Super Card System - Chapter 268

Chapter 268: It’s Time

Ian had always thought that the extraction of Thunderstone should be a secret, and when he asked for a tour in the smeltery, Varua should’ve declined or pushed it to another time…

However, what he didn’t expect was that Varua agreed directly, and showed him the factory without hesitation.

There are only two explanations for such deeds. One is that the secret of the refinery can’t be discovered after a simple visit. The other is that there is no secret in the process of extracting the Thunderstone.

Ian thought about it, and felt that the second possibility was more likely to be true, because when he took a tour around, he found that Varua had very few miners in the smelter, and the equipment looked very rudimentary, and it didn’t look like high-tech.

Therefore, he was more inclined to his second guess. He felt that Varua used the smeltery to cover up another secret.

But in the end, Ian didn’t discover what the king was trying to hide. Varua is really a mysterious man. In addition to his old identity as a colleague of Vegapunk, Ian couldn’t figure out what he was hiding.

“Perhaps, we can sneak in and spy on him?” Nana whispered.

“Shall I go in or you go?” Ian asked.

Nana thought for a while and said, “Let me sneak in with walnut. Even if things go south, we can disguise as maids, which will make it less likely for us to be exposed.”

Ian nodded. When he was in the palace before, he noticed that there were indeed few men on the inside, which could make it hard for Ian.

“Then, let’s operate tonight!” Ian said, “You can disguise as maids and stay for a while. I’ve been notified that a lot of arms from Doflamingo are on their way, so meanwhile, I’ll contact Arion.”

……….…………………

After hearing the news that the Shichibukai, Ian, had accepted the employment of King Varua, the rebels on the island didn’t make any sudden movements and returned to their work, so the supervisors assigned by Varua in the mines returned to him with the latest reports. Recently, the hostility of the miners disappeared.

Varua was very satisfied and felt that he had made the right decision. As long as the miners stopped making trouble, he would have a steady stream of Thunderstone production. It would be much easier for him to support his secret research and sell the rest to the world government…

However, what Varua didn’t know was that the reason why the rebel army and the miners stopped the madness wasn’t because of Ian’s deterrence, but because he asked them to do so! It was all a part of his plan…

BABY-5 arrived at the island with a ship full of weapons and ammunition as promised. Her ship was hanging the flag of the Donquixote Pirates, so no one dared to attack it or even approach it. The landing site was chosen by Ian, and it was the beach where he landed the first time.

Among the weapons sold by Doflamingo to Ian, the number of swords was about double of the guns, but that was enough to satisfy the need of the 20,000 miners. So with the arrival of Baby-5, Ian took Arion and the others over on the spot, and fulfilled his part of the cooperation.

“Thank you very much, Sir Ian!” After getting the weapons, Arion felt so encouraged. So he stroked his chest and saluted Ian, saying, “Thank you for your help. With these arms, we will surely overthrow the rule of Varua.”

In fact, there was no need for Varua to stand in opposition to his citizens. If he just gave these miners higher salaries and spent part of his money to develop the country, Ian believes that the residents of the island would be more than happy to serve him.

After all, they didn’t have another way to develop their cities except for mineral resources. Most of the residents were mining left and right. What else could they do? But unfortunately, Varua needs tons of money to support his research, and he really can’t do satisfy everyone. (T/N: yeah yeah, 300,000,000/20,000=15,000 berries will do nothing to these miners… he has a point!)

The miners on the island were forced to work for him, and they weren’t paid at all. The daily reward was a few slices of bread and a little broth. Who can endure such a life? It would be strange if they didn’t revolt!

Ian didn’t comment on Arion’s gratitude. He knows that Arion will become king after the rebel army overthrows Varua. He will certainly not squeeze the lives of his miners like Varua, and will certainly give them better treatment and remuneration.

So Ian said to him, “Have you ever thought about how to develop your country when it ushers in a new era? The gem veins have been dug clean, and the thunderstone veins will come back dry one day. What will you do then? What will you do to keep surviving?”

Arion was taken aback for a while, he hadn’t really considered these issues.

“Thunderstone is a very peculiar ore!” Ian sighed and said, “Maybe you can make a fuss about it, such as using the energy of the thunderstone to build a city function entirely with electricity, opening up to tourism, and so on.”

Ian knows that this World has advanced in this department. He has seen several electrical products. But it is limited by the unique geographical conditions of this world. Even if a power plant was built here, the scope of its power supply could only spread on the local island, and it is impossible to send it to other places, because it is infeasible to set up cables above the sea for such long distances, that why the use of electrical appliances has not been very high.

On this island, Thunderstone is a very unique ore. With it, even if a power station won’t be that useful, an electric city can be built, which would turn this island into a very unique place.

And isn’t this tourism, traveling just to see something unique? Maybe when it becomes a city that never sleeps, it will attract more tourists from the new world?

Ian’s idea made Arion’s eyes light up, and he began to consider the feasibility of his suggestion.

Ian didn’t care about what he would do with his idea. He just mentioned it. After providing the rebels with weapons, he told Arion that the rebels should lie down for a while and wait until he figures out Varua’s secret. Then, they could launch a full-scale attack!!

Varua would never have thought that Ian, the man who was after his employment from the beginning, not only didn’t side with him, but also went with his enemies.

There is no way in hell that he would be on his side. From that moment, when Ian saw the massacre as soon as he landed on the island, Varua was just a dead man exhaling his last breath.

It took two days for Nana and Walnut to come back safely.

“Does this guy, Varua, have other secrets!?” As soon as Ian saw them he asked, then Nana replied, “Walnut and I pretended to be maids and explored the palace for two days. We found that every night, Varua would disappear in the palace, but we couldn’t follow him. We wanted to get close to his bedroom, but we found that he had arranged a large number of red-eyed owls outside his bedroom… Although Walnut’s ability can eliminate our noises, we can’t avoid the detection of the red-eyed owls! So in desperation, we had to come back.”

Walnut shouted loudly: “He must be hiding his secrets in his bedroom!”

Red-eyed owl, Ian knew a little about this creature. The Red-eyed Owls’ gaze emits light at night, and as soon as any living creature is caught in their gaze, they will scream and alert security! This owl is very rare and only used to secure treasures.

“So, what about the extraction technology of the Thunderstone?” Ian asked.

“I am afraid that the refinement of Thunderstone is just a common smelting process!” Nana said: “Although Varua set up the smeltery in his palace, we found that he had never been there in the past two days. But the factory still produces thunderstones normally!”

“Well, in that case, let’s move now!” Ian also had some bad suspicions in his heart. He felt that he could no longer let Varua rule…

So, that evening, Ian contacted Arion.

After the rebels recently got their weapons, they took this opportunity to get familiar with them. When Ian informed them that they should act tonight, a large number of armed miners swarmed out in every corner of the city.

They quickly gathered from the streets and then attacked the mine!

There were about 5,000 miners who are still enslaved to mining for Varua. Most of Varua’s subordinates were arranged there to supervise the workers. When the rebels rushed in, they immediately launched a fierce battle with these pirates.

With weapons, the number advantage of the miners became obvious. Although their fighting experience was not as good as these pirates, they killed Varua’s men one by one through the siege.

The supervisors brought out cannons to bombard the rebels, but they were soon overtaken by the indefatigable rebels, regardless of the sacrifices, they finally killed these pirates and destroyed all the cannons.

The location of the mine was a bit far from the palace, but the screams and shelling sound still reached the palace.

“What’s going on?” Varua was preceding his researches in the underground laboratory. After hearing the noises, he ran out.

And his confidant, Habs, reported to him with trepidation: “Your Majesty, this is bad, those damned miners have taken over the mine!”

“What about our people? We have a team of more than 1000 people there!” Varua yelled, “Tell them to kill these bastards!”

“O…our people are killed!” Habs said tremblingly: “These rebels were all armed, I don’t know from where they got so many weapons, our soldiers weren’t able to resist them!”

Varua was flustered when he heard more about the situation. He didn’t think that these weapons were provided by Ian. He was shocked by the resistance of the rebel army.

Varua now could only seek the help of Ian, so he yelled: “Hurry up! Go and find the Dragon Hunter Pirate Group, we gave them so much money, it’s time for them to do their jobs!”

However, just as Varua finished speaking, the gate of the palace was suddenly slammed open, and a voice said: “No need to look for us, we are already here!”

Varua looked up, and saw that the person who just came in was Ian!

Habs hasn’t figured out what’s going on yet. After seeing Ian and the others appear, he greeted them excitedly and said, “Great, Lord Ian, you’ve come in time. The rebels have taken over the mine… They will be here soon, please protect his Majesty Varua…”

Habs’ voice hasn’t fallen down yet, and behind him, Varua suddenly roared: “Habs! Don’t go..!”

When Habs heard the shout, he just wanted to turn his head, but at this moment, a huge force struck his stomach.

Ian was too lazy to be long-winded, so he raised his leg and kicked him out of his way!