— Penalties for stealing loot —
[Value of 1000 Gold or more] A one-year ban on all raid activities
[Value of 5000 Gold or more] A three-year ban
[Value of 50000 Gold or more] An official inquiry by the Herdial Royal Commission, with the possibility of jail time.
"Hey, wake up."
Hikari opens her eyes.
Rey stands right beside her cheek.
The giantess turns her head.
"Rey?"
"It's time to get moving now. Hope you had a good nap. You've been out for more than a day."
Hikari tries to sit up.
Her body's stiff.
A nice smell.
It was coming from a steel crate.
She opens it.
Warm stew. The crate couldn't fully seal the heat in from the kitchen at the mouth of the wyvern pass.
She digs in anyway, drinking directly from the crate.
It disappeared quickly.
It was half the volume she has back at the estate.
But a warm stew out at the front is always heartwarming.
She reaches for the ration pack.
She has to fill the rest of her stomach with dried rations.
Across the cave.
The breaching team readied their gear.
Unlike the regular infantry, they wore full steel plate armor like knights.
A light crystal atop their helmets.
Their belts were slotted with dynamite, acid flasks, flares, and bombs.
Their weapons weren't standard muskets.
Harpoon guns that were loaded with a single bolt the length of a man's arm.
Flamethrowers.
Motors that hurl bombs.
They were meant to slay monsters.
"Welcome to the breaching team, Hikari."
The voice of Rey's megaphone.
A two-meter-tall hunk of steel.
A cannon mounted on its shoulder.
A harpoon attached to its right hand and a drill on the left.
Its back was loaded with Rey's supply compartment.
The cranking of its gears.
A tin-can robot with leg pedals walks toward Hikari.
The sound of air depressurizing.
Conk! The lid on the robot's head flipped open.
Rey pops his head out.
"Well, what do you think? Impressive, isn't it? "
Hikari studies the robot.
An armor powered by mana.
There were plenty in Moradale.
She senses its core positioned at the robot's groin, below the chamber.
"Adorable"
Hikari tries not to laugh.
Rey looks at her with his dead eyes.
He pops back down into the hatch.
Conk! Conk!
Robot sounds.
The rubber-cushioned pedals on its wide paddles muffle its sound.
"Alright! Form up!"
He blasts through its megaphone.
The armored infantry lines up in two columns before the entrance deeper into the mines.
Rey forms up at the back.
Behind him, a mini steam tank that would haul the troops' supplies into the caves.
Hikari finishes her rations.
She stands up and stretches.
Touch her toes.
Side rotations on her hips.
That's all the cramped space inside the cavern allows her to do.
She had been sleeping and living with her armor the whole time.
It seems like she could trust the salamander skin not to eat her in her sleep.
She strapped on her swords and mounted her harvest sack.
It felt a tad heavy from the loot she collected from the mana vein hiding beneath her stack of ration packs.
A pickaxe and hammer had been prepared for her.
Ones that are her size.
She hoists them on her waist.
Given the short march distance and cramped space.
A bit of extra weight for more weapons isn't a bad idea.
They could come in very handy for fighting in a mine.
Hikari positions herself at the front of the column.
A steel barricade stands in front of her.
She turns to Rey.
"What's this?"
"Your shield; we're going to blast down walls a lot. I need you to carry it so that it shields the rest of us from the rock blast."
It was an impressive piece of defense.
Three layers of steam tank plating welded together.
The sides were curved to deflect projectiles at an angle.
Spikes on the bottom let the shield stand upright without leaning on its wielder.
It rose to her stomach, covering her fully if she got on one knee.
"Nice."
Hikari normally avoided shields because they hamper mobility.
They don't even guarantee protection, since some magics can pierce or bypass them.
But it'll be very useful when pushing through a narrow corridor.
She straps the shield handles onto her arm.
It was heavy.
It weighs at least a ton.
Her muscles can handle it, but the weight at the front presses into her back.
Her harvest sack balances the weight.
She turns her head and nods at Rey's robot at the back of the column.
"Alright! Ladies and gentlemen. We are about to enter the mines. Look sharp! They have been closed in a while, so we don't know what kind of nasty stuff has made it their home. Nothing in the cave is friendly to you. They all see you as their next meal. And don't go picking up mana crystals and get yourself killed. There's a team behind us that will do that."
Two men went around Hikari's shield.
They strapped explosives to the stone, then hastily hid behind Hikari.
Kaboom!
The wall exploded into pieces.
The rubble pelted Hikari's shield, making a loud clanking sound.
"Forward."
Rey's megaphone.
Hikari advanced through the smoke.
Scattered stone pieces crunched under her boot.
A brief skittering sound of spiders retreating.
It was dark and empty, except for the dim glow of mana crystals and sparse spots of cave fauna.
The men fan out and briefly sweep the cavern.
It was empty.
The mine tracks were still in good shape.
An empty trolley. Several crates of ore, ready to ship, were stacked along the cavern wall.
The men drove picks into the walls and hung up small lanterns to light the place.
It's just the first cave.
There shouldn't be anything dangerous.
The mini steam tank rolls over the pile of stone behind them.
Behind them, another group comes in.
They began clearing out the rubble and checking the mine tracks.
They took down the lanterns hanging at the top of the mine and began replacing them.
This would lay the breaching team's supply lines.
Hikari followed the mine tracks into another cave.
She rested her shield.
Pulse.
Pulse.
The mana form of the hearthstone house.
She could see in the dark, but she couldn't see through walls.
The cave-in was too thick for her novice earth sense to map the next cave.
She places her hand on the blockage and channels.
Shatter.
It didn't work.
She was a bit worried.
She tries again.
She pushes more mana.
Crack.
She manages to crack the stone.
It wasn't cracking nearly as easily as it did during training with Sheela.
"The stone down here is not as friendly to our mana form due to the difference in mineral composition. But it still works well enough in the mines. You gotta keep practicing. Don't use too much mana; you're gonna need it for a fight."
"Yes."
Hikari keeps practicing.
She keeps adjusting until she finds the right one.
She dug through part of the cave.
"Form up!"
Rey orders.
Hikari stops practicing.
She digs through a few boulders.
The men shovel away the loose stone.
The breachers plant the explosives.
Kaboom! The wall was shattered into pieces.
They march through a long corridor into another open space.
The men sweep the area.
Another warehousing point for ore.
It was spacious enough for Hikari to stretch her arms up.
The crates were filled with it.
They were removed from the earth and just left when the mine was evacuated.
The rear team soon showed up and began removing them.
They would have to make space for supplies.
Rey pops his head out.
"Good thing there are these spaces. They were here when the mine was initially excavated for the ore. Once the ore was exhausted, these spaces were turned into something more useful, such as storage and even living spaces."
"Interesting."
"Go practice shattering stones now. Or take a break. This place is going to take a while to clear."
…
Kaboom!
They broke into another cavern.
Cave spiders skittering away into their micro tunnels.
The men lit the walls with lanterns. And began plugging those tunnels.
It was a living space for miners.
Double-stacked beds.
A water tank and a stove.
The tank was still filled with water.
One would doubt it was still safe to drink after so long.
"Listen up, ladies and gentlemen. Looks like we have used up our charges. Pat yourselves on the back. It means we're at the halfway point. Nothing dangerous has shown up yet. But it might get exciting for the next half of the push. Keep your powder dry. Rest up and fill your bellies. It won't be long before we start the next push."
The men lean against the walls in their armor.
It's a pain to take them off and put them back on in the dark caves.
Hikari does likewise.
At least the cavern was more than spacious enough for her to stretch out her legs.
In the previous cave, the backline workers continued their work.
The engineers set up rail tracks, wall lighting, and support columns.
Miners cleared away loose debris and collected mana crystals.
She could hear them from here.
The expedition had been uneventful so far.
They had only encountered spiders, small mana crystals, and patches of cave fungus.
Hikari bit into her ration pack.
In her other hand, she held a piece of stone.
Shatter.
After a brief pause, the stone shatters into pieces.
Reconstruct.
The small pieces coalesce, then shatter again.
She couldn't quite get the reconstruction part.
She picked up another stone and shattered it.
There was no shortage of those around.
Conk. Conk.
Rey drove his robot and parked it beside her.
Hikari could hear him eating from inside his armored suit.
"Pssh, can you hear me?"
Rey whispered through his armored suit, the speakerphone off.
"Yes."
"Did you remember what I said? Don't bring any loot back from the mana veins?"
Hikari glanced at her harvest sack.
"Yes."