BXBX NOVEL Chapter 56: Heading to the Mining Site
Fredrinn walked toward them and intentionally coughed to get their attention.
This time, they finally turned their heads over and stood up to greet him. "Greetings, my lord!"
Fredrinn nodded and waved his hand. "Where is the head miner?" He asked.
One of them responded. "The head miner is still at the site, my lord. Do you want me to call him over?"
Fredrinn shook his head. "It's fine. I'll go there myself." With his enhanced perception, he already knew where the mining site was.
He didn't wait for them to respond and walked away without looking back.
"Is that really Fredrinn Firecrown? He used to call us smelly dogs every time he came here. Did he have a change of heart today?"
"Yeah. He even told us once that he doesn't like the dusty and dirty mining site, but he said that he is going there himself."
"That guy even beat us if he saw us resting here. I'm surprised nothing happened to us."
Fredrinn sighed when he heard their conversation. 'No wonder those guys pretended not to see me earlier. They were treated less like humans by Fredrinn. That guy is truly a villain…'
Soon, he arrived at the mining site. He saw people pulling carts filled to the brim with raw energy stones. There were also martial practitioners sternly observing the entire area.
One of the martial practitioners spotted Fredrinn in the crowd and was stunned. He immediately jogged over to him and bowed respectfully. "My lord! What brings you here?"
"And you are?"
"My lord, you can call me Jude. I'm the Deputy Captain of the guards stationed here." The man introduced himself.
[Foundation Establishment 10 Layer]
'This man looked like someone in his late forties so he is probably over sixty years old. His cultivation isn't too bad, but that is most like the extent of his talent. His chances of advancing to the Core Formation realm is almost zero.' Fredrinn guessed.
"Jude, can you bring me to see the head miner? I have something to discuss with him."
"Of course, my lord!"
Jude was a very talkative guy. He told Fredrinn about some matters that the miners would never dare to tell him.
According to him, the miners' equipment and protective suits were already outdated and needed replacement. He also mentioned that martial practitioners guarding the mining site were severely understaffed. These matters were of grave importance so Fredrinn promised him that he would ask for funding from the finance director.
"Thank you, my lord!" Jude didn't have high hopes that Fredrinn would address the issues so he was a bit emotional when Fredrinn promised to help them ask for funding.
"There's no need to thank me. The mining site is an important business of the household. It is only right for the workers to receive proper funding." Fredrinn smiled.
Jude was in a better mood after getting his promise. He didn't say anything more after that interaction and brought Fredrinn to the head miner.
A moment later, Jude pointed at a middle-aged man with tanned skin. "That's the head miner, my lord."
"Alright. Thank you for bringing me here. You can go back to your post." Fredrinn handed him a bottle of energy stones.
"My lord, this is…" For his job here at the mining site, other than his salary, he also receives 100 energy stones every month.
He roughly counted the number of refined energy stones inside the bottle and he guessed that there should be over a hundred.
"Just a little something for leading the way…" Fredrinn chuckled before he walked away.
Jude looked at his back and bowed.
"Excuse me. Are you Sir John, the head miner?"
The middle-aged man who was massaging his own shoulders turned around when he heard this. When he realized that it was Fredrinn, he almost jumped in fright. "My lord, why did you come here by yourself?"
"Let's talk somewhere more quiet, sir. It's too noisy here."
"Yes, my lord. I know a spot. Please follow me." John brought him to a secluded spot beside the mining site.
"I know that you are busy so I will tell you what I came here for." Fredrinn took out a document when he said those words.
John gulped when he saw the document. He knew it since he was the one who requested the raise.
"I saw the situation of our miners and it's not very ideal so I will look for the finance director and ask for more funding for you guys. Also, I have already stamped your request so it only needs the patriarch's approval. I will personally bring this to the patriarch so he will prioritize your request. However…" He paused and pointed at a certain part of the dossier.
"Are you sure 500 star coins will be enough?"
"That's already enough, my lord. To tell you the truth, we only asked for a raise since we had to use a portion of our salary to procure new mining equipment." John sighed while saying this.
"I'm sorry to hear. Don't worry, I will ask the finance department to refund the money you used to buy the mining equipment. I will also send construction workers here to build a new residential building for the miners and the martial practitioners." Fredrinn was determined to help these people.
As a salaryman in his homeworld, he knew how difficult it was for the average people to improve their lives because of their meager wages.
Hearing this, the head miner was surprised. "My lord, words alone can't describe how grateful I am…" He muttered emotionally.
Fredrinn patted the man's shoulder. "It's my job as the heir of the Firecrown Household to take care of our family. You don't need to thank me." He smiled.
The two discussed the needs of the miners and the martial practitioners on the site.
One of the things they discussed was the lack of cooks. The miners were not martial practitioners so they still had to eat food to survive. The cooking was done by the miners' wives, but they didn't receive wages for this. This would be fine for some time, but once dissatisfaction built up, these miners would soon quit. This issue had to be addressed immediately to prevent mass resignation.
Another matter that they discussed was the lack of entertainment facilities. The mining site was quite far from the city center and only a few of the martial practitioners had horses so the miners could only chat idly to pass the time. To this matter, Fredrinn already thought about a good solution. In his homeworld, there was a game called billiards. It would be a good pastime for the miners.
Of course, he would also build a special one for the martial practitioners since they were too strong to use the normal ones.
After discussing these issues, Fredrinn didn't stay for long. He returned to the estate and headed directly to his father's office.