1.
I had succeeded in making a divine artifact.
"There’s no time to waste!!!!!"
There was nothing to deliberate over. I’d worked myself to the bone for a month and a half.
I needed to go straight to the imperial family and settle this.
Not settle anything, actually. All I had to do was deliver the divine artifact.
And then came the most important part.
What should I ask for as my reward?
I had a few things in mind, but the lightest and simplest request was this.
An ultra-high-temperature blast furnace facility.
The reason I specifically had to ask the imperial family for one was...
Because a blast furnace meant I was truly going to start doing things properly.
It was an entirely different matter.
What did that mean?
A blast furnace was something that could never be extinguished once it had been lit.
If it went out, that was a full-blown disaster.
It had to run continuously, bubbling away, for years on end.
So this was not the sort of request where I said, "Please put a furnace in my workshop." It was more like...
'I’m going to build an entire factory.'
I would be installing a permanent ironworks facility in the ducal house.
That was what it meant.
Considering that the ducal house and the imperial family were cooperative allies while also keeping one another constantly in check...
Under normal circumstances, the procedure would probably be complicated.
"They have no reason not to give it to me."
The corners of my lips curled up.
Still, even that was only a secondary request.
The real prize was something else.
"Mom! Let’s go to the imperial palace!"
"..."
Dolores gave me a faint smile, then led me somewhere.
"D-Duchess Dolores?"
"Lionel."
She seated me in a chair in her office.
Then she sat across from me.
"If there is something you want..."
"Yes."
"You must learn how to obtain it cleanly."
And so Duchess Dolores’s lesson began.
It was not a long discussion, but I learned a great deal from it.
Then I brought up something I had kept thinking about and carrying in my heart.
Could it really be done? Was it the kind of thing one could demand from the imperial family?
"...It will not be easy, but it is certainly worth discussing."
"That’s a relief."
"There may be a contract period involved, so it may not happen immediately, but it is worth bringing up."
Good.
That was enough. I did not need it right away.
I only needed to secure a supply.
That was enough discussion of the reward...
"More importantly, Lionel."
"Yes."
"May I see the earrings now?"
"Of course."
Dolores had seemed interested in my earrings since yesterday.
I took out the case and opened it before her.
"..."
Holding the case, she stared silently at the earrings for a long while.
"..."
Her eyes first widened.
Then her expression changed in all sorts of ways.
Her gaze softened, and her lips parted.
Surprise, emotions too difficult to name—so many different things passed over her face.
I knew I had made them well.
Still, I had not expected them to leave her this spellbound.
Then, at last—
Tap.
"Th-they’re lovely... Beautiful. Her Highness the Princess will like them."
"..."
Dolores handed the case to me.
Her voice was slightly hoarse.
I tried to take the case.
Tap.
"..."
Dolores subtly tightened her grip and did not let it go.
Ah.
It was true that I did not understand a woman’s heart, but...
[True.]
I really did not know jack shit about it, but even I could tell why Mom was acting like this.
"There’s a word, prototype."
I had been a little surprised when I first learned the etymology of that word.
It meant the first original form, but its root, surprisingly, was to strike or hit.
In other words, its original meaning was said to be a mark made by striking—a trace engraved with a hammer, an impression stamped into a mold.
"It means an original model."
I looked down at Dolores’s hand gripping the case.
"..."
"From now on, I think I’ll be able to make jewelry even prettier and more precious than this."
It was not empty flattery. I truly was confident.
I smiled faintly as I spoke.
"Duchess Dolores, would you be willing to accept the things I make from now on...?"
At my question, Dolores beamed.
"Of course. Naturally."
Slip.
She relaxed the force in the hand holding the case.
Mom was greedier than I had expected.
2.
The heart of the Empire.
The imperial palace.
One month had passed since the birthday banquet.
The princess’s days had been visibly improving.
Though she was still young, she had once divided her days into hours.
Even opening her eyes was labor. She often had to brace herself on the railing while climbing stairs.
And if she stared at documents for too long, the letters would blur.
So she was always calculating.
How many hours could she endure today? At what point did she need to save her strength?
That was why she had conserved her expressions as well.
Within the palace, people called her cold and composed, but in truth, even the strength required to smile had felt too precious.
But lately...
"..."
The princess touched her lips.
She had just smiled for no reason at all.
Even after such a luxurious waste of energy, strength still overflowed in her body.
That child had been right.
No, that person had been right.
When he said he would make one properly, she had been clutching at straws.
What could a thirteen-year-old possibly do? She had not said it aloud, but a corner of her heart had undoubtedly thought so.
After all, human blacksmiths no longer existed.
So she had simply let it pass.
But her body kept getting better. The necklace truly had been the culprit.
The same was true for the prince.
Today, her older brother had gone horseback riding.
'...This is impossible.'
He was someone who would be bedridden for three days after merely walking half a day.
For nearly ten years, he had not only been unable to mount a saddle—he had not even gone near the stables.
It was impossible.
That was why she was even more expectant.
'What could that person possibly bring me?'
What would that young blacksmith bring?
'It will surely take at least a year.'
According to her father, His Majesty, who had dealt with men called blacksmiths before, it took them over a year whenever they began forging something.
Her body was accustomed to waiting, but this time it felt as though it would be especially long.
Just as she wondered whether she would have to endure this anticipation for a whole year—
"...Your Highness."
Richard, who ought to have been assisting her brother’s riding today, had come to see her.
"The ducal house says they will be bringing an item."
"...Pardon?"
"As soon as tomorrow..."
"Yes... Is that really true...?"
He said a year...?
This, too, was something she simply could not believe.
3.
Was this what a triumphant homecoming felt like?
Honestly, this was not my hometown, and I was not even returning anywhere.
Still, I had succeeded in entering the imperial palace.
For starters, unlike the banquet hall on the palace outskirts last time...
This time, I was entering the imperial palace itself.
Ruby said she wanted to read today, so she was not coming.
I had sent word yesterday.
I said I would be coming tomorrow, so they should get appraisers and whatever else set up properly.
Not in those exact words, obviously.
『I will visit bearing an item, and it will require verification to determine whether it is suitable for use by a member of the imperial family.』
When Dolores wrote it for me instead, even the same message sounded suitably dignified.
What a divine mom.
Anyway, I was confident.
For verification, I had also brought Solau’s pendant and the Moonlight Essence Necklace.
We headed directly to the audience chamber.
It would be better if the Emperor was there to approve my request, too.
"If it’s the audience chamber, His Majesty the Emperor will be there."
Fortunately, he was.
Click... click...
The corridor was long.
Our footsteps echoed through it. That meant there were few people around.
And 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 ahead of us stopped before a door.
"Her Grace, Grand Duchess Dolores, enters."
Creeeak...
The enormous doors opened to either side.
[Dolores moves first, and you follow half a step behind.]
Got it.
I slowly followed behind Dolores, taking in the inside of the audience chamber.
'...Wow.'
The moment I entered, I was impressed.
I told them to set everything up properly, and they had really set everything up properly.
Of course, the Emperor sat in the highest seat directly ahead.
The princess was below him, with the prince beside her.
Standing one step back to the side was a familiar face. Richard.
And off to one side...
There stood a whole crowd of today’s special guests.
Appraisers.
Not just one, either, but several.
Perhaps human appraisers were lacking compared 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.
It seemed they had gathered all these people in just one day.
Even if the outcome of a contest was already decided, it was only natural to be tense when such a stage had been set.
Not because I was nervous or anything.
'I’m just excited for what comes next?'
Swish.
Dolores, walking ahead of me, stopped and bowed her head.
"I greet Your Majesty the Emperor."
I bowed as well, half a step behind her.
"Lionel of House Dolores greets Your Majesty."
I had become fairly accustomed to the formalities themselves.
You got better at this by doing it.
Only the setting had changed.
"Raise your heads."
The Emperor’s voice settled over the chamber.
"Welcome, Duchess. I did not expect to see you again so soon."
"I, too, am immensely pleased to see Your Majesty again so soon."
"It has not been long since we last met."
The Emperor leaned back in his chair.
"Let us get to the point."
His gaze turned downward.
Past Dolores and toward me.
"As I understand it, it generally takes a blacksmith more than a year to forge a single piece of equipment."
"..."
"I did not expect you to come so quickly. Ha ha."
There was no question attached, but I figured he was talking to me.
A blacksmith who had brought an item after just one month.
I had not expected this, but apparently they usually budgeted at least a year.
I had been thinking three to six months.
The more I thought about it, the blacksmiths of this world were far too lazy.
I answered calmly.
"Isn’t it those without skill who require more time?"
At my confident words...
The audience chamber fell silent for a moment.
Just as I started to shrink back, wondering if I had said something wrong—
"Hahahaha!"
The Emperor burst out laughing.
"Indeed. Quite right."
Tap.
He tapped the armrest once.
"That is not an incorrect thing to say."
Fortunately, it seemed I had struck his fancy.
I had felt it last time too, but the Emperor seemed to like confidence.
The Emperor’s smile faded as he pointed to my right.
Toward the line of men holding magnifying glasses.
"Please do not misunderstand why I have summoned so many people here."
"..."
"They were not called because I doubt you. It is simply procedure, since this is an item that will touch a member of the imperial family."
Then again, the necklace from last time had also passed appraisal as a perfectly fine item.
They had been badly burned once, so it was only natural that the procedures had become stricter.
"So, though it may be troublesome, I ask that you bear with it for a while."
"That is fine."
Now it was time to present the item.
Swish.
Dolores stepped slightly to the side.
Left alone, I carried the case toward the princess.
This was something I had poured a month and a half of my life into.
My legs had given out while working the treadle, I had stayed up all night twisting wire, and I had made it while staring obsessively at the princess’s face.
'This feels strange.'
It was a sensation I had not felt in a long time.
It felt like defending my graduate thesis.
After shoving a thesis I had poured years into before the examiners...
I would be practically driven from the room, then sit alone in the corridor waiting.
That feeling of waiting to be called back in.
It felt exactly like that.
But there was one difference between then and now.
Smiling, I went down on one knee.
Was it that I was certain now?
"This is [The Cradle of Earth]."
As I said that and opened the case—
Click.
With a soft sound, the lid flipped open.
The lights of the audience chamber poured into it.
The Green Jade took in that light.
This was the essence of elven craftsmanship.
"..."
No one spoke.
The first to react was the princess in front of me.
"...Ah."
She let out a short breath.
The princess’s expression softened.
With one hand covering her mouth, she could not take her eyes off the case.
When someone sees something that pleases them...
The first thing to soften is their gaze.
That was exactly how the woman before me looked.
Perhaps because I had stared at her face until I was sick of it for the past two weeks...
I could tell she had filled out a little and grown healthier.
'She looks good.'
Now I understood just how much vitality the necklace had drained from her.
The princess stared at the earrings.
Then suddenly—
Swish.
She reached out toward my earrings.
'...Huh?'
What was this? Could she put them on right away?
Yet the princess’s expression was still dazed, her eyes soft.
"Your Highness, the appraisal is not yet complete."
Despite Richard’s urgent attempt to stop her—
"Yes..."
She said she understood.
And yet her hand continued to reach out.
Her words and hands were doing entirely different things.
Just before her hand could touch the earrings—
"Your Highness the Princess."
"Ah, yes. Yes... I understand."
After being called twice, she finally withdrew her hand, albeit reluctantly.
Even after pulling back, her hand hovered in the air with nowhere to go. Then, belatedly, she clutched the hem of her skirt tightly.
"Th-they’re... beautiful..."
She murmured quietly.
"R-really."
Once more.
Fortunately, it truly seemed she liked them.
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