Chapter 29. Nuclear Gains Plan (1)
Ding Dong.
[Everyone in Baron Prontera is deeply moved and applauded for your heroic courage and initiative.] [A
large amount of RP is given as a special bonus for this great social achievement.]
[Acquire 500 RP [
Currently owned RP: 507]
“….”
Lloyd blinked.
Is it because I slept too long?
The eyes did not focus well.
no, it looked futile.
‘RP? bulk acquisition? A whopping 500?’
I read the message in a daze.
In the meantime, little by little, he remembered what he had been through.
‘ah.’
tunnel construction.
beast ant.
Methane gas explosion.
Distress in a dark den.
Carrying Harviel on his back.
‘I’m alive.’
I remembered walking with Xaviel on my back.
I remembered meeting the baron and the soldiers at the end.
Lloyd was finally able to properly grasp the meaning of the message that appeared before his eyes.
‘Whoop whoop. Everyone is praising this body’s achievements?’
It’s a very good phenomenon.
They are very good.
Lloyd felt satisfied.
I struggled not to die.
It survived with tough vitality like honeysuckle.
Thanks to that, I was able to get a lot of unexpected RP.
It was as if I took out my winter clothes in late fall and found a bunch of 50,000 won bills that I forgot to put in my inside pocket last year.
He was in a pleasant trouble.
‘How should I write this? no. It’s better to stock up on RP rather than spend it all because it’s piled up.’
I don’t know what else might happen in the future.
The most reliable card in such an unexpected situation is the thick pile of RP.
That was the case with what happened this time.
‘What would have happened if I hadn’t improved my affinity for him while carrying Xaviel on my back?’
Then you wouldn’t even get RP.
I wouldn’t have invested the RP I got in that way to turn the dark mind into a skill.
‘I must have died without moving.’
Goosebumps sprouted on his forearms.
‘That’s why RP is the trump card and the last insurance. Don’t waste it, let’s keep it in abundance.’
Lloyd shook off his goosebumps.
Then, suddenly, I looked around.
The action just stopped.
I opened my mouth.
“What are you doing there?”
“I’m looking around Lloyd-sama.”
“….”
“….”
Lloyd asked.
Xaviel answered.
Silence fell between the two.
This time, it was Lloyd who broke the silence.
“No, so. Since when did you sit there from a distance like a statue and watch me?”
“If you ask me since when, I think it’s been about three hours.”
“Three hours?”
“yes. After breakfast, I took turns with my lord.”
“Then you’ve been sitting there since breakfast?”
“yes.”
“Were you there watching me stretch out all morning?”
“yes.”
“Are you perverted?”
“no.”
“then?”
“I was just taking care of Lord Lloyd.”
“Nursing. what care?”
“If you’re lying down like that and your breath stops, maybe you’re ready to call someone right away.”
“….”
“It’s a joke.”
“Oh, that doesn’t sound like much of a joke.”
“You must be mistaken.”
“But are you okay?”
“Yes, that’s okay.”
Lloyd’s eyes turned to Xaviel’s ankle.
A faint smile formed on Xaviel’s lips.
“It is all better now.”
“already? It’s been a few days.”
“Four days.”
“…Did I just wake up after sleeping for four days?”
“yes.”
“And your sprained leg, which you couldn’t even walk on, got better in 4 days?”
“yes.”
“Wow. Be honest with yourself. Did you make a big deal out of it that day?”
“What is a keekki?”
“Thumb.”
“I’ve never been rude.”
Xaviel replied as if he was talking about something.
A blood vessel popped up in Lloyd’s temple.
“I’ve never had anything to do with it. you didn’t walk properly His face is like he’s about to cry. ok? Lord Lloyd, I can’t walk. Heeing. ok? I’m just frowning. ok? That’s why this body even carried me on my back. Was it all acting?”
“Of course not.”
Xaviel shrugged.
And he spat it out in his characteristic cynical tone.
“Thanks to the resilience of the triple circle.”
“Resilience? Triple circle?”
“That’s right.”
“aha. So, thanks to the Triple Circle amplifying mana so much, you have extraordinary recovery power, right?”
“That’s an accurate summary.”
“Whoa. it’s embarrassing My bones are still aching.”
“There is nothing wrong with you.”
“why?”
“I wonder if it would be a little comforting to think that it’s just that you’re older than me and your resilience is poor.”
“What kind of a foot man? Do you want to keep hitting my bones with facts?”
“I have never been beaten. Just-”
“Just?”
“I want to tell you that I am glad you woke up like this.”
“Oh yes. I’m happy too, son.”
Lloyd laughed bitterly.
It was fortunate.
The fact that it survived.
The fact that Xaviel is safe.
Everyone was happy.
It seemed that Xaviel felt the same way.
I felt the realization that I had come out of such a dark and gloomy ant hole together.
“thank god. really.”
Lloyd slowly rose from the bed.
It is fortunate that it is fortunate.
Now was the time to move.
♣
Lloyd’s condition quickly recovered.
It was the power of the Double Circle obtained from the underground.
Throughout the day, he used an astounding mental method from time to time.
Amplified the mana absorbed by the two circles.
The amplified mana was directed all the way to the extremities of the body.
The life cycle of natural body cells has sped up.
Cell recovery cycles were also accelerated.
Thanks to this, most of the muscles and ligaments that had been stretched due to extreme overwork were fully recovered in less than 10 days.
There was another good news.
Foreclosure tickets stuck all over the mansion.
Those red scabs that had bothered me since I first came here are gone.
It was thanks to the release of the seizure on the baron family.
‘This is all thanks to this body.’
Lloyd suddenly remembered what was in the novel Iron Blooded Knight.
According to the novel, the baron’s mansion at this time should have been completely empty.
It was because the seizure was carried out early.
But now?
Rather, the seizure was canceled.
The ondol room construction business he has been steadily working on.
It was thanks to the baron’s interest paid with the money he earned.
‘Thanks to that, the baron’s trust has been restored. I’m so glad.’
In Iron Blood Knight, all the baron family members are kicked out of the mansion around this time.
The baron and his wife pass out in despair, and Lloyd begins to live in denial of reality and addiction to alcohol.
But not anymore.
He was changing the bleak scenario himself.
It was also planned to continue to change in the future.
“So everyone move! Don’t make a fuss just because it’s hot!”
Lloyd’s cry reverberated across the mine construction site.
He had returned to finishing the mine construction before he knew it.
directly supervised the work.
I tied an extension belt around my waist and took the lead.
He participated without fail in each of the most difficult and dangerous tasks.
Every time that happened, the skilled workers and the soldiers of the Corps of Engineers sweated even more without neglect.
It was thanks to everyone trusting Lloyd more than before.
‘He’s someone who considers our safety more important than his own life.’
Now there was no more madman of the past.
Even if he was once an idiot, it didn’t matter anymore.
It was Lloyd who stayed behind to safely evacuate the workers on the day the beast ants first appeared.
That image was deeply imprinted in the hearts of the workers.
And everyone thought.
that no one can do
If a person like that is directing the work, I can believe and follow it.
Even if a dangerous moment comes again, he will be responsible for safety.
It was the power of trust.
Thanks to this, the mine finishing work was more lively than ever.
“This is the last reinforcing pillar. little bit more! Put on a command! two! three!”
“Huh!”
According to Lloyd’s order, the final phase of construction was completed.
The coal mine was finally completed.
But Lloyd wasn’t excited about it.
‘It’s just the beginning.’
Even at the dinner party commemorating the completion.
While paying special bonuses to all skilled workers and sappers who participated in the construction.
Instead of being excited, Lloyd calmly planned the next step.
and put it into action.
not in a hurry
Step by step, step by step.
It was the safety inspection process of the completed mine.
‘Because I have to be diligent to pay off my debt!’
It was natural.
The baron had barely escaped seizure.
With the money he was earning from the ondol room construction project, he was barely able to meet the interest every month.
‘That means that there is still a principal payment left, which is the main game.’
That principal was ultimately a huge pile of shit that had to be cleaned up.
I had to take a break to sort it out.
At the same time, I was never impatient.
‘First is safety, second is safety.’
In fact, if you only think about money right now, you can just open a mine.
You can recruit miners to work in the mine right away and start training.
You can start mining coal that early.
Both time and money will be saved.
But Lloyd didn’t want to do that.
‘If you do that, you can earn a small amount of money right away. But the more things like this, the longer you have to look at it.’
He recalled many things he had experienced and seen in Korea.
Korea was a fast-paced country.
I couldn’t even dream of a safety inspection.
No, it was common to treat workers as accessories.
Most of the factories and logistics centers were like that.
‘My hand was cut off by a machine, I fell into a furnace, I was electrocuted by a high-tension cable, I got into an accident by getting caught in a train screen door, I got involved in an accident while repairing an escalator, and I suffered a disaster…Even if such tragedies are constantly known on the news, those who claim to manage them pretend to be self-reflective and care about safety and end it. That’s how an accident came about and put a new worker in the vacant position. Roll it until it breaks again. What if it breaks? doesn’t care. Because I think I can just find a new worker. Because that’s the normal custom they say. As easy as throwing away old parts and inserting new ones.’
It was the dark side of Korea that I saw through the news and experienced in my skin while living in the bottom class.
Lloyd was sick of that sort of thing.
I felt a meeting that bordered on disgust.
‘If you do that, even if it’s good right now, you’ll lose the trust of the workers in the end. After all, no one will want to do the work I entrust.’
Besides, what if an accident happens later?
It costs more money to fix it.
No, more than anything, he hated seeing people under his command go through such a thing.
So it was essential to conduct a safety check before opening the mine.
‘Fortunately, it’s convenient because I have such a surveying skill. survey!’
Tsutsutsutsu!
His eyes shone dimly as he searched every nook and cranny of the mine.
Through the surveying skill, the structure inside the mine was inspected in detail.
Is the ground stable?
Is the foundation well laid?
Is there any place where subsidence is progressing?
I tried my best not to miss a single inch of area.
Moreover, the scope of his safety inspection was not limited to mines.
“Are you sure you want to go back into the ant nest?”
The coal seam at the bottom of the mine.
I was about to enter the hole there, but Xaviel asked me from behind.
Lloyd looked back at Xaviel and smiled.
“huh. Are you scared?”
“It is not. Just-”
“Just?”
“I wonder why you want to enter.”
“Why? It’s a safety check.”
Lloyd said as if he was asking something so obvious.
“Actually, this place is more dangerous than the tunnel made by construction. Ants are natural tunnel builders, but there was an explosion down here, right? The ground would have become unstable. If further collapse occurs on a large scale, it may affect the shafts above.”
his words continued.
“Is that all? We’ll have to see if there’s any risk of a leak of methane gas that’s still there, or maybe some surviving beast ants are roaming around. They might come up and hurt the miners. Do you understand at this point? Then let’s go.”
After saying that, Lloyd went into the anthill.
It was with Xaviel.
“But I still don’t understand.”
“I don’t understand. what.”
“Why are you taking the risk yourself?”
“Why don’t you let someone else do it?”
“yes.”
Xaviel shook his head, gathered his thoughts for a moment, and then said.
“I don’t think I’ve heard of nobles who usually take on such dangerous tasks directly.”
“Can’t there be such a noble?”
“yes?”
“I’m going to personally check the safety of the people who will work for me. Is my idea that strange?”
“It is not. It’s reckless, but I think it’s great on the other hand.”
“oh. For some reason, my praise.”
“I laid the premise of being reckless.”
“To be shy. If you want to compliment me, just do it.”
“I don’t like it.”
“haha. Tsun-tsun.”
“What is tsuntsun again?”
“There is such a thing. But what is that?”
It was in the middle of investigating the ant nest while chatting in the middle of the day.
Lloyd squinted and pointed the torch forward.
There was something shiny on the floor.
“I will see.”
Xaviel drew his sword and approached.
I looked at the location Lloyd pointed out.
But the shiny thing there….
“It is a sword.”
“knife?”
“yes.”
Xaviel picked up the sword that had fallen on the floor.
“It doesn’t seem like a sword used by humans. It’s crude and unbalanced. Judging by the shape of the handle or the damaged blade…I think it must have been a sword used by an orc.”
“Oak?”
“yes.”
“Why is the orc sword coming out of here?”
“I don’t know that either.”
It was puzzling.
Orcs were monsters with pig heads that often appeared in iron-blooded knights.
But a long sword made of oak that fell in the middle of an anthill tens of hundreds of meters underground.
“Aren’t they originally the kids who live in the wilderness across the eastern mountains?”
“you’re right.”
“Hmm, that’s a strange thing.”
Maybe some ant just asked for it.
Thinking so, Lloyd stopped questioning.
“If you keep looking, maybe something else will come out. Let’s keep moving.”
“All right.”
After that, the two continued to investigate the ant nest.
It was an oyster that was entangled in a vast area.
In the midst of a meticulous investigation, the fortnight passed by.
And on the 16th day of investigation.
The two found a young orc warrior strewn about in a cellar at the bottom of the anthill.
“What is this?”
Why are orcs here?
Lloyd looked at the orc warrior with a bewildered face.
Xaviel, who was examining the orc side by side, answered.
“Looks like an orc captured by ants. But it looks like this orc is alive.”
“What?”
Are you alive?
Like a frozen man?
Xaviel nodded.
“It looks like he’s been paralyzed.”
“….”
Suddenly, I remembered what I had read in the iron blooded article.
It was about the ecology of beast ants.
‘that’s right. I heard that beast ants paralyze some food alive and store it.’
Perhaps this orc was such a case.
It was thanks to confirmation of that fact.
Suddenly, a new picture was drawn in my mind.
“…Uh wait. Bingo.”
An unexpected nuclear gain plan that came to mind like lightning the moment I checked the state of the orc.
A smile of repentance bloomed on Lloyd’s lips.
