Chapter 44
1.
I had successfully made the divine artifact.
“There’s no time to waste!!!!!”
There was nothing to think about; I’d busted my ass for a month and a half.
I should go straight to the Imperial Family and make a deal.
Not a deal, actually—I just had to deliver the divine artifact.
And the most important thing.
What should I ask for as my reward?
I had a few things in mind, but the lightest and simplest was this.
An ultra-high-temperature smelting furnace facility.
The reason I specifically had to ask the Imperial Family for this was….
A smelting furnace meant I intended to properly make something from this point on.
It was a different league.
What did that mean?
Once a smelting furnace was lit, it was something that must never be allowed to go out.
If it went out, it would simply be a major accident.
It ran, bubbling away continuously, for years on end.
So this wasn’t a request like, “Please just put down a forge for me.”….
“I’ll build an entire factory.”
“I’ll install a permanent ironmaking facility in the ducal estate.”
That was what it meant.
Considering that the ducal house and the Imperial Family were cooperative partners while also keeping each other in check at all times.
Normally, the procedures would probably be complicated.
“They can’t refuse.”
I pulled up the corners of my mouth.
But even this was only a secondary request.
The real thing was separate.
“Mama! Let’s go to the Imperial Family!”
“……”
Doloris looked at me and gave a small smile.
Then she dragged me off somewhere.
“D-Duchess Doloris?”
“Lionel.”
She sat me down in the chair in her study.
Then she sat across from me.
“If there is something you want….”
“Yes.”
“You must learn how to receive it cleanly.”
And so, Duchess Doloris’s lecture began.
It wasn’t a long talk, but I learned a great deal.
I brought up something I had been thinking about and holding close for a long time.
Could this really be done? Was it something I could ask of the Imperial Family?
“…… It won’t be easy, but it’s certainly worth discussing.”
“That’s a relief.”
“There may be a contract period, so they might not be able to do it immediately, but it’s worth discussing.”
Good.
That was enough. I didn’t need it right away.
I just needed to be able to secure the supply.
The discussion about my reward was sufficient for now….
“More importantly, Lionel.”
“Yes.”
“Can you show me the earrings now?”
“Of course.”
Doloris had seemed interested in my earrings since yesterday.
I took out the case and opened it before her.
“………………”
She held the case and stared at the earrings in silence for a long while.
“……………………”
Her eyes initially opened wide.
Then her expression changed in all sorts of ways.
Her eyes softened, and her mouth fell open.
Surprise, an emotion difficult to name—in any case, a great many different things.
Of course, I had made them well.
Still, I wondered whether they were really something worth staring at so blankly.
But in the end, she….
- Plop.
“Y-yes, they’re beautiful… They’re lovely. Her Highness the Imperial Princess will like them.”
“……”
Doloris handed the case to me.
Her voice was slightly hoarse.
I reached out to take the case, but.
- Plop.
“……”
Doloris applied a subtle amount of force and refused to let go.
Ah-ha.
It was true that I knew nothing about women’s hearts.
[Acknowledged]
I really knew jack shit, but I could understand why Mama was doing this.
“There’s a word, ‘prototype.’”
I had been a little surprised when I first saw the etymology of this word.
It meant an original model, but surprisingly, its roots lay in striking and hitting.
In other words, I heard its original meaning was a mark made by striking—something engraved by hitting it with a hammer, a mold-stamped copy.
“It means an original model.”
I looked down at Doloris’s hand gripping the case.
“……”
“From now on, I think I’ll be able to make jewelry more beautiful and more precious than this.”
I wasn’t saying it just to be polite; I was genuinely confident.
I spoke with a small smile.
“Lady Doloris, would you be willing to accept the ones I make from now on…?”
At my question, Doloris smiled brightly.
“Of course I would.”
- Sliiide.
She relaxed the hand gripping the case.
Mama was more ambitious than I’d expected.
2.
The center of the Empire.
The Imperial Palace.
One month after the birthday banquet.
The Imperial Princess’s days were visibly improving.
Despite still being young, she used to divide each day into hours.
Simply opening her eyes was labor, and she often had to brace herself against the banister while climbing stairs.
If she looked at documents for too long, the letters blurred.
So she was always calculating.
How many hours she could last that day, and where she needed to reserve her strength.
That was why she conserved her expressions as well.
Within the palace, people called it composure, but in truth, smiling itself had simply been too costly.
Yet these days.
“……”
The Imperial Princess touched the corner of her mouth.
She had just been smiling for no reason.
Even after such a wasteful expenditure of energy, strength remained in her body.
That child had been right.
No—that person had been right.
When he had said he would make a formal request, she had felt as though she were grasping even at a straw.
What could a thirteen-year-old do?—She had not said it aloud, but part of her had certainly thought so.
Because human blacksmiths no longer existed.
So she had simply let it pass.
But.
Her body was getting better and better. The necklace really had been the culprit.
The same was true of the Imperial Prince.
Today, her older brother had gone horseback riding.
‘……… That’s impossible.’
He was someone who would be bedridden for three days after merely walking for half a day.
He had not only never mounted a saddle, he had not even gone near the stables in nearly ten years.
An impossible thing.
Which made her all the more excited.
‘What will that person bring?’
What would that young blacksmith bring?
‘It will take at least a year.’
According to her father, His Majesty, who had dealt with blacksmiths before.
He said that once those people began forging something, it took more than a year.
She was thoroughly accustomed to waiting, but this time seemed likely to feel especially long.
Just as she wondered whether she would have to endure this joy for a whole year.
“…Your Highness.”
Ricardo, who should have been helping her brother with his horseback riding today, had come to see her.
“They say the ducal house is bringing an item.”
“……What?”
“As soon as tomorrow….”
“Yes… Is that really true…?”
A year, they had said…?
This, too, was utterly unbelievable.
3.
Was this what a triumphant return felt like?
To be honest, it wasn’t my hometown, nor had I really returned.
But I had successfully entered the palace.
For starters, if there was one difference from last time, unlike the banquet hall on the outskirts of the Imperial Palace.
This time, I was entering the Imperial Palace proper.
Ruby said she was going to read today and wouldn’t come.
I had contacted them yesterday.
I told them I’d be coming tomorrow, so they should get the appraisers and everything else fully set up.
Of course, I hadn’t put it quite like that.
『I will be visiting with the item, so it will need to be verified as suitable for use by a member of the Imperial Family.』
When Doloris wrote something like that in my place, it sounded quite convincing.
Good God, Mama.
Anyway, I was confident, so whatever.
For verification, I had also brought Solau’s pendant and the Moonlight Essence pendant.
We headed straight to the audience chamber.
It was better for the Emperor to be there if they were going to accept my proposal.
“If it’s the audience chamber, then His Majesty the Emperor must be here.”
Fortunately, he was.
- Click… click….
The corridor was long.
Even the footsteps echoed hollowly. That meant there were very few people around.
And if there were few people around, that meant not just anyone could enter.
In my hand was the neatly wrapped earring case.
After we had walked for some time, the attendant leading us stopped and stood before a door.
“Her Excellency the Grand Duchess Doloris is entering.”
- Creak….
The enormous doors opened to either side.
[Lady Doloris moves first, and Oppa follows half a step behind]
Got it.
I slowly followed behind Doloris, taking in the inside of the audience chamber.
‘…Wow.’
The moment I entered, I marveled inwardly.
I’d told them to have everything fully set up, and they really had.
Naturally, the Emperor sat in the highest seat at the very front.
Below him sat the Imperial Princess, with the Imperial Prince beside her.
A familiar face stood one step to the side and behind. It was Ricardo.
And off to one side.
A whole crowd of special guests for today stood there.
They were appraisers.
Not just one, but several.
Perhaps human appraisers were inferior to dwarves, so they needed cross-verification.
Each held a magnifying glass, and the old man at the very front wore a monocle over one eye.
They must have gathered all these people in a single day.
Even when the outcome of a fight is already decided.
With the stage set like this, it was only natural to feel nervous.
It wasn’t that I was trembling or anything.
‘Is it just because I’m looking forward to what’s about to happen?’
- Swish.
Doloris, who had been walking ahead, stopped and bowed her head.
“I pay my respects to His Majesty the Emperor.”
I bowed as well, half a step behind her.
“Lionel of the Doloris Ducal House. I pay my respects to Your Majesty.”
I was fairly used to the formalities themselves.
You get better at this sort of thing with practice.
It was only the location that had changed.
“Raise your head.”
The Emperor’s voice settled over us.
“It’s good to see you again, Duchess. I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”
“I too am delighted to see Your Majesty again so soon.”
“It hasn’t been long since we last met.”
The Emperor leaned back against his chair.
“Let us get straight to the point.”
His gaze shifted downward.
Past Doloris, toward me.
“As I understand it, blacksmiths usually take more than a year to forge a single piece of equipment.”
“……”
“I didn’t expect you to come so soon. Hahaha.”
There was no question mark, but I assumed he was speaking to me.
A blacksmith who had brought an item after only a month and a half.
I hadn’t expected this, but apparently people usually allowed a full year.
I had been thinking three or six months.
Once again, I realized that the blacksmiths of this world were far too lazy.
I answered calmly.
“Wouldn’t those without skill need more time?”
At my confident remark.
The audience chamber fell silent.
Just when I tensed, wondering whether I had said something wrong.
“Hahahaha!”
The Emperor burst out laughing.
“Indeed. Quite so.”
- Tap.
He tapped the armrest once.
“I suppose that isn’t wrong.”
Fortunately, it seemed to hit his taste.
I had noticed it last time too: the Emperor seemed to like confidence.
The Emperor’s smile faded, and he pointed to my right.
Toward the line of men holding magnifying glasses.
“Please do not misunderstand when you see that I have summoned so many people.”
“……”
“I did not summon them because I distrust you. It is merely procedure, since the item will touch a member of the Imperial Family’s body.”
Well, the necklace last time had also passed appraisal perfectly.
After being badly burned once, it was only natural for the procedures to become stricter.
“So please bear with the inconvenience.”
“It’s all right.”
Now, it was time to deliver the item.
- Swish.
Doloris stepped slightly to the side.
Left alone, I approached the Imperial Princess with the case.
It was something I had poured a month and a half into.
I had worked until my legs gave out on the treadle, stayed up all night twisting wire.
I had made it while staring madly at the Imperial Princess’s face.
‘This feels strange.’
It was a sensation I hadn’t felt in a long time.
It felt almost like having my dissertation examined.
After submitting a dissertation into which I had poured several years before the committee.
I would be ushered out of the room and wait alone in the hallway.
The feeling of waiting to be called back in.
That was exactly how it felt.
But if there was one difference between then and now.
I smiled and knelt on one knee.
Was it that I had confidence now?
“It is the Cradle of Earth.”
As I said that, I opened the case.
- Click.
The lid lifted with a small sound.
The lights in the audience chamber poured inside.
The green jade absorbed those lights.
This was the core of elven jewelry-making technique.
“……”
No one opened their mouth.
The first to react was the Imperial Princess before me.
“……Ah.”
She let out a short breath.
The tension left the Imperial Princess’s face.
Covering her mouth with one hand, she could not take her eyes off the case.
When a person sees something that pleases them.
The first thing to soften is usually the corners of their eyes.
The woman before me was doing exactly that now.
Perhaps because I had stared at her face to the point of exhaustion over the past two weeks.
I could tell she had filled out a little and looked healthier.
‘Looks good.’
I could tell how much vitality the necklace had been sucking away.
The Imperial Princess, who had been gazing at the earrings.
Suddenly.
- Swish.
She reached her hand toward my earrings.
‘…Huh?’
What? Could she just put them on right away?
The Imperial Princess’s expression remained dreamy, her eyes still relaxed.
“Your Highness, the appraisal has not yet been completed.”
Despite Ricardo’s urgent attempt to stop her.
“Yes……”
She said she understood.
And yet her hand kept reaching out.
Her words and her hand were acting independently.
Just before her hand touched the earrings.
“Your Highness.”
“Ah, yes. Yes… yes, I understand.”
After being called twice, her hand finally withdrew reluctantly.
Even after withdrawing, the Imperial Princess’s hand wandered aimlessly in the air before she belatedly clenched her skirt.
“Ah, beauti—beautiful….”
She murmured softly.
“R-really.”
Once again, fortunately, she seemed to like them very much.