0WeTried Translations

Translator: [IncomeElastic]

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Became a Blacksmith the Rankers Are Obsessed With ◈

Chapter 046

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Armament Haki Dolores

* * *

Before I made this request of the Emperor, here’s what my research had turned up.

Dwarf Company sourced its mana stones through a fairly wide variety of channels.

They scraped them together from multiple floors inside the Tower, and outside it too, wherever they could get their hands on some.

Only two sites accounted for the overwhelming bulk of production, but combined, the rest weren’t exactly negligible either.

In other words, losing Belua alone wouldn’t bring the company down.

Not that I actually had any grudge against them, so it wasn’t something I was hoping for anyway.

Still, there was one thing that ticked me off.

“Talk about a free lunch, huh.”

Every year, they signed a mining-rights contract with the imperial family, but the truth was, there was no competition for mana stones.

So a bid opened every year, and every year, the company scooped it up for next to nothing.

It wasn’t as though mana stones had no use at all.

Power for magic tools, lighting, heating, if you wanted to use them, there were places you could…

‘Terrible efficiency, though.’

For the same money, burning something else came out far cheaper, so there was no real reason to buy mana stones for that.

In the end, they were only worth their price once they’d been turned into enchant powder.

Plenty of sellers, but only one buyer.

So what they had wasn’t really a contract so much as a renewal formality, a total freeloading racket.

You couldn’t find a steal this good anywhere else.

Hey, let me get a bite of that too.

A long-term bite, of course.

“Would you grant me a long-term contract?”

The Emperor’s mouth curved up at the corners, and he spoke quietly.

“Artisan Lionel.”

Artisan.

A title I’d never once been called, not in this life.

Not in my last life, obviously, and not yet in this one either.

But before I could even feel anything about the title,

“Impressive jewelry.”

The Emperor took a step closer.

“Impressive gemstones, too.”

“…”

“And the craftsmanship… also impressive.”

“…”

“And your nerve is downright impressive.”

Compliment after compliment.

He set a hand heavily on my shoulder.

And then.

“But your ask is oddly small, isn’t it?”

The Emperor grinned wide enough to show his teeth.

“…Excuse me?”

Small?

I never expected to hear that.

What I’d just asked for was for the imperial family to bend its own established contracts and rules, as a special favor, just for House Dolores.

I never imagined he’d call that a small favor.

“A long-term mining-rights contract for the Belua Mountains.”

- Slide.

The Emperor gave my shoulder a light brush.

“It’s unusual, but of course I can grant it.”

Too simple an answer.

“It’s a mine we only leased out because we didn’t have the people to work it ourselves anyway.”

The Emperor’s response was way cooler than I’d expected.

“That said, a contract’s a contract, and the current one still stands.”

“Ah.”

“How about we take the conversation up again starting at the end of this year? I give you my word.”

I gave a small nod.

There wasn’t much to be done about the contract already in place, sure.

If he stamped a contract with his own hand and then turned around and told the company to pack up and leave overnight, who’d ever trust a contract of his again?

The original plan had been the end of this year anyway.

“Th- thank you.”

“By the way, is it mana stones you need?”

The Emperor rested a hand on his chin and looked me over slowly.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“There’s hardly any mana stone left on the open market, though.”

Yes, that’s exactly right.

I could scrape some together, but it wouldn’t be easy.

“That’s true, but I think it’ll work out once the new contract starts at the end of the year.”

Mana stones were scarce, but not completely gone.

And I figured I could get by making other things in the meantime, one way or another.

“The palace’s mining rights require that a tenth of every year’s yield, and a tenth of that tenth again, be sent to the palace without fail.”

A tenth of a tenth… that’s 1 percent of the total.

I had no idea why he had to phrase it so roundabout, but I was good at math, so no problem there.

It might seem like a confusing system, but I suppose it made sense.

This was an empire, after all.

The mountains belonged to the Empire to begin with; a mining right was nothing more than a lease.

Basically rent.

“So the storehouses have plenty of mana stone.”

“…!”

My mind raced.

This system hadn’t sprung up overnight, so whether it’d been ten years or a hundred,

unused stones must have been piling up the whole time.

Thinking back on it, when I’d asked for ore before to make the jewelry,

the imperial storehouse had held an absurd amount of it.

At the time I’d just shrugged it off as, well, it’s the palace, of course.

But there’d been a real reason behind it all along.

Holy shit.

And what came next

“Take that too, while you’re at it.”

was more than enough to catch me off guard.

“What good does it do just sitting there in piles? Better it goes to someone who’ll actually use it.”

The Emperor patted my shoulder a couple of times.

“…”

I dropped into a bow at once.

“Thank you!”

Gratitude. Overwhelming gratitude.

This meant I could push both of Dolores’s pieces to at least +15 without much trouble.

Just wait, Dolores. Once you’re at +15 on both, you might just get to use Armament Haki[1].

Just as I was about to wrap up negotiations on a satisfying note,

“…And?”

“Sir?”

“…That’s it, then?”

The Emperor let out a short, incredulous laugh,

“Ha, ha, ha.”

then dragged the chair behind him over and dropped straight into it.

“Forgive me, I’m at the age where my whole body aches.”

“It’s quite all right.”

The Emperor crossed his legs and faced me.

Maybe because I was so short, it was only once he sat down that our eyes were finally level.

“…I don’t think you quite understand yet, exactly what it is you’ve done.”

“What do you think, Grand Duchess Dolores?”

“…I believe it’s simply because he’s still so young, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor asked with a smile,

and Dolores bowed her head, smiling back.

The mood itself seemed fine enough.

Okay, fine, I’ll go ahead and shoot for a bit more, then.

Something light.

“An ultra-high… no, I mean, an excellent furnace facility. That’s what I need.”

I couldn’t quite bring myself to say “ultra-high-heat furnace” out loud, so I asked carefully instead,

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

and this time he burst into full, hand-clapping laughter.

The Princess, who’d somehow drifted into view, covered her mouth and laughed elegantly too.

“That’s simple enough, just take one from the palace’s finest forge. I’ll help you take it apart.”

The Emperor punched a fist into his palm and added,

“Actually, no, why don’t I just supply the materials and you build it yourself?”

Wait, it’s this easy?

I’d caught a glimpse of the palace forge before, when we were reclaiming the mine.

It really hadn’t been a joke. So sure, I’d love to have it dismantled and get the materials both,

but that wasn’t the important part right now.

I opened my mouth carefully.

“Well, having a permanent ironworks set up at House Dolores would…”

What I meant was, wasn’t this politically complicated?

“His Majesty says it’s fine.”

The Princess spoke up first, smiling, on the Emperor’s behalf.

The Emperor nodded along too.

Ah, I see.

I nodded at her words.

“I’ve never once had a negotiating partner this entertaining.”

“…”

“I came in braced to have a pillar pulled right out from under me. Looks like I’ll go down as the first Emperor in Imperial history to swear an oath on his own name and come out with his pillars still standing.”

I swallowed down a flash of indignation.

I’d asked big too, in my own way.

Honestly, wasn’t I right? A mining right was practically a state-level enterprise, wasn’t it?

A long-term contract was completely outside the system to begin with, a total irregular.

I was asking for a special favor on top of a special favor.

Even so, it seemed clear I’d pitched something off the mark somewhere.

Looking into the actual going rate seemed like a good idea.

You can’t name a price if you don’t know what it’s worth.

At times like this, there was only one place to ask.

‘Yuna, you there?’

[Yup~]

‘Look it up fast and tell me fast!!’

[I’ll dig through the Outer Tower Community]

After what felt like an eternity crammed into an instant,

[There are about three cases, they’re preserved in the historical records]

[First one]

─────────────────

『Around the year 300 of the Imperial Calendar.

A general who led the Empire to victory in a northern campaign is said to have had the reigning Emperor swear on his own name and ask what he wished for.

What he received was the title of Margrave and its accompanying fief, and a betrothal to a princess.』

─────────────────

What in the world is this.

A title, a fief, and a princess?

[Next!]

─────────────────

『Sometime in the 400s of the Imperial Calendar.

To the one who slew a demonic dragon that had appeared in the south and burned three territories to ash, the reigning Emperor swore on his own name and asked what he wished for.

What he received was a Duke’s title with its accompanying territory, and a betrothal to one of the princesses.』

─────────────────

“…”

[Last one!]

─────────────────

『Sometime in the 500s of the Imperial Calendar.

When a tribe that served a barbarian god of the north kidnapped a prince and princess, there was a hero who brought the two of them back.

The reigning Emperor swore on his own name and asked what he wished for.

What he received was the opening of the imperial treasury, permission to take whatever he wanted from among the relics generations of emperors had collected, and a betrothal to one of the princesses.』

─────────────────

[Seems like these are pretty famous incidents~]

Okay, all right, that’s enough.

I get it. I understand.

I had a rough sense of the weight of this now.

I’d been completely off the mark.

My case was probably closest to that last example.

Since I’d basically saved the lives of the Prince and Princess both.

But my mind had really only come up with about two things to ask for.

Trying to come up with something now would only end up either a wild overreach or something pathetic.

So rather than force something out here on the spot…

“Forgive me, Your Majesty.”

“Hm?”

“Nothing comes to mind that I’d wish to ask for, not right now.”

I said it honestly.

Officially, my age was thirteen.

This much, I figured, would be forgivable enough.

The Emperor watched me for a moment, then broke into a faint smile.

There was something almost mischievous about it.

“Then would you permit me to make a suggestion? One that’s historically famous, and quite traditional.”

Yeah, honestly, it’d be cleaner if he just suggested it himself.

As long as it wasn’t something like the Princess.

Calling her “something like the Princess” makes me sound like a jerk, but I mean it in a completely innocent way.

What would even be the point of me marrying the Princess?

At the edge of my vision, I caught the Princess’s skirt trembling ever so slightly.

Her face had flushed red again, just like before. Color rising in her skin.

Wait a second.

This guy, don’t tell me he means the Princess…?

If something along the lines of “marriage to the Princess” came flying out of his mouth right now,

I’d be caught between a rock and a hard place.

Turn it down, and I’m obviously insane.

Accept it? At my current age, no way.

The instant it left his mouth, there’d be trouble.

One wrong step here and I had a bad feeling I’d end up as Lionel the (Actually) Married Man.

I shook my head quickly,

“Forgive me, but I’m far too unworthy to accept a proposal from Your Majesty…!”

“…Hm?”

“A week! I swear I’ll give Your Majesty my answer within a week!”

The audience chamber fell quiet for a moment,

“Ha, ha.”

The Emperor laughed and nodded.

“That’s a shame.”

Then he rose from his seat and held out a hand to me.

I hurriedly clasped it with both of mine.

Big and thick.

Calluses worked into the skin, the hand of someone who’d gripped something for a very long time.

A sword, probably.

Definitely not a desk-job hand.

I bowed my head and spoke.

“Your Majesty’s boundless grace overwhelms this humble servant.”

“…Boundless grace overwhelms…? Now that’s an amusing way to put it.”

Oh, wait.

Was that Joseon-era phrasing? I’d slipped up without even realizing it.

“Well, it truly is a shame, but,”

- Squeeze.

The clasped hand tightened its grip.

“Think it over carefully for the week. I’ll look forward to hearing some interesting news.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

I bowed my head even lower.

Then the Emperor let go of my hand,

and for just a brief moment, I looked past him.

The Princess had already smoothed her expression back into place by then,

her lips pressed tightly shut, and

- Clench.

the hand gripping her skirt hadn’t yet loosened.

* * *

We stepped out of the palace,

and Dolores and I ended up talking things over at some quiet, private teahouse.

Hungry.

Drained.

I felt like I was dying.

It was way too exhausting. Politics just wasn’t for me.

I opened my mouth, half-slumped against the back of my chair.

“I think I’ve burned through way too much mental energy, Dolores.”

“…Same here.”

Dolores pressed a hand to her forehead, looking a little dizzy from what had just happened.

“I never expected His Majesty to make a suggestion like that…”

“…”

Maman hadn’t seen it coming either.

Looking at the history,

what I’d done today could, if you really wanted to compare it, count as saving both the Princess and the Prince.

But honestly, more than any of that, in the end…

whether or not to reward it at all was entirely up to the Emperor’s own will.

I could feel just how much he cherished the Princess and Prince.

Surprisingly, he’d sent the earrings back out with us.

‘The payment hasn’t been settled yet, so take them with you.’

I wondered if this was just his personal trading philosophy,

‘What if I accepted them and then turned around and changed my mind?’

but hearing him put it that way,

it actually made me trust him more, put me at ease, even.

It sounded like he meant business when it came to dealing fairly.

In the end, the Princess went home having only gotten a taste of what could’ve been.

- Slide.

Just then, Dolores scooped up a bite of cake and fed it into my mouth.

- Munch, munch.

Sweet.

It felt like my blood sugar was climbing right back up.

“Um, was there anything I did that broke etiquette…?”

I’d squeezed out every scrap of manners I had.

Dragged out every bit of etiquette I knew and even some I didn’t, all the way back to the Joseon era.

But,

“You were off, pretty much across the board, dear.”

Oh, come on.

Seriously?

[There was too much to fix, I gave up partway through]

Bad enough that even Yuna gave up.

“Fortunately, His Majesty seems to have taken your age into account.”

Thirteen really does come in handy.

I kind of wish I could just stay this age forever.

- Slide.

Another bite of cake came scooping up.

I obediently opened my mouth.

- Munch, munch.

“By the way, Lionel, what are you planning to use the mana stones for?”

Dolores and I had already finished discussing the mining situation on the way over.

Doesn’t mining cost an enormous amount, you might ask?

You’d think so, but

there was a reason the Empire simply took 1 percent of the ore for free.

The mountains themselves, and every piece of equipment embedded in them, belonged to the imperial family to begin with.

They were lending out the land and the tools both, so taking a cut was only natural.

So the only real cost left to cover was labor.

And the labor cost was, honestly speaking,

not a burden at all.

‘I’ve been meaning to start actually making money myself, too.’

I wiped the cream off the corner of my mouth and looked at Dolores.

Then I slowly ran my eyes down over her, from head to toe.

Ears, nape, fingers, wrists.

Waist, thighs, stockings, ankles, stockings, feet.

Dolores’s eyes went round.

“…?”

“Dolores.”

“Yes?”

This time I took the fork right out of her hand and scooped up a big bite of cake,

the end point of a thought I’d been carrying around for a while now.

I finally put it into words.

“Equipment.”

“Equipment?”

- Slide.

I fed it into her mouth.

“Nom…”

Dolores’s eyes widened slightly as she accepted the bite.

“I’m planning to enchant every single piece of your equipment.”

“…My equipment…?”

she asked, eyes widening further,

and here’s where it mattered.

“Once you’re healthy again,”

“…”

“you’ll need to climb the Tower again.”

The one the curse had stolen from her,

the clock on her climb through the Tower, the one that had stopped,

I meant to start it running again.

‘Armament Haki Dolores.’

Having heard my ultimate goal, Dolores’s eyes went wide.

TL Note: Armament Haki is a One Piece reference, since I've never watched it. If I messed something up with the references, let me know.

Footnotes

[1] Armament Haki (Busoshoku Haki) is a power from the anime and manga One Piece that lets users create invisible or hardened armor using their spiritual energy.

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