Apparently, I'm the Infamous Earl's Legendary Bride

Book 2: My Lord Saves the Citizens - Chapter 79

It was two hours later when we reached the eastern border, and the soldiers were amazed at the speed of the aircraft. Thank goodness, too, that the weather was fine, though there were dark clouds along the horizon.

"It would have taken us days on horseback just to get this far," one said. "But it has only been a mere two hours."

Such was the speed of an aircraft, although this wasn't even as fast as an airplane.

The path along the alps was intertwining and very hazardous, which was expected. Luckily, Vicky took us through without a hitch, and it was about two hours later when she stated, Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at our destination. Prepare for landing in ten minutes.

"We're here already?" Maria asked.

"Looks like it," I said.

It wasn't long when the airship hovered over the flat section between the two mountains high in the alps we had been studying, and once the bottom of the aircraft touched the snowbound ground, hustle and bustle of activities ensued with men in thick winter gear heading out to scout and secure the surrounding area, placing mana crystals in the eight directions that formed a magical barrier shield—the one I had practiced damn hard on and could now control and stabilize thanks to my enormous amount of mana—around the camping site, thus protecting us from a monster invasion, if there were any, and of course, the elements.

Once the all clear came through the earpieces to the operation control center here in the airship which was run by Captain Connor, Robert, David, Kent, and Derek and their men followed the soldiers out and started their work, constructing the planned road from here into the thick pine trees and then the tunnels through the mountain, the same burrow Juan had escaped the dungeon through. It'd take them the rest of today and all of tomorrow to complete the task, and while that was happening, another group of soldiers got busy setting up camp with large hall-sized tents that'd fit at least one hundred people each. There were also sleeping bags, crystal lamps, and of course, crystal heaters to keep the interior warm. The civilians would be sleeping in there until all was sorted in the dungeon and then the departure.

During all this, I created miniature drones, the size of a dragonfly, and Aldric used them to survey the dungeon, flying over the ridges of the mountain and right into the opening of the enemy's base.

In the control room, we watched the footage that was transmitted back to us live, and I saw some of the most horrifying scenes I had ever seen. Dying, starving people with limbs that barely resembled limbs, digits frozen and eaten away by the ice cold or accidentally chopped off during the mining. Children, with barely rags on, were all skin and bones and had that one-thousand-yard stare about them. It looked as though they had already given up on life itself, and it broke my heart. They reminded me so much of the Norsewood citizens when I had first arrived, and I vowed that such a look, and indeed, suffering, will never exist in Norsewood again. Workers, mining in the darkness and freezing cold, being whipped until they bled raw and fell unconscious. Some were dragged away like ragged dummies and then tossed into the huge prison hall that was their sleeping space.

Maria couldn't take it, and she rushed away in tears, Elizabeth with her. I forced myself to watch because I'd be healing those people. Every life counted, and I prayed that they'd still be breathing by the time I got in there tomorrow night.

And tomorrow night came, though not soon enough in my mind because for all I know some of those lives might have already been lost. In full winter gear of fur hat, thick jacket, and boots covering my normal clothing, I hopped into one of the two buses, along with Maria, Elizabeth, and the rescue team, with Aldric as the commander, and Uncle Colt, Vincent, and Juan as captains of their own squads. As Grayson started the engine and the bus started moving, I turned to look at Aldric standing there in the middle of the aisle instead of sitting like the rest of us, his face a hard, dark mask. I knew he was on edge, but of course, who wouldn't be when they were the commander on a mission to save over six hundred lives.