The mine was in shambles. Rotting wood here, collapsing rock there. Only the sheer mercy of the universe seemed to keep it all in balance. Komaeda poked the wooden poles tentatively, testing them with caution, but to avoid risk Hinata dragged him away and urged him not to touch anything.

Various strings lined with multicolored stones hung gently swung across the entrance, clattering in the breeze, and a collection of skulls decorated the rocky ledges. These were a sure sign of goblins if Hinata ever saw one.

"You ready?" He eyed the other boy, who lifted and readied the new bow. He certainly seemed glad that he had the weapon, and Hinata was pleased that he liked it. It was pretty expensive. Truth be told if Komaeda did get a cheap spear instead, they could have gotten Hinata a new, much needed sword as well. But if the other was happier this way, and better skilled with a bow, he was fine with it. It wasn't like he couldn't use the sword he had.

"Yeah. Let's go, then!" The two prepared their weapons, and courage, then raided the cave.

Hinata grimaced. Maybe getting a lantern beforehand would have been a smart idea.

The interior was entirely blacked out by shadows. It could have been tiny, dusty cavern full of cobwebs. It could have been a huge, breathtaking tunnel with towering ledges and perilous heights. There could have been terrifying creatures of darkness stalking them and growling behind them. There was no real way of telling. However, the former would have been a safe bet; if you expected anything extravagant you'd probably be greatly disappointed.

Hinata couldn't see his own hand in front of his face, or rather, the cave walls slamming into his face. He grumbled as he moved away from the edge responsible for his third collision (so far), following the sound of Komaeda's laughter. The white-haired boy couldn't use his hands to feel his way around the cavern, since he was holding the bow, so how was he able to avoid the walls so well?

Eventually Hinata gave up and took Komaeda's hand, so to avoid any further crashes. It was... a little awkward, but nonetheless it did help. As they rounded a particularly tiny corner, Komaeda gasped a little. Hinata perked his head up (not without hitting his forehead on the roof, naturally) and strained to see what Komaeda was looking at.

The cave split into a huge clearing, obviously the main part of the mine, that was made visible by a few lanterns, but mostly by the piles of gleaming, glowing gems embedded in the earth.

Shining topaz... it was littered everywhere. The copper colored mineral emitted it's own light, and possessed admirable magic amplifying power. Mines like these drawn mage bandits and goblins in like flies to a corpse.

Hinata had seen some before, but never this much. A scene like this was awfully beautiful, and looked like a wide, amazing night sky plotted with stars here and there. But it wasn't a safe area. Movement and sound told the pair what they needed to know. A scuffling to the far right. A loud, echoing belch about twenty feet ahead. There were goblins here. Many.

Komaeda snatched a lantern off the wall and hitched it to his tunic. Having a light source was risky and drew attention, but they needed to see some way or another.

Immediately something snarled. As Hinata looked to the sound's direction, the other let out a cry of warning, but in an instant too late. A short creature slammed onto Hinata's back, knocking him to the ground and winding him. As small as the goblin was, it weighed more than it looked. The thing had the color and smell of sewage. It gargled and cried as the brunette flailed and flipped over, but regained itself, and hopped onto his chest, still frisky and furious. It's taloned feet dug through his tunic without much resistance. When it lifted it's stone axe high above Hinata's head, he flinched, bracing for-

A sharp wail sliced through the murky cave air. The floored boy opened an eye slowly. Something that shined protruded from the goblin, which had stopped moving and collapsed. Was it a blade? No... an arrow.

"Thanks... although you could have done that sooner..." Komaeda shrugged, and retrieved the arrow. "And that almost went through the goblin and hit me too." He paused. "But, thanks, I appreciate it." He didn't really want to complain, or Komaeda might think twice about saving him next time.

They continued down the tunnel, able to fend against the few goblins who did attack. There was a good twenty-thirty of the creatures, and no way they could take them all down. Perhaps they couldn't succeed in getting rid of all of them, but that wasn't why they were here. They had a mage and a boat driver to save.

And by god he was still fucking hungry.

The pair snuck along a clear path surprisingly well, less stealthily than clumsily and lucky. Eventually they reached the other side, following the lazy dull glow of the magical topaz.

The tunnel got thinner and led to a room in the back. The two of them observed the area, able to identify a table, mining equipment, more skulls, and a couple large cages made solely from bone. Even if goblin bone was extremely sturdy and tremendously difficult to break, it kind of disturbed Hinata that they used the bones of their own kind for practical reasons. But it was a different culture, after all.

A goblin shaman was the only one in the room, cursing the cages or something. It growled and scraped carvings into them, but everyone knows goblin curses don't work. It was probably a ceremonial thing.

The shaman sure was enthusiastic. Rattling the topaz pendant it wore, it shouted and spat at the cage inhabitants. Through a crack, a dull face was visible amongst the glazed light. There was definitely people in there. And probably the people they came for, too. If they could just shift in the right place, at the right moment Hinata could easily take his sword, prepare himself to spring forward, and-

One of the cages exploded.

One of the cages FUCKING EXPLODED.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT-!

The instantaneous crash of flames propelled Komaeda, Hinata and the shaman backwards, lighting up the room and igniting various hunks of wood. Bits of charred bone, rocks and dirt flew in all directions from the fiery blast in a flash. Hinata stumbled and fell backwards, blocking the flying, flaming debris with his arm.

The shaman cried out, yelping at the escaped prisoners. When one of them quivered in the corner and the other shot a fireball at the screeching goblin, it was evident which was the mage.

The shaman was slain. Goblins are weak to flame, after all. Hinata stood up. Probably a bad idea.

Noticing the silhouette, the mage released another orb of flame in an instant, as if by instinct. Hinata gasped and rolled out of the wall, narrowly dodging the blazing magic, feeling the heat of it pass by his neck. He sighed.

"Oh… sorry about that. I thought you were a goblin… I think." The magic user shrugged, lifting the other captive out of the shattered, burnt cage. Komaeda smiled at the man. "Ah! you must be the ferry driver. We came to rescue you."

"That's what I came for. And I was doing fine." The mage huffed. They may have got caught, but they did just blow up the cage.

"In any case, can you return to the dock? We and a lot of others really need to get to-"

"No! I came here to drive the goblins out of my mine, and I intend to do just that." he growled stubbornly. "And you planned to do so with that?" Hinata nodded to the man's hand, which hosted a rusty, broken shortsword.

"Yes…" His tone said that he admitted it wasn't a well thought out plan. "Well, Hinata-kun, looks like we'll have to help out with them, huh…"

Hinata nodded. It seemed more or less decided upon. The four set out for the main part of the cave again.