1.
The Imperial Palace was in an uproar.
More precisely, it had grown quite noisy because of the equipment Seren had brought in.
Where on earth had it been made?
Who was the maker, and could they create equipment of a similar caliber again?
A great many questions poured in, but Seren’s answer remained the same.
"There is nothing I can tell you."
Naturally, the Imperial Palace had also been keeping a close eye on the equipment the Dawn Apostles had recently begun carrying.
Dolores, Isabella, Yeomhwa—they all possessed mysterious equipment whose origins could not be traced.
Fortunately, some of the Dawn Apostles had ties to the Imperial Family, so they had not been treated with too much wariness, but...
Now equipment of a comparable level had come into the hands of Seren, the Imperial Family’s sword and shield. From the palace’s perspective, it was something to welcome with open arms.
The problem, from the Emperor’s perspective, was...
"..."
Seren was sulking.
She had her lips pressed tightly together, her cheeks puffed up, and refused to speak.
In other words, she seemed offended—she was pouting.
Heh heh.
The Emperor let out a dry inner laugh.
Seren was a knight who had protected the Imperial Family for a long time.
Even the Emperor had never seen her act like that before.
Nor did he have any reason to upset Seren, a high ranker, any further.
"Very well. We shall provide you with all the support you need... so please maintain an amicable relationship with that craftsman."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
With that, the matter was neatly settled.
The Emperor was wise. This might have been a channel from which golden eggs would never come, but at the very least, he had no intention of rashly cutting open its belly.
However, Princess Justina, seated beside him, had other thoughts.
She had shed the last traces of girlhood and was beginning to exude the air of a grown woman.
With a fair, delicate hand, she idly touched her earring.
"..."
Clink.
The Cradle of Earth dangling from her ear swayed softly.
The ability to create such high-value equipment...
That insane level of detail.
All of it brought one person to mind.
As if...
If Master Lionel had continued to grow...
Could he not make equipment like that?
But there was one thing that bothered her.
In truth, only one year had passed.
Even then, he had been a craftsman with talent so immense it was hard to believe. But if he had advanced that much in only a year...
"..."
It was too absurd to be certain.
Yet too much to dismiss as coincidence.
And...
I do want to see him...
Princess Justina was caught in that private turmoil alone.
2.
The two women crossed the mansion toward the reception room.
Dolores had first sent Lionel back to his room... and she assumed Isabella and Yeomhwa would have taken the hint and be heading to the reception room as well.
She knew that Seren had stumbled upon Lionel’s workshop by luck.
In fact, Dolores had even urged her to entrust a commission to him.
"You came to thank me, Elysia."
Given the Seren Dolores knew, she would not have come purely to show off.
She had surely come to thank Dolores for giving her that push on that day.
"You don’t need to thank me for that."
"But there was a really cute child there. Is he Ruby’s friend?"
"...No."
On her way back to her room, Seren had briefly exchanged greetings with the boy.
Dolores considered her words carefully in response to that question...
Then successfully chose the expression she liked best. The very best one.
"My child."
"...Ah, um..."
Seren stopped walking for a moment.
"My beloved child."
Somehow... that made it difficult to ask anything else.
"Ruby too?"
"Ah, yes. That’s right."
Creeeak.
Dolores gave a faint smile, changing the atmosphere as she opened the door. As expected, Yeomhwa and Isabella had already arrived.
"Wow, it’s been a while since all four of us got together, hasn’t it?"
At the sight of Seren, Yeomhwa beamed happily, clearly delighted to see her...
"Huh? Wait, what’s with those pretty clothes?!"
"...They’re pretty."
Only then did they notice the armor, their eyes widening.
Isabella had once been indifferent to equipment, but Lionel’s hand movements and dexterity had recently opened her eyes. She, too, ran her gaze over Seren’s armor.
Golden and silver armor that traced the contours of her body.
And the detailed workmanship that accentuated her figure...
The thought both of them shared was...
It’s the baby’s work, hehe.
It looks like her disciple made it for her.
So Lionel was the owner of the workshop in their group chat.
It certainly seemed he had used Dolores’s Tower system to do it.
At the same time, another thought occurred to them.
The equipment they had received were weapons and secondary weapons.
In contrast, Seren’s was armor—equipment that wrapped around and displayed her entire body...
It was so pretty.
Clothes...
If they had another chance to make a request, both women felt they would probably ask for clothing.
With all three women’s gazes fixed on her, Seren spoke.
"Anyway, I came because I wanted to ask you something, Dolores."
"...Ask me something?"
What was there to ask when she had already received the equipment without issue?
"I’m so grateful that I want to compensate him properly, but..."
Seren looked down at her breastplate for a moment.
"The crafting fee was one kilogram of special minerals."
"..."
"I’ll pay separately for the materials, of course. But after receiving something like this, it doesn’t feel right to send only that much."
Yeomhwa and Isabella nodded.
They understood the feeling. They had all worried over the same thing before.
"But sending a huge amount of money alone feels a little off, too. If money had been his goal, I don’t think he would have charged so cheaply from the start."
Seren looked from one woman to the next.
"You all recently received excellent equipment. You were the only people I could ask for advice."
Seren’s reasoning was sound.
These three had recently acquired equipment on an entirely different level.
If she knew what they had paid for it and understood its value, she could establish some kind of standard for herself.
She wanted to give him something of equivalent—or greater—value.
But there was a problem...
Every one of the three women present adored Lionel terribly.
And whenever they had a chance to provide Lionel with something, they could demonstrate financial acumen bordering on that of white-collar criminals...
"I agree. Honestly, when you see the equipment... you can feel it, right? That it can’t be measured in money."
"Yes, exactly."
Yeomhwa set the tone first.
"Then you should give him something he likes. What would a blacksmith like?"
"...A hammer?"
"Come on, he’s probably already using a good hammer... a really good one."
"Ah, I suppose he is..."
Seren nodded without much suspicion.
"First, you should offer up everything you have."
"Is that so...?"
Isabella casually added that in the meantime.
The two of them were doing quite well, but...
Dolores decided it was about time for her to pitch in too.
"Why not become his slave?"
"?"
"?"
She pitched in a little too enthusiastically.
"Do everything he asks of you. Bow and scrape before him."
That was what she said.
Of course, one way of repaying someone was to accept commissions from them in return.
A so-called reverse commission.
Like procuring materials that were difficult for a craftsman to acquire, or handling tasks they requested.
It was not entirely wrong... but her choice of words was a bit...
"..."
"..."
Yeomhwa and Isabella flinched as they looked at her, but...
"Hmm... that might actually be right..."
Seren herself was seriously considering it.
3.
After Dolores promised Seren she would not hit me, I cautiously tried to return to the inside of the mansion.
Why?
No, Seren had not been part of my plan in the first place.
Where the hell had she flown in from...?
I knew she had a flight ability, but I had no idea she could fly over that quickly.
Seren was a client of Cristiano Workshop. That did not mean she had to know she was dealing with Lionel.
Honestly, the moment she saw Seren’s equipment, Mama had probably realized that I was the one who made it.
In the past, Mama had categorized people like this.
People I could reveal my identity to right away, people who needed more consideration, and people it would be best not to reveal it to.
Seren seemed to fall somewhere in the middle. One of the criteria appeared to be whether someone belonged to a certain group.
And she was affiliated with the Imperial Family, after all.
So I returned to my room for now and lay down.
"...Now then."
The trial workshop was over.
As for setting a price... one kilogram of special minerals.
Seren had not paid me yet, but honestly, my thought was...
"Ah, does that mean I don’t have any material desires?"
There was nothing I particularly needed.
Dolores took care of my food and lodging.
The warehouse was piled high with materials the aunties and the Imperial Family had brought me...
And since I was receiving all materials as payment, too...
Even if I took money right now, I could not think of anywhere in particular to spend it.
"Should I just keep charging one kilogram...?"
If I received another commission next time...
I closed my eyes, thinking that perhaps it would be fine to continue that way.
How many hours passed like that?
"Fuck!"
I shot upright again.
I had been scolded.
Harngar had chewed me out brutally.
[I’ve never seen him look that angry before, big brother ㅠ]
I had to agree...
The moment I entered the dream, I bragged about the armor I had made this time.
I had woven together the pieces for a long time, it could change into three forms, and it was even four and a half stars.
It was armor—my first time making armor—so I got even more excited as I talked on and on...
Harngar had been listening with quite a satisfied expression, but...
So how much did you receive?
One kilogram of minerals!
?
That was where the mood went completely to shit.
I hurriedly explained that I had received the material costs separately, at least, but...
Descendant... get a hold of yourself.
The compensation for spending a month and a half staying up all night, hammering and stitching, is one kilogram of minerals?
None of my excuses worked at all.
What will you do when, someday, there is a mineral you absolutely wish to use but cannot afford it? Will you wait for others to bring it to you then as you do now?
I could not answer.
Because he was right.
Had I grown too accustomed to a life where people brought everything to me?
Maybe I had not felt a desperate need because my stomach was already full.
A craftsman must earn enough to create their next work as well... Receiving back only the cost of materials merely replenishes what you used. It does not build the capital needed to move forward.
Only then did I start to understand.
First, raise your prices.
Then put real thought into deciding compensation again.
Had I known this beforehand, I would have beaten some sense into you... Perhaps it is fortunate that you have learned it now, at least...
Harngar patted my shoulder firmly as he said that.
In the end, the one-kilogram first-commission-only bonus...
Would remain limited to first commissions only.
After being thoroughly scolded, I woke up.
Ding.
As though it had been watching, a notification from the Tower system came in.
[Seren de Lumiere]: Hello, Master Cristiano.
[Seren de Lumiere]: The more I think about it, the more I feel I’m giving you far too little compared to what I received...
[Seren de Lumiere]: I would like to give you additional compensation beyond the crafting fee we agreed on, as a token of my gratitude. Would that be all right?
"..."
I knew immediately.
If this had happened before I went to sleep, I would have refused.
No, it’s all right.
But not now. If I refused this, I felt like I would get beaten.
Tap tap tap.
[Cristiano]: Yes, of course.
The response came back almost immediately, as though she had been waiting for it.
[Seren de Lumiere]: Yes! Then I’ll tell you the compensation I had in mind first, hehe.
[Seren de Lumiere]: 1. Ten kilograms of special minerals (the types and quantities of each can be whatever you want, Master, hehehe!)
[Seren de Lumiere]: 2. Fifty million gold (a lump-sum transfer!!)
[Seren de Lumiere]: 3. One Seren-use ticket, hehe.
Was she telling me to choose one of the three?
But then another message arrived.
[Seren de Lumiere]:
The one-use ticket is canceled!! How about an unlimited-use pass... a friend pass? A friend pass?
First of all, what the fuck.
This was the first time I had ever seen an amount like fifty million gold.
I could read the number, but I had no sense of what it meant.
And the third one was... a Seren de Lumiere-use ticket?
I wondered whether it was really okay for me to summon and use the Imperial Prince’s guard knight.
What would I even use her for?
"...Number one?"
Materials were probably the best choice after all.
[Cristiano]: I’ll take number one.
Harngar had told me to think about the next piece of equipment, too.
[Seren de Lumiere]: ?
[Seren de Lumiere]: No, Master!! Hehehe.
[Seren de Lumiere]: I’m giving you all three!!
"Huh?"
I scrolled back up and read the list again...
...She was giving me all of this?
Lionel realized something.
I thought I understood, at least a little, why Harngar had cursed at me like that.
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