A strange world

Like the morning light in the morning tavern, the wine of the wine lady. Annan also thought that "haunted" was just a prefix for a gold mine.

But I didn’t realize that haunting was a verb.

When Annan came to his senses, the ghost disappeared and Martin was no longer around.

Picking up the pickaxe dropped by Martin, Annan walked backwards with an oil lamp and found Martin, who was digging into the rock wall in the dark with a broken pickaxe.

This scene seemed like he was possessed by an evil spirit.

"What are you doing?"

"Mining."

"That one just now was a ghost?"

Martin said smoothly: "The ghosts are just the ghosts of the dead miners. The unconscious ones wandering around the mines day after day, there is nothing to be afraid of."

"What about your pickaxes?" Annan asked him, leaning on the two pickaxes.

"Here it is." Martin lifted the broken iron pickaxe and shouted in surprise: "Why did it break!"

Giving the pickaxe to Martin, Annan recalled that the ghost's reaction was similar to Martin's. It seemed that the ghost was not as scary as imagined?

Just in case, Annan took Martin back to the shallow layer and continued digging in a different tunnel with miners.

The clanging sound echoing from the depths gradually brings a sense of security.

A few minutes later, with sore muscles, Annan emerged from the low tunnel dug by former miners. Resting next to the oil lamp, he watched Martin continue to swing the pickaxe in the cramped mine.

Martin worked at least 55 copper coins out of the 60 copper coins per day given by Old Zoron.

After a short rest, Annan heard the reverberating sound of knocking suddenly becoming monotonous. Soon, accompanied by the clatter of the swaying chains, a pair of bare feet stepped on the gravel and appeared on the bright edge of the oil lamp.

The dark brown skin was only covered by tattered linen cloth, and the large iron pickaxe in its hand looked like a child's sand digging toy.

The shadow covering the silhouetted head is revealed by its bowed head, revealing the horns on its forehead.

"We meet again."

"It's you?"

Annan still remembers this half-tauren.

"Stay away from my cousin!"

There was a sudden shout in the short cave. Remembering Aunt Susan's instructions, Martin grabbed the pickaxe and rushed out of the mine. But he forgot that the mine was not high, so he knocked his head against the rock wall and fainted.

Annan looked at Martin silently. Martin never disappointed in this aspect.

The half-tauren glanced at the unconscious Martin: "Don't be nervous, boy, I won't hurt you."

"I know."

So Annan didn't even stand up and no one got hurt except Martin.

"You don't look like a family."

Martin's hair was tawny, Annan's hair covered with dust was gray, but the half-tauren had seen him with black hair.

"It's just adoption..." Annan brushed off the question, "Are you free?"

Wow——

The half-tauren stepped out of the darkness, letting Annan see the thick iron shackles on its ankles.

It was sold to the gold mine anyway.

"I'm curious..." the half-tauren's deep, thick voice asked, "Why do you show mercy to a bastard with dirty blood?"

Annando took some time to understand the difficult words, and then answered: "I have seen the most holy demon of desire, and I have also seen the ugliest Holy Light believer."

Annan stole it from the bard, who stole it from somewhere else.

In the bard's tales, succubi also have chaste virgins, and elves have lustful harlots.

"Did you meet a ghost too?"

Annan asked the half-tauren who came back from the depths. Then it said: "That's not surprising. Gold mines are the places where humankind's cruelty is best demonstrated in its unearned death."

Annan didn't understand, but he thought it made sense.

"See you next time."

The half-tauren bid farewell to Annan and left with the sound of clattering iron chains. Annan looked at the figure as it melted into the darkness, wondering whether it was his own whisper at that time that made it want to come and say hello?

"Well……"

A muffled groan came, and Martin, who was groaning, sat up and covered his forehead, "Where's that monster..."

"gone."

"Did you see how it knocked me unconscious?" Martin grabbed the pickaxe and climbed up. "I didn't react at all."

Annan thought to himself, don't say you didn't react, it didn't react either.

Martin, whose head was too dizzy, could not continue digging. Annan persisted for more than ten minutes before he came out again with his arms hanging down. Old Zoron, who came over later to check, didn't look good, or maybe the air quality was worrying.

For the sake of their wounds, he told Martin and Annan not to work anymore today.

He was not afraid of Hollin, but he was afraid that Susan would break his other leg.

Annan picked up the basket containing suspected ore and followed him out of the dull mine.

The air is fresh and the sun is warm, it has never seemed so good. After returning to the shack, old Zoron took the basket away. Not long after, Old Zollun came back with Konglan on his arm. His only good leg was shaking. Annan guessed that there was still no harvest today.

"Just another day tomorrow."

The basket he set down contained pieces of brown bread and a bowl of salted peas.

The salty peas are very sour and go well with the cold black bread.

Old Zollon is not bad, but a little impatient. After all, he is responsible for the 60 copper coins a day for the two of them. But as long as he is lucky enough to find a gold mine as big as his fist, he can make a lot of money.

While Annan and Martin were sitting in front of the shed eating, a sudden noise came from the entrance to the gold mine.

A group of miners escaped from the mine accompanied by squeaking bats, shouting words like ghosts and ghosts.

It seems they also encountered a ghost.

Some miners escaped one after another and refused to work in the mines again. The foremen gathered together to discuss a solution, and old Zoron stood out among them, looking out of place.

Annan saw the half-tauren again. It was sitting in front of the house, holding a shabby and yellowed book. It looked like a learned scholar under the sunlight.

The foremen quickly came up with a solution. They called a mage apprentice from nowhere, and then gathered a group of miners who were barely able to fight. Annan saw that the half-tauren were also in the team.

As the patch of light that spills into the distant forest grows dim, the miners emerge from the haunted gold mine and claim that they have exorcised the undead.

Annan didn't know whether it was true or not, but he made up his mind to only do activities at the entrance of the mine tomorrow, even if old Zoron begged him.

Taking advantage of the afterglow of dusk, Annan sharpened a charcoal pen, recalled the ghost in the bard's mouth, pondered hard and wrote on the papyrus:

[To the cutest undead:

I know you exist, and I know you don't welcome us. We just want to mine. I hope you give us a chance and won't bother us again in the future. 】

"To the most terrible undead, I know your existence..."

After Annan finished writing, he simply scanned the typos and smears. As a person who had been literate for a week, his writing was already very good.

The best case scenario is that someone keeps a vigil, but people won't be that selfless.

At this time, Annan suddenly felt a cramp in his stomach. Annan, who was about to stick the papyrus on the door, handed over the matter to the idle Martin, and walked towards the woods holding the remaining papyrus.

There was nothing sour about the salty peas.

Dozens of minutes later, a weak Annan came back, glanced at the papyrus on the door, and pushed open the wooden door.

He didn't notice that the weakly adhered papyrus fell as the door opened, stuck to the soles of his feet as he stepped on it, and climbed onto the bed with Anan.