Nihonkoku Shoukan: Beyond

Chapter 33: Failing Glory

Below the surface, the mine of Courveil, Parpaldia Empire, 28th February, 1640 CCY

After going further inside the mine, the group of miners and Yumi finally come to rest at a large cavern inside. There, with the help of Voltok and Rovlok, Yumi begins to set up the carbon scrubber to recycle the air inside. This will help them extend the amount of breathable oxygen inside, letting them survive for longer.

"Good, with this, we'll be able to stay here for longer..." – Yumi

"Erm... lady Yumi, what's this... thing supposed to be?" – Rovlok

"This is a carbon scrubber. Well... to put it simply... it will recycle the air that we breathe out and make it into good air again." – Yumi

"Really? This small device can do that?" – Rovlok

"Yes. Though, don't ask me about the exact details. I won't be able to answer it. But, I used something similar to survive once, so trust me on this." – Yumi

"Hm... I see. How about these things still in the cart?" – Voltok

"Yeah... that's our ticket out of here, literally. Since we are in a cave... hey, come help me with this." – Yumi

"Ayup."

Voltok and Rovlok come over and help Yumi set up the beacon. She uses the scanner to scan the area to make sure that there are no magic gem pockets and that the structural integrity of the place she's placing the beacon is still good. She connects the large rod with her personal device and then inputs some commands into it. The legs of the beacons fold out and stabilize it. Holding her tablet, she continues to put in commands for the beacons while explaining it.

"Since we are in an underground cave, radio signals won't be able to reach the surface. With my suit pretty much destroyed, they'd lost the original signals. And we are also much deeper now, so we are pretty much out of the scanner range for life signs. So, this thing will drill into the bedrock and transmit a... how should I put this... a special kind of signal through the rock. Step back and tell everyone to cover their ears but open their mouth, you as well." – Yumi

"Go tell them, Rovlok." – Voltok

"Yes sir." – Rovlok

After telling everyone and getting the confirmation, Yumi puts in the final command. The explosive charge inside the top part of the beacon is detonated, driving a small hardened pile into the bedrock. After that, the beacon sends out several ultra-low frequency signals. The people around her flinch instinctively out of surprise and look at that with amazement. Yumi herself is not even flinching.

She has not yet forgotten those close calls on the Moon, so this little thing is nothing for her.

"Lady Yumi... what just happened?" – Rovlok 

"Don't worry. This is just a small explosive charge. This thing needs to do that to send this pile into the bedrock." – Yumi

Some of the older miners come over and look around the beacon. They are amazed at how easy it is for this machine from Japan to dig through rock. With pickaxes, it'd take many of them hours to dig through such hard rocks inside the mine. So seeing a machine doing such easy work is quite intriguing for them.

Many of the miners here can't escape not because they can't, but because the foreman of this mine had ordered them to remain in the mine regardless of what happens to get out some more magic gems. Since he was killed before any other orders can be made, they can't help but stay. With the death of their master, they don't have to oblige to his words anymore. However, the group of miners still stuck here not only because the outside couldn't reach them, but because their overlords were afraid of having the condition of these mines and the slaves working in them exposed to the Japanese public. The governor has deliberately ignored the plea for help from the families of these miners, but he has no idea that Japan won't let anyone die without trying to rescue them.