Chapter 9 |
It was Andrew who responded to Rockefeller’s words,
“I think I’ve heard of it! There used to be a lot of dwarves here! And they dug out all the gold,”
Joshua added,
“I’ve heard of it too! There used to be a lot of gold in the mines. Lots of it! But there’s nothing anymore….”
The reaction of the younger siblings was easy to predict.
“First of all, since you all have to learn how to do it, Andrew and Joshua, you two need to dig the dirt under the stream, dig as deep as possible and give it to me. Then Hyung will show you how to find the fold in the soil so that you can learn and follow it,”
The method of collecting placer gold was simple. The highest proportion of gold dust and ore would usually settle deep in the bottom of the stream.
So if you dig deep into the stream and place the dirt into a big plate called a panning, washing it would cause all the heavy minerals like ore and gold fragments to sink to the bottom, and only the dirt would float at the top.
After that, they just needed to pick out the separated sparkling gold and clean them; that was how to collect placer gold – also known as Gold Panning.
Rockefeller was slightly dubious about the results, but he took the dirt dug out by his siblings and lowered the panning dish into the stream, using the running water to clean the pebbles and dirt away.
He quickly picked out the visible pebbles and sanded the third, under was washed away.
Joshua, who was watching the panning eagerly, swallowed against his dry throat and said,
“Is there any gold, everything’s is washed down…” a little impatiently,
“Idiot. Gold is precious! How can there be loads? Wait while Rockefeller-hyung searches for it!” Andrew exclaimed, even with his eyes glued to Rockefeller,
Even Leo, who was always somewhat silent, opened his mouth as he watched the dirt flowing from the panning with his bright, expectant eyes,
“Is there really gold there?”
Rockefeller remained silent, focused on the panning plate as he looked for gold.
‘Please, please even a little bit… let us live too!’
When the panning work was over, he could see the sparkling gold powder that could be seen right away.
It was a lot more than expected.
‘Are you telling me this much came out?’
It was incomparable to the amount he had in the panning dish from when he tried it in Korea.
While his younger siblings, who had been collecting placer gold for the first time, were confused because they didn’t know what the situation was right now. But for Rockefeller, it was hard to hide his excitement.
‘If it’s this much… then at least we don’t have to worry about starving to death.’
It was at that moment that he saw a beam of salvation for the first time since he fell into the world of this novel and wandered through the long darkness of an unknown end.
‘No, if it’s this much, then it can change your life. Having this much wouldn’t directly change your life, but if we grow based on this…?’
When Rockefeller didn’t snap out of his daze for a while. Joshua, who was staring at the panning dish, said,
“Is that all gold, the sparkly things?”
Even though the younger sibling knew what gold was, they all seemed disappointed at the amount that was less than they had anticipated.
“But isn’t there too little? How can we eat and live with this?”
If geological experts had done traditional placer mining, it would have been enough to make them faint, but it was a reaction that came out because they were children who didn’t know this.
At Joshua’s disappointment, Rockefeller spoke,
“No, a lot of came out,”
Like Joshua, Andrew had also looked disappointed at the gold dust and said,
“Is this a lot?”
“I couldn’t even imagine we would find placer gold to this extent. Just because you can mine for placer gold somewhere doesn’t mean so much will come out,”
“Ah, really? So a lot came out? Wow!” Joshua said half-heartedly,
Rockefeller already imagined getting out of poverty and living his life as a rich man.
‘If it keeps coming out like this, it might not be a dream to become rich. It’s a goal!’
Although he couldn’t be a swordmaster or an archmage because he didn’t have talent with swords or magic, at least he could become a wealthy man with enough money to lay rotting.
‘If we can get all the placer gold from here… jackpot! It’s a real jackpot! Awesome!’
While Rockefeller was excitedly thinking about what to do next, his younger brothers were talking,
“Then does that mean we don’t have to starve anymore?”
“Forget starving! We’re going to be rich! Right, hyung!? We can be rich, right?”
Even Leo added his voice in among his excited older brothers,
“What a relief, I’m happy….”
Their younger sister held on tightly to Leo’s hand and soothed her hunger by quietly sucking on her thumb without really understanding why the brothers were so excited.
“Let’s make money!” Andrew shouted, and Joshua quickly followed. The two of them moved the most passionately, and even Leo began to lend a hand here and there while taking care of Lucia.
‘Ah, this land isn’t dead yet.’
In a land where others thought it was all over, Rockefeller found the possibility of changing the tedious situation for himself and his siblings instantly.
‘I’m getting a little excited.’
To others, it would have simply been a piece of placer gold, not even pure gold, but Rockefeller saw a dream that could be realised beyond that.
‘To be honest, I didn’t want to be a swordmaster or an archmage. I’m not that type of person, there was no aptitude or talent, and it’s a waste of time and money,’
He wanted to avoid walking that path.
However, as a student of History and Finance, there was a challenge he wanted to try in this world – to develop his financial system.
‘Yeah, what’s so great about archmages and swordmasters? It’s all dangerous work.’
It was the same when he was in Korea, and it was the same at this moment too. The most important thing for him was first money and second money.
‘In the end, money was the best. I don’t need anything else. Money is the best.’
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