Trash Prince and Ice Queen 10th Re - Life-Chapter 127: Journey to The Center of The World

The next day, very early in the morning, in front of the mine entrance, Ard, Eva, and the others stood ready, waiting for Hardim to arrive. Plenty of miners were moving back and forth, heading inside with empty mine carts or coming back out with carts overflowing with mithril, bronze, and platinum.

"So, we’re waiting for the Guild Master?" Mirea asked.

"Yep, that’s right. Last night, Irina already let him know that we would meet him directly in front of the mine entrance," Ard answered.

"Hmm... I’m curious to see what the Guild Master of this city’s miners’ guild looks like. I’ve never seen him because I lived in the capital of the Durnhill Kingdom before this," Mirea said.

A short while later, Irina arrived to meet Ard and Eva. She brought a letter from Hardim, which served as a permit to use the lift to descend to the lowest level of the mine—a place no one can access except by using that lift. Suddenly, someone grabbed Ard’s shoulder. Ard turned to see that Bhadra had arrived along with Irina.

"Oh... you came here, Chief?" Ard asked.

"Yes, I want to see you all the way down. I’m sorry I lied to you yesterday. In truth, I already knew Hardim was a dwarf, and of course, I cannot actually read the ancient dwarven script," Bhadra answered.

"Hmm... alright, it’s fine, Chief. I understand why you kept it a secret and lied," Eva replied.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Bhadra said.

Then Bhadra turned to look at Mirea. His face shifted slightly, looking guilty and full of remorse, and then he bowed before her.

"Because I placed that curse on your great-grandfather, your family has suffered. Forgive me for acting out of emotion and rage over the loss of my child. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I had to say it while I still have the chance," Bhadra said.

"It’s alright. Everything has already happened, Elder. The important thing is that we no longer have a problem. I accept your apology with a glad heart," Mirea replied respectfully.

"Thank you, Princess..."

"My name is Mirea," Mirea interrupted.

"Ah, yes... Princess Mirea. Once again, this old man says thank you. Having my apology accepted makes me feel so relieved," Bhadra replied, bowing with a sad face even as he smiled.

"The Guild Master is taking his time, isn’t he?" Milia muttered.

"Ah, about that—he is already waiting in the deepest part of the mine. That’s why I’ve come to escort you there," Bhadra said.

"Oh, I see," Ard replied.

"Correct. Hardim has been inside since dawn; he left a golem disguised as himself back at the guild. So, let’s head inside and go straight to the lift," Bhadra said, walking through the entrance and past everyone.

Ard, Eva, and the others, including Irina, followed Bhadra, who carried the permit to use the lift for a specific area within the mine. As they entered and walked down the corridor, "Wow," Ard, Eva, and the rest of them whispered in awe. The walls, the ceiling, and the path they traveled were almost entirely covered in glowing, multi-colored magic crystals that were so bright the mine wasn’t dark at all. Besides that, plenty of gemstone ores were embedded in the walls, left untouched with no one bothering to take them.

"Why hasn’t anyone taken those emeralds, rubies, and other gems? Wouldn’t they be expensive if made into jewelry?" Alicia asked.

"Because the main products of this mine are minerals like mithril, copper, platinum, and iron. To the miners, these gems and magic crystals are worthless because they sell for so little," Bhadra answered.

"That’s true. The ones who usually take those gemstone ores are merchants like us, but we only take what we need to process into jewelry before selling it. Usually, it’s the merchants from Ateras who are greedy enough to strip them all away," Mirea added.

"Hmm... we also saw a lot of blacksmiths and craftsmen along the way here. Is it possible this whole city is centered around forging and handiwork?" Claudia asked curiously.

"Yep. That’s why no one here processes these gems; at most, only my mom’s shop turns them into jewelry, and even then, not much, because there isn’t a high demand for it," Mirea answered.

"Well... that’s just how this city is. My brother is also a blacksmith... he’s absolutely obsessed with forging blades, especially swords. He’d fit right in living in a city like this," Geoffrey said.

"Doesn’t he live in this city?" Ainsley asked.

"Yep, he’s married, and ever since then, he’s been living in his wife’s mansion. His life is happy... hopefully, he won’t be ordered to join the war," Geoffrey answered.

"Ah, that’s right. Our kingdom is at war too, isn’t it?" Milia said.

"Guys, why does it feel like there are only a few of us left?" Claudia asked.

Ard, Eva, Geoffrey, Ainsley, Milia, Mirea, and Claudia stopped and turned around; Bhadra stopped and turned back as well. It turned out that Alicia, Beatrice, Adeline, and Patricia were far behind, struggling to pry some gemstone ores out of the wall, while Rosalind stood by them, fuming. Meanwhile, Irwin and Irina were crouching down, inspecting the crystals along the edge where the wall met the floor.

"Good grief... it turns out they’re actually trying to pry the gems right out of the walls," Ard said, slapping his forehead.

"Huh... even Alicia?" Milia asked, shocked to see Alicia pulling at an ore vein with such stubborn intensity.

"Fine, leave this to me," Eva said, immediately marching back toward the others without waiting for anyone to tell her to.

Ard and the rest, Bhadra included, simply stood there waiting and watching as Eva approached Beatrice and Alicia. They could see Eva scolding them all, with Rosalind backing her up. Ard nodded along as he watched, but suddenly Geoffrey tapped his shoulder and pointed back at Eva. Ard was stunned; now even Eva was joining in, desperately trying to grab a gem from the wall until her face turned red from the effort.

"Why is she joining in now... this is going to be a real pain," Ard muttered, stepping forward.

"Women, bro," Geoffrey said, following right behind him.

"Yep, women," Ainsley added, joining Ard as he walked.

Ard, Geoffrey, and Ainsley approached Eva, Alicia, Beatrice, Adeline, Patricia, and Rosalind. They passed Irwin and Irina, who were just standing there like statues, holding crystals and sucking on them as if they were lollipops. "Hgggh," Eva groaned, trying to pry a green gemstone ore—an emerald—that was almost out of the wall.

"Hey, why are you joining in too?" Ard asked from behind Eva.

"Almost there... it’s just about to come loose," Eva said breathlessly.

"Haaah," Ard sighed. He pulled Exgrandal from his dimensional storage and immediately slashed the wall behind him. "Grrrk," several multi-colored gemstone ores fell to the floor. Ard picked them up and asked Geoffrey and Ainsley to help gather the crystals that had fallen with them.

Then, Ard put Exgrandal back, walked over to the girls—who were still facing the wall trying to pull out the nearly loose gems—and tapped Eva, Alicia, Beatrice, Adeline, Patricia, and Rosalind on their shoulders. When they all turned around, he dropped the gems into their hands one by one, leaving them confused and staring at him.

"Okay, everyone has one now. If you don’t like the color, swap among yourselves. Let’s move, we’ve wasted enough time," Ard said as he turned and walked away.

Eva, Alicia, Beatrice, Adeline, Patricia, Rosalind, Irwin, and Irina were stunned, watching Ard walk with Geoffrey and Ainsley back to where Bhadra and the others were waiting. They were followed by Irwin and Irina, who carried crystals in the crooks of their arms and sucked on them like candy. Alicia, Beatrice, Adeline, and Patricia looked at the gems in their hands, and immediately, their eyes sparkled brightly.

"We were given gems by our prince," Alicia said.

"Yes, I will keep this gem forever and I don’t care about the color," Patricia added.

"Hooray... Big Brother Ard is so nice," Adeline said happily.

"Yeah... thank you, darling Ard... I’m so happy," Beatrice added, hugging her gemstone ore.

Meanwhile, Eva and Rosalind looked at their hands in confusion. The two of them turned to look at each other, then back at the gemstone ores in their palms.

"Why did he give me one too? I only meant to help so we could move faster, not because I wanted one," Eva said.

"Same... I’ve been getting angry and reminding them not to be reckless this whole time... and yet I got one too. This means I’ve ended up as one of the troublemakers," Rosalind said.

Finally, they ran to catch up with Ard and the others, with Eva and Rosalind trailing listlessly behind while staring at the gems in their hands. Ard took a moment to apologize to Bhadra, and they continued their journey until they reached the lift at the end of the hallway, right next to the downward tracks used by the miners.

The lift looked fragile, made of wood and only big enough to hold about five people for the trip down. Its mechanism also looked incredibly simple—just a few pulley gears and a very strong wire rope. After showing the permit to the guard—who allowed them through immediately upon seeing that Bhadra wasn’t heading down with them—Ard, Eva, and the others began their descent in turns.

Four hours later, they were finished. Because it took an hour and a half to reach the bottom and another fifteen minutes to haul the empty lift back up, the total time for the entire group to descend came to four hours. They were immediately greeted by a wave of heat radiating from outside the cave. Ard and Eva led the others out, and there, waiting for them, was Hardim. Naturally, everyone was shocked to see Hardim—stout, half the height of a human, and his face covered in hair.

"You finally made it," Hardim greeted them with a smile, resting his mace on his shoulder.

Behind Hardim, a long stone bridge stretched into the distance, while to its left and right lay chasms filled with glowing red, scorching lava. It made it seem as if the stone bridge were cutting right through the heart of a volcano to reach the other side.