Another Plan

It turned out that when the Young Lady was in a good mood, those around her would be in a good mood as well.

Leisiphia cast a glance at the maid behind her, and the maid, as if she could read her mind, asked, "Since the custom edition game table will take longer to produce, could the deluxe edition game table be shipped out sooner?"

Are you planning to buy a deluxe edition to play with while waiting for the custom one?

I haven't even considered the standard edition!

You detestable rich people, meow!

Mithril grumbled inwardly, but replied obediently, "For the deluxe edition, it will be available in about three months."

"Three months... then could you reserve fifty units for me first?"

"Meow?!"

Leisiphia smiled. "I intend to donate a game room to my school."

The problem is that our production volume isn't that high!

The biggest issue with alchemical products is the lack of output! Fifty units is practically our entire inventory!

Mithril fell silent for two seconds, its ears twitching. "Your school is Cecilia Public School, right? If you want to build a game room for the public school, this cat feels you won't need that many game tables. On the contrary, have you seen the Workshop's Magic Projection Screen and the Leaderboard? Those would be much more suitable for a game room... How about this? If you don't mind, we can design a luxurious Magic Game Room plan specifically for you."

"That would be wonderful." Leisiphia smiled, covering her mouth with her fan.

However, such a large expenditure was clearly nothing to the Young Lady.

She didn't even intend to personally understand the specific details of the entire project.

Leisiphia said, "I will have my butler contact you later regarding the specific matters. Sorry for the trouble."

Angell was also shocked by the sheer wealth of this Young Lady.

Although he had originally thought the Young Lady was a fat sheep, he hadn't expected that the wool from just one person could single-handedly support an entire wool textile factory.

After Leisiphia left, Angell couldn't help but ask:

"...So, where does the Roy Family's money actually come from?"

We are both one of the three great families that built Cecilia City, so why are they so rich while we are on the verge of bankruptcy!

"Don't you know?" Mithril replied, looking a bit surprised as it flicked its tail. "Back in the day, that chuunibyou from the Roy Family married the princess of his dreams, not knowing that the princess weighed 130 kilograms—even the Demon King fled after seeing her true face."

"..."

"Although the Hero seemed quite satisfied with the Princess, the King seemed quite afraid that he would hold a grudge, so he gave the Roy Family the mining rights to the country's resources for nearly a hundred years as the Princess's dowry. As it happens, the Hero of the Roy Family had a special technique for finding treasure, so the Roy Family now controls the largest mines in the country. Some even say they possess a map of the mineral distribution for half the continent."

"That is literally having a mine at home!" Angell said, his mouth twitching.

With a dowry like that, the Hero of the past couldn't refuse the Princess, and the Prince of today certainly couldn't refuse the Young Lady of the Roy Family!

Angell even felt that if one could marry such a wife, why bother struggling? Wouldn't it be nice to just be kept?

"So, if you want any materials, looking for the Roy Family is the right move," Mithril said. "But don't gouge them too hard; they aren't fools. Even the Young Lady knows that you only offered this custom service because you needed those materials."

That was true; Angell had determined the material list for the game table based on his own needs, which had nothing to do with the game table itself.

This could be considered an unspoken rule in the alchemy industry.

"Not at all, even if I didn't have a need, I would still offer custom services." Why wouldn't I earn money that's there to be made?

Mithril was more interested in the purpose of the materials. "Seriously, what kind of experiment are you planning? Are you continuing the one you were doing at the Mage Tower?"

"...I'm going to go put these contracts away," Angell said.

He tidied up the papers on the table, wrapped himself in shadows, and vanished instantly.

Seeing this, Mithril cursed, "If you don't want to say, just say so! You're always being evasive! It's not like I absolutely have to know."

As it said this, it stared at the spot where Angell had disappeared for five minutes, finally realizing:

"Ah! He escaped!"

After that, Angell refused to come out of his room no matter what.

"I've already used up my SP for the next year!"

"What the hell is SP! Can't you communicate properly with people, meow?"

"Nonsense! People who can't communicate are autistic! I'm not sick!" I just don't want to talk to people.

Angell wrapped himself tightly in his blanket.

Health is HP, Mana is MP, so Social Point must be SP.

Angell forgot where he had read a theory in his past life, but he felt it made some sense.

That theory stated that humans are divided into extroverts and introverts. Extroverts generate SP through interaction with others; the more crowded the occasion, the more energized they feel. However, if they are alone, they become anxious due to a lack of SP. Introverts are the opposite; talking to people consumes SP. When their SP hits bottom, they fall into a state of extreme fatigue and desire no interaction, and they can only recover SP by staying quietly by themselves—though they can't stay alone for too long, or their SP cap will decrease.

Angell felt he was the latter.

Angell certainly knew his social skills were fine—when he was a concept artist, he had to communicate with idiot clients; when he switched to being a planner, he had to communicate with idiot programmers and idiot artists; and when he was promoted to lead planner, he had to communicate with idiot subordinates, idiot outsourcers, and the biggest idiot boss of all.

Every time he finished communicating, Angell needed a while to recover.

Hiding away in the Mage Tower for this lifetime was far more relaxing. In that godforsaken place, one would be lucky to see a few normal living beings in an entire year. Angell had comfortably shut himself away for over a hundred years, nearly forgetting how to speak, and his social defenses had naturally withered to the absolute limit. It had taken two months of rehabilitation with Mithril and Enlise to recover, though the results were hardly significant.

If he could, Angell would gladly shut himself away for another hundred years just to recuperate his spirit.

Unfortunately, the outside world was incredibly cruel.

Mithril had called out for ages, but seeing that it couldn't coax Angell out—and considering the subsequent guests weren't particularly important—the cat simply handled them on its own.

It even helped Angell select a few reliable major merchants to serve as direct distributors for the Game Tables; after all, Mithril felt that relying solely on Thornmoon, a Blood Elf, was far too risky.

In that regard, Mithril was an exceptionally reliable Secretary Cat.

However, on the second day after the grand opening celebration, several guests arrived whom Mithril could not entertain alone.

"You cannot skip this one!" Mithril leaped out from Angell's shadow, claws bared as it gestured wildly. "The guests this time are the Mayor of Cecilia City, the Branch President of the local Magic Association, and a Magic Agent from the Eastern Territory Education Bureau!"

"Haven't I met most of them already?" Angell was busy writing a proposal for a new game and didn't want to move an inch.

Mithril had no choice but to bite his sleeve and tug him toward the door. "Those were unofficial meetings! Now that they've presented their official credentials, you must host them properly."

"Tch, what a pain." Angell stood up reluctantly, having no intention of changing his clothes.

Since two of the three had already seen him in his usual state, dressing up was entirely unnecessary.

(Mithril: Who says that! This is a matter of etiquette!)

Angell asked, "What are those guys here for? Collecting taxes?"

"What mayor comes to collect taxes in person?" Mithril retorted. "And with the Magic Association and the Department of Education in tow, no less!"

"Did Enlise get into trouble?" Angell's expression turned serious.

Mithril shot him a look of cold indifference. "Enlise is a perfectly well-behaved child; what could she possibly do to alarm the Magic Association and the Education Bureau?"

"Was she discovered to be possessed by the Demon King?"

"Do you think she's you?!" Mithril bristled.

Do I look like I'm possessed by the Demon King?

Angell followed Mithril to meet the guests, feeling quite aggrieved.

"We want to order Game Tables!"

In the parlor, two thin, elderly men with thinning, silver-white hair spoke in unison.

Angell was stunned by their straightforward attitude.

The two old men didn't wait for Angell to speak, continuing on their own:

"The Game Tables from your Workshop are truly a magnificent invention!"

"Indeed! They can actually assist with meditation."

"We believe they are incredibly useful for fostering children's interest in magic."

"So we intend to place a bulk order!"

"Name your price!"

"Name your price!"

Are these two parrots?

Angell thought blankly, his brain unable to process the rapid-fire speech.

Even Mayor Owen, who had arrived with them, found it absurd.

Owen forcibly squeezed his plump body into the corner of the sofa, attempting to distance himself from the two overly agitated old men, especially after hearing their repetitive, broken-record dialogue.

Owen rolled his eyes. "Although I was the one who told you to come, is there any need to be this impatient?"

"You don't understand at all!" said Branch President Hume of the Magic Association. "It is simply too difficult to get people interested in magic these days!"

"That's right!" echoed Agent John Amos of the Eastern Territory Education Bureau.

He was a short man, only one meter fifty-three, with a hint of Gnome ancestry that gave him large eyes and a flushed, highly expressive face.

Agent John spoke at a rapid pace: "Do you have any idea how much effort we've put into sparking children's interest in magic over the years? We've refined the entire history of magic, commissioned Grand Mages to write Rune tutorials, devised all sorts of exam questions every year, and secured special funding—yet we still can't get those children to spare a second glance at their textbooks."

...Isn't that exactly why the children aren't interested?

Angell thought.

If he had been forced to memorize a brick-thick history of magic just to learn the craft back then, he would have given up instantly.

Unfortunately, the short education agent didn't see it that way. As he spoke, his eyes turned red, and he pulled a large, floral handkerchief from Hume's robe pocket to wipe his eyes before blowing his nose loudly.

Hume had initially wanted to snatch his handkerchief back, but seeing the state of him, he gave up.

However, he was also feeling quite sentimental.

"I haven't seen people take an interest in magical items for such a long time! The last time was probably over eighty years ago, during the final Demon Race invasion, when people were scrambling to buy Mana Shields. Although the King's army eventually defeated the demons, those shields protected many people. But today's children don't even have enough mana to activate those shields."

Hume let out a long sigh. "For that reason alone, I feel we must preserve the legacy of magic!"

As they spoke, the two old men turned their red-rimmed eyes and noses toward Angell. The scene was so pathetic that Angell could hardly bear to look.

He averted his gaze behind his bangs.

Mithril, the black cat and spokesperson for Angell, said with difficulty, "This workshop is very happy about your order, meow, but if the Department of Education is placing the order, we cannot produce that many products all at once."

In fact, the order from Young Lady Leisiphia had basically saturated the workshop's production capacity.

After all, the workshop had only just recruited a few Rune Apprentices.

But upon hearing Mithril's words, the expressions of the two old men turned somewhat awkward.

They realized that their overly excited expressions seemed to have caused a misunderstanding on the workshop's side.

They looked at each other, and finally, Branch President Hume said embarrassedly, "Regarding the production volume... you don't need to worry for the time being. Although we said we wanted to purchase in large quantities, it is actually because we want to conduct a private pilot program. We want to try it out in one or two schools first to see if those game tables can spark the children's interest in learning magic..."

Then why did you talk such a big game earlier?!

This cat thought it was a massive order from the Department of Education! As it turns out, not only is it inferior to that little girl's order, but it's not even as large as the orders the previous few merchants wanted to place.

Mithril felt like spitting in these two old men's faces.

Agent John noticed the black cat's disdain and added with a smile, "But if the results are good, I will try my best to persuade the Department of Education to make a large-scale purchase!"

In other words, even if the results are good, there is no guarantee of follow-up purchasing power?

This cat really shouldn't have had any expectations for these civil servants.

Mithril immediately lost interest.

It pulled a page from the previous documents and handed it to the two old men: "According to what you said, you only need to build a game room in a certain school, like the one the young lady of the Roy House is planning to donate to Cecilia Public School?"

"Eh? Cecilia Public School is already going to have one?" Agent John asked with interest.

"That is correct," Mithril sensed something and glared at the short old man with its heterochromatic eyes, "You aren't saying you won't buy it because of that, are you?"

"...Of course not," Agent John laughed, "Aristocratic education is not quite the same as that for commoners. We cannot treat them all the same; we definitely still need to add a game room to the charity school."

However, he turned his head and muttered to Branch President Hume:

"But isn't it too expensive?"

"Wait a moment, let me see... isn't there a standard version here?"

"That's right, the standard version should be enough! The children at the charity school aren't as hard to please as those young masters and misses at the public school!"

"It's a good thing they buy it themselves!"

"Indeed!"

Listening to the two old men whispering, Mithril couldn't help but cast a cold gaze at Mayor Owen on the other side of the sofa.

Mayor Owen also looked at the two stingy old men with disdain, but when he noticed Mithril's gaze, he immediately waved his hand: "Don't look at me, I just accompanied them here!"

"Are you not planning to buy anything?" Mithril asked.

"As the mayor of Cecilia, how could I indulge in play?" Owen said righteously, "Of course, I support the operation of the Alchemy Workshop. If you encounter any trouble, feel free to come to me!"

Meow, empty promises!

Mithril immediately understood Angell's mood earlier when he didn't want to receive guests.

When guests have such high status but are so stingy, even a cat wouldn't want to deal with them.

Unfortunately, the two stingy old men couldn't hear Mithril's inner voice, or rather, they wouldn't care if they did.

After Branch President Hume put on his reading glasses and carefully studied every word on the document with Agent John, he suddenly asked: "Wait a minute, it says 'Official Edition' here. Is the one in the shop an incomplete Test Edition?"

"That is correct, meow." Mithril nodded.

"Then, would it be cheaper if we purchased the Test Edition?" Agent John asked.

"The Test Edition is not for sale!" Mithril felt like using its claws to scratch the faces of the two old men.

But as a well-bred cat, Mithril could only suppress its anger and say, "However, we will place them in various locations via a rental model. It costs 150 cent per game, and you can also sign this type of agency agreement."

A glimmer of sharpness flashed in Agent John's eyes.

He said, "It wouldn't be good to make the children pay out of their own pockets, would it! Since it's a Test Edition that is going to be phased out, wouldn't it be better to donate a batch to the charity school?"

Is he trying to avoid paying even a cent?

Mithril's body was already struggling to maintain its cat form: "Even if it is a Test Edition, it is not a discarded product."

"But..."

"How about using another plan?"

At this moment, Angell finally spoke, preventing Agent John from saying anything else that would provoke Mithril further.

Agent John still looked unwilling, but a chilling aura enveloped him, making him shiver. He revealed an expression of humiliated rage, and just as he was about to say something, Branch President Hume pulled him hard and pointed at the floor.

Agent John looked down in annoyance, and his expression froze instantly.

At some point, a pitch-black shadow had completely shrouded the area under their seats, like an abyss, ready to swallow them whole at any moment.

Only then did Agent John realize that they were not just facing the owner of an Alchemy Workshop, but a Black Robe.

A Black Robe who cared the least about human life.

John shivered and finally shut his mouth tight.

Angell finally withdrew his gaze and spoke, "I am glad you want to purchase the Game Tables, but I honestly don't think they are suitable for schools, whether it's the Official Edition or the Test Edition!"

"How will we know if we don't try?" Branch President Hume grew anxious the moment he heard that.

He had come because he saw the value of the Game Tables for meditation training, and he was, of course, serious about buying them.

--Of course, he was also serious about wanting a discount.

Hume glared at Agent John and said, "If this is because of the rude attitude just now, I can apologize! I will order Game Tables for ten schools in the name of the Magic Association."

Agent John wore an unconvinced expression and glared back.

However, perhaps because the Department of Education not having to pay was a good thing, he did not refute the suggestion.

"But as a 'game,' it is ultimately not very appropriate for children to use," Angell said.

Hume frowned, wanting to retort, but Mayor Owen caught a different meaning: "Then what is the other plan you mentioned--?"

"Mana Base Station."

"Mana Chicken Station?" Mayor Owen looked confused.

"Ah, my apologies, I let a name I came up with casually slip out," Angell said. "Actually, it is a Mana Well."

"A Mana Well?" Mayor Owen and Branch President Hume exchanged glances.

They certainly knew what a Mana Well was.

In this Plane, there were regions rich in mana and regions poor in mana; generally, mana was not static, wandering the world like wind and water.

During the Magic Era, in order to recover mana faster, Mages would build a device called a "Mana Well" in mana-rich areas, drawing mana from it as if drawing water.

However, this equipment was quite expensive and the maintenance costs were high, so it had gradually fallen into disuse in modern times.

Branch President Hume said, "If it's a Mana Well, isn't it too expensive? And it wouldn't be suitable for children..."

"Hmm, so it's not an ordinary Mana Well; it would actually be more appropriate to call it a Mana Pool," Angell said. "This is my personal research—its principle is similar to an ordinary Mana Well, but the cost is lower, and it contains less mana, nowhere near enough for several Mages to use. But within the area of the Mana Pool, the mana concentration will increase significantly. As long as simple Runes are used, magic can be cast. I can program several magic gadgets that are similar to the Game Tables but more educational in nature for the children to use for meditation."

"...And the price?" Branch President Hume asked hesitantly.

"Because this is my personal magic research, I am willing to provide the funds for this part," Angell said. "But I need the Kingdom's administrators, the heads of the Magic Association, and the Department of Education to sign a formal Magic Agreement with me, acknowledging that all subsequent research results and the wealth generated belong to me, Angell Cecilia!"

Hearing him say that, the three people present all wore expressions of suspicion.

The Black Robe opposite them, however, revealed a sinister smile, unbothered: "However, I think you will need this Magic Agreement more than I do. After all, you wouldn't want me to use the children for experiments that harm their souls and bodies, would you?"

"Would you do such a thing?" Owen asked.

He stood up, his chubby body appearing incredibly massive, and his eyes turned a dangerous crimson red.

Angell did not offer any promises: "That is why I said, both sides need constraints!"

"We can also choose not to trade with a Black Robe!" Branch President Hume said.

Angell nodded: "Of course, you can."

However, no one present explicitly proposed a refusal. On the contrary, they looked at Angell with vigilance and exchanged glances with each other, until finally, Owen said:

"Please give us some time; we will consider this seriously."