The Most Valuable Resource
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
By now, Beldora could identify the source of the sound just from the footsteps alone. Everyone else might not recognize it, but this ability was oddly one-sided, favoring the one woman whose every step carried a simmering anger.
“……He’s here.”
Theodore, who had been discussing matters in the office with Beldora, sighed and caught on as well.
Who would have thought that the hierarchy of the Iron Magic Tower could be turned so completely upside down?
Previously, when he looked at Lee Dam, Theodore had been deeply worried. Now, on the contrary, she had made the Iron Magic Tower far more orderly.
She served as an excellent counterexample for so many others.
Clang!
“What is this nonsense?!”
Lee Dam kicked the door open wide and, clutching her swaying breasts with both hands, shouted.
She didn’t seem to know why she was grabbing them, yet the faint glisten of tears at the corners of her eyes suggested the pain might be unbearable.
She had probably fallen, hadn’t she?
“You have me here, yet you negotiate contract terms without consulting me at all? This is outrageous!”
“Hah.”
Theodore immediately exhaled a sigh of exasperation.
His expression screamed that he found even the explanation bothersome, but Beldora simply gestured toward him with a nod of her chin.
“Lee Dam, I don’t know who fed you that strange wind, but I will not hide contract conditions from you.”
“Eh?”
“To me, the one who is the core creator of the Knight Armor, hiding such a thing from me would be even more outrageous, wouldn’t it? So stop your strange worries and settle your mana.”
“Ah.”
Theodore pointed at the blue mana rising above Lee Dam’s shoulders.
Seeing mana resonating with emotion, Lee Dam answered in a listless tone.
“Yeah, right. Once common sense is properly installed, no one would speak without me around. And here I am, with my head like this, going bald.”
It seemed Noman had probably been blowing hot air. Theodore sighed and then added one important fact.
“But there is something you must do.”
“Hmm?”
“Probably starting as early as tomorrow or the day after, the summit with the various nations will begin. You will not be able to attend then.”
Lee Dam’s mana flared up in the same distorted way it had before.
“Why?! You said I have to be there! What kind of idiots don’t even know how the Knight Armor works-!”
“Because of your personality!”
Theodore, unable to hold it back any longer, finally let out a roar.
His finger jabbed straight at Lee Dam in accusation.
“Kill that personality! You should have been an apprentice mage long ago! Last week you even had to clean the bathroom, right?!”
“That couldn’t be helped. My underwear had disappeared and I had to search for it.”
“Why?! Why?! You went into the men’s changing room to find it?!”
“It’s a habit.”
“Hah! Haaaa!”
Theodore gripped his forehead in agony, unable to bear it any longer. The man who usually looked handsome and blunt had completely broken down in front of Lee Dam.
“Ah, shit! So what? Geniuses are allowed to have wild personalities, right?”
“You can’t say that yourself!”
Once you know you have a wild personality, you should fix it yourself.
Lee Dam crossed her arms and scowled.
“Ah, why. The Tower Master told me to stay like this. I’m building up my achievements, aren’t I?”
“……Tower Master?”
Theodore gave Beldora a betrayed look, but she was already staring down at the carpet pattern in the office.
“Hah, still no. At the last demonstration you let me handle it, but this time the key figures from the various nations will be here. I cannot allow you to cause a ruckus here.”
She had shown both her arrogance and her strength.
Now, at the negotiation table, etiquette would have to be observed and each party would have to tear out what they wanted.
Such an unprincipled action was tantamount to handing the initiative over to the other side.
Hadn’t there always been the saying to become the victim?
Even if they made some outrageous demand, the word “victim” would give them a solid reason.
“Ah, they all want to sign contracts with us anyway-!”
“That’s only this time! What guarantee is there that it won’t happen again at the next Exchange Day-!”
In the middle of the rising voices, Beldora stepped in to mediate.
“Enough! Stop it!”
“What kind of beastly woman is this-.”
“Cut it out, you bastard.”
“Stop it already.”
While they were still bickering, Beldora entered. She glanced back and forth between them and laid out her proposal.
“Then let’s do this. Lee Dam wants to attend the negotiation table, and Theodore thinks that if she does, the talks will fall apart anyway?”
“I have no doubt.”
“Hmph.”
Lee Dam imitated Theodore in mockery. She had wanted to punch him right then, but she endured it and listened to Beldora.
“Then let’s try this. Lee Dam will show us everything until the negotiation table. You’ll be able to speak normally.”
“Up until now, hasn’t it been normal?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re asking because you don’t know, aren’t you?”
“…….”
Lee Dam’s sharp rebuttal was clean and decisive.
“I will push the schedule as far as possible and set the summit for two days from now. Starting today and continuing until the day of the talks, you will act like an ordinary woman. How about it?”
“Hah.”
She let out a frustrated sigh.
Clearly she hated the idea.
“There is no other way. If you really want to participate in the negotiations and get what you want instead of stirring up trouble at the summit… you must accept this condition no matter what.”
With her emotions slowly being choked off, Lee Dam lowered her head. She swept her bangs up with her hand in a display of forced anger and gave an awkward smile.
“I understand.”
“……I don’t know what kind of tone that is, but it’s at least better than the previous one. How about it, Theodore? Doesn’t this seem acceptable?”
Beldora eyed Lee Dam, who was standing primly with both hands placed on her belly, and nodded.
“If that’s all, I accept it too. But I am certain. It is impossible. Probably tomorrow she will be causing chaos again while spreading filth and vulgarity.”
“You fucking bitch-!”
“Lee Dam?”
In Beldora’s narrowed eyes, Lee Dam bit her lip and answered with an awkward smile.
“Trust in the girl, you bastard.”
“……Lee Dam?”
“I’m sorry, I made a mistake.”
She covered her mouth and laughed awkwardly.
“Once is enough. Thank you.”
She hadn’t forgiven anyone, yet she thanked herself for being forgiven and then sat on the guest sofa.
In Beldora’s office, they had always held meetings on the sofa.
“Let’s begin. What do you want to obtain as the main focus?”
“……It feels really awkward.”
“I’m glad you’re quiet.”
Her hands placed primly over her belly made her look exactly like some lady of the inner chamber.
Lee Dam’s words and actions were a fresh reminder of just how much her appearance had been chipped away.
Beldora sat in the head seat, Lee Dam on the opposite sofa, and Theodore next to her.
“Wait a moment. Let’s call the department heads.”
In addition to the key executives of the Iron Magic Tower, the meeting quickly began.
“First, we need to find out what we require the most.”
Beldora crossed her legs and spoke. Theodore, who was always prepared, answered immediately.
“Of course, iron ore. The furnaces are so massive that the production volume is enormous, but our stockpiles of iron ore cannot keep up. That’s why the furnaces often stand idle.”
Another executive added to Theodore’s explanation.
“Moreover, we must also restrain the mages’ outbursts. Because the iron has good quality, they tend to get excited and use it recklessly. So the produced amount is large, yet the iron shortage is actually worse than before.”
Beldora sighed.
Up until now they had not restricted the iron supply at all. Perhaps a limit was needed for the mages.
“Even from the emergency stockpiles, they take it out to use.”
“What? They take it out to use? Who the hell is this lunatic-?!”
No matter how you looked at it, the stockpiles were for emergencies. Who would use them for that?
Everyone’s gaze turned toward one woman.
Lee Dam, sitting primly with her hands resting on her belly.
When her gaze met, Lee Dam answered with a gentle smile.
“The girl has sleepwalking disorder.”
Clatter!
Puff!
The executives immediately erupted in a commotion, staring at Lee Dam. One shot to his feet, another sprayed the tea in his mouth, and yet another slipped under his chair and fell.
“W-what happened?! Is everyone injured?!”
“Lee Dam? Why suddenly like that!”
“M-magic! Healing magic-!”
“If you don’t want to end up flying through the air from all the fuss, everyone just shut up and sit properly on the damn sofa.”
“…….”
Beldora felt the same. The words were similar, but the atmosphere had become prim. But if it had been the usual Lee Dam, she would have stood up and unleashed a torrent of curses by now. This was more than enough.
“Hey, speak properly.”
But Theodore was not satisfied.
“Are you going to call it ‘death junk’ even at the summit?”
“……Theodore-nim.”
Suddenly, Lee Dam’s smile softened.
Within that perfectly natural and beautiful smile, Lee Dam declared,
“I will kill you.”
“…….”
“Ah, sorry. The girl was talking nonsense.”
She covered her mouth and laughed. “Ho ho ho.”
For those who knew her true self, the scene was chilling.
“Hah, stop fighting. Lee Dam, what was that about sleepwalking?”
Thanks to Beldora mediating again, Lee Dam answered normally once more.
“The girl has sleepwalking disorder, so in a daze she enters the warehouse and steals iron. She used it to make her own thing.”
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Everyone fell silent.
In other words, they had used the emergency stockpiled supplies to make their own personal junk.
They called it sleepwalking to avoid responsibility.
“You, refill it.”
“I already did. I restored the shape.”
Silence fell once more.
They had put back what they used, right?
‘So among the emergency iron, there must have been an orc’s penis.’
‘No, it’s not that. The iron the woman used for masturbation is in the emergency stockpiles?’
‘……I’ll go smell it later.’
‘Is there something wet?’
While the people were thinking various things, Lee Dam sighed and said,
“The girl is worried about this situation, so I came to the summit to say it.”
“Hmm?”
Lee Dam’s eyes slowly began to invade with madness.
“We don’t know what is the most important thing in this negotiation.”
Coal? Iron ore? Limestone?
No, those were all unnecessary.
“Knights Armor requires a lot of experiments. For it to be used in actual combat, there will definitely be many trial and errors.”
The corner of Lee Dam’s mouth lifted as she looked at the Tower Master.
“Tower Master, do you want our tower’s precious and rare mages to wear thin armor or see them explode?”
“Eh? Ah, no… but that won’t happen-.”
The flashing crazed glint in her eyes.
The lifted corner of her mouth.
That alone was enough answer.
It would happen.
Lee Dam was speaking right now.
“People.”
This negotiation.
The most important resource was none other than.
“People to bring in.”
Human resources.
“Originally-.”
The lifted corner of her mouth blossomed into a smile fragrant as flowers.
“Pilots are the most expensive.”
Transcendence Form Unlocked — 「Knight Armor Core」