Chapter 47
1.
Once you turn at least eighteen.
Apparently, those who qualify are sent an invitation from the Tower.
Now, it is a signal that you may climb the Tower.
And also a signal that you have reached adulthood.
‘I’m not interested.’
Seriously, actually using my body and all that, huh?
I have absolutely no intention of climbing the Tower that diligently.
I’m incredibly weak. I’m from the modern world, remember?
So, what is my direction?
Simple.
To make sure the people climbing the Tower beside me can keep going up without any problems.
For example, Mama, who is opening her eyes wide while munching cake right in front of me.
Or Ruby, who is currently reading a book on the ducal estate.
I’m not stupid.
If I can do it and don’t enchant her equipment, that makes no sense.
…Well, even if I don’t actually climb the Tower.
I suppose I’ll still have to reach the floor where the dwarves are.
Apparently, if someone who has reached that floor takes your hand, you can enter their residential area.
But that’s a story for later. In conclusion, I.
“You’ll have to climb the Tower again.”
“The Tower….”
When you have a lot on your mind, you’re supposed to put something sweet in your mouth.
I fed Doloris another piece of cake, and.
- Munch.
“Do you think I can climb the Tower again….”
She said that while munching on cake.
“Of course.”
“……”
“You’ll recover, too.”
I’ll make sure of it.
- Swish.
One more piece.
“And your equipment will become even better.”
I’ll make sure of that, too.
Oh, wait a moment.
There’s an important point here.
“Mama, is all the equipment you have… unique equipment?”
Then that’s even better.
Because I discovered that enchanting unique equipment creates something called potential abilities.
I don’t know why people don’t take advantage of this gold mine, but apparently the destruction rate is so high that I suppose that explains it.
Just then.
- Flinch.
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
Doloris’s body gave a little start.
“Everything from your head to your thighs, legs, and toes?”
“From my head… to my thighs… yes, all of it, anyway.”
“…If you’ll pardon my asking.”
“Y-yes…?”
I asked carefully.
What had surprised me even more as I investigated recently was this.
More than any other equipment… the equipment that stayed against the wearer’s body the longest and was therefore easiest to use to alter their constitution was.
Underwear.
Doloris didn’t wear equipment every moment of the day, either.
But she surely wore underwear constantly.
For men, things like short-sleeved shirts and undershirts.
For women… well, you know, those kinds of things.
They were the most basic articles of clothing, yet difficult to obtain.
Naturally. What boss would drop underwear as equipment?
Blacksmiths were reluctant to make it as well, and once obtained, it was the kind of passive equipment one would always wear.
Would the Heir of Fire make underwear? No, no. I wouldn’t.
It would ruin my cool.
Of course, I make it.
I have no cool to ruin.
So.
“Is your underwear also unique equipment…?”
- Clatter.
The fork fell onto the plate.
“…Y-yes… that… I haven’t been able to obtain any yet….”
“Okay.”
See? Even Doloris, a high ranker, has trouble obtaining equipment like that.
Maybe I really should create an underwear brand later.
Kyyot.
Since she didn’t have any yet, that was even better.
In that case, I could make it for her.
“I’ll make your underwear for you—better than spring without frost.”
I leaned forward.
“Completely, completely, completely better.”
“Y-yes, th-thank you….”
“And I’ll enchant all the rest of your equipment, too.”
Kkyoyot.
I suddenly desperately wanted to return to the ducal estate.
Build the smelting furnace facility.
Grind the magicite into white powder.
Then inhale it through my nose—no, into the equipment.
[… ….]
Wouldn’t that mean I could hammer away to my heart’s content?
And since higher stars and unique equipment meant greater difficulty, it had to be fun.
My body suddenly began to sway with excitement.
But unlike me, who was gradually getting more excited.
Doloris began avoiding my eyes.
“Y-you mean enchanting unique equipment…?”
“Of course.”
Then where should I start?
Doloris squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, as though thinking something over.
After about five seconds of deliberation, she opened her mouth.
“Yes, Lionel, that’s all right. You may enchant the other unique equipment.”
“Sounds good.”
“The top… the bottom… the auxiliary magic tool… the shoulder guards… the cape… all of them are fine….”
Doloris began counting them off carefully, one by one, with her fingers.
She looked like someone letting go of something.
“Great.”
“But, Lionel….”
- Tap, tap.
Doloris tapped her stockings lightly.
Her expression was slightly mournful.
What she had tapped were her stockings.
Spring Without Frost.
My masterpiece.
“…Are you going to enchant these, too…?”
“Of course. They’re first in line.”
“No… No, you can’t. This one is off-limits….”
“Why not?”
What do you mean, off-limits?
Doloris suddenly hugged her legs with a mournful expression, but.
“Because they’re unique equipment… If they’re destroyed….”
“……You think I’ll destroy them?”
[Hold it iiiiiiiin!!!]
[Oppa, think about this world’s common senseeee!]
For a moment, I wondered if she doubted my skill.
But thinking about it, enchanting in this world was…
A gamble where success was wonderful and failure meant destruction.
That was the basic common sense of this world.
Sure, in my case, things stuck when I hammered them, but these were precious pieces of equipment she had collected over time.
Thinking about it again, it was impressive that she had allowed me to enchant the other equipment at all.
In that sense, it also meant that my stockings were more precious to her than those items, so I was grateful.
The real me focused on smiling and reassuring her.
“Then I’ll start with the others.”
“…Yes.”
“Watch me enchant them… and then decide, Lady Doloris.”
Whether to entrust them to me or not.
I was confident, at least.
She would know after watching me just once.
“All right, then let us do that.”
Only then did the hand clutching her legs finally loosen.
I continued looking at Doloris’s legs for quite a long time, then.
“Oh, right.”
I added while picking up my fork.
“The underwear.”
“…Yes?”
“I’ll make it for you soon.”
“Oh. O-oh….”
Doloris inadvertently opened her mouth, and.
I pushed into her mouth.
A piece of cake topped with
a plump
cherry.
- Crunch.
“Yes….”
The cherry, the most delicious part of the cake, became hers.
Doloris crunched down on the cherry I had given her, her face turning red.
2.
We stayed for two days and thought things over a little more.
During that time, I began by looking for a smelting furnace to dismantle.
I searched through the Empire’s forges, which had now become tourist attractions.
To cut to the conclusion.
“There’s nothing to take apart.”
It looked convincing from the outside.
It was large, the bricks were sturdy, and it was well maintained.
But when I took it apart.
There were serious flaws all over the place.
The tuyere angles were completely inconsistent, too…
Should I say it was filled with human stubbornness? Instead of solving things wisely, they simply had to build it, so they roughly crushed the joints together.
Anyway, that was the problem with humans.
It needed the wise spirit of the dwarves.
So there was no point in dismantling and moving this thing.
It didn’t satisfy me, either.
I decided it would be better to receive only the materials and construction costs and build it myself.
So I obtained several extremely old blueprints.
I figured I could build it based on those and add dwarf techniques to it.
And so, the smelting-furnace matter was settled.
The most important thing.
‘What exactly should I ask the Emperor for?’
A title sounded bothersome, I wasn’t interested in an Imperial Princess, and the Imperial Family’s treasure vault… didn’t appeal to me much right now.
In the end, Yuna and I began brainstorming.
“What on earth should I ask for? Yunaaaaa!”
[Ughhhh]
[Let’s look through the historical records first]
While we were digging through the historical records.
“Huh…?”
I realized something.
Wouldn’t it actually work if I simply did this?
Yuna confirmed my idea, and.
[I think that might work?]
Doloris’s confirmation was…
“It is worth trying.”
It seemed fine.
In the end, I decided to visit the Imperial Palace again.
This time, I had a new request.
And so, after two days, the audience chamber was opened again.
The Emperor descended from the throne once more and stood before me.
“Very well.”
“……”
“What do you want?”
I raised my head.
I took a breath and carefully.
“The Bellua Mountains….”
“……”
“Please incorporate them into the territory of the Doloris Ducal House.”
Not a long-term contract.
Just give me a mountain.
The Bellua Mountains were located quite far from the Imperial Palace.
…If one wanted to be precise.
They were much closer to the ducal estate.
And while the Bellua Mountains were fairly large.
Of all the ores that could actually be mined and used, magicite accounted for ninety-eight percent.
They had almost no practical utility.
Moreover, unlike ordinary mines, which needed an accompanying mining city.
The proportion of magicite was so high that there was hardly any soil, so no farming was possible, trees could not grow, and therefore no people could live there.
It was land with no taxes to collect and no subjects to rule.
It was closer to a lump of rock than a territory.
The historical records even clearly stated.
That those people had received titles and territories as well.
That territory couldn’t have been a rocky mountain where not a single person could live. It must have been proper land where grain grew and taxes were collected.
In other words, the only value the Bellua Mountains possessed was ‘magicite.’
It was worthless from the Imperial Family’s perspective, but…
I saw it as gold.
Or as a place where white powder poured forth…
[No!]
In the end, this request was worth less than the examples in the historical records, but.
‘Because I’m the Duke of Doloris.’
It was true that it felt like I was strengthening the ducal house.
So what mattered was how the Emperor would view it.
Having reached that conclusion, I quietly bowed my head.
And the Emperor.
“Now I can hold my head high.”
He could hold his head high.
His reaction wasn’t bad.
It was different from the disappointment he had shown two days ago.
“Raise your head.”
I slowly lifted my head, and.
The Emperor was looking down at me with his arms crossed.
“I said before.”
“Yes.”
“That I would not put a price on it.”
“That is correct.”
The Emperor nodded.
“So be it.”
“…Did I hear that correctly?”
A habit from my other world slipped out before I could stop it.
“I said I would do it.”
That was all.
He was being this cool without negotiating or discussing it with his ministers?
As expected of the Emperor—amazingggg!
Monarchism at its finest!!
There was no ridiculous process involving counter-signatures or deliberation by the ministers.
So this was why people practiced monarchy.
“However, as I said last time, the mining rights to that mountain remain in effect until the end of this year.”
Of course. Naturally.
There’s nothing to be done about that.
“Yes, Your Majesty. That is entirely reasonable.”
“Very well.”
The Emperor nodded, then looked down at me for a very brief moment.
“Therefore.”
“……”
“Once this year ends, that mountain will belong entirely to the ducal house.”
I counted the days inwardly.
It really wasn’t far off.
“Congratulations, Grand Duchess Doloris.”
“No, Your Majesty. It is all thanks to Your Majesty’s boundless generosity.”
Mama, who had stood there without saying a word until now, bowed her head.
“Heh heh.”
The Emperor chuckled briefly.
“But tell me, Master Lionel’s schemes seem to have grown considerably deeper over the past two days….”
The Emperor turned toward Mama.
He was smiling.
“You had nothing to do with this, did you?”
Doloris also smiled as she answered the question.
“He is always such an astute child that I did not need to put any ideas into his head.”
I was startled for a moment, but fortunately, it seemed to be a joke.
“That is true. If you had interfered, I suspect every pillar and everything else would have been pulled out.”
Doloris bowed her head and smiled sweetly.
And so the rest of the discussion regarding the reward continued.
We also finished discussing the smelting furnace.
When I told him there was nothing worth dismantling.
He said it would be better to build one from the beginning.
We agreed that he would provide the materials and construction costs.
Once everything had been settled.
“Then it seems I have paid you sufficiently.”
At the Emperor’s words, I took the box I had kept in my arms.
The Cradle of Earth.
“What do you think, Master Lionel?”
When he saw me lift the box.
“Will you give it to her yourself?”
He gave me a subtle glance.
“I will.”
I walked toward the person standing behind him.
The Imperial Princess, Yustia.
A month and a half ago, she had looked as though even standing was difficult.
Now, her cheeks had filled out considerably.
She seemed healthier in every way.
As I approached, she couldn’t meet my eyes.
- Rustle.
She merely fidgeted with the hem of her skirt.
‘Can I kneel?’
[Uh, kneel]
Yes, ma’am.
Well, then…
I knelt on one knee before her.
I heard her swallow above my head.
- Click.
I opened the box and held it out for her to see.
The light of the audience chamber poured inside, and the green jade quietly drank it in.
“…I hope they suit you.”
I said with a smile, and.
I meant it sincerely.
I had made them after all, while looking at her face.
Yustia, who had not answered for quite some time.
- Swish.
Carefully picked up the earrings…
And slowly put them on, one after the other.
The moment the earrings hung from her earlobes.
I saw a faint green aura spread across her entire body.
They suit her.
That was my plain assessment.
“…Master Lionel, allow me to thank you formally once again.”
Yustia had called me Master Lionel since last time.
With an overwhelmed expression.
“…For saving my brother and me….”
“……”
“For saving… our lives.”
Her voice grew slightly damp.
“…Thank you.”
She offered me her thanks.
I accepted her greeting and raised my head.
A few tears slipped from her eyes, and perhaps wanting to change the mood.
She asked again in a more spirited voice.
“So, what do you think of them?”
“They suit you perfectly.”
I stated my honest opinion simply.
“…Anything else?”
The Imperial Princess dabbed at her tears and asked me again with an expectant expression.
Anything else?
Just as I wondered what I was supposed to say.
The most appropriate blessing for the sickly Imperial Princess came to mind.
The most auspicious four-character idiom from my world.
“…May you live a long and healthy life.”
I gave the most appropriate answer, and.
Yustia’s eyes widened in surprise, then….
“…Pfft.”
She wiped away her tears completely, and.
“…I will!” She covered her mouth and burst out laughing.