Chapter 13: Subsidence

“Hand me some of your body wash.”

“Sure.”

Na Naya took the body wash.

She rubbed it evenly over her feet.

It wasn’t until a loud gulp broke the silence that Meng Linna realized she’d been staring too long.

To avoid embarrassment, she turned her head.

She quietly started a new topic.

“Are you really short on money lately?”

“Hm?”

Na Naya glanced at her.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She was indeed tight on cash.

But why did it sound so off coming from this woman?

“Just curious. It’s pretty risky, isn’t it?”

Meng Linna tactfully avoided saying “stealing.”

“Though it does pay well.”

Na Naya looked down.

She didn’t answer directly.

“Who doesn’t want more money? But is it worth the risk? You’re a saintess candidate…”

“Enough. You don’t need to tell me.”

Seeing the concern in Meng Linna’s eyes, Na Naya felt inexplicably irritated.

She’d treated her like a toy before.

Now she was pretending to care?

“I just…”

Meng Linna tried to explain.

Na Naya cut her off.

“Worry about yourself first. Don’t delude yourself into thinking I’ve forgiven you. When the time’s right, I’ll make you pay!”

“…”

Seeing Meng Linna fall silent, Na Naya sneered.

“Stop pretending to be a good person. Clean yourself up and wait. One day, I’ll get my revenge.”

With that, Na Naya stood.

She walked straight toward the campfire.

Left alone by the river, Meng Linna watched her go.

She murmured softly.

“Na Naya’s mental state doesn’t seem great…”

***

“The dungeon’s structure seems to have a problem.”

The lead graduate student looked serious as they entered the dungeon.

“The load-bearing parts might be compromised.”

The junior student chimed in.

“The ground’s subsided. Some walls are visibly tilted.”

“Speak plainly.”

Peggy, like Meng Linna, wasn’t the sharpest.

“So what do we do? Explore the dungeon today?”

“I’m messaging our advisor.”

The lead student stayed calm.

“There’s some subsidence, but it’s not a big issue yet. We’ll keep exploring today. For safety, let’s stick together like the first day.”

“Fine by me. Subsidence won’t make the monsters stronger.”

Meng Linna didn’t mind.

In fact, she preferred everyone staying together.

This job paid by the day.

The amount of mithril found didn’t matter to her.

As a worker, she hoped the job dragged on.

More pay that way.

They made up their minds.

They headed deeper to assess the subsidence.

Today’s focus wasn’t mineral veins.

It was figuring out what caused the collapse.

The lead student set the tone for deeper exploration.

“Na Naya cleared all the monsters on this path yesterday. How are there so many today?”

Maybe due to the subsidence, monsters from the dungeon’s lower levels were fleeing upward.

There were many, but they weren’t strong.

Even their uncoordinated trio could protect the survey team while fending them off.

The monsters didn’t seem eager to attack.

Their only reason for charging was that the humans blocked their escape route.

“These monsters seem off.”

Meng Linna had a bad feeling.

“They’re running from something.”

“It’s normal.”

The lead student explained.

“Most animals sense natural disasters like earthquakes keenly. Mass exodus after subsidence is possible.”

The explanation made sense.

Though still uneasy, Meng Linna nodded.

She kept her worries to herself.

Soon, they reached the spot where Na Naya mined mithril yesterday.

Since no one knew there was a vein here, Na Naya and Meng Linna hadn’t held back.

They’d stripped it clean.

But the problem was, mithril was just a thin layer on the rock surface.

Now, there was a hole.

Calling it a hole wasn’t quite right.

It was more like a cave in the rock wall, big enough for one person to pass through.

“There wasn’t a cave this big here yesterday.”

Meng Linna touched the cave’s edge.

It was smooth, not corroded.

Almost like someone’s prank.

“You’re saying there was no cave here yesterday?”

The lead student perked up.

“Can you explain?”

How could she say they mined mithril here but didn’t blast a cave this big?

Meng Linna shot a pleading look at Na Naya.

“No big deal.”

Na Naya took over.

“This was a solid rock wall yesterday. No cave.”

“A solid wall?”

The lead student turned to Na Naya.

“You’re sure it was just rock? No veins?”

“No.”

Na Naya hesitated.

“There was probably mithril here. Right where the cave is.”

“Hm, that’s tricky then.”

The lead student said no more.

She just gave them a suspicious look.

“So you think some unknown person mined mithril and left this cave?”

Na Naya leaned into the analysis.

“I don’t know how mithril’s mined. But a cut this smooth shouldn’t be easy, right?”

The lead student stared at Na Naya for half a minute.

Then she sighed.

“Fine. We checked yesterday—you didn’t steal mithril. I’ll be blunt. Mithril’s only a thin layer on the rock surface. Even if someone stole it, it wouldn’t leave a cave this big.”