"Brother." Vio's voice was cold and glacial, without a trace of mirth or mercy. "Has this been your dining experience for the last few days?"

  "N-not quiet, sister," Gregori reassured, actually leaning a little from his glaring sister. "I've been mostly on a simple diet, one to ensure my recovery has as little complications as possible. I've only started being cleared to start drinking this beer."

  "Aunt Vio, he's been eating the tasty bread and fish after the first day," Petula told and the duke turned to face his daughter, shocked at her heartless betrayal. But nothing could save him from the way his sister menacingly reached for her staff.

  I watched the family comedy play out, with a small smile. It actually reminded me of when the Ten Lights had come over to spend time with Mikel, chatting and bickering over such trivialities. That senseless, pointless squabbling, it filled the dining hall with a life that my dolls and I could never accomplish.

  The involvement of the three left only Teodor to talk with me. Mordred was of course too busy stuffing her face to do so. "I, erm, apologize for my family causing trouble at meal time. It is most unbecoming."

  "Hm? Oh, don't worry at all." I airily waved aside the serious heir with a small laugh. "In fact, really, I wouldn't mind it if you thought of Puppet Atelier as a second home. It had once been Cordelia's after all. Feel free to loosen up and relax, your bodyguards certainly are as well enjoying their rooms."

  "I suppose so." He paused, then seemed to recall something when he pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Oh, I'm sorry, here. I'd completely forgotten about it in the wake of excitement about visiting the ancestor's grave, but I finished up the sketch of the gun that you requested. I hope that this was what you had in mind when talking about such a weapon."

  "Ah, excellent. Let's see." I took it and opened it, taking in the sketch. My eyes narrowed and I sighed, folding it back up and handing it over Frie to take to my workshop. I noticed the way he looked expectantly at me and gave a single nod. "It is a gun. Thank you for confirming my suspicions."

  He seemed to accept that and return to his meal. That was the best outcome; I wouldn't want to sour his dinner by telling him about how that was a cash shop assault rifle. And I sincerely hoped it was truly defunct.

  There went any regrets or concerns I had about reviving the forgotten sky people's technology into this medieval world.

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------?

  "Now then, there is another matter of business relating to Puppet Atelier I would like to ask about," Gregori opened after the dinner was finished and Frie took away the plates. "It concerns supplies and your need thereof."

  "That's right," I mentioned and gestured to my surroundings. "While you might think what you've seen before is already remarkable, I'm actually constrained by what I have to work with. I can only serve you with what I could find so far in my surroundings and whatever else we managed to buy in the markets of Gabion. Ah, on that note-"

  "Your expenses and purchases will be covered for by House Cordis," Teodor immediately answered before I could ask the question. "So don't worry about coin. Your expenditures are the least we could to repay you for everything."

  "Ah, thank you, but I'd want to be mindful of my spending still." If only because Cordelia would probably rise up from her grave and probably impale me on her blood swords, if I bankrupted her descendants to buy fashion materials. "So for now, I'm going to just limit myself to whatever you can afford yourself."

  The family looked a little be relieved at my reassurance that I wasn't going to start gouging their already likely lean margins. "It's only a temporary worry anyway!" Vio pointed out eagerly. "If my brother's plans for expansion go through, we might start really raking it in."

  "Expanding west into these untapped lands that the empire hasn't even properly claimed certainly provides an opportunity." The duke hummed, finger tapping in thought. "However, I also want to see if we can't already begin to perhaps see returns earlier than usual. Master Noel, would you happen to know what type of crops would grow best for the best yields in these areas?"

  I blinked, then frowned in thought. Again, I wasn't Sveg, who probably could have just rubbed the soil and instantly known what to plant and harvest. And Mikel had a gatherer retainer, though not one as so hyper-fixated like I was made for. "I really haven't given it much thought," I confessed, holding up my hands. "That is a failing of mine unfortunately, I'm no farmer. But if could you perhaps list what you grow already, then something might come to mine."

  Surprisingly, instead of it either being the duke or his heir answering me, it was his daughter. "Let's see. Last I saw our household reports, we had an assortment of root vegetables- onions and carrots primarily," Petula recalled with a thoughtful look. "Some others too that escape me for the moment. For grains, our primary harvest is wheat, but I believe some of the farms make mention of another they like to grow. But since we rarely see it ourselves, I'm afraid it hasn't left a lasting impression."

  "Oho. And how about livestock?"

  "Sheep with many also doing chickens as well. Some farms might differ but since we haven't many, it's not a significant variety."

  "It sounds like clearing the farms would still be a great way for me to check," Kuch mentioned with a nod and turned to Mordred. "Maybe we could get lucky and find even a cow."

  "Yum. Cattle's always a nice treat when we can get away with it."

  "So that explains the mysterious cattle thief in some of the neighboring provinces," Teodor muttered and looked at his sister. "You are quite adept at managing the finer details of our procurement."

  A shadow seemed to fall over her face at the mention. "Well, it's about the only thing I'm good at. Not when I can't fight on the front like everybody else."

  There was a brief moment of awkward silence before I coughed, more than happy to be the one to lead away from sensitive personal matters. "Aside from those farms, I've been so far led to believe there isn't anything else in Gabion? No mining or other regional specialties?"

  "Unfortunately not, which was why your news of discovering our lost mining town was significant," Vio told, glancing her brother's way. "We had been preparing for an expedition to see if we could recover some iron ore, but then a lot of things happened. I'm almost glad for it even because it would have been pointless after you took what was already mined."

  I had the decency to look at least sheepish. "Sorry. I needed them for my tools."

  "Don't fret, what's done is done. But the mine should hopefully still have untapped treasures, especially as it leads into the mountains."

  "It definitely should, and there's something I also want to bring up." I turned to the dragon in the room, deciding that these four should at least know of the real treasure of the mine. "Mordred, could you bring Heart-Piercer over please?"

  This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

  She did so and laid it out on the table for the others to study. They admired the raid-tier weapon with clear awe, going over the dragon fang shaft engraved with runes from a dead dragon tongue. Then their eyes fell upon the head and they seemed to catch on quickly. "That isn't iron, is it?" Petula quietly asked, eyes locked onto it. "What is that?"

  I turned to the equally entranced Vio and asked a simple question. "Have your studies ever made mention of solarium?"

  "No, not in the slightest," she said, eyes still glued onto the sharp edge and tip. "But it's stronger than steel, isn't it?"

  Oh, how curious. "The empire can make steel? Then why is iron still so much more commonplace?"

  Teodor cleared his throat to helpfully explain. "It's only a very limited quantity and is all but completely monopolized for arming the legions. Even nobles can't get around it because there's only so much made in the eastern regions ever year and with how much goes into making even just a single batch, production is taken very seriously."

  Hm? How odd. "Dare I ask what method they're using to produce it?"

  "I'm not privy on the details, and neither are anybody who's not directly involved in the process. The duchies that do specialize it go so far as to even restrict their borders with an imperial edict. Anybody who breaks it to leak the secret faces severe punishment that can also include their friends and families."

  Yeesh. Talk about strict. I guess holding one's community hostage is an effective deterrent against letting their exclusive specialty slip. Just too bad there's no point when there's already somebody out there who knows a likely more effective way. "Guess maybe we can attach a steel mill to one of the towns," I muttered, earning some sharp intakes of breath at the casual revelation. "Returning to the matter at hand, this lance was crafted with solarium that had been found in that mining town. Meaning that it was likely mined up from within."

  "There's a deposit of it?" Gregori asked quietly but already, I was shaking my head.

  "Unlikely, it's something like a meteor from the sky than a natural gift of the underground, so it comes only in single, extremely rare, quantities. But think about it." I grinned and traced my finger from the lance to the map where the mine was. "If they had been able to find that, a legendary material even by the standards of my time, do you realize what riches could still lay in that mine? The iron ore had also been of decent quality too, much better than any I've ever seen so far."

  "That...is quite the boon," the duke muttered and rubbed his beard. "Should we perhaps prioritize its resettlement- no, we need the food first and foremost. But once we can support multiple settlements in the region, then undoubtedly, maybe even more than the river port…"

  "Why do you bring it up now though?" Petula asked, noticing that I'd been pointing out something that wasn't probably going to be an immediate benefit. "Even if we move quickly, it'll take time to reestablish."

  "I know, which leads me into a direct request of Puppet Atelier: secure me a source of coal too!"

  In the world of Shin, while there had been a variety of mines with different focuses on varying deposits, there was a general geographic rule that the players had noticed. Coal mines always sat elsewhere from any other clump of mining spots, perhaps done so intentionally by the developers to help suggest how some mining settlements couldn't become full powerhouses by themselves. It had oft even been a consideration for player homes, trying to optimize the best distances between resource mines for optimal supply lines.

  I hadn't seen a trace of it at all in this mine, leading me to believe that while the mountain the shaft led into could have so many great deposits, coal was likely not going to be among them. Of course I would be wrong, which would be a welcomed surprise, especially since the terrain itself had changed since the days of FLOW. But I was definitely not going to sit on my hands and hope for something that might still be a rule of the world. Best then to make this request now so that whenever we dug up some more good iron, I could immediately shape it into steel without having to waste time waiting for a better fuel source.

  "A coal mine? A tall ask, but at least a likely easier one than trying to find a new source of iron." Teodor's brow furrowed and he considered the possibilities. "I take it you wouldn't want to wait for prospectors from the mining town to continue expanding to see if they could find a new shaft? That would be quite far into the future, for certain. Hm, maybe one of our neighbors would have had one? But since wood is so plenty, it likely wasn't going to be prioritized in comparison."

  "Are you sure you need coal?" Petula asked inquisitively. "Will charcoal just not do?"

  "Trust me." I gently pushed the lance back to Mordred. "If we can get coal, I can make things stronger, better. Give you all steel weapons and armors that you deserve for your self-protection. While it won't definitely be solarium, its going to be better than maybe what your legions can do. Because I imagine sooner or later, somebody is going to notice this growth and get jealous. They'll want to take it for themselves."

  "And we won't be founding wanting by then," the duke growled. "In a way, our neighbors falling into chaos give us time to build and expand, arm ourselves up to be ready for anything. My eyes have been opened- we cannot afford to ignore that even with an imperial edict, we are not immune to the manipulations of what should be our allies."

  "Only in word, never in spirit," echoed Teodor but he had a different approach. "What if we were to instead look to see if we could support some of the conflicts that could lead to more favorable outcomes? Aid in one's time of need is remembered far more warmly than most."

  "I could see it," Gregori mentioned, slightly wary. But for good reason. "But we must be mindful of our own resource expenditures too. If the price of supporting them is to be engulfed in chaos as well, then I wouldn't support it. Measured, careful offers of help, things that would keep us from being seen as aggressors too. No levies certainly."

  His son accepted these limits gracefully and understandingly. "I'll be sure to make sure the cause is right for both them and us then. Limited aid thought means it must be exemplary ones."

  "I could make sure of that," I promised with a raised hand. "Especially if you procure me stuff like crystals too!"

  Almost everybody stared at me now, looking a bit uncomfortable and exchanging miserable looks. I closed my eyes, counted to ten, then opened them with a dead stare. "Right. What's the issue with the crystals now…?"'

  "They are said to be blasphemies of the Ten Lights-"

  "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!"

  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------?