Chapter 132
The train kept running until it arrived at a small city about five or six hours away from the capital.
After getting off there, we had a late lunch and then found a place to stay for the night.
While walking through the quiet streets, Vineta spoke.
“So in other words, bringing that wizard we’re about to meet over to our side is extremely important. Is that what you mean?”
“That’s right.”
I had spent most of the train ride revealing the truth about myself to Vineta.
Back in the mine, I had resolved to tell her everything, but I had never managed to find the right moment until now.
After hearing my story, Vineta simply stared at me blankly for quite a while.
“…Is there something you didn’t understand?”
“I’m sorry that you went to the trouble of telling me, but to be honest… it’s such a complicated story that I’m not quite sure what’s what.”
Vineta blamed her own lack of understanding, but having spent time beside her, I knew she was actually quite intelligent.
It simply seemed that, given her straightforward personality, talk about possession and such didn’t resonate with her very well.
It does sound a bit abstract.
However, when I explained that we had to persuade the eccentric inventor in order to stop Liena’s business, Vineta immediately returned to her usual sharp expression.
She was the type who felt motivated only when there was a clear and practical goal.
This time Terence asked a question.
“Are we heading to where this man called Kais is right now?”
“You could say that. But we’ll meet him tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“Kais only accepts new clients on the first day of each month. If you’re someone he already knows, you can see him anytime—but newcomers must come on the first.”
“The first… that would be tomorrow.”
“Today, before that…”
As I spoke, we arrived at our destination.
I stopped walking in front of a shabby building located in an especially remote part of the quiet street.
“Well, for now just leave it to me. Vineta, could you wait here? Kais doesn’t like crowds, so he doesn’t accept more than three visitors.”
“Understood.”
Leaving Vineta at the entrance, Terence and I pushed open the creaking door and went inside.
The first thing that hit my nose was a sharp, pungent smell.
It came from the leather goods filling the shelves—bags, belts, sword sheaths, tapestries, and more.
Of course it did.
This place was a leather workshop.
“……”
A man sitting farther inside, hammering leather, glanced at us briefly before returning to his work.
A remote location, a shabby building, a messy shop interior—and now unfriendly service.
At this point it almost felt like the shop was trying to chase customers away, but I leisurely looked around at the merchandise and spoke.
“Excuse me. I’d like to make a reservation.”
Only then did the man, who appeared to be the shop owner, speak for the first time.
“I don’t take custom orders. Only ready-made goods.”
“No, not an order. A reservation. I’ll come back tomorrow to pick up the product.”
The hammering stopped instantly.
“I don’t know who told you what nonsense, but stop talking foolishly and leave.”
But that didn’t actually mean he wanted us out of the store.
“I can’t reveal the person who referred us. They asked to remain anonymous.”
The man turned his head and looked at us.
“…Since you insist, it can’t be helped. Please tell me your names.”
“Idel Luciviu.”
There was no point using a false name here.
When the man heard my name, his thick eyebrows twitched slightly.
But he said nothing and looked at Terence next, as if waiting for the next person.
Seeing that I had used my real name, Terence also answered honestly.
“Terence Belver Asteroth.”
This time the man’s eyebrows twitched even more noticeably.
He let out a faint sigh and simply told us to return at the same time tomorrow before resuming his hammering.
We moved to a nearby tea shop and told Vineta what had happened inside the workshop.
Vineta tilted her head.
“So that man wasn’t the eccentric inventor wizard?”
“No, he helps Kais with his work. He screens people before they’re allowed to meet Kais.”
“That wizard must be very cautious.”
“He’s cautious and quite sensitive. Tomorrow he’ll probably be observing carefully to figure out what kind of people we are.”
After saying that, I lowered my voice while looking at Terence and Vineta.
“Actually, regarding that… I’ll need both of your cooperation tomorrow if we want to bring Kais to our side.”
This was something I couldn’t accomplish alone.
The next day, we visited the leather workshop again at the same time.
Vineta remained outside the building as before, and after exchanging glances with her, I entered the workshop.
“This way, please.”
The man was still blunt, but his tone was more polite than yesterday as he led us further inside.
There was a small staircase there.
When we climbed to the second floor, a surprising sight appeared before us.
Despite being inside that shabby building, the space looked completely different—immaculately clean.
Even more strangely, warm sunlight filled the room despite there being no windows, and on the floor there was a small fountain whose mechanism I couldn’t understand.
“You can sit here and wait.”
The man guided us to a table in the center of the room and looked embarrassed.
“I’m sorry. That fellow is unpredictable. Even though I told him clearly, he still hasn’t arrived.”
Even though I said it was fine, he served us steaming tea before heading back downstairs.
Terence and I spent some time silently drinking tea.
The eccentric inventor did not appear, and time passed leisurely.
Ten minutes. Twenty minutes. Thirty minutes…
Before we knew it, more than an hour had passed since we arrived.
Checking the time with an antique pocket watch, Terence spoke with annoyance.
“This so-called eccentric inventor doesn’t even have a sense of time. Can we really trust someone like that with work?”
“Still, his ability is undeniable.”
“No matter how capable someone is, if their character is poor, it’s useless.”
“…Terence, I honestly don’t care what kind of person he is. As long as he produces brilliant inventions that bring me profit.”
I continued coldly.
“Today is our first meeting, so we had no choice but to come here—but frankly speaking, I don’t want to waste time on such trivial matters.”
“It certainly is a waste of time.”
“Once the deal is made, I don’t plan on meeting Kais again. It’s already bothersome enough to go through all this trouble just to meet him once.”
“But if we want to keep him on our side, shouldn’t we be attentive?”
“That’s true, but I still don’t like the idea. It’s only a business relationship—I have no desire to become personally close to him.”
“…Actually, I agree. Even before meeting him, I feel like I’d never get along with this Kais person.”
Pleased by how well Terence and I were in sync, I grinned.
“We’ll simply provide sufficient money and mana stones, then demand results.”
“Exactly.”
After that, I continued chatting casually with Terence while thinking about Kais.
He had interacted with Liena for over ten years and created numerous inventions that brought her wealth—yet he only truly opened his heart near the very end of the novel.
How had he managed to resist the Goddess’s Blessing for so long?
Was it because he had extraordinary mental strength?
Or perhaps some special power that resisted divine blessings?
In my opinion, it was neither.
He was simply an extreme recluse who avoided human contact.
Since he had never met Liena face-to-face for over ten years, even she had no way to influence him.
No matter how powerful the Goddess’s Blessing was, it required proximity to affect someone.
Meanwhile
At that same moment, Kais was at his home far away from the leather workshop.
From the beginning, he had no intention of meeting the people who came looking for him.
There were countless ways to communicate without meeting in person—so why bother?
If he wished, he could even control a clone of himself right now and speak to the Baroness of Luciviu and the prince.
The reason he deliberately kept them waiting was to figure out what kind of people they were.
The room they were in had been personally designed by Kais—an environment optimized to relax a person’s tension.
When people waited there for someone who never arrived, they would eventually start talking with their companion and reveal their true thoughts.
All without realizing that a listening artifact was hidden nearby.
The nobles who came to find Kais usually brought at least two or three guards or servants.
Rarely, someone would leave their subordinates on the first floor and enter the second floor alone.
In those cases, Kais’s senior apprentice—who enjoyed leather crafting as a hobby—would handle things.
He would prepare tea and seats for those waiting downstairs.
They would naturally begin chatting among themselves, and gossiping about their superiors was a timeless favorite topic.
Through such methods, Kais always determined what kind of thoughts his visitors held, how others evaluated them, and what sort of personalities they had.
And right now, what Idel Luciviu was saying was enough to shock him.
“Sh-She… has no interest in me…?”
She said she would provide plenty of money and mana stones—so just produce results?
She didn’t want to become personally close and only cared about inventions that benefited her?
She even said meeting him was a waste of time and that she wouldn’t meet him again after this.
Kais’s body trembled violently.
This was exactly the ideal client he had dreamed of for years!
