Dungeon Miner Slave

Flinx shouldn’t have been surprised when Ferdinand sold his new off-road vehicle to the wizards of Ilioven. The mages simply offered an enormous amount, roughly six or seven times the number of mana stones Ferdinand had spent to purchase the vehicle.

Thankfully, the others were wise enough not to immediately offer to sell their own vehicles for mana stones. Doing so would have lowered the perceived value of the vehicles and might have caused issues, considering the amount the mages had already paid.

What made Ferdinand extremely happy—and Samuel, Arnel, and Bruce somewhat grumpy—was the fact that the mages would have to buy fuel from him. That meant Ferdinand had secured a source of income aside from dungeon delving.

Thankfully, Flinx had his own shop, which mitigated the envy he might have felt along with the others because of Ferdinand’s good fortune.

Flinx comforted the others by reminding them that if they truly wanted another source of income, they could still use their System Shopping Sites to start businesses. They simply needed to be wise about which items they sold and ensure that those items would not cause chaos. He even reminded them that his own shop, which sold soaps, candles, and loofahs, earned tens of thousands of gold coins every month.

Because Ferdinand had sold his car to the wizards of Ilioven, he was now under contract to teach them how to drive it. Based on what Flinx understood, Ferdinand had agreed to teach one of the mages how to drive several times each week until the man became proficient.

Since it was getting late, the wizards of Ilioven finally let them leave. Ferdinand immediately spent more funds to buy the same vehicle in a different color, and they all rode home in it while Samuel traveled on his new dinosaur.

While they were on the road, Flinx considered buying a car of his own. Upon further thought, however, there was no real need for one. The distance between his tower and the Dungeon of Mara was short, and if he was in a hurry, he could simply cast his seventh-level wizard spell, Teleport. If he needed to travel outside the city alone, he could fly, which would be even faster. If he needed to rest during a journey, he could cast Galder’s Tower and have a luxurious home wherever he went.

The only reason he would need a vehicle was if he were traveling with ordinary people, and at the moment, there was no reason for him to leave the city with companions.

When they arrived home, everyone gathered to inspect Ferdinand’s new car. Mark became exasperated when four more people immediately purchased vehicles of their own. Thankfully, there was no need for parking spaces since all of them had expanded their fourth inventory tab enough to store their cars inside.

Still, seeing the five vehicles parked side by side in front of the towers, between Pondy and the outdoor resting tent they had set up, was an impressive sight.

What made Flinx shake his head was that, aside from Ferdinand’s off-road vehicle, the others had purchased sports cars. Such vehicles were highly impractical and likely would not survive long on the rough roads of Ilioven, which had been designed for old-fashioned carriages.

Even so, Flinx could not deny that the cars made everyone happy. Even his adopted family admired them.

At the very least, Mark had persuaded those who bought cars to keep them inside their fourth inventory tabs until they truly needed them. That night, however, he allowed everyone to park their vehicles in front of the towers so they could admire them.

Ferdinand advised the new car owners that if they truly wanted to drive on the roads of Ilioven, they would need to register their vehicles with both the government offices and the Adventurers’ Guild. He explained the registration process and then told them how he had managed to sell a vehicle to the wizards of Ilioven.

Everyone stayed up late that night, admiring the cars.

The Earthlings also admired Samuel’s dinosaur, and several of them expressed a desire to buy dinosaurs of their own the following day. Even watching Samuel feed Brownie—the name he had given his Oludutra—was entertaining enough for them.

Olivia, her brothers, and the four children ignored the Oludutra. To them, it was merely a common mount. What fascinated them were the beautiful cars parked in front of the towers.

Flinx was somewhat thankful that he had resisted the urge to buy a dinosaur when he saw Samuel cleaning up the Oludutra’s droppings. Still, Samuel looked happy enough, and even the task of cleaning dinosaur manure did not discourage those interested in buying dinosaur mounts of their own.

“Do you think dragon mounts are also a thing here?” Oscar suddenly asked.

Flinx merely shrugged.

He knew dragons existed because he had killed many of them on the last floor of the Dungeon of Mara. However, he had no idea whether taming one as a mount was possible.

Oscar asked Olivia, Ambrose, and Christopher, but even they had never heard of dragon mounts.

“I still wouldn’t discount the possibility, though,” Paul said. “This is a world of magic, so I would assume that nothing is impossible.”

Oscar immediately looked determined.

Flinx guessed that one of them had suddenly found a personal goal. At the very least, owning a dragon mount was a goal that might help Oscar move on from the trauma of being a dungeon miner slave.

The next day, Flinx accompanied those who had purchased cars to have them registered, while everyone else went about their own activities, such as continuing their research into the markets of Ilioven.

Even though Mark had asked them to keep their cars hidden, they ignored him. After all, why buy cars if they cannot be used?

When the wizards of Ilioven and the Adventurers’ Guild saw the vehicles, they were completely flabbergasted. Flinx simply explained that each of them possessed their own “magical” vehicle.

He did not know what consequences might come from revealing such technological devices to the locals, but Flinx was unwilling to suppress his fellow Earthlings’ happiness simply because he feared the reactions of others. They had been slaves for years, and in his opinion, they deserved the freedom to be a little willful.

Besides, in a hub city like Ilioven, their actions were not particularly unusual. Many groups of foreigners had introduced magical and technological marvels from their homelands to make their stays more comfortable.

This time, however, Mark managed to persuade everyone not to sell any more cars to the locals.

Once the vehicles had been registered, they wasted no time and immediately drove them through the streets of Ilioven, causing quite a commotion. As expected, some of the tires failed. The roads of Ilioven were simply too rough for delicate sports cars.

Thankfully, those who could cast the Mending spell were able to repair flat tires with ease. The main issue was that everyone felt they had wasted a substantial amount of their funds on vehicles they would rarely be able to use.

Of course, they could simply purchase vehicles better suited to the roads of Ilioven, such as off-road vehicles or SUVs. However, if they continued making impulsive purchases, their finances could dwindle to dangerous levels.

Flinx advised them to wait until they had earned more mana stones through dungeon delving before buying replacement vehicles.

One obvious solution was to sell the cars to the locals and recover some of their funds.

Flinx merely shrugged. He would not stop them from doing whatever they wanted, but he still advised them to discuss such decisions with the others before acting on them.