Chapter 2018: The Dungeon Portal -Part 2
That was why he had portrayed himself as the bad king, the stupid king, the greedy king and ultimately the king that discarded peace, foreign relationships and opportunities for closing the borders, proving the title of being the Discarded King.
But Jin did all this was to let down the guard of the neighbouring kingdom for underestimating him, And with this, the king now started his plan to revitalise the kingdom.
"What are all of you waiting for?" Jin looked at the crowd as they were still staring in bewilderment. "Salvagers, get the corpse! Reduce that piece of item into materials."
"Inspectors, check and get it up for auction!"
"Adventurers! Go in and retrieve the remaining corpses.""Prospectors, check the cave for any minerals! Stone as well!""Miners get your tools ready!" "Botanists, Herbalists go in and see if there are any viable plants to take!"
"I WANT THAT CAVE CLEANED UP OF RESOURCES!" The King said as he started to bring up another two more Rank F dungeon portals. "Same thing! Let\'s GO!" Jin shouted and everyone started to return to their workplace and began to start working.
Topharm had already prepared staff beforehand to aid with the registration and review of permits before they were able to go in as Jin did not want unlicensed professionals to lose their lives unnecessarily or waste the loss of resources. Those who were able to go in, were paid by the King\'s resources immediately and they were paid a slightly higher rate compared to the rest.
The Minister had no idea how this was good for the economy but Jin told him that it was a multistep process. For now, the kingdom has to provide the money for the economy to continue running. And those confiscations of assets and gold came in handy since the nobles were really hoarding a lot.
"As for the rest of you! The Kingdom is making a few major changes to the tax collected in order to make sure that we are self sufficient within the kingdom. But fear not, this dungeon portal thing is not just a one time event. Every day there will be portals.
We will need different people for different purposes and in the days to come, we will need blacksmiths, goldsmiths etcetera." Jin exclaimed as he continued to throw up more large holograms specific to the portals.
This was not to provide \'entertainment\' for those who were watching but also to scrutiny. Scrutiny that people are watching and not doing illegal things within the portals. The kingdom cannot afford to lose skilled workers so if there are any differences or changes, the King\'s mages will go in to assist.
For now, the sense of dread among people has reduced significantly now that they know that the King had a plan for them in store and not closing the borders just because the king was scared. He had a plan and whether he could execute his plan faithfully depended on how much the people could treat these portals as a treasure trove of resources.
But one thing was for sure, the economy would be moving and it would be moving at a horrendously quick pace because Jin needed to achieve things that might be impossible for this kingdom to achieve in five. To anticipate the arrival of the angels. \'
Yet, the problem he now faces is that he needs to ensure the kingdom is stable, well fed, and moving at a pace where he could push the kingdom economy to the next phase.
"Your Majesty! The first portal had been cleared of resources...that\'s what the veteran prospectors and herbalists had said. They had taken all the suitable resources." The messenger said but there was hesitation in his words.
"What\'s the matter, the report does not sound hopeful." Jin said and the messenger continued, stating that while excavating, they found a new branching of the cave and it was sealed.
"We realised that upon salvaging the Elder Snow Wolf, part of its claws was shaped weirdly and one of the adventurer volunteers who were on guard took that to see whether it fits the lock that was on the seal. To their surprise. it really does and hence the delay in reporting. Otherwise, Portal 2 and 3 is currently still in the process of mining and collection."
"Aside from the sealed door, do you have the report from the respective job professions? I hope not just the prospectors and herbalists that went in, other jobs should have tried to enter too, right?" Jin asked and the messenger nodded his head.
"As per your orders, the guildmaster from the adventurer guild of Ress had recommended the following professions to enter the cave. Alchemists, Miners, Prospectors, Herbalists, Crystal Seers, Lapidaries, Cartographers, Apothecaries. At the same time, Skinners, Alchemists, Carvers, Herbalists, Tanners, Apothecaries, and Cooks are looking to have a piece of the snow wolves.
Prices were determined by the Merchant Guild\'s clerks and they were being sold on the spot."
"Explain more if you are able," Jin asked and the messenger nodded his head. He usually carried the full reports from the various assigned people to the King or ministers but they rarely wanted to hear him. Right now, this was the first time the messenger was able to execute his job properly as the king wished to hear a more extensive summary of the reports he carried.
It felt like he was finally able to be useful.
So, to the best of his ability, the messenger started to summarise things for the King. And at the back of his mind, he was grateful that Linus the B rank mage had told him to prepare himself before entering for an audience with the king who was also busy looking at books and past archives.
"To start with, the prospectors found several minerals that were not native to our land, they had begun to mine them but with more care so that they do not break it since the miners do not have an idea how much it is worth. The Crystal Seers and Lapidaries are doing their best to see how best to use them and also keep them.
In fact, they handle the storage the moment the miners do the mining and also caution them to be more careful with it."
"The Cartographer Guild had already sent their cartographers to plot the place and while it is a dungeon, there are works being done and the cartographer guildmaster believed that this is a good opportunity for getting the younger cartographers some experience.
In his words "If that *censored* king is throwing out dungeon portals like there is no tomorrow, then he will probably throw out higher rank ones in the future. We will need these maps for future references during all the excavation." The Messenger said and Jin laughed a little.
"According to the reports, the herbalists, apothecaries, and alchemists are having a field day. As per the prospector\'s report, they found many herbs that are not native to this land and they are grabbing as many as possible mainly due to the fact that this is a dungeon portal.
The guildmasters like to reiterate that it is not common practice to loot the entire cave but it is because it\'s a dungeon portal."
"Lol, they practiced sustainability." Jin chuckled as well and lastly the snow wolves.
"The salvagers had done their job according to the adventurer\'s guild and they are getting the Merchant\'s guild to do the sales as well. And because of the likelihood that more of such resources would be available, they did not increase the sales of it drastically. However, the Royal Seneschal noted the small price increase, probably due to the drastic order from the king as part of the excuse."
"How much profit will we be earning from this? Or is it still a loss?" Jin asked and the messenger stood there...not knowing how to answer this. This was because it was not his responsibility to understand the intricacies of their financial account.
"I must apologise. I did not get the report from the royal finance department. I promise to get the Royal Seneschal as well as the Royal Exchequer for their response as well." The Messenger said but Jin stopped him.
"It\'s fine, we do not have a proper system yet to get this up and running. I will take a look at the seal before we send any troops inside. Like I said, it\'s best we do not waste troops and men unnecessarily. It\'s good that you reported this to me. Set me up for a meeting with the Adventurer Guild\'s Guildmaster."
"Understood."
"Great, tell him to meet me at the portal."
"But sir, your guard had not been assigned yet, we are afraid that-"
"No need to worry. I can take care of myself. Just go get the meeting as soon as possible." Jin said as he came out of his chair, stretched his hands and legs.
The messenger noted and he quickly arranged the guild master meeting for the King.