1.
They say that once you turn at least eighteen,
those who qualify receive an invitation from the Tower.
It is a sign that you are now allowed to climb the Tower.
It is also a sign that you have become an adult, but...
'I'm not interested.'
Seriously, using my body to climb it and all that, huh?
I did not have the slightest intention of working that hard to climb the Tower.
I am incredibly weak. I came from the modern world, after all.
So what was my direction?
Simple.
Making sure that the people around me who climb the Tower can keep climbing without a hitch.
For example, Mama, right in front of me, stuffing cake into her mouth with wide eyes.
Or Ruby, who was currently reading in the duke's territory.
I was not an idiot.
If I could enchant their equipment and chose not to, that would make no sense.
...Well, even if I did not climb the Tower myself,
I did think I ought to make it as far as the floor where the dwarves lived.
Apparently, if someone had reached that floor, you could hold their hand and visit the residential area.
That was a matter for later, anyway. In short, I...
"You have to climb the Tower again."
"The Tower..."
When you had a lot on your mind, you were supposed to put something sweet in your mouth.
I fed Dolores another bite of sweet cake.
Munch.
"Do you think I can climb the Tower again...?"
She said that while chewing her cake.
"Of course you can."
"..."
"Your body will recover, too."
I would make sure of it.
Slide.
Another bite.
"And your equipment will get even better."
I would make that happen too.
Ah, wait a second.
There was an important point here.
"Mama, is all the equipment you have... unique equipment?"
That would be even better.
Because I had learned that enchanting unique equipment gave it something called latent abilities.
I had no idea why people were not taking advantage of this gold mine, but then again, the chance of destruction was supposedly so high.
Then...
Flinch.
"Y-yes, it is."
Dolores gave a little start.
"Everything from your head to your thighs, legs, and toes?"
"From my head to... thighs... Yes, anyway, all of it."
"Pardon my asking, but..."
"Mmm...?"
I asked carefully.
What had surprised me even more during my recent research was this:
More than equipment itself... the equipment that remained against its wearer's body the longest, and was therefore easiest to use to change their constitution,
was underwear.
Dolores did not wear equipment every moment of the day, after all.
But she would keep wearing underwear.
For men, things like short-sleeved undershirts and innerwear.
For women... well, you know, those kinds of things.
They were the most fundamental garments, yet strangely hard to obtain.
Which made sense. What boss would ever drop underwear as equipment?
Blacksmiths avoided making it as well, and once acquired, it was practically passive equipment that you would always wear.
Would an Heir of Fire make underwear? No, no, they would not.
It would ruin their image.
Of course, I would make it.
I had no image to ruin.
So...
"Is your underwear unique equipment too, by any chance...?"
Clatter.
Her fork fell onto the plate.
"...Umm... I have not managed to acquire that yet..."
"Okay."
See? Even high-ranker Dolores had a hard time getting equipment like that.
Should I seriously start an underwear brand someday?
Hehe.
It was even better that she did not have any yet.
That meant I could make it for her.
"I'll make your underwear for you. Better than Frostless Spring."
I leaned forward.
"Really, really, really good."
"Mmm, th-thank you..."
"And I'll enchant everything else too."
Hehe.
I was dying to return to the duke's estate immediately.
Build up the furnace facilities.
Grind mana stones into white powder.
And snort it up my nose—no, make the equipment absorb it.
[......]
Then I could hammer away to my heart's content.
And the higher the stars and the more unique the equipment, the greater the difficulty, so there was no way it would not be fun.
My body started swaying with excitement.
But unlike me, who was gradually growing more thrilled,
Dolores began avoiding my gaze.
"Y-you mean enchanting unique equipment...?"
"Of course."
What else would I enchant?
Dolores shut her eyes tightly for a moment, seemingly deep in thought.
After about five seconds of deliberation, she opened her mouth.
"Yes, Lionel, it's all right. You can enchant my other unique equipment."
"Sounds good."
"My top... bottoms... auxiliary magic tools... shoulder guards... cloak... All of it is fine..."
Dolores began carefully counting them one by one on her fingers.
She looked like someone resigning herself to something.
"All right."
"But, Lionel..."
Tap, tap.
Dolores tapped her stockings.
Her expression was slightly tearful.
What she had tapped were her stockings.
Frostless Spring.
My masterpiece.
"...Are you going to enchant these too...?"
"Of course. They'll be the first ones."
"No... You can't. Not these..."
"Why not?"
What did she mean, no?
Dolores suddenly hugged her legs, looking as though she might cry, but...
"Because they're unique equipment... If they get destroyed..."
"...Me, destroy them...?"
[Hold iiiiiit!!!]
[Think about this world's common sense!]
For a moment, I thought she was doubting my ability.
But when I thought about it, enchanting in this world was...
A gamble where success was great, and failure meant destruction.
That was this world's common sense.
I could make an enchantment stick just by hammering it, but this was precious equipment she had collected over the years.
Come to think of it, it was remarkable that she had even allowed me to enchant her other equipment.
And it also made me grateful, because it meant my stockings were more precious to her than all that equipment.
The real me focused on reassuring her with a smile.
"Then I'll start with the other things."
"...Okay."
"Watch me enchant them... and then you can decide, Dolores."
Whether to entrust them to me or not.
I was confident.
She would understand after seeing it just once.
"All right. Let's do that."
Only then did she loosen her grip on her legs.
I gazed at Dolores's legs for quite a while longer before...
"Ah, right."
I picked up my fork and added,
"The underwear."
"...Yes?"
"I will make it for you soon."
"Oh. O-okay..."
Dolores absentmindedly opened her mouth.
I put a slice of cake
with a plump cherry on top into her mouth.
Crunch.
"Mmm..."
The cherry, the best part of the cake, went to her.
As Dolores crunched the cherry I had given her, her face turned red.
2.
We stayed for two days and gave the matter some more thought.
During that time, I first looked for a furnace that could be dismantled.
Rummaging through blacksmith shops across the Empire that had now become tourist attractions.
To give the conclusion first:
"There's nothing worth taking apart."
They looked decent enough from the outside.
They were large, the bricks were sturdy, and they had been maintained.
But once I took a closer look,
there were screwups everywhere.
The bellows angles were all over the place...
It was full of human stubbornness, I suppose. Rather than solve things wisely, they had simply crushed the joints together because they needed to get it built.
This was the problem with humans.
They needed the wise spirit of dwarves.
So there was no point in dismantling and moving any of it.
It would not satisfy me either.
I figured it would be better to simply take the materials and construction costs, then build it myself.
So I obtained several very old blueprints.
Based on them, I should be able to add dwarven techniques and build what I needed.
That settled the furnace.
The most important matter was...
'What should I ask the Emperor for?'
A title sounded like a nuisance, I had no interest in a princess, and the Imperial Family's treasure vault... did not particularly tempt me right now.
In the end, I began brainstorming with Yuna.
"What the hell should I ask for, Yunaaaa!"
[Good grief.]
[Let's look through the annals first.]
As we leafed through the annals...
"Huh...?"
I realized something.
Would it not be better to just do this instead?
Yuna gave my idea her approval.
[I think that could work.]
And Dolores's approval was...
"Let's try it, then."
Fine as well.
In the end, I decided to return to the Imperial Palace with a new request.
And two days later, the audience chamber opened for us once more.
The Emperor stepped down from his throne again and stood before me.
"Well?"
"..."
"What do you desire?"
I raised my head.
After taking a breath, I answered carefully.
"The Velua Mountains..."
"..."
"Please incorporate them into the territory of House Dolores."
Not a long-term contract.
Just give us an entire mountain range.
The Velua Mountains lay quite far from the Imperial Palace.
...Strictly speaking,
they were far closer to House Dolores.
And while the Velua Mountains were fairly large,
ninety-eight percent of their minable ore was mana stone.
There was almost no practical value to the place.
Unlike ordinary mines, which came with mining towns, the concentration of mana stones was so high that there was barely any soil. Farming was impossible, trees would not grow, and so people could not live there either.
A land with no taxes to collect and no people to govern.
It was closer to a pile of rocks than a territory.
Besides, the annals clearly said that someone had received a title and been granted territory as well.
That territory could not possibly have been an uninhabitable stone mountain. It must have been proper land that grew crops and yielded taxes.
In other words, the only value in the Velua Mountains was mana stone.
It held no value for the Imperial Family, but...
To me, that looked like gold.
Or rather, like a place that poured out white powder...
[No!]
Ultimately, this request was less valuable than the annals.
'But it's House Dolores.'
It would still strengthen the duke's house.
What mattered was how the Emperor would view that.
Having reached that conclusion, I quietly bowed my head.
And the Emperor...
"Now I can finally save a little face."
Save face.
His reaction was not bad.
It differed from his regretful reaction two days ago.
"Raise your head."
I slowly lifted my head.
The Emperor was looking down at me with his arms crossed.
"Previously,"
"Yes."
"I said I would not put a price on it."
"You did."
The Emperor nodded.
"So be it."
"...Did I hear you correctly?"
Without thinking, a habit from this world slipped out.
"I said I will do so."
That was it.
Just like that, without negotiating or discussing it with his ministers?
As expected of the Emperor! Amazing!
Monarchy is the best!!
There was no tedious process involving opposing signatures or ministerial deliberation.
This was why royalty was so great.
"However, as I said before, the mining rights to that mountain remain in effect until the end of this year."
Of course, naturally.
That could not be helped.
"Yes, Your Majesty. That is only proper."
"Good."
The Emperor nodded, then gazed down at me for a brief moment.
"Thus,"
"..."
"once this year ends, that mountain will belong entirely to House Dolores."
I counted the days in my head.
I found that there was not much time left at all.
"Congratulations, Grand Duchess Dolores."
"Not at all. It is thanks to Your Majesty's boundless generosity."
Mama, who had been standing silently all this time, bowed her head.
"Ho, ho."
The Emperor chuckled briefly.
"But tell me, does it not seem that Master Lionel's schemes have grown considerably deeper over these past two days...?"
The Emperor turned toward Mama.
He was smiling.
"Could it be that you had a hand in this?"
Dolores also answered with a smile.
"He has always been a clever child, so I did not put any ideas in his head."
That scared me for a moment, but fortunately, it seemed to be a joke.
"Indeed. If you had intervened, every last pillar and everything else would have been pulled out."
With her head bowed, Dolores smiled prettily.
Then came the discussion of the remaining rewards.
We finished discussing the furnace as well.
When I told him there was nothing worth taking apart,
he agreed that it would be better to build one from scratch.
We agreed that he would provide the materials and construction costs.
Once everything had been settled...
"Then I believe I have paid enough of the price."
At the Emperor's words, I took out the box I had tucked inside my clothes.
The Cradle of Earth.
"What do you say, Master Lionel?"
Seeing me hold the box, he...
"Will you give it to her yourself?"
gave me a subtle look.
"I will."
I walked toward the person standing behind him.
Princess Lustia.
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 could not meet my eyes.
Rustle.
She only fiddled with the hem of her skirt.
'Can I kneel?'
[Yeah, kneel.]
Yes, ma'am.
Then, well...
I went down on one knee before her.
I heard her swallow from above me.
Click.
I opened the box and held it up to her.
Light from the audience chamber poured inside, and the green jade quietly drank it in.
"...I hope it suits you."
I said with a smile.
And I truly meant it.
I had made it while looking at her face, after all.
After a long silence, Lustia...
Slide.
carefully picked up the earrings...
and slowly put on one, then the other.
The moment the earrings hooked onto her earlobes...
I saw a faint green aura spread throughout her body.
They suited her.
That was my straightforward assessment.
"...Lord Lionel, allow me to formally thank you once again."
Lustia had called me Lord Lionel since last time.
Her expression was overwhelmingly emotional as she said,
"...For saving..."
"..."
"my brother and me."
Her voice grew slightly damp.
"...Thank you."
She thanked me.
I raised my head as I accepted her gratitude.
A small tear rolled down her cheek, and perhaps to change the mood...
she asked again in a brighter voice.
"So, what do you think?"
"They suit you very well."
I stated my thoughts plainly.
"...And?"
The princess lightly wiped away her tears and asked me again with an expectant expression.
And?
Just as I was wondering what else I was supposed to say,
the most fitting blessing for a frail princess came to mind.
The most pleasant four-character idiom from my world.
"...I wish you a long and healthy life."
I gave the most fitting answer.
Lustia's eyes widened for a moment, then...
"...Pfft."
She wiped away the rest of her tears.
"...I will!"
Then she covered her mouth and burst out laughing.
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