Road to becoming the wealthiest: Starting From Treasure Hunting in the Cabinets
Chapter 1226 - 622

Chapter 1226: 622

Receiving Mr. Henija’s call, Sean Knight wasn’t surprised at all. To be honest, it was a seller’s market, and the artifact was in his possession, so any price he set wouldn’t be too much—for those people, the staff was far more important than wealth.

Sean had already prepared himself mentally for Mr. Henija to concede, but as soon as Mr. Henija started speaking, he gave Sean quite a shock:

"Mr. Knight, we have deduced that the staff is currently in your hands. Therefore, for the sake of our friendship, I sincerely hope you will hand it over.

After all, we’re still in a cooperative relationship, and isn’t mutual assistance to be expected?"

Sean was amused by his anger, thinking, so you mismanage things, lose the artifact, and now you’re begging me to find it with this attitude?

His voice had a slight cold edge as he responded:

"Mr. Henija, it’s precisely because we have a cooperative relationship that I agreed to help look for the staff through my contacts, under certain conditions.

Since this is your attitude, I’m no longer interested in the conditions. I’ll still look for it, but as for the results, who knows."

With that, Mr. Henija understood that Sean was angry.

But as the Minister of Internal Affairs, he had no choice but to disagree with Sean, and Mr. Henija himself was a man of temper, thinking why should Sean, who gets rich in our country, still act so self-righteously?

"Mr. Knight, have you forgotten something? You have a base in the northeast of our country. That base, along with the nearby coal mine, has brought you countless wealth!

This wealth is provided by our country. On that account, helping our country is the right thing to do! We are facing difficulties now and hope that you can provide help, yet you propose harsh conditions. That’s not what friends do!"

Although Sean didn’t understand why Mr. Henija’s attitude changed so drastically, he had no intention of backing down. The mining business there was mutually beneficial, and if Mr. Henija insisted on causing trouble, Sean didn’t care much about it.

He immediately replied:

"Mr. Henija, I opened coal mines and established the base and conducted trade there not because of your request but Elder Hassan and his tribe’s. My relationships are limited to Elder Hassan and the tribes.

Indeed, you have the power to prevent me from mining or building factories, and that’s fine by me. I can relocate my operations from Kabul. But I hope you also understand that, given the current circumstances, no one else has the guts to establish factories here as I have done.

If you can persuade Elder Hassan, I may even consider withdrawing from the coal mine.

So, don’t use that as a threat against me; it doesn’t work! I don’t know why you’ve changed your tone, but my stance is clear. If you want my help in retrieving the staff, show me some sincerity. As for threats, I’m not afraid of them!"

Having said his piece, Sean hung up the phone.

Before boarding the airplane, Sean made another call to Hassan.

Upon receiving Sean’s call, Hassan said:

"Mr. Knight, our warriors have returned. They’re very sorry; they said they couldn’t be of help to you. Is your issue resolved?"

"It’s been resolved." Sean could tell that Hassan was unaware of the issues Mr. Henija had mentioned—meaning that Hassan’s attitude had not changed, which reassured Sean.

He continued:

"Elder Hassan, there’s something I need to explain to you."

"Mr. Knight, go ahead," Hassan said seriously, detecting the gravity in Sean’s voice.

"Just now, Mr. Henija asked for my help in finding a staff that he says is a Holy Relic of one of your religious sects."

"A staff? Ah, I know! No way! Wasn’t that staff kept in Kandahar? How could it be lost?"

"It was reportedly taken by White Artifact Thieves who incited an inside job. That’s not important; what matters is that I was nearby at that time. Mr. Henija thinks I’m involved in this..."

"Pure nonsense!" Hassan erupted, "Has Mr. Henija’s head been muddled by piss? How could he make such an accusation?"

"Elder Hassan, I do have a clue since I’ve come across those white thieves. So I told Mr. Henija that if I could recover the staff, I’d like to open another mine near our base, within your tribe..."

"There’s actually no need for his approval to open a mine," Hassan changed his tone once he heard Sean mention opening another mine.

Sean’s coal mine employed about three or four hundred people from various tribes, offering excellent conditions, labor insurance clothing, three meals a day, high wages, as well as insurance and medical check-ups.

The young and strong in the tribe no longer wanted to carry guns or shepherding crooks; they all aspired to work in the coal mine—after all, one person working could fully support a family.

But the coal mine could only employ so many people and was relatively modernized; it didn’t require that many workers.

This was precisely why Mr. Hassan wished Sean would reopen the old copper mine near the base.

If Sean could open another mine and hire many workers, why not?

Because of Sean, every household in the tribe prospered, and now many had started tearing down their old homes to build brick houses.