Mercenary Wars

Chapter 106 Miners
Gaucano didn't know what to say, so he asked again, "How much is your salary here?"

Barons: "It's about a thousand copper coins a month, which is ten silver coins. It's not bad. At least it's much better than being an apprentice in Driftwood Town, and even a little more than Edwin earns as a dockworker."

Just then, a voice rang out from the side: "If the working hours are only half and you don't get whipped, then it's certainly better than being a dockworker."

Gao Jiano looked over and saw that the speaker was a young man with short black hair, of medium height and strong build, who was scooping water to wash off the dust and sweat on his body.

The black-haired youth always seemed to be frowning.

Barons pointed to him and introduced, "This is Edwin, also from Driftwood, but he moved to Southshore with his parents when he was very young, so you probably haven't seen him before."

“Edwin, this is Gaugano. He used to be a page at the church in Driftwood Town. He’s very literate!” He also introduced Gaugano to Edwin.

"Hello," Gao Jiano said politely.

Edwin did not respond, but continued to scoop water to wash himself, his brow still furrowed, seemingly with the same expression forever.

Until a while later.

Edwin looked at the nearly empty bucket: "Barons, I reckon it'll be our turn to fetch water again tomorrow."

"I can finally get some fresh air!" Barons grinned happily. "To be honest, Edwin, you went through so much trouble to get this opportunity, I thought you were planning to run away!"

"How can I run away?" Edwin said calmly. "Even if I could run, could my good-for-nothing father run away? The Gavin Merchant Guild only hires easy-to-bully miners. They wouldn't dare to hire any of those orphans or thugs."

Barons scratched his head, unsure whether he had understood or not.

Edwin added, "Right now, I just want to work until my contract expires. As long as the Gavin Chamber of Commerce doesn't delay my salary, I don't want to cause myself any trouble."

Barons: "By the way, Edwin, what exactly is the holy name you awakened during your mining?"

Edwin paused for a moment: "A name that is not worth mentioning, and it is not blessed. If St. Rhoden or St. John had given me a name, those overseers certainly wouldn't have dared to call me 'boy'."

“How many people can gain the favor of Saint Roden or Saint John? I don’t have such lofty ambitions as you. I’d be grateful if Saint Nicholas would just bestow a name upon me.” Barons said, gradually muttering to himself, looking devout, “Saint Nicholas bless me, Saint Nicholas bless me…”

"Rest time over, back to work!" The foremen's angry shouts signaled the end of the break.

The miners got busy again.

Gaucano noticed that Edwin seemed to mutter something under his breath—and it was very dirty—but he didn't dare to delay for a moment and picked up his pickaxe to go back to work, working harder than anyone else, sweating profusely.

Compared to the miners, the mercenaries were clearly treated much better, had more free time, and the overseers dared not speak in an imperious tone.

After all, the average level of a miner is probably less than level one, no different from a farmer in the countryside.

The mercenaries' average level is around level three, which is higher than the overseer's. They are all ruthless characters who have killed people, so the overseer certainly wouldn't dare to provoke them easily.

After a good rest, the mercenaries and their supervisor discussed task assignments the next morning.

The mercenaries' work mainly consisted of two tasks: standing guard and patrolling, and delivering refined silver to Southsea Town.

In addition, there were some odd jobs, such as helping the foreman deal with a few troublesome miners, and fetching water.

Fetching water might be the most trivial task, but after some inquiries and consideration, Gao Jiano decided to take on the job himself.

He definitely wouldn't want to stand guard or patrol; it would be too time-consuming, and either he wouldn't encounter a single enemy, or he would most likely run into a large group of enemies.

Delivering silver was alright, but the round trip was a bit troublesome. Only fetching water was suitable in terms of both risk and time, and he even had fellow villagers with him.

Moreover, he was originally an unofficial combatant, which made him well-suited for this kind of fragmented work, and most others thought so too, making his efforts easy to achieve.

“Gaucano, why do you want the water-fetching mission?” It was John who spoke.

Gaucano: "What about you, to save trouble?"

“Have you forgotten? I have the holy name of ‘Hydashia’,” John said. “No one is more suited for this job than I am!”

“Okay, you’re right.” Gaucano shrugged.

After the tasks were assigned, a water-fetching team set off at noon that day.

There were five people in total: two miners and three mercenaries.

The miners are Edwin and Barons, and the mercenaries are Gaucano, John, and Reverend Sheldon.

The two miners were clearly very familiar with the job. While carrying two small silver buckets, they explained to the mercenaries, "We need to fetch water from the Levin River. It's easy to run into Naga thieves while fetching water, so you have to be careful. After all, we are no match for the Naga sirens."

"Naga thieves?" Sheldon asked doubtfully.

Edwin patted the silver bucket in his hand: "This is a magical spatial item made of mithril. Putting it in the water will definitely attract the attention of the Naga thieves."

John: "What if we lose it?"

Edwin: "It has the Gavin Merchant Guild's magical mark on it. If it's lost, they'll probably ask the Bloodsail Pirates for help in finding it. If they can't find it, we'll have to pay our wages."

"Hiss." John gasped as he looked at the gleaming mithril bucket.

The two miners continued their introduction and conversation, while the group emerged from another passage in the underground mine and reached the surface. After walking for a while, they arrived at the banks of the Levin River in the Siren Canyon.

Although it is only a tributary of the Nikon River, the Levin River is still quite spectacular, with its blue waters flowing calmly through steep canyons on both sides, the tops of which are covered with lush vegetation.

Looking at the wide, flat surface of the Levin River, Gaucano estimated that all the rivers he had seen since his transmigration combined probably couldn't compare to the one before him.

“Here it is.” Edwin chose a spot, then threw the mithril bucket into the water and held it a distance away on the shore with the chain attached to it.

Barons, meanwhile, was squatting on the riverbank, holding the mithril bucket very close to the water.

“Edwin, you’re likely to lose the bucket like that,” he cautioned.

Edwin clearly disagreed: "It's unlikely that a Naga thief could cut the chains so easily, and I'm more worried about losing my life than losing the bucket. Barons, you'd better watch out and not get too close to the shore."

At this moment, John said, "It's alright, I have Saint Michael's protection, the Naga can't hurt Barons!"

As he spoke, he stood next to Barons, holding his shield, and occasionally observed the water's surface.

"Wow..."

The Levin River flowed steadily southward, except near the two mithril barrels where it surged with waves, causing large amounts of water to pour into the barrels and forming two whirlpools.

(End of this chapter)