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Chapter 216: A Delicious Silver Mine
Chapter 216: A Delicious Silver Mine
The monsters that were called demons or demons by the people of Astera, and were despised by them, were actually Plagues.
They were incomparable to the Plagues that had appeared in the solar system and attacked Earth in terms of size and combat power, but that was because they had not evolved enough.
Arma had warned that Lucia could grow as big as a Plague Queen if he kept feeding her.
The matter was settled for now when Leobold decided to trust her.
Anyway, the Plagues’ ego was very weak.
The higher beings had distinct personalities, but the numerous Beast-class ones only had survival instincts.
In that respect, the Plagues in Mare were very unusual.
Each individual had an ego and hated humans.
He didn’t know why, but anyway, the demons who were digging silver in the Sagris silver mine were shocked when they met Lucia.
―M-mother?
It was easy to think that there was no law or order among the demons, but there was one thing.
The strong ones have everything.F0lloww new chapters at
This also applied to Mare, where power struggles, battles, wars, and sieges were constantly taking place at this moment.
And the losers gave everything to the winners.
In that respect, the demons who appeared in this silver mine were astonished by Lucia.
―S-so big and beautiful...
―Even if our mother fights, she can’t match her...
She hadn’t actually compared herself, but Lucia was a bigger and stronger being than any Plague Queen in Mare.
She had become incredibly powerful by eating all kinds of ingots on the Settler and the mining ship alone.
Naturally, her control over her minions also became stronger and this applied to the demons of other groups as well.
―Come here, my children.
―Mother...
The demons became docile sheep and embraced her bosom.
When things went like this, Leobold, who was watching from outside the tent, was dumbfounded.
“It’s over without a fight... They accepted her as their master. How absurd.”
“Maybe it’s thanks to raising Lucia well. If their power was similar, they wouldn’t have become her minions so easily.”
“And we took on the risk... We decided to trust her, so let’s watch.”
That’s how the demons in the Sagris silver mine were turned into golems by Lucia.
They had their egos taken away, but in fact they didn’t have much meaning to their egos.
The Plague Queen was the sum of all the Plagues’ wills.
Lucia’s will was their will, and this was different from species like humans.
Anyway, this incident provided Arma with a lot of information.
He detected an ether storm in front of him, although it was small-scale.
“This ether storm appeared in the solar system with the largest scale ever and is estimated to have also appeared on the ninth planet Nox. The warp gate can be said to be a result of the ether storm.”
Although not as large as that, it was constantly happening near the planets Mare and Terra.
The demons of Mare used it to appear on Terra.
“Can’t we control it?”
If that was possible, he could teleport as he pleased.
Arma shook his head.
“It’s impossible for now. We need to identify what ether energy is before we can control it precisely.”
“Yeah, it’s hard to try something we don’t even know what it is.”
Even those who lived in Astera didn’t know what ether was.
They just used it as a matter of course.
Anyway, thanks to Lucia’s intervention, the threat factor of the Sagris silver mine disappeared completely.
Even so, the miners were reluctant to enter easily.
They believed that the lord would kill them.
Some even begged him on their knees in front of Leobold.
“Lord, please spare me. I have an old mother and a wife and children... How can they live if I die...”
“Please let me write a will at least...”
Leobold suppressed his laughter and ordered them to enter the mine with a cold expression.
“If you hear anything strange, you can come out right away. I’ll pay you twice as much and give you plenty of supplies. So work hard.”
The miners felt bitter but also tempted.
In fact, any mine was dangerous.
The mine was where most deaths occurred among many workplaces, and if the tunnel collapsed one day, mass death was certain.
They didn’t even get good treatment there, so they were lucky if they had old gloves and their meals were only watery porridge with black bread crumbs.
It was a life of living without dying.
Compared to that, the amount of equipment and supplies invested in the Sagris silver mine was considerable.
Although the work was hard, at least they felt confident that they wouldn’t die and that if they did die, their bodies would be recovered.
The miners carried their pickaxes and vowed.
“Anyway, our lives are no different from the lord saving us.”
“Our lord will take care of our remaining family if we die. I believe that.”
Thus, the sound of vigorous pickaxe work began to be heard in the quiet Sagris silver mine.
The explosives, which were said to have been invented by the Imir Republic for the first time, were also introduced for the first time, and a large rock cracked with a bang.
The miners rushed in and broke the silver ore and carried it out of the tunnel.
Even though the work was continuing, the demons didn’t seem to show up.
***
When the Sagris silver mine was opened, the attention of the Bagran Kingdom was focused.
As it boasted a large amount of deposits, they wondered how much silver would come out.
“It produced 30 tons a year in its heyday. That’s what fed the Bagran royal family.”
“The silver content is so high that you can get results by just pushing in manpower.”
“They say dwarves came from the Imir Republic? Then they won’t be able to withdraw easily because of their pride.”
“By the way, why aren’t the miners dying?”
The amount of silver produced was one thing, but what attracted more interest was how many people died.
To the nobles of Bagran, the commoners who didn’t have ether flowing in them didn’t matter how many died, and sometimes bets were made.
Some merchants even had coffins ready near the mine, but they were embarrassed that no orders came in.
“Maybe the baron is hiding the deaths? It’s normal for 20 or 30 people to die by now.”
“What about the miners working inside? Their faces are completely different from other mines.”
“I don’t know... Well, maybe he promised to pay them a lot of money. Maybe he fed them a lot too.”
“Why would he do that to someone who’s going to die soon?”
Prince Ruad looked at the report sent from the smelter and pondered.
‘He tries to preserve as many skilled workers as possible to increase the mining output. Is that it? It’s completely different from what the nobles say.’
The ability of commoners was anyway limited, so they only had to invest as many people as possible.
That was their logic.
It was based on the nobility’s view that everything other than war was trivial.
They valued Goliath-related personnel somewhat higher, but they ignored them too if they did not deal with ether.
You could see how they treated the dwarves who came from Imir Republic.
How could they fight with them?
‘If Baron Vandus hadn’t intervened, they would have all gone back.’
The dwarves’ personalities were not inferior to those of the elves.
It was a mystery how he persuaded them.
Some said he offered them precious liquor and they were very satisfied, but it was just a gossip among miners.
Anyway, Baron Vandus’s management of the silver mine suggested a lot in just two months.
Prince Ruad showed his sincerity by visiting the mine frequently and learning new technologies.
But not all members of Bagran royal family were as smart as him.
***
Bang!
The dressing table shook and even the woman’s face in the mirror trembled slightly.
She couldn’t stand her anger and got up and glared at Count Lantis who was sitting on the sofa.
“That’s four tons a month! That means we’re giving 50 tons of silver to that rat bastard in a year! Does that make sense?”
She was Eolin Bagran, Prince Ruad’s sister.
The succession order of Bagran had been fixed on Ruad long ago, so she and the rest of the royal family had to look for other ways.
Like most royals, they could become knights or devote themselves to research as court mages, but Eolin had no talent for anything.
She had poor ether sensitivity even for a royal, so her fate was to go to a foreign country or another territory as a bride.
Eolin knew that well, so she turned her eyes away from luxury since she was young.
She had to spend money on her appearance as much as possible, so that she could get better treatment.
Her efforts paid off and she was engaged to a powerful noble from Zaium.
But as Bagran’s financial situation worsened, the money she could spend also decreased, and recently she couldn’t even buy a small piece of jewelry.
She was the princess of Bagran.
Eolin understood that, but she couldn’t accept that Prince Ruad of Orabien gave away the management rights of the Sagris Silver Mine for a year.
“That’s 50 tons of silver, how much is that? Tell me, Count Lantis. How much money will come back to me?”
“Most of it will be invested in the treasury, so it won’t be that much. You know the financial situation of the royal family very well, Princess.”
“Still! I should be able to buy at least one dress and one set of jewelry! I am the princess of this country!”
Eolin clenched her small fists in anger.
She was not the only one who thought this way.
As soon as silver started pouring out of the Sagris Mine, everyone drooled over it.
Even Bagran III just laughed bitterly as if he was hit in the back of his head.
“Four tons of silver a month? That’s much more than I expected. I hope they don’t mine it all.”
“No, Your Majesty. The scale of the Sagris Mine is not just that. It can be mined for at least 20 more years, so please don’t worry.”
“Baron Vandus owes me a debt. His father and brother died in battle, so it’s not bad to give him some favors. I entrusted the prince with this matter, so don’t mention it to him without permission.”
Even though the king’s order was given, the criticism of the mine did not stop.
Baron Vandus was taking too much silver.
It was an amount that could not be compared to the gold brought from the floating continent.
In the palace, in a social club owned by a great noble, in the guard, there were rumors that Baron Vandus was too much.
—That’s right. It’s customary to pay tribute to the palace if you have such an opportunity to make money.
—If he came near the royal road, he should at least greet us, not just stay in the smelter and go back to his territory. What is that?
—The baron doesn’t care about anyone.
It was not true that Leobold did not meet anyone.
He met Prince Ruad who visited the smelter, as well as technicians from the royal road and dwarves from Imir Republic.
He just didn’t need any of the powerful people in Bagran.
“I need technicians who work on the field, not those who rely on their bloodline and interfere with me.”
Of course, those people were not incompetent, but they did not appeal to Leobold.
As he acted unlike a baron and was arrogant, he naturally received a lot of resentment.
Eolin and Count Lantis were among them, and they were seriously planning to attack Baron Vandus.
They did not mean to attack his territory, but to launch a political offensive.
It was purely out of greed, but they thought there was no problem with that.
“The most important thing is justification, Princess. We need justification to save face for His Majesty. The baron is not plotting treason or committing a grave crime.”
“Then we can make him commit a crime, right?”
“That’s right. According to the rumors, the baron colluded with the shadow elves. His territory was never attacked by pirates last winter.”
The shadow elf pirates were so famous that even Eolin, who had no interest in domestic affairs, had heard of them.
“He must have colluded with the pirates!”
“The Sagris Mine is also strange. The demons that took hundreds of lives have not appeared at all since he took over the management rights of the mine.”
“He even communicates with demons... How far does his evil scheme go?”
Count Lantis was startled by her words and tried to clarify.
“No, I’m not saying that he conspired with demons. I want to emphasize that I did not say that.”
It might be possible with shadow elves, but demons were monsters that could not even communicate.
It was impossible for Baron Vandus to recruit them unless he was a non-human being himself.
“But we can spread rumors. Baron Vandus learned black magic and colluded with shadow elves and communicated with demons... How about that?”
Eolin smiled wickedly at Count Lantis’s subtle voice.
“That would be troublesome for him if the rumors spread in Zaium’s society.”
“That’s why I need your help, Princess. Please go to Zaium and spread rumors. Baron Vandus is quite famous, so it won’t take long for rumors to spread.”
He was famous for everything from fish distribution to floating continent exploration.
He just stayed in his territory and didn’t make his fame known.
Eolin slapped her palm and agreed.
“Fine. I need a dress and a jewelry set to show off in Zaium, so add some money. I can’t wear those old-fashioned clothes again, can I?”
“...”
Count Lantis lost his words at her bold demand, but he did not lose his smile.
“I’ll try to be as flexible as possible with money.”
Somehow he had a bad feeling from the start.