novelSometimes, the Stupid Method is the Best. (1)
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"Not just gold deposits. Mithril, Azurite, Titanium, all of it. Chief knows this mine inside and out. With Chief's help, we can all quickly become extremely wealthy."
"Is that for real?"
It had an immediate effect like I expected. The miners' eyes instantly opened extremely wide.
"Chief! You tell them yourself!"
I pushed Chief forward.
Chief spoke with confidence.
"Caw! There are many gold and mithril deposits here. I know them all. Caw. Chief will show you where all of them are."
"You heard him, right?"
The miners all had bright smiles on their faces. Money truly holds a lot of power.
But Jonnan's face was still very dark. He couldn't even be happy at the fact that he could become extremely wealthy.
I was the reason.
"But what will you do now? How high must your infamy be for us to feel this much evil aura?"
"I believe it is slightly over 700."
"Oh my gosh!"
"What can we do?"
The other miners hid their joy about the money and started to worry about me again.
Jonnan seemed to become more hopeful after that. His eyes started to shine as he started to speak for the miners to listen.
"Isn't this an extremely big deal? In order to erase that much infamy, you will need to donate a hefty sum. Sigh, what shall we do?"
Everybody understood Jonnan's intentions. He wanted them to help pay my donation.
It was no wonder that the expressions on the miners' faces quickly changed.
That is human nature. When you are in trouble, you want someone to help you, but if someone else is in trouble, you do not want to sacrifice anything.
I felt like the situation would turn awkward.
"There is no reason to do that. I have enough money to pay the donation. But I plan on getting rid of it through a temple quest."
"In order to erase that level of infamy, you will need to do quite a few A grade temple quests. When will you complete all of them?"
"If I do an S grade quest, I can take care of it all at once."
"That is even harder. I remember hearing that even A grade quests were almost impossible to complete. How will you handle an S grade quest?"
It is extremely difficult indeed! I am about to go crazy just thinking about it.
But this is the last obstacle. If I can get past this, it is smooth sailing from there.
I will try it first, and if it really seems impossible, then I will have to take care of it with money.
"Leave me to worry about that. No matter how long it takes me, it won't be longer than 6 months. Since your safety is no longer an issue here, please finish developing the mines by the time I return. And please take good care of this guy as well."
I caressed Chief's head as I spoke to Gildeon. Gildeon will need to successfully take charge of this mine from now on.
Every time my hand touched his head, Chief's ears happily folded down like a dog.
"I understand."
Seeing Chief act that way, Gildeon nodded his head.
Although he was pretty ugly, thinking that 'this thing is a pile of money' made him bearable.
Now it was Batoom's turn.
"Oh Senior! With this, shouldn't I have completed the final Best Miner quest? Is something still missing?"
As soon as I mentioned the 'Best Miner' quest, Batoom slapped his hands as if he completely forgot about it.
"How could I forget! It's definitely enough! Definitely enough for sure! You are now a Best Miner!"
A voice rang in my head at the same time.
I had a wide smile on my face.
It was not just me. Goultan and Batoom both had large smiles on their faces. The fact that I became a Best Miner meant that they also became Best Miners.
Jonnan was the same.
But Jonnan still could not smile in the end. The joy of becoming a Best Miner was still not as prevalent in his mind as my infamy.
I lightly tapped Jonnan's shoulder.
"Senior, do not worry! I will return right away after getting rid of my infamy."
"I understand! I believe that you will be able to succeed. Please, please return safely."
At that point, the others erased their smiles and started to worry about me as well.
"We will be waiting for you. Please make sure to return."
The happy moment quickly turned sad. It looked like they were sending someone off to die.
Especially Jonnan. In the end, Jonnan could not hold back and tears started to pour out of his eyes.
Ah, really! I'm already scared enough!
I can't stay here long. My heart will start to turn weak!
I also didn't have the time to do so.
These old men don't have time to be like this either.
"Seniors, there is something I need all of you to do until I return without my infamy."
It applied to Batoom, Goultan, and Jonnan.
"What is it?"
"If it is about getting this place running properly, you do not have to worry."
"I'm sure Gildeon-nim will take good care of that. I need seniors to recruit miners. Around 200 miners with good skills."
With the three of their networks, they should be able to call over any decently popular miner in Titan Valley.
"I understand."
"I will only recruit talented miners with good character."
"We can use them as soon as you finish developing the mine."
As we finished the conversation, I installed the other end of the personal portal. It was connected to the Volcanus Temple Gate, where I will receive the temple quest.
Of course, only I could see this portal as well. Nobody else could use it either.
"We will plan to do so."
"Then I will head out now. I leave the rest in your hands."
I pushed my body into the portal.
Temples are open 24 hours a day. It is also open for anybody to enter. Even if you were a murderer who killed a priest, you would still be able to enter.
Even someone like me who had 771 infamy [1] had no issues entering the Volcanus Temple.
Of course that did not mean that everybody would be welcomed. The priests and bishops were people with emotions as well. I noticed a young priest nearby. It was still pretty early, but he was already out sweeping the grounds.
He looked like an honest person.
I headed toward the priest.
"Excuse me. Could I get a quest to remove my infamy?"
The priest was shocked and took two steps back. He had an extremely disgusted look on his face as he looked toward me.
"Ugh. What is this?"
It was because of the evil aura from my infamy.
"I somehow ended up earning a bit of infamy."
"A bit?"
Honestly, it wasn't just 'a bit'. I guess it would be better to say 'a lot, ' or 'a terrifying amount'.
"However, I did not do anything bad. I want to quickly get rid of this infamy. Who can I receive the quest from?"
"It is going to take more than a couple quests to erase that much infamy. Please follow me. The bishop is over here."
I followed the priest into the temple.
'All of the money in the world ends up in the hands of religion!'
It is not something I heard somewhere. It is just my personal opinion.
All of the religions have a lot of money. Buddhists, Christians, Catholics, Muslims, all of them.
Royal Roader was the same way. Temples that serve a god can gather money while just sitting still. They also do a lot of sales related to divine power.
That is the reason all temples and their exterior are extremely gorgeous. This was especially the case for the temple of Ares, the god of war, and Athena, the goddess of wisdom.
But this Volcanus Temple was different.
It was far from gorgeous. Rather, it looked quite sloppy and shabby. It didn't feel like a temple; it felt more like a Korean sauna or a blacksmith shop.
There wasn't much to see either.
Once we passed through three doors, I saw a pretty large building.
There was a rough looking man standing there. It was like I was looking at Zhang Fei of the Three Kingdoms. [2]
But the clothes he was wearing was much fancier than the other priests.
He must be the bishop in charge of this temple.
The priest guided me to the bishop.
"Bishop-nim! There is someone requesting an Infamy Quest."
"Infamy quest?"
The bishop looked toward me before a frown instantly appeared on his face.
"Why is your infamy so high? Did you murder a priest of a temple?"
"I hunted a unique monster and turned it into my slave. If I knew his infamy was so high, I should have just killed him. I wish to get a quest that can get rid of my infamy at once."
"Tsk. Tsk. I feel bad for you, but there is no quest that can erase such high infamy in one go."
You can't say no that easily.
"Won't it be possible with a blacksmith quest?"
"Even so, it won't erase even a tenth of your infamy."
He misunderstood me!
"Not the human 'blacksmith' anvil worker, but a real blacksmith."
I was trying to help the bishop understand me correctly.
The bishop's already large eyes opened even wider at my statement.
"Hmm? Not an anvil worker? You really want to challenge a blacksmith quest that only dwarfs would manage to successfully complete?"
"Yes. If it is that, with the S grade difficulty, wouldn't it erase any infamy under 1, 000 at once?"
The bishop just stared at me instead of answering.
He then showed an extremely wide smile.
"Oho! Now that you mention it, the aura coming off of you is not normal. Seeing that you smell like the earth, you give off the feeling of a dwarf. Can I take a look at your stat window?"
In the game, my secrets were revealed quite a bit. My affinity to earth and light as well as the rest of my disposition window, and my endurance and toughness as well.
I managed to achieve a lot because of it, but I also faced unnecessary burdens because of it as well.
I will not let that happen this time. Even without doing so, I know the methods to earning everything I want.
"I will have to say no. But I am still confident in becoming a blacksmith. Please give me the quest."
"Of course. Maybe we might have the first real blacksmith of the humans. First quest. A blacksmith must have a high level of understanding of minerals. Especially as it pertains to the seven minerals that are often used in a blacksmith shop."
The quest information was the same as the game as I expected.
I just continued to listen with a laid-back expression.
On the other hand, the bishop's eyes grew even larger after giving me the first quest.
"Oh! You have already become a Best Miner. There is nobody who knows minerals like a miner. First quest completed. Hoho, you really are different. You are truly special!"
He's saying a lot of useless stuff.
"Second quest. A true blacksmith cannot only understand minerals with their brain. Only those who have mined minerals with their own hands can truly understand minerals. But you already have plenty of experience. Second quest also completed."
The blacksmith quest is a dwarf quest. All dwarfs have one of three dreams.
Legendary Blacksmith, a warrior who reaches the level of 'One with The Sword, ' and Legendary Miner!
They always start as miners.
That is why all dwarf quests start with mining quests.
As someone who has reached the level of Best Miner, I was able to pass through two quests for free.
Third quest.
"Good iron comes from good fire, good fire comes from good charcoal, and good charcoal comes from a good tree. The best tree for making charcoals is the fir tree. Find and chop a fir tree with your own hands."
A tree as strong as a rock that normal axes cannot even make a dent.
That is why it is called the fir tree.
Fir trees are numerous throughout the Titan Mountain Range. There are quite a bit of them around the Northern Mines that I just cleared.
Plus, I already have experience chopping a fir tree. This quest was the reason I chopped that fir tree as soon as I arrived at the Northern Mines.
"Hoho, you have experience chopping a fir tree. Very good. Let's move right on to the fourth quest."
Now the real quest starts. Starting from here, the quests will not be easy. The gate toward hardship is now wide open.
"The reason humans can only be anvil workers and not full fledged blacksmiths is because they cannot handle the heat of the fir tree charcoal. Go and make charcoal out of a fir tree. If you can handle that heat, you can open the last gate toward becoming a blacksmith."
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[1] He earned 731 from Chief, but I don't think he's had any prior. Might be an error from the author.
[2] Zhang Fei was one of the generals under Liu Bei.
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Translator: Miraclerifle
Proofreader: Miraclerifle
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