[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
CHAPTER 58
"Orichalcum..."
Gelion's fingertips trembled as he caressed Zeke's Hercyon.
"Oh my god. To think I'd see Orichalcum in my lifeti..."
"Is it that precious of a tal?"
Gelion, startled, replied,
"M-My lord! Orichalcum is said to be the most perfect material that God left in this world."
"I see. So, what is the value of this Orichalcum?"
"Orichalcum is said to have a far superior magical conductivity than any other tal. In other words, it can be inscribed with far more magic than a tal with the sa surface area."
Zeke recalled the information that had surfaced when he first registered the armor.
'Co to think of it, it was said to be engraved with twenty-eight grand magic circles.'
Zeke casually asked Gelion, "By any chance, how many grand magic circles can be engraved on ordinary armor?"
At that, Gelion made a dumbfounded expression.
"A few grand magic circles...? My lord, in the first place, large-scale magic circles cannot be engraved on ordinary armor."
Gelion said it was as difficult as engraving an entire book onto a grain of wheat.
Zeke marveled at the Hercyon he was wearing.
'Twenty-eight grand magic circles are engraved on it, which can't even be engraved on ordinary armor... Just how was this made?'
To that extent, it seed that even Cain, the original owner of this armor, did not fully understand its original function.
Zeke asked Gelion, "Would it be possible to change this armor into a different form?"
Gelion waved his hands.
"O-Orichalcum, you say? I-It's impossible."
"You say it's impossible? Is it that difficult to handle Orichalcum?"
"It's called God's tal, but it's still tal, so it can be handled sohow. But the problem is that this armor is already complete. If I touch it and the magic circles engraved in it get damaged, the armor itself may beco unusable."
Zeke understood Gelion's concerns.
'Hmm, I have no choice but to use the armor only in ergencies.'
Then Gelion spoke cautiously, "Perhaps, Master might be able to do it."
"Master Golin, you an?"
"Yes. I think Master would be able to change its appearance without affecting the functions of Hercyon."
"I see. By any chance, do you know where Golin is now?"
"As always, he'll be in Himonas, diligently crafting whatever he wants to create."
At the word Himonas, Zeke's expression hardened.
"Himonas..."
Seeing his grave expression, Gelion said to Zeke,
"You probably don't know it well. It's a region located far north."
Zeke slowly opened his mouth.
"It's the region where the Northern Duke resides."
Gelion was surprised.
"How did you know? Even people from the Central Continent don't know about the Northern Duke."
"Just... I happened to know."
At Zeke's words, Gelion realized that he didn't want to say more and, with an awkward expression, didn't ask any further.
'Himonas.'
The place he missed the most, yet hesitated to go.
Zeke himself didn't know how he would feel if he went there and saw her, so he didn't want to go rashly.
'There's still plenty of ti. Later. It won't be too late to go after I've achieved everything I want to achieve.'
Zeke gave Gelion a room and returned to his own.
He was lost in thought all night and couldn't fall asleep easily.
***
The next day, Zeke headed to the secret branch of the Reinhardt Company.
It was the place where Princess lissa secretly held etings for company matters, and Zeke, who had beco a director of the company, was also scheduled to attend.
"Welco, Zeke."
Cliff, the public face of the company, greeted Zeke in the conference room.
Princess lissa had arrived early and was reviewing docunts.
"It's been a while, Sir Zeke."
She also greeted Zeke warmly.
Zeke, lissa, and Cliff sat at the round table and began the eting.
Cliff brought up the topic first.
"The production of dicines using Soma, as you ntioned, Sir Zeke, seems to be proceeding without any problems. However..."
He slowly brought up the difficulty.
"At the very least, it will be difficult to build a factory within the Central Continent to process Soma into dicine."
Initially, they considered building a factory in the Alencia Kingdom, but even Princess lissa found it difficult to exert influence on this matter.
As lissa was renowned as a philanthropist, rumors of her supporting a pharmaceutical company processing the narcotic Soma would tarnish her reputation.
Upon hearing this, Zeke said to Cliff,
"What about dicine that has already been processed?"
"Finished dicines can be imported without any problems if they pass the safety verification by the Magic Tower."
"Then it's settled. Let's build a factory in the Southern Continent to manufacture the products, and have Reinhardt import and distribute them."
lissa shook her head at his words.
"Sir Zeke, I apologize, but currently, the Reinhardt Company doesn't have the capacity to build a large-scale pharmaceutical factory in the South. We barely managed to build a factory to produce the cure for the Red Flower Plague."
Zeke grinned.
"We'll build that on our side. Instead, when the products are made, please have Reinhardt talk to the Magic Tower and get the necessary permits."
lissa was surprised by Zeke's words.
"Sir Zeke, you'll build the factory yourself? Is Draker going to be involved?"
He shook his head.
"I will proceed with my personal funds, so you don't have to worry about Draker's involvent."
Although she wanted to know more, lissa couldn't pry into matters concerning his personal funds.
She nodded.
"Alright. If the factory in the South is built, we will take charge of importing the dicine and selling it in the Central Continent."
"The import agency will contact you soon. Please discuss the details with the person in charge there."
The import agency Zeke ntioned was a shell company of the Syndicate.
'I also need to find a manager to be in charge of the pharmaceutical factory. It would be nice to have a trustworthy mage.'
Finding trustworthy people was always the hardest part.
When Zeke was almost finished discussing company matters with lissa, he brought up another topic.
"I have sothing to tell you, Your Highness."
"What is it, Sir Zeke?"
"I have obtained new information about the Empire."
Zeke handed Princess lissa a docunt summarizing only the necessary parts of the materials he had brought from the laboratory in the Southern dungeon.
lissa's expression hardened as she looked at the material Zeke had given her.
"Oh my god. Is it saying that the Empire collaborated with the Scorpion Clan to conduct live experints with synthetic poisons?"
Zeke nodded and said,
"If the Red Flower Plague is a magically engineered disease, the Empire may have conducted clinical trials of a new magical weapon on Alencia."
lissa gritted her teeth.
"I couldn't believe it, but to think they actually did this to our people..."
Having contracted the Red Flower Plague herself and survived thanks to the dicine Zeke gave her, the Empire's evil deeds resonated even more deeply with lissa.
Zeke said to lissa,
"Your Highness, the reason I gave you this information is that we need to keep the Empire's evil deeds a secret for the ti being."
lissa frowned at Zeke's words.
"What do you an, Sir Zeke? We need to inform the international community of the Empire's evil deeds imdiately so they can't do this again."
"I understand how you feel. But this information is not strong enough to be used as a diplomatic card."
This was the conclusion Zeke had reached after thoroughly examining the materials.
The Empire cleverly shifted the responsibility for the experint to the Scorpion Clan.
Since the Scorpion Clan was a notorious group of dark mages, human experintation wouldn't be a major issue for them.
The Empire could simply deny any connection with the Scorpion Clan and express regret, and that would be the end of it.
Understanding Zeke's words, lissa clenched her fists and trembled.
He said to Princess lissa,
"Your Highness, this information can be a more advantageous card for us to hold onto than to announce publicly."
"What do you an, Sir Zeke?"
"The Empire doesn't know that you and I have this information. Since they are conducting experints on a large scale, there must be evidence sowhere that directly links them to it."
Princess lissa understood what Zeke ant.
"You're saying it's better to use that evidence and this information together to firmly pressure the Empire."
"That's right. Nevertheless, the reason I showed you this information first is to prepare in advance."
"Prepare?"
"If they used the Red Flower Plague as a clinical trial in the Alencia conflict zone, it's highly likely that they will experint with other poisons there as well. Before that, we need to develop antidotes for these poisons."
Princess lissa nodded vigorously at Zeke's words.
If these weapons were used in the conflict zone, Alencia's forces would have to fight while poisoned.
However, if they prepared antidotes in advance, they could turn the tables on the Empire.
"If we catch those who use this poison, the Empire won't be able to deny its involvent in these illegal human experints."
"That's right. In that case, we can bring the conflict between the Empire and Alencia to the attention of the entire Central Continent."
The princess was convinced by Zeke's words.
At the sa ti, she once again felt that bringing Zeke into the company was the right decision.
'My choice wasn't wrong.'
After delivering all the necessary information, Zeke rose from his seat.
"I don't think I'll be able to attend the etings for a while."
"I see. If there's a chance later, I'd like to invite Sir Zeke to Alencia. Alencia is a place with beautiful mountains and peaceful, tranquil lakes."
Zeke nodded.
"I know."
"Have you ever been to Alencia?"
Zeke hesitated for a mont, then shook his head.
"I've heard many stories about it being a good place. Please show around the beautiful sights when I visit next ti."
Princess lissa nodded with an excited expression at Zeke's words.
He left the secret eting place and imdiately entered Valhalla.
When he went to the training ground, Aster and Diego, whom he hadn't called, were there.
"Diego? Why are you here?"
"Yo, bro! It's not cool to have fun just the two of you without , yo!"
"I thought you hated training."
"Of course, I hate training. I'm just here to cheer, yeah!"
Diego said brightly, but Zeke wasn't going to fall for that.
In the end, Diego was also dragged by Zeke to join the training.
"Zeke! You devil, yo! As expected, Draker's blood runs deep, yo!"
"Stop talking nonsense and swing your sword one more ti, Diego."
Grumbling, Diego swung his sword as if dancing.
The three continued their training.
Diego had acted quite cocky in front of Zeke on the first day of training, but after being sent flying into a wall like Aster, he beca obedient.
'He only listens after experiencing my power.'
Thus, after a week of hellish training under Zeke's command, Aster and Diego were gradually being molded in his image.
The day of the mission arrived, and the three headed to Atlas Central Station to move to Delfoa.
With just their Valhalla student IDs, they were able to sit in the special compartnt.
Right after the three occupied the spacious special compartnt, Diego sprawled on the sofa and groaned.
"I'm going to die before we even start the mission, yo."
When Zeke threatened to make him sit on an invisible chair for the entire trip if he didn't quiet down, Diego imdiately shut his mouth.
Just then, soone entered the special compartnt.
A knight with a gentle face, wearing a perfectly tailored Draker uniform.
It was soone Zeke knew well.
'Andrei?'
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
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