“It isn’t impossible for me to show some leniency,” Elijah said. “However, the price will have to be paid by everyone in your clan.”
Immediately, the clan members began to exchange unhappy whispers. Elijah noticed this, but there was no change to the stern expression on his face. Kento froze for a moment before he turned to address his people with an embarrassed expression on his face.
“Everyone I’m sorry about this, but I promise to make it up to you in the future.”
“Hmph, we’ve never heard that before.” One of the male clan members sarcastically replied. More than a few clan members grumbled in agreement.
Kento looked even more embarrassed after he heard that comment. However, there was plenty of anger and frustration in his eyes as well. Although Elijah didn’t show it on the outside, he was very curious about the male clan member’s comment.
“This probably isn’t the first time that Bart has caused trouble for the clan,” Elijah thought to himself.
“What price will we have to pay? We don’t have anything of value?”
The person who spoke was Kento’s cousin, Armin. Armin had facial features that were similar to Kento, but his eyes were light brown. Also, Armin was shorter than Kento by half a head.
“The village is currently undergoing rapid development and can use your help completing various tasks,” Elijah said. “All of you will be expected to help out, but the pay you will receive will be significantly reduced.” Elijah paused to gaze at the crowd. “I suggest you think carefully about allowing Bart to stay in the village. I will be paying all of you with the natural resources we found in the forest and what we found is very valuable. If you allow Bart to stay you will have to wait a few weeks before you can receive a fair share of these resources.”
“We agree,” Kento quickly responded. There were more than a few grumbles, but nobody disagreed with what Kento said.
Elijah allowed a few seconds to pass before he continued speaking. “Alright, as of now the amount of resource you will receive will be significantly reduced. Are we all on the same page?” Kento said yes and the rest of his clan members reluctantly agreed as well.
“Awesome!” Elijah’s stern expression disappeared in an instant and was replaced by a bright smile. “Now that were all on the same page, lets discuss the tasks that need to be completed. I remember hearing that all of you have experience with mining. I hope you can all help us with obtaining ore from a copper mine we discovered.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Kento said. “Our clan specializes in the earth. We have a great deal of experience mining various minerals from the earth, but astral stones are the ones we are the most familiar with.”
“That’s great! Speaking of astral stones, another task you will be given is mining astral stones from an astral stone mine we discovered. Don’t worry, we already cleared it, so you won’t have to fight any beast.”
Several clan members gasped after they heard Elijah say they discovered an astral stone mine. A second after Elijah finished speaking, he was hit by a wave of questions.
“How big is it? How deep does it go? Where is it? Is the mine stable? How many astral stones does it have? What quality of astral stones does it produce? What are-?”
“Hold on, hold on.” Elijah held up his hands to stop the wave of questions. “We aren’t experts, and we only found the mine today, so we don’t have much information about it. However, I can tell you that the mine is healthy, but the astral stones it produces isn’t that great.”
“How much will we get paid?” The moment that question was asked, the excitement in the air rapidly dispersed.
All eyes were on Elijah and his smile started to dim. “As I said before, since Bart is staying in the village the number of astral stones you will receive as compensation will be significantly reduced.” Elijah paused and everyone had their eyes trained on him as they waited for the number of astral stones they would receive. “I have decided that you will receive a total of ten astral stones every day for your-”
“Ten!? Only ten!?” One of the clan members shouted. That one voice ignited the voice of every clan member. “This is unfair! That’s no different than working for free. We got more when we worked with the barbarians. How can you be so greedy?”
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
“Enough!” Elijah used his Supreme Will to pressure the crowd. He had withdrawn it after he used it earlier, but now it was back in full force. With a serious and slightly annoyed expression on his face, Elijah began to admonish the crowd.
“Who do you think your shouting at? Do you know who I am?” Elijah’s arrogance began to fan his annoyance until it grew into a flame of anger. “I am the Supreme. The chief of this village. This territory was established because of me. I’m the reason why the astral stone mine exist and I’m the one who helped to clear the monsters that were in it. I’m not forcing any of you to work for me. I clearly stated the conditions and you agreed to them beforehand. If you don’t like it then you are free to leave.”
Nobody was willing to leave the village, but they weren’t happy with the hand they were being dealt. Elijah wasn’t happy either and both sides silently stared at each other with anger and frustration in their eyes. Thankfully there was still a reasonable person in the area that could help bridge the gap.
“Chief, it isn’t that we aren’t willing to work, or that we aren’t willing to receive a lower number of astral stones. However, the number you suggested is a bit unfair. We’re only asking that you give us the opportunity to voice our thoughts and that you take time to think about what we said.
The woman that spoke was Amara. She had bronze skin dark hair and soft facial features. In the clan she took on the role of caretaker and educator for the children.
“Hmph, I never said I wasn’t willing to listen to your thoughts and opinions. What I’m not willing to do is stand here and be screamed at by a bunch of mad men.”
Both Elijah’s and Amara’s words helped everyone calm down. In fact, a few of the clan members looked embarrassed about their behavior. As the tension in the air started to dissolve, Elijah continued to speak.
“Truthfully, I don’t think you all have the right to complain. Giving you ten percent of the astral stones that are mined is very fair.”
“Ten percent?” Kento said. “How does ten astral stones equal ten percent of an astral stone mine? In the past we were able to mine hundreds of astral stones from an astral stone mine and that’s not our limit. Either you’ve underestimated our abilities, or you’ve underestimated the production capabilities of an astral stone mine when you determined that we would receive ten astral stones for a day of work.”
“Neither. Although I didn’t know how much astral stones you would be able to obtain from the mine each day, I knew it would be more than one hundred. But at the moment, I do not wish to take more than one hundred astral stones from the mine. And before you ask any more questions, please take a look at the information for the mine.”
Resource: Astral Stone Mine
Tier: 0
Upkeep: 30,000 astral energy
Description: An ordinary astral stone mine capable of producing astral stones of various qualities. There is a 30% chance to mine an astral shard, 60% chance to mine a trash-quality astral stone, 10% chance to mine a poor-quality astral stone, and a 0.1%chance to mine a low-quality astral stone.
Durability: 999,945/1,000,000
Daily Production: 87/100
Durability Recovery: (10) 1 point per day
“As you can see, the mine can only produce one hundred astral stones every day. If we try to take more, then it would harm the durability of the mine. I’m not against temporarily damaging the mine to obtain more astral stones, but I didn’t want to do that right away. After all, we don’t have any mining tools and I don’t think you all would be able to mine the best quality of astral stones at this time.”
“Ahem, it seems like we overreacted a little bit,” Kento said. “Everything you said makes perfect sense. Ten astral stones every day is a fair price and I hope you can forgive us for our poor reaction.”
“Yes, please forgive us,” Cole said. “Before this we experienced unfairness at the hands of the barbarians, and we assumed the worst when you told us the number of astral stones we would receive.”
Kento and the other clan members looked embarrassed and apologetic. Elijah was satisfied with their current behavior, but he was still a little upset. He decided to quickly wrap things up and head to the communal area.
“Don’t compare me to the barbarians.” Elijah arrogantly responded. “Now, does anyone have any other questions or concerns?” Nobody responded. “Good. In thirty minutes, everyone should head to the communal area. There we will finalize the tasks that we need to complete for the day and let everyone know what they are going to do.”
After Elijah finished speaking, he immediately began giving out quests to everyone. The quest required them to arrive at the communal area within the appointed time to receive the reward. The reward was one hundred points of astral energy, and it required Elijah to sacrifice twenty points of astral energy from the village core. The process took some time, but he was able to give out dozens of quests within a few seconds.
“A quest?” Kento asked.
“Yes, I will be awarding all of you with one quest every day for the work you do. Originally, I wanted to award you with a thousand points of astral energy, but I’m sure you all can figure out why that didn’t happen.”
More than a few clan members shot Bart a dirty look. Bart was displeased with their gazes and wanted to defend himself. However, after a look from his father he shut his mouth and bowed his head again.
Truthfully, Bart was falsely accused. The reason Elijah didn’t award the clan members with a thousand points of astral energy was because he couldn’t afford the cost. He didn’t have enough astral energy to give high reward quest to the villagers and clan members, while paying the upkeep for his resources and other things within his territory.
Was it Elijah’s fault the clan members blamed Bart? Probably. Was Elijah going to speak up to clarify the situation? Definitely not. Elijah said a few more words before saying goodbye to Kento and his clan.