Per Ardua ad Astra
Upon returning to the imperial capital, I went straight to my father and was formally appointed acting lord of the Alteir Dukedom.
"I take it you have plans for the Permanent Magic Stones?"
"I'll need to begin work as soon as I arrive at the duchy. Time is of the essence."
"...It seems this stagnant world will finally feel the winds of change again, after so long."
"People have always lived by adapting to constant change, after all."
"The problem is that the gap between changes has grown so long. Well — is there anything left for me to help you with?"
"Aside from the upcoming summit with the Allied Kingdoms, I doubt it."
My father gave a slow, weighty nod, and our long-awaited reunion came to an end. I went to see my mother, then set off to visit Mary.
From what I'd heard, she had given birth to an adorable baby girl, spent some time recovering, and returned to duty at the Imperial Palace.
"You look healthier than I expected. That puts my mind at ease."
"My, you've grown so much more handsome in your absence, Your Highness."
"Mary was my wet nurse — I knew she'd always see me as a child. Hearing her say that, though, makes it truly sink in that I've become an adult."
"It saddens me that we must part again so soon after only a brief visit."
Now that I was the acting lord of the duchy, Mary — a palace maid — could not simply follow me there. I could have brought her along if I'd wished, but I had no intention of burdening a woman with an infant still at her breast.
"I'll drop by now and then. When I do, I'd like to see Mary's little girl."
"She is truly a darling child. Whenever her father comes home, he abandons me entirely and sits by her side until he falls asleep. Oh, Your Highness — I do hope you'll marry Lady Lapis soon and come to know this joy for yourself."
"...We'll see."
With the Demonic World Tree due to revive in three years at the outside, I wondered whether there would ever be room to discuss an heir. With that thought, I climbed into the carriage bound for the duchy.
Lapis sat inside it, and in the carriage behind ours rode Alphonse and Dana. Dana was to assist me with my duties at the duchy over winter break before returning to the Academy.
Aria, meanwhile, had headed for the duchy alone, without passing through the capital, in order to enter the Magic Tower located there.
"Things are about to get very busy. I'll have no choice but to lean on you — is that all right?"
"I would welcome you relying on me however much you need, Lord Rohen."
Lapis smiled brightly and rested her cheek against my shoulder. But as my hand slowly stroked her hair, I couldn't quite erase the faint trace of guilt weighing on it.
I had heard that Lapis had some inkling of what was happening with Aria — how could my conscience be entirely clear?
Thus, carrying that quiet discomfort with me, I arrived at the duchy and received a full handover of information from the administrator who had been managing the territory until now.
When I had briefly visited the palace over the break, I'd told my father: roughly one month remained until the completion of the temple and the elementary educational institutions.
'A reasonable timeline, then.'
There were matters that demanded priority, so it was better than having every deadline collide at once and scrambling to handle them all simultaneously.
"Would you bring Alphonse to me?"
"At once, my lord."
After summoning the newly assigned butler through the temporarily stationed administrator and issuing my instructions, it wasn't long before Alphonse entered. I put the power of my Lingual Magic into my words as I spoke.
"Relax. For now, you'll run the Peridot Merchant Guild jointly while Dana is here. Her ability is more than adequate."
She had scored highly even in the economics department she'd taken as her second major, so I anticipated no objections.
"I've written down the criteria for selecting additional staff here. Choose them yourself, then report to me."
"Understood. Though... I imagine the news will spread quickly through the papers, won't it?"
"No doubt. The capital is probably already buzzing about the Permanent Magic Stones. Getting word out to the other regions would take, at a conservative estimate, two weeks or so? I've filed a patent on the products I showed you — I named the device a 'Dryer' on my own initiative. Change it if you don't like it."
"Oh, it's fine. I've never had much of a gift for naming things myself..."
"The staff of this mansion have been replaced, but the artisans remaining in the territory are the same as ever. Win them over and secure our production volume. Send me the payment requests for whatever Magic Stones you need, and I'll transform them into permanent ones before sending them back."
"Understood, my lord."
"And once the current matters are settled, I'll set you up with a workshop of your own."
"My... own workshop?"
"You can hardly keep borrowing other people's workshops forever."
"...A workshop of my very own. I see."
Watching the corners of his mouth fight a losing battle against a grin, I sent Alphonse out. I continued reviewing documents in the lord's office until stiffness crept into my shoulders, and I turned to gaze out the window.
It was only my first day in office, and already there was so much to confirm.
"Per ardua ad astra."
Through hardship, to the stars.
It was a punishing schedule that left no room whatsoever for personal leisure. But at the end of it all, I was certain I would find the path to the future I desired.
Seventeen days later, the merchant district of the capital was packed with an almost absurd crush of people. In front of the crowd that had gathered shoulder to shoulder stood a small trading house bearing the name Peridot — its doors still shut, its opening yet to come.
All these people had swarmed here to purchase goods made with the Permanent Magic Stones. Looking toward the future, it would be far more efficient to outfit public spaces — bathhouses, for instance — with complete installations and place Permanent-Magic-Stone artifacts there, rather than selling them for private individual ownership.
Once the Demonic World Tree was destroyed, individual demand could never possibly be met. The only reason personal items were being sold at all was, in truth, to prove that the Permanent Magic Stone was no mere rumor.
"Th-there's an awful lot of people, isn't there?"
"...The stock's going to sell out for sure."
"Do you know how much I've been scrimping on drink just to be here?!"
"Hey! I've been waiting here all night!"
The people jostling and bickering in their desperation to buy first actually cared very little about the artifacts' usefulness. What they were eyeing, first and foremost, was the "magic-engraved Permanent Magic Stone" itself.
Granted, the engraved Magic Stones came in a proprietary format incompatible with other artifacts. But even so — if it was permanent, then even with low output from the engraved magic, the stone alone was worth using. That was a tremendous prize by any measure.
Before long the doors of the trading house opened, and those who rushed to make their purchases murmured soft exclamations of wonder at the strange-shaped device called the Dryer. The enclosed instruction manual was written out in text for the noble version, but for the commoner version it was explained entirely in pictures, so learning to use it posed no difficulty.
"So it's mainly for drying your hair, then... Looks like it'd work well for drying laundry in a hurry, too."
"The wife will love this."
"It's a bit chilly out, what with the early spring — think I couldn't just use it to warm myself up?"
"Hmm... I think the manual says something about how using it on bare skin for too long causes dryness and skin trouble."
"I'm not some woman fussing over her looks. What's a little dry skin, anyhow?"
Separate from the Permanent Magic Stone itself, this first-ever commercial product — the Dryer — was, naturally, bound to be more popular among women. It drastically cut down the time it took to dry long, water-soaked hair.
But no one was unaware that the Permanent Magic Stone engraved in the artifact was the true treasure, so many people extracted just the stone and set it aside for safekeeping. Some even paid premium prices to hoard them outright.
Still, the ones who reaped an unexpected, indirect profit from this artifact were, of all people, the physicians.
"...I've taken ill after using that new artifact I purchased recently."
"Viscount. Might that ailment be located in the... groin region?"
"How on earth did you know?"
Viscount Nern couldn't help but marvel at the physician's insight — the man had seen through him instantly, though the Viscount hadn't even said where it hurt. In truth, after using the Dryer, the skin near his groin had reddened and swelled, and patches of ghostly white skin had begun peeling away.
"As I recall, it was written in the product's instruction manual. Something about how prolonged use on areas other than the hair dries out the skin and is highly likely to cause dermatitis..."
"..."
"I understand, of course. Most people only care to learn how a thing works — they can hardly be bothered to read the fine details. But the number of patients has already passed a hundred, and frankly, I'm wearing thin."
"A h-hundred people?"
"I'll blend some herbs into an ointment for you. Apply it to the affected area three times a day."
"Th-thank you."
"It's simply my duty as a physician. You needn't thank me."
After sending the departing Viscount Nern on his way, the physician hauled himself up from his chair with a wince before receiving his next patient. Then he took out an ointment exactly identical to the one he had just dispensed — and lowered his trousers.
"Haha... kh!"
A physician he might be, but there was no law saying he couldn't make the very same mistake as his patients.