No matter how you think about it, it’s ridiculous. I thought of my grandfather and tried to look good on him. No, why did you send me to such a dangerous guy? Besides, you calmly favor me. Was this Ian? I glanced at Ian. After the meal, sitting back in the room where I worked yesterday felt like a natural procedure. He seemed to have no idea. He didn’t mind being with me, did he really like me? For no reason, the emotions I felt yesterday evening bloomed again, and I raised my eyes. Ian slightly raised his head at my staring eyes, and he met my eyes. His expression was awkward.
“…what’s the matter. Lawrence.”
“I have a question.”
He seemed to be taken aback for a moment, then relaxed his eyes and pulled his mouth lightly from side to side.
“What is it? I’ve been curious about a lot since yesterday. Is this a weakness again?”
Ian picked up a pod and put it on top of his desk, then tilted his face as if it were a calyx on top of his chin. I flinched slightly at the sight of him, which I usually don’t show. Why was he coquettish like that? I remembered the face of yesterday and felt my heart pounding again. How can a person’s image come and go like that without lifting a forehead? As a woman, I was able to change my image by cutting and growing my bangs to the height I felt like. That alone makes a 10-year-old look young and old. But what about men? I’ve seen a lot of men, especially aristocrats, who walk around with their hair exposed, but honestly, I didn’t like them. Even skin care was hard, there were people who were full of pimples on their foreheads, no matter where they spent that much money. If you’re going to cut your forehead, at least Ian… What was I thinking?
“It’s not like that, I was wondering how the question I asked yesterday was organized.”
“You mean the one that guesses where your father’s personal report was cut off? Wait a minute.”
Ian chuckled and rummaged across his desk, collecting his papers piece by piece into a small club and tossing them around. What was it, why throw that one? Because it’s paper, it falls… It didn’t fall. The five sheets of paper he flew fluttered and carefully landed on my desk like a butterfly sitting on a flower. What kind of strange technology was this? Originally, it was normal to have to ask what to do if you threw a document like this, but there were some that arrived properly, but more than anything, I opened my mouth because it was amazing. Ian’s laughter came again. He hurriedly came to his senses and looked at him.
“How can I throw the papers…”
“Take this too.”
Ian didn’t listen to me and threw another object. He threw it again! I stretched out my hand with surprised eyes. I didn’t know where it would fly, so he stretched out first, and a small marble sat on it, and it rolled over and landed in the middle. Awesome, amazing… yes was it magic? Still, after glaring at him once, I looked at the red orb placed on my palm.
“What is this?”
“They say it’s a legacy left by Marquis Bepis.”
“This one?”
He held the marble in his hand and lifted it slightly. He wasn’t transparent. Even when held in fire, the inside was transparent, and the light did not penetrate. The light stayed inside. What was this?
“According to the story of the people who investigated, it was said that it was the essence of fire mined in the Teper Mine, but it was only a guess, but they said it was probably so.”
“The Teper Mine? The Essence of Fire?”
“Have you ever heard of it?
“I’ve heard of supernatural things. The same goes for the essence of fire. By the Teper Mine, you’re talking about the diamond mines in the Teper Mountains to the west, right?”
It was quite famous. It was a mine discovered 50 years ago. When many people think of diamond mines, Teper mine comes to mind first because most of the mountains of the Teper Mountains were surrounded by volcanoes. Fortunately, the mountain where the Teper Mine was located was not a big problem because there were usually no volcanoes or extinct volcanoes that have already died, but many people were worried that it could explode at any time. Because of that, the Empire did not directly operate the Teper Mine and put it up for auction, but it did not sell as well as expected. Where did you end up buying it?
“I thought about many things while gathering data, but the current owner of the Teper Mine is Thording Piero, the son of Cel Piero, who made his fortune through real estate and mine speculation.”
“Oh, right.”
I clapped. The gimmick that seemed to come to mind came to mind as if a thorn had been pulled out.
“Did you mean that sly-looking guy?”
“…?”
Ian’s eyebrows twitched.
“Yes, that’s right. I know Tording Piero because his name is unusual. I thought the exotic name was unique. He said he followed the naming law of his mother’s country.”
“Well, that’s right. Anyway, the important thing is that the current owner of the mine is Thording Pieronde, who resembles his father, so he must have good business skills and an eye for investment. Of course, he’s as greedy and sly as he is.”
I nodded. In fact, even though we haven’t met in this lifetime, we’ve met once before. I ran a long way and met him, and the first thing I said when I saw him was to ask if he had a husband. I remember getting fed up with the fuss that followed and ending up canceling all other contracts I had with them.
“It was so ugly that he was blowing his nose…”
“Have you met him?”
I shook my head. while smiling
“I just heard. Very ugly.”
“Huh…”
Ian tilted his head and looked at me. Why was he looking at me like that since yesterday? I pressed my lips together and lifted my chin.
“So, back to the main topic, why did this Essence of Fire and Teper Mine come out?”
“It seems that the sponsor of the mine was Marquis Bepis.”
“…Sponsor?”
“Yes. And the legacy that Marquis Bepis left to his disciples until the end is the essence of fire that is now held in your hands of Lawrence.”
“Why use this as a legacy…”
Although Essence of Fire was quite expensive. In fact, compared to the same weight as a high-purity raw diamond, the Essence of Fire was overwhelmingly more expensive. The reason was simple. Essence of fire was a military item. It was also a weapon with overwhelming explosive power, and I heard that few wizards used it to make bombs.
“He said how much for one of these.”
“Five thousand gold coins.”
“This one?”
It’s a lot more expensive than you think. Wasn’t this dangerous? I wanted to explode or something, so I stared at it, and I heard the sound of wind leaking. I wouldn’t be laughing When I raised my head, Ian continued his explanation without erasing his smile.
“If you modify one of them into a small bomb, you can kill about a thousand soldiers at once without a trace. It seems that a small city will be blown up.”
“Huh…”
The numbers related to human life rather than money were heard a little more plainly. As he slipped his hand away from the heart of the fire, Ian opened his mouth in a soft voice as if to reassure him.
“Of course, the essence of fire itself will not explode no matter how much you heat it or give it a shock, so don’t worry. I heard that it needs to be specially manufactured.”
“Really? I’m glad…”
I put the essence of fire on the palm of my hand again and looked at Ian.
“But why does this legacy belong to Ian?”
“Essence of fire is a military item, so it is impossible for ordinary people to purchase it, let alone nobles, and it can only be paid for as a military item, so it cannot be passed down as a legacy, so my family collected it and kept it.”
“…”
“To continue talking, the essence of fire is mined in a certain amount every year in the Teper Mine and delivered for military purposes. But the problem is that the amount decreased little by little after the death of Marquis Bepis. Externally, the mine is old and It means that the mine’s reserves of Essence of Fire are almost exhausted. You can see how much it’s decreasing every year from the surface they gave out.”
“Didn’t you attach an inspection?”
“I attached it. The inspectorate also concluded that what they said was right.”
I narrowed my eyes. Ian shrugged his shoulders lightly.
“He was a trustworthy man. He was a vassal of our family.”
If so what…
“Now the amount has decreased a lot, but the problem is this. If Marquis Bepis sponsors the mine and can refine this fire essence to make a bomb, what will happen?”
“I heard that no one can refine it.”
“Magicians purify it, but I heard that witches and alchemists can do it to some extent.”
Hmm, I put my hand on my chin and thought about it. Was that realistically possible? It had been more than 10 years since Marquis Bepis died. But now, why was the essence of fire a problem? Beralt’s Raid, Counterfeit Money, Kabul’s Essence, Marquis of Bepis… and Piero’s Merchant. It felt like something wasn’t quite right.
“One is missing.”
“Like what?”
“I thought this is it. If Marquis Bepis left the essence of fire as a legacy, there are two reasons. Because one is money. However, if you ignore this because it is designated as a military item and cannot be purchased by the general public, I think that the other one may have been aimed at a military riot as Ian said. If alchemists and witches can purify this essence, they can do it covertly. But it’s strange.”
Ian smiled softly. The piercing gaze was burdensome, so I abruptly avoided my face. Was it any wonder I opened his mouth?
“The Marquis of Bepis didn’t resist with the essence of fire even though he knew he would be captured and killed. What could be the reason?”
“Because refining was impossible at the time?”
“It could be, but…”
There was something, but while I was organizing my thoughts with my eyes narrowed, I saw the round saucer of a teacup placed on the desk. A round teacup, counterfeit money… My stream of consciousness made me think of a round disc. What was the relationship between counterfeit money and the essence of fire? And the remaining children of the Marquis Bepis, whose whereabouts are now unknown. To leave a legacy to those children, you just had to give them a share in the diamond mine, but you didn’t have to designate the essence of fire as your legacy. But why? an’s voice broke my thoughts.
“Look at those papers.”
“Documents?”
I fixed my eyes on the five documents he threw. The front page contained the military budget. Even if it was not detailed, it was possible to know where and how much each was allocated. But I would like to see this information. With a confused expression, he grasped the financial information on paper. On the back of the page, there was a table where you could check where and how much was in detail. Various consumption items and necessary consumption such as soldiers’ salaries, standing army maintenance expenses, food expenses, arms, etc. were listed. Coming to the last chapter, the fire that the wizards mentioned earlier use for research purposes, then stop? A related budget was prepared. Uh, with this number…
“Why are there so many of them? Isn’t it enough to match the general budget of the empire?”
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Translator Note:
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