Two days after I sent a reply to the marquess, we boarded the carriage he’d sent to our inn. For once, we were all wearing gowns.
The marquess’s residence stood near the center of the city. With its unrefined yet sturdy walls, it resembled a fortress more than a manor. In fact, it had been one of the dwarves’ strongholds before their kingdom had passed under the dominion of the empire.
I couldn’t help but gasp in admiration when we entered the fortress. In contrast to the plain exterior, the interior was brightly lit and decorated with fine sets of armor, weapons, and detailed gold-and-silver smithwork.
“Th-That’s adamant!” Lunoa squealed, fixated on an ore that rested atop a display stand.
She must have used Item Analysis on it after wondering why a plain block of ore would be displayed alongside all of these wonderfully crafted objects.
“It’s very impressive,” I said. “I’ve never seen such a large specimen of natural adamant either.”
“Mama, what’s adamant?” Alice asked.
“Adamant is an alloy of mithril and orichalcum,” I replied. “It’s extremely rare for it to occur naturally and—” I paused after realizing that Alice hadn’t understood anything I’d just said. “Hmm... Let’s just say it’s a very expensive rock.”
“That rock costs a lot? How much?” she asked.
“Let me see... With that rock, you could buy twenty houses like the one we have in the capital.”
“Really?! Amazing!”
A loud laugh interrupted our conversation. “It looks like your little lady has a good eye.”
The voice belonged to a dwarf. Like others of his race, he was short in stature, but his muscles were so well trained that I could see them bulging through his ceremonial clothes. He was in his prime and exuded confidence. The servant who’d been guiding us through the fortress was so shocked to see him that he let out a yelp.
“M-My lord?! How many times have I stressed the importance of welcoming guests in the drawing ro—”
“Oh, stop nagging me. It’s no big deal! I listened to you and didn’t go fetch them at their inn. That’s good enough already, isn’t it?” The marquess completely disregarded his troubled servant and extended his hand to me. “Nice to meet you. I’m Lekius, the head of House Hephaest.”
Lekius led us through the corridors of his fortress. However, instead of taking us to a drawing room, he brought us to a dining hall. The table had already been set.
Etiquette dictated that a host should take a visiting merchant like me to a drawing room for a chat before any meal, but Lekius didn’t seem to care about abiding by conventions.
“Everyone knows that conversations are much livelier after a glass or two,” he said. “Come, let us have a carefree meal.”
He’d made his stance clear enough. We all sat down as our eyes roamed over the lavish spread of dwarf cuisine on the table. Lekius—or perhaps his servants—had thought of everything: There was even a small basket full of magic gemstones in front of Alice for Carol to eat. It was a thoughtful gesture, but the level of preparedness reminded me that I couldn’t leave anything to chance either.
We made small talk as we ate. After the dessert, the servants brought another course of alcohol and snacks.
Lekius looked over at Alice. “Children can’t enjoy alcohol. Someone can take little Alice to another room to play. I believe we have some picture books for her.”
“Misha, could you accompany Alice?” I asked.
Alice and Misha left the room with one of Lekius’s servants. Then, our host turned to me.
“Now then, Miss Ellie, I hate to beat around the bush, so I’ll be direct. Won’t you open a store in my city?”
Sure enough, that was the point of this meeting. The Hephaest Marquessate was thriving economically thanks to its abundance of various ores, but those were finite resources. Lekius’s plan to invite influential merchants to develop other industries in his territory was a good one, but...
“I’m terribly sorry to disappoint you, but I have no plans to open any more branch stores right now.”
“I’ll give you tax cuts,” Lekius said.
“That isn’t the issue,” I replied. “My firm isn’t stable enough to support many branches at this moment. That’s why I’d like to take my time and carefully consider any further expansions before I take the leap.”
“I see. Does that mean there is a chance you’ll choose my territory after this period of ‘careful consideration’?”
“Why, of course, my lord. When I feel that Traitre is ready, I’m certain that your marquessate will be the first place that comes to mind.”
“In that case, there’s no reason for me to nag you just yet. Let’s focus on a smaller business deal for now.”
Lekius had backed down even more quickly than I’d anticipated. After discussing a few ore contracts with him, we got ready to go pick up Alice and Misha so we could leave. As Lekius led the way through the corridors, we heard screaming coming from the lower floor.
“As I keep telling you, our lord is busy with guests at the moment—”
“It doesn’t matter! Let me through! This is an emergency!”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“It sounds like people are arguing downstairs,” Lunoa said.
“Sorry about that,” Lekius replied. “Something must have happened.”
He headed toward the entrance, and we followed.
“What’s the meaning of this?!” he asked as we arrived at the entrance hall.
There, a young dwarf woman was arguing with several of Lekius’s servants.
“My lord!”
“Uncle!”
The voice sounded familiar. I peeked into the hall and saw Kagali, Gaien’s disciple, being held back by Lekius’s servants.
“Kagali! I’m entertaining guests right now!”
“Wait, uncle, I—”
“I’ll hear you out later.” He turned to the two servants who were holding Kagali’s arms. “You two! Drag her away and have her wait somewhere else!”
Lekius had made the proper decision as a nobleman hosting guests. However, Kagali seemed truly desperate, and she wasn’t a stranger to me, so I decided to lend her a helping hand.
“Please wait, my lord,” I said. “It seems to be an emergency. Perhaps it would be wise to hear her out.”
“Hmm... Fine. Come, then.”
The servants who’d been holding Kagali let go of her, and we all followed the marquess to a drawing room.
Lekius addressed us once we’d taken our seats. “First of all, let’s have this fool apologize for causing a commotion.”
“Yes, uncle... Ellie, I’m so sorry for interrupting...”
“It’s all right,” I said. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Miss Ellie, have you and Kagali met?” the marquess asked.
“Indeed. I made her acquaintance when I visited Mr. Gaien’s store.”
“I see. And I’m sure this foolish girl only introduced herself as Gaien’s disciple, didn’t she?”
“I’m going to take over his business when he retires! What am I if not his disciple?!” Kagali argued.
“I don’t seem to recall him ever accepting you as his disciple.” Lekius let out a deep sigh. “Her name is Kagali Drafan. She’s my niece and Gaien’s daughter.” Kagali clicked her tongue in irritation, but Lekius paid her no mind. “So, what happened?”
“My master went to mine some ores, but he hasn’t come back,” she replied.
“Well, it’s not so rare for Gaien to return later than planned, right?”
“Look at this!” She took out a brooch inlaid with a gem. There was a big crack in it.
“Is that a resonance stone?” I asked.
“Yes,” Kagali answered.
“What’s a resonance stone?” Lunoa asked. She regarded Kagali’s brooch with a puzzled look.
Lunoa’s unique spell, Item Analysis, didn’t allow her to inspect objects that she had no prior knowledge of, and I doubted she’d ever heard of this particular magic item. It was fairly uncommon.