"You, one at a time. Alexei, you go first."
"Yes." Alexei glanced at the others, then stepped forward stiffly. "We found a saltpeter mine. The reserves are enormous, and the quality is exceptionally high."
"What!?" Theus slammed his hand on the table and nearly jumped out of his chair. Castel's war industry had always been strangled by its lack of saltpeter. Whether producing nitroglycerin or smokeless powder, both required vast quantities of it.
Yet the island simply did not produce the stuff. Fortunately, saltpeter was not entirely unobtainable. Left with no other choice, Theus had built quite a few public latrines—excrement was also a traditional means of producing saltpeter—but the yield was still far too low.
"Hahaha, this is wonderful! I knew it! If there are gypsum mines, how could there be no saltpeter mines? We were just unlucky not to have found one before." Theus walked excitedly over to Alexei and patted him on the back, completely failing to notice his strange expression.
Gypsum was often associated with saltpeter deposits. Since migratory birds passed through the island, it should actually have been quite easy for saltpeter mines to form here. That was why Theus had never given up hope and intended to send out a proper prospecting team once the war was over.
Wait!
Theus's movement suddenly froze.
"I remember all mineral exploration work was halted after the war began. Did you secretly send people out yourself?"
"No, my lord."
"Then how did you find the saltpeter mine?"
"It was dug up by the workers while they were laying the foundation for the new factory district."
"..."
That worked too? Was their luck really that good? Theus blinked.
"All right, looks like we're lucky. Where was it found?"
"At the entrance to the smokeless powder factory."
"..."
Theus fell