Warning: Latter part of the chapter haven’t been edited/TLC-ed yet. Will do it when I’m free from work.

Chapter XV – Roars of Laughter from Beneath the Grounds

In the gloomy tunnel, fresh blood flutters.

Blood, meat, bones. In the twinkling of an eye, the scenery that the lantern scantily illuminated is dyed in a grotesque colour.

In spite of this amount of gruesomeness, no screams are heard. Why indeed? That is because this ma.s.sacre was done all too quickly. In exchange of the screams, the loud laughter of the perpetrator resounded all over the tunnel.

“Kukuku……haahahaha!! Fragile! Fragile! Too fragile! What’s this, they"re not responding at all! If this is all they"ve got, it wouldn"t even be enough as a warm-up now would it?!”

The figure of the person that raised this voice was someone with a matching top-and-bottom suit, a blood-red scarf, and a black mantle coiling around his body, a youth with a n.o.ble air. Though his elegance did not match the darkness under the damp soil in itself, there was one eye-catchingly strange thing about him.

It was his hand.

The nails had grown and crooked in a bizarre way, as if it was an instrument of torture or execution.

Those outlandish nails seemed to outline the ruthless nature within him. It was the very weapon that ma.s.sacred the true inhabitants of this dark dannel.

“Pugiiiiiiiii!?”

“Gyagyagyagya!?”

Perhaps it was so much of a surprise, that even their survival instinct couldn"t help them from being frozen in their spot, as those who was left behind raised their screams of amazement a little too late.

As one might have known from their cries, both of them weren"t humans.

There were a number of follower goblins, along with an orc, as the leader of the flock. Both were the types of monsters which would normally make caves their primary residence.

Be that as it may that the only merits that the goblins had were their numbers and their intelligence that was akin to that of a child"s, the orcs had a degree of physical ability that most common adults wouldn"t be able to match. However, that was about it. For the starring actor of this ma.s.sacre that, more or less, to some extent, possessed superhuman strength, these beings were not fit to be his match.

Maybe the young man thought so as well, as as soon as his laughter subsided, his expression turned gloomy.

"…. Boring. How boring. As I thought, if this is all it takes, this is boring."

As he said so, he drew his blood-drenched claws closer to his lips, and then licked it – and then immediately spit it out.

"Awful. They"re weak, they"re boring, and their blood tastes awful. Ah, just why were you guys alive anyway? To think that there"s an existence so worthless like you lot."

While he distorted his face in his unpleasantness, the young man shook his arms lightly.

Then lo. They watched as that claw of a weapon shrinked, and then, sure enough, his hands regained its elegant form.

As their opponent put his weapon away, the monsters breathed a sigh of relief.

However,

"…. You aren"t worth my claws. So, die quickly. "Sudden-Death Insight"."

What was delivered was none other than the cruel verdict of death.

It was a curse of instant death with everyone in his sight as the target. The freezing hands of death invaded the hearts of the monsters and promptly seized them.

"….. !?"

For the repeated ma.s.s-murder, as one might"ve thought, there were no screams raised this time as well.

When it came to, all of the monsters fell to the ground as if they were dolls whose strings were cuts.

As he found his satisfaction from watching the scene, the youth once again floated a smile.

It didn"t take long until his smile turned into a mad, loud laughter.

"Kuh, huhuhu….. To think I was able to cast this high grade curse without chanting…….  AHAHAHAHAHAHAH! AS I THOUGHT, I"M AMAZING! THIS NEW BODY! IT"S SO MAG NI FI CENT I CAN"T STOP LAUGHING!!"

"By all means, please stop. Your laughter echoes throughout the caves and it gets noisy in here."

I couldn"t resist and called him out from his back.

Then he—- Charl Franz Schmidt, ceased his laughter at once and went into prostration at lightning speed.

"Ah, yes. I"m sorry, Master. I got carried away, yes… my apologies."

When I saw this change, I wouldn"t think that he"d been in his perfect form just now. I involuntary put my hand to my temples…. The difference in your spirits is way too extreme, Charl…

We are presently advancing through the "Old Luire Mine", one of the dungeons in Marlin.

The purpose of this expedition was to limber Charl up, to verify the profitability of the abandoned veins, and on the same occasion, to fulfill the request of monster extermination in the area that was raised by the commonfolk.

And since that was the case, one of my intention was to try Charl"s ability out, but…

"Ain"t gonna say anything about vampires being intoxicated when it comes to blood and all that, but there was way too much fooling around in your movements there."

—- Remarked Due.

"So imbeciles who"d cast an instant death spell on small fries like those do exist after all. What a waste of mana."

—- Remarked Drei.

"….  Against monsters with that sort of intellect, and strength. Surely words are unnecessary here."

—- Remarked Uni.

Like that, the evaluation given by his seniors were terrible.

"Yes, yes…. My apologies, dear esteemed seniors, yes…."

And the Vampire Lord is earnestly apologising.

Probably, he"s the first high-ranked Vampire Lord ever since the dawn of history to prostrate on the grounds of a mine while apologising over and over again, huh. So I suppose in a sense, this is quite the remarkable feat.

Looking at that curling figure as it begs for pity makes me think that all those talks with Uni regarding methods to deal with him the other day were all but needless anxiety.

TL Note: He"s referring to the discussion with Uni regarding what they should do if Charl were to go rogue from the previous chapter.

…. No, no. Complacency is something I absolutely must avoid here. After all he was still a prodigy that could be counted among the top five in the Necromancy Department back in the academy. And he"s an inherently evil vampire now. The possibly that this pathetic figure of his might just be an act in order for him to be slighted by his surroundings is not zero. While appropriate measures have been undertaken, he"d definitely be a substantial menace if he actually went rogue. In the previous world, there"s this story called "brushwood and gall", and then there"s Han Xin"s tale as well. Just because he"s putting up this unsightly figure on display today, If the tusk that could be used to turn against me in the future isn"t taken away, then his threat level will not change. Let"s handle him carefully from now on as well.

TL Note: "Brushwood and Gall" (Wo Xin Chang Dan) and "Han Xin"s Crawl Between His Enemy"s Legs" (Kua Xia Zhi Ru) are two stories from medieval China with pretty much the same morals and conclusions. Feel free to google it if you wish to know more.

For the moment, just so he doesn"t hold pointless animosity, let"s patch things up a bit here.

Under that prudential consideration, I open my mouth.

"Charl, there"s no need to be that ashamed. It"s fine to try to do what you couldn"t do this time later. Besides, you"re primarily here as my fellow researcher, yes? You don"t have to feel down when people are finding fault in your battles, which is outside your expertise anyway. Come on now, you"re my "masterpiece", act like one."

"Oh, Master! Master is, Oubeniel is truly magnanimous! I"m so touched I can"t hold off my tears!"

And as he found consolation in that, he vigorously rose up, then he strokes his own shoulders as he embraces his own body, wiggling while he"s at it. Just how earnest is he here, anyway?

Well, whatever. There"s no need to put a thought into something that"s useless to be pondering about.

"At any rate, the first objective, which was to warm Charl up, is complete. Shall we move on to the next objective? Drei."

"Yes."

As soon as she received my instruction, Drei starts her preparation immediately. The second objective is to re-examine the veins.

""Oh, Spirit of the earth, answer this query of mine. What might the mysteries thy concealeth be. Where might the riches thy storeth be———– ‘Wide Detect’!""

Along with her chants, the orderly mana released from Drei"s body changes into a spell  that runs through the surroundings. It"s a wide-area exploration spell that borrows the power of the spirit of the earth attribute. Due to Drei"s unique affinity as a dark elf with the spirits, the synergistic effect it generates greatly improves the range and the precision of the exploration spell. Let alone this abandoned mountain mine, the spell should be able to locate resources in the surrounding underground area as well.

After a silence of a few tens of seconds, she raised her face.

"….. The deposits here are no good. The excavated area and its vicinity had already been mined to depletion."

"Saw that coming. No matter how little profit the mine had left, those greedy former deputies would still never let it alone."

Abandoning the mines so that it became a nest for the monsters then leaving it alone must"ve had a cause. Well, no matter, I"ve never expected much in the first place anyway.

"However—– please rejoice, Master. There was an indication that there"s a large copper deposit fifteen kilometres to the northeast from here."

"Oh, that"s wonderful!"

Copper mining, if it could be made into a large-scale operation, then Marlin"s finance will greatly benefit from it. Even from my own viewpoint as an alchemist, the fact that there"s a large amount of copper– which as a material may be processed into various things— available is a joyous one.

"…. While it"s indeed fifteen kilometers to the northeast, it"s within a rugged mountainous area. The forests along the way are also thick, it"s not feasible even if we were to open a path."

"Ah."

I realise that my joy slips away as I hear Uni"s remark.

That"s right. As it is, this place is deep within the mountains. If I were to proceed further from here, just what kind of an unexplored region would I find?

Regardless of how promising the deposit is, in order to mine the copper, transport it, and put it into circulation, there must be a way to get there, and without it the whole deal is out of the question. I wonder how much gold would it cost me in order to expand the roads all the way there. I"m not that knowledgeable in this field of expertise, but I know that this"ll cost me a fortune. At least, for the current budget of my territory, there"s fundamentally not enough strength to bear that kind of a burden.

"… My apologies, Master. It seems that I"ve agitated your heart with that needless information of mine."

"Ah, no. Eventually Marlin will develop, and surely a time will come when it’ll be possible to expand the roads to go all the way there. There"s no loss in bearing this in mind in order to prepare when the times comes."

If all goes well, it"ll probably take ten or twenty years, if it doesn’t, we’re probably talking about a century.

"Say, if Milord were to prepare huge golems to deploy there, shouldn"t we able excavate it right away?"

Due chimed in.

Charl made an exaggerated sigh before answering him.

"Good grief. Just what are you saying? It"ll have to knock the forest down, dig the mountain out, carry the mined copper….  A golem that can carry out such large-scale work, shouldn"t it be already at the scale of a super-weapon that the country does not allow possession of? The extent of use of the mud golem in the irrigation job was a different story altogether. They did observe it, but in the end a summons came from the imperial court for an enquiry into it anyway."

He let out a broad grin. It was probably a payback for his criticism regarding the battle earlier. Bearing the brunt of that, Due"s face becomes stiff

"What you"re saying is reasonable but… why is it so frustrating that you"re the one pointing it out!?"

"HIH!? No, no violence please!"

As Charl reflexively hid behind Drei"s back, he got a "don"t touch my b.u.t.t" from her before being kicked, rolling all over the tunnel as he tumbles.

Leaving out the skit that the statement started, for the most part what Charl said was correct. If I were to make that sort of thing, the neighbouring residents who might witness that will go into a panic, then someone will inform the Adventurer"s Guild, and from there the story will go around the country. I"ve been contributing various things to Marlin through alchemy, but I don"t think I"m revered enough for the country to let me off in that serious of a matter.

If that"s the case, then there"s other no way but for me and masterpiece to manually mine it. or so I thought, since that"s a bad move as well. If it"s just soil and irrigation improvements in a scale that we did before, then any other lord can do it provided they have a fairly skilled alchemist around them, but the degree of difficulty differs when it comes to developing a mine in the mountains. If the news that the operation could be carried out with just a few people were to come out, then it would make the centralists and the surrounding lords to be greatly wary of me. I already have a bad reputation in hand, and my brother along with the centralists are keeping an eye on me. I"m not in the mood to be involved in more unnecessary problem than I currently am.

"Well, there"s no choice but to steadily and slowly explore the places around the mine. The fact that we can"t do anything unless we do so can"t be helped anyway."

"Yes. Besides, Master"s main purpose is to research immortality after all."

Said Uni.

Just as she said, for me territory management is, to put it nicely, a source of funding for my research, or to put it badly, it"s nothing more but an unnecessary diversion. Besides, as I was being too obsessive about it, I invited trouble here in the process, and that was me pulling the cart before the horse. In other words, as I"m now under the watch of Marquis Lavallée and being sent Victor and his co, I made a huge mistake. It was something to reflect over.

"Then, we"re mostly done here, shall we put the last finis.h.i.+ng touch and then go home? Heeeey, Charl! Do one more thing for me please!"

"Ye, yees…."

Charl, who wobblingly comes near after being called, is covered with mud after he rolled over here and there. Rather than a vampire lord, he looks like a freshly resurrected zombie from the bottom of the earth.

However, his skill as a necromancer, being an undead himself now, is one of the best in the continent. I"d say he"s probably among the top three now.

Well, from now on I"m just going to squander that talent in wasteful jobs, though.

"Well then, please begin to set it up."

"Yees…. five High Skeleton, wasn"t it? If it"s only that much, there"s still plenty of leeway even without me chanting."

So he said as he snapped his right hand finger that was out of his mantle.

— Instantly , a sudden change occurred.

The corpses of the monsters that he slaughtered along the way began to gather in one spot. And then they were compressed by an otherworldly force, losing their material form in the process as they turned into black particles. The particles were a form of  negative energy, also dubbed as miasma. Although it"s harmful ordinary lifeforms, long pract.i.tioners of dark magic and monsters of darkness may manipulate it to cause various phenomenon.

"Oh… brethren in the dark, my kinsmen! Serve this beautiful and n.o.ble self, serve with bravery in your devotion! "CREATE SKELETON"!!"

Charl was floating a menacingly exalted smile, perhaps from the ecstasy of being in touch with the miasma as an undead,  as he was casting his spell. That sight of his was truly becoming of a "Vampire Lord", the wretched king of the undead.

However—-

"Hey, didn"t this guy say something about not going to chant a while back?"

"…. If memory serves, the words for the spell "Create Skeleton" isn"t anything like that."

"Perhaps it"s an improvised poem. Though I will refrain from commenting about it."

— The other three just had to say their riposte like that, though.

In the meantime, the miasma clears up, and the end product of Charl"s spell appears.

For some reason, the bluish skeletons are bleached in atrocity, and each of these monsters are carrying a rough-looking sword and s.h.i.+eld that appeared out of nowhere. The so-called Skeleton, or perhaps calling them High Skeleton, the superior species among them, would be more appropriate. There"s exactly five of them, just as I ordered.

"How strange though. The corpses were that of the goblins and orcs, but no matter how I look at it, I don"t see anything but human skeleton."

"That"s a given! Rather than keeping the deceased soul inside dead body and turn it into an undead, I turn the dead body into a material and grant it a temporary life instead, thus it was a completely new undead. For a pract.i.tioner my level, doing something like changing the shape of their bones is E-A-S-Y!"

"This guy"s mood surely fluctuates too much for every little thing…."

The other masterpieces gazes the dancing Charl with exasperation in their eyes.

If it goes this far, then I suppose this is his inherent nature? It appears to be so. He was always a timid one during his time in the academy, but when he"s intimidated or being ordered, he still curls himself up even now. He stuttered slightly in the past, so I couldn"t get it, but apparently, there were times when he might had been in high spirits as well.

"Hey, hey, pay attention to the job until the very end. Be sure to set up instructions for them too, okay?"

"Ahahaha! Thaaat"s an easy task—-!"

Though it wasn"t much of a job, perhaps because he got to show off his specialty, he sure is in a good mood. Since it"s better to be feeling happy when doing jobs, I"ll just leave him alone.

"Hear me here, okay, you people? "Draw whoever that trespa.s.ses into this cave into the interiors and then kill them". "You don"t have to chase anyone who escapes". And—–"

"And thus the High Skeletons are set in these caverns, I suppose it"ll get rid of goblins and other wild monsters."

That"s how it is. Normally that"d be the adventurers" job, but unfortunately, on top of having poor transportation links, this Marlin is a land with only a few things going on in it. There"s no reason for the middle-cla.s.s and upper adventurers to come here, and there"s no way a fledgling adventurer would have the funds to go all the way here in the first place.

There"s one guild branch established here, but that"s just one single branch in a large countryside where there"s comparatively no people in it, and virtually no business is going on in there. Their primary job is mainly receiving and sending stuffs like letters, it gets to the point where they"re probably better off putting the "post office" sign there. Of course, there"s no adventurer that"ll accept subjugation quests there. So if you want to get rid of a monster in the Marlan Viscountcy, you"ll have to take the trouble to ask the guilds in the neighbouring counties, or the citizens will do it themselves, or the lord— that"s me— will suppress them personally.

However, the first options costs too much money. The second option has the risk to develop the vigilante groups into rebel groups if they"re left alone and thus there"s a security concern there. The last option, the third, is troublesome for us. No, it isn"t because I"m lazy. The problem is that the monsters around here are low-leveled, and thus there"s no decent drops that may compensate me for the labour of going around here and there. Using the military under my control, if I move them around poorly, may incur the costs of procuring provisions, weapons, and other various troublesome costs.

So i decided to place some familiars in the dungeon which was the monsters" colony to exterminate them. Once set up, they will automatically hunt the wild monsters for a long period of time. Also, if I were to keep the familiars" degree of usage as it is, there won"t be a fuss, even in the one of a million chance if the common-folk or (as if they"d have the interest to come this far into the sticks) some adventurers with idle curiosity were to discover them.

I"m able to make adequate familiars using alchemy, but as I thought in the end that"ll just reek of being the job of an alchemist somewhere. And surely someone will eventually link me with the monsters that would appear in the caverns. Among the most promising candidates to do so, though I won"t mention any names, would be a certain immature count when compared to his little brother, or a certain marquis who happened to sire a b.a.s.t.a.r.d in his old age.

And that"s why I asked Charl, a genuine necromancer, to create High Skeletons, which may naturally occur and are possible to control. Of course, if it"s just the for the "Create Skeleton" spell, then Uni or Drei can do it, heck even I can do at least that much. But, leaving goblins aside, it"s hard to make a skeleton that can win against orcs. In addition, as we"re weak in the subject of handling spirits, the accuracy of our instructions would also decrease, and a real human corpse would be needed to create one of them as well. It"s not about the ability of the spellcaster, it"s about the spellcaster"s affinity to Death Magic.

Eh?  If I need a corpse as a material, then won"t I be able to get no matter how much I need from the lab, you say? Please stop joking. Even by chance,  I can"t leave any traces of my experiment outside. It"s not because I"m afraid that I left some traces of surgery there, it"s just that being careful where I should be is my principle. Ever since I was still in the capital, other than valuable samples of the corpses that came out of the experiments, I will properly burn all corpses until their bone breaks….. Though, when I had to leave for Marlin, I couldn"t take the samples with me, so I had to burn them as well,

Ah, it seems Charl will finish his job soon.

"—- Right, that"s the end of it. I"m done setting up instructions, Oubeniel-kun."

"Well done. Shall we return then?"

As soon as I said so, everyone else gathers around Drei. Using the s.p.a.ce transition magic "Greater Teleportation", we"d be able to the mansion we"ve grown familiar of in an instant.

"Such a convenient thing, huh, this transition magic is. Thanks to it, even under this winter skies, we can still fly back home."

Remarked Due keenly. That"s right. It"s winter now. Charl"s augmentation has just been completed. Though I suppose a reasonable person would"ve figured that out.

"In exchange of that, the spell eats away my mana, and if it fails we"ll fly straight into the walls. Don"t let go of my hand, alright? The farther away you are from me the more likely you"ll run into a transition accident… Master, your hand, please."

I took upon on her words and grabbed her hand. Due is holding her other hand. Uni and Charl are nearby. If it"s those two, even if by chance there"s a mistake, their surgery will interfere and readjust their position so as to prevent them from running into an accident. As for me, magic suppression skill aside, because of the problem of absolute quant.i.ty involved,  it"s hard for me to step in when it comes to transition.

After Drei was done chanting a drawn-out chant so as to execute the spell perfectly, she closed her eyes and called the name of the spell in the end.

"….. "Greater Teleportation"!"

The providence of nature distorts, and through the dimensional wall we leave the abandoned tunnel. As long as the remaining skeletons do their job properly, we won"t return here for a while.

"I see…. and so, at this stage, mining the likely deposits will be quite extortive."

After he marked the map based from the information received from Drei"s investigation in red, Victor raised his face. Due to his ability and his status, he now occupies the position that"s akin to the chief of the domestic officials. Well, his predecessors was morally compromised and wasn"t that skilled in the first place, though. Contrary to my expectation, with his known merit, the whole deal should not be a trouble for him.

"Although the amount of materials are more abundant than expected, it"s a shame that because of the cost and current technology, its practical uses is unexpectedly few."

"Good grief, Though even if it can be excavated, mineral poisoning will appear here and there and it"ll be quite tough to deal. So on the contrary, the fact that it has extortive cost seems to be a good thing."

I said while relaxing on the office"s chair. Even though I"ve wholly delegated most of the job, I"m still obligated to put out a word when it comes to deciding important matters and anything related to alchemy. Especially in this subject, which revolves around the mine as a source of valuable material. If I can"t be serious at times like these, there"ll be quite the noise after this. Although their brain prevents them from betraying me, it won"t stop them from reprimanding me.

"You have a point. Well, in light of our current financial position, I"m afraid that we can"t afford to invest in mines."

"So, from your viewpoint, which is the ideal spot for you?"

"This spot, it"s where copper, tin and lead overlaps. There"s also mountains where gold and silver can be mined, but I"m worried that the country will b.u.t.t in if we were to dig those out."

Riiight, it"s never that simple huh? To put it the other way, a mountain of gold, or silver, will be put directly under the king.

"How unfortunate… if we can dig those gold and silver ourselves, I"d be able to make  as much magic equipment as I"d like."

"Your excellency."

"Ah, yes. Got it, got it, I"m properly listening. You recommended this triple deposit yes? I"ll also make estimates for the pollution control facility later, so let me consult this to the person in charge."

I responded hurriedly to his unexpectedly piercing reaction. Victor and Laubert, these people surprisingly don"t pamper me. Though that part was my doing, times like these would make think that it"d be better for me if I were to make them a bit more reasonable.

"I"m really asking you here. Mineral poisoning is a serious case….  Well then, on to the next issue. It"s about the construction of your formal mansion that was entrusted to Laubert."

"As I thought, was the land I wanted no good?"

I asked proactively.

The matter in question was about the planned construction site for my residence. I"ve selected myself a place where the land"s spiritual power is good, which is suitable for building in alchemy lab.

However, there"s some problems there…..

"Of course it"s no good. The designated land was far too detached from the town. It can"t be used as an administrative centre that way. The one you proposed within the town is also out of the question. Isn"t it the place where the church currently is? You"re going to destroy a church in order to build your residence, even your low reputation will go rock-bottom this time around, you know?"

Victor"s reply was within my expectations.

The land where the spiritual power is strong and within the boundary of the town is mostly dominated by the church. Its purpose is so the priests may use it as a ritual ground in order to cast large-scaled holy magic. If I were to forcibly take the land from them, it means I"d be adding even religion into the long list of my enemies. Besides, as recovery magic is practised there, the church of this world also functions as a hospital. If the lord were to destroy it out of his own selfishness, it"ll be inevitable that the support of the people will plummet.

On the other hand, if administrative processing capability were to decline because the residence was built far from the town, then my fault in the eyes of the lot from the capital will soar as well. How troubling.

"Better yet, can you just make your laboratory separate from the residence?"

"I won"t be troubled if that"s possible. But, think about it. Every single day, the lord is seen to be entering and leaving a mysterious facility in a place out of town. If my brother and your father were to hear about it, they"ll gleefully come to investigate. To make matters worse, ever since I got here, my research has become too radical."

"That"s your just deserts though? As if dark elven slave wasn"t enough, now you went as far as dragging a vampire into this. Had I not been brainwashed, I"d find myself running to the church, the High Court, or the Adventurer"s Guild."

Even though his lord is venting about his problems, that"s what this va.s.sal is oncert.

I reflexively looked up to the heavens.

"Ah, good grief….. I thought I just got back from a dim underground dungeon, and now there"s this. Sigh, can"t I ever catch a break——–"

At that time. There were something flas.h.i.+ng in my mind.

—– Better yet, can you just make your laboratory separate from the residence? —–

—– I thought I just got back from a dim underground dungeon —–

—–  If we can dig those gold and silver ourselves, I"d be able to make as much magic equipment as I"d like —-

—–  Huge golems to deploy there, shouldn"t we able excavate it right away? —–

—– Such a convenient thing, huh, this transition magic is ———–

Those words became a dot, then a line was created between them, as they linked with each other, they build a picture.

This is… by any chance, could this idea be viable?

Or rather, how come I couldn"t figure out something this simple?"

"Your Excellency? Are you okay?”

"—- That"s right, yes. If it"s like that, then won"t it all be okay? In the unlikely event where their investigating hands were to break into the residence, with this move, it shouldn"t be a problem…."

Paying no attention to Victor"s words,  I was piecing the plan together.

After I finished my trial calculation, I rose from my chair and called her.

"Uni."

"Yes, by your side."

Victor"s eyes went round as he saw Uni appeared without a sound, but I ignore him.

I don"t do it so much now, and besides, Uni appearing as soon as I call her should already be a common knowledge around these parts.

"The construction of the lab will be moved ahead of schedule. We can"t afford to leisurely wait until the snow thaws. Let"s start right now."

"As you wish."

"Ple, Please wait, Your Excellency. Lab construction, right now, you said? Where would that be? And what about the new residence?"

Victor"s somewhat noisy. But well, if he hears this idea, he"ll be silent and go along with it.

"As for the plane for the new residence, I"Il leave it to Laubert and you. Build it wherever you wish. If you"re the one building it, even when it"s seen from the n.o.bleman’s perspective, you won"t build that much of a weird building now, will you?"

"That goes without saying though …"

"But you"ll have to make a mansion with a large bas.e.m.e.nt in it. You can build it under the pretext of storage, or wine cellar."

"Will that be fine for the lab?"

"As you suggested, I decided to build it apart from the living quarters. The place is… right."

After thinking for a moment, I pointed to a spot in the map.

"Let"s build it here. It"s decided."

As he saw the spot where I pointed at, without his usual grace of a young n.o.bleman, Victor"s mouth hung open.

It"s probably because the construction site I proposed. On top of being too far detached from the town, no matter how one might think about it, it"s impossible to make something like a lab there.

But, that"s where the idea is brilliant.

"Ju, just what are thinking, Your Excellency!? Your Excellency!?"

As I hear his confused voice which I hadn"t heard for quite a while, I and Uni left the office.

I walked in an excited, exhilarated manner that was so unlike me.

Although one of the va.s.sals who pa.s.sed me in the hallway found it creepy, I didn"t pay it any mind.

"It"s good that Master"s happy. Well then, what might you be thinking of?"

"Yes, well, hear me out."

To Uni who boldly asked me, I confided her in the idea that I just thought of.

As if she had just heard something impossible, she blinked her eyes several times over.

"That was quite the outrageous idea…."

"Are you opposed to it?"

"No— I do not mean it that way."

Uni seemed to be taken aback, but she soon gave me her seal of approval.

Like at that time with Charl, she said so without overlooking her apprehension no matter how small. I"m becoming more and more confident in this idea.