chapter 44
“Really? Thanks to Clara, this will be much easier. I appreciate it.”
“Haha… it’s nothing. This is no big deal.”
Of course, it wasn’t nothing.
The most important thing was the person in charge of producing the projection stones.
But Polius didn’t even think to hear more about the wizard himself and just let it go.
He was completely ignorant of magic, but that made him even more confident.
‘Magic? Isn’t that just what Damian does every day?’
One day, Damian had stormed out of Count Veldert’s estate and taken the lead at the Mage Tower.
So Polius didn’t think magic was an extremely difficult field.
“The wizards can’t speak the Imperial language, but for security reasons, it’s better if there’s no interpreter.”
True—if the projection stone technology leaked through an interpreter, it would be a huge problem.
So they decided to speak directly with the wizards…
“Polius, do you understand what the wizards are saying?”
“Hmm.”
Clara, who had brought the wizards, didn’t know all foreign languages either, so she could only interpret bits and pieces of the context.
Polius strained to understand the wizards’ explanations through Clara’s clumsy translations.
“Uh, Clara. Isn’t the audio a bit weird in this part?”
“Polius, I’m not very familiar with magic or projection stones. Isn’t what the wizards are saying correct? They say it’s usually done this way to enhance the performance.”
“Oh? Ah… right.”
“Then we’ll just proceed as is.”
Polius let it slide to hide the shallowness of his knowledge.
“Um, they say this is the sample quality.”
Fortunately, the projection stone sample they received was extremely satisfactory.
So both Polius and Josephine were able to push aside their unease and feel satisfied.
But…
“The price… what the—”
Polius’s hands trembled as he looked at the billed amount, and he was stunned once again.
Of course, he had expected it to be somewhat expensive. Compared to the Mage Tower, they weren’t very competitive.
But there’s a limit.
The price was unimaginably high, and Polius’s mind went blank.
“It takes this much mana stone to make these projection stones?”
This price was ridiculous. If this was the production cost, was Melanie giving up profit just to provide the service?
No, the more they did business, the worse the losses would be.
This wasn’t even something you could call an initial investment!
‘I was planning to sell the theater building and invest in making the <13th Knight> projection stones…’
The words of Lord Rovio, warning him that he might go bankrupt, came to mind.
‘At this rate, I won’t just fail to make money; I’ll actually run short.’
“It’s probably a loss they’re taking because it’s early days. The Black Moon people must be crying their eyes out by now. It’s only flashy on the surface.”
“Even so… this much… and then they’re asking for this much in advance for the projection stone technology… that’s absurd.”
The Black Moon had honed their technology using leftover mana stones from the Mage Tower to reduce production costs, but Polius had no way of knowing that.
‘How foolish. Lady Clotilde even has a mana stone mine.’
Clara couldn’t help but laugh inwardly, though she smiled on the outside.
She regretted not telling Melanie about the <13th Knight> and was working hard to smile beside Polius, to the point it almost gave her facial twitches.
Fortunately, everything was going according to Melanie’s plan.
Clara suddenly changed her expression, narrowing her eyes at Polius.
“Polius… are you scared right now?”
“What?”
“Well, Lord Damian of the Mage Tower did the projection stone technology himself, so he probably didn’t have these costs. You’d be intimidated, right?”
“Martis, watch your words!”
“And besides, even if not now, the Lord of the Mage Tower came from the Veldert family, which is just as extreme, right?”
Polius’s face hardened.
Damian was his trigger, to the point Josephine could sense it—but Clara didn’t care and continued.
“Of course, the costs now are high. But if this continues, Lady Clotilde would be glad she chose the Lord of the Mage Tower, right?”
“Clara.”
“If you’re going to run away scared, do it quickly. But I’m disappointed. I never imagined Polius would be such a coward.”
Clara, who always catered to Polius, held back her usual bluntness in his presence.
Even now, though she didn’t love Polius, she was a little scared of saying such things.
‘I’m doing exactly what Lady Clotilde wants… but is it really okay? What if Polius gives up?’
But Melanie said this was necessary to ensure Polius would proceed obediently without suspecting the mana stone industry.
“And besides, you probably don’t need to worry about mana stones. I heard Lady Clotilde has her own mana stone mine…”
Then she deliberately let the information slip.
Polius’s eyes widened.
“A mana stone mine? I never heard that the Clotilde family owned a mana stone mine.”
“Well, apparently Lady Clotilde found mana stones in a mine she recently purchased. The location… was it Norfel?”
‘No way. I mocked her for buying an abandoned mine, and it turns out it was a mana stone mine?’
Josephine, remembering the social circles mocking Melanie’s business sense, went pale.
Polius, on the other hand, lit up.
“Norfel? Are you sure?”
“Yes? Y-yes…”
At that, Polius’s face changed immediately.
“So there was a plan. This is fate.”
Polius smiled brightly.
The Norfel mine was the very place he had persuaded Melanie to buy himself!
He even visited the bank personally to get the loan.
Then wasn’t he the owner of the mana stone mine?
“Clara, do you think I’m scared? You’re underestimating me!”
“What’s wrong, Polius? What’s going on?”
Polius explained the whole situation to Josephine.
Josephine, who had thought mocking Melanie was ridiculous, calmed down immediately upon learning that the mana stone mine belonged to Polius.
“Thank goodness! The mine belongs to Polius! I can’t wait to see her realize she lost a mine she thought was hers.”
Polius immediately paid the absurd amount the wizards had billed for the technology.
“Po-Polius!”
“I’m not like that wimp Damian. If I decide to do something, I do it!”
“Wow, Polius really…”
Stupid!
Clara quickly covered her mouth, but the admiration that slipped out was genuine.
‘Wow, this works?’
Selling the building at a ridiculous price, paying an absurd sum for projection stone technology, even though it’s not cost-effective…
Just mentioning Damian and Lady Clotilde, and he agrees immediately.
Melanie had said to casually let slip the Norfel mine story when the time came, but even if Polius didn’t fall for it and refused to pay the wizards, there was nothing to be done.
But now that Polius had decided to make the <13th Knight> projection stones, success seemed within reach.
Moreover, having met Melanie on Theater Street and feeling fired up, he became even less cautious than usual.
“Polius, shouldn’t we be a bit more careful? Even if the mine is yours, it’s important.”
Josephine looked worried.
But Polius, intoxicated with the risk he was taking, tried to persuade her instead.
“The demand in the projection stone market is exploding. If we compete with outstanding content and top-quality production, Clotilde will go bankrupt soon enough.”
“But…”
“If we monopolize the market, we’ll get everything. Any losses are only temporary.”
Polius smiled confidently.
“Josephine, I can handle the mana stones. Just trust me.”
Hearing his confident words, Josephine nodded in agreement.
Actually, she had planned to confront Polius seriously after Clara left, about meeting Melanie alone, which had made her look foolish in social gatherings.
She wanted to tell him how humiliating it was.
Not just for her and her father, but also for the reputation of the projection stone business.
‘Now that it’s too late to turn back, I have to succeed. I have to take down Clotilde.’
But… if she could just snatch the mana stone mine that had allowed Melanie and Damian to be so bold…
Meeting Melanie alone could be overlooked.
