chapter 17
When the two disappeared from sight, I finally opened my mouth.
“You really appeared at the perfect time and said the perfect thing.”
I had thought he was the stiff, formal type.
Maybe it’s because Lady Milla was involved, but he actually handled it better than I expected.
Archmage Damian’s expression stiffened.
“I should have come sooner. I can’t believe you had to hear something like that from those people.”
“Ahaha, but it was actually quite satisfying, wasn’t it? Besides, it’s not your fault, Tower Master.”
Even so, Damian still looked unsettled.
“You must be tired after dealing with such useless people. Shall we postpone the meeting for now?”
But no — today was the day all the mages of the Tower were gathering for the meeting.
It wasn’t easy for all of them to align their schedules, even under Damian’s direction.
And yet he was suggesting postponing it so casually?
He’s using them as an excuse when really, I’m just the one feeling unwell.
I shook my head. It was true that my hands and feet had been tingling for a while, but it would be better to finish work first and rest afterward.
“No, I think it’s better to get everything done today and rest tomorrow instead.”
“If that’s what you prefer…”
I followed Damian as he turned the corner of the plaza.
We passed into a shabby alleyway where few people walked.
He led me up to the second floor of a closed shop, opened a door — and a hidden passage to the Tower revealed itself.
Vwooom—
Colored lights drifted in the air — even I, who wasn’t a mage, could feel the magical energy.
No one else would guess that there was a path to the Mage Tower hidden here.
And just like that, we were instantly transported from the capital plaza to the Tower.
There was still time before the meeting, so Damian and I decided to finish our preparations in our respective offices.
I looked down at the papers spread out on my desk, lost in thought.
Lately, I’d been exhausted — not only handling the Black Moon’s Image Stone project, but also overseeing various trade guild matters whenever I had a spare moment.
Fortunately, a few members from the Clotilde Trading Guild had come to assist me, so the work had gone more smoothly.
All of the guild employees were people whose abilities had already been proven.
“The shipping cost proposal will be reviewed and sent by the end of the week,” one of them reported.
“My lady, you seem very busy these days. Are you sure you’re all right? Perhaps you should take it easier?”
“I’ve always had the guild staff helping me. This much is my share of the work.”
Who would’ve thought the day would come when people worried that I was overworking — me, who used to be nothing more than a figurehead guild leader?
Even the staff from Clotilde had tried to stop me from working too much.
Still, not everyone in the Black Moon organization viewed me positively.
Aside from the newcomers, most of those who had transferred from the Clotilde Guild or defected entirely thought of me as “the sickly duke’s daughter who has no real interest in business.”
“They say you’re interested in theater, but none of the plays you mentioned seem to have been performed recently?”
“The project’s about popularizing theater through the Image Stones, but your focus on theater seating seems a little misplaced.”
At least I met with the guild staff often enough that they began to see me differently over time.
“We may have recommended those applicants, but you were the one who interviewed them, my lady. Your sharp questions honestly surprised me.”
As we worked together, I could feel their attitudes slowly shifting.
Still… some of the mages were looking at me strangely.
I was responsible for countless tasks — some of them major — yet the Tower’s mages, especially those working on the technical side, didn’t seem to recognize that.
While I went around negotiating contracts for performance recordings and preparing marketing plans, the mages working directly under Damian probably had no idea what I was doing.
And the Mage Tower was a place led by the most powerful mage of all — while I wasn’t a mage at all.
To them, it was only natural to feel confused seeing someone like me on equal footing with Damian.
“Well, as expected of a noble lady. You’re quite impressive — certainly different from us mages.”
It wasn’t outright mockery, but some of them said things that carried a subtle sting.
“Um, is it really all right for a noble lady to be doing this kind of work?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“But… it makes me uncomfortable to watch. You seem so delicate…”
They were too bound by my “noble lady” status to see me as a coworker.
Well, time will fix that.
Making a scene about discomfort would only make things more awkward.
If we continued working together, things would naturally get better.
Besides, the field I managed rarely overlapped directly with the mages’ work anyway.
Before long, it was time for the meeting, and I headed to the conference room.
“Shall we begin, Lady Clotilde?” Damian said.
He wasn’t the only one waiting for me.
This was a general meeting — not just mages, but also the staff working with me were present.
“The Image Stone’s size should be around this much…”
“We need a way to prevent damage during shipping.”
At first, the air was awkward — many people were seeing each other face-to-face for the first time — but soon, the quiet discussion turned lively.
“The production speed for theater recordings is slower than expected, and the quality isn’t great.”
“As I said before, we could improve the footage if we had this additional equipment.”
There were mages who had studied Image Stones for years or joined because they loved theater, along with directors and marketing specialists — people from all sorts of fields.
Naturally, everyone had their own opinions about Image Stones, and the discussion flowed endlessly.
While I was taking notes and concentrating on the conversation, I suddenly felt a sharp gaze and looked up.
“I have a suggestion regarding the quality of the mana stones,” said a mage wearing glasses — probably just for show — as if to hide his hostility.
“The problem isn’t the cutting technique. It starts with the fact that we’re using scrap-grade mana stones at all.”
The moment I heard that, I knew he was picking a fight that had nothing to do with the issue.
Debating cutting methods was part of optimizing cost performance — but why bring up something we’d already settled long ago?
“Between the Alera-grade and Neinder-grade stones, the difference after imbuing them with magic power is: 100 Nibe to 25 Nibe, 1000 Herina to 80 Pell. The numbers alone show the disparity, but Aierina-grade stones—”
He rattled off obscure magical terminology for a while, then smirked.
“Ah, but I suppose Lady Clotilde and the other staff wouldn’t understand what I just said, since you’re not mages.”
Now it was open provocation.
The employees on my team, especially those from the Clotilde Guild, all frowned at once.
After all, I was their leader.
Even if I made a mistake, they’d prefer to criticize me themselves — not hear outsiders do it.
“That matter—”
Damian, who had been frowning from the start of the mage’s speech, looked ready to intervene, but I spoke up first — representing the non-mage members.
“It sounds like you’re dissatisfied with the project’s popularization focus, but the mana stone grades have already been finalized.”
I refused to let him drag me into an argument, and briefly summarized his words for the benefit of staff who might not have understood.
I wasn’t a mage either, but I did know enough to catch some of it.
Alera-grade and Neinder-grade? He’s just flaunting archaic terminology to show off — picking a fight for no reason.
He was trying to test how much magical knowledge I or my staff had — completely inappropriate in this context.
It’s like scolding an illustrator for not knowing programming languages just because they work in a game studio.
He kept harping on the fact that I wasn’t a mage, but that wasn’t the issue at all.
How ridiculous.
“More importantly, the direction of the project is not something you need to concern yourself with, Mage Prinz.”
I suppressed my irritation and replied calmly.
“This project has been underway for quite some time. If you still don’t understand your own responsibilities, refrain from speaking during meetings — and ask your team members instead.”
