Conflict of interests inside the mine

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[Robert's POV]

'As I was staring at Vlad, from behind and looking at his tall body, he suddenly stopped for no reason from walking. Is something going on that needs you to stop?'

'Slowly, I watched him as he got a piece of cloth material from his trousers pocket and fastly gathered his jet-black long hair to tie it up. Probably not to bother him while working in the mine. It made sense for him to do that, but I wonder why he let his hair grow?'

'If you're working in the mine and use physical movements, why not just cut your hair, this is really not common? Did you stop for only this? I thought some guard was coming to make it hard for us.'

Finishing to tie up his hair, Vlad turned to look at me. With a confused face, he asked me who was dumbly staring at him. "Something on my back Robert? Ohh, I get it. Do you like my long hair? Wanna tell you some secrets to grow it faster?"

"That's not it. Ahh, forget it. Can we just get down? I'm dying from curiosity to see how it is in the mine."

"Heh, so this is why you had that dumb stare on your face? Sure thing, kid, we'll get there in no time, just follow me closely."

'After Vlad said that, he didn't start another conversation. For a while, I feel that Vlad changed a bit, his bright atmosphere, suddenly switched similar to how it felt when his hair turned white and had that dark mist around him. He's silent all of a sudden like he expects something to happen. Looking a bit at his face, he had the same face he had when fighting with Nius. Ehh, that's scary for sure, to keep moving forward without having any facial expression changes.'

'We walked for some time, and we reached a more populated zone with people. When those people saw Zagreus, their faces turned pale from fright, stopping in place, saying to the deeper levels of the mine. "The Blood Devil is going down guys, don't stare into his eyes, or you'll get cursed with nightmares."

'When I heard them, I was confused at first but managed to hear Vlad say softly in a sinister tone. "Dumb barbarians is not like I'll even bother doing that to you. That's just for the guards torturing me as a parting gift."

'I didn't want to ask him the reason why those people acted like this. If he wanted to talk about it, I would mind it. Like this, we went down, but the people's reactions didn't change much. Whenever Vladwalked deeper, the miners would stop in place, not looking him in the face.'

'Soon as we went even deeper, I started hearing people arguing about a subject I couldn't understand decently. Reaching the heart of the conflict, I could see the old man from yesterday arguing with some adults about something regarding a new path.'

"What do you mean that I should pay you for your lost progress? Do I have the same stupid face as Mayer? Do you have any problem that I changed the direction of extracting the stones? Tell me you idiots." asked Nius, with a frowned face, at some middle-aged miners.

'For sure, I could say that I later heard the old man at one point when looking at Vlad and me say a bit frustrated. "Ahh, I no longer want to bother myself with you morons. Hey lad, explain to those idiots what happened yesterday in the mine. Still, in simpler terms, this already surpasses my abilities."

The miners arguing with the old man got pissed, almost getting in his face yelling. "Who are you making idiots stinking geezer? Don't get arrogant because you've been here the longest among us. This doesn't make you smarter than us in any way. Now come try to explain to us the reason our hard work suddenly got to waste because of some water coming out. It is not like we couldn't handle it by ourselves and clean the site."

'Wow, those guys want to pick a fight with the old man? Are they out of their mind? Even Vlad got beaten by him, and for sure, I've seen the commander of our family army sparing around. The old man could beat him easily. What now?'

[General POV]

Vlad was still having his emotionless face while walking down to the site until he spotted Nius and some more experienced miners having a more intense argument.

'Why bother me, old man? Wasn't this also part of our deal, for you to explain to those morons the faked situation? Oh, wait, it's getting more interesting. Tsk, those idiots are really planning to have a fight with the geezer? Hoh, the old man, made a face I haven't seen in a while, is almost like he wants to kill those idiots but just has to hold on this impulse.'

'Seems I have to help him out, less he makes a commotion in his old days. Let the old man enjoy his old days. I'll help you out since I got significant gains from our sparring.'

"Enough, you guys. You four, stop this nonsense when you can still regret your choice. You want to hear a good argument as to why old Nius and I busted our asses for you guys to have something to call a job? Flood of enormous proportions was nearing if we continued the same route down. I don't know if you even bothered considering this, but not much deeper lies a water system that also runs close to this floor zone. You tell me, morons since I don't have another word for your types. Should we let all the work go to waste or switch a bit the digging inclination? That was the best solution we thought of yesterday to avoid significant damage to the mine. Even Administrator Pholbor estimated that if a flood gushed out here, it would cover all the three paths that go deep because of water infiltration in the gallery.

It makes sense, right? You could say that we are some forgotten heroes, who saved some lives from drowning or dying from exhaustion after being made to carry buckets and buckets of water."

"But what about the ore yield? We'll no longer be paid as usually if we switch the direction." argued a middle-aged miner stubbornly with a squashed face and big nose.

When Vlad heard that, he frowned and stared coldly at the middle-aged miner who argued about the money. The atmosphere changed around Vlad, while the miner who fought on this subject trembled in fear, remembering something 'Fuck, I messed up big this time.'

Vlad was walking closer to the middle-aged person. He was close to height, the two being similarly 1,80 meters. However, this didn't stop Vlad's following action. Extending his white arm towards the middle-aged person and later fastly grabbing him by the throat, he said in a cold tone.

"Listen here, you waste. I didn't bust my ass all night yesterday to hear you now cry about your money. For all I care, even if I now kill you, no one would say anything, you scum. I heard from the younger kids that you abused them at times, not letting them take a break from carrying stones. I know all about you, bug. So don't come to me pleading that you have a family to feed. Maybe some do but look at your mutt. What woman in her right head would let herself be fucked by you? Such a disgusting face." ended Vlad saying this while grabbing him by the jaw.

However, Vlad continued in the same tone. "You want to test yourself against the old man? You pathetic waste of a human? It was also the old man's fault that he overlooked after you imbeciles from not killing yourselves? Now you want to teach him a lesson? Do you deserve such privilege?" asked Vlad coldly while tightening his grip on the middle-aged miner's jaw. The blood in his body was getting hotter, feeling stronger than initially, he broke the man's jaw.

The man could only cry in pain and look hatefully at Vlad, yet this didn't change anything. It made it worse since Vlad didn't take his cold green eyes off him. "Scum, what's with that stare? Do you want to test your luck today and see how long it would take me to kill you with simple torture?"

The miner shook his head in terror and could be heard saying "Forgive me" continually. This time he took his eyes off him and switched his target, looking at the other three experienced miners. They were trembling in fear of what Vlad could do next to them. However, instead of their expectations, they heard loud and clear Vlad's monotonous tone, like death's whispers. "Have you three understood the reasons why we switched the path of digging? Want me to explain to you in more detail like your good old colleague?"

"No need, Zagreus, we understand why but feel frustrated by the entire situation." said one of the older miners. The three looked at Nius and apologized. Even the one with a broken jaw managed to say some words there, seeming to also apologize to him.

Nevertheless, Vlad didn't finish his part, staring at the younger slaves and miners that were on the site. He asked them. "Do you also feel bad that you could go deeper? Or feel that we saved your asses since most likely you would be the ones to carry the water that infiltrated inside. Am I right, guys?"

"You're damn right, Zagreus, you did well. I mean, why should we bust our asses so hard for those greedy pricks up above us. You did more than we could ask, for that you have our thanks." said a young adult, close to 20 years old, who was also a slave for some time. The rest of them felt the same as the one who initially said that and could only nod their head in silence.

"If it's that, so go start the work. There's bound to be ores even in that path."

With all that said, the miners went to start their job, preparing the equipment needed to dig and consolidate the site's roof. While the rest of the workers got themselves busy, Vlad walked to Nius and asked in a mocking tone. "What was this all about? Could you handle a bunch of idiots? What's so hard, you use your Conqueror's and you've finished the job. Or if you want to be more practical just beat the one with the biggest mouth, and the rest will follow in line. That's the mob mentality. Once you break their flame, it will slowly die down on its own."

"Hmph, do you think I'm so violent like you? Why would I even bother myself and lower myself to them or even use my haki? For them? You are jesting lad. But for sure, you helped me out a bit there." chuckled Nius when thinking back that he was almost close to hitting those four morons in the face.

"More like I helped those idiots out. But no problem. Hey Robert, come here. Why stare dumbly like this? Haven't you seen some violence in your little life? Were those pirates who captured you some bitches? Come here so I can teach you what you have to do."

Getting awakened from his thoughts, he walked to Vlad and Nius. He greeted the old man, but that was all, just a respectful greeting part.

"Old man, see you next time. I will stop bothering you for a while. I need to teach some kids how the job is done. Haha, pass the experience to the next generation." laughed out loud Vlad while grabbing Robert by the shoulder and walking towards the kids who were filling their buckets.

"Heh, if I didn't know about your backstory I would really say something that would offend you. But sure, stay away from me for a while." Chuckled Nius while looking at Vlad, who was taking care of another brat.

Vlad didn't bother to comment back and walked with Robert to his target. The working boys stopped from filling the buckets and started wondering why Vlad had settled in this section.

"Hey kids, I've come to introduce you to a newcomer, Robert. I hope you get well with him this period of time. Also, I come to help you with the idea that would make your jobs easier, mind hearing it?"

Almost all the kids by the time Vlad ended saying that stopped from all activity, even some older ones stopped a bit curious to what idea Vlad came out with.

Staring at those handling the logs who stopped, Vlad pointed to one at random and said. "You there, go get me a log and a chisel and some resistant ropes."

"Sure, I'll get those to you right now." responded a young adult moving towards the stockpile of logs and ropes.

After some minutes, the guy comes back with what he asked for. Nodding at him as thanks, he stared at the confused kids. "Now you guys get me a bucket, and I'll show you something interesting." A kid brought out a bucket, handing it to Vlad. With all the materials needed in hand, he started working the log fist. With the chisel in hand, he started hitting with power and precision the log at its most central point. After that, he followed a line, up and down, soon splitting the wood into two sections. With two parts of wood at hand, he placed them at the back of the bucket. Following that, using the rough rope, he slowly started fixing the logs tightly in place to offer stability to the bucket when having large loads.

Finishing his work, he turned to look at the kids that now had lights in them. It was most likely that they guessed what the job of the logs for the bucket was.

"Now, like this, you can use teamwork to carry the stones and make it easy for yourself. Moreover, at the same time, completing the task you are assigned simultaneously because technically when playing by their rules, you're also carrying the bucket. So yea, have fun guys, if you want more additional perks to your buckets, ask the guys handling the logs to do it for you. I'll go break some stones. Robert, have fun with the stones. I'll take my leave if you want something from me you can find me a bit deeper with the old man."

"Right, take care Vlad, I'll see what I can do here. Guys, take care of me since I'm new."

"Sure, buddy. We'll teach you instead of Zagreus. Haha, there's no problem with that since he taught us some stuff a while ago. Right but why are you calling him Vlad? That's another of his names that he didn't told us?" laughed a kid who had around 1,56 meters with a normal appearance.

Pondering for a bit, Robert nodded his head to affirm what his new colleague asked. "That's most likely, he has more names that he goes around here."

"Well, not like it would even matter for us. What it matters is that he's like a big brother for us, protecting us from those stupid adults who have nothing better to do, and decides to make our life worse. He even thought us some defence moves apart from the techniques of carrying stones more efficiently, just in case we are attacked by some crazy guy."

"I see, glad to hear that." responded Robert shortly, feeling that Vlad was really a weird person with each day passing.

Time passed for Robert in this way. His first working day in the mine started a bit declining, but with Vlad's help, he got back on the right track. The kids started asking the older guys to help them to upgrade their buckets. The shift started happening fast. Most of the older ones were gritting their teeth when seeing the young kids like this.

Robert teamed up with someone he didn't know much, each taking a side of the logs and lifting the stone load with ease. They started going out and later, when at the dumping site, started gathering weird stares, but that was all.

Slowly the batches of stones started to be done. Once Robert was done with his carrying job, he bid goodbye to his bucket mate and walked towards Vlad, who talked about something he couldn't make up from a distance. Sensing a newcomer from the distance approaching, Vlad and Nius turned to look at who it was. Noticing Robert, they turned back, talking to each other about random stuff. It was mostly Vlad annoying Nius with a flood of questions that Nius didn't want to answer.

Getting tired, Nius switched targets and said to Robert, "Hey kid, come here quick. Can you just go take this annoying bragger and go eat something at the canteen while it's still open?"

"Who are you calling a bragger old man? I want another spar with you, I tell you geezer, this new fight it's totally something new." yelled Vlad at Nius, asking insistently for his rematch.

"That's not going to happen, lad, maybe another time I will come and find you, for now. I've seen enough that has to be seen, you still have a long way to go. Now go, stop pissing me off. Does everyone have a problem specifically with me today, or is it just my feeling?"

"Nah, old man, can't you sense it with your haki if that was the case? Only your brain has problems because of old age, you're turning senile. Robert, let's go give this old man a break. With time he gets more irascible." said Vlad while patting Robert on his shoulder in an amicable manner

'Do I even have the right to say no? But sure, let's go, I'm quite hungry after all this work.' thought out Robert when feeling Vlad's hand on his shoulder.

The road out was the same boring one. At this time, people were leaving, finishing their specific schedule. The same could be said for Vlad and Robert.

Going for the canteen before it could be closed, Vlad and Robert noticed their two roommates waiting in line to get their food. They also noticed him nodding their heads at him while also making a sign that he understood while pointing at an open table in the corner of the canteen building. Receiving their signal, he didn't bother cutting the line. Many dumb people were doing this when he first arrived in the mining camp, and one thing was for sure, they ended severely hurt by the guys from Chaotic Zone that didn't care much about the rules.

The only rule that existed for them was inside the canteen, where everyone was equal. Cutting the line would be the biggest offense for those crazy guys, resulting in the offender being even killed at night.

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