episode_0034

Although Jiena’s ears were drooping, the skeletons moved without any problems.

After spending some time looking closely, I realized that all of the skeletons were making things properly. Each person created objects of the same type as the objects placed on the product designation table in front of them.

And, after that, I started working again and created the same thing again. After that, I changed the items in the product designation group to produce other items. Instead of stopping the production of products already in production, they finished producing all the products and then began making products for the designated product group.

After confirming that there were no problems, I nodded in satisfaction.

“Ziena.”

“Yes.”

Jiena, who had been drooping her ears sullenly, immediately turned her gaze to my call.

“I may be away for a few days later, so make sure to manage your inventory well.”

“Where are you going?”

“Oh, I need to develop a mine.”

Now it seemed like we would have to develop the mine and start mining. Looking at the level of raw materials remaining right now, it would have been difficult to survive even a month if things continued like this.

“It’s not far away, so I think I’ll have to go back and forth periodically. So in the meantime, you need to take good care of yourself.”

“Don’t worry.”

“If you work hard and do well, I’ll buy you beer with a whole pig barbecue sometimes.”

I remembered that Gienna’s favorite food was barbecued whole pig and beer, so I decided to give her some carrots.

“Really?!”

And, perhaps because it was Jienna’s favorite food, her ears, which had been drooping as much as possible, stood up again.

I nodded, thinking that it was very simple. If you work hard, there’s nothing you can’t buy.

“Ah, that’s right! president. A priest named Father Thomas came a few days ago.”

“Father Thomas? Oh, did you bring blood with you?”

“Yes.”

Since I was away for quite some time, it seemed that Father Thomas had brought the blood during that time.

“How did you do it?”

“I did what the boss said briefly last time.”

Fortunately, I was able to talk to Jiena about blood.

During meal times or when there was a customer looking for me, I entered the space where black magic was practiced, and at that time, I showed curiosity about the jar and informed it.

He told me that it was a jar for collecting blood and that the blood was collected from a temple in a nearby city and brought to him. He had told me that Father Thomas would come, and that if he brought me blood, I would pay 8,000 Med per jar.

“Did you pay the right amount of money?”

“Yes. That person also checked and said there was nothing wrong.”

“Thank goodness.”

I was very satisfied that the work was done properly without me.

I sneakily went to the space used for training and checked the jar, which was filled with a considerable amount of blood. The freshness seemed quite good, perhaps because the entire process from collection to delivery and storage here was done using magically treated jars. There were some parts that were a bit lumpy, but there was no problem making it into blood essence.

“Good. I also needed more dark magic.”

It was obvious that if the mine was developed, the consumption of black magic would increase significantly. I had already created goblin skeletons to work as miners in the mine, but it was clear that I could add a few more.

“Please continue to do this in the future.”

“Yes. Ah, I think a guest has arrived.”

Jiena said that a customer had arrived and immediately ran to the store.

Although he seemed a little obsessed with money, I still felt satisfied with the fact that he worked hard and did a good job. I processed the blood dripping from the jar, thinking that I would really buy him a barbecued pork and beer soon.

After making it into blood essence in an instant and leisurely increasing his black magic power, he began preparing to develop the mine.

The first preparation was the transformation of goblin skeletons that would become miner skeletons. At first, we tried to give them things like pickaxes, chisels, and hammers like ordinary human miners, but we felt that this would be detrimental in the long run, so we decided to modify the skeletons.

Even though it is said to be a product made of iron, that does not mean it has an infinite lifespan. As you use it, it gets worn out and becomes dull, and if you don’t take care of it properly, you can’t use it for a long time. But the skeleton’s bones were different. It was possible to regenerate as much as you wanted with just black magic and a few materials, and by investing more black magic, it was also possible to make it harder than iron.

For that reason, the goblin skeletons that would act as miner skeletons had something other than a hand where the hand should be. In its place was something long and pointed instead of a hand. This was because the bones had been transformed into a form specialized for stabbing.

The purpose was to throw the sharp object around the ore and break it. To see what the level was, I tried poking some of the iron ore that had a lot of stones attached to it.

Of course, the miner skeleton, which had been transformed by infusing it with a considerable amount of black magic, stabbed the iron ore very lightly, as if stabbing pudding with a fork. Moreover, as luck would have it, he was able to cut through the boundary between the iron ore and the stone and remove only the stone part.

“Oh, it’s effective? We can put it in right away. It feels somehow familiar… … . Does it have to do with my past life? Well, it might not be a big deal considering I don’t remember it.”

Since it was confirmed that they had hands perfect for use as miners, I wanted to send these skeletons to the mines right away. But there was one problem. That is, because they lost their hands, these guys could not transport iron ore.

Therefore, I decided to use a skeleton this time too. If you had a mining-specific skeleton that couldn’t be moved, all you had to do was create a skeleton that couldn’t mine but was good at moving it.

With the purpose of creating a skeleton that was solely responsible for transporting the mined iron ore, a skeleton was created to transport the mined iron ore inside the mine, like a cart skeleton that moves with a load by connecting it to a skeleton horse. From the cart skeleton to the miner skeleton’s hands. After repeating the transformation of the skeletons several times, I became quite familiar with it, and a decent skeleton was completed.

“Boss! Now it’s over… … ? What is this skeleton? a little… … It’s gross.”

However, because we focused so much on efficiency, the appearance was strange. So much so that Jiena, who came with a bright smile saying it was time to close, frowned.

This is because the basic appearance is in the shape of a spider. To be more precise, it was shaped like a spider’s eight legs sticking out from the side of a square basket. It may have even been because the two front legs had goblin palms, and the basket had a goblin skull attached to it, but it looked even more creepy.

To be honest, I was hesitant after making this skeleton because of its appearance. Although the skeleton itself had a slightly disgusting appearance, this was a little worse.

“I thought it looked kind of creepy, but… … . First of all, this is a skeleton that will carry the ore mined from the mine. If the skeleton digs it up, takes it out, and then goes back in, it will take a long time. It is convenient to have a separate skeleton that specializes in transport.”

“Then, is this skeleton’s strength good? If it were ore, it would be quite heavy.”

Jiena’s job included organizing the raw materials that skeletons used to make things, so she knew the weight of raw materials, including iron ore.

“Strength is good. It wouldn’t be a problem if you and I could go up here together and jump around.”

It was obvious that there would be limited space when developing the mine, so the power was strengthened from the beginning. There was no problem for me and Ziena to climb up, and there was no problem for us to climb up while carrying various items on our backs.

“Would you like to demonstrate it?”

“Yes. I have a general idea of how it moves, but I want to see it.”

I don’t know if it was because her aversion to skeletons had diminished after spending time with me, but Jiena looked at the ore moving skeleton with a strong expression of curiosity.

Seeing the look of anticipation, the skeleton immediately began to move.

The bones, which had turned into spider legs, moved in perfect order. As I moved my legs and made a sound, the skeleton moved forward.

It felt like a real giant spider was moving like a skeleton, and I could see Jienna, who was nearby, flinching.

Anyway, the skeleton that arrived in front of the raw materials moved its frontmost leg. Unlike the handless miner skeleton, the goblin moved its limbs with hands and filled the iron ore lying on the floor into a basket on its back.

Afterwards, the skeleton that filled the basket went to the place I instructed and poured out the iron ore filled in the basket. No, more accurately, he turned his body over and poured out the things in the basket.

“Do you load and unload iron ore on your own?”

“That’s right. When the miner skeletons dig up iron ore, it collects it on its own. And they also collect them in a designated place.”

“So, are you collecting iron ore and coming all the way here?”

“I’d like to, but I can’t because there isn’t that much that can be moved at once. Put them all in one place and move them later using a large wagon or cart.”

Because there is a short distance to this place, hundreds of skeletons had to be operated at the same time to get from there to here without any problems with mining. Hundreds of skeletons for moving minerals had to be operated. It was too inefficient.

In addition, as promised to the Crown Prince, 20% of the mined material had to be paid as a usage fee, so bringing it back immediately would only double the transportation costs.

Anyway, after completing the miner skeleton and the transport skeleton, I immediately moved to develop the mine. The target was, of course, the royal territory where the mine, which had been granted permission by the crown prince, was located.

To be more precise, it was the central city of a direct territory. It was a city that managed the entire territory under its direct jurisdiction, and it was necessary to stop by there first. This is because processes such as announcing the start of mine development and discussing payment methods for usage fees were necessary.

But the process didn’t take long. I don’t know if it was because the person I spoke to in the first place was the crown prince, but there was no such thing as an official committing fraud in the middle. Even though they were nobles, the nobles were nobles, so the way they treated me was also quite polite.

However, the fact that management would periodically check the amount being mined was a bit disappointing and annoying. After the management confirmed the amount of mining, I was able to take it, excluding the repayment amount. I decided not to pay much attention to this part because it was an unavoidable part of my dealings with the royal family.

This was an issue that could be easily solved later if it were possible to create a skeleton with a certain level of intelligence like a Skeleton Mage.

Anyway, after completing all the procedures, I moved towards the mine that I could develop as I wanted.

And, I was able to understand why the Crown Prince gave permission so easily and only received a 20% payment.

The mountain slope was extremely steep. It was on a completely different level from the mountains near the village where children could easily go to play. It was a mountain that even people had to climb while touching the bottom with their hands. In the first place, the cart was not inclined to be dragged along.

It was an unsuitable mountain for deploying miners, and it was also unsuitable for delivering supplies. Of course, even if there was mining, transporting the minerals to the plains was also a task. It was something that people had to carry one by one.

“Management must be having a hard time.”

Of course, it was a disability that had no particular meaning to me. The only thing that made me feel sorry was the management who came every month to check production.

The skeletal horse could climb walls that were close to right angles, so there was no difficulty in moving around. What he meant was that there was no problem using the cart skeleton. There was a downside to having to attach myself, but that was all I needed to do by modifying the skeleton to create a part that could hold the body in place.

After a moment of silence for the official who would come to visit us after all our hard work every month, we set out to find the entrance to a small mine that prospectors had built.

And, after holding on to the skeletal horse and moving up the steep mountain for about an hour, I was able to find the entrance created by the prospectors.