Trinity of Magic

Zeke stepped out of the mine and breathed in the cold mountain air. When he turned back toward the entrance, his brows furrowed.

After returning from the hunt, he had been delighted to hear that the mine owner was willing to sell. Moreover, the man had only demanded a fraction of what he had expected. However, he now knew the reason for the low price.

When Zeke thought of a mine, he pictured reinforced corridors and well-planned passages. However, what he found here was far from that. The village's condition didn't make it obvious, but the Icefang tribe seemed to lack skilled architects and craftsmen. Given the tribe's warlike nature, it shouldn't have surprised him, but the state of the mine still caught him off guard.

It was extremely primitive. Honestly, calling it a mine was already a stretch. It was blatantly obvious that not much thought or effort had been invested in this place. Aside from the gate, which was well-crafted, the inside of the mine resembled a natural cave more than a man-made structure. The walls were coarse and uneven, the corridors meandered to the left and right at random, and the supports were nonexistent.

The only positive surprise was that the place had not collapsed so far.

Behind him, the Chimeroi emerged from the mine, their expressions heavy. Ash, who had negotiated the deal for this place, seemed especially apprehensive. "Master, I… I didn't think it would be like this…"

Zeke took in his nervous expression and frowned. There was no reason for Ash to take responsibility for this. After all, Zeke had ordered him to buy this place no matter what. However, it seems that Ash still considered this to be his mistake.

Zeke shook his head. "Don't worry about it. The place might not be all that I had hoped for, but I never expected it to be perfect from the beginning."

Ash grimaced, not buying his words. "I could live with 'not perfect,' but… is this even usable?"

Zeke realized that a halfhearted attempt to placate Ash wouldn't work, so he decided to let them in on some of his plans. "You are right that the place is a mess. However, that only means that the renovations I have planned will have to be a bit more extensive."

"Renovations?" Ash asked, still skeptical.

Zeke nodded his head. "Even if the mine had been of excellent quality, it's still not a place for anyone to live. I always planned to rebuild it to suit our needs. Now, we just have a bit more work to do."

Ash's tense expression finally began to ease up a bit. Seeing this, Zeke decided to give him one more push. "Now that I think about it, this might even be a chance for us."

"What do you mean?"

Zeke smiled, seeing the Chimeroi paying close attention. "I've been thinking about ways to approach the people here. It likely wouldn't work if we blatantly offered them food to join our side. However, what if we offered them food in exchange for work?"

Vulcanos tilted his head. "How would that help us?"

Zeke lifted three fingers, bending them one at a time as he spoke. "First, it would help us promote our names. Currently, we are strangers to most of the citizens. That has to change."

The Chimeroi nodded.

"Second, it will establish a very important fact: We have food. This might end up painting a target on our backs, but the exchange is worth it."

Another nod.

"Third, and most important, I want to instill the notion that working for us is a privilege. I'll make it so that people will trip over themselves to get a chance to work for us."

This time, the Chimeroi didn't nod. Instead, they were looking at him with dubious expressions. "A privilege?" Gravitas asked doubtfully.

"You don't believe me?" Zeke asked playfully. "Let me prove it to you then. I want you to go to the marketplace right now and ask for volunteers for tomorrow."

Ash frowned. "What are we supposed to tell them?"

"Tell them that we will hire workers for a day at a time. Their job will be manual labor, and the pay will be their own weight in meat."

Ash nodded slowly but still looked confused. "Why for a day? Wouldn't it be easier to use the same people continuously? That way, we wouldn't have to explain the work every time."

Zeke shook his head, a small smile tugging at his lips. "That would ruin the whole scheme. I want you to hire exactly ten people and not a single one more, but make it clear that we will choose a new batch the next day around the same time at the same place."

"To what aim?" Ash asked.

Zeke smiled enigmatically. "You'll find out tomorrow. Now go."

After the Chimeroi left, Zeke turned back to face the mine, the smile slowly fading from his lips. "What did you find, Akasha?"