The Rotten Count Goes to the Mine
“Th-This place too!?”
Count Oswalds, his son, and his wife arrived at the ore sorting facility and workshop expecting to find rows upon rows of gold and silver ingots.
But reality was different.
There wasn’t a single ingot to be found. All that remained were rough, jagged chunks of rock.
“What a weird stone. Hmph… ow! Damn it, damn it! Now there’s a scratch on my brand-new shoes!”
The rock Landfas kicked was much heavier than he had expected.
“My dear. Perhaps Saul anticipated this would happen and sold off all the ingots beforehand?”
“Damn that Saul... selling *my* gold without permission...”
No. The gold and silver here had belonged to Baron Saul, not Count Oswald.
But this was a man who genuinely lived by the philosophy of *“My father’s things are mine. My brother’s things are mine. My things are mine.”* He probably sincerely believed there wasn’t a single thing wrong with what he was saying.
“Damn it! Throw out all this garbage!”
The moment the count said that, Fitcher appeared as though he had been waiting for those exact words.
“In that case, I’ll gladly take these rocks off your hands. Might help cover the cost of that vase from earlier.”
“Wh-What!? These rocks!?”
“You call them rocks, but there might still be a bit of silver or quartz in them.”
The count had no idea what quartz was, but if it meant the matter of the vase Landfas had smashed would remain hidden from His Majesty, and the junk would be cleared away, he readily agreed.
“Next! Next! To the mine! If we dig there, gold and silver should keep coming out forever!”
“Papa’s right! Let’s go to the mine!”
Watching the father and son, Fitcher smiled broadly.
(*Well then, have a pleasant trip. I’ll take my leave here.*)
The baron’s son seemed to hate the count quite a bit.
Precisely because he understood the count’s behavior patterns, he had requested the royal family’s cooperation through Division Commander Orsfes. And he had even predicted the sort of thing Landfas would do, preparing that fake vase in advance.
There was no way he would simply hand over the mine.
(*Now then. Just what kind of trap did he set?*)
As he watched the father and son stride off, Fitcher found himself becoming even more interested in the boy named Dermont.
---
“C-Count, are you entering without bringing any miners?”
“Of course! Every single person who worked here was one of the baron’s supporters! They’re all fired! Every last one of them!”
Ignoring his servants’ advice, Count Oswald entered the tunnel with his son.
His wife declined to accompany them because she didn’t want to get dirty.
“Where’s Tunnel Twelve that Dermont mentioned!?”
“Where is it!? Hey, trash, hurry up and find it!”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
The servant, who had just been called trash by a child, frowned as he continued deeper into the mine.
Signboards had been placed throughout the tunnels, complete with helpful maps.
Using those as guides, and still taking several wrong turns, they searched for over an hour.
“Hah. Finally found it. This is Tunnel Twelve.”
“We did it, Papa! Dermont really didn’t want us going any farther. There’s definitely treasure hidden ahead!”
“Indeed. I’m sure beyond this point… oh. O-Oh, could that be!?”
The two took off running.
Beyond a sign reading **[Tunnel 12 Ahead ⇒]**, there was a chunk of ore that seemed to have been overlooked during mining.
Oswald picked it up and grinned.
“Look at this! Kuhihihihihi! Gold. It’s gold, Land!”
“S-So awesome~ Papa, let me see too.”
Gold content. At a glance, nearly half the ore was gold.
“Oh! There’s another one over there!”
“Huh? Where?”
Landfas ran off.
Picking up glittering gold ore as they went, the father and son ventured deeper into the tunnel.
The servants were growing uneasy, but they had no choice except to follow.
Eventually, Landfas, his arms full of gold ore, tripped over a piece of timber lying on the ground.
“O-oww~ What the hell is this piece of crap!? Don’t leave wood lying around in a place like this! Damn it, damn it!”
Landfas kicked the timber away.
Even that wasn’t enough to satisfy him.
He began kicking another beam that had been leaning nearby.
Kick. Kick. Kick.
And then the beam toppled over.
“Hah. That’s what you get for making fun of me. Serves you right.”
(What exactly are you saying to a piece of wood...?)
The servants sighed.
That was when it happened.
Rumble... rumble...
A faint vibration.
Pebbles began falling from the ceiling. This was a mine tunnel. Stones falling from the ceiling was dangerous, wasn’t it?
The servants looked at one another as they all turned pale.
“C-Count! We need to leave immediately!”
“It m-might collapse! The baron’s son said it was dangerous, didn’t he!?”
But that suggestion turned out to be the worst possible move.
The moment they heard *“the baron’s son,”* Oswald and Landfas exploded in anger.
“You’re actually taking Dermont’s words seriously!? And you call yourselves servants of the count’s house!”
“Idiot! Idiot, idiot! Dermont only said it was dangerous because he’s hiding treasure here!”
“That little bastard. Damn it.”
“Obviously it’s that idiot Dermont’s fault! He put these pillars here to make me get hurt!”
Those pillars were supporting the tunnel. Consumed by anger, the two began kicking them.
*Rumble...*
*Patter patter patter...*
The servants’ faces grew even paler.
“P-Please stop!”
“Count-sama! Count-sama!”
One pillar fell. Then another.
The fallen pillar struck the next one over, knocking it down. That pillar hit the next, and then the next…
“Whoa~ It’s like dominoes!”
“Oh! Just like dominoes... hm? What’s that sound?”
*BOOM.*
A heavy crash echoed out. Then came a thunderous roar.
*RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!*
The sound of an earthquake surged from deep within Tunnel Twelve.
“C-Count-sama!”
“Evacuate immediately!”
“R-right... L-Land, we’re leaving.”
“Ehhh? Already? Ah, Papa. Something’s coming from deeper inside… W-WATER’S COMINGGGGGGGGGGG!?”
The support pillars throughout the tunnel toppled one after another.
At a bend in the tunnel, one of those pillars slammed into the wall.
The wall, weakened by its proximity to an underground water vein, shattered beautifully from the impact.
That collapse triggered further collapses. And eventually, they broke through the water vein itself.
A massive torrent of water flooded into the tunnel. And it came rushing straight toward the count’s party.
“GYAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! PAPAAAAA!”
“A flood! It’s a floooooooood!”
With desperate expressions, the group sprinted for the exit.
What fate awaited them?
What do you think about this chapter?
