Reborn as the Genius Son of the Richest Family

Chapter 1221: Situation in the estate

Michael and the Dragonborns teleported just a few kilometers away from the Mining Shaft. Behind him were the Shadow Orcs, who were just here as a guard to make sure nothing wrong happened.

Of course, Zion wasn’t allowed to go anywhere near this mission. He felt sorry for the youngest Dragonborn, but having a full Dragon emerge out of nowhere would definitely send the wrong message amongst the inhabitants of the Mining Estate. They’d think they were invading or something.

Now, the reason why they didn’t teleport directly inside was because he wanted to see the situation in the estate with his own two eyes.

He wanted to experience what they were feeling. Fear what they were fearing. He wanted to live as they did, at least for a little bit. Only by knowing them intimately could he convincibly try and empathize with their worries.

So, using his magic, he was able to wrap everyone’s faces with a disguise that made them look a lot less... impressive.

Even though no one had yet seen the Dragonborns in their new human form, Michael still made sure to add some freckles, imperfections, and pimples in their faces.

Since no one could use magic anymore, his command over the mana in the air was simply unbeatable. Nobody would be able to see through them.

Then, they strolled through the Mining Estate through a carriage pulled by normal horses. These people were too mired by poverty to afford automobiles. They probably haven’t even seen them.

The estate was small. Buildings made of huge slabs of rock were erected alongside the hills and wall faces of the mountainside that they were in.

No one greeted them as they entered. This place looked completely barren, except for a few men and women looking quite battered and dirtied, no doubt from spending their entire day in the mines.

Michael greeted one of them and presented himself as a merchant.

"Merchant? We don’t have money," the miner replied.

"Our supplies are the lowest price you’ll find," Michael promised.

But instead of being grateful, the man just looked at him with suspicion. There was no way a merchant would lower their prices in such hard times. And even if he was, this meant that his goods were probably already soiled and rotted.

"We don’t need your help," the man said. "And just a piece of advice, you better scurry off and find another place. Somewhere that isn’t cursed."

The man gave Michael an eye full of warning. No threat in that gaze. Just pure warning.

"Lord Michael," whispered Sheina from his side.

He looked over and saw a family made up of parents and five children. They were gaunt, barely skin and bones. One of the children coughed blood. The other vomited.

This made Michael grimace. Radiation sickness.

He had already spread his presence all over the estate and he noticed that about 70% of the inhabitants inside were showing signs of radiation sickness.

What worried him was that most of their sickness had advanced way past the early stages. If this was Earth, there wouldn’t be anything left to do to help them.

It was at this point that Jaku unsheathed the katana in his waist and swung it behind him.

Apples cascaded from the bag on their carriage. Fruits, cabbages, vegetables, rice grains... all sorts of sustenance flowed out of the sack and were laid out in front of all the sickly people of the Mining Estate.

Everyone stared at the food on the floor. An apple rolled towards one of the children coughing blood. He reached for it and took a bite. Jaku didn’t stop him.

"What are you all waiting for? I’m not gonna hand them over to you personally," said Jaku as he quickly returned to the carriage to sleep.

Seeing the child munching on the juicy apple, the inhabitants of this place began to swarm their carriage. They took what they could, embracing everything in their chests tightly, as if they were going to be stolen away.

But Michael nor the Dragonborns nor the Shadow Orcs stopped any of them.

In fact, Sheina and Umisu began personally handing bread to the people of the estate with warm smiles on their faces. Even the pimples and imperfections Michael put on them couldn’t drown the innate beauty and elegance in their actions. They were angels touched down from heaven.

"What are you doing?!"

The man stepped in front of Michael, anxiety and worry on his face.

Even though Michael was barely fifteen years old, he was already six feet tall. The man was thirty years his senior, but the lack of sustenance stifled his growth, making him a feet shorter.

The man wanted to say more, but his eyes glanced at the hungry people of the estate. He saw the brief joy they had while eating something, not for sustenance, but for enjoyment.

These strange merchants gave them far too much food. Far too much that could have actually fit in their carriage.

They gave it away at no price. And that’s exactly what made the man so worried.

"Come with me," he said to Michael. "You may have fed us today, but you will kill us tomorrow."

...

...

...

The man was named Hopper. He was the president of the Mining Estate. Though, based on the dilapidated house he invited Michael on, that title wasn’t worth much at all.

"Who are you?" Hopper asked.

"A friendly merchant," Michael replied. "Someone who wants to help you."

"We need no help."

This struck a chord in Michael. His fellow people were mere hours from dying. And they didn’t need help?

But he didn’t voice it out. He had no right to judge them when he hadn’t experienced a lick of their hardship.

"If we had just waited for a few more days, everything would have been solved," Hopper said, nervously fiddling his gaunt fingers. "They would have come. They would have fed us. They would have healed us from this eternal curse."