Chapter 849 - 859 - Wealth

Chapter 849: Chapter 859 - Wealth

Weeks passed.

By then, the village no longer looked quite the same.

The changes were not dramatic enough to make it unrecognizable. The same houses stood along the same paths. Smoke still rose from familiar chimneys in the morning. Children still ran between sheds while adults shouted at them to stay away from carts, tools, and anything sharp.

The difference was in the details.

The gate closed more smoothly.

The wall held stronger fittings.

The wagons no longer groaned as badly over uneven ground.

Tools lasted longer.

Even the old pulley near the grain store moved with less resistance.

Most of those improvements had begun with the mineral basin.

Ore came back in carefully controlled amounts.

They never brought enough to make the village look like a mining settlement. One wagon would return with broken stone and samples from several deposits. A few days might pass before another trip.

Lucien insisted on restraint.

They still had no formal claim over the basin.

They still had no mining license.

Until that changed, greed would only create problems.

The first material they improved with the new metals was Auren’s wagon.

Auren treated the event with the seriousness of a religious ceremony.

He stood beside Tavian while the old fittings were removed, hovering so closely that Tavian finally looked up from the axle.

"If you breathe on my neck again, I am putting the old ones back."

Auren immediately took two steps away.

Lucien laughed from beside the workbench.

The System had already helped him identify several of the more useful deposits.

The basin contained abundant iron-bearing stone in several forms, along with copper ores, smaller tin-bearing veins, lead, and traces of zinc-bearing mineral that would take more work to use properly. There were also harder stones suitable for grinding and polishing, along with several decorative crystals that Aurelia had claimed almost immediately.

Nothing about the deposits was supernatural.

That made Lucien appreciate them more.

Ordinary materials were enough if people knew how to use them.

The System had become invaluable there.

Lucien could ask about furnace structure, charcoal quality, the amount of air needed to raise heat efficiently, and how different ores behaved during smelting.

He wrote down what mattered.

Tavian took those notes and turned them into practice.

Luke joined them often.

Lucien discovered quickly that his father knew more about blacksmithing than he had ever bothered mentioning.

Luke had never been a dedicated smith, but a village without enough specialized craftsmen required people to learn whatever became necessary. He could repair tools, shape fittings, maintain hunting blades, and judge when a piece of metal had been heated poorly.

Once Tavian began experimenting with Lucien’s notes, Luke became one of the first people to help.

They rebuilt part of the old furnace.

The new design drew air more efficiently and wasted less charcoal.

They changed the way the charcoal itself was produced, reducing the amount that came out half-burned or brittle.

Then came the metal.

The difference was obvious.

Impurities separated more cleanly.

The iron became easier to work.

Copper stopped being treated as something valuable only because it was scarce.

Small amounts of tin opened the possibility of better bronze for certain tools and fittings.

Lucien also asked the System about simple heat treatment.

Tavian spent several miserable days ruining test pieces.

Some became too brittle.

Others bent too easily.

Luke laughed at him twice and then ruined one himself.

After that, the laughter stopped.

Eventually, they began getting consistent results.

Knife edges held longer.

Tool heads resisted deformation.

Crossbow components became more reliable.

The village forge grew busier.

Lucien helped whenever he could.

He did not suddenly become a master craftsman because the System could explain methods to him.

That was not how skill worked.

He still needed Tavian’s hands, Luke’s judgment, and the experience of the villagers who had spent years repairing real things under real limitations.

Lucien provided knowledge.

They made it useful.

Auren’s wagon became the first major success.

The axle fittings were reinforced.

The wheels received better-riveted iron bands.

Several weak joints were replaced.

Weight was redistributed instead of simply adding more metal wherever something looked fragile.

When they tested it, Auren drove the wagon around the village twice.

Then he disappeared down the road.

He returned nearly an hour later with a smile so wide that Seran asked whether he had fallen in love.

Auren ignored him.

"It turns better."

Tavian folded his arms.

"I told you."

"It also does not shake my teeth loose."

"That was not the axle."

"It was absolutely the axle."

Lucien let them argue.

The improved wagon mattered for more than comfort.

Trips to the mineral basin became easier.

The return journey became safer.

Auren began refining the route every time he traveled it, avoiding soft ground and finding gentler slopes where loaded wheels would not sink or twist.

Soon, another village coachman learned the route with him.

They never mined continuously.

On some trips, Auren and the other driver left before sunrise with some villagers, reached the basin later in the day, helped gather ore until evening, slept near the safer edge of the site, then returned the following morning.

At most, they brought back two wagonloads.

Often less, but enough to matter.

And not enough to be noticed.

The entire village understood why.

They were waiting for the tax collector.

He had always been fair with them.

More importantly, he carried enough authority that asking him about a formal mining right would be safer than approaching some unknown official in the city.

Until then, the basin remained their secret.

The village benefited anyway.

Better hoes appeared in the fields.

Old hinges were replaced.

New hooks were mounted near the gate.

The wall received stronger brackets at the most vulnerable points.

Lucien helped Tavian build improved crossbow triggers that released more cleanly.

They experimented with stronger pulley systems for lifting timber.

Some pieces of copper and bronze went into tools that needed corrosion resistance or different hardness.

Other metals simply stayed stored until Lucien knew what to do with them.

Aurelia found her own use for the prettier pieces.

That surprised everyone.

She was remarkably good with small carving tools.

At first, she worked with translucent crystals collected from loose stone near the basin. Then she started combining polished pieces with thin copper wire and simple metal frames.

The results looked far better than Lucien expected.

Small pendants. Hair ornaments. Decorative pins. Tiny carved animal figures.

Nothing extravagant.

They were simply made with care.

Mirelle tried joining her once.

She produced something that resembled either a flower or an injured spider.

She stared at it for a long time.

Then she placed the tools down.

"If I continue, I will reduce the value of the raw material."

Aurelia laughed.

Mirelle never tried again.

She did, however, immediately recognize the value of Aurelia’s work.

On days when nobody went to the basin, Auren often took Mirelle to the city.

They carried only a small amount of ore.

Most of what they sold was finished.

Tools.

Simple metal goods.

Aurelia’s ornaments.

A few improved household items.

Finished work brought more money and drew fewer questions than arriving with wagonloads of raw mineral.

Lucien stayed behind during several of those trips.

The village had enough work to occupy him.

He continued training.

He helped improve the village.

He studied the System’s knowledge on mechanical triggers, stronger crossbow frames, pulleys, basic ballista construction, furnace temperatures, and simple alloying.

Some of the information was beyond what they could currently build.

Lucien recorded it anyway.

Knowledge did not spoil.

The first time Mirelle returned after selling Aurelia’s ornaments to a merchant who supplied noble households, she stepped down from the wagon with an expression Lucien had never seen before.

She looked super delighted.

Seran noticed first.

"You robbed someone?"

Mirelle ignored him and placed a pouch into Lucien’s hand.

It was heavier than expected.

Lucien opened it.

Silver... And a few gold pieces.

His eyebrows rose.

"That much?"

"The merchant wants more."

Aurelia looked genuinely startled.

"For the ornaments?"

Mirelle smiled.

"For the ornaments."

Aurelia’s face brightened.

They reinvested part of the money almost immediately.

Salt. Lamp oil. Leather. Food the village could not easily produce. Additional charcoal-making equipment. A few books and records Mirelle thought might help.

Everyone who contributed received a fair share.

The rest went back into the village.

Then the process repeated.

Mine a little.

Craft a little.

Sell carefully.

Bring resources home.

After several weeks, even Lucien found himself staring at the growing reserve of coins with satisfaction.

Then the absurdity reached him.

In his own era, he possessed wealth on a scale that could make kingdoms meaningless.

He had owned resources that could not be measured in mortal currencies.

Now he was smiling because a pouch of silver had become noticeably heavier.

Lucien stared at the coins.

Then he sighed.

"This is embarrassing."

Seran, who happened to be sitting nearby, looked over.

"What is?"

Lucien glanced at him.

For some reason, Seran suddenly looked offended.

"What?"

Lucien smiled.

"I think I finally understand you."

Seran narrowed his eyes.

"That sounds dangerous."

Lucien looked back at the coins.

"Doing things illegally really is profitable."

Seran stared at him.

Mirelle burst out laughing.

Aurelia covered her mouth.

Seran pointed at Lucien.

"We are not the same."

Lucien raised an eyebrow.

"You steal from criminals."

"You are secretly mining an unclaimed basin without permission."

"We are waiting for permission."

"Eventually."

Lucien considered that.

Seran leaned back with the smug expression of someone who believed he had won.

Lucien decided not to argue.

The basin would not remain illegal forever.

The tax collector would return.

They would handle the matter properly.

Until then, the village continued growing.

But one day, Mirelle and Auren returned from the city with expressions that erased the good mood immediately.