Miners in the iron mine (4)

News about the mine tunnel collapse had already spread in Dmitry.

When Baron Romero, was informed of the incident, he immediately called Roman after hearing that his eldest son was also involved.

"Where you injured any where?"

"No."

"What on earth were you thinking when doing such a dangerous thing? Tunnel collapse accident in mine is a natural disaster that even the aura swordsman cannot handle it properly. Fortunately, the results were good, and you were able to survive, but because of your recklessness and courage, I almost lost my son. I am not saying this to you because you are my son. If other workers in the iron mines had made the same decision as you, I would not have allowed one life to be put at risk to save another."

Baron Romero expressed his concern and anger.

Because he was once in the position of a worker.

He knew how dangerous Roman act was.

"Father, I just did what I had to do."

"Roman!"

"If I have another chance and there was an accident in the iron mine, and if I was present on the site just, I will still make the same decision. Does father want the eldest son of the Dmitry family to ignore their people difficulties? I don't think i can always do things after considering safety of my life. As someone who bears Dmitry's as last name, I think I made the right choice."

" Huh."

[ Baron Romero let out a sigh, even though his heart was sinking at his son's risky decision, but he was delighted to see his son righteousness.

Before being the lord of Dmitry, he was also a father. ]

Baron Romero said, " So are you planning to continue working in the iron mines?"

"Yes." Roman replied.

"What is the reason for that? I never told you to work in an iron mine, and I can't understand why you made this choice. I wouldn't have bothered asking if you said you'd go to the forge."

Iron mines and Forges, Baron Romero's thoughts were revealed.

He treated the workers in the iron mines with respect, but as he was a blacksmith, he had favoured blacksmith more.

Baron Romero's wanted his son to show some interest in the forge.

Since he was the lord of Dmitry, he thought his son should at least learn to handle steel than just dig out ore from mine's.

" Father, I thought that in order to understand Dmitry, I had to work in an iron mine. Although Dmitry has built a reputation for our smelting skills at the forge, in the end, it is the iron mines where most of the land's inhabitants of Dmitry work, and earn for there living. So of course, I had no choice but to work in the iron mines, rather than blacksmiths."

"So what did you get?" Baron Romero's asked Roman.

"I was able to see for myself what difficulties people of Dmitry were going through."

[ It was an unexpected answer, Baron Romero did not know that his son was trying to figure out the hardships of the people in the iron mines. ]

"Keep talking."

"All the workers in the iron mines respect you, father. They are payed higher salaries compared to the other areas, and the proper rest and safety system doesn't seem like a big deal on the surface. However, mining is a risk-taking business, even when managing safety. It is a place where you never know when an earthquake will cause the tunnels to collapse, and collapse like today is not uncommon, and accident happen if you forget about your safety."

"It is not like that, I didn't know. But as you said, we can't be prepared for that and it is not something that can be prevented." Baron Romero's said to Roman.

Natural disaster, There is a reason for expressing it that way, People called the accident in the iron mine a natural disaster because it could not be prevented by early preparation.

And Baron Romero did his best for them, he didn't think there was anything else he could do now.

But Roman had already decided to solve there problem.

"I have a way to solve the problem."

"And what that is?"

After working in an iron mine, Roman had thought lot about it.

And after experiencing the accident firsthand, he had came to an conclusion.

"It is by using magical artifacts. That is the only way for workers to work safely."

Magical artifacts, perhaps Roman was talking about the magic devices. However, Baron Romero could only think that his son was truly out of touch with reality.

"Your intention to use magical artifacts for safety is good. But what do you think the artifacts cost is? It is not a problem that can be solved with a dozen gold. It will costs an astronomical amount to protect the entire tunnel with a magical artifact, and we are not philanthropists who are throwing money in the sky."

That was right. The mine was a means to make money. To hire workers with the purpose of making profits, they couldn't spend additional money on safety that would cost from their profit. This was a different matter. And if they bit on more than what they could chew, even Dmitry would collapse.

Roman said, "I know. To prepare for a collapse or for a accident, you must install an artifact that forms an air shield in an emergency, and the cost is unpredictable whether it will cost hundreds of gold or thousands of gold. Moreover, the performance of artifacts is not permanent. If the magic artifacts loses its effectiveness and becomes ineffective, it costs astronomical sums to replacing it again."

"Now can you tell, it is still necessary?"

"Yes, now I will explain the reason."

[ What Roman was now talking about wasn't idealism, he was being realistic now, and he next spoke about why he thought so. ]

"I heard this from a veteran miner working in the iron mine. Dmitry has the best iron mines on the continent, with the highest reserves and quality, but cannot fully utilize them due to safety concerns. If the safety of the workers was not taken into consideration. It would have created enough wealth for Dmitry at the expense of people. But my father did not do that, and in return for the utmost safety, we had no choice but to face the real problem of declining iron ore production."

Baron Romero is an good lord, however he was not an outstanding lord. If Baron Romero was greedy, he would have traded people safety for the wealth.

"Installing artifacts is not a matter of just increasing the safety of workers. If the safety of workers is ensured by installing artifacts. Naturally, the production of iron mines is bound to rise. And for safety reasons, we have been limiting the number of people and development in iron mines, but since we installed the artifacts, there is no need to think about it any more. This is an investment for the future. Even if it costs an astronomical amount to install an artifact, it's not a loss, it would make us more money than before."

Romana didn't stop there but continued speaking.

"And we also need people dedicated to safety. Why not make a solid investment in it and check their safety and use some of the resulting increase in profit for the welfare of the workers? This will be a good cycle for us. Surely, you will have to spend a lot of money because of this, but Dmitry will benefit too, due to its result father."

Family investment, that was Roman's real purpose, it was not just for the safety of people, Roman hid his intentions under the good of safety of miners.

After hearing what Roman had said Baron Romero, had no choice but to think on it, one more time, Because it was such a perfect argument made by Roman.

Baron Romero, who had been contemplating for a while, looked at his son proudly and said.

" Okay, how much I have to invest?"

( 30 minutes ago.

Roman had said to Morkan.

"From now on, I will go to my father, get a budget for safety of the miners, and recommend you Morkan, as the person in charge of managing the safety of the iron mine exclusively. You worked in the iron mines for many years. You knows the iron mines better than anyone else, so I think you will do this job best."

Roman's plan was perfect, just hearing the word about installing magic artifacts in the iron mine's made Morkan's heart pound rapidly.

However knowing Roman's intention to gain a practical advantage, he thought he would definitely have to pay something back.

"May I ask for the conditions?"

"What I am asking is clear. As a safety officer, you have to watch over the people every day and ask what happened in their daily life. It doesn't have to be a big deal. While exchanging small talk, remember what you saw and heard from them in your head, and record all the information you deem necessary. Maybe people will tell you a lot. If I use part of the budget I get for the welfare, people will try to confide in you about anything. Part of the budget may be rewarded to those who give valuable information in the process. Instead of using the Dmitry family money to protect the safety of the workers, I want to get 'information' through you." )

[ To get information from people that was Roman's real purpose. And iron mine is best place for it, since iron mine is Dmitry itself.

Many people work in iron mines, so information about Dmitry has no choice, but go through iron mines.

It was smart move made by Roma, because people will be able to trade information through Morkan for money.

And from this people will be eager to give him good information for money. ]

First one of the worker will tells his story, then his family or people around him, and if they hears interesting stories on the street, the will report them all to Morkan, and from there if Morkan consider the information is necessary he will note it down.

As Roman told his father, people would listen to them in exchange for benefits. That's right. Roman intended to use his father's wealth to create an information network in this world.

[ In his past life, in Moorim.

There where two groups that have earned a reputation for their ability to manipulate information and they where.

Beggars Union and the Lower District Sect.

This two groups had something in common.

In the case of Beggars Union, beggars are everywhere in the world and are gathered information by listening to people's stories, whereas in case of Lower District Sect, their people where close to social groups such as Zhu Lu's Soyi, and whenever they meat each in the group, they would list to every detail of talk between people carefully and gathered information.

It meant one thing, unlike those who had powerful postion who keep their heads up, people everywhere in the world can see and hear a lot of information regardless of who they are.

And that's why Roman chose the workers of the iron mines.

They were all of Dmitry people, and through their link, they could seize the information in the northeast area. ]

The workforce would be the workers. Along with that, his father would get rich as well. His father would make more money, and the workers would work in a safer environment. It was a win win situation.

It was a plan where everyone would be happy, so neither his father nor Morkan turned down his offer.

Nevertheless Roman was still not satisfied.

'It's still not enough.'

The information guild that Roman thinks is not limited to the northeast area of Cairo.

Furthermore he hoped to gather information from all over the continent.

Although the local miners would serve as the main force, he hoped that there would also be a budget and force with which it would grow and resemble the Lower District sect.

And for that Roman had additional thoughts.

'Morkan is not a professional for handling of information. In the end, I need someone who can organize the information he received from others, connect it to what happens in the estate, and relay it to me. It must be someone who, unlike Morkan, is capable of thinking rationally, a veteran who has lived through such experiences since birth. Than only I can create the information guild I envisioned.'

Only one person was sutable for this work.

And Roman had already called him.

"Did you call?"

He had passed through the recruitment test for Roman private soldier.

It was non other than B-class mercenary Lucas.