A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 64 The First Dinner

The Granor family mansion is on Country Street. The newly purchased five-story detached house is tall, spacious, and most importantly, large enough to accommodate the future Earl Granor's guests. But tonight, the long dining table, which can seat twenty people, only seats five.

Besides Granols, who sat at the head of the table, and François beside Rochas, there were also the Countess and the Countess's youngest daughter.

"Thankfully, the flowers make the table look less empty. There's some truth to the Valuwana style." A carefully arranged bouquet of flowers adorned the center of the table, adding a touch of color to the white tablecloth, though they appeared somewhat wilted upon closer inspection. Granor didn't use a candlestick, but rather a slightly extravagant magic lamp—not self-illuminating, but cleverly utilizing a loop to extend the [Light] spell's duration.

This house is decorated in a similar way: on the one hand, it clumsily imitates the great nobles, and on the other hand, it exaggerates the importance of magic, trying to prove to the guests that he is a great mage.

"He's a Grand Mage, yet he still does this. This guy is really stubborn." Compared to the dashing Master Kano, Rorschach could only shake his head inwardly.

During the family dinner, Granor asked about the situation in the sub-planes, and finally, after some roundabout questioning, he asked Rorschach about his opinion on the gold mines in the sub-planes.

"To be honest, the only evidence is the apprentice's work. He was probably just very lucky, while most of us were quite unlucky during those three days." At this point, both Rorschach and François smiled.

"To be frank, Master Granor, I am an Imperial citizen. The gold mines in the Holy Kingdom's territory have nothing to do with me, and I would never make any unwarranted comments on such a sensitive matter." Rorschach neither denied nor confirmed, and indicated that he held the same attitude towards others.

Granor chuckled a few times: "If we're going to mine, we need a stable, high-capacity transport channel, which Master Kano achieved on the day it was opened in an emergency. It's said that Master Rorschach's thesis played a key role, allowing the Alchemy Department to improve the power unit."

"Speaking of which, I am especially grateful to you for recommending my paper. I have already heard about it from Professor Kano."

"Mainly because you, Mage Rorschach, are exceptionally talented. Since your effectiveness has already been proven in practice, the Magic Guild shouldn't be bound by cumbersome procedures. I've read your paper; your discussion of heat and energy is brilliant. Mage Rorschach, would you be interested in joining the Stonemasons' Guild?"

At this point, François was startled, and the knife slipped from his hand, scraping across the plate with an unseemly, jarring sound.

"I'm sorry, I don't know much about the Stonemasons' Guild. I heard you're a high-ranking member?"

"It's nothing special, just an old society." Granor said this casually, but unconsciously straightened his back.

"In ancient times, stonemasons who sculpted statues of gods formed the Stonemasons' Guild. We revered geometry and magic, and nominally took charge of many constructions for the Magic Guild, with members and organizations throughout the continent."

"Of course, what's the point of sculpting statues of gods these days? Our new goal is to create something more interesting; you'll see if Master Rorschach is willing to join us."

"It sounds like a very impressive organization, but I'm sorry, I'm not very good at math and I'm not very interested in geometry." Rorschach declined the offer—this guy seemed unreliable for a high-level position in an organization, and in Rorschach's eyes, François was much more agreeable than his father.

The blunt refusal created an awkward atmosphere at the banquet. Under the table, out of Rorschach's sight, the future countess kicked her daughter.

"Master Rorschach, my brother has been praising you as a very powerful spellcaster since he came back. Could you demonstrate for us?" François's sister began to "replay" her memorized lines, her voice exceptionally sweet. If it were before Rorschach's time travel, he would only say: "Damn it, take this!"

"Kirviz, Master Rorschach is our guest."

"It's alright, I didn't expect François to comment like that." Luo Xia turned to look at the young man sitting below him, and François forced a smile. François, your smile doesn't look natural at all; your skills aren't quite there yet.

Rorschach reached out and placed his hand on the slightly wilted flowers at the edge. [Resurrection], a basic spell in the nature magic system, was obtained by Rorschach dismantling and recombining divine techniques to "activate" and "revive." Visibly, the drooping flowers regained their plumpness and moisture, and the leaves became even greener.

"Oh!" Kirvis exclaimed softly as she saw all the flowers change color, from the common yellow and pink to the rarer bright blue and smoky purple, and the white flowers also changed from pale yellow to crystal-clear pure white.

This is the effect after adding "mapping".

Granol immediately commented, "François once praised Rorschach's magic, but I didn't expect him to be so accomplished in the natural magic as well."

No, you have to praise this too? Can't you show some of the arrogance of a high-level mage? Rorschach began to find socializing an unappetizing activity.

A dish of minced meat was brought to the table by a servant and precisely divided equally among the five people present. The pork, with both lean and fatty parts, was first pan-fried until tender, then the chef shredded it and mixed it with various spices to create a "pork sauce," perfect for eating with bread slices. Each person was also given a small dish of dark, pickled citrus fruits. Rorschach dipped some in and tasted it; the combination of salty, sweet, and sour flavors was close to that of dried plums, with a familiar orange flavor emerging at the end, presumably to cut through the richness of the meat sauce.

"This is a dish from my wife's hometown, and I find it a bit too rich. I imagine you young people won't mind eating it." Granol used a knife to scoop up some fibrous meat sauce and spread it evenly on the bread.

"It is said that a group of young men got into a dispute over the distribution of the wild boar after a hunt. They were all tough guys, and everyone claimed that the arrows in the prey were shot by themselves, so no one was satisfied with who got the best part. The cook simply cooked the meat, shredded it into small pieces, made it into a sauce, and distributed it evenly."

The idea that chopping it up would make it easier to distribute was something that banker and finance minister Necker strongly agreed with. He wanted to finely cut His Majesty's gold mine into 100,000 pieces, even though he didn't yet know how big the mine was or whether there would be enough to go around.

Fortunately, instead of cutting gold itself, he issued shares of the Sareanna Mining Company.

After reading the treasurer's report, Charles XVI looked up and smiled, "My dear Necker, I believe you're not going to throw my gold away in droves, are you?"

"Your Majesty, the company's stock is not equivalent to the share of the gold mine. Does Your Majesty know how much public debt there is now?" Public debt is the kingdom's debt, and even more so, the royal family's debt.

Knowing Charlie wouldn't be able to answer, Necker continued, "Converted to new currency, even if we planned a 20% devaluation, 3.2 billion gold would still be as much as the sand in the Seine! Where are we going to find a river flowing with gold coins?"

"Gold mine."

"Too late, too late, Your Majesty! The gold mine's reserves haven't been explored yet, and mining hasn't even begun. Besides, it's still in that damned alternate dimension! We might as well sell the hope it brings for a good price first." Necker pulled out a new report, brief in content, and most importantly, it was given to His Majesty personally, not by the Prime Minister.

"Each share is worth 500 ronin, with an annual dividend of 200 ronin. Each share can be exchanged for government bonds, and 400 ronin of government bonds can be exchanged for 500 gold shares."

The ro was a unit of paper money; one ro was equivalent to one gold coin, and one livre to one silver coin, at least for now.

Unbeknownst to Necker, a document identical to his new report lay on the Cardinal's desk. But at that moment, Deplesi was pondering a far more significant, even dangerous, question. He jokingly asked his personal secretary, "If the nobles, the Church of Order, and the merchant guilds under the Magic Guild were all taxed at the same rate as commoners, wouldn't the Holy Kingdom fall into civil war?"

The secretary, with a mountain of documents to process, didn't even look up: "You once said that a kingdom that doesn't collect taxes can't survive."

(End of this chapter)