The unrest in the mine was quickly quelled. Merkel arrived with his men and found miners sprawled all over the ground, Hex trembling inside the Shadow Ore, and the two Red Demons who had just gotten back to their feet. Merkel was somewhat confused about what had happened.
But at that moment, Molen immediately ran over and nodded and bowed to Merkel. "Lord Merkel, I'm terribly sorry! You weren't frightened, were you?!"
"I've told you countless times, don't call me 'lord.'" Merkel sighed and looked at Molen. "What happened? Why did the Shadow Vine suddenly erupt?"
Molen's eyes shifted, then he put on an angry expression. "There was a Shadow Monster that refused to follow orders and tried to sabotage production. When I caught him, he kept making excuses. I wanted to take him away so he wouldn't interfere with the other groups' work, but he turned and ran..."
"I chased him to the Shadow Ore, and he plunged right inside. He even deliberately provoked the Shadow Vine, trying to kill us all! Lord Merkel, you have to stand up for us!"
Molen put on a sorrowful expression. "You just assigned everyone's work today. I was about to arrange the production tasks as you instructed, and then he caused this mess. Maybe he was dissatisfied with your group assignments, which is why he wanted to hold us back!"
"I know you're busy and have many more tasks to arrange. We'll get him out and take him away right now. The third group has always understood the importance of unity. We'll definitely take him back and educate him properly..."
Molen deliberately used many of the terms Merkel had once used. In Hell, words like production, unity, and work assignments were relatively uncommon. He thought this would make Merkel trust him more