Chapter 351: Chapter 103: Old Acquaintance

The group slowly followed Robson into the mine.

To ensure their safety, Robson deliberately expanded his Spiritual Power’s detection range tenfold.

At times like this, he couldn’t help but admire the Mount & Blade panel.

Robson had his doubts before, but now he was almost certain that his Silver-White Fighting Qi was a result of the Mount & Blade panel.

Nearly everyone on the panel had Silver-White Fighting Qi. Even Bo Yang’s was slowly turning silver-white, though Robson had no idea how it worked.

Thanks to the panel, Robson’s reserves of Spiritual Power and Fighting Qi were several times that of an ordinary person.

These vast reserves of Spiritual Power were what allowed Robson to navigate the mine safely.

Robson relied on his Spiritual Power to guide him toward an area where the presence of Magic Power was faint.

As he followed the guidance of his Spiritual Power, the presence of Magic Power eventually began to dissipate, and his surroundings started to open up.

The cavern was quite spacious, at least four or five meters high. It didn’t look man-made.

The Soldiers emerged from the mist and fell in behind Robson.

Suddenly, Robson sensed the faint sound of footsteps coming from somewhere within the cavern.

"Who’s there? Show yourself!" Robson’s gaze shot to the west side of the cavern.

Hearing their lord’s words, the Soldiers drew their Long Swords in unison.

Robson frowned and glanced at Gall.

Gall understood immediately, taking a few Soldiers to scout ahead.

"Wait! Wait!"

"Is that Lord Robson?! Is that you?! Do you remember me?"

Just as Gall and the Soldiers were about to rush to the spot Robson had indicated, a voice suddenly cried out.

Without a word, Robson cast a Water Dragon Technique toward the source of the voice, instantly revealing a Gnoll.

The Gnoll was emaciated, yet dressed in fine clothes, with an axe slung across his back.

Most importantly, the Gnoll had a faint aura of Fighting Qi about him.

It was easy to guess why the aura was so faint; the mist at the entrance was clearly not a recent development.

"And you are?" Robson looked at the Gnoll in confusion. He looked familiar, but Robson couldn’t quite place him.

Since Robson gave no clear order, the Soldiers did not lower their weapons.

"Haha, it really is you, Lord Robson! My lord, you great personages are so forgetful...

Have you forgotten? I’m Elimon! You spared my life back at Qimo Fortress.

In fact, you could say I owe you my life," Elimon added with a nervous laugh.

Elimon might have looked cheerful, but in reality, his heart was filled with bitterness.

’What in the world is going on?’

Back then, Robson had made a deal with Elimon, having him trick a group of Centaurs into attacking Qimo Fortress. The plan had been a resounding success. Robson had even kept his promise, never activating the Magic Contract afterward. Of course, the main reason for that was simple: one Gnoll, more or less, made no difference to him.

Afterward, Elimon knew he could never return to the Beastman Empire. He fled for his life all the way to the Eastern Front of the Empire, where he managed to blend into a Gnoll tribe under Prince Odoruo.

The Beastman Empire had no strict census system, and having fled so far, no one recognized him. Coupled with his genuine skill and strength, Elimon thrived under Prince Odoruo. He did so well, in fact, that the Prince dispatched him here to lead a group of Kobolds.

And after that... there was no ’after that’.

There was an accident in the mine, and Elimon had been trapped ever since. For reasons he couldn’t fathom, no one had come to check on him.

If not for his Silver-rank Extraordinary physique, Elimon would have been forced to eat the Kobolds to survive by now.

When Elimon heard the commotion at the mine entrance, he had assumed Prince Odoruo’s reinforcements had finally arrived.

’He never expected it to be this harbinger of doom instead.’

Seeing the fully-armed human army before him, Elimon nearly wept—if only Gnolls had well-developed tear ducts.

’What kind of twisted fate was this? He had come all this way, fleeing thousands of miles, just to escape the Beastman Empire and this particular menace. And after all that running, he’d stumbled right back into him.’

The reason Robson had let Elimon go back then, aside from the Magic Contract, was simply that Elimon had fled so quickly, and Robson couldn’t be bothered to waste time chasing him.

’But now they’d met again, and the Magic Contract had long since expired. Whether he, Elimon, could keep his miserable life was now anyone’s guess.’

Elimon’s explanation finally jogged Robson’s memory, and he remembered the Gnoll.

’Sometimes, you just had to marvel at it. Fate, oh, fate. How could things be so strange?’

"You did me a great service back then. I was even thinking of rewarding you. Why did you leave in such a hurry? What, you don’t trust my reputation?" The situation was so bizarre that Robson couldn’t resist teasing him a little.

"My lord, I wouldn’t dare, my lord..." Elimon truly was on the verge of tears.

Though there was a hint of a smile in Robson’s voice, he showed no sign of lowering his sword.

"I only beg that you spare my life, my lord..."

Robson smiled and lowered his sword. At the same time, his men stepped forward and hauled Elimon before him.

He chose not to kill the Gnoll for two reasons. First, he had made a promise. Elimon had indeed been a great help, and with no conflict of interest, Lord Robson was willing to act the part of a gentleman.

Second, Lord Robson still hadn’t figured out what exactly had happened in this mine.

Judging by Elimon’s emaciated state, he had likely been here for some time and was bound to know something.

"Since we’re old acquaintances, I’ll be direct. You know my reputation. I ask, you answer. Answer well, and I’ll let you live. How does that sound?" Robson said, smiling at Elimon.

"I’ll tell you everything! Everything I know, my lord..." Elimon nodded desperately.

Seeing this, and fearing he might scare the poor creature witless, Robson began his questioning directly.

"This fog—what’s the deal with it? Where is it coming from?"

"The Kobolds... my lord, it was those damned Kobolds! They were mining and must have dug into something. Suddenly, this blue mist erupted everywhere. It forced me back, so I had no choice but to retreat..."

"Kobolds? Where are they?"

Hearing the word "Kobolds," Robson’s eyes lit up. ’So the free labor has arrived?’

It was safe to say that Lord Robson’s main objectives for this trip were twofold: the Kobolds and the mine itself.

Other lords with weaker military forces might be afraid to employ non-human races, but Lord Robson couldn’t care less about such things.

Unless there were over ten thousand of them, goblins and Kobolds posed no threat to Lord Robson. And even if there were, dealing with them would just be a minor inconvenience.

"My lord... could you have them let me go first?" Elimon asked, looking at Robson with anticipation.

Hearing this, Robson’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"Just keep talking. Rest assured, my reputation is famously good throughout the frontier.

I swear it on the Lord of Dawn," Robson said.

Elimon was torn, but in the end, he decided he had no choice but to trust Robson.

"Behind where I was... further in, there are two tunnels. They’re in one of those."

"How many of these Kobolds are left?"

"Many! There are still many! They’re thriving, actually. They can eat this mist, so very few of them have even gotten sick," Elimon replied.

"Oh?"

’Eating mist?’

This reminded Robson of something he had once read in a book: Kobolds, along with some of the ancient Red-blooded and Blue-blooded Beastmen, could consume Magic Crystals to replenish their energy.

A few Red-blooded Beastmen still remained in the Endless Wasteland beyond the Demon Beast Mountain Range, but the Blue-blooded Beastmen were long extinct. Much of this knowledge was now lost to history.

But it was a confirmed fact that Kobolds could eat Magic Crystals. Many of the new-wave social philosophers from the Haven Kingdom claimed this was precisely why Kobolds were drawn to mines.

"Let him down... Give him some meat."

Since Elimon had been so cooperative, Lord Robson wasn’t one to go back on his word.

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