Chapter 366 - The Zegal Clan 3 (2/2)

Its iron gate wasn’t one but threefold.

When the threefold gate opened and what expected to be a city in the cave turned out to be a large-scaled cavity.

The underground cavity was like a spider web, and the passages were all around. However, it wasn’t all dark, there were flowers and fresh bushes growing around.

It was because the inside of the ceiling was bright with daylight.

‘This, this is amazing! Only the dwarves of the ancient Mado Empire can make this…’

For Luke, who was lost in thoughts, Zegal Moon briefly explained the origin of the cave.

“According to the legends, the cave belonged to the goblins. Even now, in the deepest part of the mines ‘black iron’ or ‘cold iron’ can be mined at times.”

However, it was said that rather than for mining, the place had been used as a warehouse for stocking the goods of the Zegal clan, or a workshop for weapons or labs for tactical arts.

“The iron core is in this room.”

The place guided by Zegal Moon was a workshop that produced the Puppet.

Inside, along with a half-finished puppet, were what supposed to be the pieces of iron core rolling on the floor.

However, Luke’s eyes were drifting in the thickly dusted room.

“It looks like the work here has stopped for quite some time.”

“Huh, it did. Perhaps, the Puppet in front of your eyes will be the last Puppet the Zegal clan will make.”

At the deep sigh of Zegal Moon, Luke asked cautiously, “Are there any problems with the iron core?”

If that was the case, then it was huge drawback.

“Most of the iron core that grew on the mountain plateau in the south got killed because of the drought that lasted for several years.”

The provincial plateau near the border between the Song Empire and the Barat Empire was the only source to gather iron core.

There were thousands of large and small iron core plateau, and most of them had died due to the heatwaves and long periods of drought.

“Honestly, it wasn’t because the rain didn’t fall. The problem was that the drought caused the insects to gnaw through the crops and the iron core trees were no exception.”

It was a tree that was known to be hard, but the pests even ate a tree’s roots, so the trees died.

In addition, it was said that the natives burned poisoned trees to chase off the pests and that led to wildfires.

“It was a disaster I guess,” said Luke.

“The sky was to blame. Fortunately, few remaining seedlings were left behind.”

That was why the Zegal clan refused to sell the iron core wood.

Though the iron core was a precious metal, their essence was lost because of the unstoppable disasters.

‘It doesn’t look like it was a lie… But even then, things might get difficult.’

And Luke wasn’t planning on using it only for the tuning helm of his Gigant.

If possible, the idea was to apply the tuning helm to all the Gigants in the lordship, and not just Orion.

However, listening to their situation, he was forced to step back on his plan.

‘Should I just give up? Is there any way to use magic or something?’

If he could solve the problem, it would be possible to get a constant supply of the iron core.

However, as almost all of them were wiped out, reviving them wasn’t going to be an easy task.