[Book 1 Completed] Industrial Mage: Modernizing a Magical World [Kingdom Building LitRPG]
B2 | Chapter 30 – Ashton’s Reaction

Baron Ashton POV

Baron Ashton was pacing uncontrollably. His boots clicked against the stone as he paced back and forth across the mine's entrance chamber. The sound reverberated off the cavern walls, joining the low murmur of voices from the slime farm workers and the distant trickling of water.

The noises had been getting worse. It was not just the typical noises you would expect from a mining operation: men yelling to one another across the tunnels, pickaxes hitting stone, and carts rumbling down rails. No, these were different kinds of noises. The sort of noises that caused even experienced miners to halt their work and cast anxious glances toward the shadowy passageways leading down to the lower levels.

Where the Slime King waited.

In an attempt to calm the knot of dread that had taken up home in his stomach, Ashton raked a hand through his thinning hair. Although this entire operation had been dangerous from the beginning, you don't exactly say no when a royal knocks on your door with a proposal to rid your most lucrative mine of the monsters that had been plaguing it, especially one with whom you were attempting to mend bridges. Especially when that royal happens to be Theodore.

If anything happened to the boy, the king would have his head. Not in a metaphorical sense, either. Literally. Ashton had witnessed the unpleasant consequences that befell nobility who did not defend royal interests. Over the years, the capital square's gibbet had been the scene of multiple barons who had let his majesty down.

However, what option did he really have? For months, the fervidite mines had been losing money. The Slime King had taken control of the lower tunnels and made the deeper veins, which contained the best ore, totally unreachable. An environment of acidic death that had already claimed too many good miners was created by this Rank 3 monster, which was strong enough to spawn smaller slimes by the dozen.

As he paced, Ashton stopped to look in the direction of the tunnel entrance leading to the slime farms. That aspect of the operation, at least, was proceeding smoothly. They had set up a controlled breeding program utilizing caught lesser slimes, and the results had been respectable. Only an hour before, the workers he had spoken to had expressed cautious optimism about their progress.

"Yield's up by nearly thirty percent, my lord," old Henrik had informed him, using a rag that had seen better days to wipe the slime residue from his grizzled hands. "Got ourselves a good breeding population established now. Healthy specimens, reproducing at a steady rate."

"And the solidification problem?"

A little sourness had crept into Henrik's face. "Still working on that one, sir. The slime hardens too quickly once it's extracted. Makes it nearly impossible to shape into proper insulation panels before it sets. Lord Theodore said he'd have a solution for us, but..."

But Theodore was currently somewhere in the deeper tunnels, taking on a slime monster that could destroy a group of experienced adventurers without breaking anything even remotely like a sweat.

Ashton started pacing again. He would give the boy credit for his ability, given that he was more competent than the majority of nobles his age, who preferred to learn to dance and play court politics over gaining any useful skills. Since his arrival, Theodore had taken him by surprise by demonstrating an understanding of both industrial procedures and combat tactics that revealed thorough study and preparation.

But when you were up against a Rank 3 monster in its own domain, capability only got you so far.

The Slime King possessed both intelligence and strength. And Theodore had walked right in with a handful of adventurers and that troublesome Rufus.

Theodore had promised to take care of the solidification issue, but he hadn't returned yet—

He froze mid-step when he heard a disturbance coming from the tunnel entrance. Voices reverberated off the walls of stone. Several voices, approaching. Ashton spun toward the sound, trying to pick out particular phrases above the general clamor, his heart leaping into his throat.

They were coming back.

Confusion quickly overcame Ashton's delight at seeing familiar faces as the party emerged from the tunnel's dark entrance. Thankfully, Theodore was present and appeared exhausted but uninjured. Roland was at his side. A number of the other explorers trailed behind.

But where was Rufus?

As they drew closer, Ashton's gaze absorbed the attitude of the group. The majority of them appeared... defeated. Eyes downcast, shoulders slumped—body language that conveyed loss and failure. They were avoiding eye contact and lacked the victorious enthusiasm that comes with a successful monster hunt.

They had not succeeded. Rufus was very likely dead, the Slime King was still alive, and now they returned with only disappointment and casualties.

This was not going to go down well with the White Fang guild master. That man would be furious. Ashton could already imagine the clenched fists and the rage bubbling beneath those cold, calculating eyes.

Instead of grieving publicly, he would search for someone to hold accountable for his loss. And it made Ashton uncomfortable to think it might be him. He might not have been at the front, but in the end, it didn't matter because someone would be held accountable for Rufus's death.

When it happened, he wasn't sure he wanted to be close to that man.

Ashton started figuring out damage control right away. They would have to reorganize and possibly solicit further help. While they worked out their next course of action, the mine would continue to be closed for an indeterminate amount of time, wasting resources and money.

As soon as the group arrived, Ashton began what he believed would be a statement of support. Trying to seem confident, he said, "It's alright," but he didn't feel that way. "These things do occur. After everyone has had time to relax and recuperate, we can reassemble and form a new team. I've arranged tents for everyone; I know you're all exhausted. Follow me, and we'll get you all comfortable."

Although it was improper for someone of his station to degrade himself in such a manner, he was forced to do so because Theodore was among them.

Theodore gazed at him with a slightly perplexed look.

"That's very thoughtful of you, Baron, but I think there might be some misunderstanding here."

"No misunderstanding at all," Ashton said with a smile, trying to keep a cheerful exterior. "These expeditions don't always go as planned. What matters is that everyone who was able to return did so safely. We'll attempt again with a different strategy—"

"The Slime King is dead."

Ashton's brain did not respond, and his mouth closed abruptly in the middle of his sentence. He thought for a second that he had misheard.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"The Slime King is dead," Theodore repeated. "The slime farm should continue operating normally—in fact, I suspect you'll see improved yields now that the source of interference has been eliminated. The remaining monsters have been cleared from the lower tunnels, so fervidite mining can resume immediately. The operation was a complete success."

With his mind straining to comprehend what he was hearing, Ashton stared at him. Theodore's clothes had stains that might have been slime residue, tears, and grime, and he was obviously exhausted, yet his tone was one of someone reporting routine maintenance, not the aftermath of mortal combat with a Rank 3 monster.

"I'll need to rest for a few hours. Then you and I should have a detailed discussion about the mining operations and the slime production, as well as fervidite. I have some ideas that might help with that solidification issue. After that, I'll be returning to Holden."

With that, Theodore turned and walked away, leaving Ashton standing there with his mouth hanging open like a landed fish.

"W-wait!" The man was already leaving through the exit when Ashton called after him.

Ashton's eyes were wide with a mix of disbelief and fervent hope as he turned to face the other expedition members.

"Tell me everything that happened!"

The response was immediate and utterly chaotic. In a clamor of conflicting information, all of the group members started speaking at once, their voices overlapping and cutting each other out.

"—got down there and the thing was huge—"

"—started making copies of us, but they were wrong somehow—"

"—Rufus went crazy, started attacking—"

"—Theodore just stood there, unfazed, and let it hit him—"

"—turned into slime himself, I swear by all the gods—"

"—killed Rufus with his bare hands—"

"SHUT UP!" Ashton roared.

As everyone fell silent, he inhaled deeply to try to slow his heartbeat before pointing at one of the men. Since he appeared to have the most experience, the warrior was less likely to exaggerate details for dramatic effect.

"You," Ashton said. "Tell me what happened. Slowly. From the beginning."

After introducing himself, the man, Grigor, nodded while stroking his chin.

"We made it down to the lower chambers without much trouble. Found the Slime King in what used to be the main chamber. The thing was bigger than we expected, just sitting there in the middle of this lake of slime."

"And then?"

"We attacked, just like we planned. Spread out, trying to hit it from multiple angles. But the thing had some kind of magic we didn't account for. Started creating copies of us. Perfect copies, as far as I could tell, with all our abilities and equipment."

Ashton frowned. "Copies? You mean illusions?"

"No sir, as real as you or me. They could fight, use skills, everything. Strong as the originals, maybe stronger. We found ourselves fighting ourselves, if you take my meaning."

That was nonsensical.

Ashton had never heard of any monster with that kind of ability, much less a slime. "Are you certain they weren't just lesser slimes that had somehow mimicked your appearance?"

"I saw my own double get killed, sir," Grigor said grimly. "These weren't mimics or shapeshifters. They were perfect copies."

"That's... that's impossible," Ashton said, though even as he spoke the words, he realized how hollow they sounded. "What happened next?"

"Things went bad fast," Grigor continued. "We were getting overwhelmed by our own doubles, and then Rufus decided that was a good time to show his true colors."

"Rufus betrayed you?"

"Turned on us like a rabid dog. I don't know if he'd planned it all along, but he ran off, collapsed the exit shaft, and the resulting chaos nearly took out half the team before Theodore stepped in."

"And what did Theodore do?"

Grigor's expression became distant, almost awed. "He fought them all, sir. All the doubles, all at once. I've never seen anything like it. They kept hitting him and cutting him; they should have killed him ten times over, but he just kept fighting. Killed the Slime King too. And then..."

"Then what?"

"Then he became one of them. Turned into slime, just like the Slime King. But instead of losing himself to it, he seemed to control it. Used it against the monster, consumed it from the inside out."

Ashton looked at Grigor, looking for any hint of deception or delusion in the man's weathered face. "You're telling me that Theodore turned himself into a slime?"

"Saw it with my own eyes, sir. One moment he was human, the next he wasn't, then he came back out human again like nothing had happened."

"That's..." Ashton began, then stopped. What was it? Impossible? He'd already established that much of what he was hearing seemed impossible. Unbelievable? The man telling him the story was a veteran warrior with years of experience, not some green recruit prone to flights of fancy.

Though he did know about Body Familiars, so it wasn't that far-fetched if Theodore turned into a slime. Granted, of course, he used the Slime King as the familiar, which was entirely possible. Ashton, however, had never heard of such physical changes as extreme as Theodore's.

"What happened to Rufus?"

Grigor's expression darkened.

"Theodore killed him when we got back to the surface. Rufus tried to attack again, and Theodore just... ended it. Quick and clean, with a… miniature sun, I guess."

Ashton's legs felt shaky, and he sat down heavily on a neighboring crate. Everything he believed to be true about the world was in conflict with what Grigor was telling him. Slimes didn't make flawless replicas of their enemies. Young nobles didn't single-handedly defeat Rank 3 threats that had been terrorizing experienced miners for months.

Nevertheless, Theodore remained uninjured and alive. The expedition had returned with casualties but also with success. There were no longer any sounds coming from the deep caverns.

"You're absolutely certain the Slime King is dead?" Ashton asked.

"Dead as dead gets, sir. Theodore made sure of that."

With his face buried in his hands, Ashton tried to take it all in. Theodore was far more capable than he had imagined if what Grigor was saying to him was accurate, which he was finding harder and harder to believe.

Good thing I decided to go all in trying to recover from my blunder.

Not knowing what would have happened if he had taken a different route, Ashton sighed.

***

The law required Patreon plug:

Patreon - /itsnectar