The Greatest Estate Developer - Chapter 29: Jackpot Plan (1)
Ding-dong.
[All the people of Baron Frontera’s estate are deeply moved and praising the heroic courage and exemplary leadership you have shown.]
[As a bonus for this significant social achievement, a large amount of RP is awarded.]
[You have gained 500 RP.]
[Current RP: 507]
“……”
Lloyd blinked.
Was it because he had slept so deeply for so long?
His vision struggled to focus.
No, he was seeing things.
‘RP? A large amount? A whole 500?’
He read the message with a dazed feeling.
As he did, memories of what had happened began to resurface.
‘Ah.’
The mine construction.
The beast ants.
The methane explosion.
Getting trapped in the dark tunnel.
Carrying Javier while working hard.
‘I survived.’
He remembered the grueling walk with Javier on his back.
He also recalled meeting the Baron and soldiers at the end.
Finally, Lloyd understood the meaning behind the message that appeared before him.
‘Heh. Everyone’s praising my achievements?’
This was a great outcome.
Truly wonderful.
Lloyd felt content.
He had struggled desperately not to die.
Survived with the tenacity of a winter plant.
Thanks to that, he had unexpectedly raked in a large sum of RP.
It was like finding a bundle of forgotten cash in an old winter coat when digging it out in late autumn.
He found himself pleasantly contemplating.
‘What’s the best way to use this? No, I should save it for now rather than spend recklessly just because I’ve accumulated some RP.’
Who knew what might happen in the future?
In such unforeseen circumstances, the most reliable card was a stockpile of RP.
That was clear even from this recent experience.
‘What would have happened if I hadn’t increased my affinity with Javier by carrying him around?’
He wouldn’t have earned any RP.
And without that RP, he wouldn’t have been able to awaken the Asrahan Heart Technique as a skill.
‘I would have died without a doubt.’
A shiver ran down his arm.
‘So, RP is both a trump card and a last resort. I need to save it and keep it plentiful.’
Lloyd shook off the shiver.
Suddenly, he turned to look to his side.
He froze mid-motion and opened his mouth.
“What are you doing there?”
“I am observing Lord Lloyd.”
“……”
“……”
Lloyd, who asked the question.
Javier, who answered.
An awkward silence hung between them.
Once again, it was Lloyd who broke the silence.
“No, I mean. How long have you been sitting there like a statue watching me?”
“If you’re asking when I started, hmm, about three hours ago.”
“Three hours?”
“Yes. I switched with the lord after breakfast.”
“So you’ve been sitting there since breakfast?”
“Yes.”
“Sitting there all morning, just watching me lying unconscious?”
“Yes.”
“Are you a pervert?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“I was simply taking care of Lord Lloyd.”
“Taking care? In what way?”
“Preparing to call someone if you stopped breathing while lying there.”
“……”
“It was a joke.”
“Oh, it doesn’t sound much like a joke.”
“That must be your misunderstanding.”
“Are you okay though?”
“Yes, mostly.”
Lloyd’s eyes shifted to Javier’s ankle.
A faint smile crossed Javier’s lips.
“I am fully recovered now.”
“Already? How many days have passed?”
“Four days.”
“……Are you saying I’ve been asleep for four days?”
“Yes.”
“And your ankle, which you couldn’t even walk on, healed in four days?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. Be honest with me. Were you faking it that day?”
“What does ‘faking it’ mean?”
“Exaggerating.”
“I assure you, I never exaggerated.”
Javier responded as if confused by the question.
A vein popped out on Lloyd’s temple.
“What do you mean you didn’t exaggerate? You couldn’t even walk properly. Your expression looked like you were about to cry. You even whimpered, ‘Lord Lloyd, I can’t walk, whimper,’ didn’t you? I even had to carry you myself. Was that all an act?”
“Of course not.”
Javier shrugged and added with his usual cynical tone.
“It’s thanks to the recovery power of the Triple Circle.”
“Recovery? Triple Circle?”
“Yes.”
“Aha. So, because of your Triple Circle that amplifies mana, you have exceptional recovery abilities?”
“That is an accurate summary.”
“Ha. This makes me feel cheated. My joints are still aching.”
“There’s no reason to feel cheated.”
“Why not?”
“Just think of it as you being older than me and having a slower recovery rate. It might comfort you somewhat.”
“You’re such a brutal truth-teller. Are you trying to break my spirit with facts?”
“I never did such a thing. However—”
“However?”
“I’m just glad to see you awake.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m glad too, you jerk.”
Lloyd couldn’t help but laugh.
He was relieved.
Relieved that they had survived.
Relieved that Javier was safe.
It seemed Javier felt the same.
Suddenly, the realization hit him—how they both escaped that dark, grim anthill.
“It’s a relief. Really.”
Lloyd slowly sat up from the bed.
Relief was one thing.
It was time to move.
—
Lloyd’s condition improved rapidly.
This was the power of the Double Circle he had gained underground.
He frequently activated the Asrahan Heart Technique throughout the day.
He amplified the mana he absorbed through the two circles.
He circulated the amplified mana throughout his body, even to its extremities.
This sped up the biological cycle of his cells.
His cells’ recovery cycles also quickened.
As a result, his muscles and ligaments, strained from the extreme overexertion, healed in less than ten days.
There was more good news.
The foreclosure notices that had been posted throughout the mansion.
The red labels that had been an eyesore since he first arrived were now gone.
The seizure on the Baron’s house had been lifted.
‘This is all thanks to me.’
Lloyd recalled the content of *The Iron-Blooded Knight* novel.
According to the novel, the Baron’s mansion at this time should have been completely empty.
The foreclosure would have been carried out long ago.
But now?
The foreclosure had been canceled.
This was due to the steady income from the underfloor heating installation business he had initiated.
Thanks to that income, the Baron could consistently pay the interest on his debts.
‘Thanks to that, the Baron’s credit has been restored. This is really fortunate.’
In *The Iron-Blooded Knight*, by this time, the Baron’s family was evicted from their mansion.
The Baron and his wife fell into despair, and Lloyd succumbed to denial and a life of excessive drinking.
But not anymore.
Lloyd was changing that dark storyline himself.
And he planned to continue changing it.
“So, move it! Just because it’s hot, don’t get lazy!”
Lloyd’s voice echoed through the mine construction site.
He had already returned to the final stage of the mine construction project.
He was directly overseeing the work.
With a tool belt around his waist, he led from the front.
He participated in every difficult and dangerous task.
Every time he did, the skilled workers and engineer corps soldiers worked even harder, sweating profusely without neglecting a thing.
They now trusted Lloyd more than ever.
‘He’s someone who values our safety more than his own life.’
There was no longer the reckless young master of the past.
Even if he had once been reckless, it no longer mattered.
On the day the beast ants first appeared, Lloyd had stayed behind to ensure the workers’ safety.
That act had left a deep impression on their hearts.
And they all thought the same thing.
That it wasn’t something just anyone could do.
That if such a man was leading the work, they could follow with confidence.
Even if another dangerous moment came, he would ensure their safety.
It was the power of trust.
Thanks to that, the final phase of the mine construction was more vigorous than ever.
“This is the last support beam. Just a bit more! On my count! One! Two! Three!”
“Heave-ho!”
With Lloyd’s command, the final stage of the construction was completed.
The coal mine was finally finished.
But Lloyd didn’t celebrate.
‘This is just the beginning.’
Even at the celebration party commemorating the completion.
Even while distributing special bonuses to all the skilled workers and engineer corps soldiers who participated in the construction.
Instead of being excited, Lloyd calmly planned the next steps.
And he put those plans into action.
Without haste.
Step by step, carefully.
It was the safety inspection process for the newly completed mine.
‘To pay off the debt, I have to stay diligent!’
It was a given.
The Baron’s family had only just avoided foreclosure.
With the income from the underfloor heating installations, they could barely cover the monthly interest.
‘Which means, the real challenge of paying off the principal is still ahead.’
That principal was the enormous burden that needed to be dealt with.
To do that, he couldn’t stop working.
But he also couldn’t rush.
‘Safety first, safety second.’
If he only thought about immediate profit, he could just open the mine.
He could recruit miners and start training them right away.
Coal mining could begin that much sooner.
Time and costs would be saved.
But Lloyd didn’t want to do it that way.
‘If I rush, I might make a quick profit, but this is the kind of thing where you have to look at the long-term.’
He recalled numerous experiences from his time in Korea.
Korea, the land of “ppalli-ppalli” (hurry-hurry).
Where safety checks were barely considered.
Where workers were often treated as mere parts of a machine.
Most factories, warehouses, and worksites were like that.
‘Hands severed by machines, workers falling into molten furnaces, electrocuted by high-voltage wires, crushed by subway screen doors, caught in escalators during repairs, leading to tragic accidents… these incidents made the news constantly. Yet the ones responsible only pretended to care about safety for a moment. Then they’d put new workers into those positions until the next accident. When something broke, it didn’t matter. They’d just find a new worker. That was the “normal” practice they spoke of. Replacing broken parts as if they were interchangeable.’
This was the dark side of Korea that Lloyd had seen in the news and experienced while living on the fringes of society.
He was fed up with that kind of system.
It made him feel almost disgusted.
‘That approach may work in the short term, but eventually, you lose the workers’ trust. And when that happens, no one will want to work under me.’
And if an accident happened later?
It would cost even more to manage the aftermath.
Above all, he didn’t want those under his command to go through such tragedies.
Therefore, safety inspections before opening the mine were essential.
‘Thankfully, having the surveying skill makes this easier. Surveying!’
Whirr!
His eyes glimmered faintly as he examined the mine’s nooks and crannies.
He used his surveying skill to thoroughly inspect the mine’s internal structure.
Checking if the ground was stable.
If the foundation was properly reinforced.
If there were any signs of subsidence.
He meticulously examined every centimeter.
Moreover, his safety inspection wasn’t limited to the mine itself.
“You’re not planning to go back into the anthill, are you?”
When Lloyd moved to enter the hole at the bottom of the coal seam, Javier’s question came from behind.
Lloyd turned and smirked at him.
“Scared?”
“No, but—”
“But?”
“I’m curious why you would go back in there.”
“Why else? For safety inspection.”
Lloyd spoke as if Javier’s question was unnecessary.
“In fact, this place is riskier than the tunnels we built. Ants may be natural-born tunnel diggers, but an explosion occurred down here, didn’t it? The ground must be unstable. If a large-scale collapse happens, it could affect the mine above.”
He continued.
“And that’s not all. We need to check if any remaining methane gas is leaking, or if there are still beast ants lurking around. If they come up and attack the miners, that’d be a problem. Does that make sense now? Then let’s go.”
With that, Lloyd led the way into the anthill.
Javier followed.
“But I still don’t understand.”
“Don’t understand what?”
“Why you would take this risk yourself.”
“You mean, why not have someone else do it?”
“Yes.”
Javier nodded, took a moment to gather his thoughts, and spoke.
“It’s rare for nobles to take on such dangerous tasks themselves.”
“Is there a problem if they do?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m personally checking the safety for the people who work for me. Is that so strange?”
“No, it’s not. It’s reckless, but also commendable.”
“Oh, surprising to hear praise from you.”
“I prefaced it with ‘reckless,’ though.”
“Don’t be shy. If you want to praise me, just do it.”
“No, thank you.”
“Haha. You’re always so prickly.”
“What is ‘prickly’?”
“It’s a thing. But what’s that over there?”
They were in the middle of their conversation, inspecting the anthill, when Lloyd squinted and pointed with a torch.
There was something glistening on the ground.
“I’ll take a look.”
Javier drew his sword and approached.
He examined the spot Lloyd had indicated.
What gleamed there was…
“A sword.”
“A sword?”
“Yes.”
Javier picked up the fallen sword.
“It doesn’t seem to be a human’s weapon. It’s crude and unbalanced. Judging by the handle and the damaged blade… it looks like it belonged to an orc.”
“An orc?”
“Yes.”
“Why would an orc’s sword be here?”
“That, I don’t know.”
It was puzzling.
Orcs were pig-headed monsters that frequently appeared in *The Iron-Blooded Knight*.
But to find an orc-made longsword in the middle of an anthill, dozens or hundreds of meters underground…
“Don’t those guys usually live beyond the eastern mountain range in the wastelands?”
“That’s correct.”
“Hmm, strange.”
Perhaps an ant had simply dragged it here.
With that thought, Lloyd set aside his curiosity.
“Something else might turn up if we keep looking. Let’s keep moving.”
“Understood.”
The two of them continued investigating the anthill.
It was an extensive and intricately woven labyrinth.
They spent over two weeks thoroughly inspecting it.
And on the 16th day of their investigation,
They found a young orc warrior lying in the storage area at the bottom of the anthill.
“What on earth is this?”
Why was there an orc here?
Lloyd stared at the orc warrior with a bewildered expression.
Javier, who was examining the orc alongside him, responded.
“It seems to be an orc that was captured by the ants. And it appears to be alive.”
“What?”
It was alive?
Like some kind of frozen human?
Javier nodded.
“It looks like it’s been paralyzed by venom.”
“……”
Lloyd suddenly recalled something he’d read in *The Iron-Blooded Knight*.
It was about the beast ants’ way of life.
‘Right. The beast ants do paralyze some of their food and store it alive.’
This orc seemed to be one of those cases.
Confirming that fact led to a new realization.
“…Wait a minute. Bingo.”
The moment he confirmed the orc’s state, an unexpected jackpot plan flashed through Lloyd’s mind.
A satisfied grin spread across his face.
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