Two days after I received the vial of crystal thread from Grint, we set out on our next adventure.
“We’re going to the city of the dwarves, right, mama?”
“Yes, Alice,” I replied. “The Hephaest Marquessate used to be the country of the dwarves. It was called the Hephaest Kingdom then. When the empire started growing its sphere of influence, that kingdom was integrated into the empire without a fight as one of its regions.”
“There wasn’t a war?” Lunoa asked.
“No,” Mireille replied. “At the time, the empire’s military was incredibly powerful. In comparison, the capital of the Hephaest Kingdom, which was located in a volcanic zone, relied heavily on food imports to survive. After the empire annexed Hephaest’s neighboring nations, the elites understood that they wouldn’t be able to win and chose to surrender before a war even started. In response, the emperor made the former king a marquess, and not a single drop of blood was spilled.”
“So the marquess is the king of the dwarves?” Misha asked.
“The current Marquess of Hephaest is the grandson of the last king,” Mireille told her.
Lunoa’s and Misha’s eyes widened in surprise at Mireille’s answers, but Alice didn’t appear to really understand all of it. She gave up and started playing with Carol’s tail instead. As always, the carbuncle was perched on her head.
“If I’m not mistaken, Hephaest’s two main industries are the export of high-quality ores and the trade of weapons and precious alloys crafted from those ores with the dwarves’ advanced techniques,” Lunoa said.
“You’re correct,” I replied. “That hasn’t changed from the days of the Hephaest Kingdom.”
“Does this mean Traitre will be delving into that industry?” Misha asked.
“At the moment, that isn’t my plan. The special magic ores that can be mined in the marquessate could be interesting ingredients for our cosmetics, but there are heavy restrictions on their import.”
“Even as a Special License holder, you weren’t given permission?!”
“Without a Special License, I wouldn’t even have been able to put in a request,” I said. “While the Hephaest Marquessate is part of the empire, the way it’s governed is closer to that of a vassal state. Trade requests are made to the empire’s Merchants’ Guild, but the marquess has the final say.”
“So, to obtain permission, you’ll actually need to negotiate with the marquess himself.”
“If I were to put a branch store on the table, he might very well agree,” I said. “But I’m not certain that it’s a good idea to increase the number of branches we have before we’re fully prepared. I’d like to avoid that.”
“What makes you think we’re not prepared?” Lunoa asked. “Considering Traitre’s size, setting up a few more branches shouldn’t be too hard.”
Lunoa had truly grown a lot. She was right. At the moment, Traitre had the funds and personnel to set up new branches.
“You’re not wrong,” I said, “but I’d like to be more deliberate with them. Establishing a branch solely to gain access to their ore feels like a poor return.”
“What would convince you to open a branch in Hephaest, then?”
“At the moment, what Traitre needs most is access to new markets. Since we’ve secured a port, the next step is to find a location within the empire that can serve as a logistics hub—or at least be used as a stepping stone toward that goal.”
“A logistics hub... Then what we want is a place connected to major highways that’s booming with trade.”
“Exactly. Find me such a place, Lunoa.”
“I will!”
When the sun started setting, we stopped the carriage at a campsite and got everything ready for the night. Once we were done, I started sparring with Lunoa and Misha. Today, we were working on empty-handed combat, so no one was using a weapon. I allowed skills and magic as long as they didn’t include incantations.
“Acceleration!”
Lunoa used a simple wind enchantment to speed up her motion and swung her fist at me. I ducked under it and unleashed a kick at Misha as she ran at me. She jumped and landed on my extended leg before kicking off from it to leap even higher.
“Miss Lunoa!” she exclaimed.
“Magic Shield.”
Lunoa had just used a nonattribute defensive spell that created a shield out of mana. It was incredibly simple to pull off and was one of the first spells mages usually learned. The drawback was that it took relatively little strength to break the shield. However, Lunoa had conjured it right above her own head. Instead of using it to defend against me, Misha landed on top of it, using it as yet another platform so she could leap again. She curled up and started shaking her tail vigorously to spin in the air, falling toward me with her heel facing downward.
“Chasing Kick!”
Thanks to Lunoa’s Magic Shield, Misha had been able to delay her attack masterfully. However, I still blocked her easily with my left arm.
At that moment, Mireille called for us. “Everyone, it’ll be night soon. Please wrap up today’s training session.”
“Mireille’s right,” I said. “That last attack was good, you two.”
Lunoa and Misha exchanged a look with each other and smiled sheepishly.
“But you still managed to block it with one hand, Miss Ellie...” Misha said.
I tilted my head to the side in confusion before realizing that I hadn’t told them what had happened.
Mireille had noticed what I’d done, though. “Miss Ellie used the skill Body Fortification against the two of you for the very first time today.”
“Body Fortification? How is that different from the usual body reinforcement technique?”
“Do you remember the two types of body reinforcement I taught you about before?” I asked.
“Yes. External reinforcement and internal reinforcement.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Internal reinforcement is about cycling mana through one’s body to reinforce it from the inside. That is how you achieve body reinforcement using a skill. External reinforcement means forming a layer of mana outside your body so it can protect you like armor. That, on the other hand, is a spell.”
I’d taught the girls this in the past. I looked at each of them to make sure they were following before continuing. “Body Fortification uses both of these techniques. The point is to reinforce your body from both the outside and the inside simultaneously.”
“Does that mean you have to cycle your mana internally to improve your physical abilities while also wrapping yourself in a layer of mana?” Misha asked.