Prospecting

Ma Gan had not expected to overdo it. The lord of the city was already in a foul mood, so trying to attract attention and climb higher at a time like this would only backfire.

He hurriedly got to the point. "It's like this. The baron who returned from the royal capital to his fief has hired all the fishermen in Little Nose Bay Port City. There aren't any fishermen going out to sea anymore, so if we want fresh seafood, we'll have to do it ourselves."

Ma Gan quickly gave him a brief account of the situation, then looked at the lord of the city with eager eyes, like a puppy hoping its master would toss it a meaty bone and reward it with some benefit.

"All right, I understand." After saying that, Jim waved his hand and dismissed Ma Gan. As the lord of the city, Jim could ask anyone at random and get that answer. He simply couldn't understand that look in Ma Gan's eyes.

Never expecting the lord of the city to be so stingy, Ma Gan left angrily.

"Butler, I'm giving you a chance to earn your keep. Investigate the new lord of South Australia Island for me. If he has no background, then he's asking for trouble with me."

"Achoo!" Kerry rubbed his nose. Unaware that he had offended the big shot of the Little Nose Bay Port City region, he was currently aboard a small boat. (According to the administrative divisions, South Australia Island, only forty kilometers from Little Nose Bay Port City, also fell under the city's jurisdiction.)

"No one should be talking about me, right? Could I be coming down with a cold?" Kerry gave a self-mocking smile. They were almost at their destination.

Unit 001, which had been sent out the previous night, reported to Kerry that it had discovered a copper mine forty kilometers south of the territory and an iron mine fifty kilometers west of it. Kerry had known there were mineral deposits in the waters near his territory, but he had not expected them to be so easy to find—and apparently so abundant. Excited, he had immediately decided to come and take a look himself. As for expanding the port, Carson had gone to Little Nose Bay Port City to make contact, so it would not delay anything.

Kerry was traveling alone this time. It wasn't that he couldn't find anyone to accompany him—Mike would probably have been more than willing—but it was better to keep a mining area secret. The interests involved were simply too great. Even if the deposits were under the sea, shallow waters or nearby islands would still make them worth mining.

There had once been a major mine owner who enclosed a stretch of shallow sea, built a water-exclusion dam, and pumped out the seawater to mine the area. The costs had been somewhat high, but that site had produced gold.

Kerry had no intention of making public the fact that he could mine the seabed. His entire territory had neither money nor strength at present. If people found out he could exploit seabed minerals, trouble would come one wave after another.

There was no sail on the small boat, nor anyone aboard to row or pole it, yet the boat was steadily moving toward the western side of South Australia Island. If someone had been beneath the sea, they would have seen a robot towing the boat forward at a constant speed.

Unit 001 was an amphibious Miner Robot, a versatile all-purpose model. Kerry had already experienced its riot-control and prospecting capabilities. They were both excellent products worth every penny. He wondered how the Basic Smelting Backpack would perform, though he figured it would not disappoint him.

At around one in the afternoon, Unit 001 brought Kerry to a reef. There was only this one reef in the surrounding area, with the vast, boundless sea stretching beyond it.

According to Unit 001's scan, the iron mine lay five hundred meters west of the reef at a depth of eighty meters. The deposit was rich, with ten percent consisting of open-pit ore exposed on the seabed.

The remaining ninety percent lay beneath the seabed, with total reserves of roughly thirty million tons. By this world's standards, thirty million tons was a very small mining area, but to Kerry, it was an enormous fortune.

At a depth of eighty meters, with open-pit ore and a reef nearby, this was an iron-mining area that humans could exploit. Kerry planned to leave it untouched for now and arrange for workers to mine it once he grew stronger. It was not suitable for immediate exploitation.

If someone with ulterior motives discovered it, they would soon come and fight Kerry for it. After all, the territory to the west was already the border between Reynaud and the Ford Army.

Moreover, this place did not fall within South Australia Island's territory. It was impossible to say whether this little reef belonged to Reynaud or Ford. By then, it might not be a mine owner fighting Kerry for it, but the Ford Army and the Reynaud army.

After concluding that the iron mine could be exploited, but not yet, Kerry ordered Unit 001 to take him to the copper mine forty kilometers south of his territory.

Unit 001 was merely an all-purpose mining robot, and speed was not its strong suit. It took Kerry three hours to reach the copper-mining area.

Vast pressure clouds were reflected across the open sea. The wind and waves were not strong, and the water was not particularly deep, but this was an underwater desert. There was nothing but sand and seawater—no islands and no schools of fish. The copper mine lay beneath the sand.

According to Unit 001's scan, the copper content here was astonishing, and its purity was frighteningly high, reaching 87.32%. The copper ore here could basically be dug up as copper ingots. More importantly, the deeper layers might contain associated gold deposits.

This was the kind of good stuff that could be used as money directly. Unfortunately, Unit 001 only had basic prospecting equipment, and anything below two hundred meters underwater was essentially beyond its limits.

The advantage of this prospecting equipment lay in its wide detection range. Kerry planned to spend several months surveying all the seabed mineral deposits around Little Nose Bay. That way, he could plan the territory's development according to the exploitable resources.

Before that, however, he could have Unit 001 mine some ore for small-scale trade. That way, Butler Carson would not keep complaining that there was no money or income.

"Unit 001, take me back to the territory later, then push an empty cargo ship over here. Mine for a day and load the ore onto the ship. After one day, push the ship back to the southern dock of the territory." Kerry wanted to see exactly how much copper Unit 001 could mine in a day.

"By the way, if you encounter other ships, avoid them whenever possible. If you can't, sink our cargo ship. Remember the coordinates and come back next time."

Kerry suddenly realized that this was an exceptionally good secret mining area. There were no fish, no islands, and as long as no passing ship happened to discover them, nobody would imagine that someone was mining beneath the sea.

"Unit 001 understands."

Kerry had originally wanted to mine some ore immediately so he could see how the Miner Robot worked. Unfortunately, it was already getting dark. If he did not make it back to the territory before dinner, Butler Carson would have plenty to nag him about.

At around seven in the evening, Kerry returned to the territory. In fact, he had already missed dinner. He had expected Butler Carson to appear at once and lecture him about how Lord Kobe should conduct himself.

Unexpectedly, Butler Carson had gone to Little Nose Bay Port City to contact the construction crew for the port expansion and still had not returned. Kerry secretly breathed a sigh of relief. With Butler Carson absent, he would not have to listen to him nag.

After enjoying a delicious bowl of mushroom soup prepared by Mrs. Wesley, along with the sea bass the hunting party had caught while they were out, Kerry soon grew drowsy.

Accustomed to a life of comfort, and with only the strength of a Level 1 Warrior, he had found spending nearly the entire day drifting at sea exhausting. On this island, which had no nighttime entertainment, Kerry had gradually grown accustomed to going to sleep after dinner.

Yet until he went to bed, Butler Carson still had not returned.