Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

The drainage pipe was about two meters wide and built with bricks and stones. Most of its width was occupied by the watercourse, its waters appearing pitch black in the torchlight, its depth indiscernible.

Along the edge of the pipe, a narrow path just wide enough for a person to walk on had been constructed, probably intended for the maintenance workers to clear the sludge.

The trio walked in silence, turning left and right, having no idea how long they'd been walking. But after Winters had counted twelve intersections, he began to vaguely hear footsteps ahead; there seemed to be flickering firelight as well.

Moving forward, Colonel Field suddenly turned right with Winters, entering a hidden passage in the wall of the pipe. After a few dozen steps, the space suddenly opened up.

It was no longer the stooped drainage pipe they had to walk through but an approximately two-and-a-half-meter-high twisting tunnel that seemed endless. There were quite a few people inside, creating a somewhat bustling atmosphere.

Some, like Winters, using masks and capes to hide their identities, had set up small tables at intervals of one or two meters, lit oil lamps, and seemed to be selling things there.

Most of the items on their tables were unrecognizable to Winters, with some merely displaying a few small wooden placards.

Others wearing masks occasionally stopped by the tables, gesturing to communicate with the vendors. It was unclear what counted as a transaction and what didn't.

This underground cavity struck Winters as peculiar, with parts of the space appearing freshly excavated, the walls rough and uneven, still moist with mud, and awkwardly placed wooden columns supporting a few planks.

Yet other areas subtly revealed to Winters the ancient history of this place: scattered old bricks on the ground, stone arch sauctures, and traces of faded paint barely visible on some plastered walls.

Colonel Field kept his eyes straight ahead, walking along the tunnel. Winters followed closely behind, accidentally kicking a white stone caked in mud. The stone rolled a few times, revealing three holes.

That was when Winters realized what this place truly was—the white rock wasn't a rock at all, but a human skull.

The underground space which the Sea Blue City's street merchants used as a market was originally a tomb. Winters couldn't tell from what era the tomb dated, but it likely wasn't from the time of the Ancient Empire, nor from the last few centuries.

Ancients wouldn't have built their burial chambers next to their sewage systems, and the tombs from recent centuries wouldn't have been dug so deep. Sea Blue City had several layers of ruins buried underneath, how many times it had been destroyed and rebuilt was anybody's guess.

Probably someone had stumbled upon this tomb by chance, looted its grave goods, and then repurposed the chamber, turning it into a commercial street.

As the original tomb space became insufficient, the people of Sea Blue City's subterranean streets continued to dig into the walls. Thus, some walls were made of plaster, while others were still mere soil.

Winters couldn't help but "admire" the reckless spirit of these Sea Blue City's underground rats, daring to make unlawful constructions in what might be a thousand-year-old underground structure. The tomb's wall supported arches above; knocking them out, they didn't fear that the earth on their heads might cave in the next second.

Winters's mind was full of wild thoughts, but his feet didn't stop; he followed Colonel Field's lead closely.

However, Major Moritz was attracted to something on one of the tables and stopped, gesturing to negotiate with the street merchant from Sea Blue City. Continue reading at empire

After walking a bit ahead, Colonel Field turned to find Moritz bargaining with someone. Annoyed, he strode back and kicked the major in the rear.

But the major remained unperturbed, as if the kicked butt didn't belong to him, continuing his leisurely exchange of gestures.

Once their transaction was complete, the major pulled out a few Gold Coins, and the Sea Blue City merchant took a few paper packs from under the table.

Money exchanged hands for goods, and the major opened the paper packs to check them. After confirming they were correct, he nodded at the vendor and tucked the paper packs into his jacket.

Although Winters couldn't see Colonel Field's face because of the mask, he could imagine Field's expression with his knees. But Major Moritz just shrugged nonchalantly as if to say, "What's wrong? You know this is just how I am, right?"

Colonel Field sighed helplessly and continued to lead the way. The trio left the underground market through another secret door.

Exiting this underground market and heading deeper, they encountered another such market. However, this one had far fewer people than the previous one.

Leaving the second underground market and walking on, the ground began to flatten and dry. The passage seemed to turn into a carefully maintained corridor, with holes in the walls spacious enough for a person to pass through occasionally.

Winters peered curiously into these holes, which were either covered with black gauze or concealed by wooden doors, leading to unknown places.

Colonel Field stopped in front of one hole, nodded at Major Moritz, then pushed open the wooden door and entered. Winters had thought that this would be their destination, but to his surprise, it was still a tunnel.

This structure of tunnel within a tunnel had completely disoriented Winters, and he marveled at how Colonel Field managed to navigate.

They traveled about a few dozen meters down this tunnel when they saw flickering lights ahead at the bend.

Turning the right-angle corner, they were confronted by a burly man with a sledgehammer sitting on a barrel, blocking their path like a wall. The man had bulging muscles at the base of his neck, broad shoulders, and thick limbs, a veritable human bear.