The sun is high

When the team members indoors had successfully completed the transformation of the stronghold and the specially processed magic messages were successfully sent, the seemingly weird and bizarre "ceremony" outside was finally coming to an end.

The onlookers saw that the shadows transformed by the "black cloak" summoned by Baron Ferlando had now completely turned into rats. There were so many of them that they could fill an entire room. An open space.

These strange rats seemed to have received some kind of mission. After a short stay, they bypassed all the onlookers and ran towards the cracks in the large and small mounds around the Yanhu Mine. In an instant, it disappeared beside those cracks.

Not long after, the huge black rat swarm finally dispersed completely, and the open space where the secret ritual sculpture of the Black Sun Society was erected finally returned to its original state. The magical light and shadow gradually converged, surrounding the "arms" of Baron Ferlando Also slowly let go.

The magical mist that filled the area dispersed with the breeze, but the strange solemn atmosphere still lingered. The gray-haired Baron Ferlando did not stand up in a hurry. He raised his head, With a strange look of reverence on his face, he once again pressed his palm on the bottom of the Black Sun Mystery in front of him, and whispered several times in praise of his ancient gods and the black sun in the sky.

At this point, the ceremony was finally over.

Baron Ferlando stood up slowly from the somewhat muddy ground. His originally neat clothes were now dirty because of kneeling before, but there was still a special kind of something about him, like a messenger of the gods. The atmosphere is enveloped.

The captain of the soldier who was responsible for guarding the mine had the courage to come forward. He first imitated the baron's previous appearance and praised the black sun twice, and then carefully asked the true meaning of the ritual that the baron had just performed.

Probably because he had just communicated with the gods, the baron seemed to be more approachable now than before. He did not scold the soldier captain in front of him, but gave his answer very patiently.

"In my opinion, the location of the Yanhu Mine is very important, and my colleagues...hehe, the measures they took here before were far from enough, and I should make up for the gaps they created."

Once again, Sugar perfectly follows the proud character of Baron Ferlando.

He first mercilessly disparaged the previous managers of the Rock Lake Mine, and then said in an extremely pious tone: "What I am calling is a great being who controlled the earth in distant times."

"squeak?"

Deep in the spiritual world, a question came from the running rat. It strongly disagreed with the words of its master. It had never heard of the "huge hill".

Shuge silently suppressed the doubts raised by the running rat, and then he continued to explain to the ordinary people around him: "What you just saw was the response given by the great god - our sentry. The number is limited, and the corners that can be monitored are only a handful among the few. This is unqualified and a sign of irresponsibility for mine safety."

The soldier captain swallowed his saliva and asked stutteringly: "You...what do you mean?"

"The armies on the plains are gathering, and they may have begun to advance. Their spies are also infiltrating into our territory. Do you want to have your neck wiped in your sleep?"

Hearing these words, the soldiers present fell silent for a moment.

Firstly, because just the night before, they had done the job of wiping the necks of miners, and secondly, because they had more or less heard of the famous names of Walter Royal Agent, Merlinle and Mage Spies, but they did not expect that they actually had One day you will also face threats from them.

"Don't worry, these monitors won't do anything to you. Their goal is only to ensure the safety of the surrounding area..."

Shuge sneered and said: "Now, go back to your positions! The person in charge of the mine operation comes here, I have something to ask you!"

Then, he added to these people: "Do your own thing well! Don't forget, the eyes of the huge hills are looking at you!"

While they were talking, someone saw a dark shadow flashing among the piles of abandoned stones at their feet, which made them even more uneasy.

On the other side, the miners who were watching from a distance had dispersed. They knew these cruel overseers very well and knew that they were very likely to become a tool for them to vent their anger, so they immediately returned to the mine where they worked. .

In this way, Shuge has successfully established his own image among these soldiers and overseers.

Compared with the previous association mage, the pressure brought by the new Baron Ferlando was significantly stronger. Soon, the people around him dispersed, and only the named mine manager stood alone. .

This was a little old man, about fifty years old. He was wearing a set of nondescript old aristocratic clothes. There were two traces of dust on his knees. It was obvious that he also knelt down during the ceremony.

The little old man came timidly in front of Xiuge. He was a little hunched, and his body was thin, making him look like he had shrunk.

"First...sir, no, my lord..."

"I am Baron Ferlando."

"Yes, Lord Baron."

The old man was almost frightened to death. While trembling, he forced out an extremely ugly smile: "I am the supervisor of the mine, Hadera from the Watch City Ore Association. What do you want to see me for?"

"Hadra, are you familiar with the Rock Lake Mine?"

"Yes, I've been working in several mines around here for decades."

Supervisor Hadera nodded hastily: "Before the war, I could manage three mines by myself, but the workers were all captured and sent to serve as soldiers, so now I only take care of this one."

"Oh? Is that so?"

Xiuge squinted his eyes and looked at the little old man in front of him. The eyes that had calmed down before were once again filled with magical light and shadow.

"My colleague, he told me before he left that the workers in the mine seemed to be very dissatisfied with our management?"

Having said this, a gloomy smile appeared on the face of Baron Ferlando: "Since you have been in these mines for so long, you should be familiar with these miners, right?"

"Well, it's not... that's not the case."

Hadera felt a chill inexplicably, and his lips trembled twice. When he raised his head, he bumped into the Baron's eyes. At this moment, he only felt that his internal organs seemed to be pierced by the other person's gaze. wore.

He bit the bullet and said: "Lord Baron, in fact, I don't know these miners very well... Although most of them come from the city, they didn't do much mining before the war."

"Not miners? What did they do before?"

"There are everything, farmers, businessmen, hunters and fishermen, maybe even people who have escaped from the front..."

Speaking of this, Hadera also sighed a little: "Now the demand for crystallized mines is increasing, and many places even have to hire people to mine."

"Um."

Xiuge silently withdrew the magic power he had released, and the light and shadow in his eyes returned to calm. He looked at the mine supervisor seriously, and then said: "Then, I want you to go back and sort out the list of these miners... Pick out the ones that you think are the most troublesome and cause trouble, and give me their names tomorrow morning."

"Ah? Ah, yes, sir, I will give it to you tomorrow morning."

"Also, my soldiers will be coming soon. They need warehouses. Lots of warehouses."

Xiuge casually asked: "Empty those warehouses containing food. What are you doing with all the dry vegetables?"

"But what to do with the food?"

"Whatever you do, throw it all away, or feed it to the miners to eat, I don't care, it must be vacated within two days!"

In the baron's arrogant words, the mine manager Hadera fled, slithering away like a beetle rolling on the ground.

…

In the evening, the tired workers came out of the mine in disgrace, and they gathered anxiously in the open space of the mine.

Today, they are mining slightly less ore, probably not up to standard.

Whenever this happens, they always have to be punished. Either the leaders of the miners are taken out and whipped, or their wages and rest time are deducted.

Today, however, none of this has happened.

The miners were extremely surprised to find that the heavily armed and fierce supervisors were all gathered on the other side of the mine, and they seemed to have gotten a brand new job.

From the stooped mine supervisor, the miners learned that the newly arrived Baron Ferlando had no trust in their clumsy and evil-minded workers, so he would transform the mine camp and build some foundations. All the tasks of the fortifications were handed over to the overseers and professional soldiers.

Now, miners have an additional task.

The excess food warehouses in the mine need to be vacated, so the dried vegetables, hard bread, and some dried meat and fish piled in the warehouses need to be processed urgently. The best way to deal with these stored foods is naturally to fill them miners' stomachs.

Supervisor Hadera seemed to be very talented in the art of pretending to be powerful. In just a few words, he imitated the posture and tone of the Baron's order. Afterwards, these "lazy" miners could only accept their punishment honestly—— Digest these humble foods that no one wants to touch.

In the two-story building on the edge of the mine, the baron's face flashed in the light.

Xiuge first looked at the disgraced overseers who were repairing the mine camp according to the plan he gave, and then looked at the miners who were stuffing food into their mouths. He let out a short laugh of unknown meaning, and then He closed the curtains smoothly and disappeared behind a hazy darkness.

Now, he had to seriously digest the unexpected gains that the previous "ceremony" had brought to him.

Somehow, the ancient ritual originating from the "Monstrous Hill" actually brought unexpected nourishment to the Running Rats and all the rats of the Ernst family who belonged to the faith of the Mother Goddess of the Earth.

The magic power from the Black Sun Mystery has been perfectly divided among them.

Snitch never eats in moderation, and it is full again. At this time, it is lying on its own territory, groaning and rolling, and the chaotic magic light and shadow are flashing on its body. It is obvious that now, it has been for a while. There will be no way to fall asleep.

The size of the Ernst family rat colony has experienced extremely considerable growth.

If the space that accommodated these family rats was just a slightly larger cave before, then now, the world under the body of the running rat has a vague prototype of an "underground kingdom", several times, even dozens of times. The swarms of magic rats from before are constantly growing, and every Ernst family will that acts independently in the outside world can easily command these new rats.

Thanks to the magic power within the Black Sun Mystery, these growing rat swarms will not be detected by other rituals belonging to the Black Sun Society's magic system.

During these ceremonies, they were recognized as friendly forces, and they were also friendly forces that were extremely loyal to the association.

There is no way around this. As a group of summoned magical creatures, the purity of the magic power in their bodies even surpasses those of spell casters who have just joined the Black Sun Society. Under the cover of these pure ancient magic powers, the rats It is almost possible to come and go freely in these areas controlled by the Black Sun Mystery.

"It's incredible, it's incredible."

General Bernhardt, who has always complained about his rat body, is now extremely excited. He has now regarded himself as an "anchor" that can continuously spread the magic rat swarm, as long as the conditions and location are right. , he would immediately deploy his new informants in specific areas, which allowed him to directly regain the pride he had when he personally commanded thousands of troops many years ago.

And when the rats commanded by General Bernhardt successfully sneaked into the garrison strongholds, sentries and checkpoints, he even had some strange new ideas.

"Child, tell me, can our army grow faster? If their number can be larger, I am even sure that I can dig through all the walls and fortifications of those guys before the war begins. Damn it. Yes, I think we are fully capable of creating an underground world under their feet. As long as there is enough time, there is no problem in building an underground city!"

"Or...or is there any way you can make our rats grow bigger? If they can also pick up weapons, or even use those new firearms, tsk tsk, maybe we can have a chance to make these by ourselves. The Black Sun Society has been dealt with completely!"