episode_0030

“Kyahahahaha! I’ll give it a go!”

While I was thinking about using a skeleton to mine and mine raw materials myself, I came to my senses when I saw Jiena struggling and holding on to my ankle.

As soon as the curse was lifted, Jienna was breathing heavily.

“Boss, it’s too much. I did that for the boss!”

“… … Do not lie. I know it’s because it reminds me of that guy who scammed you.”

“No?”

“You’re lying right now, Tina. My ears are bright red, what are you doing?”

My ears, which had been pure white, were dyed bright red. The pure white skin and dark blonde hair around it accentuated the red ears.

And when I pointed out those ears, Jienna rolled her eyes and secretly covered her ears.

I smiled at that sight and started to continue thinking about what I was thinking about a little while ago. But I quickly realized that there was one big problem.

Even if there were skeletons that could be used as miners, mining could not be done without a mine. Now I had no mines. The only land they had was the site of a blacksmith shop, but mining could not be done there.

If you dig deep into the ground, you may be able to find minerals, but mining them is not possible.

This is because mining was only possible with permission. Basically, permission had to be obtained from the lord, the owner of the territory to which the land belonged, and then permission had to be obtained from the royal family, which was the state.

If either of the two permits was not obtained, mining could not be carried out. And, it was very difficult to get that permission. Before getting permission from the royal family, it was very difficult to get permission from the lord.

Basically, any mine could generate enormous wealth, so it was common for lords to not allow mining in that mine and to think about taking it out of their own pocket. In a fiefdom, the lord’s word was like law.

And, it was not easy to get permission from the royal family. This is because the minimum qualification was nobility. Simply put, unless the mine was being mined by a lord’s subcontract, commoners could not mine the mine even if they died and woke up.

“Ha… … . Where should I look for the daughter of a ruined family?”

I wondered if I should at least have an arranged marriage with a woman from a family whose name was only half the name. It may cost a lot of money, but it would solve the status issue and provide the minimum qualifications to mine. However, since that would mean becoming Daryl’s son-in-law, I wasn’t particularly attracted to him.

Meanwhile, one thing came to mind. That is, the royal family sold titles of great nobility only above baron.

They were a major noble family who could not pass down the title to their children, and the title lasted only until the purchaser died. In that sense, it was also called a single victory, and I thought that it might be possible with that method.

There was the problem of not being able to own territory because they were a major noble, but that was all they had to do by finding a mine in the royal territory and obtaining permission to use it. It might cost some money, but it was definitely cheaper than feeding the lords.

“Hmm… … . Should I buy a real title?”

And, as I thought about that, purchasing a title began to seem very positive. Even if it was a major noble family where succession was impossible, a noble person was a noble person. There were many benefits and it would also be helpful in expanding the business.

In the end, after thinking about it for a while, I decided to purchase the title. For me, who will live for the next few hundred years, the impossibility of succession was not a particular disadvantage.

“Ziena.”

“Yes?”

“I’ll be visiting the capital briefly, so in the meantime, take a good look at the store.”

“Am I alone?”

“There is no one else but you. The reason I bought you in the first place was to prepare for when the store was empty?”

At my words, Gienna started looking around the store. It was clear that he was wondering if he could do it alone.

“Anyway, you’ve done well so far. While I was training, you managed the store by yourself. What are you worried about?”

“That’s right. Then, you can only inform the customers who are looking for you that you are away, right?”

“That’s right.”

After properly adjusting to working at the store, Jiena was anticipating and preparing for events that had not yet occurred. I felt satisfied with his good sense. It seems like you did a good job saving the slave.

“Hihi.”

However, seeing Jiena suddenly laughing made me feel uneasy.

“If you make a joke about my absence for a while, your salary will be reduced. If your salary is reduced to the point where you have nothing to pay, they can take away the money you gave them.”

“Hiik! Well, there’s no way I’m fooling around!”

When I heard that beyond a pay cut, they could take back the money they gave me, Jienna looked very surprised. It seemed like he was genuinely surprised to see his ears trembling.

It was obvious that something was bothering him and he was startled, so he immediately placed a curse preventing him from lying. In fact, to put it nicely, it was a curse that prevented one from lying, but in reality, it was a curse that encouraged one to only tell the truth while in a dazed state, as if one were drunk.

“Ziena. What were you going to do while I was gone?”

“Boss… … When there is no… … Open late… … To close early… … .”

When I heard that he was trying to fool around, my first thought was, “Okay, that’s right.” Although she worked hard and was good at her job, Jienna liked the time off from work the most and hated the time to go to work the most.

I, who still had some memories of my past life, was able to understand Jiena. In my past life, I also hated going to work, and I liked coming home from work the most.

“Slaves are missing.”

Of course, that didn’t mean I could forgive him.

“Ahh!”

He gave a warning by blowing a chestnut on Jiena’s pointed nose, which had half-opened eyes, to make her come to her senses.

“I’ll come back and check. I know that if it is confirmed that I was cheating, my salary will be reduced immediately.”

“Yes… … .”

Jienna, disappointed that she could not do what she had planned, sank down. Even the long ears that had been sticking out stiffly on the sides began to droop down.

If dogs express their emotions with their tails, elves express their emotions with their ears.

“Instead, you can close 30 minutes early while I am away.”

“Really?!”

Jiena’s sullen appearance disappeared, and she returned to her bright appearance, expressing with her whole body that she was in a better mood. He was jumping up and down and gently stroking the leaves of the plants growing in small pots in the corner of the store.

Thinking that it was really easy to handle, I started preparing to leave for the capital. This is because purchasing a title was only possible in the capital, the city where the royal family was located.

If I had known this would happen, I would have bought a title when I went to the capital to buy slaves. Well, since I spent almost all of the money I brought to buy Zienna anyway, I couldn’t have purchased it.

Still, I finished preparing to move, grumbling with some regret that I had no choice but to stay.

“I’ll be back, so take a good look at the store.”

I left the store in charge of Jiena, told my parents that I was going there again, and left for the capital.

Of course, this time too, the skeletal horse and cart skeleton were used to move. As it was getting closer to winter little by little, the cart was loaded with more winterization items. The wind that matched the speed of the fast-running skeletal horse blew in, so something like a thick blanket was needed to block the wind. When the slave market was the goal, it was just a cool breeze, but now it felt colder and colder.

“… … I’m bored without Jienna.”

Besides the cold, I got bored without Jiena. The reactions that came out when you touched them and the way they chattered away did not leave you bored.

However, since I couldn’t bring Jiena to relieve my boredom for a moment, I decided to continue training at this time. I already had to stop training midway because of the guy who came to try to trick me, so I need to work hard while I’m moving.

And, as a result of training hard while traveling to the capital, I was able to achieve some results.

While trying to create a skeleton mage, the skeleton was able to make sounds other than the sound of bones rattling. Previously, it was just moving the jawbone to make a rattling sound, but now it was closer to vibrating black magic to make the sound. It was a by-product of the process of making it possible to use dark magic.

Of course, this was not at the level of autonomously answering the questions appropriately. Only the answers that fit the pre-specified situation could be given.

“Skull. Left third rib. femur. Right humerus.”

When I applied that function to the Goblin Skeleton, the weakest of the several skeletons I brought to protect me, it responded very well. When I touched the clearly exposed bones, the names of those bones would pop out.

“Can it be used as an alarm?”

It seemed like it could be used as a warning by making a loud noise when someone approaches the area. Or, you could set it up in front of the store and have it shout out a promotional message every time people pass by.

“There are many cheap and good steel products! Come on in! There are many items such as sharp knives, axes that can split logs, cast iron pans that retain heat for a long time, and armor that blocks arrows with ease!”

I tried to make him shout out a promotional message, and he was shouting it out properly. In this way, unmanned promotion will be possible even for those who do not know how to read.

No, at this point, I thought it would be a good idea to just go around the village alone and promote it. This is done in the form of advertising to people passing by the village that they can get good goods if they come to our village and visit the blacksmith shop.

But soon I had no choice but to shake my head. Thanks to me, the people in my village don’t have much of an aversion to skeletons, but there were many cases where other people didn’t. If you don’t attack a skeleton walking alone when you see it, you’re lucky.

Anyway, after achieving some success, I was able to arrive near the capital.

This time, I thought about throwing away all the things I brought and buying new ones, but since I finally found a way to use the skeleton as an alarm, I decided to use it. You could place a cart and a skeleton a little far away from the entrance to the capital, and have them shout out that they belong to someone when they approach.

“This object belongs to Certified Warlock Andrew Steele. We inform you that items here may be cursed if they are stolen or damaged.”

The goblin skeleton on top of the skeleton cart began to talk enthusiastically. If I did this, there was a high chance that even a thief would be scared and not touch my items.

It was safe to say that unless they were crazy people with the mindset of ‘Yes, if I die, that would be enough’, there was little chance of causing harm.

Having safely stored my belongings, I moved toward the capital with peace of mind. He rode only on the skeleton horse and moved quickly towards the castle gate. He also kept the skeleton horse in his pocket and passed through the inspection as a normal person and entered the capital.

“Where should I go with this… … .”

But upon entering the capital, I felt troubled. I knew that I could purchase titles in the capital, but I didn’t know exactly where.

In the end, I had no choice but to hire people who knew the capital intimately and could guide me to all sorts of places. If you ask them to guide you to a place where you can purchase a title of great nobleman and give them a small fee, they will even arrange for a carriage to travel around the capital and take responsibility for your transportation.