Ch.227The Enemy’s Scheme?

The Fifth Morning at the Wellord Salt Mine

When the tightly sealed mine doors opened, residents who had finished breakfast formed teams of 4-5 people and set out to search through the debris scattered around the village.

The residents, who until two days ago could do nothing but cower inside the mine trembling with fear, had adopted this proactive attitude thanks to positive experiences: successfully defending the barrier tower against the threats of snipers and bombers, and noticing the loosening of the Lesser Demons’ encirclement.

Of course, behind this lay a complex tangle of motivations: the desperate desire to improve their uncomfortable living conditions in the mine, anxiety about not knowing when reinforcements from the western city would arrive, and practical concerns about recovering as many Lesser Demon magic stones as possible to secure funds for village reconstruction.

To address these issues, the Wellord Mine residents had divided into three groups to hunt Lesser Demons, search through debris, and improve conditions inside the mine.

‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’

“Oh~ They’ve started.”

“Will they be alright? Should we help them?”

“As long as those adventurers aren’t hiding somewhere, it should be fine. The Lesser Demon attacks have completely stopped, after all.”

Of the five adventurers reported missing, we had only taken down two.

The whereabouts of the remaining three, including the mage, remained unknown.

Of course, since the probability of a dead person reviving as a monster is only about one in ten, the other three had likely already disappeared without leaving corpses behind, or they might have escaped unharmed in the first place…

What matters is that despite our careful examination of the surroundings over the past two days, along with the mine residents, we couldn’t find any further traces of people.

Based on this fact, the mine’s chief administrator determined the area was safe enough and formed a Lesser Demon extermination squad with people who could handle firearms.

The plan was to safely eliminate the Lesser Demons—which no longer attempted to enter the village airspace—and recover their magic stones to contribute to the village reconstruction funds.

‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’

Of course, reality wasn’t so accommodating—the mine residents’ marksmanship wasn’t good enough to hit the Lesser Demons that focused on evasion while darting around.

“If we interfere and steal their prey, it might create unnecessary friction, so for now let’s just quietly keep watch around the perimeter and wait for reinforcements to arrive.”

“Aren’t we being too nice to these people? Honestly, we did all the hard work, and now it seems shameless to covet the Lesser Demons’ magic stones.”

“Well… to be honest, I’m not completely without such complaints myself. But the current situation where residents are taking initiative is not bad for us either. At least it’s better than them depending on us for everything while hiding in the corner of the mine.”

Even after reinforcements arrive and the dungeon overflow situation is resolved, the devastated Wellord Mine village won’t function properly as a residence for some time.

Refugees in such dire circumstances easily fall into despair due to their profound sense of loss, and if this state persists, some might give up on life or cause incidents that drag others down with them.

From that perspective, the Wellord Mine residents—who maintain their motivation and take proactive action despite their living environment being thoroughly trampled—could be considered relatively mentally healthy.

“If it helps them maintain that motivation, it’s worth giving up the Lesser Demons’ magic stones. We can earn our share once we enter the dungeon anyway.”

“Tch. Since we were the first to come help the mine, it would be nice if they let us enter the dungeon first too.”

“That shouldn’t be impossible if we want to. The area seems safe enough now, so if we say we’re going ahead to look for the dungeon, no one would stop us.”

When the mine residents hinted they wanted us to yield the magic stones so they could defeat the Lesser Demons independently, Jessica accepted their proposal and indicated we would conclude our official support activities.

She made it clear that our stay here was purely based on goodwill, and for the sake of our party’s safety and benefit, we could leave this base at any time to join the support troops or claim the dungeon first.

“The problem is that the Lesser Demons’ movements are concerning. They’re neither withdrawing all their forces nor continuing to pressure the village with their remaining troops…”

“Are they watching and waiting, pretending to retreat but planning to attack again once we leave?”

“That’s what Jessica and I think too, which is why we haven’t hastily decided to leave. Well… if we just hold out until reinforcements arrive, we win, so that’s reassuring.”

In conclusion, our decision not to leave the Wellord Salt Mine might have been correct.

But this wasn’t because the monsters launched another attack, but because a new problem arose that directly affected the survival of the mine residents.

“The water supply has been cut off?”

“Yes. It seems there’s a problem somewhere in the water system connected to this place, but since the water source is about 2 kilometers away, we can’t rashly go investigate…”

“So they changed their strategy from direct conquest to slowly starving us out… This is troublesome.”

If the water supply cutoff to the Wellord Mine wasn’t an accident, the enemy’s goal was undoubtedly to pressure the mine residents by blocking their food and water supplies.

Of course, we have Diamond Dust as a means of water supply, so there’s no immediate danger of running out of drinking water, but the fact that the enemy has employed a strategy of destroying the water supply facilities is itself a problem.

This is a strategy that can only be employed by someone who understands exactly what people need to survive and how the pioneers are supplying those necessities.

“At least one of those missing adventurers must be directing this operation.”

“Just when we thought we’d escaped the crisis… what should we do now?”

“Don’t panic. I can use ice magic, so I won’t let you die of thirst.”

“Ohhh…”

“But even Jessica’s ice magic can’t continuously supply water for 80 people. We’ll need to conserve to some extent, and we won’t have a fundamental solution until the water system is repaired.”

And most importantly, an enemy sophisticated enough to cut off the water supply won’t stop at just destroying the water facilities to pressure the mine.

The fact that they haven’t completely withdrawn the Lesser Demons from around the mine is to keep the residents pinned down, while moving the majority of their forces elsewhere must be to achieve some separate objective that requires that much military power.

“If the enemy’s goal is to create food or water shortages at the mine, their next move would be…”

“To block the reinforcements coming from the city. The food we brought will run out in about two days.”

“It’s fortunate that we were able to recover some canned goods from the collapsed houses.”

“Yes. But even with strict rationing, that will only last one more day for 80 people.”

The remaining food we brought plus the ingredients recovered from the village will last three days at most.

After that, our only desperate measure would be to create nutrients with the Blessing Chalice and have people drink them diluted in water.

Ultimately, the survival of the Wellord Mine residents depends on when the reinforcements arrive and whether they have secured enough food supplies for the residents.

“I need to contact Anastasia. If we can at least find out how the reinforcement dispatch is progressing, or even just when they departed, we can make a rough estimate.”

“What if the reinforcements can’t arrive in time?”

“Then we’ll have to move. Either we somehow go to Leatherwork or Moon Lake to procure additional food, or if the reinforcements are being held up by monsters, we lend them our strength.”

I didn’t voice the worst-case scenario: cramming as many mine residents as possible into the Stone House and making a desperate escape. No matter how excellent the Stone House’s performance might be, it hasn’t been verified whether it can accommodate nearly 80 residents, and if proven impossible, we would be forced to make the cruel choice of who to save and who to leave behind.

“I’ll go into the carriage to make contact. Jessica, prepare ice without overexerting yourself, and everyone else, keep an eye on the northeast primarily for any signs of Lesser Demon groups or approaching reinforcements.”

“Got it.”

I left the urgent matters to my companions and entered the camping carriage to get some brief sleep.