Probability is Always Independent
I couldn't remember the last time I woke up to such a pleasant scent.
Even more so if it was the scent of a woman.
Not Ruby, of course, but Doloris.
Glancing to the side, I saw that Ruby and Doloris were already gone, their blankets neatly folded.
Doloris's spot was the same. Nothing remained on her pillow but her lingering fragrance.
From outside, I could hear Ruby's cheerful chatter.
Looks like I'm the only one who overslept.
Time to wash up.
"Good morning..."
"Whoa, look who finally woke up, sleepyhead."
"Yeah, morning to you too..."
Calling me a sleepyhead first thing in the morning.
Doloris smiled warmly and waved.
"I'll go wash up..."
I naturally turned to head toward the outdoor washroom, but—
Doloris caught my shoulder and gently steered me back inside.
Toward the washroom inside the villa.
"Wash up in here, dear."
"...Yes, ma'am."
I didn't refuse this time.
Call it learned helplessness.
I had learned yesterday that resisting was utterly futile anyway.
Standing in front of the sink, the mirror reflected the face of the kid I was slowly getting used to.
Well, aren't you a handsome little rascal.
I splashed water on my face and called out to Yuna.
"What's Ariel Square?"
I heard it was where we were going today.
It would be good to know in advance. I couldn't enter the Tower yet because of my age...
So it had to be outside the Tower.
Good morning, Oppa! ٩(◕‿◕)۶
Hold on a sec.
Ariel Square. It's the largest commercial square, located outside the Tower, right next to the Empire.
Climbers, merchants, nobles, mercenaries... everyone passes through here. You can assume almost everything traded in the Empire goes through this square.
"Equipment too?"
Of course! Weapons, materials, magic tools, clothing, food, information—everything.
Even mercenary contracts.
There are seven districts in total. Don't think of it as some rural market just because it's called a 'square.'
I nodded while brushing my teeth.
Surprisingly, this world had decent infrastructure for things other than just scenery.
The toothbrushing I was doing right now was proof of that.
Well, whatever.
I could just think of it as going to a department store or an outlet mall.
Since I could evaluate items myself, I just needed to pick out something decent.
I patted my face dry with a towel and stepped out.
There was a change of clothes waiting by the door. I put them on without any resistance this time.
"Are you dressed, dear?"
"Yes."
Doloris and Ruby were already fully prepared to head out.
Doloris wore a dress that was even whiter than usual.
Ruby was putting on her shoes beside her. Judging by her expression and her unusually brisk movements, she seemed incredibly excited.
Going on outings was always nice.
Especially when you were a kid.
I walked over and pointed down at Ruby's feet.
"Your shoelaces are untied."
Her cute little shoes had laces, and one side had come undone.
Doloris smiled silently and knelt down in front of Ruby to tie them for her.
Tsk, completely spoiled.
At thirteen, you should be doing things yourself.
"Hey, do it yourself."
"......."
"How old are you anyway?"
Of course, I kept a careful eye on Doloris as I spoke.
She might have enjoyed pampering her, after all. But Doloris only smiled at my nagging and didn't stop me.
In that case, perhaps...
She just hadn't known when to stop coddling her.
Allow me to help.
"......."
Ruby's face flushed red with embarrassment.
She couldn't find a single word to argue back.
I knelt down in front of her.
"Squat down too."
Ruby reluctantly squatted down.
I grabbed one end of the lace and showed her step-by-step.
"Cross them like an X, wrap it around once, and pull."
Ruby tried to copy me, but her short fingers kept losing their grip.
"It's not working..."
"Then you keep trying until it does."
Ruby bit her lip and grabbed the laces again.
This time she managed the X, but she dropped the lace again while trying to wrap it.
"It's fine. It's your first time."
"......."
Her eyes locked onto my fingers, determined not to miss a single movement.
I demonstrated once more, and this time she followed along quite well.
With a soft slide of the laces,
It was a bit messy, but the knot held.
Still, she did pretty well.
"Not that hard, right?"
"...Yeah."
"See? You can do it."
Ruby nodded, staring down at her toes.
Her voice was quiet, but the corners of her mouth twitched upward.
Honestly, despite her stubborn streak, she was actually quite cute and sweet.
She had accepted my sudden intrusion into their lives remarkably fast.
Having lived alone with Doloris, it wouldn't have been surprising if she felt jealous.
I didn't stroke her hair like Doloris did, but I gave her head a couple of light pats.
At that,
"Ew."
"Ew?"
This little punk.
I only realized Doloris had been quietly watching us from behind after I stood up.
Ruby sprang up, turned to Doloris with a beaming face, and threw herself forward.
"Master, I did it!"
"Good job. I'm proud of you."
I brushed myself off and prepared to head out.
Just then, Doloris whispered softly behind me.
"Lionel, I didn't expect you to know how to tie laced shoes."
"Haha... I'm just good with my hands..."
I glossed over it with a vague excuse.
When we stepped out of the villa, a carriage was waiting.
So we were traveling by carriage.
But it was different from a normal carriage.
A faint blue glow was engraved onto the wheel axles.
And instead of horses, a glowing blue stone was embedded in the front. A driver sat behind it, just like in a regular carriage.
Is that like an engine?
A horseless carriage...
It's a magic-engineered carriage. It runs on mana stones and is about three times faster than a regular carriage.
Even horses are losing their jobs to automation.
Doloris opened the door casually.
"Get in, children."
The interior was spacious.
It had four seats, a small table, thin curtains over the windows, and a basket of fruit sitting on the table.
Ruby scrambled in first and claimed the window seat.
I sat opposite her, and Doloris climbed in last, closing the door behind her.
The mana stone hummed, and the carriage glided forward soundlessly.
The scenery remained the same until we passed the orphanage.
Barns, fields, dirt roads, and more barns.
But less than ten minutes into the ride, the view outside the window shifted.
The dirt road transitioned into stone pavement.
"How long will it take, by the way?"
It wasn't because of anything else.
I definitely wasn't getting motion sickness or anything.
"It won't take long, dear."
"I see."
Before long, wooden houses of various shapes and sizes began flashing past the window.
Just as I leaned against the window frame and closed my eyes,
"Lionel."
Doloris called my name.
"Ruby."
She called Ruby too.
Ruby stopped chewing her grapes and looked up at Doloris.
"Once we return from the square, we will head to the duchy."
"......."
"......."
The duchy. The Doloris estate.
I had heard about it last night.
"From now on, the three of us will live there together."
The three of us.
Ruby's eyes widened.
She looked at me, then at Doloris, and then back at me.
"...Together?"
"Yes."
"Lionel too?"
"Lionel too."
Ruby hesitated for a moment, then—
She chewed silently.
Without saying a word, she popped another grape into her mouth.
Aside from her chewing slightly faster than before, she showed no other reaction.
It didn't seem like a rejection.
I didn't have much to say either.
I've already got two new family members.
Well, since we were family now, harmony was key.
I extended my hand toward Ruby.
"I'm in your care, Ruby."
Ruby stared at my hand, then—
She reached across the table and took it.
"......."
"...Eat."
She had pressed a grape into my palm.
What is this?
I took it and chewed.
"It's good."
"I didn't ask."
This little...?
Doloris chuckled softly.
The carriage continued to speed along.
The 88th Floor.
The first floor of the Sun Dwarfs, the residential district.
The first floor of the Dwarf Company.
The Enchant Hall.
A massive white hall. There were no clocks.
Dozens of rooms lined the walls of the vast circular hall.
The doors to each room were wide open, light spilling out from within.
A whirring sound, followed by a sharp clang, echoed throughout the hall.
The sound of automated machines pounding away at equipment inside the enchant rooms.
The sound of massive fortunes evaporating into thin air.
And,
A loud shatter echoed.
"Goddammit!"
A scream erupted from Room 7.
Followed by the sound of something slamming against the wall.
Whether it was the cursing man himself or the shattered remains of his gear was anyone's guess.
Another whir, another clang, and another shatter.
"Ah... I'm going crazy..."
A groan drifted out from Room 12.
One could easily tell success from failure just by the sounds reverberating through the hall.
A whir, a clang, and then a cheerful fanfare.
"Yes! Whew... should I go for +16?"
"Not a bad idea, customer. It's worth a shot."
The dwarf in Room 3 was subtly nudging the customer to attempt a +16 upgrade.
For the record, starting from +16, destruction prevention items could not be used.
The dwarf knew this. The customer knew this.
Yet the question was asked, and the head nodded.
[All responsibility for enchantment attempts lies solely with the user.]
With this single line, the Dwarf Company was legally bulletproof.
Climbers of the Tower entered the rooms one by one, sitting opposite their designated dwarf.
Their equipment rested on the automated enchant machine before the dwarf.
They prayed it wouldn't shatter.
Holding their breath.
Praying.
Cursing.
By all accounts, it was a scene straight out of a casino.
The lack of clocks served the same purpose.
The only thing that should tell you it was time to leave was an empty wallet, not a clock.
However,
originally, enchanting was not like this.
One would sprinkle Enchant Powder over the gear,
and the blacksmith would strike it with a hammer themselves.
Until the powder thoroughly infused the equipment.
Strike by strike, pouring their heart into every blow.
While luck played a part, success and failure were largely determined by the blacksmith's focus and skill.
The Dwarf Company had automated that entire process.
The amount of powder sprinkled, the number of strikes, the pressure, the temperature—the machine handled everything.
The dwarf merely pressed a button.
It was fast. Time efficiency had improved exponentially.
Naturally, since all human labor had been bypassed.
And,
one more thing became possible.
They could now...
manipulate the amount of Enchant Powder used.
On the floor above that very Enchant Hall.
A place completely hidden from the view of those below.
The room was quiet, with only the faint, muffled vibrations of the hall's clamor rising through the floorboards.
The 88th Floor stretched out outside the window.
Rivers of lava flowed, conveyor belts churned, and mass-production lines spewed fire.
A magnificent view, and this room sat right above it.
"...And?"
The man in the chair spoke.
"Puram does not seem to have any intention of speaking."
A dwarf in a suit reported with his head bowed.
It was the same dwarf who had visited Puram's verification office.
"I doubt he keeps that office running solely out of sentimentality."
The chair creaked.
The seated man leaned forward and picked up a document from his desk.
"...Do I need to teach him a lesson?"
The suited dwarf remained silent.
The person he bowed to.
The legs of the man in the chair stretched long beneath the desk.
They were too long to belong to a dwarf. They belonged to a human.
On the screen before him, a video showed the verification device glowing brightly through the window of Puram's office.
"A Fire Descendant. I never imagined such a thing could actually exist in this day and age."
The hand flipping the pages had long, smooth fingers without a single callus.
A hand that had never held a blacksmith's hammer was holding the reins of the dwarven industry.
"We must find them."
The man set the document down.
Ever since they brought dwarven craftsmanship to the mass-production lines, there had been endless complaints and complications.
The traditionalists ground their teeth, the master craftsmen left, and those who remained huddled in dusty corners like Puram.
Yet the profits were incomparable.
The era of making one sword a day with a single hammer versus the era of stamping out a hundred swords a day with a single machine.
Anyone could tell which one was a real business.
And now, a Fire Descendant...
The man's fingers tapped slowly on the desk.
He knew that gear crafted by elite blacksmiths was on a completely different level compared to mass-produced items.
The problem was that no one knew where that difference came from.
They couldn't analyze the process, and since they couldn't acquire the equipment, they couldn't replicate it either.
At least, not until now.
"If we capture this Fire Descendant, extract their techniques, and apply them to our mass-production lines..."
The man muttered, staring at the glowing device on the screen.
"...we might be able to mass-produce elite-grade equipment."
The suited dwarf looked up.
A flicker of hesitation crossed his eyes.
"...The techniques of the Fire Descendants are not suited for mass production..."
"Are you a dwarf, or a businessman?"
"......."
The man stood up.
"That is not for you to decide."
Lava flowed outside the window.
Every mineral would pass through this floor. Every material would go through here.
The only annoying detail was,
the one who brought the equipment was Doloris, the Lord of the 5th Floor.
There was no denying she was a formidable opponent.
"...There is no need to rush."
The man turned off the screen.
"The blacksmith will eventually have to come back here anyway."
Whether for materials,
or minerals.
Whatever it was, they would seek this place out.
Just then,
the door slammed open.
"Lord Elliot! The High Ranker Sakpung is attempting to upgrade his Magic-infused Armguard to +20!"
"...+20."
The man called Elliot spun his chair around.
"Which attempt is this?"
"Four attempts so far, and four destructions."
The Magic-infused Armguard.
A high-grade piece of equipment for archers that amplified the force of drawing a bowstring.
It was indeed the perfect item to target for high-level enchantments.
Unique equipment was irreplaceable if destroyed, but the Magic-infused Armguard was a high-grade item that could be sourced with enough effort.
And the fact that he had brought four of them meant...
"His obsession is quite impressive."
He had heard that every single piece of Sakpung's gear, except for the armguard, was already at +20 or higher.
The very last piece. He wouldn't back down now.
[+19 → +20 Enchantment]
✨ Success Rate: 16%
💥 Destruction Rate: 15%
⚠️ Failure Rate: 69%
The real-time probability chart floated before them.
People attempted enchantments blindly trusting these numbers.
"He's certainly tried many times."
Sakpung.
Are you thinking, 'Surely, it will succeed this time'?
Unfortunately, probability is always an independent event.
"Lower it."
At Elliot's command,
the amount of powder the machine in Room 19 would sprinkle on Sakpung's gear was cut to one-tenth.
And then,
[+19 → +20 Enchantment]
✨ Success Rate: 2%
💥 Destruction Rate: 29%
⚠️ Failure Rate: 69%
After all, five consecutive destructions were a common enough occurrence.
"Why don't you try beating a two percent chance?"
Go ahead, try to succeed.
If it succeeds, it's yours.
...And if it's destroyed, you can just buy another one.
From where?
"Increase the production of Magic-infused Armguards."
From the Dwarf Company's store, of course.