Chapter 66: Tunnel
Translator: Wuxia Dog Editor: Wuxia Dog
After a long time, the wagons suddenly started to bump up. Han Jinlooked through the wheel and saw they had turned into a path, the end of which was a hill, not very large, nor small. At the foot of the hill was a small village scattered with several cottages, none of which lit up a lamp. The whole village was filled with deathly stillness.
The caravan went to the foot of hill straightly through the village. Ten-odd guards jumped down, removed the high pile of straws. After a faint rumbling sound, a holeof three meters in height and two meters in width appeared in front of them.
Inside therewere another ten knights or more who must be very familiar with the members of the caravan. They moved aside and waved hands without any surprise, indicating the caravan to enterquickly.
When the stone gate closed with a loud bang, the caravan had entered into a downhill path. The carriages, which were previously pulled by the horses, were now pushing the horses forward due to gravity. Thanks to the skilled drivers in each carriage, the pace of the whole caravan was well controlled.
Nearly thousands of meters later, the caravan slowed down. In the front was a square, not small, and a campsite in it. The frozen north wind was blocked off by the hill, thus it was warm here. Some soldiers in bright silver armors were sitting around the gate of the campsite, chatting about something. Women walked across occasionally. This campsite must have existed for a long time.
Leopold chatted with the soldiers in front of the camp gate for a while, and commanded his caravan to move on. Han Jin was still hiding under the carriage, watching around carefully. He was very nervous when he saw the sitting soldiers whose heads were almost at the same level of him. If only they were a bit more careful, they could find the shadow under the carriage. Fortunately, the guard here had been loose for a long time and vigilance had become something unnecessary.
The campsite was surrounded by traces of manual excavation. This place was not formed by nature! The project Han Jin had seen so far had already shocked him. It would be a miracle if this tunnel could connect to the Holy Crown City! How unimaginable it was! Who should have such courage and power!
The road in front was very murky with eternal magic lamps being laid every fifty meters, allowing people to see things faintly, but not brightly.
Some guards of the caravan started to grumble. Han Jin listened for a while and got to know something. This tunnel would not be used during peaceful times. Even in war time, it would not be opened easily unless the situation was very hard and supplies were needed desperately, during which this tunnel would serve as the blood vessel that the Holy Crown City survived on. The other end of it was in the territory of Beitman, where the troops of the Black Raven City or the Depew City would never invade to avoid unnecessary conflicts, making the safety of the tunnel be greatly guaranteed.
Without doubt, if the Black Raven City and the Depew City stumbled across this tunnel, they would invade Beitman without a single trace of mercy. But the point was, how could they find it out if theydid not invade into the territorial boundaries of Beitman first.
Forks in the road would occur per kilometer, at which there were apparent marks pointing to the right direction. It was nothing to pass one fork, but would make one confused and disoriented if he had passed ten-odd forks and saw hundreds of paths. Han Jin was astonished. Wasn’t it like a huge underground labyrinth?
Dimness made one easy to fall asleep. But the guards on the first wagon dared not to get slack. The others could make mistakes, but they couldn’t, otherwise, the consequence would be out of imagination. If they led the caravan into the wrong path, they might never be able to get out of it again.
Leopold struggled to refresh himself and got out to sit behind the carter. He was a responsible man, at least responsible for himself. People only saw and envied his wealth, but had no idea what efforts he had made to get this wealth. That’s ridiculous. He needed to calculate the gains and losses from each of his business while the others were playing games. He had to open his eyes wide while the others had gone to dreams. He must learn to deal with all kinds of people, to fawn on them, and to cheat them. All in all, there was no easy job to make fortune.
“Pass me the wine pot.”Leopold said with a yawn.
The guard was leaning on the carriage, fast asleep, and didn’t hear his words. Leopold stared at himfuriously. He had a common feature of human beings, that was, rejecting sharing enjoyments with others, but expecting them to bear sufferings with him.
Now, he had to gather his energy, while his guard was sleeping soundly like a pig. What an exasperating thing! He was enraged. What he thought in his heart at this moment did not match what he appeared, or, they were totally in contrast. Leopold grabbed a whip without extra trouble and was going to lash it down.
But before the whip was lashed, a sudden fire ball helped to complete his intention. Only that the consequence was much more serious. The guard was knocked away from the side and rolled down onto the ground after colliding the tunnel wall. His head was as black as carbon coke.
Leopold was stunned. A figure dropped down from above and sat beside him. Leopold turned his headand couldn’t help letting out a shrill cry, the sound of which resounded in the deep and serene tunnel to a long distance.
“What’s the matter?”
“Are we attacked?”
The whole caravan fell into disorder with men shouting and horses neighing. The driver in front of Leopold jumped down from the wagon immediately when he felt something was wrong. But Leopold dared not to move. He looked at Han Jin in astonishment, like a frog seeing a snake.
A guard peeped head from a corner with half of his body hiding behind the carriage. His long bow was pulledwith its arrow targeting Han Jin, who was ten more meters away.
But just when the guard was going to loosen his finger, a giant fist flied to him from aside and punched him on his face. After a heartrending cry, the guard flied out, collided against the wall heavily, and bounced back.
A wooden giant jumped across the carriage, followed up the guard and gave another punch on his face, then the third punch. The whole tunnel wall was shaking. When the wooden giant targeted the next one, half of the guard’s head had been inserted into the wall, only a blooding mouth could be seen. His neck was at a right angle with his body.
“Kill him…” Came more than ten guards from both front and back.
Han Jin just smiled. He released another two wooden giants, which blocked the attacks of the guards from both ends. Though the nature of work of guards was similar to that of mercenaries,the strength of them was totally different. If one was strong enough, he could join a mercenary team, through which he could earn ten times or more the money than the wage for a guard, and didn’t need to look at the employer’s face.
Han Jin was fully aware that even the most powerful leader of the guards was just a fifth grade swordman. So he was confident to handle all of them.
Leopold stayed still, sweat flowing down from his forehead and face. As a merchant, he had very flexible mind, even at this critical moment, he could still ponder lots of questions as such why Lord Mario hadn’t come yet, was that possible… all the knights had been killed?? And this mercenaryshould follow them into this tunnel, how horrible it was. A creepy feeling pushed Leopold out of breath.