Chapter 208: Cave Makeover

The new quest that came was something Rino felt like a windfall. What did he do to result in such a good turn of fortune? It has to be some kind of colossal joke that the gods decided to play on him for his refusal to behave.

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Daily Quest #25

Objective: Repair the Dwarven Mines

Time Limit: 15 Days

0/100 Broken Tracks

0/5 Minecarts

0/2 Lifts

Tutorial here.

Reward: Dwarven Language Interpreter

Penalty: Deduct 24 hours of sleep upon failure and [Curse of Overtime] until quest is forcefully completed.

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Dwarven. Language. Interpreter.

Whatever the hell that meant, Rino wanted it. The only thing stopping him from understanding that treasure trove of recorded blueprints and design journals was the stupid language! Even if Kragami was making progress, Rino was too impatient to wait for his teacher to finish decoding everything for the next twenty years.

He wanted that skill NOW!

Given fifteen days and a paltry number of tracks to fix, Rino could do it in under a day. Scratch that! He could do it in a few hours. He needed the rest of that time to pour through those stone plates to understand everything.

Harvesters. Civilisation. Technology. Artefacts.

If he wanted to understand why he was sent to this new world after his death, it might have to do with those stone slabs he couldn't read.

For the first time since the founding of this empire, excluding when he only had goblins to work with, Rino cancelled all his summons and brought everyone to Town Zera forcefully.

Noir wasn't expecting that huge threatening surge of mana while he was busy scratching the new scratching post that Rino customised for him using an unusually large piece of firewood.

Like a looming cloud of calamity, the mana aura that engulfed Town Zera made all the other monsters in the next hundred kilometres run for their lives. Nearby living caves that Rino did not already own were thrown into chaos by the overwhelming authority enforced over their area. The living cave bosses fought and killed anyone indiscriminately with their instincts forcefully triggered to defend.

Unaware of his power over this land, Rino simply groaned when the fields overflowed with summoned subordinates. Everyone from Cypress County, Spudville and even those on errands, with the exception of the Magic Trees and Kragami, were pulled to Town Zera.

Once again, Rino questioned why his hunting team leader was caught in a state of indecency. The lesser vampire had his pants down again, but thankfully, he wasn't the only one. The other hunters in the team were also naked, but unlike Fowler, they had the decency to wrap a small white towel around their nether regions.

Slap!

The cries of outraged women rained on Fowler and his team members, who evolved to lesser ghouls. They cried out pathetically and claimed that they were in the hot springs when this happened, but Rino found no pity for them in his heart. Seeing the torment Fowler and his friends suffered brought a kind of sadistic satisfaction and a brief reprieve from what he meant to do.

"Silence!"

The moment he spoke, silence washed over everything like a blanket of darkness - suddenly and all at once. Nobody spoke, and all eyes were on the monarch of solitude.

Seeing almost all his subordinates gathered in one area and comparing it to the last time he held such a gathering, Rino finally realised just how much his influence had grown in the last few months.

With the feeble looking goblins that he summoned and Mutt the only monster by his side while they struggled to farm potatoes, Rino looked back at those days with nostalgia. Standing before him was an army of trolls, killer bunnies, lesser ghouls, skeletons, faes and other creatures like spectres. Some were familiar faces that Rino knew, starting with humble beginnings, while others were a new addition to his empire.

Looking at his adopted sons, Rino was reminded that he had a responsibility to carry out now that he wasn't truly alone. A king without his people is just a cheap crown wearer. If there were one thing Rino swore he would never be, it was an empty vessel.

"I've gathered everyone here for a purpose," he started his speech and, in the most serious tone, looked at Noir, who walked right up to him.

"We need all hands on deck for a cave makeover. The abandoned dwarven mine has been discovered, but many precious treasures that could help us win the fight against harvesters remain undiscovered."

The word 'harvester' created a ripple of reactions of varying intensity. It inspired fear, anger and hatred in some. However, for Rino, the word only ignited an ember of curiosity about the world in him. Who were they, where did they come from, and what was their purpose for massacres? He might not have the answer, but the dwarves might know a thing or two more than anyone else.

Not asking for their opinion but only demanding their participation, Rino appointed project leaders and dedicated tasks to each team with a deadline. It didn't matter how much mana they had to use. Rino needed it done before the moon appeared.

None of his summons had seen Rino behave in such a manner before. His state of urgency and seriousness made them step up and put on their best game face. As his shadow workers, if their king wanted something, they must see that he had it delivered.

"Drows and spectres on track realignment."

Sheila and Acht received their orders.

"Rabbit clan on creating better paths, work with the earth gnomes."

Bink gathered his group, and Kamiya's clan saluted. Rino did not need to know what they were doing. He already knew that they would take care of it.

"Trolls and hobgoblins, mine the ores needed to repair the tracks and minecarts."

The hobgoblin chief and appointed troll representative nodded.

"Pygmy dwarves, lead your team and, if necessary, discuss with the earth gnomes how to fix the lifts."

Griffith and Aiden fist-bumped each other and waved to Deezer, who wove back from Sheila's shoulder.

Looking over to the others that he summoned, Rino assigned the farmers and hunters mineral transporting duties. Whatever ores that the trolls and hobgoblins mined, they would store them in crates and carry them over to the designated places within the dwarven mine. Rino wanted to bring the grand furnace room back and possibly the smithing room. They were better equipped compared to anything Rino had in his stone cottage. The stone cottage's blacksmithing workshop was for experiments and not mass production.

The fairies were assigned to assist different teams with their tasks, especially those without magic. Rino also let the elemental sylphs decide the roles among themselves. There were plenty of jobs for magic casters. A good example was the amount of cleaning the cave needed. Some mana web arrays needed extending and working on. Not to mention, someone could help to keep the furnace fire consistent. There was no ready water supply in that cave either.

After everyone had a role to play, Rino told Mutt to go on ahead through the portal. He needed a familiar guide to the abandoned mines to lead them to their workplace. Rino remained in Town Zera to give more detailed instructions to the project leaders and Noir watched silently from where he stood. Nobody paid him any attention, not that the black cat minded.

It was simply too different watching Rino getting serious. If Ark and Stephanie saw this side of Rino, maybe they would understand why he and Phil decided to place their trust in this mortal. He wasn't just a brilliant magician. He was everything that they wanted in a saviour for a dying world.

At first glance, Rino's enthusiasm appeared like dying embers. However, only those who looked closer would understand that it wasn't just a dying spark. It was a spark that had yet to develop into a raging fire. If given the right conditions, this dying ember would rise and take over the world like hellfire, raining down mercilessly on everything in its way, razing it to the ground to be rebuilt by those two bony hands.

Rino wasn't a king that the world might like. He wasn't very appreciated back in his previous world, and perhaps he was right to destroy it. The level of filth back in that prosperous world was sickening underneath the overwhelming light of success. It was good for the gods. Whenever there was a need for salvation and general unhappiness, more people would reach out to them, giving them their much-needed divinity. It was also why worlds were often launched into a bloody battlefield in a fight for faith during the war between gods. The gods benefited, but the mortals suffered.

Rino wasn't like the others. Unwilling to become a pawn in the game between gods fighting for divinity, he took matters into his own hands to even the playing field and ended the vicious cycle, only to be pulled back into this rat race in a different world.

Ace and Phil knew this even if Rino did not. Nothing would change for the mortals and gods. This game of divinity and faith is an endless one with neither mortals nor gods declared as victors. However, it could be more meaningful if a wise leader was in charge of this faith game. They did not need to harvest dirty divinity stained in blood. Instead, wouldn't it be better to collect divinity free from suffering?

Divinity like this was rare to come by, but with Rino, it might be possible. Ark and Stephanie did not know it because they were too concerned over material gains in the god realm. However, Ace saw the difference it made, and so did Phil.

With Rino's leadership, it might be possible to create a utopia within this dysfunctional world. After all, the most successful of people weren't bound to fickle things like rules. They simply made their own and set the standard for others to follow.