Chapter 605: Big Load

Proofread By Thomas F

Ina Knox

I walked through a small tunnel and once more saw the mage turning the large stone into the gravel and filling the hole. There are a lot of them.

Many are larger than the one he is filling.

They aren’t just on the ground, but also on the roof. Mages and professionals are dealing with them at the quickest speed. We had even called mages from the army to help here.

“Governor,” he greeted like many others on the way. I nodded with a smile and walked ahead.

I wish I could move faster to reach the thing on the other side, but Alluring Stride isn’t the skill I would like to use in a place like this or anywhere else.

I had barely used that since I had taken the position of governor. I am a whore, but I do not show it.

Even without it, I am moving faster. I am at Lv. 37; my physical attributes are good enough that I could walk as fast as normal people run.

Soon, we come across another large hole. Osward created a way, and I walked over it.

My heart is filled with grief, but there is also excitement. The vein on the other side could ease a lot of my worries.

When I heard about it, I didn’t dare believe it. Even now, I am having a hard time believing it. I will only be convinced when I see it with my own eyes.

Deep down, I know it is the truth. I had seen the proof of it—the dead bodies.

A lot of people died because of the monsters. I have seen the injured and dead bodies of the soldiers. A lot of miners are dead, with their bodies taken by monsters.

Finally, we reached the other end, and I saw the crystals. They are dirty blue but glittering in the darkness, bringing a big smile to my face.

“They are near the highest purity,” said Maknok as he touched the crystal and closed his eyes.

He is right; the crystal’s purity is good. This makes refining them cheaper, thus giving us better margins on them. With them, we could earn profit with good margins.

Even if we didn’t refine them, we would still be able to earn good money through them.

Maknok and a few earth mages begin their job to look at the load while I walk toward Master Silver. He is talking with Colonel Irab and others.

“Governor,” they greeted.

“Lord Silver,” I said as I turned to him and was relieved to see that he had no injuries.

“How are the injured?” he asked. “Good, they are getting treatment,” I replied, and I could see the relief flashing in his eyes.

“This is huge for the city and the whole dominion. I would have been happier if we hadn’t paid the price we did,” he sighed. To that, I nodded.

“The cost is heavy, but this mine will help us fund greater security, reducing the chances of such an incident in the future,” I replied, and he smiled.

The mine will bring money, but it won’t be able to fund all the expenses of dominion.

Still, its help will be tremendous, especially to Panar. It will accelerate its progress, and if it is a big enough load, we might be able to finish many of our targets before the deadlines.

…

Silver

I talked with Ina briefly before turning to the group, which returned through one of the rough passageways.

This place is enormous, a maze of twisting burrows carved by creatures unknown. I sent teams into the depths, unsure of what they would find—or if they would return at all. Now, at last, the first team has made it back, and I can’t wait to hear what they’ve discovered!

“Did you find anything?” I asked the orc captain. “No, everything is clear,” he replied, which relieved me, but this was only one team.

Let’s hope the others won’t find anything as well.

I talked to the people and looked around this large area. It is very big, and that is good because everywhere I looked, I could see the crystals.

Soon, an hour and a half passed when the first carriages came in and started loading the bodies of the dead monsters.

We will be sending back to the city a lot of bodies and living monsters.

So much had happened in the past few hours. It had made me so tired that I wanted nothing more than sleep. Instead, I had just sat down on a huge crystal

It took another hour before the last team came back.

“Captain?” I asked. “Clear, my lord, but there is a lot of rubble down there, and it’s spread in a large area,” he replied, confused shown in his eyes.

Jon went there before everyone else and looked. The things are confusing but not dangerous—at least, not immediately.

“Right now, it’s enough,” I replied.

There is a complex path of tunnels with a fraction of them open. They are blocked with rubble, which had been solidified after the millenniums.

So, they were quite old.

One of the most obvious answers is that they were mine. They closed it after it was harvested. The signs prove that much, and I hope it is only that.

Excavating them would require a lot of manpower, and I don’t know whether I want to do that. Right now, I am not even thinking about it.

Twenty minutes later, Ina came with her geo-source advisor in tow.

“So?” I asked. The load looked big, but it might be on the surface only, which would be terrible for us.

“The preliminary result shows that the load is big. As for how big, only the expert would be able to tell us,” he replied, making me relieved.

He isn’t an expert in this field but understands the basics. Tomorrow, we will contact the expert and have them analyze the reserve.

I want to start mining it as soon as possible.

A few minutes later, we walked out of the place. Once we reached the other side, we rode beasts. It was past three in the morning when we got out of the mine.

When we reached the city, despite wanting to, we didn’t immediately go to sleep. Instead, we went to the hospital to see the injured.

“They will recover in a few days,” informed the Priest. Looking at rows of patients that the priests, healers, and doctors were working on.

“Not all of them. Many will be unable to work on jobs they were used to before,” I sighed.

Many had lost their limbs or received serious injuries. It would take them a long time to recover, and not entirely.

I talked to other healers and doctors as I examined the patients. They were miners and soldiers; these were the lucky ones.

Very few miners were able to survive against the monsters. Most of them were killed.

Not a single person taken by the monsters had survived. We were too late; by the time we arrived, there weren’t even bones left behind.

Soon, my eyes fell on someone familiar. She is changing the patient’s bandages.

She noticed me but didn’t turn. Her complete focus is on the patient. I waited until she finished, and she turned toward me.

“Lord Silver,” she greeted.

“I was going to ask you to consider returning, but seeing you do your job. I don’t think that would be fair to you,” I said, shaking my head.

The woman is Francesca Charlette. A Madam, we had poached her from that bastard Lucas. We had asked her before if she considered returning to the Velvet Garden.

We need people like her, the ones we can trust and who are able to do the required job.

She had declined. She liked her current job better than Velvet Garden, which would have given her a much higher salary and authority.

“Thank you for understanding, Master Silver,” she thanked. I am glad you have found your purpose, Francesca,” I said and walked away from her.

I could see the genuine joy in her eyes. It is now her purpose: I will not take that from her.

Though, I really wished she would return. We need capable, experienced people.

“What did she say?” asked Ina. “I didn’t ask,” I replied. She nodded in understanding.

“I could send Onaz back,” she offered. To that, I shook my head. That girl is very talented. She needs to learn as much as she can from Ina.

We looked at more patients and talked to more people before leaving the hospital and entering the carriage.

It is past four in the morning. A lot of people have started waking up.

“Sleep, Ina. You can do the work tomorrow,” I said as we exited the carriage in front of the mansion.

It is nearly morning; it will be dawn in less than an hour.

“Ok,” she said after a moment of silence.

With this new find, the next few days are going to be busy for her, and she will need ample rest. Skipping sleep wouldn’t help her productivity much.

Soon, I went to my suite and lay on the bed without changing. The only thing I removed was the armor I was wearing.

It didn’t take even seconds for me to fall asleep.

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