On the first day, Roman got permission from Jacob, the master of the iron mines, to start working. And hearing that news, the miners were a bit displeased.
“Dmitry’s young master wants to work in the iron mine from today?
“Roman Dmitry? Why?”
“I don’t know the reason. Still, even though he said work, he will probably just act like working.”
No one responded positively to the news. Well, it was expected. Unless Roman was somehow a worker who did real labor, he was just an inconvenient existence. Also, he wasn’t just any normal person but Dmitry’s eldest son—The one who could one day become the heir of the family they served, wanted to work with them in the mines?
In an obviously uncomfortable situation, the miners expressed their dissatisfaction. In particular, Morkan, a veteran miner, reacted harshly.
“Lord Dmitry must have lost all his senses. It is good to educate his son, but what is he thinking by making him do this? Until now, mainly the blacksmiths have been taken care of, and we miners have been neglected. The children of Dmitry have gone to the forge from an early age, so they never learned to work in a mine as well. Such an attitude shows how he has discriminated against us.”
“Aren’t you just leaping to the conclusion?”
“I mean it! The mines are the skeletons, but the blacksmiths take all the glory!”
Today, the emotions Morkan had built up inside him were finally let out. Dmitry, known as the Mining City, is obviously made up of miners, and yet blacksmiths get praised better. Of course, this didn’t mean that Baron Romero neglected them. However, despite the good working conditions, they showed a slightly discriminatory attitude toward him.
Iron mines and forges—They both are the roots of Dmitry, but the miners didn’t like how the forge and the blacksmiths took all the glory for themselves
“Roman Dmitry must have been forced to do things he didn’t want to, but he must be doing it to aim to be the next lord. The value of what we do is determined by our attitude. So don’t think about bowing your head to Roman and show him how hard it is to work in these mines. That way, our story will finally get across.”
“Alright.”
“Morkan is right. Let’s set an example for the young master of Dmitry.”
Hendrick was right. In the beginning, the miners of the iron mine, the skeleton of Dmitry, didn’t like Roman coming in to work with them.
Roman dressed up and headed to the iron mine early in the morning. Obviously, there was no welcome ceremony of Roman. Everyone was busy yawning due to the lack of sleep and had tired faces as they put on the hard hats. In the iron mines, this was a regular day. Everyone stretched out their bodies and then followed the orders of Jacob, the master of Iron Mine.
“Be mindful. Working in the iron mines means our first priority is safety, the second is also our safety, and the third is safety, as well. We suppress our hunger to earn money and come to the mines daily. We must do our best to ensure that we all return home safely, so I hope everyone will follow the rules.”
“Yes!”
“We understand!”
After the morning speech, the miners moved busily.
“Young master, please follow the transport team and carry the soil and iron ore. It isn’t a special favor, but we cannot give down the role of mining iron ore to a beginner like you, so you can help with the simple task of using strength. You seem to not care about what the others think, but if you get hurt here, people will look at us badly. So, please work carefully in here.”
Jacob didn’t like Roman either. He agreed to let him work because he was asked to, but he couldn’t hide the anxiety the whole time.
Roman obediently followed the orders. Here, as Jacob said, Roman is a beginner. Thus, Roman followed the others and reached the destination after a long way down the tunnel.
“Come on! Move quickly.”
“You will have to work diligently to meet the quota.”
Srrk.
All the seniors began to move the soil and ore into the carts, and Roman silently helped them. He first moved the soil and iron together with them, and he would drag it out when the cart was full. From then on, it was a simple repetition. After some time, people who initially felt burdened to be working alongside Roman began concentrating on their own job as Roman was focused on his.
‘Certainly, the system is well organized.’
The title of Mining City was not a lie. People quickly carried out the soil and iron ore, and they worked separately on their own tasks. And outside were people who took on the things loaded into the carts with them. The division of work was clear, and as a result of examining the tunnels during work, Roman realized the safety wasn’t bad either. Iron and wooden posts were erected in various places to prevent the mine from collapsing, and a rail was on the ground that was used to pull the cart.
This was a place where decades of Dmitry’s history were piled up.
While Roman was working, he carefully thought about everything he saw here.
‘To plan for the future, I need to understand the land I live in, how the people of Dmitry live, how much power there is, and what I can do for Dmitry. These courses of experiencing Dmitry will help me.’
Experiencing everyday life—That was Roman’s way. Others might not understand why he was doing this, but Roman believed this was a much-needed process.
Nevertheless, he couldn’t figure out many things on the first day. As he was sweating and working, the sun set, and the day passed.
On the third day, Roman heard an explanation from a miner.
“The reason that Dmitry is in the spotlight isn’t simply because it has a forge that is quite good. Because the iron ore is of the highest quality, the people of Cairo can recognize the true value of ironworks from Dmitry. All the iron ore ordered from the iron mine is first processed and then sold by Dmitry. In general, considerable losses occur in the distribution process of obtaining iron ore. Still, Dmitry is making a lot of profit as it handles the mining and processing of the iron ore with the manpower of the land. It isn’t that the Dmitry family is called rich for nothing,” said the miner proudly.
Honestly, what he said was something Roman already knew. However, after listening to it from a miner’s perspective, he realized the scale might be larger than he initially thought.
‘The process of obtaining and distributing the materials is done with the manpower of the land. In addition, the highest quality iron ores are processed by the estate’s forge and sold at higher prices. It has been working that way for decades. Dmitry’s wealth may be greater than I initially expected. Still, Dmitry’s wealth isn’t my wealth. As the eldest child of the Dmitry family, there is a limit to what I can receive, so I need to find what I can do for the land.’
Just as he rose to the position of the successor of the Demonic Sect in his previous life, Baek Joong-hyuk would use his identity and background in his new life to increase his power and would rise to the level of Heavenly Demon.
The actions he would take this time weren’t much different. As a successor, he wasn’t just going to wait for the kingdom of Cairo to fall into his hands; rather, he would do things to make it happen.
To do that, he came to the iron mine. Dmitry’s work would give a solution to Roman’s thoughts, and with the results he would obtain, Roman intended to create his own ‘power.’ It would be something different from the power of his family. Even though he belonged to the Dmitry family, it felt foolish to keep using that background to get things running.
He had a lot of questions. How many iron ore reserves are there? What is the daily production? Roman tried asking the questions to the miners, but Morkan, who was passing by, said.
“Young master, this isn’t a place for small talk. If you are here to work, then work, and if you don’t want to work, at least don’t disturb the others. We need to finish our daily quota.”
“Ahem.” Hearing those words, the miner talking to Roman was stunned. Nevertheless, Morkan looked at Roman, waiting for him to get angry.
However,
“Sorry. I will head back and focus on working.” Roman stepped back.
Was it because his reaction was different from expected? Watching Roman head back to work, Morkan couldn’t take his eyes off him.
It has been a week since Roman started working in the mines. He kept sweating daily while working and finishing his daily quota.
Naturally, Roman worked side by side with the miners and heard many things. Still, it felt lacking. In fact, he could just talk to a miner to get his doubts clarified, but no miner was willing to do that.
‘Is this like a fight for territory?’
From the first day, Roman knew that he was being rejected here. The miners deliberately tried to stay away from Roman, and even if some tried to converse a little, they would get pointed out by Morkan.
Roman didn’t try finding what the reason was. Even if this was his estate and he could use that to take them down, Roman thought that talking things through should be his first priority. So, he endured—Because he was the one who asked for the job here. Roman is the heir, and he chose to work here himself, so he had to bow his head.
Klang!
“Lunch time! Everyone out!”
The rest time came. As Baron Romero himself was from a commoner family, so he understood their difficulties and provided a perfect time for rest and work.
Hearing that it was break and lunch time now, every miner stopped what they were doing and went out. Naturally, Roman went out as well. And instead of eating the luxurious food he had at home, he sat down on the dirt floor as if nothing was wrong and filled his stomach with thick bread and soup. At first, everyone looked at him like this was something strange. It was because even though it was a rather odd food for a noble to eat, Roman didn’t have the slightest change in his expression.
‘I can handle this much.’
In the previous life, Roman had experienced much worse things.
When he was training in the sect, he had to endure a month without food. It was called the Ordeal of the Devil, and in the process, he had to feed on anything he could, from bugs to snakes. Bread and soup? This was like heaven when he thought of that time; moreover, he could fill his stomach.
Roman shoved the food into his mouth, and before he knew it, the soup went down his throat.
While he was eating, someone came and sat before Roman.
“Can I ask you something?” Morkan sat before him and asked that.
Roman nodded, and Morkan, looking at him with dissatisfied eyes, asked, “Now I understand that the young master is doing this for real. However, why are you working here?”
Seeing him the last few days, Morkan had no choice but to acknowledge that the Roman he saw now was a different person.
