🇪🇸 The Salty Spain Special — Chapter 12

🏔️ The Treasure Beneath the Mountains

Keywords: Salty travels to Spain, Spain treasure hunt, hidden treasure, Spanish mountains, Iron Maiden, Ye Olde Large Lad, Ramadan Patel, McFinleyyy, Vicky, Sarah and Susan, Dinkz, John Daniels, Captain Morgan, Misfits, funny holiday story

The stone marked BEGIN had sent the Salty Gang in an entirely unexpected direction.

Away from the marina.

Away from the beach.

And towards the mountains.

🏔️

The path became steeper.

The sunshine was still blazing overhead, but the group were beginning to wonder whether finding treasure was actually worth the effort.

Large Lad certainly thought it wasn't.

“This is ridiculous.”

Salty looked back.

“You've been complaining for twenty minutes.”

“I'M EXHAUSTED.”

“You've barely walked.”

“I WALKED UPHILL.”

“So?”

“UPHILL!”

Nobody could argue with that logic.

🗺️ The Final Location

Captain Morgan checked the map again.

“We're close.”

Patel pointed towards a rocky section of the mountain.

“The symbols match.”

Vicky looked around.

“There has to be something here.”

Sarah spotted a strange marking on a rock.

“Look!”

Everyone rushed over.

There it was.

Another golden X.

Salty smiled.

“We've found it.”

Large Lad dropped his backpack.

“BRILLIANT.”

McFinleyyy looked at him.

“What's wrong?”

Large Lad pointed at the ground.

“WE HAVE TO DIG.”

Everyone looked at the rocky soil.

Salty smiled.

“Yep.”

Large Lad sighed.

“I KNEW IT.”

⛏️ Operation Treasure

Captain Morgan handed out tools.

Everyone started digging.

Salty dug.

Patel dug.

John Daniels dug.

Dinkz dug.

Sarah and Susan took turns.

Vicky helped clear the loose stones.

McFinleyyy kept checking the map.

And Large Lad…

was digging like his life depended on it.

After twenty minutes, he stopped.

He put down the shovel.

He reached into his bag.

Then he pulled out his headphones.

Salty stared.

“What are you doing?”

“LISTENING TO MUSIC.”

“What music?”

Large Lad put the headphones on.

A few seconds later, the unmistakable sound of Iron Maiden could be heard faintly from the headphones.

🤘

Large Lad picked up the shovel again.

“NOW I'M READY.”

Dinkz laughed.

“That's one way to find treasure.”

🤘 Iron Maiden & The Excavation

The digging continued.

Large Lad was now completely absorbed.

Every swing of the shovel was accompanied by a dramatic head movement.

McFinleyyy watched him.

“You've gone completely mad.”

Large Lad ignored him.

The Iron Maiden soundtrack continued.

THUD.

Shovel into the earth.

THUD.

Another load of soil.

THUD.

Another rock.

Sarah laughed.

“Is he actually digging faster?”

Susan nodded.

“I think so.”

Salty looked impressed.

“Never underestimate the power of heavy metal.”

Captain Morgan suddenly shouted:

“STOP!”

Everyone froze.

“What?”

Captain Morgan pointed towards Large Lad's shovel.

“That's metal.”

Large Lad looked down.

“YES.”

“No…”

Captain Morgan crouched down.

“I mean actual metal.”

Everyone gathered around.

The shovel had struck something.

Something buried beneath the mountain.

🏆 The Discovery

Patel brushed away the dirt.

A corner of something solid appeared.

Salty's eyes widened.

“That's not a rock.”

They dug around it.

More of the object appeared.

A large wooden chest.

Old.

Weathered.

Covered in dirt.

And unmistakably…

a treasure chest.

Nobody spoke.

Then Large Lad removed his headphones.

“WHAT?”

Salty smiled.

“We found it.”

Large Lad stared.

“THE TREASURE?”

Captain Morgan nodded.

“The treasure.”

Large Lad dropped his shovel.

“I'M EXHAUSTED FROM DIGGING.”

Sarah laughed.

“You've been listening to Iron Maiden the entire time.”

“THAT'S HARD WORK.”

Vicky smiled.

“You did well.”

Large Lad proudly nodded.

“THANK YOU.”

💰 The Treasure

Together, they cleared the chest.

The lock was ancient.

Patel examined it.

“There's no key.”

McFinleyyy looked at the map.

“Maybe the teddy has something.”

Everyone looked at Miguel.

Large Lad pulled him from the backpack.

“COME ON, MIGUEL.”

He searched the teddy.

Nothing.

Then he noticed something.

A tiny golden key had been sewn into the lining of Miguel's jacket.

Everyone gasped.

Salty stared.

“You've got to be joking.”

Patel laughed.

“The teddy had the key all along.”

Large Lad carefully removed it.

He handed it to Salty.

“YOU DO IT.”

Salty took the key.

He inserted it into the lock.

CLICK.

The chest opened.

Everyone leaned forward.

Inside was…

Gold coins.

Old jewellery.

Ancient-looking objects.

And right on top was another folded piece of paper.

Salty picked it up.

He opened it.

It contained just one sentence:

“The real treasure was the journey — but keep the gold anyway.”

There was complete silence.

Then Dinkz burst out laughing.

John Daniels shook his head.

Captain Morgan smiled.

Sarah looked at Salty.

“That's actually quite sweet.”

Salty nodded.

Then he looked at the gold.

“Yeah…”

He smiled.

“…but I'm definitely keeping the gold.”

Everyone laughed.

Large Lad put his headphones back on.

Iron Maiden started playing again.

He looked proudly at the treasure chest.

“BEST HOLIDAY EVER.”

And as the sun began to set over the Spanish mountains, the Salty Gang stood together beside their discovery.

They had solved the clues.

They had defeated the double-cross.

They had survived the fish market.

They had crossed the sea.

They had followed the map.

And Ye Olde Large Lad had dug up the treasure while listening to Iron Maiden.

There was only one thing left to decide.

What on earth were they going to do with all that gold?

🇪🇸🏔️💰🤘 TO BE CONTINUED…