1.
As time passed and winter arrived, the Dwarf Company’s circumstances only grew worse.
"…"
It wasn’t that there was a problem with their cash flow. Their funds hadn’t exactly dried up, but… the problem was always magic stones.
As more time passed, their supply of magic stones was being maintained by the barest of margins.
There was no stockpile, and they had to immediately turn whatever came in into powder that very day.
Most of it came from the Velua Mountains’ mining output. They should have increased it far, far more than this, but—
The Imperial Family had drawn the line not only at additional mining, but even at discussing a contract extension in advance.
And today was the day originally designated for formal discussions on renewing the contract.
The format was an auction.
Despite no one ever participating, the Imperial Family stubbornly insisted on doing things this way.
"…I don’t understand the insistence."
Elliott adjusted his tie while looking into a mirror.
It was an auction without any competitors. Ordinarily, sending a single staff member would have been enough, but this time was different.
He would have to go himself. Production output was on the line, and he needed to explain the situation and obtain permission for additional mining as well.
Pride was nothing.
"I’ll have to grovel properly."
Appeasing the Imperial Family wasn’t difficult.
If this contract went wrong, Elliott would have to report to headquarters that he had failed to secure a supply of magic stones.
And headquarters was not the sort of place that would accommodate him after meticulously examining why he had failed to produce results—especially if even the slightest mistake of Elliott’s was mixed into the matter.
Before he knew it, the carriage came to a stop at the auction house set up outside the Imperial Palace.
After a guard checked his invitation, Elliott accepted his guidance and… as usual, was about to head inside.
"Mr. Elliott."
One of the palace servants who had been waiting stopped him.
"Today’s matter concerning the Velua Mountains contract will be handled inside the Imperial Palace rather than at the auction house."
"At the Imperial Palace?"
"Yes. The Imperial Family apparently has something they wish to explain to you personally. I will escort you to the drawing room."
It seems they did feel bad about rejecting us last time.
They had dismissed the Dwarf Company so coldly… so they must have taken it somewhat to heart.
Simply saying they would explain it themselves was treatment different from the usual.
Perhaps the matter of additional mining would be resolved more easily than expected as well.
With his shoulders more squared, Elliott headed for the Imperial Palace drawing room.
However, inside the open drawing room…
"Ha ha ha."
"Ho ho…"
There were two unexpected guests sitting there.
Normally, the Emperor did not personally involve himself in auctions like this. He would only receive a written report concerning the final contract later on, that sort of thing.
Yet the Emperor was there, and while that alone might have been all right…
…The Duke?
Duke Dolores being here was an entirely—entirely unexpected development. One he had never anticipated at all.
Before Elliott could even begin to think it through—
"Ah, you’ve arrived."
The Emperor turned his head, as though he had only just noticed Elliott.
Before he was an employee of the Company, Elliott was a citizen of the Empire. He immediately bowed his head.
"I greet Your Majesty the Emperor. And I offer my greetings to Your Grace, Duke Dolores as—"
"That will do. This will not take long, so let us get straight to the point."
…He had not been told to sit.
The Emperor and Dolores were seated on sofas.
And Elliott was left standing before them to hear what they had to say… an extremely, extremely uncomfortable arrangement.
"The Velua Mountains have been incorporated into the territory of House Dolores."
"…Pardon?"
For a moment, Elliott had no idea what expression he ought to make.
"Just as I said."
Tap, tap.
The Emperor tapped the documents laid out on the table.
"All procedures have been completed. The contract with the Dwarf Company will be honored for its remaining duration. In other words, you no longer need to discuss mining rights with the Imperial Family."
"Y-Your Majesty, forgive my presumption, but how has such a situation—"
This was far too sudden.
Usually, matters and contracts like these were bound to become known… if only through rumor.
Because it was something he had never even expected, Elliott had no means whatsoever of responding.
"There is no reason for me to explain even that much to you."
With a faint smile, the Emperor rose from his seat.
Trauma. This was trauma. Elliott’s body stiffened rigidly.
He began remembering what the Imperial Family had been like in the past, before he had joined the Company.
This was what the Imperial Family had always been like. They were the kind of people with whom conversation and discussion became meaningless.
The Emperor stopped before Elliott and lightly patted his shoulder.
Pat, pat.
"I am merely informing you that the mountains’ owner has changed."
Things had gone far too smoothly until now.
"…Hadn’t you thought things were too easy until now? The Imperial Family accommodated the Company because there were no competitors. That is all."
Perhaps because of that, Elliott had unknowingly acted as though he were an equal business partner to the Imperial Family.
Without waiting for an answer, the Emperor passed by Elliott.
There was still a way, though.
If the owner had changed, all he could do now was request mining rights from the new owner.
Magic stones were fundamentally a mineral no one needed. Even a ducal house would be no different, and Elliott was certain of at least that much. He would swiftly request mining rights…
He believed it would not be difficult if he simply offered the ducal house a higher price.
"Your Grace—!"
"There’s about a month left."
Elliott’s words were cut off.
"Please get everything in order and leave the mountains by then."
"P-Please wait a moment. Regarding an extension of our contract—"
"I have no intention of considering it. None at all."
Dolores set down her teacup and rose to her feet.
"Your Grace!"
"…Your voice."
Flinch.
Do not raise it. That was what she meant.
Dolores looked at Elliott with cold eyes, then clicked her tongue and left the drawing room without even answering him.
He could not bring himself to stop her.
Dolores was… absolutely not a noble who would show leniency just because she saw someone’s circumstances.
What action could Elliott possibly have taken here?
His opponents were the Imperial Family and a ducal house…
"…………"
Moreover, the moment those two powers had joined hands and made a deal behind closed doors, the result had already been decided.
"…What on earth?"
There was nothing the Company could do.
It was news like a bolt from the blue.
Overnight, the Dwarf Company had lost its supplier of magic stones.
2.
Winter had come.
My first winter since arriving in this world.
"…It’s not as cold as I expected."
Compared to the world I used to live in, I guess it was manageable.
Of course, they said this wasn’t the north, so it did feel a little different.
I opened the community while drinking hot chocolate in the workshop.
Ruby had made it for me, by the way. Lately, she’d been sneaking into the kitchen now and then.
A lot had happened in the meantime.
The Velua Mountains had been incorporated into House Dolores, which was currently laying the groundwork for mining.
As a consequence, the Dwarf Company…
[Dwarf Company Enchant Room Switches to Operating Every Other Day]
[Dwarf Company Enchant Room Reduced to Operating Twice a Week]
Since they had no magic stones…
They were diligently following the path to total ruin.
["We apologize to climbers for causing disruptions. We will use every available means to restore the Kargon vein."]
"What a load of bullshit."
If they didn’t want to cause disruptions, they shouldn’t have rigged the odds in the first place.
Then Kargon Peak wouldn’t have been destroyed either, right?
Ah.
Was that because enchanted equipment had started circulating?
Yeah, I wasn’t sorry at all.
The investigation into the Dwarf Company’s probability rates was also proceeding, and the most effective way to punish this sort of probability manipulation was to build up big data.
After all, gathering records and beating them with statistics was the surest method.
Dolores had superior connections to begin with, and I heard she was accumulating big data on enhancement records through various channels.
Honestly, once someone rigged things once, it wasn’t hard to assume they had done it twice.
And their target had even been Mama. Unless they had nerves of steel, it was safe to assume they had tampered with pretty much every climber’s odds…
In the end, rather than restoring the vein, their bigger problem would be when the manipulation issue came to the surface.
It was already a problem, but it would become an even bigger one later.
Of course, restoring the vein would not be easy either, since it was in a volcanic region.
"Please work hard on those repairs~"
Smiling, I picked up my hammer.
Flash, flash.
Just then, something repeatedly flashed outside the window.
"Ha ha, I keep telling her not to use Blink quite so much."
It was Dolores practicing Blink.
She seemed to have gotten hooked on it lately, because she had been practicing it constantly.
Apparently, it was a technique that would change the paradigm of combat.
I had never fought before, so I merely nodded as if that made sense.
By the way, they said the frequency of Dolores kissing my cheek had increased by roughly 2.4 times since I made that for her…
That was a statistic rigorously based on data Yuna had personally measured.
Still, I did need to replace that eventually. Its potential ability was absurdly overpowered, but…
Strictly speaking, its compatibility was not high, so it could cause side effects.
In the end, compatibility came first.
I heard her feet had been hurting lately, so although it was low priority, I had listed replacement equipment for it.
And before I knew it…
In one week, Dolores would begin climbing the Tower.
Apparently, Tower climbing was sometimes done in teams, while other times people challenged it alone.
On the higher floors, the trials seemed to differ according to the number of climbers.
Of course, team play was recommended.
"She doesn’t seem to be planning to form a team right away, though."
There was a large gap in floors between her and the companions from her old team, and she seemed reluctant to join another team.
But after looking into it, Isabella… wasn’t this person incredible?
She was an absolute top-of-the-top high ranker.
She was terrible at chess, but apparently she was good at magic.
I didn’t know why she hadn’t contacted us again since the underwear incident, but…
Anyway, the preparations for Dolores’s Tower climb were steadily proceeding as well.
Beneath my hammer lay…
─────────────────
[Knot of Serenity] [★★★☆☆]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility] [-/80]
─────────────────
[Enchant Level] [Enhancement +20]
─────────────────
Even the gift I had prepared for her return to climbing was there.
Dolores was really beautiful, but the ribbon she used to tie her hair was kind of lacking.
She even seemed to have bought a huge number of identical ones and rotated through them.
I did like long hair, but…
I simply made one myself out of gemstones.
You could think of it as a kind of accessory.
This time, I just pushed the enchantment all the way through before giving it to her.
"Hehe."
All right, then. What would its potential ability be?
I deliberately chose only the potential ability at Enhancement +5, and did not look at anything up to Enhancement +20.
There had been two choices at the time.
─────────────────
[Potential Ability]
[Enhancement +5 ─ Choose a Path]
[Neatness]
[Even with vigorous movement, the wearer’s hair will not become disheveled.]
[Release]
[When the hair tie is untied and worn around the wrist, the wearer’s hair falls in the form most alluring to them.]
[The body scent absorbed by the hair diffuses subtly.]
─────────────────
What do you think I chose?
If Dolores had been a homemaker who did not climb the Tower, I would have picked the latter without question.
Unfortunately, though, this hair tie also had to serve for combat, so I could not choose the latter option, which abandoned the hair tie’s actual function.
With tears in my eyes, I chose [Neatness].
And so, in the end—
─────────────────
[Potential Ability]
[Enhancement +5 ─ Neatness]
[Even with vigorous movement, the wearer’s hair will not become disheveled.]
[Enhancement +10 ─ Luster]
[Maintains the health of the wearer’s hair and scalp.]
[When the creator ties the wearer’s hair personally, it remembers his touch and body heat.]
[Enhancement +15 ─ Clarity] [Cooldown: 5 minutes]
[When the hair tie is removed, harmful effects are dispelled.]
[Enhancement +20 ─ Release] [Cooldown: 1 hour]
[Activates when the creator personally unties the hair tie.]
[The wearer’s hair becomes disheveled in the form preferred by the creator, and their body scent intensifies.]
[Most fatigue disappears.]
─────────────────
"…?"
First—first, okay.
Enhancement +15 looked ridiculously overpowered, at least.
It reminded me of an item called Quicksilver from a game.
Being able to dispel harmful effects had always been insanely powerful.
But if Enhancement +15 was so broken, why did it suddenly return to [Release] at Enhancement +20?
…Should I consider it all right because it got rid of fatigue?
I was a little concerned that I had to untie it myself, but well…
That was how the completed hair tie turned out.
─────────────────
[Knot of Serenity] [★★★☆☆]
[Unique Equipment] [Compatibility] [- / 80]
─────────────────
[A hair tie made by twisting together multiple strands of finely drawn gemstone thread.]
[Adjusts its tension according to the wearer’s hair volume and scalp condition.]
─────────────────
『Hehe, I only want to see her long hair myself.』
- Skilled Blacksmith L -
─────────────────
『How about you tie it for her during the day, then untie it for her at night?』
- An Unnamed God -
─────────────────
I didn’t know who that god was, but…
Hmm…
Yeah… at least the Enhancement +15 potential ability was good…
The Origin Script was a little embarrassing too, but I didn’t think she would have a hair tie appraised.
Its performance was good, right? That was enough…
Just then—
Knock, knock.
"How did you know again~"
With her Tower climb approaching, Dolores had an incredible nose for equipment.
"Lionel, what were you doing?"
She came into the workshop with a faint smile.
"Would you come sit here?"
Without asking why, Dolores hurried over and sat down in the chair.
"This is a gift for your climb."
When I showed her the pretty gray hair tie, Dolores’s eyes opened wide.
"I’ll have to tie it for you myself. Is that all right?"
"O-Of course it is…"
Sliiide…
I gathered her cascading hair with both hands… then carefully tied it, following Yuna’s guidance.
Whenever my fingertips brushed against her neck, Dolores’s shoulders flinched.
Enhancement +10 potential ability, [Luster].
[When the creator ties the wearer’s hair personally, it remembers his touch and body heat.]
Naturally, I imprinted my touch upon Dolores.
"Good luck with your climb."
Pat, pat.
I patted her shoulder, signaling that I was finished.
And so time… passed a little further.
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