"M'Lord we found something" The man yelled as he quickly walked up to them.
His breath uneven, his walk a little unsteady, the man seemed a little out of breath.
This was not the first thing that the crew noticed, the man's smile was so big one could not help but be distracted. His teeth were crooked, but the large smile was very infectious. He simply radiated so much positiveness you simply could not help return the smile and become a little happier.
They were also very interested in his news. Nobody walks up grinning ear to ear to tell bad news. Since good stuff was found, they were definitely interested.
"What 'ave ya found lad?" Greg was the first to question. As the person who ran the operation, it was only natural for him to respond.
"A natural cave! Not just any cave, it has a natural cave! It's grown loads o' herbs too." The man stated enthusiastically.
" 'Erbs?" Greg piqued up by the word. "Bring us there. Could be good stuff. Caved like that tend to grow some special herbs m'lord, best we check it out immediately." Greg said, a smile now also adorning his face. It seemed that the find put him in a good mood too.
They quickly agreed to follow the man out to the natural cave. Theodore decided to inquire about herbs too, now that he might become a big shot dealer.
"Herbs come in all different shapes and sizes m' lord. Some are valuable, some are so common they aren't worth a dime. Herbs in the woods are usually quite common. I used to forage them for the herbalist lady. She's been old as long as I remember, but she's very knowledgeable bout herbs, thought me a lot too. She's a good lady m' lord, she helps the folks too."
"Many of the more valuable herbs have very specific conditions for them to grow. With the cold around here, we don't have many of those. We make do with what we got though. We've got the Blue Tundra Roots here though. We don't have many, but they're a bit of special to this region. Good for fevers and the like when grounded and put in thee."
"As for the cave. Herb's growin' there are bound to be different from what's growing in the woods or in the marshes. Could be good' stuff. We'll find out shortly m' lord."
They quickly made their way to a cave, a few ridges along the path they had been standing on. The cave entrance was hidden behind some tough vines and other plants growing along the steep mountainside. Nobody would find this place if they didn't know what to look for.
Apparently, Mr Smiles tripped and fell. He decisively angled his fall towards the mountainside, in order to prevent falling in the ravine. He had expected a heavy hit, pain, bruises and perhaps some blood. All that didn't happen as he was caught by the vines and comfortably hung backwards in the entrance. Noticing his visions not coming into fruition - since there was no pain, the man had been ecstatic from that point onwards.
He had gotten himself up hastily from the vines, hence his dishevelled looks. He decided to prod the vines to see how far the dent in the mountain would be. To his surprise, it wasn't a dent in the mountainside, but an entrance of natural cave. He explored the first ten to fifteen meter. After spotting the herbs and the spring, he immediately rushed off to the base camp, only to hear his lord and leader Greg were up in the tunnels.
He then sprinted back up to deliver the news. There hadn't been a moment where he though to keep the discovery for himself. This kind of wealth would get him killed quickly. He wouldn't be able to extract, sell and profit without anybody noticing. Also, these herbs all belonged to the lord, as it was his territory. Stealing from the lord was punishable by death, and he wasn't going to risk that! So he had easily decided to reap the rewards of bringing the news in himself.
Theodore was surprised to learn all these things as they got to the cave entrance. The smiling man had been very calm as he answered all of Theodore's questions, even when questioned with his motives. Theodore liked Mr Smiles. He was an honest worker. Regardless of what they would discover, he would reward his behaviour. He was in dire need of trustworthy people as well, so he was already hatching a plan to keep the man permanently in his employ.
They entered the cave, with Smiley and Greg leading the way, followed by Theodore and finally Wesley.
Theodore was immediately struck by the scene. It was warmer than outside, unlike the cold tunnel they visited earlier. He could see the walls glistening with moist. A very white light pervaded the cave from deeper within. It was very different from the pale blue light of the Sapphire lumen. This had Theodore intrigued.
Ever since he was introduced to the Sapphire Lumen he had been thinking of creating lamps with them and replacing the candles and oil lamps. The light from these sources wasn't pleasant to his eyes and would also burn to resources.
However, knowing they died down in only a few hours, using them as a lamp wasn't viable. They also did not charge in the knight, so replacing them was impossible. All lumen would lose their shine during the night. It would be annoying to come home at night, only to see that all your lights didn't function. Oil lamps and candles were much more reliable. Not only because they could burn longer and keep you company all night, they also gave you an accurate sign of when they were about to die out.
Now that he found a new light source, one that seemingly did not an outside source to function, Theodore had grown curious and excited. Building lamps would make him fortunes!