The Heavenly Demon Can’t Live A Normal Life [EN]: Chapter 60

Morkan scowled as he watched the young Lord Dimitri awkwardly swing a pickaxe. Dust flew, but not much rock chipped away. Morkan usually ignored the iron mine, focusing on his own work and his own crew. But Roman Dimitri’s sudden appearance, pretending to be a miner, irritated him more than he could say. *Why was he here?* Morkan wondered, his frown deepening. *And why was he making a mockery of their hard work?*

‘He’s making light of the miners’ work. We dedicate our lives to the iron mine, shedding blood and sweat every day to make a living. Yet, Roman Dimitri acts as if he’s on a picnic. If he approached Master Hendrick at the smithy with such an attitude, he’d be in for a rude awakening.’

Jacob was a reasonable man. He didn’t like that Roman had been accepted, nor did he like Roman showing up to work.

From day one, Morkan made it clear he didn’t like Roman being there. He stuck close to Roman, watching every move, sure he would catch him slacking off.

To Morkan’s surprise, Roman was truly diligent in his work. Morkan had assumed he would only pretend to work and loaf around, but Roman devoted himself to the task as enthusiastically as the other workers, meeting his quota.

He occasionally caught him chatting, but it wasn’t a significant issue.

‘Did he really come to the iron mine to help? Or did Lord Dimitri order him to experience hardship like us as part of his heir training? I can’t understand the former, and the latter is unlike anything he’s shown before. Rodwell Dimitri, the second son of the Dimitri family, toiled in the smithy from a young age but never once showed his face at the iron mine. Even the likely heir didn’t do this, so why is Roman Dimitri doing this now?’

It was strange. No matter how much he thought about it, it seemed like a waste of time.

At first, he simply thought it was heir training, but that didn’t fully resolve his doubts.

Then one day, Morkan heard something shocking.

“I heard from a servant working at the main estate that Lord Dimitri never ordered Roman Dimitri to work at the iron mine. I don’t know why Roman Dimitri is going through all this trouble, but it doesn’t seem to be someone else’s idea.”

It was shocking. Not someone else’s idea?

He had been viewing Roman with prejudiced eyes, but as soon as he heard those words, he saw Roman in a different light.

‘…Why?’

After a week, it was clear that Roman was truly diligent. He got along well with the workers without any friction, and no one had any complaints about Roman’s work ethic. The dissatisfaction he had expressed on the first day vanished in an instant.

Seeing him put aside his status, eat the same food, and work the same way, no one could dislike him without malice. The reputation changed. Roman Dimitri was better than they thought.

People glanced at Roman while gathering in small groups, and their attitude also turned favorable.

In that situation, Morkan couldn’t suppress his curiosity. The three heirs of Dimitri. He wanted to find out what purpose and thoughts Roman Dimitri, the only one who had visited the iron mine, had.

So,

“May I ask you something?”

Morkan approached Roman for the first time, wanting to know his purpose.

Roman looked at Morkan and said,

“Which do you want to hear, the ideal answer or the realistic answer?”

It was an unexpected reaction. He had expected him to explain the reason in detail, but Morkan was thrown into contemplation by the choice that came out as if he had been waiting for it.

Ideal and reality. Morkan wanted to know everything.

“Can’t you tell me both?”

“Then I’ll tell you the ideal answer first.”

Ideal. As he had told Hans, it was a very sweet word.

“Dimitri is a city of mining. Just as the people of Lawrence’s territory make a living through agriculture, the people of Dimitri’s territory make a living working in the iron mine. So, I wanted to experience their daily lives firsthand. What it means to live as a person of Dimitri. Rather than understanding people with dead knowledge that I only know from statistics from afar, I wanted to know the reality by working together.”

“…Is it really necessary to do that?”

“It is necessary. As long as my surname is Dimitri, it is something I must do.”

Roman’s answer was ideal. It was the kind of thing a leader would want to hear, and it felt like the wariness towards Roman was completely dissolving in an instant.

If so, what was the realistic answer?

“The realistic reason stems from the fact that I am not the master of Dimitri. Even if Dimitri has accumulated enormous wealth, it is not mine but my father’s. So, I intend to find out how much wealth Dimitri has accumulated, exactly how it works, and what I, the eldest son of Dimitri, can do in the process.”

“What does that mean? If your father is the master of Dimitri, doesn’t this land ultimately belong to you, young master?”

“No.”

Father and son. A blood relationship. However, that doesn’t mean inheriting everything from the father.

The previous Heavenly Demon had twelve children. He passed on the background of being a descendant of the Heavenly Demon to his sons, but they had to earn something to achieve it themselves.

He knew then. Even fathers and sons are ultimately strangers. In order to take as much as you want from your father’s things, a reasonable price was required.

“I’ll ask you. If I were to ask my father for hundreds of gold right now, how do you think the Lord of Dimitri you know would act?”

“Of course, he would ask for the reason. Hundreds of gold is by no means a small amount of money.”

“That’s why I came to the iron mine. If I find something I can do for Dimitri in Dimitri’s daily life, I will have the right to demand ‘my share’ from my father fairly. It is both a privilege as a son and a way to win my rights directly. I need a lot of money and people for the things I want to do in the future. Rather than building it one by one from scratch, my judgment is to use my father’s background and wealth.”

It was an excessively honest answer. The ideal is just an ideal. Roman clearly stated that he had a purpose.

Really.

Morkan couldn’t help but burst into laughter at the absurdly audacious answer.

“Haha, so that was the reason. In order to fairly demand your father’s things, you have to pay the price. I really didn’t expect it. I simply thought that Young Master Roman came to the iron mine for heir training, but my head couldn’t understand your deep meaning.” He threw his head back and roared with laughter.

Roman’s answer. He could have felt bad. In the end, it meant that he would use the work at the iron mine, but Morkan interpreted Roman’s words in a different sense.

‘Young Master Roman came to the iron mine, not the smithy, to do something for Dimitri. That means that what our miners do is that important, and he thought it was worth working even if he deliberately covered himself in dirt. Good. If that’s the meaning, there’s no reason to stop it.’

Recognizing their value. That was enough.

The miners wanted people to recognize them. Without even knowing it, dissatisfaction with discriminatory treatment had accumulated, and it was unleashed when they met Roman.

However, Roman said he would recognize and use the value of the iron mine.

What a nice thing to say. For this reason, Morkan was willing to be used as much as possible.

Morkan said.

“So, what are you curious about? I will answer everything within my knowledge.”

From the first day until now, it was the moment when Morkan, who had been consistently hostile, lowered his guard for the first time.

From then on, the conversation went smoothly. Roman asked many things. The amount of iron ore reserves, daily production, and the method of production and distribution, etc. Morkan faithfully answered the endless questions.

“People say that Dimitri’s iron mine is the largest in the kingdom. But in reality, it is more than that, and it is no exaggeration to say that it is the largest on the continent. The Cairo Kingdom is in the northeast of the continent, and Dimitri is the land that exists at the northeastern tip of it. People call Dimitri the end of the continent, but the reality is different. The numerous mountain ranges that exist beyond the northeast have not allowed people to set foot, so people have no choice but to divide the border based on Dimitri. And those mountain ranges are the source of Dimitri’s wealth. It’s just that we haven’t recklessly developed it because it’s an unknown world, but according to what we’ve learned, there are still more than a dozen undeveloped iron mines.”

It was surprising information. Beyond the northeast, that place, called the endless mountain range, was truly the source that made today’s Dimitri.

Numerous iron mines, top-quality iron ore, and even the technology to process it. Dimitri had the conditions to accumulate wealth.

He knew the scale of wealth was great. But this was beyond imagination.

‘A great tycoon in the northeast. People say that Dimitri’s wealth is endless, but even that didn’t perfectly grasp Dimitri’s potential. Then, if I present a legitimate cause and price, it means that my father has the ability to fully support it.’

Morkan’s words were not over. He answered the question about daily production like this.

“In fact, Dimitri’s production is not very high compared to the conditions it has. That’s why we don’t sell iron ore, but the working environment is too dangerous. If we try to work stably, the speed will inevitably be slow, and that is directly linked to the result of lower production.”

“From what I’ve experienced, I think you have enough safety facilities.”

“That’s right. Lord Dimitri has provided a lot of support to ensure that we work as safely as possible, but this mining industry is still dangerous. Earthquakes sometimes occur in the mountain ranges of the northeast. Each time, the tunnels may collapse, so we can’t go deep, and if an accident actually occurs, we have no choice but to stop work for several days. But this is not the kind of problem that can be solved. How can a mere human stop a natural disaster?”

It was a realistic problem. Even though Dimitri had the best conditions, he couldn’t fully utilize them due to safety issues.

And that was the kind of answer Roman was waiting for. Safety issue. It was an attractive point.

Roman asked.

“If we solve the safety problem, how much profit can Dimitri gain?”

“I can’t say for sure, but I’m sure that production can increase by at least 50% compared to now. The reason why we don’t put excessive manpower into the iron mine is because we can’t guarantee safety. We send only as many people as we can manage into the tunnels, and we are always careful for safety, so production has not kept up with the reserves. Seeing that, Lord Dimitri is a great person. Even though there are practical benefits in front of him, he prioritizes the safety of the workers.”

Like Morkan said, Baron Romero was a good man. If he were a corrupt lord, he would push manpower into the tunnels, whether people died in an accident or not.

But, Baron Romero was different. He did not covet excessive wealth. He was satisfied with reality and valued his people. Miners like Morkan knew that the work was dangerous, but they did not express their dissatisfaction because of their gratitude to Baron Romero, even though dissatisfaction accumulated inside due to minor discrimination against blacksmiths.

‘I found it. Something I can do for Dimitri.’

The chronic problem of the iron mine. If it can be solved, Dimitri can gain considerable benefits.

It was then.

Wham!

Rumble!

The sound of something collapsing was heard from somewhere. A sign of disaster. Morkan’s expression turned pale at what the sound meant.