“Splendid! We can keep costs this low?”
About one month after Viktor departed for the Sariel Great Forest.
Wiesel, newly put in charge of the town of Alfado, was meeting with the head of Grace Trading — the largest commercial house in the domain.
Wiesel intended to hand off the town’s practical administration to servants dispatched from this very firm.
“Indeed. The wars have ended recently and there are people to spare — we can manage at these rates.”
“Even so, less than a third of what it would cost to hire them directly through our house! At this rate we can cover everything those golems were doing with human labor and still have room to breathe.”
Wiesel looked over the estimate the head had submitted and smiled with satisfaction.
At this level, Alfado’s tax revenues would cover the cost easily.
More than that — a considerable budget surplus would remain each month.
By rights Wiesel had no claim to pocket that surplus himself — but reporting the town’s finances honestly to his father was the last thing on his mind. He fully intended to help himself to it.
“Still, Viktor really was a fool. All that money he freed up through those golems, and he threw it away on tax cuts. What was the point of that?”
“Quite so. Because of that peculiar tax reduction policy of his, small and mid-sized trading houses have been springing up all over town. More competition for us — more trouble, if I’m honest.”
“Hmm. Wealth only has meaning when it’s put to good use by the right people — people like us. What do the poor do when they get a bit of coin? Spend it on cheap liquor and ugly women, that’s what.”
With that, Wiesel clapped his hands.
A maid of fine appearance appeared immediately, carrying a bottle of the finest wine.
——Yes. Wealth only has meaning when spent on beautiful things like this.
Wiesel raised the wine to his lips and felt that truth in his bones.
“Once the money’s built up, I’d like to start renovating the mansion as soon as possible. Viktor covered every inch of the place in those bizarre contraptions of his.”
He looked around the room with an expression of distaste.
The mansion’s interior was entirely utilitarian — experimental equipment and stacked-up reference materials cluttered every corner.
The chaotic state of it was completely at odds with Wiesel’s sensibilities.
He hadn’t touched it yet since just arriving, but his intention was to eventually dispose of everything and fill the place with art.
“Speaking of which — what became of the golems? When I visited the other day you seemed at a loss over what to do with them.”
“I sold them off as scrap metal this morning. Would it have been better to sell them to your firm?”
“Oh no — we’re not in the antiques trade.”
The head said it with a laugh.
In his understanding, deactivated golems were nothing but a disposal headache worth next to nothing.
An ancient artifact might fetch a decent price even then — but something made by the idiot third son of an earldom? No great expectations there.
So Wiesel and the head were sitting there chatting, when the butler suddenly opened the door.
“Lord Wiesel, you have a visitor.”
“Can you not see I’m in a meeting with Lord Laporte? Have them wait.”
“Well, the thing is……the visitor claims to be a Sage of the White Tower.”
“A Sage!?”
In his shock, Wiesel nearly spilled his wine.
The organization known as the Tower — the world’s foremost research institution.
Its full members were called Sages, and in the world of magic they held the highest authority and capability.
Even a king of a sovereign nation was expected to receive them with a certain degree of deference.
What whim had brought such a person to a regional city like this.
Half in a daze, Wiesel snapped out instructions.
“I’m terribly sorry, Lord Laporte — the rest will have to wait! Please, see yourself out for today!”
“Oh — yes, of course.”
“Show the Sage to this sitting room at once! And don’t forget the finest confections and tea!”
“Y-yes, my lord!”
Wiesel and his people scrambled to prepare a proper welcome.
A few minutes later.
They had just barely gotten the room into a presentable state when the butler gave two quiet knocks.
“Come in.”
“Hello. I’m Eris, a Sage. Are you Lord Viktor, the one governing this town?”
The person who stepped into the room was a young woman with long black hair.
Sharply defined features, and skin as fine and white as snow.
Tall in stature, with a figure that had no shortage of appeal.
——Beautiful.
The woman’s extraordinary looks struck Wiesel with something almost like a shaft of light.
But the woman who’d given her name as Eris spoke with perfect composure.
“You don’t seem to be listening, so let me ask again — are you Lord Viktor?”
“N-no! I’m Wiesel, Viktor’s elder brother!”
“I see. I heard Lord Viktor was governing this town and came on that basis, but……”
“I’m the one governing this town now. Does the Sage have some business with my brother?”
When Wiesel asked, Eris reached into the bag she was carrying and produced a disc-shaped object.
It was a cleaning golem Viktor had developed.
It was an early model from quite some time back, so Wiesel knew well enough what it was and what it did.
“I had some things I wanted to ask about this golem.”
“……About this piece of junk?”
“Junk? You don’t understand what this is worth?”
Eris stared at him, eyes wide, with an expression of utter disbelief.
Wiesel hadn’t the faintest idea what she meant.
As far as he was concerned, a golem that did nothing but clean while making a racket was completely worthless.
“Never mind that. Where is Lord Viktor? Surely you’d know, being brothers.”
“Viktor was……he received a sentence of banishment……”
“What!? Then — are there any golems left? Depending on what there is, I’d pay a hundred gold coins without hesitation.”
Eris pulled a small pouch from her chest and placed it on Wiesel’s desk with a motion that was almost a slam.
Through the half-open mouth of the pouch, large rubies, sapphires, and other gemstones were visible.
Only first-rate stones — the kind even Wiesel, upper nobility, had rarely laid eyes on.
“Y-you would give me these!?”
“If there are golems.”
“There are — as many as you could want — aaaahhh!?“
At that moment, Wiesel remembered.
The golems in the mansion — he’d handed them over to the scrap dealer because they were in the way.
He’d literally been talking about it just moments ago.
A collection of gems worth conservatively several thousand gold coins……was beyond his reach now……!!
Wiesel was filled with despair at the size of what he’d let slip away.
And that wasn’t all — this Sage had been willing to pay that kind of fortune to get her hands on those golems.
When she found out he’d scrapped them, what would she——!
“……Are you alright?”
“The thing is……the golems……all the golems……I turned them to……scrap……!”
He forced the words out while shaking with dread.
Eris went completely still.
A single beat of silence.
Mere seconds in reality — to Wiesel it felt like an eternity.
And then——
“What in the bloody hell have you done!!!!!“
Eris’s cry — a full-throated scream that came from the very depths of her soul — rang through the mansion.