It was quite, no, very rude letter.
It ordered me to bring a bouquet of Phelan flowers by noon.
Of course, the main text was a bit more polite than that.
Ah. Or was it?
It might have looked even ruder since they made such demands under the guise of civility.
“Is it about 10 minutes until then?”
I leaned against the wall and checked the clock on the city hall building in the distance.
It was early morning with no one around, just empty and quiet.
Seems like they won’t come.
“Tsk…”
Well, I kind of expected it.
Madam Lichtenburg did submit to me, but she hadn’t thrown away all her pride.
By noon. In front of the Imperial University. In person.
There’s no way she’d fulfill all three conditions.
I bet a maid will come to the Imperial University tomorrow morning to deliver it instead.
Well, if that were the case, I’d have to resort to some drastic measures.
I need to show that I can threaten her daughters.
Maybe I should infiltrate the Lichtenburg mansion one time and blow up some explosives in the garden.
Then she’d probably freak out and start groveling again.
Or not. She might still hold her back stiffly.
“Ugh.”
Anyway, having just pride isn’t enough.
Just as I was pondering how to respond if she kept playing hard to get.
*Eek…*
As I turned the corner, a lavish carriage came to a stop.
It bore the insignia of the Lichtenburg family.
I thought a servant would get down, but—
“Hmm.”
“…”
Surprisingly, it was Madam herself.
Wow, this is really unexpected.
By noon. In front of the Imperial University. In person.
I never thought she’d actually follow all three conditions.
But it’s too early to relax.
There’s still a possibility she didn’t bring the requested item, the Phelan flowers, to give me a big middle finger.
That thing in her hand wrapped in cloth looks like a bouquet of Phelan flowers, though…
“What do you intend to do?”
Did she sense the mana? The lady asked with a stern look.
Just in case, I let down a Recognition Interference Barrier to keep our conversation from leaking.
I can’t hide the fact that Madam and I met, but at least I can’t let the conversation content leak out.
“I’m just muffling the sound.”
“Then could you drop the pretentious tone?”
“Haha. Should I?”
“…”
Well. Why?
When I dropped my speech to match her expectations, her suddenly angry expression was quite amusing.
“Did you bring what I wanted?”
“Before that, I’d like to ask you to stop doing this.”
“What do you mean?”
“Calling someone out at midnight and treating them like a servant.”
Madam glared at me.
What the? I thought she complied since she met all my demands, but that wasn’t the case.
“Why?”
“Yes?”
“Why should I?”
“…”
Madam glared at me with a vicious expression and tightly closed her mouth.
It was the face one makes when they see a scoundrel with no worth discussing.
“They say one word can clear a thousand debts.”
“…?”
“Don’t ruin all your score with a single ill-chosen word after doing the work thoroughly. If that’s how it is, then I have no other choice.”
“…”
Surprisingly, her mouth fell slightly open, as if she was taken aback.
She seemed about to say something, lips twitching, but no sound came out.
Madam dropped her head and murmured in a voice as tiny as an ant’s crawling voice—
“…I’m sorry.”
She said that.
“What?”
“I’m sorry… for being rude.”
“…”
For a moment, I almost gasped in surprise.
I never expected her to apologize so neatly.
This person really lowers her pride in unexpected ways.
She’s unpredictable in many ways.
“But if this keeps happening, it’ll be troublesome for me too. I have my life as well. If you keep calling me out like this…”
Madam Lichtenburg said, avoiding my gaze.
I guess she’s misinterpreting something?
Well, usually, those with such weaknesses gradually raise the difficulty of their demands.
During that process, they expose new weaknesses, and they use them to demand even more…
I suppose she thought that’s how they try to make someone a slave.
“I hope you won’t misunderstand. I called you today urgently because I needed something. Of course, I’ll provide compensation for that.”
“Compensation?”
Did I hear her wrong, Madam?
Compensation? That’s correct.
“You’re saying you’ll give me compensation?”
“Right. If I got the item, I naturally need to pay for it.”
“The… price?”
“I thought you already paid for that. Am I mistaken?”
Madam Lichtenburg cannot be tamed.
She endured the oppression from the powerful Duke family and the imperial family, so there’s no way she would yield to a commoner with just a bit more power.
So, it’s not right to keep humiliating her.
If possible, bringing Lichtenburg to our side would be the right direction.
After all, Erica is an essential part for the future too.
And Julia… never mind. She’s off the table.
“You said… I have already paid?”
Madam seemed momentarily unable to grasp reality, repeating the same thing.
Sending Henderson my way was truly aggravating. Although I was angry enough to want at least a finger from the lady, I’d be willing to forgive her if I could enlist Lichtenburg as an ally.
If today, I could gain a partner that supplies what I need behind the scenes…
Even if she simply shows me that she’s groveling from time to time, I could endure that.
“Why? Do you feel it’s insufficient that you showed me etiquette at the social gathering? If so, next time…”
“Ah! No! I’m fine! I like it!”
“Good. Then let’s see the item.”
With a somewhat sullen expression, Madam Lichtenburg handed me something wrapped in cloth.
Things went quite well, but her expression showed she wasn’t pleased that everything didn’t go as she thought.
She should ease her expression.
From now on, many things won’t go her way.
“Here. It’s the requested bouquet of Phelan flowers. Luckily, they were in the garden. Otherwise, I’d have had quite a hard time finding them.”
I slightly tilted one flower, bringing my nose closer to smell it.
It was a peculiar fragrance I had never smelled before.
In appearance and aroma, it resembled no flower from Earth at all.
Just as described in the original work.
I immediately activated ‘Inquiry.’
[Phelan Bouquet]
[Condition: Fresh.]
[Description: A flower used as a raw material for perfumes or Mana Energy antidotes. Both the flowers and their seeds have a significantly high price.]
It was certainly no lie.
Well, there’d be no reason to lie about something like this.
I received the bouquet from Madam Lichtenburg with both hands.
Since there were quite a few flowers, it was heavier than I expected.
“This is your compensation.”
“What is this?”
“Open it when you return.”
I handed her a small envelope.
It was a little gift to build trust in me.
Of course, I didn’t expect a creature that could easily kill Henderson with a single hand would trust me with just that…
Hah. The more I think about it, the angrier I get.
Why did Madam Lichtenburg send Henderson…
“It was a good meeting.”
“…”
After dropping the barrier, I smiled slightly.
Surprised by my sudden change in attitude, it took Madam a moment before she glared at me wordlessly.
Well, trust can be built over time.
For now, I guess I could just think of her as a dog that listens to my words.
Or maybe a fierce dog that could bite my arm off if things went slightly wrong.
It might take quite a while before this fierce dog becomes my reliable ally.
“I look forward to our next meeting, my lady.”
“My lady…!”
Madam nearly jumped back.
But I didn’t worry about it and grabbed her hand, bending down to kiss the back of her hand.
If no one’s watching, I could certainly show you some proper courtesy.
However, Madam seemed to take this as mockery rather than manners, her face flushing red.
Indeed, teasing either a daughter or mother is quite delightful.
After finishing that greeting, I turned to head toward the Imperial University.
With the Recognition Interference Barrier gone, fearing who might hear, Madam couldn’t bring herself to call me back.
As I reminisced about her earlier expression, I soon arrived at the Chairwoman’s residence.
“Welcome. What happened?”
“Nothing much. Just someone called me out suddenly.”
As I opened the front door, Emilia came trotting over to greet me as if she had been waiting the whole time.
“Who was it?”
“Not a dangerous person, so don’t worry. By the way, do we have a vase in this house?”
“A vase? Yes, there should be one.”
“Then could you please make sure this doesn’t die?”
“Yes…”
I handed the bouquet to Emilia.
Her expression twisted to something fierce as she uncovered the cloth.
What was that? Am I seeing things because I’m tired?
“Yawn… I’m going to bed now.”
“Okay. Good night.”
Leaving behind a somewhat chilly voice from Emilia, I headed straight to my bedroom.
There were things I needed to think about to prepare for the upcoming event.
‘Aintz’s awakening timing is this time only.’
In the original story, Aintz never rose to the rank of the strong and remained a weak supporting character friendly to Hertlocker.
In the background, Aintz was incredibly talented but due to his malicious character and weak mental state, he couldn’t utilize it and collapsed.
In other words, if I just fix his mental state, he could become a crucial ally for the future storyline.
Thus, I’ve decided that this time’s combat magic practice class will be Aintz’s awakening timing.
In the original, Hertlocker saves Aintz when he’s in danger.
After that, Aintz stops being jealous of Hertlocker and becomes a devoted follower, always admiring him and assisting him.
But what if no one saves Aintz when he’s in danger?
Will he, unable to change his nature, die, or will he learn humility in the face of death’s fear and awaken to survive?
I chose to bet on the latter.
If I fail…
“Huh…”
I might as well consider throwing away one extra.
I’ve been too greedy trying to save too many.
I was planning to move calculatively from now on.
.
.
.
“Oh, you’re here?”
“Uh…”
Letting out a sigh as she entered the house, Madam Lichtenburg bumped into Erica.
Was she waiting just to greet me!
The lady, who had just experienced something humiliating, felt healed in that moment.
But something seemed odd about Erica being in her outdoor clothes…
Well, one could wear those inside occasionally too.
So Madam decided to think nothing of it.
“Mother. Who did you meet?”
“Huh? Just… an important person. You don’t need to know. I’m tired now, going to bed.”
“Ah, yes! Mother.”
Madam replied somewhat curtly without realizing it and brushed past Erica.
It wasn’t a wrong statement.
A person with enough power to massacre everyone in this mansion by themselves cannot be considered unimportant.
Of course, I didn’t mention the fact that person treated me like a servant and humiliated me at will.
Just recalling it made her dizzy, and she staggered into her bedroom, tightly shutting and locking the door.
“Huh. What on earth…?”
First, there’s the ‘compensation’ that Schlus gave me.
Madam grabbed a knife that was on the table and sliced open the seal.
Inside was a note and an investment certificate.
“What…?”
Curious, Madam unfolded the note first.
– It’s compensation equivalent to ten times the flower price. Just trust me for two weeks.
It was completely nonsensical.
Madam tilted her head in confusion while checking the investment certificate.
– The holder of this stock owns ten shares of the Holy Knights.
“Holy Knights?”
Madam’s eyes narrowed.
If it’s the Holy Knights, isn’t that a small regional knight group that has begun to make a name for themselves recently?
She had heard news that their stock was rising.
She had surely kept the stock price chart from yesterday.
Madam opened the drawer and pulled out a scroll.
“Holy Knights… 100 Tirions.”
100 Tirions for 10 shares means a total of 1000 Tirions.
But if the Phelan flowers amount to that much, it should be at least 100,000 Tirions…
Schlus Hainkel only offered an amount that was one-hundredth of its value as compensation?
“Ugh! Seriously…”
Even though he was a commoner, I never expected much, but it still irritated me quite a bit.
If that’s the case, why even offer me compensation at all?
What’s the point of just 1% compensation?
As her irritation surged, Madam was about to tear up the stock certificate when she—
– It’s compensation equivalent to ten times the flower price. Just trust me for two weeks.
Glancing at the note, she stuffed the stock certificate back into the drawer.
If what he said were true, then this certificate would be worth 1,000,000 Tirions in two weeks.
The value would rise a staggering 1000 times.
“Hah… Hah…”
It was so absurd she couldn’t help but laugh at herself.
Does it even make sense?
That a stock could increase a thousandfold in just two weeks?
Madam closed the drawer with a bang, laughing at how ridiculous it sounded.
