Report

October rolled around, and Allen turned ten.

This meant he had been working at the Granvelle mansion for two full years. In the beginning, he had only planned on staying for two to three years before telling Sebas that the job did not suit him after all and then heading home.

Even now, he still did plan on eventually leaving—specifically, once he turned twelve—but he had gotten much more involved with the Granvelle family during these past two years than originally expected. The thought that he would have to part with them after another two years spurred him to carry out his duties as a manservant as best he could.

This morning, as always, Allen had breakfast while chatting with Rickel, the head manservant. The fact that Allen had turned ten meant that Rickel was now twenty. When Allen talked about how it had been two years since he first came to work at the mansion, Rickel proudly said he was in his twelfth year. He was a true veteran by now, having served as a houseboy several years before becoming a manservant. He was always a good sport about the topics Allen brought up.

The details of Allen's work as Cecil's personal manservant had also changed somewhat. Now that Cecil was ten years old, her wild tendencies that were characteristic of children had faded quite a bit. Consequently, she sent Allen out for errands far less frequently now. Her personality remained pretty much the same, though.

Something else that had changed was Allen's salary: his pay as a huntsman was being raised to one gold each month starting today. Together with the one gold he earned as a manservant, his total monthly salary would be two gold going forward. He had surpassed the pay rate of the head manservant.

Today was also the day that Captain Zenof would be returning from an expedition to inspect the state of the mithril mines in the White Dragon Mountains. Allen fervently prayed that the report would be delivered in the dining hall and not the conference room.

Perhaps a god had been listening, for his prayer came true. Allen would be present in the dining hall and was grateful for the opportunity to hear the details of Zenof's findings.

***

And so lunchtime arrived. Allen kept an ear constantly fixed on the conversation while serving.

"So, what's the state of the mithril mines?" the Baron asked, wasting no time.

When he learned back in March that the white dragon had moved to Carnel, he had immediately ordered a situational analysis. Apparently the Baron was in a hurry to get the mithril mining restarted. Allen wondered if his frugal living conditions were spurring him to seek the profits promised by mithril mining.

"Yes, my lord. Currently..."

When the report then began, the Baron was sitting on the edge of his seat.

As expected, the tunnels that had been abandoned in disuse for over a hundred years had turned into monster nests. The expedition had confirmed the presence of numerous goblin and orc villages as well as armored ant nests at the foothills of the White Dragon Mountains. A frown came over the Baron's face as he listened attentively.

"What about the transport roads?"

Merely killing off the monsters in the mines would not be enough, as there were also transport roads and facilities with blast furnaces necessary for processing mithril ore that needed to be kept safe. A rather sizable area would require a constant protective presence, which explained why the investigation had taken more than half a year.

According to the Knight Captain, many of the sites that used to be village housing for laborers involved with processing ore had now become breeding grounds for monsters. Similarly, many of the roads that connected those sites to Granvelle City were also swarming with them.

"So, how long would it actually take to wipe out all those monsters and restart mining operations?" This was the all-important question.

"Five years at the earliest, my lord. We would also need to gather miners and people to man the furnaces, so I'm afraid it could take even longer.

"Taking into account the time needed to rebuild the villages they would be living in, we may be looking at over ten years, my lord," Zenof answered.

Sebas nodded to indicate that his own digging had also given him similar numbers.

However, the Baron said, "We cannot wait five whole years. Can we not stagger the opening of the mines in order to get started sooner? For example, we can focus on getting the mine closest to Granvelle City up and running first."

The White Dragon Mountains stretched north to south. The northernmost mine was located roughly the same latitude as Granvelle City, making it the closest. Thus the Baron's idea was to slowly clear the mines one by one, starting in the north and moving southward. The point he wanted to make was that there was no need to wait to open all four mines all at once.

"Of course, my lord. Even so, it would take three years."

When he heard that he still had to wait three more years, the Baron looked up and closed his eyes. He really was in a rush to get the mines back up and running.

"Th-Three years... I am aware I am pushing quite hard, but please make this happen as soon as possible."

'As I'd thought, they really are planning on starting from the north.'

As Allen continued serving, he looked directly at the mine in question from high up in the sky using Sharing. He had ordered the Bird E in the Summons Squad to fly over the area and activate Hawk Eye. After confirming the location of this particular mine, he then ordered the Summon to circle around and look for surrounding goblin and orc settlements and armored ant nests.

The butler said, "I will send out a notice to gather those willing to relocate to the mining facilities."

As the talk surrounding the mines themselves concluded, the Baron changed topic and asked, "And what is the current situation over in Carnel?"

"According to reports, they attempted to continue mining and ended up angering the White Dragon," Zenof replied.

The way he put it, the dragon grew irritated at all the humans scurrying about nearby and so wiped out all the laborers with a breath attack.

'Oof. I bet the White Dragon probably has something like a superior version of Hawk Eye that enables it to see reeeally far. I'm so glad I never did get around to trying to sneak a peek at it.'

Allen had yet to see the White Dragon for himself. He could probably manage it by Sharing with a Bird E or Bird D, but he thought better of it. In light of what Hawk Eye could do and what he knew of the dragon's behavior, he determined that it would be too dangerous to make an attempt.

The range of Hawk Eye was several kilometers. At this point, Allen had already realized that the White Dragon's new lair was actually closer to some of the Granvelle mines than the Carnel mines. However, whereas the latter were now completely off-limits, there was now no problem developing the former. Why was the monster ignoring distance and only allowing the Granvelle side to use their mines?

The conclusion that Allen came to was that the monster's scouting ability likely could not see through obstacles, just like how Hawk Eye and Night Vision were unable to. The mountain itself served as one huge obstacle, blocking the dragon's perception. That said, the dragon's skill definitely reached much farther than Hawk Eye. It would be absolutely disastrous if Allen accidentally got too close with Bird E and provoked the dragon into chasing it back to the Granvelle side. He did not want to take this risk just to satisfy his own curiosity.

"Hm, so they did try to continue by force." The Baron's expression was clouded.

"Yes, my lord."

"Lord Carnel has been ignoring the Land Reclamation Decree all this time, citing that he has had his hands full with mithril mining."

In other words, Viscount Carnel had been dangling the profits from mithril mining in front of the royal family's face to convince them to permit shirking his duties, basically brute-forcing his way using the power of money. This did sort of make him sound a little crooked.

"We have confirmed that any further mithril mining in his fiefdom is now impossible." The Knight Captain concluded.

'I guess it makes sense that they keep a close eye on their neighbor.'

"He still has the wealth he's amassed so far, but I expect him to burn through it next year," the Baron said before turning to Sebas. "There's no telling what he might do afterward. He might even try to start something with us. Keep a steady eye on him and remain vigilant."

"Yes, Master."

"And I think you can already tell, but I'm saying this just in case: I have no intention of meeting Lord Carnel again. After all, this isn't something that can be resolved merely through discourse."

The butler bowed to acknowledge his master's command to turn down all future requests for an audience from the Carnel family.

This was apparently the end of the report in the dining hall. The chivalric order would proceed to cull the monster population at the foot of the White Dragon Mountains, starting from the north and sweeping southward. The butler was to send out word to gather miners and laborers while also surveilling the realm of Carnel.

'Since development will be starting from the north, I'll also be killing the monsters from the north.'

Allen's plan of action going forward was decided. Through Hawk Eye, he had already spotted goblin, orc, and armored ant dwellings that numbered more than a hundred total.

'I see. So this is going to be my focus in the coming two years.'

A specific goal took shape inside Allen's mind. Before he left the mansion to become an adventurer two years from now, he would clear away all the monsters nested at the foot of the White Dragon Mountains as his way of repaying everything the Baron's family had done for him. Since the Baron wanted to begin mining mithril as soon as possible, Allen would help him do so. All the monsters in the way must be exterminated.

'I'll start with the weakest target: goblin villages.'

This was precious XP that Allen was not willing to lose to the chivalric order. He resolved to get to work as soon as possible.