◇

The next morning after the Royal Capital sightseeing tour, I change into Kuro and teleport to the workshop where Porina is waiting.

I'm going to meet the inventor mentioned before.

"Porina, has he come?"

"Yes, Kuro-sama."

Porina who welcomed me guides me to the reception room.

The one waiting beyond the door Porina has opened is an unexpected person.

"Nice to meet you! My name is Aoi Haruka. I am not a n.o.ble despite having family name, so please do not misunderstand."

A 10-year-old boy who looks exactly like a girl introduces himself with polite language unbefitting of his age.

Aoi is a j.a.panese person that Princess Menea's Kingdom has summoned. It might be more correct to call him a person of Land of Rich Autumn Harvest Empire j.a.pan, but let's not mind the detail.

"Nice too meet you, I'm Echigoya. I'm the chairman of Echigoya Firm."

Despite using the figure and clothes of Echigoya, my name in exchange column is still Kuro. Echigoya is a plain fake name of Kuro.

"I'd like to ask forgiveness for my rudeness, but is Echigoysan a j.a.panese?"

"It's probably a different j.a.pan than yours though."

"As I thought! I knew that there were other j.a.panese people who came to this world beside me!"

I make Aoi Boy to control his excitement with my hand.

I feel that his personality differs from when I met him as Satou, but this one might be the base one. He was with Princess Menea at that time, he might have denied the fact that he was a j.a.panese.

"Calm down. First, let's talk about our business."

"Yes! That Lighter is my masterpiece--"

Aoi Boy gleefully begins to talk about his hards.h.i.+ps and the point for improvements.

It seems like he'll go on forever if left alone, so I tell him the cruel hard fact.

"We will not sell that Lighter as our product."

"B-but why? The mechanism is simple, and oil is common--"

I tell the shaken Aoi Boy about the problem with the Lighter as Porina has told me.

Yet the Aoi Boy still persisted, and only finally relented after I showed him the Ignition Rod.

"So, what kind of 『Invention』 are you going to make next?"

"Unfortunately, there is no next time if I can't sell the Lighter.... I have no more fund."

It seems he got the lighter money this time from p.a.w.ning the ring that Princess Menea had lent him.

s.h.i.+ga Kingdom doesn't have any bank that you can ask for financing after all.

There are firms and the merchant guild that can do that, but you'll become a slave if you can't pay back the money.

"Then, I have a suggestion for you--"

I offer Aoi Boy to become an inventor & advisor of Echigoya Firm, and to give him a laboratory in our Royal Capital's mansion and the research fund.

And just to make sure, I also offer him one gold coin as the initial salary, and to lend him the money needed to take Princess Menea's ring from the p.a.w.nshop.

Thus, Aoi Boy becomes a member of Echigoya Firm.

I have many reasons as to why I take him under me, but the biggest one is in order to avoid him developing something that will incur the [G.o.ds' Wrath].

I tell Aoi Boy about the story I've heard from Corpse and Armor after forewarning him that it should remain a secret.

I especially warn him about the radio tower and train ahead of time since they're convenient and easy to come up. It won't be funny if the Royal Capital turns into ashes because of my funding.

My business with Aoi Boy is over, so I ask him about the present state of the other j.a.panese who was with him, Yui Akasaki.

It seems she was proposed by a high-ranking n.o.bleman whom she was acquainted with from an evening party she attended with Princess Menea.

Looks like the other party was the one who fell for Yui. Falling in love to a 13-year old girl, he must be a lolicon.

It seems Yui didn't feel the same, but she was moved by intense attack from the other party and made a promise to marry him. They couldn't get married right away due to the difference in their social positions, so the guy has asked a n.o.ble related to him to adopt Yui as their daughter in order to secure her social position, allowing them to marry.

Aoi Boy is deeply moved as he tells me about how she's currently seriously studying etiquette in a cla.s.s referred by that related n.o.ble.

"Echigoysan, I want to introduce you to my Sensei--"

◇

Aoi Boy has led me to a downtown with some small workshops. You can reach the slum quarter after going through several streets from here.

"Sensei! Are you inside, Sensei"

"Maybe he's sleeping?"

The radar shows me that there's a luminous spot of a person inside.

Since the door seems to be shut with only bolt, I smoothly open it with [Magic Hand].

"It's open."

"Huh? You're right--. Sensei! It's me Aoi. I'm going in"

Aoi Boy skillfully evades the scattered written memos on the floor and goes in further.

I knit my brows when I look at the scattered memos on the floor. The double-inversion disk-type aerodynamic engine that I've made with a different theory and a circuit with different layout is drawn there.

"Echigoysan, this person is Professor Jahad."

"I often heard about your name in the past."

"Hmph, I don't need some lip service."

Aoi Boy introduces me to a white-haired old man with bedhair wearing gla.s.ses that look like bottom of bottles. He has no special features besides his small stature despite being a human.

He's the rumored magician who's crazy for spinning things, and the person who wrote the books I saw in Seryuu city whom I had wanted to meet once.

I take out his works and the spinning top that he's created from Item Box to show him that it wasn't some lip service.

After seeing his works, he returned them back to me while hmph-ing, but his att.i.tudes softened somewhat afterwards.

It seems he was a member of both the Royal Academy and the Royal Research Inst.i.tute, but he fell into the trap of some researchers with n.o.ble lineage and was s.n.a.t.c.hed both t.i.tles.

Now he's living a poor life by repairing magic tools in the downtown without any financial supporter.

I invited Prof. Jahad to be a researcher of Echigoya Firm, but his reply wasn't favorable.

"Hmph, I don't care with money. If you want to hire me, bring me the new type aerodynamic engine! I would even sell my soul to demon lords if I could see the artistic splendor of that double disk engine up close."

"You won't backpedal on it right."

"Not."

I clear some s.p.a.ce in the room with [Magic Hand] and take out a spare double-inversion disk-type aerodynamic engine from Storage. It couldn't fit into Item Box since it was too big.

I smile at Prof. Jahad whose eyeb.a.l.l.s look like they'll fly out, and then we establish the contract.

This man will surely able to increase the performance of the aerodynamic engine even further.

◇

I leave arranging their rooms in the mansion, the laboratory, and all miscellaneous things to the new manager and Tifaliza.

The new manager seems to be happy about something, she's started taking actions gleefully.

Tifaliza is preparing doc.u.ments about machinery indifferently.

The new type of aerodynamic engine is a national defense secret, so I've taken the one in Prof. Jahad's lodging and moved it to the new laboratory.

I've left him with the disa.s.sembly manual and the rough configuration.

The detailed blueprint only exist in the map of my memo column, so I'll be giving him the doc.u.ment about it later.

◇

After I've finished the minor business in Echigoya Firm, I take everyone to the second sightseeing tour of the fountain.

There's still some time until the fountain moves, so we're watching the street performers in the square in front of the fountain.

"Uhha! Nostalg!"

"Nyoronyoro~?"

"Kabayaki-san nanodesu!"

Arisa's tension is running high when she sees a street performer who's manipulating a snake with a soundless flute.

--Nostalgic?

Were such street performers popular in Arisa's hometown?

Pochi a.s.sociated the snake with Kabayaki when she saw it.

She's just had a lunch a while ago, looks like Pochi's appet.i.te never wanes.

Maybe I'll go with White Horn Snake and Eel Donburi for today's dinner.

When I was racking my brain about the side dishes, sounds of building collapsing and screams entered my ears.

"Master, I've found a monster at two o'clock direction. Going in for removal. Please the permission."

A gigantic level 30 cricket monster broke through a two-story building and jumped to the street.

Snake-like patterns are emitting red light on its black body.

"Nana, you stay here to guard Arisa and the others. Liza, go defeat the monster quickly. Pochi and Tama, help anyone who's injured. Mia, prepare the healing. The rest stay here with me."

"Yes, my Master."

"Understood."

"Aye!"

"Roger nanodesu!"

I'm checking the surrounding map while giving instructions to everyone.

The monster wasn't reflected in my radar just before this. Is it teleportation or summoning, I need to find out what kind of way monsters can be called in the middle of Royal Capital.

--Liza's spear was stopped for an instant by the red barrier that appeared before the cricket monster's body.

The spear tore its rind and armor, giving damage, but it couldn't defeat it in one blow.

Even though she didn't use any big technique, it's unbelievable that the defense of a level 30 monster could stop Liza's spear.

"Lizsan! That thing has 『Magic Body Bestowal』 state! I've never heard that kind of buff before, so go use some serious technique!"

"Understood!"

In accordance to Arisa's advice, Liza fills magic power into the spear enough to produce Magic Edge.

--Magic Body Bestowal?

It's Fiend Drug's effect!

As I took a sidelong glance at Liza's Spiral Spear Strike pulverizing the cricket monster, I searched for people who carried Fiend Drug in the Royal Capital, but I couldn't find anyone.

There shouldn't be many people who would carry fiend drug since it was thoroughly hunted.

Right then, an unpleasant thought flashes in my mind.

....They couldn't have thrown the fiend drug into the drainage to destroy evidence and ended up producing monsters right?

There should be books pertaining fiend drug in the forbidden library of the royal castle.

I'll go see the king as Nanas.h.i.+ and ask permission to enter the forbidden library tonight.

I receive a whitish magic core that Liza's collected and instruct everyone to rescue the people who've been buried under the collapsed building.

Fortunately, there was no casualty, the injured ones could all be cured with low level healing magic.

I left the settlement to the dispatched soldier, and then we went home after enjoying the water fountain.

Lady Karina who should be receiving special training in the royal castle for her debut in high society was in the mansion, but I hardened my heart and sent her back to the royal castle.

Crying while shouting, "Traitor", is making me look bad, please stop it.

I should go visit her during the special training while bringing some delicious things tomorrow.