Almost Crushed Grace's Foot

I've got a plan!

She sneaked over and knocked out a miner who was just about to take a bathroom break.

She swapped into his clothes, smeared coal dust all over her face until she was unrecognizable, and styled her hair to match his.

Once she was done, she asked Cutie Pie, "Do I look like a miner?"

Cutie Pie hopped onto her shoulder and poked her chest with his tail.

Too bouncy.

Grace slapped him on the head.

Cutie Pie blinked innocently, pretending to be pure.

Grace looked down and realized her chest was indeed a bit obvious, so she tore her own shirt, bound her chest tightly, and now looked much flatter.

Cutie Pie stared at her chest, feeling genuinely sorry for them.

Those two soft lumps, bound up so tightly...

...

Once she was ready, Grace headed up the mountain.

She blended in seamlessly with the miners coming and going, kept her eyes straight ahead, and walked right in without anyone noticing.

She passed many branching paths, and saw plenty of miners pushing carts full of coal out. Clearly, this really was a coal mine.

With Cutie Pie guiding her, they wound their way through twists and turns for a long time. The farther they went, the fewer people there were, until finally Cutie Pie led her into a tunnel just wide enough for a handcart.

Once they got through the tunnel, the scene changed completely.

The area had been hollowed out, forming a massive cavern.

There were twenty or thirty miners inside the cavern.

Most of the miners were sitting on the ground, not working.

A few were still digging away.

But what they were digging up wasn't coal anymore.

It was Mythril Ore.

However, it looked like today's haul wasn't much—only a few small pieces of ore were scattered on the ground.

"Doggie! Stop digging! There's nothing left!" an old man called out. "We've already mined all the Mythril Ore here."

"If it's all gone, why does the boss still make us work the night shift?" Doggie replied. "Didn't he say there was definitely more?"

The old man puffed on his pipe and said nothing.

Grace didn't pay much attention to their conversation. She hummed a little tune in her head, ready to head back the way she came.

She'd go back and get her dad, come here in the middle of the night to catch them red-handed. The Sun Family wouldn't be able to run away then!

But just as she was about to enter the tunnel she came from, a rumbling noise sounded overhead.

Grace froze. What was that sound?

Bang! A huge crash echoed through the cavern.

A massive chunk of Adamantine fell from above—almost landing on Grace's foot!

Startled, she jumped back several steps, completely shocked.

The Adamantine was just the right size to block the tunnel completely.

The commotion startled everyone else, and they all rushed over.

"What is... what is..." Doggie stared wide-eyed. "How did such a huge chunk of iron fall down?"

"This looks like... Adamantine! Even the sharpest sword can't cut through Adamantine!"

"Yeah? What's going on here?"

"With such a huge chunk of Adamantine blocking the exit, and no other way out, how are we supposed to leave?"

...

The miners were thrown into a panic, chattering anxiously among themselves.

Suddenly, an aged voice rang out from the crowd: "So that's how it is!"

Grace looked over—it was the old man with the pipe.

"Uncle Zane, what do you mean, 'so that's how it is'? What are you talking about?" Doggie asked.

Uncle Zane tapped his pipe, eyes fixed on the Adamantine. He stood and said, "When they insisted we all work the night shift today, saying not a single person could be missing, I had a bad feeling about this."