Sharp
"These are the documents that require your signature, Alfred. I'll leave them to you.” Uncle Davit said as he handed them to Father.
"I’ll sign them right away." Father replied, instructing someone to bring ink and a quill.
As he was signing, he unconsciously muttered, "Quills are difficult to write with."
"Quills are difficult to write with... Alfred, are you not using a quill?" Uncle Davit didn’t miss a thing.
He smiled, but it was the kind of smile that wouldn’t let its prey escape. It was terrifying.
Father realized too late.
Mother, as if resigning herself, signaled Henry to bring a glass pen.
"This is still a prototype and isn’t ready for sale yet.” Mother said as she handed the glass pen to Uncle Davit.
Uncle Davit immediately started testing it on paper.
"This is just a prototype? You can write much longer with this than with a quill, and the way the ink clings to the glass is beautiful. I want enough for my whole family. If I’m the only one using it, I’ll get complaints. You should put this on the market soon. This will sell like crazy in other countries, too!" He exclaimed excitedly.
Mother calmed him down, and he eventually settled.
"Sorry about that earlier. Hurry up and complete the glass pen. And, Reinhardt, you’re not hiding anything else, are you?" He pressed.
No, Uncle Davit, I’m not.
He’s kind because he’s family, but he’s sharp—and scary...
Then, as if he had just spotted something, he suddenly turned to Brother Gerald.
"Gerald, what’s that?"
"This? I got it from Hardt after Ripka became my partner. Only us brothers have these." Brother Gerald said proudly, showing off a decorative knife.
Huh? A gift from when Ripka became his partner?
Brother Gerald, are you tweaking the story a little on purpose?
Now that I think about it, during the pre-meeting before Her Highness arrived, we talked about changing the timing to after forming a partnership.
"This is... incredible. The blade has protective charms, defensive inscriptions, and patterns. The scabbard—wait, is that Fiamma? No, it's Ripka, drawn using charm techniques. This would make a great gift.” Uncle Davit said in admiration.
Brother Gerald boasted further, revealing that he even had a special display case for it.
"Reinhardt, do you have one with Atre on it?"
"Yes, I do."
"Could I see it as well?"
There was no getting out of this, so I had Georges bring it over, and I showed Uncle Davit my decorative knife.
"The craftsmanship is impressive, but Reinhardt, your ideas... your creativity is remarkable. But why have new products suddenly started being developed?"
Father explained honestly that it all started with my contracted beast, Atre, and the nameplate, which then led to charms, book bands... basically, it was just me acting on whatever ideas came to me, and this was the result.
Hiding things from Uncle Davit would only get them exposed anyway, so it was better to be upfront about it.
"Reinhardt, these new products—each and every one of them is selling. There will be people trying to find out who’s behind all this. While I doubt any nobles would dare turn the Westland and Northtrad families into enemies, some will still try to use you. Be careful. Your mana evaluation at age eight will also draw attention."
Is my mana evaluation really that big of a deal?
Apparently, children with silver hair always attract attention during their evaluations since it's known they have high mana.
Father and the others always warned me about this, and they were right.
Maybe I had been too naive...
The next day, Uncle Davit left the mansion, saying he had a business meeting.
"I suppose he was satisfied seeing that we aren’t getting overly ambitious with business, and that Northtrad also stands to profit.” Mother remarked.
"What do you mean?"
"You have no ambitions in that area, so rather than pushing things too hard and making him unhappy, it’s better to let him know we're on their side."
"So, things are fine as they are?"
"... For now."
There’s no use overthinking it. I’ll just keep living as I always have.
"By the way, Brother Gerald, why did you bring the decorative knife to the living room?"
"Brother contacted me. Since I use the carrying backpack when going to the academy, Northtrad immediately sent inquiries asking if it was a new product. If they found out about the decorative knife later, it’d be better for us to bring it up first. It was something we planned in the last meeting, so it wouldn’t seem unnatural. Don’t worry, Brother will give the same explanation, so it’ll be fine."
If Uncle Davit has already seen our decorative knives, it’s highly likely that he’ll eventually check out Brother Chris’s knife and ask about it.
Brother Chris, as expected, you’re amazing!
What do you think about this chapter?
