A Gesture of Consideration for Lee Dam
The negotiations with the Boulian Republic had ended in a decidedly sour mood.
"Well, it seems we've gone about our preparations a bit poorly."
"..."
With a shameless grin, Fontaine extended his hand for a handshake.
Beldora studied him for a moment, then took it with visible reluctance.
Unperturbed, Fontaine continued anyway.
"Since there are still plenty of days ahead, next time we'll sit down with a proposal that will surely satisfy you."
"...Thank you."
A weight of awkwardness and complexity settled over Beldora.
She had heard that Fontaine's words felt entirely plausible, which only deepened her unease.
Theodore beside her wore a similar expression.
He was shouldering a heavy responsibility for the future of the Iron Magic Tower, agonizing over every decision.
Yet Fontaine brushed past them and approached the very cause of the trouble, Lee Dam, to shake her hand.
"It was a blind spot. The Iron Magic Tower turned out to be far more impressive than I expected."
"Or, to put it another way, you underestimated the Iron Magic Tower."
"...Excuse me?"
"Lee Dam?!"
Every negotiator in the room turned to stare at her. But Lee Dam had already decided she wouldn't hold back.
"Next time, try to bring a proposal that makes me go 'woof, woof' instead."
"Haha, hahahaha!"
Fontaine finally snapped.
He clutched his stomach and laughed until tears streamed down his face, then forced himself to breathe deeply.
"I don't usually go for that kind of thing. I prefer to hold the reins."
"Ah, I see. But looking at what you've got here, that might be a bit difficult."
The room fell into an awkward silence.
Even Fontaine stared at Lee Dam with a stiff expression this time.
"Me? I'm pretty sensitive to mana."
Lee Dam chuckled as if explaining the obvious.
"Every time I say it, your crotch feels like it's getting slapped with mana from the air, and it gets hard to hold back."
"Haha, this is... embarrassing."
Trying to look casual, he wiped sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.
He hadn't imagined the conversation would turn so crude, and now he was at a loss.
"That's fine. Want to do a favor for me? I've been feeling pretty nervous lately."
"..."
"What if I attach a new function to the Knight Armor for you? A special spot for the older man's hole? Could be a new kink, you know?"
"Miss Lee Dam! That's a very rude remark! It insults our Boulian Republic!"
His assistant, Colonel Ibha, finally stepped in.
Colonel glared at Lee Dam fiercely, but she grinned back and shot back.
"Hey, don't you think your puppy suddenly acts like a good boy when you pat his head?"
"What kind of nonsense-!"
"Whose ass is getting kicked here? If the Knight Armor only learns after marching through mud to your capital, you'll have to figure it out yourself!"
"That's ignoring us too much-!"
"Enough, Colonel Ibha."
Fontaine cut him off, extending a hand.
The colonel bowed his head and apologized to Lee Dam.
"I'm sorry, Archmage Lee Dam. It's true we misjudged your masterpiece."
"..."
"For the second round of negotiations, we'll bring a proper proposal."
Fontaine bowed to the other mages as well and left the tower.
"Huff."
*Crack.*
As he stormed out, the sound of teeth grinding echoed like a breaking jaw.
"Lord Fontaine, are you all right?"
Colonel Ibha asked anxiously.
Fontaine replied in a hushed, strained voice.
"Diplomacy is like that. When you have to bow your head, you have to know how to do it."
"But this time was too much! Insulting the Republic like that! It only makes us look even more foolish-!"
"Colonel Ibha."
"What is it?"
Fontaine's eyes burned with desire and humiliation as he asked.
"Call the council meeting when we get back."
"..."
"You'll be a witness there."
"A witness... you mean?"
"Yeah. Don't you think we've been fighting only among ourselves?"
Fontaine smirked and whispered.
"The towers are about to leave their absolute position too."
Fontaine was certain.
That woman would need
a lot of effort and a world-changing upheaval
to be satisfied.
*Huff, where to begin.*
Seeing her snore in bed was something I could kill time with.
Imagining that day, Fontaine felt his crotch harden again.
* * *
"Lee Dam! Are you crazy?!"
"Don't you know what 'just right' means?!"
After Fontaine left, as expected, the Iron Magic Tower was in chaos.
Beldora and Theodore were venting at Lee Dam, but she was lazily scratching her ear as if it didn't concern her.
"Even so, this was too far! The other side is a national minister! You couldn't have been more rude!"
"That's why I didn't put you in negotiations! What exactly didn't you like about it!"
"What didn't I like about it?"
Lee Dam furrowed her brow.
Staring at the two of them, she answered.
"We were in the position to always be the top dog, and suddenly becoming the underdog because of that guy's words is a fucking joke, right?"
"That's..."
"Right now we have negotiation cards the Knight Armor is carrying. Why aren't we using them? Why are we suddenly handing over the Knight Armor to them like that?"
It was reasonable enough for Fontaine's words to have been that logical.
Lee Dam hadn't been able to find a counter-argument.
But when she started thinking about the future, she could go on forever.
"We have to look at the present. We've already reined him in. We pulled his fangs out, so to speak."
"..."
"Meanwhile, other guys might see it as an opportunity. The Gérard Kingdom and the Exstep Alliance will probably come crawling to us once they hear the news."
Even so.
"Even so, this isn't enough. It's not just about Exchange Day; it could become a bigger diplomatic issue."
Right now the towers have absolute power and are holding the center as neutral parties,
but the three nations might use this as an excuse to demand something from the towers or suddenly diverge from the current flow.
"It won't be easy."
Lee Dam smiled faintly.
She was absolutely certain she wouldn't let the Boulian Republic's intentions steer them.
"Haa, I'm lost now."
"You're the woman Master Beldora brought. You have to take responsibility."
"Theodore?! You're bailing out?!"
Watching Beldora and Theodore bicker, Lee Dam crossed her arms and muttered.
"But mass production through the semi-automatic factory... that's actually interesting. I might go visit later when I'm bored."
"...You just forgot that you fought with them?"
"Master. To be honest, this woman needs therapy."
* * *
Negotiations with the various nations had now reached the second round.
Time had passed, and it was almost time for the towers to decide on contracts.
The Iron Magic Tower was on the receiving end of complaints from the surrounding towers.
Each nation could only sign one contract, so the towers waiting behind the Iron Magic Tower were growing impatient.
It was like the younger brother waiting for the older brother to get married first.
"These days, the other towers look at us with eyes that are pretty sharp."
"Sigh, it's annoying."
"You know? When it comes to passing Lee Dam, they act like they're not even looking."
The other towers had given the Iron Magic Tower quite a negative glance, so naturally the Iron Magic Tower had begun to harbor resentment toward them.
They grumbled that if they had twisted the other towers so much, they should have developed good magic and coiled the nations around their fingers themselves.
Anyway.
The Iron Magic Tower had not yet signed a contract with any nation,
but in truth Beldora had already decided where to sign.
She had just a fine choice left to make.
"Lee Dam, when are you going to stop dragging your feet?"
"Hmph."
In the tower master's office.
Lee Dam sat with her legs crossed on the sofa, flipping through documents.
She was chewing her thumbnail while thinking, looking quite serious.
"Haa, the other towers are only waiting for your decision."
"It's that important. We need to bring the toughest one possible."
"...I should warn you in advance: if you die in the experiment, it'll be a real pain."
Lee Dam pretended not to hear and kept flipping the papers.
The contract had already been decided with the Gérard Kingdom.
Not only did they provide abundant resources, but the schedule coordination for Knight Armor production and supply quantities had been adjusted to be very advantageous to this side.
Furthermore, they could supply knights.
In effect, the best pilot could be received.
And now Lee Dam was looking at the knight profiles provided by the Gérard Kingdom, pondering who to bring.
"He needs to be smart but tough."
That way he'd survive the experiments. They were planning to push the Knight Armor to its limits, and the experiments would be extremely dangerous.
That was why Lee Dam needed a pilot who wouldn't die easily.
"Hmph."
Flipping through profiles, Lee Dam clicked her tongue.
For some reason, every profile had a **[Penis Length]** field.
The current knight, Helan, was listed as 9 cm when flaccid and 12 cm when erect.
"Fuck, I don't want to know that."
She couldn't understand why they even included such trivial information.
"Giving them the middle finger at the Gérard Kingdom."
Lee Dam clicked her tongue toward the Gérard Kingdom,
but oddly enough,
it had been specially investigated and written by the Gérard Kingdom itself for Lee Dam.