At the Prince’s Mansion, Valon was vehently laying out the pros and cons to His Highness, pointing out that pulling out now would an missing the next market surge and incurring a huge loss on his expected returns.
But the old Prince was adamant, giving Valon little room to maneuver.
"Your Highness, forgive my presumption, but the dividends are due in less than half a year. It’s as if the main course of a banquet has yet to be cooked—why are you in such a hurry to leave the table?"
The Prince remained firm. "I want to sell my two thousand shares on the market. That is my right. Not even Charles himself could interfere! I am a Prince of the Saint Vallova Kingdom. Do I need to be told what to do with my own property?"
Two thousand shares. At the current trading price, they were worth over eight hundred thousand Lang. With the stock price already struggling to rise, a sell-off would undoubtedly cause a massive shockwave. This was especially true given the Prince’s status, which had countless eyes on him; the chain reaction would be disastrous.
Valon hadn’t expected the Prince to be so resolute. "Your Highness, you are our largest shareholder. If there is anything you need, you can bring it to the company, and we will certainly do our utmost to accommodate you. We are at a critical stage of opening the mine, a ti when we need continuous investnt. I implore you, for the sake of the company—no, for the sake of the sub-plane’s developnt and the future of the Holy Kingdom—to reconsider."
The old Prince softened his tone slightly. "My boy, Valon, your father was an upright man. I’m sure he would be pleased with what you’ve achieved today. But I hope you’ve inherited your father’s honesty. Tell truly, is there actually a gold mine in Shaleanna?"
Valon’s smile was utterly sincere. "Of course, Your Highness! We will have a harvest very soon. Very soon! I invite you to witness it then!"
"Very well. I will trust you this once, for your father’s sake. He was an impressive and model nobleman. If it weren’t for that misfortune..."
"There’s no need to speak of it, Your Highness. I am eternally grateful that you will continue to support the company. You are a shareholder of imnse significance to us!" After speaking these pleasantries, the general manager of the Mining Company took his leave and hastily departed from the Prince’s Mansion.
The old Prince watched as a servant saw Valon out and said slowly, "You were right. It seems this ’free market’ brings nothing but difficulty and trouble."
"If you had insisted on selling, my dear cousin might have personally written to stop you." A man dressed in magnificent black robes trimd with gold stepped out from the shadows. He had the eyes of a falcon and a sarcastic smile on his face.
Had Rorschach seen him, he might have found the man familiar. He was Philippe’s father, Duke Louis de lovinca. A mber of a side branch of the Royal Family, he was an openly ambitious man in Valuva and one of the most influential great nobles in the banking world. He held shares in nurous banks, and the largest source of his inco had long since shifted from simple fief revenue to making money with money, compounding interest upon interest.
The old Prince frowned. "Louis, your attitude toward His Majesty the King is far too disrespectful! But let’s not talk about that. According to our previous agreent, the two thousand shares can be collateralized for six hundred thousand Lang, correct?" ’This was the Prince’s bottom line. Although his acquisition cost had been significantly lowered by swapping governnt bonds for stocks, there was inflation to consider now. Any lower and there would be no profit to speak of.’
"Your Highness, I must remind you that such a collateral arrangent is not favorable in terms of interest. I have a better proposal. It would be equivalent to you transferring your equity to . Once you have the money, you won’t have to worry about a thing... Rest assured, once all the procedures are complete, they won’t be able to find any fault..."
And so, within the sa day, both Nekker and Valon ca under pressure to disclose the developnt status of the gold mine as soon as possible.
Fortunately, after several months of intense preparations, the stage was almost set.
On the city outskirts, the transit base where Rorschach had first entered the sub-plane now had a proper roof. A tallurgy workshop had been built next to it, and a little farther off stood the reception center for the Shaleanna Mining Company.
Without even opening it, the front-page headline of the newspaper read: "Gold Mining Operations Progressing Smoothly. First Batch of Refined Gold Bars Expected to be Excavated and Slted in the Latter Part of the Month. The Company Will Hold a Celebration and First Gold Inauguration Ceremony, and Sincerely Invites All Major Shareholders and dia to Witness the Event at the Sub-plane Entrance..."
While eating lunch, Rorschach held a sandwich made of two slices of bread with cheese, a fried egg, ham, and vegetables in one hand, and read the newspaper with the other. This way of eating had long existed on the southern coast of the continent, and similar snacks could be found for sale in the prosperous comrcial cities of the Empire, but it was still a rare sight in Valuva. With Rorschach leading the way, apprentices in a hurry began to follow his example.
"I’ll have a Rorschach Bread." Saying this at the cafeteria would now get you the sa combination. Only the unwitting creator himself still ordered it by saying, "one loaf, split, with fillings."
’Are they having trouble selling the stock?’ After finishing his al, Rorschach rolled up the newspaper and left. He returned to his dormitory and began writing a letter to his parents, mainly about a play he had seen called *Edmond and Catherine*.
"A nobleman acquired a great deal of ill-gotten wealth, much to the displeasure of the harbor residents. They demanded a just ruling, and in the end, the nobleman was overthrown, and the two lovers were happily reunited... This play has been widely acclaid in Valuva, with every performance sold out. The audience is mostly rchants and common citizens, but it’s said that the great figures from the Royal Palace and the Church in attendance all looked terribly grim. The drama off-stage is just as exciting as the one on it."
’The organization should be able to understand what I an, right?’
Rorschach continued writing, "But I have to say, the Mage character in the play made us laugh. It’s as if all Mages can be represented by a single old man with a white beard. My teacher pointed out the error to the playwright... I hope I can take you to see a performance one day. At least Angela would like it."
In his letter to Teacher Caroline, he wrote about the appearance of people suspected to be from the Holy Mother Order in Valuva, who were plotting to create terror. He ntioned that the Kingdom and the Church had taken notice, and that the Magic Guild’s branch in the Holy Kingdom was also on alert.
’I wonder if Teacher has returned to the college yet.’ Rorschach didn’t know her contact address in Istani, so he could only continue sending letters to the Imperial Capital College.
After putting everything away in envelopes, Rorschach’s desk was clear. He spread out a new sheet of parchnt and carefully drew a complex diagram that was sowhere between a Magic Array and a Secret Contract.
This was the pattern that had saved many people in the sub-plane—when infused with Blood, the Deryats Forest would appear.
Rorschach had discovered that this Domain magic (or rather, it should be a Divine Art) not only had a restorative effect but also a powerful Guardian ability. It had blocked the storm of Transmuting Dust and the tainted Divine Power of Mother Earth.
Rorschach didn’t need trees; he needed this Guardian ability to restrain the dangerous, deadly, and chaotic Divine Power within the Transmuting Dust.
For his upcoming research on Transmuting Dust, Rorschach’s first thought was to use this pattern that activated the Divine Art. It wasn’t enough for him to cast it personally; it needed to be fixed into a collection device in the form of a Magic Circuit. Moreover, it couldn’t be allowed to sprout several trees the mont it was activated, like mushrooms popping up after a rain.
Before he entered the Black Forest, this magic had summoned illusory trees composed of blue, flowing fireflies. ’Perhaps in an environnt unsuitable for tree growth, it only creates a projection? If so, can this projection be modified into the form I need to restrain the Transmuting Dust?’
With this idea in mind, Rorschach began to analyze the pattern.
Of course, the experint couldn’t be conducted in his dormitory or a lab in the research building. Rorschach had already booked a practice room and prepared parchnt, Alchemy Ink, and the sa type of tal Plate used in the labs.
’I shouldn’t need a blood sacrifice again, right?’ If it could only be activated with blood, what practical value would it have? Rorschach wanted an industrial-scale result. He wasn’t so villain running a flesh-and-blood power plant. Rorschach was confident in his status as "better than a Favored One, even if not one," so Deryats should do him this favor.
Inside the practice room, he began to compare the structure of the circuits. When compared to the modern Magic Arrays in *Standard Magic Array Geotric Analysis*, the pattern from Deryats was clearly not from the sa system. Rorschach didn’t dwell on it. He imdiately took out the Totem Book from the Elf Village from his Storage Ring.
"Just as I thought. Now I have a reference for analysis and deciphering."
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