episode_0038

“Wow, I feel reassured just by looking at it.”

As I left the village, I felt very reassured when I saw the procession of skeletal horses and cart skeletons following me. It was clear that no matter how much iron ore had been mined, it would be easy to move it, and I was confident that I would be able to move any number of necessary items or items requested by people.

In fact, I felt satisfied because it was all about money. All iron ore would be processed and sold as products, and the items people asked for were not bought for free.

Thinking about the money I would soon have, I felt happy. I also thought that I might soon be able to swim in a pool made with money. Although it won’t be swimming and it will definitely hurt a lot.

Anyway, feeling satisfied, I quickly moved towards the mine. I don’t know if it was because there were only a few items loaded on the cart, but the skeletal horse and cart skeleton moved very quickly.

Since it was a situation where heavy items had to be moved in large quantities, I don’t know if it was because the skeleton horse was made stronger, but I could feel the strength with each step.

Of course, the cart skeleton was also slightly strengthened. As it was created using five goblin skeletons at once, it was made wider and able to support a heavier weight. Since the iron ore was not light, it had no choice but to be modified. Thanks to this, there was enough space for me to lie down and roll around in the cart.

A cold wind blew, and as I lay down on the cart wrapped in a moderately warm blanket and read the book my grandmother left me, I was able to reach my destination before I knew it. To be exact, we had arrived at the beginning of the mountain where the mine was located.

However, a group of people were sitting there. I looked at them closely, wondering if they were a group of thieves targeting my iron ore, but they were far from thieves. No, it was close yet far. The people there were the officials who would take 20% of the iron ore mined by my skeletons to the royal family.

“It’s been a while.”

However, it was not just officials and their subordinates there. I wasn’t paying attention because I was half-hidden by the crowd, but the man who was the crown prince’s bodyguard was there.

“Uh… … . Yes, it’s been a while.”

The man I met when I purchased the title of great nobleman seemed like a person of quite high status, so I never thought I would meet him again like this.

It looked like he was escorting the crown prince, but I wondered what he was doing here and not guarding the crown prince. And, as if reading those thoughts through my gaze, the other person began to explain why he was here.

“You asked me to check the condition of the iron ore and whether payment was made properly. Oh, don’t misunderstand. It’s not that I expect you to cheat on the payment, but rather to prevent corruption on the part of the officials. It’s because some time ago, due to the aristocratic faction’s conspiracy, taxes were omitted.”

It was a completely understandable reason, so I nodded lightly. Anyway, if the repayment was around 20%, it was a very good level, so I had no intention of cheating. Moreover, I felt much more comfortable than if the crown prince himself came out and confirmed it. Even if the crown prince was a high-ranking noble, it was bound to be easier to deal with the prince’s bodyguard than the royal prince. First of all, I am also a noble, so I don’t have to worry about being suddenly veiled.

I don’t know if it was because I felt more comfortable than when I met with the Crown Prince, but unlike when I met before, I thought about talking to him first.

“That… … . What should I call you? Now that I think about it, we didn’t even exchange names last time.”

“… … Didn’t you tell me then?”

“Not at all.”

Even though I was chatting with the crown prince, I didn’t even say hello properly. Perhaps remembering that memory, he lowered his head slightly with an awkward expression.

“I’m sorry. I did something rude. My name is Levs Digar. The eldest son of the Digar family and the crown prince’s bodyguard.”

“Digar… … ?”

The moment I heard the name of the man who was the Crown Prince’s bodyguard, I strangely felt as if I had heard it somewhere before. And, I was able to remember where I heard that name.

I remembered what I heard from him when I hired a guide to go buy a title for a nobleman. It was the name of the family that not only purchased the title of a great nobleman with money, but also promoted it to a noble family with the possibility of succession rather than a great nobleman, and ultimately rose to the rank of duke.

According to what I heard from the guide, the people who protect the king are the Digar family. Therefore, it seemed like the eldest son of the Digar family was given to a crown prince of similar age. Since he was going to become king anyway, it felt like the eldest son, who would inherit the family, was in charge of protecting him.

However, as I was reminiscing about the Digar family, Levs looked at me as if asking me to introduce him. It was almost as if he was looking at me like he was asking me what I was doing but I wasn’t doing it. I had no choice but to stop thinking for a moment and introduce myself when I saw that gaze.

“Oh, my name is Andrew Steele. As you know, he is a warlock, and although it is a masterpiece, he is also a baron.”

“Andrew Steele… … . I bet you remember. By the way, are you planning on using the skeletons in the back to move the iron ore?”

“That’s right. If you want to move heavy items from that steep place, it’s best to use this skeleton.”

“If you don’t mind, could you help us carry our luggage to the mine entrance? I plan to build a way to move the promised amount.”

Levs pointed to the supplies piled up in the back. There were a lot of cut trees and long iron skewers piled up, as if they were planning to build something like stairs.

I nodded because I was going up anyway and there was nothing particularly difficult about it. In addition, I could easily take the iron ore when the official checking production finished his work, so it was beneficial to me to help.

“Of course.”

As soon as my permission was given, the expressions of the workers who had been looking gloomy as they asked, “How can we build a road on this mountain?” brightened a little. And, they immediately started filling the cart behind me with supplies. In an instant, the workers who had loaded all the supplies sat down on the cart.

Since it seemed like it was reasonably finished, they immediately had Levs and others sit on the cart and moved toward the mine. This time, while modifying the cart’s skeleton, we made it possible to keep the luggage compartment level at all times even on steep inclines, so there was no need to hold on to something to avoid falling.

“Drop them one by one!”

“Drop it vertically so it doesn’t roll off!”

“Get off one person at a time and start working!”

As we began to climb the steep mountain to comfortably head to the mine, the people on the cart following behind us started to move.

Wood and iron skewers were dropped on the floor, and workers occasionally lowered them to create stairs. Once the skeleton cart led by the skeletal horse moved, it seemed as if stairs were slowly forming. I even thought that it might be a good idea to start a business like this in the future, building roads and the like.

And, Lefs, who was riding the cart with me, was also looking at the scene with quite amazement. No, it was a little closer to looking at it with satisfaction.

“From next time, officials will move through this road. I was also at a loss as to how to instruct how to finish this work, but thanks to you, I can finish it quickly.”

“It is good for me if the officials work quickly.”

It was also good for me that there was a way for officials to enter and exit the mine more easily, even just because of the 20% repayment issue. Once the officials checked how much had been mined and decided on the amount to be paid, they could take the iron ore with them.

It would be bothersome if an official fell and died while climbing the mountain, so I adjusted the moving speed a little to make the path a little stronger. Thanks to this, it was inevitable that it would take a little longer than usual to reach the entrance of the mine, which was located high up.

Anyway, when we got to the entrance of the mine, we were immediately divided into two groups. We are going to the place where the iron ore mined by the skeletons is, and the workers are going to build a road using the materials that were scattered on the way up.

“Go down and finish the work! If you fall, you go straight to the goal, so everyone be careful!”

Under the direction of the person who seemed to be the leader of the workers, the workers gathered together and started to go down the mountain again.

“Ugh!”

“Oh my! I told you to be careful earlier! If there wasn’t a tree there, it would have rolled all the way down there! Be careful too!”

However, there seemed to be a slight accident, but it didn’t seem to be a major accident.

When I saw this, Levs, me, and a few other officials became more cautious and moved toward the place where the iron ore was piled up.

And, when we arrived there, we were able to see huge piles of iron ore. For a moment, so much iron ore was piled up that it seemed like a new peak had formed. It was several times more than what our blacksmith shop consumes in a month.

“… … Is this the amount mined in one month?”

“Goddess… … .”

Levs looked in disbelief at the huge pile of iron ore, and the official who had to personally check the amount looked despairing.

“Yes. I dug it up for a month. At the same time, it is still being investigated.”

As soon as I finished speaking, a transport skeleton popped out from the entrance of the mine shaft, spilling out a considerable amount of iron ore and entering the shaft again.

“Well, I will check the amount of minerals first!”

From the pile of iron ore, one piece of ore the size of a fist rolled and rolled towards the feet of the official. The official, who came to his senses after seeing the ore rolling at his feet, realized that the longer he stayed still, the more work he would have to do, so he hurriedly moved.

“Using the skeleton like this is very useful. When encountered as an enemy, they were extremely annoying as they did not die easily… … .”

“The more useful you are to your allies, the more difficult and troublesome they become when they become enemies.”

Levs nodded to me as if he agreed. It was clear that he knew how annoying it was to deal with skeletons, as he had experience dealing with warlocks who were to be subjugated, or exterminating naturally occurring undead.

As we were talking about the usefulness of skeletons, the official, dirty with dirt, appeared again. While we were talking, we checked the amount of minerals.

There was a separate artifact to measure the weight, so I didn’t move the items myself, but it still seemed dirty because I was moving through piles of iron ore to pick out only the iron ore.

“Is the confirmation complete?”

“Yes. About seven tons of iron ore were mined.”

It was confirmed that about 7 tons of iron ore had been mined, and it was said that about 1.5 tons of iron ore would ultimately be paid to the royal family.

For a moment, I thought that it was a waste to use the ton unit. However, since I could use this to create a link with the royal family, I willingly agreed to pay. To begin with, 20% was practically nothing.

“I… … . Warlock.”

While I was putting it on a cart to take about 80% of it, excluding the portion to be paid to the royal family, an official suddenly approached me. It looked like he had something to ask for.

It seemed like he was going to talk about transporting iron ore, but I decided to ask what was going on just in case.

“Is something going on?”

“Can you help me transport the iron ore? I will pay the cost.”

The official asked for help with transporting the iron ore, as I expected. No matter how much road was built, it was natural that it would not be easy to transport tons of goods to flat land.

Perhaps the quantity that the management had originally expected was not this much, and the number of workers prepared was not large. It would take several months to move the items to be presented to the royal family through them.

“It would be difficult to move this quantity by manpower. I would also like to ask you a favor. Can’t you help me? Since it is related to the royal family, the royal family will pay for it. If you can just transport it to the place we met earlier, the government will be able to take care of the rest.”

In addition, Refs responded that they would like to move the quantity. Even in his opinion, it was impossible for workers to transport the amount to be presented to the royal family.

Not only did they pay the cost, but they also said I only had to move it to the place I had to go through to return to the village anyway, so I had no hesitation. I gladly accepted it because it was an easy way to earn additional income.

Smiling lightly at the look of relief on the official’s face, he summoned several transport skeletons and moved the iron ore into a cart. The iron ore that was piled up like a peak quickly filled the cart, filling a total of three carts.

Afterwards, a huge amount of minerals filled with carts were moved to flat land, and due to the enormous weight and steep slopes, a considerable amount of money was collected as transportation costs.

And, with that as a starting point, Logis Skeleton’s logistics business began to take off on its own. Since it was not a problem that could be solved once, a contract was signed to move the goods on a fixed basis every month. It was said that a steady source of profit had already been established.