“Thank you, Miss Ellie,” Misha added.
I let the two of them get back to their business and entered my house. I gave Lunoa the box from Grimoire and went straight to my office so I could check and sign the last of the documents I needed to approve. More tasks would keep pouring in, but with my departure imminent, I would have no choice but to delegate.
I’d been at work for some time when a knock at the door pulled me out of my focus. Mireille entered to tell me I had a guest. It seemed she’d already finished teaching Alice for the day. I asked Mireille to show the guest in, and she soon returned with a young man who was carrying an ornate box under his arm.
“It has been a long time, Miss Ellie.” The young man gave a polite bow.
“Oh my, there is no need to show such courtesy to a commoner such as myself, Viscount Grint Sarjas Leysteria.”
Grint smiled awkwardly at my remark. This young man was the former ruler of the Kingdom of Sarjas. After the border conflict, Sarjas had been incorporated into the empire as a new region. Grint was now a subordinate of Margrave Lebrick—or as I knew him, Lucas.
“Allow me to extend my belated congratulations on receiving your title,” I continued.
At first, Grint had been used as a puppet consul, but he’d shown everyone that he was in fact a skilled administrator. In addition to that, the people of Sarjas had begged for clemency for their former prince with such intensity that the imperial government had decided to bestow a new name and a new title upon him. He now had some level of authority and helped govern the region under Lucas’s leadership.
“Thank you,” he said. “I was certain the emperor would make an example out of me by having me executed, but this serves as a reminder that none of us can truly know what fate tomorrow holds.”
“Well, no one knows Sarjas better than you do.”
“That is true.” He paused for a moment. “I came by to give you this, since I was in the capital.” Grint held out the intricate box.
“I’m sorry for making you go out of your way.”
“Don’t worry about it. I could have let someone else do it, but I wanted to thank you in person.”
“I haven’t done anything deserving of your thanks.”
Grint laughed. “You’ve been secretly making sure my mother and sister have lived comfortably since they arrived in the capital, haven’t you?”
“That’s Lord Lucas’s doing, not mine. There isn’t much I can do in my current situation.”
“I’ve thanked Margrave Lucas personally too.” He bowed to me once again.
I told him to lift his head, and I took the box. “I’m glad this arrived in time.”
After the terror attack on the capital, I had sent someone to Milista to retrieve something for me. Milista was the village that was raising my aqua crawlers in order to produce aqua silk. It had initially been a tiny place, but after news of the aqua silk had spread, many talented alchemists and artisans had gathered there. It continued to grow bigger by the day, and it would soon be large enough to be called a city.
I lifted the lid of the box and took out a vial. Inside the transparent tube was a liquid just as clear.
“This...just looks like water,” Grint commented. He brought his face closer to the vial, perplexed.
In exchange for my support, the alchemists and artisans who lived in Milista periodically reported their discoveries and progress to me. When something caught my eye—either as a prospective product or for my personal use—I sent the inventor additional funds so that they could continue developing it. Something in one of the latest research reports I’d read had piqued my interest so much that I’d just had to get my hands on the product as quickly as possible.
Mireille read through the letter from the alchemist that had come with the box. Once she was done, she turned to me.
“He named this magic item ‘crystal thread.’ That sounds a bit grand.”
“Well, alchemists often retain the right to name their inventions,” Grint commented.
“That’s fine. I’m the one who agreed to let them keep that right when they first assembled in Milista, after all.”
I picked up the vial. The material it was made of looked just like regular glass, but it was actually a modified alloy made with magic metal that was far more durable. Mireille passed me the note from the alchemist, and I read through it quickly. Once I was done, I opened the vial, poured mana into it, and turned it over. The liquid inside transformed into a thin thread, which fell out of the vial.
“It seems to work as intended,” I said.
This crystal thread was a magic item created using aqua silk. It normally was in a liquid state, but turned into thread when it came in contact with mana. The thickness of the thread would change based on the quantity of mana one used, ranging from thin enough to be practically invisible to as thick as a whip.
After seeing Spider’s thread techniques during the attack, I’d understood how useful this type of material could be. And so, once the mayhem in the capital had cooled down somewhat, I’d reached out to the alchemist in Milista who’d come up with this idea.
I wrapped the aqua silk thread around my finger and tried to control it like Spider had. The piece of string flew across the room and left a deep cut on the wooden door of my office.
“I need some training, don’t I?”
Controlling this would prove to be more difficult than expected. Unlike with regular thread, one needed to have full control over both water and physical objects for crystal thread. I put the strand back in the bottle before handing it to Mireille.
“Mireille, please send an additional reward to the person who invented this.”
“Understood, miss.”
I turned to Grint. “Thank you very much for delivering this to me, Viscount Grint. Will you visit your family after this?”
“Yes,” he replied. “I’ve received permission to see them while I’m in the capital.”
“I see. In that case, I’ll give you some chocolates to take to them. I happen to have some of Grimoire’s upcoming products at home.”
“I’d be most grateful. My sister wrote to me that she adores the confections from your shop.”
While a maid prepared my gift for Grint, the two of us exchanged information. Most of what he told me pertained to his work, so I took the liberty of giving him some advice. As a former prince whose nation was at war with the empire not too long ago, he wouldn’t have an easy time living here, but I trusted that Grint could make it.
After bidding him farewell and watching his carriage depart, I returned to my office. There was still much to prepare before my next trip.