Wolves of Hader

Chapter 106

The next morning.

In the newly expanded underground third floor's west warehouse, Ross, Russell, Urald, and Wundbark gathered.

"This is my first time coming to the third basement."

"The miners had a hard time cutting through the cliff rock. But now it's nicely excavated, so it looks great."

The third underground warehouse was even larger than the floors above.

The long construction had only recently been completed.

We were in the west warehouse, and there was also an east warehouse at the opposite cliff.

As with the upper-floor warehouses, the west was for storing assets, so there were several small storerooms, while the east was for weapon storage, so there was only one or two large warehouses.

"Elder brother Ross, I heard you almost fainted when you saw Red Beard's treasures?"

"I was shocked. When they kept bringing in barrels, I asked what they were, but Commander Russell just kept smiling."

"I was surprised too. There were as many as 20 barrels filled with gold coins."

"Wait a moment."

I sent everyone outside the warehouse and took out a leather pouch.

I opened the pouch and poured its contents on the floor.

Then, I took a restoration magic stone, placed it on top, and immediately poured my magic power into it.

Then—flash!—with a burst of light,

Chwarurururung—Kukung—

A sparkling mountain of something appeared.

"Wow! What is all this?!"

Ross's eyes widened in disbelief.

The ones who almost collapsed were Urald and Wundbark.

They had heard the stories, but didn't expect it to be to this extent.

Mountains of gold coins and gems were piled up in the warehouse.

The warehouse was fairly large, but gold coins were almost spilling out the door. It was almost bursting at the seams.

Everyone was left speechless at the sight of the treasure.

I smiled as I began to speak.

"These weren't obtained for free. Our members risked their lives for this. Since the harvest from this voyage was big, I plan to distribute the rewards evenly."

"That's right. The finances haven't been good because of the new territory's construction, so this is excellent news."

I took out an Elin Stone.

"With the Elin Stones we secured, please make some Elin armaments. There are seven Dran with us now, so it should be less of a burden than before."

"Did you set those stones aside separately?"

"Yes. They are Elemental Sword-Dagger. They're daggers about a handspan long, with no guard or hilt. The blade is curved and tapers to a sharp point at the back."

"A penetrating Sword-Dagger, then."

"That's likely. There should be a few more stones like this one. We can determine their uses through the elementals, so please make those too."

"What material is best?"

"We're a bit short on Racrom, right?"

"There's enough for making your weapon, young lord."

Wundbark asked as well.

"Should we start on the electrical devices right away?"

"That would be great."

"Understood. I pored over the blueprints countless times during the voyage, so I'll get right to a trial build."

"Yes. Then I'll leave it to you."

Russell spoke up.

"There's a large workshop already built in the new territory. It's a spacious place, so you can conduct your research there."

"Shall the two of us head to the new territory first?"

"Sounds good. Whether we're staying in this fortress or the new territory doesn't matter much."

"I'll go too. I have a few things to check."

Everyone exited the warehouse.

The new warehouse had even better security.

With only four of us keeping quiet, no one else would know what was stored here.

/ / /

Johnny visited my room.

"What's Allen up to in Mouk?"

"During the day, he's at the exchange; at night, he drinks with the exchange staff."

"The exchange? When did he go to Mouk?"

"He stayed a few days at the fortress, but must've gotten bored because now he's staying in Mouk. My friend says he's very interested in the share-based merchant guild."

Maybe Allen was newly inspired.

If a share-based merchant guild is established in Dran, it's good for us too.

And it's nice not to have that guy in the fortress.

"You're familiar with all our people by now, right?"

"Yes. The only ones I've never met are the members of the intelligence squad."

Everything about our family's intelligence squad is top secret.

Only Russell, Donnie, and myself know their names and ages. The locations of their hideouts and their codes—same thing.

"Contact the intelligence squad and tell them to head to Tris. I'll be sending them some money—500 gold coins per member, for activity and hiding funds, excluding wages."

"Wow, that's a lot."

"It's that dangerous."

"Understood."

"The knight order will receive 50 gold coins per head as a bonus, 100 for captains and strike squad. Crew members who accompanied us on the voyage get 50 each. And the fishermen will receive a living support grant of 5 gold coins apiece."

"The fishermen too?"

"Yes. They worked hard running the boats, and they don't have a single coin at the moment."

Johnny eagerly wrote everything down.

Now, the most important people remained.

"Urald, Wundbark, and the Berserkers get 1,000 gold coins each. I'll also grant them a stake in the family business—ten percent combined for the two of them, and twenty for all the other members."

"That's a total of thirty percent?"

"Yes. There's one more thing. For the ten I just mentioned, anything they do in our house, it's given with no strings attached."

Johnny finished writing and looked at me.

A look that said, isn't there anyone left?

"I'll take care of the remaining two myself."

"Yes."

The remaining two were Russell and Donnie.

"There's an east bank staff member stationed at the fortress—does everyone use bank transfers now?"

"Most have opened accounts. It's easier for both sides to pass vouchers back and forth than paying in silver every time."

"Then call that staff member, and have them pay out the bonuses and compensation I just mentioned. If they don't have an account, tell them to create one."

"Yes, young lord. But—"

"What?"

"The total adds up to over 20,000 gold coins."

"I know."

"Even counting the family's assets and Red Beard's treasure, I don't think we have that much..."

"Don't worry. There's enough."

"All right."

Johnny wrote down my words with a smile.

Most people would feel jealous with such wealth around, but he appeared to have no selfish motives.

Well, he hasn't made significant contributions to our family yet.

I wonder if he realizes he'll earn an immense fortune someday.

He didn't realize it as soon as Donnie did, but he's just as important to me as Donnie is.

/ / /

Three days had passed since we returned.

I was packing to leave for the new territory when noise erupted outside the castle.

"Hooray for the family head!"

"Thank you, young Lord Roger!"

When I looked out, I saw the knights shouting their thanks.

They seemed unable to contain their joy and charged in a group.

No one really knew how much the others received.

The strike squad had received more, but they wouldn't mention their compensation to each other.

I know that well, having received a salary at a guild in my previous life.

As the door opened, Ross entered.

He had an awkward look on his face.

"I thought the reward might be too much, but seeing their happiness, it seems your decision was correct."

"In our house, even for the same reward, things should be different. They risked their lives for the house."

"You're right."

Ross patted my shoulder and smiled.

"Commander Russell is waiting."

"Why? Did I do something to him?"

"He looks very flustered."

I left the room smiling.

With this reward, all of Red Beard's treasure and part of the Guardian's treasure was distributed.

In truth, not much of the Guardian's treasure was used.

Of course, if you include the money given to Russell and Donnie, it couldn't be called a mere part.

But the money given to the two was not just simple compensation.

Ross headed to the training room and I went to the lounge.

There, Russell and Donnie sat looking awkward and sulky.

"Why do you both look like that since morning?"

"Young lord, I think I received the wrong amount of money."

"You received it correctly."

"Young lord, I think there's something off for me, too."

"You received it properly as well."

Neither of them knew how much the other had received.

From their expressions, they hadn't even asked each other.

Donnie spoke again.

"The other members seem very happy with their large sums, but my amount seems a bit..."

"I feel the same."

Looking at them, I said,

"Russell and Donnie are free to use the family's assets as they wish. You two aren't planning on splitting off, are you?"

"Of course not."

"That money is both your own assets and the family's. It's also emergency funds you can use wherever you go. You two aren't just employees—you're family."

"Ah."

Only then did the two of them accept it.

They had received wages, but neither had ever thought of themselves as hired hands.

Continuing with a smile, I said,

"I also have the same amount in my account. If the money's here at the fortress, we can't use it quickly outside, so I've moved some of it. Whenever you need money, just withdraw it. Happy?"

"Yes. Haha."

Russell and Donnie laughed awkwardly.

It even made me laugh to see them.

It's always been like this, only the amount changed.

"I'll be off, then."

"Safe travels, young lord."

"Yes. Donnie, why do you keep laughing?"

"It's nothing! Hahaha."

"Hahahaha!"

Russell and Donnie burst into laughter.

It was a pleasant, hearty laugh. I'd made their places in the house clear to them.

Feeling good, I left the castle.

I had given each of them 50,000 gold coins.

In Won, that would be well over 15 billion.

With three of us, that's 150,000 gold coins—almost half of the Guardian's treasure. If no one else, Russell and Donnie had been by my side for all of this.

Even the remaining assets were enough to fund our business and more.

There would be many treasures to gain in the future as well—there are at least six Guardians left, and even here in the east, there were Guardians.

They were all so powerful that I just couldn't catch them now.

/ / /

I arrived at the new territory.

Looking over the territory from the mountaintop surrounding it, I felt my chest clear.

The foundations were complete and in some spots, buildings had already begun to rise.

An enormous amount of lumber, brick, and rebar was piled up.

The elevator platform installed on the mountain to the right kept endlessly carrying materials up and down.

We also rode the elevator platform down.

"That big building near the shore must be the new workshop."

"Is security okay? What about the electrical devices? You'll have to research the Gate of Magic there too."

"There's iron-barred doors inside. They can only be locked from within, so security should be fine. You two will mainly use the third floor, while the other Dran will work on the first floor."

"Let's go take a look."

I walked with Urald and Wundbark.

The construction company was our merchant guild, and the security guards were also our merchant guild's security team.

We used to hire mercenaries from the exchange and so on until three weeks ago, when we established our own security squad.

That's why six of our knights had been dispatched to train the security squad daily.

If a guard works for two years, they get to become a knight candidate in the house, and they're very dedicated.

The workshop building was even bigger than I had imagined.

It was in the form of a long factory, with just part of it being three stories.

The plan was to mass-produce things in the factory.

"Oh! It's really spacious."

When we entered the first floor, it was like stepping into a massive factory.

Most of it was still bare earth, but a smithy and manufacturing machines were set up in one area.

We climbed the stairs to the third floor.

The third floor was meticulously sealed off.

There wasn't a single window, and the walls were incredibly thick.

It was ten times larger than the castle's workshop. Inside, there was a storage room for materials and shelves full of tools.

There were also bathrooms, a kitchen, and even bedrooms.

"It's more comfortable than I expected."

"Is that an air circulator?"

"Yes, it is."

Instead of windows, vents were installed.

When the large windmill on the roof spun, it would turn the fan via gears.

There were no mountains on the sea side, so the wind always blew in that direction, keeping the vents spinning.

Later, numerous wind turbines would also be set up.

Urald set down his backpack on a huge table. From it, he pulled out a bundle of blueprints.

Everything about the electrical devices designed by the Dran tribe was in these plans.

Urald unfolded one of them.

"This is a generator blueprint. I looked at it so much that the scroll is getting tattered."

The designs looked complicated, but that was because they included all the specs and numbers.

The principle of a generator is very simple; it's just difficult to discover nature's laws.

The device took the form of a large cylinder.

"The magnet rotor is in the center, and around it is a fixed iron core. There are also designs where you put an iron rotor between magnets, the opposite way. The iron core is wrapped with copper wire."

Urald continued speaking.

"There's a magnetic field between the magnets, and when the rotor spins, the magnetic field changes. The electricity comes from that change—here, in the iron core stator."

Wundbark chimed in as well.

"If you turn the rotor shaft with water or wind, you've got a generator. If you use electricity to turn the shaft, it becomes a motor."

"I see."

So why does electricity occur?

You could say it's nature's way of maintaining balance when its equilibrium is upset.

All matter has electricity.

For example, an atom has a positive nucleus and negative electrons.

In nature, this is neutral, but when the balance breaks, it changes.

In other words, when the magnetic field changes, it tries to generate another field to cancel it out.

To create that field requires electricity, so the electricity present in the material is released.

In any case—

I planned to stay here for a while.

While the two worked on the electrical devices—

I intended to research the Gate of Magic here.