episode_0032

“Uh… … . that is… … .”

Of course, I had no answer to the Crown Prince’s words telling me to become my own hand and foot. What I needed was a title of great nobleman, not an opportunity to become the Crown Prince’s hand or foot.

I was worried about how I should gently show my refusal without offending the next king.

But the problem was solved easier than expected.

“Deterioration. It is not right to judge someone who has not been properly verified simply based on documents.”

“… … Okay, okay! That’s right. How can there be an escort who nags more than a mother? Isn’t it?”

I couldn’t help but smile awkwardly at the Crown Prince’s appearance as if he was asking for my consent. That nagging escort is staring at me like he’s going to kill me.

“There is no need to be too cautious. Although his fault is that he nags a lot, this guy doesn’t use his power recklessly.”

“Degradation!”

“Ah, yes. There was also the fact that most of what was said was inferior.”

“… … .”

I couldn’t help but smile awkwardly again at the sight of Howie looking like he had given up.

Anyway, after watching the brief comic talk between the Crown Prince and his escort, the Crown Prince began to look at me with interest again.

“Could it be possible to watch a blacksmith work with a skeleton? It’s really fascinating just listening to your explanation.”

“Deterioration. It may be dangerous.”

“How dangerous could it be? I’m a certified warlock, and there’s you too. And, be honest. Are you curious too? A skeleton creates a sword by hitting a hammer! Aren’t you concerned about what level of quality the sword will be made of?”

“Keu, keuhm… … !”

Howie, who had been nagging the crown prince, quietly cleared his throat and turned his head. It was clear that he, too, was curious about skeletons working as blacksmiths.

“It’s not difficult to show you, but… … . Even if I work here without stopping, my blacksmith shop will take ten days.”

“Do I have to see it at your blacksmith shop? Is it not okay to show it at another blacksmith shop?”

I had no choice but to raise a white flag because of the tone of voice and gaze that made me feel like I was determined to see it no matter what. It wasn’t difficult to show it.

In the end, I ended up accompanying the crown prince to a nearby blacksmith shop to give a demonstration. I wonder what I’m doing when I come here to buy a title of great nobility… … .

“I will take out the skeleton first, so don’t be surprised.”

Whatever the reason, I decided to demonstrate, so I immediately took out the skeleton. He was carrying two skeletons in his arms for protection.

Since it was a place where a blacksmith had rented a blacksmith shop, the iron in the kiln was already red-hot. The skeleton immediately picked up the piece of iron with tongs and began making things like we do in our blacksmith shop.

Forging work is carried out by hitting the iron with a banging sound, followed by quenching and tempering. Finally, the process of making steel products was completed in an instant by sharpening the blade.

The piece of iron that was in the shape of a square ingot changed into the shape of a blade according to the skeleton’s actions. It took a long time to make a weapon like an arming sword, and the amount of heated iron was not enough, so I made a kitchen knife a little longer than the palm of my hand.

The crown prince, who confirmed that the kitchen knife was made in an instant, began to closely observe the knife made by the skeleton. I was checking the sharpness of the wood nearby by lightly carving it for making handles.

“Oh… … . It’s really well made. What do you think?”

“The quality is better than I expected. The shape is straight and the angle of the blade is the same on both sides. I don’t know if it’s the difference in iron or the uniformity of the work, but it’s also good for mana flow.”

“If you’re crazy about knives, then it’s okay.”

“Deterioration. Please maintain your dignity.”

“So, isn’t that because I’m crazy about knives? What is dignity?”

“… … .”

I couldn’t understand why these two people were suddenly having a conversation with a kitchen knife that I had made in someone else’s blacksmith shop.

Anyway, after a brief chat, the Crown Prince started asking me various questions.

“If you run the blacksmith shop in this way, how many skeletons are you currently operating?”

“It varies depending on the order or inventory, but on average, we use ten skeletons. Orc skeletons are used to make higher quality premium line products, and goblin skeletons are used to make general products.”

“Oh! So you’re saying there’s something of better quality than this? Do you also make weapons?”

“Yes. We also supplied various types of weapons to the village guard.”

A smile began to appear on the crown prince’s face when he heard that even the weapons were made without any problems. He continued to ask me many questions, and I answered the parts I could with sincerity.

And, after being bombarded with questions for a long time, the crown prince was satisfied and nodded as if he was satisfied.

“You, I give permission to purchase the title of great nobleman. And, I won’t charge you anything.”

“Yes? Are you saying you won’t even charge me?”

“Yes. Your abilities will be of help to the royal family and, by extension, to our kingdom. How can you get paid to recruit such talent?”

“Thank you!”

I was already wondering if it would cost around a few million meds to purchase the title, but when I heard that I wouldn’t receive a single penny, a greeting came out of nowhere.

“Shouldn’t we rather be thankful? They say someone as outstanding as you will become a noble person.”

Perhaps because the great nobles automatically belong to the royalist faction, the Crown Prince seemed very satisfied.

“You may say that you are the Minister, but could you give priority to royalist nobles when selling martial arts weapons? Oh, I’m talking about large-scale sales, not just selling one or two to each individual in the private sector.”

However, there were no conditions.

The crown prince, who knew that my abilities were suitable for large-scale production, seemed to be worried about large-scale quantities being handed over to the aristocratic faction. The aristocratic faction is already strong, and it would not be good for the royal family and the royalist faction if they were given more weapons.

To be honest, I was a little hesitant because I thought there would be losses because the market is limited. The stronger the power, the greater the number of nobles belonging to the noble faction.

However, he had no intention of rejecting the crown prince’s request. Simply looking at the number of private soldiers, it was more profitable to sell goods to the aristocratic faction, but since the royal family operated a standing army and could conscript citizens, the final market size could be said to be slightly larger for the royal family.

Moreover, most of the actual profits came from daily necessities sold to the private sector. Most of the weapons sold were purchased by mercenaries.

“Okay.”

“Thank you for willingly agreeing.”

When I accepted the conditions, the Crown Prince smiled and lightly tapped my shoulder as if he was very satisfied.

“Ah, yes. You said you bought the title of great nobleman because you wanted to get mining rights, right?”

However, what could be said to be my original purpose came out of the Crown Prince’s mouth.

“That’s right. Skeletons are stronger than miners and have no problems with dangerous work.”

“What area do you live in?”

“Ten days in the capital… … . No, it is a small village located in a place that takes about a month to get there by regular horseback. It belongs to the Viscounty of Tar.”

“Viscount Tar? Hmm… … .”

When I told him who the owner of the territory the village belonged to was, the crown prince looked worried. I wondered if Viscount Tarr was trying to tell whether he was a royalist or an aristocrat, but that wasn’t the reason I was concerned.

“There happens to be a royal territory with iron mines nearby. Mining in that iron ore is permitted.”

“… … Yes?”

“Didn’t you hear? They said they would allow mining in iron ore.”

At the sound of permission to mine iron ore, cheers almost burst out. It was to the point where I wondered if things could be resolved this easily.

The original plan was to obtain a mining permit by purchasing identification, which was the minimum requirement for obtaining a mining permit, and then negotiating with the lords who owned the mine, but in this way, all of that process was unnecessary. Since the crown prince gave permission directly, there was no need to negotiate with the lord or obtain separate permission from the royal family.

However, there were some conditions, such as not receiving a fee for purchasing the title. There was a desire for the crown prince to be a wealthy person, but he didn’t seem to be one.

“However, it would be good if this amount of iron ore mined was repaid to the royal family.”

“If that’s the case, it’s not a difficult condition… … .”

“Are you curious as to why this was allowed? It’s simple. As you said, if you are a skeleton, even dangerous work is no problem. It turned out that the iron ore had a steep mountainside and veins between very hard rocks. Mining is not easy with slaves, and even if mining is done, the profits are poor. At least the quality of iron ore is good, so it can be said that profitability is poor.”

In short, it meant that mining in a mine close to Gyeryuk was permitted.

A normal person might get angry and think I’m being fed taffy, but I wasn’t like that. The difficulty of mining wasn’t important to me anyway. The skeleton did the hard work, not me. Besides, if the quality of iron ore was good, there was nothing better than that for me.

Although the 20% repayment was a bit disappointing, considering that 20% replaced the cost of purchasing iron ore, it was still a profitable business.

“Thank you!”

Since I had accomplished everything I wanted, words of gratitude automatically came out.

“I will write a document regarding this, tomorrow… … . No, come back as a judge in two days. I have to give them a certificate of title as a great nobleman, and I have to create a document to convey to those in charge of the territory under their direct jurisdiction.”

The Crown Prince seemed to be worried that I was changing his mind, and left a message telling me to come back as a judge in two days and then turned around.

“Your Majesty, are you going to return to the palace now?”

“I plan to become an examiner. Isn’t the reason why I went to the review board in the first place because there was a report that the people in charge of the review office were bribed by the noble faction and destroyed documents without reviewing them?”

“… … Then shouldn’t this have been dealt with earlier? It’s already time to destroy all the evidence.”

“When you process evidence in a hurry, you end up leaving behind more evidence. Also, how can you tolerate that when skeletons work as blacksmiths?”

“Deterioration… … .”

“That expression! Don’t look like you’re worried about what the future of this country will be like! It’s a joke!”

The crown prince and his guard continued to chat even as they left.

I shook my head at that sight and decided to increase the number of skeletons so that I could soon mine and run a blacksmith shop. We had to be able to operate several times more than now to be able to handle all tasks stably.

I heard that the title was also given for free, so I spent all the money I brought to buy the title on buying materials to make a skeleton.

The price of goblin corpses was high due to the lack of monsters near the capital, but it was not difficult to obtain them, perhaps because the capital was the center of all logistics. In fact, it was in better condition than if it had been rescued by mercenaries.

Anyway, having secured a total of 15 goblin skeletons in the two days the crown prince had mentioned, I headed to the review office earlier than the appointed time.

“Oh! Are you here already? You are sincere.”

However, although the judge arrived earlier than scheduled, the crown prince was already there. In addition to the crown prince, dozens of other guards and what appeared to be soldiers were stationed nearby.

“Now, here is the certificate of title of nobleman and the mining permit. All you have to do is go to the territory under your jurisdiction written on the permit and show it to the official. I also sent the document to management, so please do your best.”

“Thank you.”

“Then go first. Normally it would be normal to congratulate you because you have earned a title, but there is something a little different.”

I nodded lightly as he seemed to say that I should just go home on a good note without trying to find out more details. If a high-ranking person was interested in saying this, there was a very, very high chance that it would become annoying. Therefore, I immediately took two types of documents and left the capital.

After leaving the capital and arriving at the place where the cart was parked, I could see that it looked the same as when I left. As I approached, there was no change in the skeleton that warned me that it was my cart or object, or in the objects on the cart.

Still, I checked the luggage of the cart just in case, and then moved straight toward the village.