Imperial Throne

Chapter 125: Ruby Village

Limping Hawk hobbled along, carrying a pickaxe on his shoulder, heading in the direction of his home.

He only stopped when he passed the bakery. Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out a dozen or so dirty coins, carefully counted them, and then handed a few of them to a young worker outside the bakery. “One pound of black bread.”

The young worker took the money and quickly ran to the back door.

Limping Hawk slightly stepped aside.

He looked at the well-dressed people lined up outside the bakery’s main entrance, buying fragrant bread that even had a faint scent of meat. He couldn’t help but lick his lips, showing a look of longing. “Once I dig up a gemstone, I’ll buy a milk loaf too.”

Then he couldn’t help but recall how, just a few days ago, a fellow worker had found a translucent pink gemstone and exchanged it for forty gold coins. That man treated a group of their closer acquaintances to a night of indulgence at the largest tavern in the village.

That was the best night Hawk could remember in his life.

Hawk still remembered that when he was born, Ruby Village had already fallen into decline. This was because the ruby vein that had made Ruby Village famous had been depleted. Though there were two other veins nearby, they were only relatively common iron and copper veins. Even though the reserves weren’t small, compared to ruby mining, there was little profit to be made. Naturally, this meant there was little incentive for others to invest in the village.

Especially at that time, Gem Territory was ruled by the greedy and tyrannical Baron Hess.

He did everything he could to squeeze every bit of wealth from the territory, forcing many of the residents to either flee or rise in rebellion.

But his subordinates included fearsome knightly enforcers, and every rebel was executed.

Hawk remembered a saying that was popular in Gem Territory at the time: “Even if you’re a corpse, you still have to pay taxes!”

So, when Hawk came of age, his silent father gave him a pickaxe. The next day, he took that pickaxe and left his hometown, heading to the wealthiest place in the territory—Sapphire Village.

Gem Territory was named for the three first-class villages called the Gem Villages—divided by the Billy Family into three tiers among its seven villages. The highest tier was the first-class Gem Villages: named after red, blue, and green gemstones. The second tier was Ore Villages, and the third, Stone Villages.

Ruby Village had once earned its name from a once-rich ruby vein.

Sapphire Village, on the other hand, had both a gold vein and a sapphire vein.

In Gem Territory, mineral resources were never in short supply. The only difference was the reserve size of the veins and how difficult they were to mine.

Sapphire Village, with its two rare veins, still had high reserves and excellent quality even after decades of mining. So when Ruby Village fell into decline, Baron Hess immediately shifted his focus there, mobilizing a massive workforce for mining. During that period, residents of Gem Territory had no freedom—they were considered the property and expendable resources of the lord.

Hawk had once mined two fairly high-quality sapphires in the sapphire mine—his limp was a result of that.

But he didn’t even get ten gold coins, let alone forty. He only received one gold coin as a reward.

Because the lord’s wealth was the lord’s alone—they were merely extracting it from the earth on his behalf.

That one gold coin reward was just to showcase the lord’s “benevolence and generosity.”

Such was life under Baron Hess’s rule in Gem Territory.

It was precisely because of the stark contrast with Baron Hess’s rule that when Baroness Anna took over as lord of Gem Territory and began issuing a series of new policies, residents throughout the land couldn’t believe it. They thought they were dreaming, or perhaps the lord was drunk and rambling.

But over the next six months, the residents of Gem Territory came to believe that this female baron wasn’t joking—she dispatched knights to every village except Ruby Village, to monitor all injustices. If a mine leader dared to defy her orders, the entire family would be executed.

Though many believed this female baroness was just as brutal as her father, the vast majority felt that her harshness was reserved only for enemies. So as long as they weren’t her enemies, they had nothing to fear.

At the very least, the ability to sell a gemstone for thirty to fifty gold coins had been nothing more than a dream before.

But that didn’t mean there were no complaints.

Limping Hawk knew well that many miners were dissatisfied with the newly opened mine outside Ruby Village, which had only been in operation for twenty years.

Previously, although miners didn’t earn any money when they dug for gemstones, the mine provided breakfast and dinner. This meant many workers skipped meals after work, waiting until the next morning to have a bowl of minced meat soup, saving every possible copper coin.

But now, not only did the mine stop providing food, even entering the mine required paying a fee. Moreover, all mined minerals had to be sold to the mine, with prices determined based on quality—ranging from one silver coin to fifty gold coins. If anyone was caught selling privately to another merchant guild, it would be considered smuggling.

Initially, some merchant guilds didn’t care, even trying to lure miners to sell them gemstones. They offered better prices than the mine and spread rumors claiming that Lord Anna was no different from her demonic father in oppressing miners.

However, after several guilds and merchant caravans were publicly executed, no guild dared continue. Now, even if a miner came to them, they would turn around and report the miner instead.

But Limping Hawk had long understood a truth—there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world.

Compared to the days under Baron Hess’s rule, he actually preferred his life now.

But only if he could quickly dig up something valuable. Otherwise, in three days, he might not even be able to afford black bread and would be forced to dig for wild roots in the wilderness.

Because for the past two days, he hadn’t unearthed anything of value from the mine, which meant he had no income at all.

And with no income, naturally, he couldn’t buy food.

Even now, buying just one pound of black bread, he had hesitated for quite a while before finally making the decision.

He stood at the bakery for a good while before the young worker who had taken the money finally came back from the rear entrance, carrying a basket with exactly the one pound of black bread that Limping Hawk had ordered.

If he rationed this one pound of black bread carefully, it might last him until the morning after tomorrow.

“I’ll return the basket the day after tomorrow.”

“It’s fine. Aunt Susan said she doesn’t kick people’s behinds anymore, because she already included the two copper coins for the basket.” The young worker’s face showed complete indifference. “If you don’t return the basket, then you won’t get those two copper coins back.”

Limping Hawk’s face darkened.

He remembered he still had two baskets at home.

So he quickly lifted the cloth on the basket, and sure enough, there was only about half a pound of black bread inside. That was barely enough to last him until tomorrow morning.

“Three baskets! I’ll be back in a bit to return them! Tell Aunt Susan to save me half a pound of black bread!”

The young worker shrugged. “I’m going home soon.”

“If you help me pass on the message and wait for me to come right back with the baskets, I’ll give you a slice of black bread!”

“Alright.” The young worker hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded.

Hawk didn’t dare waste time and quickly dragged his leg as fast as he could toward his home.

Fortunately, his home wasn’t far from the bakery, so he was back in no time.

He first put down the bread, then grabbed the three baskets before heading out again.

Just then, he ran into several other miners carrying pickaxes coming back.

These neighbors, who also lived for generations on this “Miner Street,” were naturally familiar to Hawk. He greeted them warmly and was about to leave, but upon closer look, he noticed a few faces missing among the group, which made him curious enough to ask.

“You didn’t hear?”

“Hear what?” Hawk looked puzzled at the counter-question.

“Then you’re lucky.” The miner who responded sighed. “Old Peter and his son are both dead. Eaten by a large magical beast.”

“A large magical beast?!” Hawk exclaimed in shock.

“Yeah.” Someone beside them nodded. “Heard some merchant caravans were attacked before, and suffered heavy losses. Even major merchant guilds were hit. A few days ago, they even attacked the iron mine. Several mine leaders immediately rallied miners to fight back, only to discover it was a large magical beast... one that came from the Death Forest!”

The miners didn’t understand the ranking system for magical beasts, but they had their own way of identifying them.

If they could kill it, it was just a regular magical beast—nothing to be afraid of.

But if no matter how hard they tried they couldn’t even break its skin, then that was a large magical beast—only the army or knights could handle those. Ordinary folks like them would never be enough to satisfy such a beast’s hunger.

After hearing this, Hawk felt a chill in his heart. “What are we going to do? With such a large magical beast nearby, no one can safely go into the mines.”

The old ruby vein of Ruby Village was located on a mountain thirty li to the east of the village, while the iron vein and the newly discovered vein twenty years ago were relatively close. That’s why miners who hadn’t had any luck at the new mine for several days would head over to the iron vein to work for a while. At least there, if one worked hard enough, they could earn enough for two days’ meals in a single day.

Hawk had also worked at the iron vein when he couldn’t afford black bread.

Old Peter and his son were among the unlucky ones. They hadn’t found anything in the new vein for over a month, so they went to work at the iron vein, since their family still needed to be supported. But now that both father and son were dead, the rest of their family would be in trouble.

“This is definitely something the lord needs to handle,” one of them said matter-of-factly. “Haven’t you heard? The lord has hired a mercenary group to deal with it.”

“The knights didn’t come?” Hawk was surprised.

“Well, if anything happened to those noble knights, the loss would be huge. But mercenaries—they’re already paid to take the job. Whether they die or how many die—what’s it to those lords?” Another chimed in, shaking his head solemnly. “That’s how the nobles are. And our new lord is no different from the baron before.”

“Exactly! They don’t even feed us anymore.”

Soon, these people began to denounce Anna for making them pay out of pocket to enter the mines, yet none of them mentioned how much profit they could make if they actually struck something valuable.

But Hawk didn’t want to get involved in that discussion.

He quietly pulled aside the miner who had shared the news earlier and spoke up, “Are the knight lords really not going to handle this? How could mere mercenaries possibly defeat a large magical beast? I’m already out of money—I can only last one more day. The day after tomorrow, I have no choice but to enter the mine!”

“That’s where you’re wrong this time,” the miner replied smugly. “The mercenaries who came this time are different—they’re very strong. The people from the major merchant guilds in the village don’t even dare to provoke them. You know how those snobs used to treat the mercenaries in the tavern, right? I heard that on their first day here, the head of the mercenary group beat a captain from one of the major merchant guilds so badly he couldn’t get out of bed.”

“So strong?” Hawk exclaimed. “Even stronger than the knight lords?”

“That I don’t know.” The miner shook his head. “But it’s probably for the best not to go down the mine these days. We’re all planning to stay home for a few days—it’s just too dangerous outside right now. That large magical beast seems to have developed a taste for the iron mine, so it went back twice after the first time. Now no one dares to work there. If it’s not dealt with, it’s only a matter of time before it comes to the new mine.”

Hawk’s expression immediately turned grim. “If this keeps up, a lot of people are going to die.”

“I told you long ago not to go to the new mine. That place is not only hard to mine, but it's mostly full of waste rock. Forget gemstones—you’d be lucky to find even one piece of Molten Stone in a week.” The miner patted Hawk on the arm and sighed. “But... if you really can’t make it, come to my house. You can pay me back when you have the money.”

“Thanks.” Hawk could only express his gratitude.

After the man left, Hawk pulled out the last of his coins and looked them over. In the end, he gritted his teeth and ran back to the bakery.

After returning the three baskets, he exchanged all his money for black bread.

He had made up his mind. Once he entered the mine tomorrow, he wouldn’t come back out until all the bread was gone!

Because, based on his previous mining experience in Sapphire Village, he had finally discovered a spot today that might yield a gemstone. If he didn’t go for several days and someone else ended up finding it, he would be furious enough to want to kill.

The more Hawk thought about it, the more anxious he became. He couldn’t even wait until tomorrow. After packing his food, he left immediately.

...

The struggles of a small man trying to survive were something no one else would ever truly understand.

Because different people had different pains and worries.

At this moment, those arriving in Ruby Village were not limited to the four mercenaries from the Shelf Mercenary Group.

Ion, Akar, Roda, and two other Bloodline Knights from White Mountain Territory had all gathered here.

The aura of a Bloodline Knight was nearly impossible to conceal from another Bloodline User.

Ion suspected that Raven was already a Bloodline Knight, so he and Akar didn’t dare approach Ruby Village carelessly. Instead, they had Roda and the other two Bloodline Knights disguise themselves as members of the Shelf Mercenary Group and infiltrate Ruby Village.

But since Ruby Village was fairly large and had a lot of foot traffic, they hadn’t been able to gather much information over the past few days.

Fortunately, Ion had planned for this, so he wasn’t in a hurry. He simply instructed the Shelf Mercenary Group and Roda’s team to gradually narrow their investigation zone.

Of course, to avoid arousing the suspicion of Raven—if he were indeed hiding among them—the Shelf Mercenary Group still sent people out of the village daily to search for traces of the Third-Tier Magical Beast. At the same time, at least two would remain inside Ruby Village, under the pretense of guarding against magical beast attacks.

They had originally thought that dealing with the beast wouldn’t be difficult.

But unexpectedly, the beast continued to appear and attack people even after several days. The day before yesterday, when it attacked the iron mine, they intercepted it, but the battle broke out so suddenly and their side had too few people and no preparation, so the beast escaped. Then yesterday, it came back for revenge, causing over a hundred casualties at the mine.

This greatly embarrassed Akar. So today, aside from the two Bloodline Users required to stay behind in Ruby Village, they gathered all available personnel to pursue the beast.

Ion’s thinking was that they still needed an excuse to remain in Ruby Village for a while. If the beast continued to rampage, it would be counterproductive. Therefore, he planned to personally subdue the beast. Even if it couldn’t be fully controlled, they would at least injure it so it couldn’t threaten the mines again.

After all, Ruby Village was directly under Anna’s jurisdiction, and the village’s revenue directly funded her private coffers. Naturally, Anna took the matter very seriously.

Only when they began tracking the beast did they realize how troublesome it was.

The beast had several dens, each showing signs of use. It was more troublesome than a cunning rabbit with three burrows. They couldn’t determine which den the beast was currently resting in.

Ion looked at the darkening sky, frowning. “Nighttime is when the Shadow Panther reigns. Its power is said to be close to Fourth-Tier. We must return. If we encounter it now, we might suffer casualties.”

Though Akar was furious about the destruction and disruptions caused by the beast, he knew it wasn’t the right time for revenge. So he naturally agreed to retreat and rest for now.

He just couldn’t understand why the Shadow Panther had left the Withered Wood Forest.

The environment in Withered Wood Forest was quite unique. It didn’t have the distinct day-night cycle of the outside world. Due to the atmosphere and conditions, it always felt eerie and desolate—an ideal environment for the Shadow Panther. Even if it couldn’t unleash its full power like it could at night, it could still fight at near-full strength there.

The only thing that could drive such a creature out of Withered Wood Forest, Akar suspected, must be some kind of special change within the forest.

But just as the group was about to descend the mountain, Ion suddenly raised his right hand.

Everyone in the group instantly stopped and drew their weapons, going on high alert.

“Father?”

“We’re being watched.”