THE FIGHT TO BE KING
CHAPTER 95: THE MINE
Myro went with Tron, Ren, Lopen and some Praetorian Guard to the iron mine, because the location of the iron mine was far enough from the city that they took about 20 minutes to get there.
At the front door of the mine, there were several Praetorian Guards on guard. However the existence of this iron mine was very important to Myro, he could not allow the bandits to secretly seize this iron mine. Therefore Myro let 100 Praetorian Guards stand guard here, even though Myro still felt a lack of troops. If 1000 troops had been fully trained by Retya, then Myro would not have to worry about the lack of troops.
Seeing the arrival of Myro and the others, the soldiers immediately gathered to salute "Master!".
Myro slightly nodded "Thank you for your hard work every day that has been guarding this mine, how are things in the mine? Is there a problem?".
A soldier who was the captain of these 100 Praetorian Guard troops instantly said "Master, there is absolutely no problem! During these few days, mining activities are still going well. Even with enough food, the miners could still work without any problems. We have followed your word not to let any miner die of exhaustion or starvation".
"Good work, let Lopen give you extra on your pay this month" Myro said.
The soldier said sternly "Master, this is what we should do as Praetorian Guards so as not to disappoint master!".
Myro shook his head "Whoever works well should be rewarded. As for those who work poorly, I will also punish. Then we'll go to the mine now, you guys can keep your guard up here".
"Okay, sir!", cried the soldiers.
Without wasting any more time, Myro and the others walked towards the mine.
Although quite dark when in this mine, however, this mine has a shape like a cave. But there were a few torches on the left and right sides of this cave wall so there was no problem looking ahead, in addition the 2 Praetorian Guards brought by Lopen raised their torches and stood in front of everyone in order to see the way forward much more clearly.
Walking for a while in this cave, Myro and the others could already hear the sounds of mining activities.
Upon arriving directly at the location, Myro found a pile of iron ore in the middle of the room, the miners were busy working around this room.
Different from the road they passed before, the place Myro and the others this time was a fairly spacious room. At first this room is not at all this wide, but after continuous mining then the size of this room also becomes wider.
Tron who was beside Myro immediately stepped forward without waiting for Myro again, he took out an iron ore from the pile before looking at him carefully "This iron ore is quite good, it is quite good, although I have seen many iron ores that are more qualified than this, at least the quality of the iron ore here is good enough to make weapons or armor of quality as well. I've decided, it's better to go straight to work in this mine to make weapons and armor faster-".
Seeing Tron who had become very excited when talking about iron ore, Myro did not bother him.
He only found a man coming near him "Master Baron, it's an honor for us because you've come here! If you tell me of your arrival from the beginning, I will definitely give you a better welcome".
This man is Pard, he has been working in this mine for about 25 years so his body looks very strong because he has to mine every day.
Since he was the longest-serving figure in the mine, everyone agreed to choose Pard as the chief miner. Myro also agreed, after all, the miners have agreed so that Myro is not interested in refusing unless Pard is a fraud or criminal.
But based on the information Lopen collected through the Praetorian Guard, Pard is famous as a good and honest figure so many miners who trust and choose him as the chief miner.
"I came here to start cultivating this iron seed. This person is Tron, he is a Dwarf who is very skilled with the ability of blacksmithing and building" Myro said while pointing at Tron so they know each other.
However Tron plans to work at the mine, so he will be a co-worker with Pard.
Looking towards Tron, Pard immediately reached out his hand respectfully to shake the hand of "Master Tron, it's an honor to meet a master blacksmith like you".
"You're overdoing it, I haven't made any weapons or armor yet, how do you know that I'm a great blacksmith?" said Tron who greeted the handshake kindly.
"Mr Tron may not know, but my family used to be a pretty famous blacksmith in this town until my grandfather didn't inherit that ability anymore. In the end, the ability of the blacksmith was lost without a trace, we his successors simply could not inherit that ability anymore. Yet I still have the ability to judge a blacksmith, based on Mr. Tron's hand that has some traces of injuries, he said, I know that all those wounds were obtained when Mr. Tron was making weapons or other objects through the blacksmith. With so many wounds on Mr. Tron's hands, it proves just how hard Mr. Tron tried. For this reason, I believe Mr. Tron is a great blacksmith" said Pard with shining eyes, as a figure who came from a blacksmith family in the past, Pard also had great respect for blacksmiths.
Hearing Pard's judgment, Tron was slightly surprised "You have pretty good eyes! Alright, since I am in need of a lot of manpower right now, I don't mind raising you as my disciple. But I won't teach you anything, you just need to watch me work on the side and learn it myself, I'll explain if I have any free time. Hows it? Are you interested?".
Pard bowed without hesitation, there were tears on his face "Pard happily became a disciple of Master-No, Pard hope the teacher doesn't mind accepting Pard as a disciple".
Tron held onto his white beard as he nodded "Alright, then you can prepare a blacksmith's furnace for the teacher to work on, this is the earliest task that the teacher has given you".
"Pard understands, Pard won't disappoint the teacher and bring the best furnace in the city!", said Pard who left this place as quickly as possible, he knew who had the best furnace in the city.
Myro who was on the side was quite surprised, at first Myro suggested the same thing for Tron to recruit students so that his work was completed faster.
But according to Tron, those disciples would only slow down his work. The quality that the disciples made was definitely not as good as what he made, unless Tron trained them for a few years.
Not to mention Tron's arrogance as a Dwarf blacksmith, he was only interested in accepting disciples who for him possessed suitable abilities.
After hearing Tron's explanation, Myro didn't speak much anymore either. But who would have thought that Pard could be so lucky to be Tron's student, it seems that Pard's status would soon rise from being a miner's head to being an expert blacksmith.