“Ouch! That’s hooooot!” Siegfried screamed and jumped in fright.
The pillar of flame did not deal a lot of damage to him, but it caught him off guard. Siegfried hadn’t really been thinking when he stabbed the ground with the pickaxe, so the flames made his heart jump.
“Water! Bring some water here! His Majesty is on fire!”
“Ack!”
“Y-Your Majesty! I’ll splash you with water! Please forgive me for the transgression!”
The knight shouted before pouring an entire barrel of water on Siegfried.
Chwaaa…!
In just a few seconds, Siegfried was engulfed by flames and drenched with water.
“Ugh… This is my first time going around, so what the hell is this…?” Siegfried grumbled, looking like a wet rat. He had never expected that he would be attacked by both water and fire, and he looked heartbroken at the fact.
“Your Majesty, please dry yourself with this towel.”
“Ah, thanks,” Siegfried accepted the towel. He cleaned himself with the towel and asked, “What was that? Did you guys bury dynamite here or something?”
“I have no idea as well, Your Majesty. I shall instruct specialists to check it out, so please move to a safe location.”
“All right,” Siegfried agreed.
He went to dry his clothes and hair while the specialists were inspecting the site.
“Your Majesty, we have discovered the reason behind the explosion.”
“What was it?” Siegfried asked while drying his hair.
“A B-Grade mana stone exploded, Your Majesty.”
“A mana stone? Do mana stones even explode? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such a thing…”
“Unrefined B-Grade mana stones and above can explode upon receiving a powerful impact. Therefore, most B-Grade mines are supervised by specialists with enough experience handling mana stones.”
“I see… but why would something as expensive as a B-Grade mana stone be lying there in the first place?”
“I am ashamed to say that I have no idea myself, Your Majesty. Actually, we discovered a pathway within the tunnel, and it looked quite old, so we suspect that it has been there the entire time.”
“Your… MAJEEESTYYY!”
A specialist in the mine suddenly ran toward Siegfried while screaming.
Thud!
He fell on his knees and cried out, “C-Congratulations, Your Majesty!”
“Congratulations?” Siegfried’s eyes narrowed. ‘Is he making fun of me right now? I just got burned and drenched, so what is this bastard congratulating me for?’
Siegfried’s mind was a bit skewed right now…
“I-it’s because…!”
“What?”
“It’s…!”
The specialist kept on cutting off his own words to catch his breath.
“Hey, just spill it out, will you? What are you congratulating me for?” Siegfried grumbled.
“That’s because—y-Your Majesty! YOUR MAJESTY! I’m congratulating Your Majesty because…!”
“…?”
“Your Majesty’s now a B-Grade!”
“I’m a B-Grade?”
“B-GRADE!”
“Huh?”
“Your Majesty is now the owner of a B-Grade mana stone mine! Congratulations!”
“Huh?!” Siegfried doubted his ears for a second, and he asked just to make sure, “I’ve become the owner of a B-Grade mana stone mine?”
“Yes, Your Majesty! We have discovered that the spot where Your Majesty was scorched was the tip of a mana vein! It’s a B-Grade mana vein on top of that!”
“A-Are you asking me to… believe you…?”
“Yes, Your Majesty! You are now the proud owner of a B-Grade mana stone mine!”
“…”
“We cannot tell for certain right now, but we expect at least a hundred and fifty years' worth of mana stone buried in the mine! Congratulations, oh, Great King!”
With that, the knights, soldiers, workers, and specialists kneeled and worshiped Siegfried.
“Oh, our beloved king!”
“You are truly our Great King! How could a mana vein be hiding in our lands this entire time?!”
“The lives of our people will certainly improve thanks to Your Majesty’s grace!”
“We thank the king for his love for his people!”
It wasn’t strange that they were praising Siegfried.
A B-Grade mana stone was immensely valuable, and a kingdom the size of Proatine to own one of those meant that the citizens’ standard of living would improve by at least forty percent.
The kingdom could increase its current energy output with B-Grade mana stones, and they could also export the excess energy they would produce to nearby nations, which would bring in substantial revenue.
In short, the mana stone mine was nothing short of a blessing for the Proatine Kingdom.
‘Wow… This is unbelievable…’ Siegfried muttered to himself in disbelief.
They say that a cow could step on a rat while walking backward if things aligned properly, and who could have known that he was going to find a mana stone mine after randomly swinging a pickaxe?
And it was also a huge mystery why a huge mana vein was hidden beneath a coal mine in the first place…
‘Isn’t this plot too forced?’ Siegfried thought.
However, it wasn’t as forced as he thought it was.
[Resource Prospecting]
[The hidden resources within the territory will start to appear.]
The Resource Prospecting effect of the Great King’s Blessed Lands passive skill was the reason why the mana stone mine appeared. In fact, it was the only plausible explanation for its sudden discovery, so it was indeed a bit forced…
‘Hmm… Resource Prospecting… I guess I should go around the kingdom more often from now on.’
Siegfried decided to maximize the title’s option and look around his lands.
***
Siegfried left the mine and headed for the Proatine Kingdom’s capital, Preussen.
‘It’s a relief that I have this mask.’
Nobody recognized Siegfried because of his Metamorphosis Mask.
There had been numerous instances in history when a king would put on a disguise and venture out of their castle to see how their citizens were doing, and Siegfried felt like he was doing exactly that right now.
‘Kyah! It’s lively here; the roads are smooth, the buildings look aesthetic, and the people’s faces look bright and happy!’ Siegfried exclaimed inwardly.
Siegfried was extremely satisfied with the sights he had seen so far, especially with the expressions of his people.
Worry? Concern? Anxiety?
None of those things could be seen on the people’s faces, and the streets were lively.
‘Yes, this is what I wanted. What’s the point of having a lot of land and people if they’re not happy? I’m fine with having a small kingdom as long as my people are happy. I should probably think twice before expanding my borders too soon.’
Siegfried vowed not to increase his kingdom’s borders or population from now on.
He knew that things were going to start becoming complicated if he grew the kingdom’s borders and increased its population, and the happiness he was seeing today would inevitably deteriorate amidst the expansion efforts.
He wanted the Proatine Kingdom to become a small yet powerful kingdom.
‘As expected, I prefer to have a handful of elites. Quality over quantity—huh?’ His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a commotion on the street.
“You insolent punk!” A large-framed man shouted and started beating up a young man.
Puk! Puk! Pukeok!
The large-framed man punches were powerful.
“Ack!”
“How dare you…!”
“I-I’m sorry! Ack!”
Nobody seemed willing to stop the large-framed man from beating the young man up. In fact, the bystanders’ reaction sent a shiver down Siegfried’s spine.
“Beat him more! He deserves a good beating!”
“Yeah! You need to teach him some manners!”
“Ha! He needs to pay for what he did!”
Siegfried had no idea what sins the young man had committed, but he noticed that everyone was cheering for the large-framed man, and they weren’t showing even an ounce of sympathy for the young man.
‘What’s going on…?’ he wondered as he walked toward the commotion.
“Wait! Stop!”
The security forces of the kingdom rushed toward the large-framed man and stopped him from beating the young man up.
“Why are you beating this young man?” the knight asked.
“I’m beating him up because he deserves a beating!” the large-framed man boldly replied.
“All right, but why? I’m sure that you are aware that you cannot go around beating people in broad daylight without proper justification,” the knight said.
“Yes, I know that much! I don’t mind if you arrest me for beating this bastard, but give me a moment. I’ll teach this punk a lesson before going to jail!”
“Why are you doing this, though?”
“This little bastard dared to…” the large-framed man trailed off as he suppressed the anger boiling inside of him, but he ended up exploding as he exclaimed, “...step on a gold coin!”
“What?! He stepped on a gold coin?!” the knight exclaimed before trembling in anger as well.
Siegfried was extremely confused, but the soldiers’ reaction surprised him.
“Ha! Serves him right!”
“How dare he—he deserves a good beating!”
“You little ingrate! How dare you step on a gold coin?!”
The soldiers glared at the young man and cursed at him.
‘What’s wrong with these guys…? Are they mad…?’ Siegfried wondered in disbelief.
“Hmm… I finally understand why you’re beating this young man up. He has committed lese-majeste, and he deserves more than a beating for that. Frankly speaking, I would have joined you in beating this little punk if I weren’t a knight of the kingdom,” the knight said. He lowered his head and took out his handcuffs before continuing. “Unfortunately, I have no choice but to arrest you under the laws of our kingdom.”
“I agree that I deserve to be arrested. I was beating this young man up out of a sense of duty, but I am also a law-abiding citizen of our kingdom. I have no qualms about my arrest, so you may arrest me, sir knight,” the large-framed man replied.
The sudden turn of events completely baffled Siegfried, but the young man’s words stupefied him.
“S-Sir Knight! Please do not arrest that man!” the young man cried out.
“Hmm?”
“It is true that I was in the wrong! I was blinded by greed and ended up committing lese-majeste, so please do not arrest him!”
“Hoho… What am I supposed to do? I have to arrest him according to the laws of our kingdom, but the victim has appealed for clemency…” the knight said with a chuckle.
The very baffling turn of events left Siegfried speechless.
***
‘Ah! I’m so curious!’ Siegfried scratched his head and tried to make sense of the situation in vain. Eventually, he decided to ask the person in front of him, “Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
“Why is it such a big deal that the young man stepped on a gold coin?”
“Hoho! You could get in trouble for saying that, my friend.”
“What…?”
“Don’t you know what’s engraved on the back of the coin?”
“I-I’m not sure…”
“Ah, you must be a foreigner then. Then, let me tell you so you’ll be spared from a good beating. Here, take a look at this,” said the man. He took out a gold coin and showed it to Siegfried before explaining, “This is the official currency minted by our kingdom, and engraved on its back is…”
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“…!”
“...the face of our Great King. Now, do you understand? This coin is as good as the face of His Majesty, Our beloved Great King—King Siegfried van Proa!”
“Please… please stop beating people up for my sake!” Siegfried screamed, and his face turned bright red. Right now, he really wanted to hide in a hole somewhere.
