elder brother.
"If possible, stop wandering and find a kind-hearted couple to adopt you!"
Outside Chenwu Town, Downton took Little Loli's 'mountain bag' backpack, put it on Heihuang's back, and advised, "No matter what, you are still young, you should have a family and enjoy more warmth.
, instead of wandering.”
"Yes!" Hu Tao nodded seriously.
Downton took out a money bag and handed it to Hu Tao, then took out the soul mount badge and released the Crescent Unicorn.
"Let's go, see you later." With his military boots on his stirrups, Downton got on his horse, waved his hand, shook the reins, and headed towards the Dagger Mine!
Hu Tao stood there without moving until Downton's figure disappeared.
"Master, let's get on with it." The goblin was bored to death and urged, but was kicked hard by Hu Tao and rolled to the ground.
"You are not allowed to speak without my permission from now on, or I will hang you." Hutao glared at the goblin, holding the reins of the Black Emperor and the leash of the 'pet' goblin with one hand, and regained his composure.
The little Lolita wanted to put the money bag into her pocket, but her hand felt that it didn't look like gold coins. When she opened it, she saw that it was filled with thumb-sized gems.
"Is that human a fool? This bag of gems is worth at least 100,000 gold coins." The goblin took a breath, and if he wasn't concerned about Hu Tao's strength, he couldn't help but reach out and grab it.
"Big brother is a good man!" Hutao pouted.
Unexpectedly, Downton, who had been dealt a good guy card, was so fast that he left behind many followers. Of course, his unicorn mount also shocked everyone's attention.
In the morning, Downton had already taken care of the trivial matters.
The Wolf and Spice grocery store was still locked, and I asked the neighbors and found that it hadn't been open recently, and apparently the female store owner hadn't returned yet.
Elaine replied as expected, and it was sitting in the mailbox in front of the door, already gathering some dust.
The content of the letter is very simple. In addition to caring about Downton's health and asking him not to work too hard, the letter also tells him not to worry. Elaine's situation is fine. She even asks him not to send money anymore. She can pay for the tuition.
Solve it yourself.
"When this semester is over, I will take the opportunity to give Elaine money and visit the capital." Downton arranged the itinerary. Since his mother passed away, he has been working hard for his sister and has never enjoyed a day.
During the holidays, "We are now millionaires, so we can play for a few days, no problem."
"You should first think about how to survive this month. That Liszt must have found someone to deal with you in the mine." Homer projected tiny words, the color was very light, and it was almost invisible as long as it was more than ten meters away.
Not clear.
"I will be careful." Thinking of that guy, Downton felt disgusted, "I will definitely push his father out of the position of mayor of Chenwu Town, let's see how arrogant he can be!"
Dagger Mine is a new mine discovered five years ago, which produces black steel ore. It is about a day's walk from Chenwu Town.
Ore sales are an important source of income for Duke Placido of the West, so on a small town basis, freedmen are arranged to work in the mines every month.
Although Downton is only fifteen years old, he has already served twice in the Dagger Mine, so he is no stranger to this place. On the contrary, he has a deep impression of exhaustion, blood, and the pain of whipping.
In order to achieve the amount of ore mining required by the Duke, those evil-minded overseers did not regard the miners as human beings at all, and whipped them to death.
Of course, the situation of the free people is slightly better. Compared with the slave miners, at least they don't have to worry about being beaten to death or exhausted.
The Dagger Mine is surrounded by mountains and is located in a canyon. When viewed from the sky, it looks like a gaping mouth. It is said that this is the artifact created by the dragon clan thousands of years ago.
In order to transport the ore, Duke Placido spent a lot of manpower and financial resources to dig out several winding roads and tunnels between the peaks, but it was still difficult to walk.
When Downton started climbing the mountain, he had already encountered a convoy of twenty ox carts, pulling smelted black steel.
In order not to cause trouble, Downton put away his soul mount and ran forward, which was also considered as physical exercise.
When he arrived at the second tunnel, Downton caught up with a team of one hundred people. They were all freedmen from the small town of Lima. It was their turn to serve in the mines this month.
Thinking of the upcoming life, the townspeople were in a bad mood, cursing and complaining about the heavy taxes.
"Hey, are you in a hurry to suffer?" The speaker was a fifteen-year-old boy. Seeing Downton sweating profusely while running, he couldn't help but strike up a conversation.
Downton stopped, took out his kettle, and took a sip.
"My name is Gotze, what about you?" The young man had freckles on his face and was a little worried. "Is this your first time going to the Dagger Mine? I heard that life and work there are very hard."
Gotze's father broke his leg and was unable to serve, so he had to let his son come, otherwise he would be imprisoned in a water prison and demoted to a slave.
Apart from Gotze, the youngest member of the team is twenty years old, so he started chatting with Downton because he couldn't get a word in.
"This is the third time." Downton put away the kettle and glanced at the lush mountain tops, "We'll be there in another hour's walk."
"The third time? Doesn't that mean you entered the mines when you were thirteen?" Gotze was startled. He looked at Downton up and down and found that he was quite tall. Although the leather armor on his body was a bit old, it was not patched or damaged.
Traces, and paired with a pair of long military boots, it looks cool.
"Damn Placido, he's such a vampire."
"Just be content. I heard that he recently doubled the tax on prostitutes, and also goes to the military camp to provide free services to the soldiers for five days every month."
"Hey, life is getting harder and harder."
The townspeople sighed, no matter how much money they made, most of it would go into Placido's treasury, and they had to live on black bread and dried vegetable soup.
No one sympathizes with Downton, because there are simply too many young men like him. If you want to survive, you have to rely on your hands to work hard.
"Aren't you afraid?" Gotze looked at Downton with a calm face and was very nervous, "I heard that it is very dark in the mine. Not only the supervisors, but also the mine bosses bully people. If you offend them, you will die miserably.
."
"Follow your foreman and do what he says, and usually nothing will happen."
Downton casually talked about the experience he had learned before, and was suddenly stunned. What should he do if he encountered those rules of the dark side this time? Bear it silently, or fight back?
"Well, my father also said that the foreman's words are everything. No matter what he asks me to do, don't resist, otherwise I will suffer a loss." Gotze breathed a sigh of relief, it seems that it is not too dark.
Downton wanted to tell Gotze that it was not as simple as you think, but looking at the relieved boy, he really didn't want to break his smile.
Although the townspeople kept complaining and wished that time could stop, the Dagger Mine finally arrived.
Outside the canyon, there is a tall stone wall made of stones, stained with dried blood, and there are some bones and sticks nearby, which are all left behind by the bandits and indigenous tribes who attacked the mine.
Looking at a ten-meter-high tower every thirty meters, and barbed wire stretched on the stone wall, Gotze's legs began to tremble. He felt that the gate of the mine was like the big mouth of a demon monster in hell.
Always ready to choose someone to devour.
"We're about to enter. If you don't want to be made trouble, prepare five silver coins." The leading civilian shouted, then walked quickly towards the door with a smile on his face.
"Ah? Why do you need money?" Gotze was dumbfounded. He only had a dozen copper coins on him, which his mother secretly gave him when he left home.