Chapter 58
“Orichalcon.”
Gelion’s fingertips trembled as he touched Zeke’s Hersion.
“My goodness. I never thought I’d see orichalcon in my lifetime…”
“Is this metal really that precious?”
Gelion exclaimed in shock:
“M-my lord! Orichalcon is said to be the most perfect material the gods left in this world.”
“I see. So what kind of value does this orichalcon have?”
“Orichalcon is said to have superior magical conductivity compared to any other metal. This means you can engrave far more magic into it compared to metals of the same surface area.”
Zeke recalled what he had learned when he first registered the armor.
‘Come to think of it, it was said to have twenty-eight grand magic circles engraved.’
Zeke casually asked Gelion:
“How many grand magic circles can be engraved on regular armor?”
Gelion made an expression of disbelief at those words.
“Several grand magic circles…? My lord, regular armor cannot have large-scale magic circles engraved on it in the first place.”
Gelion said it would be like trying to engrave an entire book onto a grain of wheat.
Zeke looked at the Hersion he was wearing with renewed amazement.
‘Twenty-eight grand magic circles can’t even be engraved on regular armor – how on earth was this made?’
At this rate, it seemed even Cain, the original owner of this armor, might not have known its true capabilities.
Zeke asked Gelion:
“Would it be possible to change this armor into a different form?”
Gelion waved his hands in protest.
“O-orichalcon, you say? I-impossible!”
“You say it’s impossible – is working with orichalcon that difficult?”
“While it may be the metal of the gods, it’s still metal, so it could be worked with somehow. But the problem is that this armor is already in its completed state. If I were to tamper with it, the magic circles engraved inside could be damaged, potentially making the armor completely unusable.”
Zeke understood what Gelion was worried about.
‘Hmm, I guess I’ll have to use the armor only when necessary.’
Then Gelion carefully said:
“Perhaps… my master might be able to do it.”
“You mean Master Craftsman Golin?”
“Yes. My master might be able to change its appearance without affecting the Hersion’s functions.”
“I see. Do you know where Golin is now?”
“As always, he’s probably busy making whatever he wants in Himonas.”
Zeke’s expression hardened at the mention of Himonas.
“Himonas…”
Seeing his serious face, Gelion said to Zeke,
“You probably don’t know it well. It’s quite far in the north.”
Zeke slowly opened his mouth.
“It’s where the Northern Grand Duke is.”
Gelion was surprised at those words.
“How did you know? Even people from the Central Continent rarely know about the Northern Grand Duke.”
“Just… happened to learn about it somehow.”
At Zeke’s words, Gelion realized he didn’t want to talk more about it, and made an awkward expression without asking further.
‘Himonas.’
The place he missed most, yet couldn’t bring himself to visit.
He didn’t want to go there rashly because even he didn’t know how he would feel if he went there and saw her.
‘There’s still plenty of time. Later. It won’t be too late to go after I’ve accomplished everything I want to achieve.’
Zeke gave Gelion a room and returned to his own room.
He lay awake all night, lost in thought.
* * *
The next day, Zeke headed to the secret branch of the Linehart Company.
It was where Princess Melissa held secret meetings for company business, and Zeke, who had become a director of the company, was supposed to attend as well.
“Welcome, Sir Zeke.”
Cliff, who was publicly known as the company’s owner, greeted Zeke in the conference room.
Princess Melissa had arrived early and was reviewing documents.
“It’s been a while, Sir Zeke.”
She too welcomed Zeke warmly.
Zeke, Melissa, and Cliff sat at the round table and began their meeting.
Cliff opened with the first topic,
“The production of medicine using soma that you mentioned, Sir Zeke, seems feasible. However.”
He slowly brought up the difficulty.
“It seems it would be difficult to build a factory to process soma into medicine anywhere within the Central Continent.”
Initially, they had thought about building a factory in the Kingdom of Allensia, but even Princess Melissa found it difficult to exert her influence in this matter.
As Melissa was known as a philanthropist, if rumors spread that she was supporting a pharmaceutical company that processed soma, which was considered a drug, it would tarnish her reputation.
After hearing this, Zeke spoke to Cliff,
“What about medicines that are already processed?”
“For processed medicines, there’s no problem importing them as long as they pass safety verification from the Magic Tower.”
“Good then. Let’s set up a factory in the Southern Continent to make products and have Linehart import and distribute them.”
Melissa shook her head at those words.
“Sir Zeke. I apologize, but currently the Linehart Trading Company doesn’t have the capacity to build a large-scale pharmaceutical factory in the South. We barely managed to build the factory producing the treatment for Hong-hwa Disease.”
At this, Zeke smiled slyly.
“We’ll build that on our side. In exchange, when the products are made, please have Linehart speak with the Magic Tower to get proper approval.”
Melissa was surprised by Zeke’s words.
“You’ll build the factory yourself, Sir Zeke? Surely Draker isn’t getting involved?”
He shook his head.
“I’ll proceed with my personal funds, so you don’t need to worry about Draker getting involved.”
Although she wanted to know more details, the matter of personal funds wasn’t something Princess Melissa should discuss.
She nodded.
“Very well. If the southern factory is built, we’ll handle importing the medicines and selling them in the Central Continent.”
“The import agency company will contact you soon. Please discuss the details with their representative.”
The import agency company Zeke mentioned was actually Syndicate’s ghost company.
‘I’ll need to find someone responsible for managing the pharmaceutical factory. It would be good if there was a trustworthy Magician.’
Finding trustworthy people was always the most difficult task.
When the trading company discussion with Melissa was mostly finished, Zeke brought up another topic.
“Princess, I have something to tell you.”
“What is it, Sir Zeke?”
“I recently obtained new information about the Empire.”
Zeke handed over documents to Princess Melissa that contained only the necessary parts from materials brought from the southern dungeon’s laboratory.
Melissa looked at the materials Zeke handed over and her expression quickly hardened.
“Good heavens. Are you saying the Empire joined hands with the Scorpion Clan and conducted live experiments with synthetic poisons?”
Zeke nodded and said:
“If Hong-hwa Disease is a magically created illness, the Empire might have conducted clinical trials of new magical weapons targeting Allensia.”
Melissa clenched her jaw.
“I couldn’t believe it. To think they would do such things to our citizens.”
As Melissa herself had contracted Hong-hwa Disease and survived thanks to medicine from Zeke, the Empire’s evil deeds hit particularly close to home.
Zeke said to Melissa:
“Princess. The reason I gave you this information is because we need to keep the Empire’s evil deeds secret for now.”
At Zeke’s words, Melissa furrowed her fair brow.
“What do you mean, Sir Zeke? We should immediately inform the international community about the Empire’s evil deeds to prevent them from doing this again.”
“I understand how you feel. However, these materials are too weak to serve as decisive evidence for such diplomatic purposes.”
This was the conclusion Zeke reached after thoroughly examining the materials.
The Empire had cleverly shifted the responsibility for the experiments to the Scorpion Clan.
Since the Scorpion Clan was a well-known black magic group, human experimentation wouldn’t be a major issue for them.
For the Empire, they could simply deny their relationship with the Scorpion Clan and express regret to end the matter.
Understanding Zeke’s words, Melissa clenched her fists and trembled.
He said to Princess Melissa,
“Princess. Rather than announcing this information publicly, holding onto it could be a more advantageous card for us.”
“What do you mean by that, Sir Zeke?”
“The Empire doesn’t know that you and I have this information. Given that they’re conducting experiments on such a large scale, there must be evidence somewhere that directly links to them.”
Princess Melissa understood Zeke’s words.
“You’re saying it would be better to combine that evidence with this information to put definitive pressure on the Empire.”
“Correct. Nevertheless, I showed you this information first so we can prepare in advance.”
“Prepare?”
“If they used Hong-hwa Disease for clinical trials in Allensia’s conflict zones, they’re likely to experiment with other poisons here as well. Before that happens, we need to create antidotes for these poisons.”
At Zeke’s words, Princess Melissa nodded firmly.
If these weapons were used in the conflict zones, Allensia’s forces would have to fight while poisoned.
However, if they prepared the antidote in advance, they could actually backstab the Empire.
“If we catch the ones using this poison, the Empire won’t be able to deny their connection to these illegal human experiments.”
“That’s right. If that happens, we can turn the conflict between the Empire and Allencia into an issue for the entire Central Continent.”
The princess was convinced by Zeke’s words.
At the same time, she felt once again that bringing Zeke into the association was the right decision.
‘My choice wasn’t wrong.’
After delivering all the necessary information, Zeke rose from his seat.
“I won’t be able to attend meetings for a while.”
“I see. If the opportunity arises, I’d like to invite Sir Zeke to Allencia. Allencia is a place with beautiful mountains and many peaceful, serene lakes.”
Zeke nodded.
“I know.”
“Have you been to Allencia before?”
Zeke hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.
“I’ve heard many good things about it. When I visit next time, please show me many beautiful places.”
Princess Melissa nodded with a brightened expression at Zeke’s words.
After leaving the secret meeting place, he went straight to Valhalla.
When he arrived at the training ground, Aster and the uninvited Diego were there.
“Diego? Why are you here?”
“Yo, bro! It makes me sad when you two play without me, yo!”
“I thought you hated training.”
“Of course I hate training. I’m just here to cheer, yeah!”
Though Diego spoke cheerfully, such words wouldn’t work on Zeke.
Eventually, Diego was dragged by Zeke to join the training.
“Zeke! You’re a devil, yo! As expected of Draker’s bloodline, yo!”
“Stop talking nonsense and swing your sword one more time, Diego.”
Diego grumbled while swinging his sword as if dancing.
The three’s training continued afterwards.
Diego was quite cocky in front of Zeke on the first day of training, but after being thrown and smashed into the wall like Aster, he became quite obedient.
‘As always, they only listen after using force.’
After receiving hellish training under Zeke’s command for a week, Aster and Diego were gradually being dyed in his color.
The day of the mission arrived, and the three headed to Atlas Central Station to move to Delpoa.
The three were able to sit in the luxury compartment with just their Valhalla student IDs.
Right after the three occupied the spacious luxury compartment, Diego lay down on the sofa and groaned.
“I’m dying even before the mission starts, yo.”
When Zeke said he’d make him sit in an invisible chair the whole way if he didn’t stay quiet, Diego immediately shut his mouth.
At that moment, someone entered the luxury compartment.
A knight in a perfectly fitted Drake uniform with a delicate face.
It was someone Zeke knew well.
‘Andrei?’
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