Chapter 4
Heter had his reasons for claiming he didn't like me.
It was because he had never spoken to me first.
So, because he hadn't spoken to me first, that meant he wasn't interested?
If I'd said that while living in Korea, people would have teased me for being a narcissist.
But to Alice Fortune, it was perfectly natural.
“M-Marry me.”
It started with the boy from the territory whom I met when I first ventured outside the mansion after learning to walk.
“Father! I want to get engaged to Alice!”
The arrogant young nobleman of a neighboring territory, who was notorious for his bad manners.
“Ah, at last, the god of fate has found my other half.”
A clergyman of the Erasmus faith, which regarded asceticism as a virtue and called him a saint.
“Congratulations on your debut. Would you grant me the opportunity to dance with you today?”
The Grand Duke of the South, who was called the ghost of the South and guarded the Empire's seas.
“You… become mine.”
Even the emperor's only daughter, eventually.
Throughout my twenty years of life, anyone who had taken an interest in me had always spoken to me first.
Surely that is enough reason, don't you think?
But considering how enthusiastically Sir Gold had advocated for it, and since a third party's perspective was sometimes more accurate, I had tried proposing to him—but it had ended up like this.
“For one thing, we hardly know each other well enough to marry, and besides, I don't want to be tied down to anyone yet.”
“I see.”
“Besides, given your family's poor circumstances, didn't you propose marriage because you value my abilities rather than because you like me?”
“….”
Right, anyone with a functioning brain and some social awareness could easily figure that out.
Still, I had believed my appearance had enough advantages to overcome that.
It seemed I had overestimated myself.
“I'm sorry.”
Just as I apologized and was about to bring the meeting to a close by telling him to rest comfortably before leaving,
“Marriage aside, I may be interested in employment.”
Heter said calmly while drinking his wine.
“…Pardon?”
“Unlike marriage, employment allows us to agree on terms beforehand, and once the term expires, I can leave without renewing it, can't I?”
The corners of his mouth lifted faintly as he savored the wine in his mouth.
“Besides, if this is a place with wine this delicious, I don't think being employed here would be so bad.”
‘Oh!’
Whether he was sincere or not, this was good news for me.
If things went well, I might be able to recruit him as a knight without marrying him.
“All right. What sort of compensation are you looking for?”
After composing myself, I put on the most dignified air I could manage.
Unlike when I had proposed to him, I was now trying to hire him as an employee.
An employer who appeared intimidated wouldn't inspire confidence, after all.
“Hmm.”
“!”
The corner of his mouth lifted even higher than before.
It seemed my confident attitude had been the right choice.
“All right. This is the compensation I want.”
The man held up one finger toward me.
‘Is it ten gold a month…?’
Expensive.
The average annual salary of a knight in the old days was around 50 gold.
But considering the skill he had displayed, it was not only understandable but an amount I would gladly welcome.
“All right. But could you wait until the Snow Wyrm has been processed before we settle the payment?”
“You're agreeing that readily?”
His eyes widened at my answer.
“Of course. Sir Heter has the skill to justify that much.”
Of course, I would work him hard in return for the money. Heh heh heh.
“This is unexpected. Even so, you don't look well-off enough to casually pay 100 gold a month.”
“…Wait a moment?”
I must have worn myself out lately by overexerting myself to repay our debts.
“You said 100 gold a month. I heard that wrong, didn't I?”
“No. You heard me correctly.”
“Your annual salary?”
“No. Every month.”
What a lunatic!
I nearly hurled a string of curses right in his face, but barely managed to hold myself back.
‘100 gold a month? Then his annual salary is 1,200 gold?’
No matter how extraordinary his skills were, that was an utterly outrageous amount.
After all, 1,200 gold was more than even our territory's annual income could cover.
“Excuse me, but do you realize how absurdly large 100 gold a month is?”
“Is it that much?”
“Yes! Even the imperial knights couldn't earn that much!”
“Hmm, I don't think so.”
“?”
What had that bastard just said?
He spoke as though he knew how much an imperial knight was paid.
“In any case, I believe someone of my skill can easily command that salary.”
“Ugh….”
I clenched my hand so tightly that my nails dug into my palm.
I wanted to shout at him to get out, but I couldn't.
Right now, Heter was the one in power, and I was the subordinate.
If it proved impossible no matter how hard I tried, I would have no choice but to give up. But until then, shouldn't I do everything I could?
“Phew.”
After taking a deep breath to calm myself, I met his gaze.
“I understand. In that case, could I pay you in something worth roughly 1,200 gold instead?”
“An item?”
Heter's eyes widened as though he had never considered that possibility.
“That's an offer I never would have imagined. Do you really have something worth that much?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm….”
His expression seemed to ask, If you have something like that, why don't you sell it?
‘Why do you think? There must be a reason.’
I rose from my seat and took a bundle of keys from the desk drawer.
“Come with me. I'll show you myself.”
“All right.”
We left the study and descended the stairs. When we reached our destination, Heter said in a troubled voice,
“Are you planning to use me as some sort of experimental subject?”
“Pardon? Are you an N? You have quite an imagination.”
“What is an N? But I couldn't help thinking so.”
Heter pointed with one finger.
“Someone like you, the head of a family, brought me to a basement with this many locks.”
He was referring to a door with a total of seven locks on it.
“That means something important must be in here.”
Clack.
I found the right key in the bundle, unlocked them, and opened the thick iron door. A cloud of dust greeted us.
“It's dusty.”
“It is. Here, put this on.”
“What's this?”
“It's called a mask.”
Mask.
It was one of the objects I had made using the knowledge from my previous life.
I had made a filter from nonwoven fabric and placed it between an outer and inner layer. It was less effective than a medical mask, but I was confident it was far better than merely wrapping a cloth around one's face.
“How fascinating. I've never seen anything like this before. Do you know who made it?”
“Of course you'd never have seen one before. I made it myself.”
“You made it, my lady?”
Heter seemed surprised to hear that I had made it.
Of course he was. It must have seemed strange.
In this world, inventions like this were usually made by mages from the magic towers.
“Do you know why I asked whether I could pay you in goods?”
“?”
I lit the lamp on the wall, illuminating the basement.
“This….”
“Everything in here is something I invented.”
I pointed to the display cases filling the basement and the items packed tightly inside them, then smiled confidently.
“Go ahead, choose one.”
Surely one of these would catch his fancy.
*
“This?”
“It's an oxygen cylinder. It contains magically created oxygen, so with this alone, you can breathe underwater.”
“This?”
“It's canned food. It contains bread made five years ago, but in theory, it should still be edible.”
“Then what about this?”
“That….”
I had been explaining everything perfectly well, but then I closed my mouth.
Of all the many things here, why did he have to choose that one?
“Why did you suddenly stop talking?”
“That… is a sanitary pad.”
“From the looks of it, is it something you wrap around an injured area in place of a bandage?”
“It's something women wear when they're menstruating.”
“!”
Perhaps he knew about menstruation, because he hurriedly put the sanitary pad back down.
“More importantly, this is remarkable. An item capable of producing an effect akin to magic without using mana.”
“Right?”
“That's why it's strange.”
Heter looked at me with his characteristic impassive expression.
“Why don't you sell these? If you put them on the market, you could make an enormous amount of money.”
“….”
I slowly took a deep breath and composed myself.
To answer that question, I would have to explain how our family had fallen into ruin.
“I came up with these things, but I can't manufacture them myself.”
“What do you mean?”
“For example, this.”
I pointed to the oxygen cylinder I had explained to Heter moments ago.
“Magic is needed to put oxygen in this cylinder, but I can't use magic.”
“Ah.”
“The same goes for the others. None of them are things I can make on my own.”
But that wasn't the problem. Even in the web novel I had read, the protagonist only offered ideas and entrusted the manufacturing to other talented people.
“So if the people who make things like these are taken away from me, I can't do anything.”
“Surely not.”
I nodded as I watched Heter, who seemed to have realized something.
“A neighboring territory realized my ideas could make money, so… they poached the people working for us.”
And it wasn't just one person. They took all the craftsmen I had trained through the investment of countless resources, as well as the mage who had helped bring my ideas to life.
“Because of that, our family couldn't recover the initial capital we had invested in prototypes, labor, education, and so on. And afterward, as you can see.”
I shrugged.
I imagined my expression was probably extremely gloomy right now.
“You asked why I don't sell these, right? Because even if I try, they'll only be stolen from me.”
“….”
“That's why I need you.”
I frowned and looked at him.
“Someone with the power to protect our territory from the magical beasts around it. So I'm asking you.”
It was a place with no one else around, just the two of us.
There, I bowed my head to him.
“Please become a knight of the Fortune family.”
“Why?”
After a brief silence, he opened his mouth.
“Pardon me for saying so, but with your looks, you could marry into a wealthy family in another territory. That would solve your money problems. Then why are you doing this? Is it, after all, to protect your family?”
Protecting my family was certainly part of the reason.
But that was only a secondary reason. The real reason I was willing to bow my head to preserve my family was…
“The people of the territory.”
“Pardon?”
“The people of the territory who trusted me and followed me.”
Back when I was making products and preparing for mass production,
the people gave up grape farming and winemaking, the livelihoods they were accustomed to, and helped me for low wages.
But because of my foolishness, they suffered without receiving proper compensation.
They had to go hungry for almost a year.
“Even so, the people comforted me, telling me it was all right.”
I would have felt less guilty if they had at least resented me.
That was why I didn't want to marry into another family.
I didn't know how that family would treat the people of the territory.
The people who had cherished me all my life, ever since I was born in Fortune territory.
They were already like family to me.
“That's… the reason.”
“I see.”
Heter muttered after hearing my words.
“This territory must be a fine place indeed, if you care for it that much. I understand, my lady.”
“Yes.”
I raised my head and looked at him.
Although we had lit candles, the basement was still dark.
With a faint smile, he said,
“Could you give me a few days to think it over?”
“Pardon?”
“I want to spend a few days living in the territory you care for so deeply before deciding.”
Then he held out his hand to me.
“All right!”
I clasped his hand and smiled brightly.
***
Far in the polar North, where nothing but white snow could be seen,
a Snow Wyrm waited for its mate, which had been out of sight for some time.
…?
Then, the Snow Wyrm suddenly turned its head.
Its eyes had atrophied, but its senses of vibration and smell were acute, so the Snow Wyrm knew
that its mate was bleeding somewhere in the distance.
“Gwooooo!”
Eventually, the Snow Wyrm began digging through the earth and moving.
Toward the Fortune territory, where the disassembly of a Snow Wyrm had just begun.