Chapter 64
Chapter 64
Ch. 64 .｡.:✧ Basel's Landmark (2) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“What is this…”
How many floors was it?
1st floor, 2nd floor, 3rd floor…
It was a 12-story building.
You might think, isn’t it too low to be called a building?
You have to take into account that this is a fantasy world.
There’s no electrical technology or water pumps here.
So raising water and energy to high floors is all in the realm of magic engineering.
And it’s ridiculously expensive.
It’s also inefficient.
So there was a setting that only Petenburg could afford this kind of extravagance.
What in the world happened at the workshop…
“Wow! Isn’t this the place called Basel’s Watchtower?”
“Watchtower? Is it a military facility?”
“No. It’s a mana stone workshop.”
“What? Why is it called that?”
Voices were coming from right next to me.
They seemed to be demihuman tourists from the north.
Listening to them, it seemed this place had already gained a reputation as Basel’s landmark.
There were even people who came specifically to visit the workshop.
Perhaps taking advantage of that, a cafe and restaurant had opened on the 1st floor of the building.
I thought about going in and looking around, but I gave up because there were too many people inside.
“Huh. This is amazing. Other workshops won’t be able to follow suit and spend money like this. It will function as a unique landmark for a while.”
“Are you interested in the building?”
“Huh?”
A man suddenly approached me and handed me his business card.
My hands were occupied carrying Undecided on my back.
Undecided received the business card instead of me and showed it to me.
“If you need it, please contact me anytime!”
“…”
The man handed me a single business card and disappeared like the wind.
The business card said:
-Quick Construction! Anything, quick quick!
-A construction company with a track record of successfully constructing 32 buildings in the Free City of Petenburg!
-We are the only ones with experience in constructing 50-story high-rise buildings! Of course, even higher floors are possible! As long as you have sufficient funds!
I thought I had seen this style of building a lot somewhere.
As expected, it was the work of the company that made the dreary and dark concrete chunks that were common in Petenburg.
“They must have made a lot of money.”
In Petenburg, they had built dozens of these extravagant buildings to maximize capacity in the limited space of the plateau.
In a flat city like Basel, there was no need to go this far.
Still, with a building standing among the mediocre buildings, it looked majestic.
Basel was already a quite popular tourist destination.
And this was built to become a landmark even in Basel.
‘I hope they didn’t push themselves too hard to build it.’
I couldn’t help but worry a little.
Did the kid get a taste for luxury after belatedly tasting money… As long as it’s not that.
It would be troublesome if something unpleasant happened to the exclusive artisan who would handle my mana stones in the future.
I just hoped she wouldn’t go bankrupt from the backlash of erecting the building and being buried in debt.
“Next customer, please place your mana stone on this scale. And fill out this form for the procedure.”
“Please take a number first and wait in the waiting area.”
“This is the exclusive reception for Artisan Tay. The reception for the service where other artisans work after consultation and estimate from Artisan Tay is over there.”
“…Wow.”
The moment we entered the building, Undecided let out a short exclamation.
Undecided, who had been indifferent even to the neat and beautiful natural scenery of Elvenguard.
But she seemed to have never imagined the view of such a spacious and open lounge inside, as she couldn’t close her mouth.
“Should I take a number too?”
If I strode past the waiting line like last time, would it cause friction again?
I wanted to avoid causing a commotion at Tay’s workshop as much as possible.
“VIP counter?”
At that moment, I noticed an empty counter.
Judging by the fact that no one was even approaching it, I could guess for whom the counter was set up.
Without hesitation, I approached that counter…
“Welcome. Are you here to request mana stone processing?”
“That’s right.”
“Please follow me inside.”
An employee who recognized my face from before stood up and greeted me.
Then he naturally pushed open the wall, revealing a hidden corridor.
After walking a bit, we arrived at a cozy and spacious waiting room.
“I will call Artisan Tay. Please wait a moment. Would you like a cup of coffee or tea…”
“It’s fine. We can wait by ourselves, so you can go back.”
“Yes, then…”
When I gave a sign to leave, the employee bowed his head and left the waiting room.
Looking around the interior of the waiting room, I also had to chuckle.
The interior was very flashy.
It wasn’t at the level of being gilded like a palace.
But it was clean and luxurious, so to speak.
It gave off a high-class feeling in many ways.
Ding!
Had it been about 5 minutes of waiting?
Soon, the sound of an elevator stopping was heard.
“Investor!”
The moment the door opened, Tay came running out with a bright smile.
And then, poof.
She immediately hugged my waist.
Tay looked the same as before.
Shabby, worn-out work clothes and an old pair of goggles.
And even the few tools she always carried around her waist, as if they were her favorite.
‘Did she grow a bit?’
It wasn’t entirely the same.
It seemed like the kid had gotten a bit bigger.
She had grown a lot considering it hadn’t even been a month.
Maybe it was a growth spurt.
“…What.”
“Hehehe!”
Ignoring Undecided’s dumbfounded expression, Tay kept burying her face in my chest and rubbing against it.
I felt a bit relieved.
That Tay was the same as always.
I was worried she might suddenly show up dressed in luxury brands from head to toe, wearing sunglasses, and looking down on me with an aloof attitude.
“Ah, uh, ah?!”
The moment I tried to put my hand on Tay’s head, Tay slipped down and stepped back.
Then, with a slightly flushed face, she said,
“I haven’t washed my hair because I’ve been busy…”
“I don’t mind.”
“I mind!”
“By the way, the workshop has become quite luxurious?”
“Hehe. Right? It’s all thanks to you, Investor! I saved up every penny for the past 2 weeks and spent it all on building this, so I didn’t have a single coin left?”
“What…?”
Wait a minute.
What does that mean?
She raised this fancy building with the money she saved in just 2 weeks?
Without even taking out a bank loan…
“You had enough money to raise this building in 2 weeks?”
“Hehe. Actually, I never planned to build such an expensive building from the beginning. There were many artisans who wanted to join our workshop. And there were too many apprentices who wanted to learn from me, so I couldn’t handle it at all.
So I tried to buy another site nearby. But the workshops around here united or something and refused to sell the land. Even when I offered 10 times the market price, they kept doing that!
Since there was no way to expand sideways, I had no choice but to go up. That’s why I ended up building this kind of building. Hehe.”
I see, there were circumstances.
At first, she built it reluctantly, but once it was built, it became a landmark and brought in unexpected tourism revenue.
You could say she was lucky.
Of course, you need sufficient insight and financial power to seize that luck.
“Didn’t you pretty much build this with your own money? The workshop must have incurred quite a lot of debt to you.”
“99 percent of it is my money! So until they pay off all the debt, they’ll be participating in the management of this workshop!”
“What’s the repayment period?”
“They can never pay it back! I’ll only receive the interest, and I don’t plan to receive a single coin of the principal in my lifetime! It’s practically become my workshop for life!”
“…”
The workshop had incurred a huge debt to her.
No wonder the employees were all referring to Tay with respect even when she wasn’t around.
It was natural to do so if she was their workplace superior.
“So? As the body leading this giant dinosaur workshop, what’s your ambition?”
“I don’t have a grand ambition… My dream is to make high-grade mana stones as affordable as the way people handle low-grade mana stones!
Even if you pay a lot of money to entrust a high-grade mana stone, the quality varies greatly depending on the artisan, and skilled artisans always have long waiting times and work times.
Now that the high-grade mana stone market is growing with the resurgence of the dungeon conquest craze, I’m going to work hard!”
Her dream was big.
But it didn’t sound absurd at all, considering Tay handled 90% of the high-grade mana stones in this area.
Tay would be able to do it.
“You’ll be able to do it soon. You said you have disciples too?”
“Yes! My goal is to open a high-grade mana stone specialized academy in the future!”
Even though she had erected such a large building and had hundreds of employees under her, she still looked like a child excitedly telling me her future dreams.
To me, Tay was still the same as when I first saw her.
The only difference was that her body had grown a bit.
And she no longer shrank back, and her attitude was filled with confidence.
“The chat has gotten a bit long. Here’s the mana stone I want to entrust to you this time.”
“How many this time?”
“Just one. Unfortunately.”
“Don’t tell me it’s that black mana stone like last time… Aaah! It’s the black mana stone again!”
Tay made a tearful face as soon as she opened the box.
It was nice to see her confident expression, but it was also good to see this side of her from time to time.
“I told you I’m not confident about this!”
“If you’re not confident, there’s no one else who will be. You’re the only one who has processed a black mana stone.”
“Still, it was only once!”
“That’s why. Others don’t even have that one experience.”
“Ugh…”
In front of other people, she might be a flawless expert who only produces perfect mana stones.
But in front of me, she was just an inexperienced and young kid.
I roughly ruffled Tay’s head to give her strength.
Even though she whined like this, I knew the result would turn out well.
I knew Tay’s skills the best.
“And this.”
Next, I took out the mana stone I received from Elvenguard.
Tay’s eyes were filled with curiosity again.
“What’s that?”
“It’s a new mana stone I obtained. I want it appraised. Can you quantify its performance and let me know?”
“Wow! It’s really clean? But the processing method is a bit unique. Is it not dwarven?”
As expected, she had a good eye.
She could tell it was made by elves just by looking at it.
Tay examined the mana stone for a while, then carefully put it back in the box.
“Okay. The appraisers are better at appraising than me, so I’ll leave it to them. You should be able to get the results within 10 minutes. But is this a gift by any chance?”
“That’s right.”
“For whom? Don’t tell me it’s for a woman? There’s no way there would be a woman to whom Investor would give something like this…”
“It is for a woman.”
“…”
Tay’s smile disappeared.
Then her expression stiffened awkwardly.
What’s wrong?
It’s a gift for Cornelia.
“Why? Is there a problem?”
“N-no. Nothing.”
“You look strange. Do you have something worrying you?”
“I said it’s not that! I’ll finish processing the mana stone by tomorrow, so come by in the afternoon tomorrow! Now leave! I’m busy!”
“Bro…”
Tay hurried and pushed me out, so I had to leave right away.
She must be really busy.
This was the life of a popular artisan.
It made me admire her.
“…Jerk.”
“What? Why?”
Undecided poked my waist and retorted.
Suddenly…?
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‘Why did I do that?’
After practically chasing Investor out, I should have hurried and resumed work.
But my body, which had become sluggish, wouldn’t listen.
I was too foolish.
I shouldn’t have done that to Investor.
“Haa…”
I felt troubled.
My strength had drained away.
I felt like taking a break like this for the rest of the day.
“Haa… Giving a mana stone as a gift to a woman…”
My mind was too complicated to focus on work.
A mana stone for a woman.
And it wasn’t something made carelessly, but a high-grade mana stone that had been carefully processed.
“It must be an engagement gift…”
I couldn’t think of anything other than an engagement for giving such a luxurious mana stone to a woman.
Among humans, especially nobles, it was common for men to give mana stones to women as engagement gifts.
‘And it’s not even ours, it’s elven…’
Dwarven mana stones were famous for their cost-effectiveness.
Of course, not only cost-effectiveness but also absolute performance, dwarven mana stones overwhelmed those of other races.
But for some reason, elven mana stones, which had poor performance and were unnecessarily expensive, enjoyed inexplicable popularity.
Maybe it was thanks to the well-established brand image.
Despite being inferior to dwarven mana stones in every aspect, they were preferred over dwarven mana stones as luxury items.
The one Investor chose was also elven, not dwarven.
At this point, it was already clear.
The fact that it was a mana stone for an engagement gift, not one for actual use.
“Aah… I hate it…”
I didn’t have high hopes.
Investor and I had a big age gap.
And we lived in different worlds.
But why?
Why did this gloominess rush in as soon as there were signs of him having a fiancée?
Even though I knew I had no right to feel this way, I kept getting mad at the unknown woman.
“I was the one who liked him first…”
Although at first I liked him in a different sense, it’s different now.
I’ve grown a lot too.
Dwarves grow faster the more they achieve in their field of expertise.
As proof, my growth had also been stagnant for a long time, but recently I started growing rapidly.
It would be very soon.
But Investor couldn’t wait for that time…
“I really hate this…”
I lay down on my back and covered my eyes.
I felt like I was about to cry at any moment.
I just hated this situation itself.
I hated how miserable and pathetic I looked.
It felt like I had been eliminated from a race I hadn’t even participated in.
“…It could fall apart.”
But I quickly came to my senses.
It was too early to give up.
It wasn’t confirmed that Investor was getting engaged, and even if it was true, the other party could refuse.
Of course, nothing would be as foolish as refusing an engagement with a wonderful man like Investor…
But not everyone recognized Investor’s worth.
If it was a snobbish noble, they might treat Investor as a lowly commoner.
So there might still be a chance left.
“I need to… improve my skills more…”
I was still lacking.
Even when I received the black mana stone this time, I made a weak sound because I wasn’t confident.
No matter what mana stone I received, I had to confidently dive into work.
And I had to be able to produce the best results that even I wouldn’t regret.
Moreover, the more their skills improved, the faster dwarves grew…
I would grow tall enough that Investor could no longer see me as a child.
Soon…
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