Odd Cave behind Those Trees

A few minutes later, the expedition group went on to continue their walk towards the cave location, with only 10 people remaining, at which only 2 of the normal knights were still alive after coming this far.

'These bushes, they're more dense than usual..' Carfeld thought.

'Is that..'

He looks up at the two trees infront of him, behind the gap that is quite narrow between them, Carfeld saw a rock cliff.

'...A cliff— Isn't that a typical place for a cave entrance? Also, there's a vague but noticeable path over there, almost as if a human made it..'

"We're going slightly right, avoid going into the bushes."

Carfeld goes to the vague path that he sees earlier, along with everyone else, their faces have stucked with frowns even before continuing the walk.

The moon is still bright, constellation filled the night sky with its beautiful pattern, for a world where danger is everywhere, the space is the only thing that hasn't been touched yet.

Passing some insects on their sides, Carfeld and the expedition group arrived infront of the cliff, it was incredibly steep, the angle of the cliff exceeded over 90 degrees, making them looks extraordinary.

"Carfeld, over there.."

Davira poked Carfeld's shoulder before pointing her finger towards the left direction, in there, a cave entrance was seen not far away from them, it was being covered by plants and vines, but they can still notice the dark insides.

"O- Ohh! D- did we find it?.."

Everyone's faces lit up for a moment, they felt a feeling of relief, knowing that they have found the mithril cave.

"We can't be sure yet.. Let's go there and check it out." Carfeld said.

The group walked again, each step making them closer and closer with the mysterious cave, after a few seconds passed, they stood right infront of the entrance, Carfeld uses his sword to cut off some of the vines and overgrown plants so that they can get a clearer look at the cave inside.

"Mithrils usually formed deep underground, let's go inside."

***

Inside of the cave, Carfeld could faintly feel a cold wind touching his skin, his heart races, and even though he can't be sure about what it is, but Carfeld thought that he might be feeling some mana in the air.

'We've gone down the cave for a while now, it's really dark, if Moseth wasn't a fire mage, we wouldn't have anything that can be used as a light source..'

Truth to be told, Carfeld actually brought a lantern before going to this forest, but he lost it after that fight against the great treant, that lantern most likely fell from his waist and shattered.

'Huh?'

Carfeld rises his hand to the side, signaling everyone behind him to stop, the reason for it is because infront of him, there is a glowing light that came from somewhere, the cave is turning to the left, and since that glowing light could mean anything, Carfeld had to be more cautious.

'A spirit? or a magic crystal?...'

The expedition group approached the turn slowly, then Carfeld peeked towards the area where the mysterious light came from.

"Gasp.."

When everyone else was waiting for answer from Carfeld, his eyes instead wide-opened, he gasped loudly and that made the others curious too.

"Carfeld, what's in there?" Rezio asked.

"Rezio— It's true.."

That quite whisper from Carfeld peaked Rezio's curiousity and he immediately ran forward, he turned left and instantly left his jaw opened.

Everyone else also followed him, they finally turned left and was shocked to find a room full of not only mithrils, but also magic crystals and golds.

"Oh, my god..."

"I can't believe it.."

The glimmering shine that came from the magic crystals reflected to the mithrils and it creates an intricate shape that is being projected all over the cave walls, it was a beautiful sight to see, after multiple days of traveling, they have finally found it.

"So, the rumors are real.. We did it."

"Carfeld, come on, we need to grab those ores and crystals!"

A smile formed beneath Carfeld's face, his eyes almost teared up after remembering what they had to go through to reach this point.

"Yeah"

He then uses the pouch given by Alaric that he was carrying around his shoulder and waist to grab as many mithrils as he can.

The mercenaries, knights, and special knights are also working together to gather many of the minerals in the cave to later be put inside the inventory pouch.

"Moseth, how much do you think we can get if we sell this chunk of mithril?.."

Deter asked to Moseth, he and the two mages are staying closely until they were done with the gathering.

"I have no idea, but im guessing it would be atleast more than 10 large golds.."

"Heh, we should keep some to ourselves, what do you think?" Deter whispered.

"Hooh? We can do that, its not like they're gonna notice anyway–

Suddenly, Lyra slapped Deter's back, the slapping sound echoed throughout he cave and everyone at the room looked at the three of them.

"Ow oww!! Huh!? What are you!?— Urgh, alright, stop doing that Lyra, that hurts you know.."

"Sorry, there was a bug on your back so i killed it." Lyra said with a scary smile.

Deter knew that she meant by that, so he took back his intention and forgot about it.

10 minutes passed, and most of the minerals in that room have disappeared, leaving only some small bits of it, the expedition group have taken enough mithrils for now, Carfeld saw the last chunk of mithrils being put inside the pouch and sank into the dark with no trace.

"Carfeld, we haven't reached the end of the cave yet, should we continue?" Davira asked.

"Hm, that would be nice, but im afraid this pouch might be full soon, i can feel some weight in it even though it should be light since the objects inside of it are teleported into a space that is in a separate dimension."

"This means we've gathered almost 100 kilograms of mithril, imagine how much it would be worth if we managed to bring it back."

Carfeld went quite for a few seconds, all of his comrades are watching him, waiting for his next order.

"We'll leave the cave, this is enough, we don't know what might awaits us at the end of the cave, it could be a dead end or even a monster, and we can't be greedy, don't bring any of the minerals on your hand, if you insists, just take a reasonable amount that wouldn't affect your movement, put the minerals in your pocket or bag."

Most of the people in the cave agreed, except Deter and Moseth, they picked up some mithrils and magic crystals after being told that it was okay as long as they dont bring too much, however they will still maximize their gain and also find the perfect balance between bringing a bunch of money and still be able to move normally without any disturbance.

***

The expedition group walked again, they are on their way our of the cave, after what seem to be 15 minutes of walking, they finally arrived at the entrance again.

"When i get my rewards, i think i'll retire from my job and just live in the countryside peacefully-

"Wait."

Carfeld suddenly urged everyone to stop, curious as to what might be the reason he stopped them, the group looked at what's infront of Carfeld, at the cave entrance not far away from them, they saw someone standing completely still.

"Who is that?"

"Did we left someone behind?"

"But we only have 10 people left.."

Confused as to who that person was, they tried to remember the number of people at the room where the mithrils and other minerals is located, and in all of their minds, there is not a single one that said 9 people are in that room.

"Carfeld-

"Sshh, we're fucked.. Don't you see it, think about it for a while, that girl is not in our team, and also, that outfit, its all magic items."

"Huh?.."

No one in the expedition group knows, that what they are dealing with infront of them, was Sylias.

Her face looking straight at them with no visible emotion, rather than confused, her face is more like displeased by the group's presence, especially Carfeld.

"Who are you!" Carfeld asked.