The Mine Collapses
"Young Master!"
The door to Head Butler Cunning's office flew wide open. Every butler in the castle, along with servants old enough to have gray in their hair, had gathered there, speaking in grave tones. The moment Bayul appeared, they all fell silent at once and stepped aside.
"I heard there was an accident at the mine. How many are trapped?"
"Ah, yes. Well, we don't have exact figures yet, but it seems some twenty or thirty people were buried alive."
"When did it happen?"
"Around four o'clock this morning, my lord."
It was one o'clock in the afternoon now, which meant nine hours had already passed. Even riding at top speed, the ice mine was a three-hour journey away. Twelve hours in total. Half a day, a full one at that, spent trapped underground.
Would the workers still be alive by then?
Bayul prayed with all his heart that they would hold on to their lives. Please, just let them survive.
"We leave immediately. Have the horses readied."
"...You intend to go yourself?"
Head Butler Cunning asked with a start. It wasn't only him—every servant gathered there wore the same stunned expression.
"We must get there as fast as possible, so a carriage is out of the question. A large party would only slow us down, so let's keep the numbers to a minimum."
"Forgive me, Young Master, but that cannot be. Do you know where that place is? The north is treacherous terrain. You cannot go there in person."
"All the more reason I must. My father isn't here right now. Naturally, it falls to his son to handle this, doesn't it?"
"But that place..."
"Please summon Sir Ian. He will be more than enough as my escort. There may be heavy labor involved, so I'll bring the Death brothers as well."
Bayul wasn't making a request. It was an order.
'When I am away, you are the master of this castle. If a moment comes when a decision must be made, do not hesitate—act according to your own convictions. Whatever the outcome, I trust you. You understand what I mean, don't you?'
His father had told him this before departing for the imperial capital. As his father's son, as the heir of House Randert, Bayul had to see this accident through.
"Send word to the temple as well. There will be many injured, so tell them to come fully prepared."
Head Butler Cunning's protests had no effect at all. The sight of Bayul issuing calm, measured instructions was nothing like the young master he had known.
Even Head Butler Cunning himself had been thrown into a flustered panic by the sudden news of the accident—yet his sixteen-year-old lord could remain this composed. It was astonishing, and at the same time, it filled the old butler with pride. It was almost like standing before the Duke himself.
"It is still raining heavily outside. Remember that the ice mine is the most desolate land in all of Hamilton. Take care of yourself."
In the end, Head Butler Cunning accepted Bayul's decision.
"I trust you've all heard the Young Master's orders? There's no time to sit idle. Everyone, move—and move quickly!"
Bayul, too, had to change into traveling clothes. As the servants dispersed, he sprinted up to that floor faster than he ever had before.
He arrived only after riding without a single moment's rest. The reason Bayul could hold firm in the saddle even under the torrential downpour was entirely thanks to Tempesta.
Whenever Bayul's body grew heavy or his balance faltered, the spirit was there in an instant, steadying him without a word. Ian, riding ahead, kept glancing back in worry, but not only Bayul—even the Death brothers handled their horses with practiced ease as they followed.
The mine had collapsed.
And many of the territory's people were trapped inside.
From the moment he heard the news, Bayul could think of nothing else. His mind held only one thought: save them. He had the spirits at his side, and with their power, he believed they could manage it somehow.
'I just hope exhaustion holds off as long as possible...'
If only they could endure until every last worker was rescued, he could ask for nothing more.
"Gasp! The—the Young Master has come in person?"
By the time they reached the mine, an emergency council was in full swing. A middle-aged man who appeared to be the site's supervisor recognized Bayul and scrambled to his feet in a hasty bow.
"Report first. Where is the burial site?"
Ian stripped off his rain cloak and studied the map spread across the table. When the man spotted the crest of the Full Moon Knight Order on Ian's uniform, he visibly stiffened and pointed to a spot on the map.
"Somewhere around here, we believe."
"Depth?"
"Roughly five hundred meters underground."
"How many workers are there exactly?"
"Well, that is..."
For some reason, the man's voice trailed off. When Bayul and Ian both frowned at him, he averted his eyes and answered.
"...F-fifty or so."
"Fifty? We were told twenty or thirty. Why...?"
"Did another collapse occur in the meantime?"
"...I beg your pardon."
The man's head sank until it nearly touched the floor. Even with ten mouths, he had no words to offer. In all his years as supervisor of the ice mine, an accident of this magnitude was unprecedented.
The moment word had reached the main castle, a second blasting accident had struck—and now he was in a state of outright panic.
"Rescuing lives comes first. We can sort out blame later—let's begin the work."
"Restoration of the collapsed tunnels is already underway. The two accident sites are close together, so we need only advance from a single direction. However, there is one thing..."
"One thing? What? Out with it."
"How many... how many might still be alive. That is my worry. Restoring the tunnels alone could take days—and by then, how many more will have survived...?"
Twelve hours had passed since the accident. Half a day, already gone. No one could say how much longer they would remain trapped. Food aside, even water and air would run short. The future awaiting them was a terrifying one.
―Bayul, I found them!
Just then, Tempesta came streaking through the air.
―The passage back there isn't completely blocked! I can hear lots of voices!
'Really? Thank goodness! Shame, are they all alive?'
Shame was the one who could confirm it with the most certainty. Bayul thanked Tempesta and waited for Shame's answer.
―It seems so, for now... but several of them look to be in a precarious state...
A tunnel had caved in on them—would it not be stranger if no one were injured? They were alive, and that was what mattered. Bayul bit his lip and turned to Innocent.
'Innocent, the people trapped down there must be parched with thirst. Can you let the rainwater flow down to them?'
―Yeah, I'll try!
It was raining, so water wouldn't be entirely absent. But there was no guarantee it would reach so deep underground. Easing their thirst, at least, would help them hold on.
"There's a young father among them who only just had his first child. What if it all ends in tragedy like this...?"
If it truly came to that, the man knew he could never live an ordinary life again. It would all be his fault. He should have refused Young Master Derrick's request.
"They are all alive."
"...Pardon?"
"Every single one of them will come back alive. Not one will die."
At the certainty in Bayul's voice, the supervisor and everyone around them, Ian included, stared at him in open-mouthed astonishment.
"We must believe that, or none of them will make it home. The ones who are most frightened right now are the people trapped in that mine. If we are to keep them from giving up hope, our own hearts must be even firmer. Do you understand?"
His voice was neither loud nor booming. But it carried a heavy, unmistakable weight.
Meeting each person's eyes in turn as he spoke with quiet force, Bayul looked every bit his father—the Duke of Randert—himself.
Perhaps that was why.
The eyes that had been clouded with worry and fear now gleamed with resolve. He's right. This is no time to falter. Every hand matters if we're to save those workers. All of them are our own people.
"Let's move out!"
Even the supervisor joined the restoration effort. Ian and the Death brothers, hauling equipment, fell in with the rest of the workers.
'Shame, are you ready?'
Bayul slipped quietly away from the crowd. He had acted composed, but inside, he was burning up with anxiety.
The supervisor had been right. To rescue those buried below, they would have to dig a new tunnel, shoring it up with supports as they went. That was the safest method of rescue.
But time was the problem. If they proceeded that way, it wouldn't be just the injured at risk—the healthy ones might not last either.
He had thought it through the entire ride to the mine. What was the fastest, safest way to bring the workers out?
There was only one answer: the spirits. Above all, the power of Shame, spirit of the earth, was absolutely essential.
―I am ready...
Shame was waiting in the ground directly above the point where the workers lay buried. With every available hand assigned to the tunnel restoration, fortunately there wasn't a single person nearby.
The moment Bayul gave the signal, Shame would descend straight down, burrowing through the earth. Then he would lift the very ground the workers stood on, raising it to the surface. Since the underground earth itself would rise up, it amounted to deliberately triggering an earthquake.
Innocent and Tempesta would use their respective powers to help the workers as they floundered in the collapsing earth.
At first, Bayul had imagined every possibility—drilling a hole to lower ropes, or whipping up a gale inside a shaft to draw them out. But this was five hundred meters underground. The danger was high, yet in the end, tectonic displacement was the only fast enough method.
The question was whether Shame could actually pull it off—and Shame's own answer had been that he would simply try.
It was an unprecedented attempt, and there were no spirit stones here. It was, in truth, little better than a gamble—but with so many lives hanging in the balance, it was worth trying.
'Shame.'
The moment Bayul called his name, Shame plunged into the earth. Whatever the outcome, he would have to accept it. Bayul's heartbeat quickened with every second.
'You can do it, Shame.'
At last, as Bayul cheered him on, Shame reached his destination. Just as planned, he shook the bedrock and set off an earthquake across the whole area. The screams of the workers laboring on the tunnel restoration carried all the way to where Bayul stood, and the startled men began evacuating in a frantic rush.
He wanted to shout that the site was safe—but with Shame's energy draining away so rapidly, Bayul couldn't afford to let his guard slip.
Crrrack— crrrack—
Hard on the heels of the tremors, the ground split apart. Gathering every last ounce of his remaining strength, Shame hauled the underground world beneath the workers' feet upward.
KRA-KOOM!
Like a sunken ship rising from the depths of the sea, a massive mass of earth slowly surfaced aboveground.
"Uwaaah!"
"S-save me!"
The workers who emerged were all half out of their minds with terror.
Only moments ago they had been trapped in a collapsing tunnel, teetering between life and death—then the earthquake had swept them up and spat them out into the open. Breathing fresh air again was all well and good, but for the moment, fear drowned out any relief.
―You idiots! Can't you even fly?
Tempesta pouted and grumbled as he darted about, swiftly catching those who lost their balance and collapsed. Complaining all the while, he still dispatched his duties with crisp efficiency.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
But then—what was happening?
The earthquake that should have subsided instead grew fiercer. The shaking worsened by the second until even Bayul could barely stay on his feet.
'Shame? What's going on?'
He asked, assuming Shame was responsible—and in that instant, Bayul sensed something was wrong. Shame was completely spent. He didn't have a shred of power left to cause this.
Could there be another landslide? No—no!
If that were truly the case, disaster upon disaster. After everything, this was too cruel.
―Bayul, something's wrong!
―What is this energy?
Innocent and Tempesta flew to his side in a hurry. The two of them knitted their brows and stared hard at the ground beneath them.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
―It's hot!
"Hot?"
―The magma's going to burst through soon! I can feel it!
This place was the ice mine. It wasn't named for actual ice, but because a bitter chill hung over it all year round. And as far as Bayul knew, not once in history had a volcanic eruption ever occurred here.
'Shame! Could this be volcanic terrain?'
―It is, but... something's strange... this is...
"Whoa!"
There was no time to hear the rest of Shame's answer.
WHOOOOSH!
Through the fissured ground, scarlet liquid suddenly geysered skyward. A landslide would have been preferable. As if the earthquake Shame caused had struck open a volcanic vent, magma flooded the entire area in an instant. Everyone here was going to die.
"...Huh?"
Then something strange caught Bayul's eye. There, in the heart of the magma, like a child just woken from a nap—a little girl was stretching lazily, yawning with a drowsy face.
It was the arrival of Bayul's fourth contracted spirit—and the girl who would one day become the Fire Spirit King: Spinel.