"Lady Lores, maybe you should take a break too?" the water mage suggested.

I shrugged and glanced at her. She had returned to work after a couple of hours of rest, now dressed only in a tank top and leathery shorts. She looked almost like some kind of green nymph, her reptilian-like skin glinting in the dim cavern light. Her red eyes and sharp canines gave her an air of menace, though she carried herself with a surprising friendliness.

Her task now was mostly channeling water to cool the walls, and the heat was suffocating—made worse by the sauna-like dampness that lingered, even with the air mages struggling to keep the air moving. They were too low level to fully dispel the oppressive humidity, but at least they kept the cavern breathable.

"Maybe later..." I replied, gratefully accepting the cup of water she handed me.

I was exhausted, but too angry and unsettled to sleep. After hearing Borokhout's suspicions, I went straight to confront the lead engineer.

At first, he denied everything, then tried to downplay the importance of the royal mining support standard. He called it a mere compilation of "best practices" put together by some overly enthusiastic engineers. Then he claimed the Earth mage's role wasn't essential. After that, he went on about how their last Earth mage had left, and that he wasn’t really a good one anyway. Excuse after excuse, until my frustration boiled over, and I felt my dragon breath starting to activate. Luckily for him, I recognized the feeling and averted my gaze, locking onto a chair instead—instantly reducing it to a heap of ashes on the now smoldering floor.

That scared the hell out of me. Was I losing control of my temper? Did this mean I'd end up carbonizing anyone who made me angry?

Only a few people had witnessed the incident—Alice, Hew, and a Xsoha girl working with Hew. Alice stepped forward, placing a steadying hand on my shoulder before pulling me into a hug.

“Look at me,” she said firmly.

For a moment, I was terrified to meet her gaze, worried I might accidentally incinerate her too. But as she gently grasped my face into her palms, I had no choice. When I finally locked eyes with her, her crystal-clear blue eyes anchored me, and my heartbeat began to steady. I took a long, calming breath. How did she know this would work? Staring into her eyes felt like looking at a peaceful sky—how could anyone stay angry at that?

The engineer had tried to slip away during the commotion, but an orc caught him before he could vanish. It was Wortar, one of Drackar's lieutenants. Ah, so there had been one more witness to my chair-incinerating episode.

“Lady Lores isn't finished with you,” Wortar said firmly, holding the man in place.

I shot the orc a grateful grin, now feeling much calmer, and turned back to the trembling engineer. The poor guy was sweating and gasping for breath like he’d just run a marathon. Engineer level twenty-two. This was our lead engineer?

He confirmed that they didn’t use explosives in their mining process, explaining it wouldn’t be efficient for this type of mining. Then he launched into some odd theories about how silver supposedly regenerates—filtered from the earth, slowly forming veins and nodes inside previously exploited tunnels. That’s why the mine had old, temporarily closed galleries, which they’d reopen after a while to “harvest” the silver again. Using explosives, he claimed, would disturb these delicate regeneration processes, and the ground would take much longer to recover and reform the nodes.

His explanation only confused me further. This bizarre mineral theory had no place in any normal world I knew, but at least he stood firm on the point: no explosives had been used. He seemed more composed now.

“But the survivors spoke of explosions!” I pressed. I could hear his heartbeat quicken, but not alarmingly so.

“Yes, they did,” he admitted. “But maybe they were just too shocked. A sudden cave-in can seem like an explosion to someone nearby. I don’t have any other explanation,” he said with a shrug.

His attempted explanation didn’t convince me, but at least he didn’t seem aware of any deliberate plan to blow up the mine.

“Why didn’t you hire a new Earth mage to do the work?” I asked.

A flicker of annoyance crossed his face. Like a cornered rat, fear and panic seemed to turn into aggression.

“Now I’m guilty of that too?” he snapped. “Nobody wanted to work for the pittance we could offer! Sorena was a local villager—she worked for almost nothing, but even she left when her pay got cut! You approve no money for beams, no money for an Earth mage, and I’m supposed to make it all work!”

“Who does approve the money?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

He looked at me for a moment, as if trying to gauge if the question was serious.

“Sir Durham, of course,” he answered, wiping the sweat from his brow with his left hand, taking a deep breath. His heart was still racing, probably beating at 190 or so.

Then, with an angry twist of his face and a voice so low it was almost a whisper, he added, “As long as you don’t approve more money for him, he can’t give me more, Lady Lores.”

I blinked, taken aback. Had I really not approved more funds for Durham? I couldn’t remember. My memories of the last quarter were foggy at best. I sighed, deciding not to press the issue for now.

“How do you explain that we found this residue from explosives in the mine?” I asked, pulling out the small vial of dust Borokhout had given me from my inventory.

His eyes widened slightly as he looked at the dust in my hand. “May I?” he asked, carefully pinching a small amount between his fingers. A magnifying glass appeared from his inventory, and he examined it closely. “It does look like explosive residue, but I’d need to run some tests to be sure. Are you certain this came from the mine?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

He seemed calmer now, oddly at ease, and I couldn’t help but wonder why. But I let it go, for now. I needed to get back to the mine and continue our work, though the question still nagged at me: Who would organize and carry out something so terrible?

*

The more I thought about it, the clearer Borokhout’s theory became. First, a minor cave-in to trap the working team inside one gallery. Then, as the rescue team tried to save them, the real catastrophe struck—the big cave-in, trapping both teams underground. It was all a carefully orchestrated trap, designed to wipe out as much of the qualified workforce as possible. Even if we managed to form new mining teams, and the people didn’t revolt, it would take years for them to reach the skill and productivity of the ones we lost.

Unless, of course, the orcs were playing me, and the explosive residue didn’t come from the mine. But I gave that scenario a very low probability.

Suddenly, water began trickling, then drizzling between the rocks where Borokhout was working.

“This is it! Water from the flooded tunnels!” one of the orc diggers exclaimed.

“Yeah! Finally!” Borokhout shouted in triumph—then promptly collapsed, as if he had been holding on just for this moment.

“Shit!” Egger cursed, rushing over to check his pulse. “Mana exhaustion,” she muttered with a weary sigh.

“Damn,” the orc digger growled. “Now we’ll have to wait for him to recover. If we only had some tool or a snake to send through the water, we could check how far we are and whether we’re even on the right tunnel. Where are the shamans when you need one?”

“I think I heard someone clopping!” another orc said, his voice tense.

Several orcs were busy placing Borokhout on a stretcher, but the two nearby continued their conversation.

“Could just be water, flowing between the stones.”

“No, it’s distinct—like clopping with a hammer.”

I strained to listen. I heard it too. I glanced at the water trickling through the rocks. If water could make it through, why couldn’t I?

“I’ll go,” I said, my mind already made up. Before anyone could respond, I shifted into a shadow and slipped into the narrow crevice, moving against the flow of water.

Navigating through the tight, waterlogged rubble felt like an endless crawl, and soon, a creeping fear began to gnaw at me. What if I couldn’t find a way out? What if I ended up trapped in some submerged cavern, forever imprisoned in this watery tomb? Not a bad cage for an immortal demon, I mused grimly. And what happens if my mana gets exhausted? I’d never tried staying as a shadow indefinitely.

I forced those thoughts away, but the longer it took, the harder it was to ignore them.

Then, without warning, the space opened up. I was still submerged, but I’d entered a cavern. Voices echoed faintly, and light flickered ahead. Relief surged through me, and I shifted back into human form too early, gulping down a mouthful of muddy water.

I surfaced with a splash, coughing and sputtering—startling the life out of a huddled group of miners who clearly hadn’t expected company.

“Demons!” one of them yelled, sparking immediate commotion as several scrambled backward in panic.

I stood up, water sloshing around my waist, spat out another mouthful of the murky liquid, and grinned at them—probably not the most reassuring sight.

“Rescue’s here! We’re not far off,” I announced, though even I realized it didn’t sound all that encouraging. “We’re digging a tunnel to get you out. It might still take some time, though…”

“Who are you?!” one of them demanded, shining a light directly in my face.

I sighed and tried to cover my eyes with my hand. “I’m Lores... Lores of Orcmound. I’m, uh, actually your lady—I'm the baroness,” I added, fully aware of how unladylike I looked standing there soaked and bedraggled. I figured using my full name was better than leaving them confused.

“You’re the baroness?” one muttered in disbelief, as murmurs spread through the group.

Now that they were no longer blinding me with that light, I could see there were more of them huddled together than I’d first realized. The air was damp and cold, heavy with the stench of urine, filth, and something else I couldn’t place. As I waded closer, I noticed many of them were trembling, huddled under whatever scraps of fabric they could find. Some were lying on the ground, clearly injured, and many were wracked with deep, painful coughs.

“Are you really our lady?” another voice asked, uncertain.

I nodded, taking in the sight of their suffering.

“Who are you?” I asked, scanning the group. “Can you tell me your names, so I can pass word along?”

“Thorsom Gutlan!” “Weidor Anyter!” “Hasid!” “Krota!” “Demeter!”

A flood of names hit me all at once. I raised my hands to wave them off. “Stop, stop, stop. I can’t remember all these names without writing them down. I’ll need to take notes later.” I took a breath, looking around. “What do you need? What should I bring?”

“Water!” “Food!” “Medicine!”

The irony wasn’t lost on me—asking for water while standing in a submerged corridor. But then again, who could stomach drinking this filthy, stagnant water? I noticed they had some makeshift containers collecting droplets dripping from the ceiling, but it wouldn’t be enough to keep them going for long.

“Can we swim through?” one of them asked urgently. “Take us out of here!” another voice cried. “I can hold my breath for a long time—just show us the way!”

I shook my head, realizing I needed to lower their expectations before panic set in.

“No, it’s not possible. I only made it through with magic,” I explained.

“Then use your magic! Can’t you take us out?” one of them pleaded.

I shook my head again. “No.”

The group grew more restless. “You said you were digging—how far is it?” “Who’s digging? Two shifts were trapped here. Did enough people escape the cave-in? How long will it take?”

I took a deep breath. “We have an Earthmage, but he’s out of mana and needs to rest. The orcs are helping. It’s hard to say exactly how far, the path is submerged in rubble and I had to zig-zag through it. I think that it's about three or four hundred steps."

“I’m as thin as you are. Maybe I can make it through!”

“What can we do from this side? The water level’s rising!”

“It should start to drop soon—we’re clearing the way from the other side. I’ll bring news that I’ve found you. Just hang on and stay alive until we break through.”

With that, I dissolved into smoke right in front of their eyes, startling them. I sank into the water, but fear clawed at my chest: Will I find my way back?