Witch Troupe and the Undead

"We only have 300 gold coins in cash right now, and we need to set aside 20 gold coins for food expenses..." Luo Qi rolled his eyes. If you have money, why bother talking? He just sped off to Silver Maple City, laid out a row of vouchers (equivalent to ancient checks) and gold coin pouches at the counter of the largest "Royal United Merchant Guild" in the city, ordered the food directly, and that was it. In a maximum of two weeks, they would prepare all the materials on the vouchers for you.

It's probably not feasible to talk about mass-producing magical weapons, as the logistics and productivity of this world aren't that advanced. However, gathering enough materials to reforge two weapons is certainly not a problem.

But, we don't have money, so we can only buy it from the source, right? A piece of black iron ingot costs at least a gold coin in the merchant guild and blacksmith shop in Silver Maple City, but here, it costs three silver coins (1/4 of a gold coin). Ordinary pig iron ingots cost one silver coin each. As for the slag that Roach needs, he can simply take a bag and dig it up at the "slag heap" outside the town without paying a penny.

After reviewing the list and checking the budget again, Roach, Leon, and Lulua set off, while Alessina and Leslie stayed behind at the cabin. The former needed to cook for the witch, and the latter needed to take care of the potion ingredients that had been collected and planted. After all, the only thing that "human talent" was good at was watering plants.

Go down the slope on the side of the cabin, and then through the sparse, gray-green broad-leaved forest covered with a layer of coal ash, and you'll find the road leading to Gray Hill Town.

Due to the need to transport coal and pig iron, this road was a rare stone-paved road. The wheels of the carriages had carved tracks at least 20 centimeters deep on it. A layer of black ash floated on the puddles. Even before approaching the entrance to the town, the smell of coal smoke and coke from smelting metal was so strong that Roach involuntarily covered his mouth.

"I hope this world has the technology to cure silicosis." He wasn't worried about his own problem, because he was getting used to being practically immortal in this world. If all else failed, he would have the little witch take out his lungs and rinse them under the tap.

"Here you go," Leon handed over two face masks. "Wear these, or you'll get sick." The knight had already taken off his helmet and faceplate. The helmet of this enchanted armor had the function of filtering poison gas and these suspended particles. Even so, under the helmet, Leon obediently cast a "purification spell" on himself.

“Ah, no need, I have a mask ready.” Roach took out a gas mask modified from the kind of bird-beak mask commonly used by alchemists. A thin tube extended from the filter to the rune disk at the back, maintaining the effect of the “miniature atmospheric barrier” with magic, thus preventing dust and poison gas from entering.

The entrance to Greyhill Town is located on a slope below the mine. Unlike other towns with towering walls, there is only a Western-style wooden archway with a road sign bearing the word "Greyhill" hanging below the beam. Its original color is no longer discernible.

The town looked very lively, with people everywhere between the streets and houses that rose up the slope. The smoke from the furnaces and the residents' chimneys blended together, almost shrouding the entire hill in a layer of gray smoke, which is the origin of the name "Gray Hill".

The sounds of furnaces releasing gas and hammers striking metal were the most frequent and loudest noises in the town. Most passersby wore face masks, their eyes were covered by goggles with leather straps, and almost all of their bodies, except for their necks and hands, were exposed. Even their hair was wrapped in thick headscarves.

"Clatter~ clatter~" The sound of hooves came from behind, and then a cart full of coal sacks rushed past the three of them, completely ignoring Leon, the iron can, and headed straight for the town center.

"There are blacksmith shops everywhere here, where should we buy them?" Luluya looked around. The most common shops here were all kinds of blacksmith shops, some large enough to be called "iron workshops" and others small single-person shops. The former mainly manufactured various ironware and pig iron ingots for sale, while the latter served the local area more, such as repairing tools for miners and manufacturing things like picks and pitchforks.

“Let me think… Hey, don’t go over there!” Leon grabbed Roach, who was about to head towards the Iron Merchant Guild. “That’s the guild. You’re bound to get ripped off as an outsider like him!” Regular customers are fine, but for outsiders like Roach, especially those just passing through, getting ripped off is a given. The price won’t be 3 silver coins for a black iron ingot anymore.

"Alright, you two can just come with me." Leon searched his memories as he led the two through the intricate miners' sheds, past the huge furnaces flowing with molten iron, and finally to a depression near the mine pit.

The depression itself was left behind by another open-pit iron mine that had been completely excavated, so the new mine had to be dug out on the mountainside a short distance from the town.

The wooden railings around the crater were already on the verge of collapse, and gray smoke seemed to be rising from the bottom of the pit. The original mine shaft had been converted into some kind of dwelling and warehouse by the locals. After descending to the bottom of the pit, which was at least 50 meters deep, via a swaying wooden elevator, Leon pointed to a mine shaft on the edge of the pit and said, "That's it!"

"What was Rustybeard again?" Roach and Lulua looked at each other, they really couldn't understand that dwarven script, especially since it was written so crookedly.

"It's Ironbeard's Cellar, you bastard!" A rough, deep voice came from behind the half-open door, followed by the aroma of barley wine mixed with a strong stench of sweat.

A burly man by dwarven standards pushed open the door and came out, his dark red beard frothy with ale foam. "Ah, it's you. Is the sword broken, or the can? But I can't fix anything here." The red-bearded dwarf grabbed a leather sachet and took a swig of ale. "As you can see, this is a tavern now."

"Five black iron ingots, and if you have them, one red copper ingot, crafted by dwarves."

"Hey kid, can't you understand human language? This isn't a blacksmith's place, it's a tavern!" the red-bearded dwarf roared.

"What happened to him?"

“Look around, what do you think happened? The iron ore here is all gone?” The red-bearded dwarf plopped down on a wooden stool by the door, pointing around. Most of the shops and residences converted from the mines were deserted and looked desolate.

“Then…” Luo Qi looked at the mine on the mountainside. Wasn’t it very prosperous there?

"Stop looking. We aliens aren't allowed to enter over there. But even if we don't go in, I know what happened. Nothing on earth can be kept from us dwarves."

"But I see that the town doesn't seem to have any problems."

“No problem, kid. How many carts did you see come in?” Leon recalled, including the coal deliverymen he met at the gate at the beginning. “Six carts, three of which were carrying coal.”

"Alright, tell me, there are no fewer than fifteen blacksmith shops and blacksmith workshops of all sizes in Gray Hill Town. How long will three cartloads of coal last? Also, there are two blacksmith workshops run by us dwarves. Under normal circumstances, how many pig iron ingots need to be transported out?"

"Hiss~" The three of them looked back at the town buildings on the edge of the pit, but when they came in, the town was still just as lively and bustling as before!

"That's just for show. If the secret of a mining town that can't reliably produce iron ore were exposed, the people here really wouldn't be able to survive." On the surface, it seems like they wouldn't be able to survive anyway, but there's a difference. As long as the secret isn't exposed, the price of food purchased from other places won't fluctuate significantly.

Most importantly, due to the objective contraction of hard currency, many transactions were based on receipts. As long as the payment period had not yet arrived, no one would chase for payment—in other words, those necessities such as grain purchased on credit could still be obtained normally.

However, once this secret is exposed, it will be almost impossible to continue to extend credit, and the trade relationship based on bookkeeping will collapse instantly.

"So, they're faking a continued prosperity? But..." But the miners have no income, so this pretense is just that—pretense. Soon, the miners who can't make money will leave, followed by taverns, laundresses, and so on, and then small workshops that repair tools. This chain reaction will soon turn this place into one of countless abandoned towns due to the depletion of the mines.

"The old mine still has some output, and we can also refine some iron ore from the slag heaps," the dwarf said helplessly. "There's also some iron ore that we had stored up before."

These mining towns can't sell everything they mine. Minerals that weren't sold before or were stuck with due to low prices can be used as an emergency measure to maintain production, but it's hard to say how long they can last.

"Okay, I think I understand. We only need 20 pig iron ingots, 5 pieces of black iron, and 1 piece of red copper now. Since you're not planning to be a blacksmith anymore, you don't need to keep these goods as your funeral expenses. I know you definitely have them!"

Leon skipped over the topic, since Grayhill wasn't the only town that had gone down due to depleted veins or collapsed mines; there were countless such towns on the continent.

“No, if you only need a piece of black iron to fix your broken can, I can find some for you. But now…” The red-bearded dwarf waved his hand, “I can only find you two pieces of pig iron and one piece of black iron at most. Don’t even think about copper. That’s all, and you’ll have to pay the market price.”

"Moreover, even if you go to the town's chamber of commerce, it's practically impossible to get this much black iron. Pig iron ingots might not be a big problem, but black iron and copper..." These two are considered extraordinary ores, and Gray Hill Town itself only has a small amount of reserves. Given this situation, there's definitely no way there will be any surplus.

"Wait a minute, what exactly happened at the mine? Water seepage? A collapse? Or a monster?"

“Neither,” the dwarf glanced at Roach, seemingly intrigued by the mask on his face. “Well, they dug a fissure at the bottom of the mine, and some strange things started flowing out. The mayor has hired several groups of adventurers to go down, but there has been no response.”

"What exactly is this strange thing?"

"How should I know? They won't let me in." The dwarf gave Leon a strange look. "Alright, kid, what else do you need? If you want some barley wine, I have a few good barrels, but as for iron ingots, I don't have any!"

"If you resolve the raw material issue, how long will it take you to complete this order?"

"That depends on how long it takes me to get the furnace burning. But if you can really solve the mine problem, then it should take at most a day. The quantity you need isn't large either. You could find a blacksmith shop in town and it might take even less time."

Dwarves are accustomed to taking their time and producing fine work, which has led to some dwarven blacksmith shops not doing as well as human blacksmith workshops. This is understandable, since farmers who buy farm tools can neither afford the price nor need that kind of finely forged steel.

Merchant guilds that buy weapons want mass-produced products at the lowest prices. Only wealthy adventurers and knights would pay high prices to buy from dwarves. However, they only seek out renowned masters, making it difficult for ordinary dwarven blacksmiths to compete.

"Okay, I'll go back and discuss it," Luo Qi said after thinking for a moment. If something had been accidentally overlooked, he actually had a solution, though it would be quite shocking.

"Your plan is..." Leon's face paled, "It couldn't be..."

“Yes, but we need to think about it carefully.” Roach nodded. The magical explosives he developed were perfect for dealing with this kind of thing. After all, the shockwave from the explosion of this explosive was not strong. As far as mining bombs go, it was perfect.

This means it's difficult to blast a mine to collapse, but it can perfectly seal the cracks leading to certain dangerous areas. It manifests as a magical blast, which, with a little adjustment, bursts out in the form of a fire pulse, melting the entire rock. Once cooled, whatever the hole was, it will turn into igneous rock.

However, the dosage needs to be carefully calculated, so Roach needs to borrow the little witch's brain to calculate the dosage. If the dosage is too small, it won't be able to seal it; if the dosage is too large... the shockwave may not be large, but that doesn't mean there is no shockwave. If the dosage is too large, it will really collapse.

Chapter 382 Provincial Museum-Level Event

To verify the words of the red-bearded dwarf "Rustbeard," Roach went to several merchant guilds in town to inquire about prices. When it came to pig iron ingots, they were all fine; basically, when they heard that they only needed 20 coins, they all said they had them in stock.

However, when it comes to black iron ingots, they either make excuses that they are temporarily out of stock, or they ask for a high price. The blacksmith shops and blacksmith workshops are pretty much the same.

“It seems there really is a problem with the mine.” Luo Qi carefully observed the workshops and blacksmith shops. Many of the apprentices were quite idle. Although the furnace was still running, there were not many blacksmiths working. If it were an outsider, they would probably think that the furnace fuel cost a lot of money. If there was no work to do, why would they maintain the furnace?

However, Roach, who had some knowledge of the iron and steel industry, knew very well that there was a shortage of ore and that burning fuel every day was very unprofitable. But if they really shut down the furnace and restarted it, the price might be several times higher than the cost of maintaining the furnace.

"So, what do we do next?" Leon looked at Roach, waiting for the alchemy master to make a decision. Personally, he thought we could just abandon Grayhill Town and go to Silver Maple City to buy ready-made weapons to make do with in the emergency.

"Let's find out about the mine from the people in town first. Since they're recruiting adventurers, they won't refuse any help that comes their way." Roach wasn't worried about being stopped, since he had already completed his training at the academy. He not only had the badge of a regular alchemist but also the badge of an academy alchemist. The latter could also be called the "Royal Alchemist Certificate" because the academy's full name was "Royal Academy".

With this proof, the mayor, unless he's completely brain-dead, is unlikely to have any ulterior motives. In fact, the other party might even start to doubt whether Roach's asking price is too low.

The town hall of Grayhill Town was located on a flat hillside not far from the mine. It was a three-story stone building, quite impressive even for a wealthy mining town. In front of the building was a small courtyard, its black wrought iron fence and vegetation, like most of the plants and buildings here, covered in a layer of gray. The imperial shield emblem hung above the gate, and a faded banner of the lord's family hung from a window on one side.

“Baron Whitebeak, I knew it…” Leon glanced at the rather abstract bird-shaped emblem, and his lips twitched involuntarily.

"Very bad reputation?"

"What do you think it's called?" Leon scoffed. "You see those water birds in the river that chatter all day and do nothing? Those are white-billed birds."

"I thought it was because his family crest is a white-billed pheasant~"

"That's a white-billed raven." In this world, the white-billed raven is a bird of prey. This large corvid has a wingspan of over one meter and can prey on low-level monsters, including horned rabbits. It is also highly intelligent, and many nobles use it as their family crest, representing: agility and intelligence.

“However, the name White-billed Bird is more fitting for this Mr. Conrad,” Leon remarked. While the guard at the door was reporting, he introduced the baron’s life to Roach. Unsurprisingly, he was the classic type who liked to boast and brag, had never done anything, had never accomplished anything, and was of no use in the world except for making bread expensive.

His classic example is that about 20 years ago, when the current emperor was suppressing the rebellion in the south, this baron was all over the place. But when he arrived at the southern battlefield, he returned after only three days, claiming to have fallen ill with malaria. If it weren't for the fact that he had at least gone to the battlefield and spent a lot of money, he would have lost his noble title for this incident alone.

Then, he claimed to be a "conqueror of the South" and a "hero who quelled the rebellion," which was truly ridiculous. However, he could fool ordinary adventurers and merchants, as well as the uninformed locals in his territory. But he would be exposed in front of a high-ranking paladin of the church like Leon.

"So, if he is the lord of Grayhill, it's not surprising that this kind of thing happened." He shouts all the time, but shrinks back when trouble comes. Even if the mayor had three times the courage, he wouldn't dare to honestly report such a big thing as a mine accident. And even if he did report it, given Baron "Whitebeak Bird's" "famous" reputation, he probably wouldn't do anything.

"However, his knight Hans is quite capable, but unfortunately, he is very old." The old knight has served the baron for three generations and is currently the backbone of the territory. Once the old knight is gone, the imperial family will soon have another territory.

Soon, a clerk came out and invited Roach and his companion inside. After passing through the bustling first floor, they arrived at the mayor's office on the second floor. "Ah, Master Roach, welcome, welcome~" The mayor was waiting at the door. As soon as he saw Roach, he forced a smile. After all, even if nothing had happened, such a distinguished guest with a Royal Alchemist certificate still needed his personal greeting.

"I don't know you..." The mayor's gaze fell on Leon beside him. Even though the paladin's insignia had been painted off, the enchanted plate armor still made the mayor's eyes narrow slightly. He had made a mistake; he should have gone down to the gate to greet him himself.

“Don’t worry about it. We need 20 pieces of pig iron, five pieces of black iron, seventy pounds of copper ore, or one smelted copper ingot. If you have any in stock, we also need at least three pieces of star silver,” Roach said bluntly.

"This..." Pig iron is not a big problem; we can just move some from the town. Although there isn't much black iron, given my status as a royal alchemist, I can try to get some from those hoarding merchants at a high price. But copper is not so easy to obtain.

Compared to black iron, a low-grade alchemical material, red copper is a genuine alchemical material, and it's always been in high demand. Now that there's a problem with the mine, it's even more scarce. Of course, it's just not easy to get; if the mayor really put his mind to it, it's not impossible to obtain it, but... "One silver coin for pig iron, two gold coins and fifty pounds for red copper at market price, and three silver coins for a piece of black iron. The price can be increased by 10% as appropriate, but that's the most we can offer."

Otherwise, you really won't have the money to buy other materials and you'll have to mine them. Of course, you can also consider blasting the ore directly.

"This..." The mayor looked troubled. If you just need these materials, he can handle it. But you're only paying this much money and you still need these materials at this critical juncture. Are you going to make up the shortfall out of your own pocket?

Of course, it wouldn't be impossible to win over an alchemy master, but this Master Roach is clearly just passing through. If a favor can't be repaid, then it's the same as having no favor at all.

If Roach were planning to settle down locally or build a small laboratory or something, the mayor would do anything to help him, even if it meant paying out of his own pocket. But since Master Roach is clearly just passing through, who knows when he'll ever need this favor?

"Of course, this isn't for free. I heard there's been some trouble at your mine, and if possible, I might be able to help handle it. But, as payment..."

"If this can be resolved, I can make the decision to give you a service fee of 50 gold coins, plus all the metals and minerals you need will be provided free of charge, and I will also give you a separate Star Silver Ingot." Star Silver in Gray Hill Town is almost non-existent, mainly coming from the output of a small amount of silver mines. Being able to give you one ingot is the entire amount you have accumulated in recent years.

In fact, just by looking at the job titles of alchemists and mages and the materials used in their badges, you can tell that Star Silver is a high-grade alchemical material. A single piece is generally priced at over 20 gold coins, and it is rare to find even if it is available.

The actual transaction price is usually 50 gold coins or more, and materials of this level are generally traded in other materials and metals of equal value, rather than simply bought with money. If you were to buy with money, the price might be increased by another 10 or 20 gold coins.

The academy charges 20 gold coins, and it is because the academy has the ore supplied by the empire's silver mines, plus countless apprentices called "students" as its labor force, that it can purchase these star silver ingots for 20 gold coins.

"That adds up to almost 100 gold coins..." Roach thought about the level of adventurers he could hire for 100 gold coins and made a rough estimate of the crisis in the mine. If he were to use his own plan to deal with it, private collection-level art would not be enough; at least provincial museum-level art would be needed.

This is still based on the fact that the town mayor's intelligence is accurate and that he did not underestimate the danger below. If he had underestimated it, then even an ordinary provincial museum might not be enough. It would probably require an art level comparable to the British Museum to deal with it. But in that case, there would be no Gray Hill. It would just be renamed "Flat-topped Mountain" from now on.

"Phew~ So what exactly happened at the mine?" After agreeing on the price, Luo Qi began to inquire about the mine and then considered the dosage of the medicine.

"It's like this..." About two or three years ago, after the original old mine pit was dug out, a new ore vein was found on the hillside, and the current mine was dug. At first, it was fine. It was common for shadow monsters to appear in the mine every now and then. The shallow ore vein did not have much reserve, so soon we had to continue digging.

The entire mine was thus divided into two levels. The upper level is still being mined normally, but there is basically no output. The lower level has discovered a silver mine with a considerable reserve, which contains a small amount of star silver. This is why the mayor so readily offered a star silver ingot as a reward.

While digging along the vein, some miners discovered some Abyss Stone in a tributary and reported it. Abyss Stone has nothing to do with hell; it's usually found deep underground, hence the name. It's a crystalline ore with a predominantly black color, from which dark copper and a very small amount of purple gold can be extracted. It's considered a very valuable extraordinary ore, so the miners were overjoyed and began digging frantically down the vein. That's when disaster struck.

"We unearthed a stone door, but we didn't pay much attention to it at the time and just sealed the cave temporarily." There are many strange and unusual relics in this world, and it is common for mining to unearth ancient tombs.

Therefore, the miners were not so confident in opening the door. Instead, they decisively sealed the door, which was buried in the brine-soaked rock, and even nailed a few planks at the entrance to prevent the adventurers who went down the mine to clear monsters from running in.

"but……"

"But strange things still happened, right? Either something from behind the door came out, or some kind of influence from behind the door leaked out." Roach was a grave robber, and on Earth, people often confused their work with tomb raiding with a smattering of knowledge.

So, he also learned about similar plots and often joked with his students that if they could really dig out a giant zombie or some strange thing from the tomb, they would be rich, and they could at least write papers all the way to their doctoral graduation.

As for whether they will be harmed by the rice dumplings, modern grave excavation and archaeology only excavates damaged ancient tombs. Undamaged tombs are not excavated, and the scale is not a small hole, but a complete excavation. If there are such things inside, then you can call the police or directly contact the local garrison. Then we'll see if these rice dumplings can withstand 40 fires.

However, this doesn't stop Professor Roach from making fun of these things whenever he has a spare moment. He even complains that nowadays even feng shui masters use drones, so there's no need for such things anymore.

"Well, you're right. After that, many miners in the mine heard some strange whispers, and many of them changed their personalities drastically. Strangely, they would forget what happened down there within three days of leaving the mine, but if they stayed down there for a long time, they would be unable to leave and would become completely manic."

They hid in the mine shafts below, neither leaving nor knowing what they ate to survive.

"More and more people lost their minds like this, and eventually no miners dared to go down. The entire lower mine pit was sealed off. Fortunately, no matter what's down there, at least it won't climb the walls, and it doesn't seem to spread the pollution to the surface."

"I don't think so. They might be holding back something big." As a professional in the exorcism field, Leon said that he could tell from this that it was pure avoidance. It would be too stupid to pretend that nothing had happened when abnormal effects had already occurred.

"What can I do? I've hired several groups of adventurers, but none of them have come back alive. Now even the adventurers won't accept this commission anymore," or rather, they won't accept the commission at this price, and the mayor can't afford a higher price either.

"Hmm, I think I understand. I can help, but you need to pay first. I mean, the materials. I need to make a weapon that you should be able to use no matter what happens next."

"What kind of weapon?" Roach looked towards the mine outside. "At the very least, a weapon that can completely wipe this mine off the face of the earth. No matter what's down there, it can be dealt with in one go, and there won't be any more problems for at least several decades."

"Um, that's too big... Do you have a smaller one?"

"Yes, but what about the materials?"

"...Master Roach, let me be frank. It's not that I don't want to believe you, but we can only offer less than twenty pounds of copper ore and pig iron ingots, and three black iron ingots..." Any more than that is impossible, and the mayor can't pay the full price at once.

“Alright, it’s settled then.” Roach nodded. Whatever was down there, Livia would likely be interested. The cabin’s cellar.

The easiest-to-repair wolf-head silver sword lay on the workbench, its hilt and guard disassembled, leaving only the blade. Livia gently tapped the blade with a small mithril-coated stick, producing a crisp, tinkling sound, as if every inch of the metal was whispering something.

"Hmm~ Hmm~" Livia waved her small stick, and the blade flew into the furnace. After a short heating, the blade turned a beautiful orange-gold color and softened, splitting into several pieces under the witch's power.

The main material is an alloy of about 5% sun steel mixed with ordinary fine-forged steel, then about 2.5% mithril, less than an ounce of fine gold, and six grams of black iron were added to enhance toughness. Now, apart from the main material steel, all of these materials have been separated by the witch.

Next, she casually tossed the main material, steel, into the corner sink to cool it into a scrap steel ingot. The little witch found her notes and the alchemical alloy information she had copied from the academy, pulled out a thin metal bar from the shelf—this was a silver bar—and then two fist-sized amber bottles bounced onto the table, pouring out emerald-colored metal sand.

"Hmm~" The witch stuffed the sun steel and silver bars into the furnace, then kicked the furnace hard. The fire elemental spheres that had been slacking off inside immediately became excited, and a mixed holy metal ingot quickly flowed from the side of the furnace into the mold, cooling into a slightly pink metal ingot.

Then, mithril, adamantite, and half of the scrap iron were mixed and smelted into a colorful alchemical alloy.

After adding emerald sand, it is then combined into an extremely dull silver-gray metal. In the eyes of ordinary alchemists and magical blacksmiths, this chaotic mixed ingot has no practical value at all. With this casting method, almost every useful material becomes an impurity to the others.

So, it was up to Livia to do something. The little guy slowly brought his hands together, and the two incompatible metals were violently fused together little by little, just like a lump of metal dough twisting and deforming in mid-air. Then, the torrent of magic guided from the Titan Crystal was injected into it under the witch's precise control, causing the dough to expand rapidly to more than twice its original volume, as if it were fermenting.