NOVEL WEB Chapter 711
150,000 won for an industrial magnesium slab.
Daily production rate: 150 slabs.
Excluding holidays, it amounts to about 60 billion won worth of magnesium slabs produced in a year.
Although this is far too insufficient to solve the supply delay of Dream Stones, it’s better than doing nothing at all.
“Hey, rock!”
“Be careful!”
“Huh?”
Rocks rolling down at high speed from a 75-degree slope.
I activated the barrier and extended my fist toward the falling rocks.
Kwaang-!
As my fist made contact, shattered rock fragments flew everywhere.
I dusted off my hands and looked up toward the upper section of the mine.
“Hey! You reckless ones! There are people passing below, and what the heck are you doing right now?!”
The mine supervisor shouted with veins bulging in his neck.
Rex McGraw, at the age of sixty-eight, was a veteran with 46 years of experience.
“Are you alright, NoName?”
“I’m fine, really. I can’t relax for even a moment. Is it common for things like this to happen?”
“Haaah. It’s not frequent, but sometimes we go careless while working with the shovel up top. Still, we have experience, so we manage to dodge it.”
“I wish there would at least be a barrier.”
“Then the cost would outweigh the benefits. If something happens to a crystal sphere worth ten million won, we’d have to cover it no matter what. Who’s going to wear that fear? It would be like nurturing a problem into something larger.”
“Um…”
I contemplated at that moment.
The supervisor had a point.
I wondered if other employers shared the same thoughts.
“Would there be any way to recycle the competition-used crystal spheres for distribution?”
Typically, the failure rate of the mana barrier was much higher when the small particle barrier was broken.
No matter how strong fists and kicks might be, magical output generally outmatches them.
Having a small particle barrier would protect against most falling rocks, and even if buried under a boulder, it would buy time to endure for a few hours.
Also, the process of sprinkling Kakeul powder onto the magnesium slabs directly at the refining plant looked dangerous enough.
“But they wouldn’t refuse if the condition is that it’s supplied for free, right?”
“That might be true, but… laying down mana lines is no easy task. In a mine, robots can’t come in either, so work will be delayed.”
“No, the mana lines are currently being developed with new technology. You can just lay it down on the floor like running a fire hose, no complex installation needed.”
“Is that really possible?”
“I’ll ensure it’s supplied within two weeks.”
I nodded while spreading my two fingers.
It was originally a new product developed for installing Dream Capsules in mana-deprived areas.
Somehow, it felt applicable to the mine as well.
Additionally, I promised to relay improvements to the TBM and introduce safety management ASI before wrapping up the mine schedule.
“Huh. It’s so hot. I’m not usually one to sweat this much.”
Even back on the surface, the evening temperature still crested 35 degrees.
Moreover, wearing heavy work clothes, beads of sweat rolled down continuously.
Dragging my heavy body, I reached the break room.
“Ahhh, refreshing.”
I stood before the air conditioner, gasping to cool off.
“Oh my, the CEO is also here! You’ve worked hard!”
“Yes! Thanks for your hard work!”
“Oh, how cute.”
“How can someone that tiny have so much stamina?”
“Hey now, she’s the champion of the National Exchange Tournament, so that’s a given.”
“Oh right? Hahaha! Just thinking about how there was a tank in the mine until now is dizzying.”
“Oh, NoName, you were here too. I’m sorry about earlier.”
“Yes?”
“When we were working with the shovel, we didn’t realize everyone was coming this way. I’ll be sure to be careful next time.”
“Oh, it’s alright, hehe.”
While exchanging fist bumps with the miners,
“Oh right. Are you all going to have dinner after this?”
“Some go home to eat. Those staying at the accommodation usually eat together.”
“I brought something delicious, so I was wondering if anyone would like to join me for dinner.”
I rummaged through the black plastic bag I had placed in the break room refrigerator.
“Everyone is making quite a bit of money, so I wonder if this will be satisfying.”
Vacuum-packed beef on a plastic plate.
“I brought prime grade steak since I heard you sometimes grill and barbecue.”
“Wow! Everyone, applause!”
“Waaaah!”
“Looks like the CEO knows a thing or two!”
“Wow, I bet. I’m certain Janjeol will become the world’s number one company within ten years.”
“Not even ten years. Five!”
An ecstatic break room.
Not a single person was absent from the dinner gathering.
Fifty servings might not be enough?
First, five grills from the storeroom were brought out.
“Did we use up all the gas for the torch?”
“Uncle, you’re out of touch. We don’t need a torch.”
We could use fire magic, but I prepared a fancier spell instead.
[Simple Ablation: Ignis Serpens]
A flaming serpent materialized from my fingertips and soared into the air.
As the body of the serpent danced through the air,
Flames spewed from its head, enveloping the grills one by one.
Fwoosh-
The sizzling sound of the last grill catching fire resonated in the air.
Snapping-
I lifted the tongs and performed a mock ceremony.
“Delicious!”
“NoName! NoName! NoName!”
“Let’s eat quickly. I’m so hungry!”
In the chaotic mine filled with metallic gear,
While the meat cooked on the grill, the smell of burning wafted through the air.
“Ow, the fire’s too fierce!”
“Haha!”
“Fire makes it hotter!”
“Is this all cooked? CEO, you should have the first bite.”
“Ahh! Hot! Water!”
“Hahaha! Water, please!”
“Ohhh, how do you eat this?”
Sweaty and dusty faces laughed cheerfully.
Suddenly, I thought of the construction team leader who lent me a robotic leg…
Seeing the sunset dinner scene, I felt nostalgic and somewhat strange.
“I think I’ll head out now. Everyone, enjoy your dinner.”
“Why aren’t you eating more?”
“I’m busy. Thank you for kindly guiding me amidst your busy work.”
I didn’t linger in the mine too long and quietly slipped away from the dinner gathering.
No matter how young I was, I was their employer.
In any case, reflecting on past lives, nothing was as dreadful as dining with superiors.
Dragging my exhausted body toward the airport.
“Yawn.”
I yawned once every minute.
It’s 9 PM here, but it’s noon in Korea.
I had shifted my sleep schedule by 12 hours.
Arriving at the airport, I closed my eyes with earphones in as I waited for our private jet.
“Fourth Princess.”
“Whoa! You surprised me.”
Right, Erichiton was here.
She had been watching the day’s itinerary through her sunglasses.
“It looks like you’re having way more fun around miners than around people in ties. I guess you can’t hide being from a lowly background.”
“What are you talking about? The guys I met earlier make over 360 gold a year.”
“360 silver coins? Well, that’s not too bad for a commoner… Wait, did you say 360 gold coins?”
“Yep. Who works in the U.S. for an annual salary of 4.5 million won? It should be 300 million won.”
“That’s insane…”
Erichiton looked utterly shocked by what had happened yesterday and today.
Could she realize the contradictions of the islands herself?
‘Probably not.’
Ding-
[NetJets N702TX 21:45 DFW → GMP Gate 12 On Time]
As my private jet’s name lit up on the display board, I moved to proceed with the boarding process.
“Luri decided to start attending the Academy in August.”
“The dragon? At the Academy?”
“Yeah. In my previous life, she just followed me around and didn’t learn anything properly. Maybe military science? Diplomatic theory? What does that even mean today?”
In her past life, Luri truly lacked nothing.
She always had a great grasp of the bigger picture of war, perfectly piercing through the enemy leader’s upper limits of strength.
She was always ahead in supply and resource management, as well as in diplomacy and psychological warfare.
Truly, she was a child that seemed to have been shaped by Ares, the god of war.
Had my goal been to suppress war instead of proliferate it, she would have been a historical figure.
“Fourth Princess. You’ve been a noisy troublemaker since your previous life, haven’t you? Like a kid eager to show off a huge ability.”
“Hmph. Is that so?”
“But you’re surprisingly reserved now, aren’t you?”
A brief silence fell.
Hair fluttering in the wind.
Climbing up the stairs to the airplane.
“What do you mean ‘reserved’? I have so much on my plate that I could use a few more bodies. I’m greedier than I look.”
I turned on the hologram projector and rolled it onto the bed.
Erichiton appeared wearing her cream-colored pajama dress that she favored in the past.
Swish-
The Crown Princess unfurled a lavender feather fan and covered her mouth.
“It’s quite amusing to see you panting away despite having wealth and honor in abundance. What you desire isn’t merely success. Born with traits of chaos, you seek order, making you feel parched as if swallowing desert sand.”
Erichiton narrowed her eyes and smiled.
“Oh? Looks like you can read fortunes a bit?”
“Of course! I expertly select promising knights from our Empire and even hear that those captains who exploit the public were executed without hesitation?”
“… So? What’s wrong with sparing those I want to spare and executing those deserving of death?”
“You’re just enjoying the chaos, Fourth Princess. Knowing that as long as humanity exists, the war will never end. You threw yourself into battle wanting to relish the chaos. Thanks to the villains you eliminated, you have a convenient moral justification.”
“The throne has no right to speak, having exploited the people to maintain its system.”
“But if we take a closer look, you too are part of that chaos. You’re not fighting to establish order; you just want to confirm your existence within that chaos. Isn’t it about time you began to accept it?”
I scoffed at Erichiton’s words.
Now, knowing that she wouldn’t die, her past dirty personality is gradually surfacing.
‘This is why I disliked you.’
Yes, she didn’t earn the title of Crown Princess for nothing.
I stepped closer to her and asked.
“Then guess what I want right now.”
After a brief hesitation, Erichiton finally opened her tightly closed lips.
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Hmph. As expected.”
“Until you fill the void left by your parents, you won’t know what you truly desire.”
With that one phrase.
Crack-!
I grabbed the hologram projector with one hand and crushed it.
Even now, the nobles of Kaizen were all remarkably unlucky.