66 Tunnel

After a long time, the road suddenly became bumpy. Han Jin looked through the wheel and saw they had turned onto a narrow path, at the end of which was a medium sized hill. At the foot of the hill was a small village scattered with several cottages, none of which had their lights on. The whole village was filled with deadly stillness.

The caravan went to the foot of the hill and straight through the village. Ten-odd guards jumped down and removed the high pile of straws. After a faint rumbling sound, a hole, three meters in height and two meters in width, appeared in front of them.

Inside were another dozen or so knights who must be very familiar with the members of the caravan. They moved aside and waved their hands as if they were expecting the visit, indicating the caravan to enter quickly.

When the stone gate closed with a loud bang, the caravan entered into a downhill path. The carriages, which were previously pulled by the horses, were now pushing the horses forward due to gravity. Thanks to the skilled drivers in each carriage, the pace of the whole caravan was still well controlled.

Nearly thousands of meters later, the caravan slowed down. In front was a sizable square with a campsite in it. The frozen north wind was blocked off by the hill, thus it was warm. Some soldiers in bright silver armors were sitting around the campsite gates, chatting about something, and women occasionally walked across. This campsite seemed to have existed for a long time.

Leopold chatted with the soldiers in front of the camp gate for a while, and then commanded his caravan to move on. Han Jin was still hiding under the carriage, looking around carefully. He was very nervous when he saw the sitting soldiers whose heads were almost at the same level of him. If they were a bit more careful, they would have found the shadow under the carriage. Fortunately, the guard there had been relaxing for too long, and vigilance had become something unnecessary.

The campsite was surrounded by traces of manual excavations, indicating it had not been formed naturally. The things Han Jin had seen so far had already shocked him. It would be a miracle if this tunnel connected to Holy Crown City! How unimaginable would that be! Who could have so much power as to construct something like this?!

The road in front was very murky. Eternal magic lamps were laid every fifty meters, allowing people to see things faintly, but not clearly.

Some guards of the caravan started to grumble. Han Jin listened for a while and learned something. This tunnel would not be used during peaceful times. Even during war times, it would not be easily opened, unless the situation was very dire and supplies were desperately needed, during which this tunnel would serve as the blood vessel that Holy Crown City survived upon. The other end of it led to Beitman, where the troops from neither Black Raven City nor Depew City would ever invade to avoid unnecessary conflicts, which greatly guaranteed the safety of the tunnel.

Without a doubt, if Black Raven City and Depew City stumbled across this tunnel, they would invade Beitman without any sign of mercy. But then again, how could they find out about it unless they invaded Beitman first?

Forks in the road would occur every kilometer, at which there were apparent marks pointing to the right direction. It was nothing to see one fork in the road, but after passing a dozen forks and seeing hundreds of branching paths, Han Jin was astonished. Wasn't this basically a huge underground labyrinth?

A dim environment always made people more sleepy, but the guards in the first wagon dared not relax. The others could make mistakes, but they couldn't, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable. If they led the caravan into the wrong path, they might never be able to get out again.

Leopold struggled to refresh himself and got out to sit behind the driver. He was a responsible man, at least for himself. Funny enough, people only saw and envied his wealth, but had no idea what efforts he had to go through to obtain this wealth. He needed to calculate the gains and losses from each of his business while others were relaxing. He had to open his eyes wide while the others had gone to dream. He must learn to deal with all kinds of people, to flatter them, and to cheat them. In the end, there were no easy jobs in this world.

"Pass me the wine pot," Leopold said with a yawn.

The guard was leaning on the carriage, fast asleep, and didn't hear his words. Leopold furiously stared at him. It was human nature for a suffering man to envy others while they enjoyed themselves, while simultaneously hoping everyone suffered as he was.

Now, he had to gather his energy while his guard was sleeping soundly like a pig. How unfair! He was enraged. What was happening in his mind at the moment did not match his expression at all. In fact, it was the exact opposite. Leopold casually grabbed a whip was going to lash down at the sleeping guard.

But before the whip flailed out, a fireball that appeared out of nowhere completed his wish. Only that the consequence was much more serious. The guard was knocked away from the side and rolled down onto the ground after colliding with the tunnel wall. His head was burned to a charcoal black.

Leopold was stunned. A figure dropped down from above and sat beside him. Leopold turned his head and couldn't help letting out a shrill cry, the sound of which resounded in the deep and serene tunnel to the long distance.

"What's the matter?"

"Were we attacked?"

The whole caravan fell into chaos with men shouting and horses neighing. The driver in front of Leopold jumped down from the wagon immediately when he felt something was wrong. But Leopold dared not to move. He looked at Han Jin in astonishment, like a frog seeing a snake.

A guard peeped his head from a corner, with half of his body hiding behind the carriage. His long bow was pulled with its arrow targeting Han Jin, who was more then ten meters away.

But just when the guard was going to loosen his finger, a giant fist flew toward him from the side and struck his face. After a heartrending cry, the guard flew out, heavily collided against the wall, and bounced back.

A wooden giant jumped across the carriage, caught up to the guard, and gave him another punch in his face. Then another. The whole tunnel wall was shaking. When the wooden giant switched his target, half of the guard's head had been smashed into the wall, with only a bloody mouth visible. His neck was at a right angle with his body.

"Kill him..." Ten guards swarmed Han Jin from both directions.

Han Jin simply smiled. He released another two wooden giants, which blocked the attacks of the guards from both ends. Though the nature of a guard's work was similar to that of a mercenary, their strength was on the opposite end of the spectrum. If one was strong enough, he could join a mercenary team, through which he could earn more than ten times the wage for a guard. On top of that, a mercenary didn't even need to work at the whim of an employer.

Han Jin was fully aware that even the most powerful leader of the guards was just a fifth-grade swordsman. So he was confident he could handle all of them.

Leopold stayed still, sweat flowing down from his forehead and face. As a merchant, he had a very flexible mind. Even at this critical moment, he managed to realize a few important facts. Why hadn't Lord Mario returned yet? Could it be that... all the knights were killed?? Combined with the fact that this mercenary had followed them into the tunnel, he grew even more fearful. A bone chilling sensation quickly washed over him and made it hard to breath.