Chapter 175 - The Golden Goblin

Ferda asked in surprise,

"Do you dislike being addressed as 'Your Highness'?"

"It's not that I dislike it. It just feels awkward. Mr. Ferda, you're going to become my man, aren't you?"

"That is correct."

"If you call me the same way everyone else does, doesn't it feel like there's too much distance between us?"

He nodded in agreement.

"Then... would it be acceptable if I called you Lady Valdrova?"

"I don't like 'Lady' either. I wish you'd call me more casually, like someone who has known me for a long time."

"You mean... simply 'Valdrova'?"

"Not that. What about a nickname?"

"A... a nickname?"

The suggestion was as adorable as her voice.

"You know, Penelope calls Zed 'Ze-Ze,' and he calls Penelope 'Pe-Pe'."

"Is that so?"

He already knew. They called each other that all the time whenever they talked.

"So I wanted to call you 'Pe-Pe' too, Mr. Ferda... but since Penelope already uses it, it feels a little strange."

"...Indeed."

The Shadow Circle reacted.

Ferda felt hatred toward Penelope bubbling up inside him.

"Then... how about 'Fer-Fer'?"

"If it pleases Your Highness, I would gladly accept."

Fer-Fer.

It sounded suspiciously similar to the names of monsters from western folklore, but Ferda was satisfied with it.

"What about you, Mr. Ferda?"

"What do you mean?"

"A nickname."

He froze.

"...Must I have one as well?"

"Well, my name is Valdrova... so maybe 'Val-Val'?"

"Val..."

"I looked it up. Apparently that's what people call little puppies."

Valdrova even imitated a puppy.

His face burned hot, and he couldn't bring himself to move a single finger.

Afraid he might make an embarrassing expression, he bit down hard on his lip to keep himself composed.

"Go on. Try saying it. Val-Val."

"Val..."

"Yes?"

"Grand Duchess Valdrova."

The anticipation floating inside her burst like a bubble.

"...Is it not possible?"

Valdrova asked like a puppy that had just been scolded.

Grasping onto the last thread of his sanity, Ferda answered,

"Yes... I'm afraid that would be difficult."

"Why?"

"You are a Dragon, Lady Valdrova, while I am merely human. The gap between us is as vast as that between a king and a commoner."

Among commoners, married couples might speak casually to one another.

But among nobles, whose marriages were mostly political, affectionate nicknames between spouses were practically unheard of.

"I see."

She seemed to understand.

Ferda quietly sighed in relief.

"Then... when are we getting married?"

The second round began immediately.

He nearly choked on the tea he was drinking.

"I believe it will be after Hestia Village has fully prospered..."

Only then would he become someone worthy of acknowledgment by the other Dragons, just as Luri had said.

"When will that be?"

"At the very least... five years."

"I can't wait that long."

Valdrova answered firmly.

"You've already made even waiting until tomorrow so exciting that it's painful... There's no way I can wait five years."

"Even so, marrying immediately would be difficult."

"Then at least change how you address me, so I can endure waiting a little longer."

"..."

"To Val-Val!"

Faced with Valdrova's determination, Ferda was speechless.

Was this really the woman who used to worry constantly about saying the wrong thing?

He wondered whether that damned demon had somehow taught her strange new tricks.

"...Val..."

Ferda finally opened his mouth with great difficulty.

"I don't think I can casually call Grand Duchess Valdrova by her name."

He spoke gently.

"The name Valdrova is one that deserves respect. Treating it lightly would be inappropriate—not only as your fiancé, but also to everyone who places their trust in Grand Duchess Valdrova."

"Hmm... is that so?"

Valdrova looked disappointed once again.

Of course, it was only an excuse.

Ferda simply couldn't bring himself to do it, so he had forced himself to invent a reason.

Seeing her rejected again and again made him wonder whether he'd hurt her feelings.

"Then..."

But Valdrova refused to give up.

With a voice as bright as sunlight breaking through gloomy clouds, she said,

"Let's create a new name."

"A new name...?"

"Come to think of it, my name is used everywhere. You'll soon inherit the name Valdrova as well, Mr. Ferda."

The Grand Duchy of Valdrova.

Valdrova Castle.

And Valdrova herself.

"If the name Valdrova is too important to use lightly... then create another name for me. A name that only you may call me."

"How could I possibly give Your Grace a name?"

"A name has to be given by someone else, because someone else is the one who calls it. So... I'd like you to give me mine, Mr. Ferda."

Her fingers fidgeted nervously.

"And... from now on, you'll be the one who calls it the most..."

The name I will call most often.

His face burned as he awkwardly turned his head away.

He finally understood how Valdrova felt.

Some things were easy with everyone else, yet impossibly difficult with one special person.

"I understand. I'll think about it carefully."

"Yes."

"Is there anything else you'd like to discuss?"

"Hmm... Ah!"

She exclaimed brightly and immediately began chattering.

"Penelope said..."

"..."

Every trace of excitement and embarrassment shattered into pieces.

As Ferda listened to the stories she enthusiastically shared about her very first friend, he thought to himself—

Before giving her a new name... perhaps I should find her some new friends first.

***

To manage the territory properly, Ferda first reviewed its current condition.

Every living creature required food, clothing, and shelter.

Among them, food was unquestionably the most important, and water was an indispensable part of it.

Most of the Grand Duchy of Valdrova drew its water from nearby rivers, while underground reservoirs served as backups whenever supplies ran low.

Unless the rivers completely dried up from an unprecedented drought, the territory could survive difficult times.

Originally, Ferda had planned to rely entirely on river water as well.

However, recent events had taught him just how naïve that plan had been.

Rivers can be contaminated at any time.

When the Monsters had surrounded the Grand Duchy, they poisoned the river in an attempt to slowly kill everyone inside.

He had learned that if something essential to survival contained too many variables, everything could collapse with frightening ease.

But it also became another opportunity.

Vernel Marquis.

Thanks to the purification device he had invented, the territory had endured the siege.

After the Monster Extermination Campaign, Isabella had worked tirelessly to expand the system, and now she was ready to show Ferda the results.

"This way."

The location of the second gift from Iorga's Magic Tower lay some distance away from Hestia Village.

In fact, it was practically on the border of the Land of Demons.

Where barren wasteland should have stood, a solitary stone building rose from the earth.

"It looks like a tomb."

"It certainly appears unimpressive from the outside."

After Isabella infused Mana into the security mechanism, the door unlocked.

The moment it opened, Ferda understood.

The important part was underground.

Following Isabella, he descended roughly five meters down the spiral staircase before arriving in a vast open chamber.

"This is the second gift presented by Iorga's Magic Tower."

The underground space was as enormous as an imperial colosseum.

Its walls were reinforced with sturdy stone, while an intricate network of massive pipes stretched throughout the chamber.

It was the sort of construction that would have taken humans at least ten years to complete.

"When did you build something like this?"

"Iorga began construction while we were traveling to the Imperial Capital. There's no need to worry about its safety."

So it had taken less than a month.

As expected of the Aspect of Magic, work this complex was apparently effortless.

"Does Iorga frequently undertake projects like this?"

"When necessary. But we certainly don't do this for humans. Especially not for other Dragons."

"So... this is the strength of an alliance."

"Precisely."

Even calling it an alliance was merely a convenient label.

It's really their pride.

The pride of Dragon Spawn was legendary.

Those whose blood they inherited were simultaneously their parents and their gods.

They never forgave insults, and any action unworthy of their lineage was considered disgraceful.

The fact that Vernel Marquis had succeeded in purifying the demonic water was an embarrassment to them.

This entire gift was their way of restoring that wounded pride.

If I keep provoking their pride like this... I wonder what else they'll produce.

Ferda suddenly recalled the legend of the Golden Goblin.

The old joke about a goblin that dropped money every time it was hit somehow reminded him of Iorga.

Afraid someone might read his thoughts, he shifted his attention toward the pipeline.

Though the pipes looked bewilderingly complicated, the overall design was simple enough.

A massive intake pipe extended into the Land of Demons, feeding water into a huge circular steel barrel.

The water then passed through three such barrels before finally flowing toward Hestia Village.

How exactly does this work?

"Oh! Regent!"

Fortunately, someone arrived who could answer that question.

It was Vernel Marquis.

"I wasn't expecting to find you here."

Normally, Vernel would have been buried inside his laboratory in Valdrova Castle, making his appearance in this underground facility all the more surprising.

"This is an extremely important project. I'm personally making sure nothing has been overlooked. Hundreds of thousands of liters of water will pass through these pipes. Naturally, every detail must be inspected."

His eyes sparkled far more brightly than they ever had while working on the Magitech Rifle.

No matter what he claimed, practical inventions clearly excited him more than weapons.

"Explain it to me. How exactly does the purification process work?"

"With pleasure! If you'll look over here..."

To be honest, Ferda expected almost nothing from the explanation.

Yet he was genuinely surprised.

He's actually good at explaining this.

Compared to his explanation of Mana Stones, this one was astonishingly simple and easy to follow.

His comparisons were clear, and every concept was easy to understand.

Then again, simplifying things enough for Malcolm to understand must have been incredibly difficult.

Being forced to bridge the gap between complete extremes had taught him how to explain things in terms Ferda could grasp.

Simply put, the system consisted of multiple layers of increasingly fine filters that purified the water as thoroughly as possible.

"I heard scaling this up would be extremely difficult. Yet you've managed it."

"That's right. Remember when I said it would take three years?"

That had been his estimate for developing a stable system capable of drawing water safely from the Land of Demons.

Scaling it up while ensuring complete safety required years of testing.

"But thanks to Iorga handling that part, everything became much easier!"

Picking up where Vernel left off, Isabella added,

"Each of these barrels contains one of Iorga's large-scale purification devices."

"And that reduced three years of work by this much?"

"The Blue Eye Magic Tower pursues the greatest magic on the continent. Trial-and-error usually consumes enormous amounts of time and money, but Iorga has always been generous when it comes to research."

"Remarkable. If we'd tried something like this at Escolleia, they'd only have complained about wasting money."

Isabella spoke with obvious pride.

Vernel practically sang Iorga's praises.

Listening to them, Ferda quietly muttered,

"A Golden Goblin..."

"Pardon?"

"It's nothing."

For some reason, that phrase simply refused to leave his mind.

***

Now that he no longer had to worry about holding back, Ferda decided it was time to push forward with everything he had.

He would accelerate the revival of Magitech Engineering in Hestia Village.

"These are the cooperation proposals sent from Escolleia. Everything appears to be in order. They only require your approval."

The Magitech Engineering demonstrated by Vernel had convinced many people that it would usher in a new era for Escolleia.

Surprisingly, many of those studying the new discipline came from well-known Mage families.

Ferda understood them perfectly.

They want revenge against their families.

How many of them truly pursued scholarship for the sake of knowledge?

Most had been branded as untalented or pushed aside in succession struggles.

Magitech Engineering became a refuge for those desperate to continue living as Mages.

Naturally, they grew to hate the privileged few who monopolized magic.

Even Escolleia's current Headmaster had once been one of them.

Proposal for the Development of a Mana Stone Carriage

A carriage powered by Mana Stones...

Eventually, people would stop calling them carriages altogether.

They would become Mana-powered automobiles.

Vehicles powered by Mana instead of horses had long been dismissed as lacking noble elegance.

But that stubborn prejudice would disappear overnight, and the roads would soon be filled with Mana-powered vehicles.

I wanted to keep this one for myself...

But no one could claim everything without losing potential allies.

He handed the proposal over to Stephan.

It was his reward for supporting the Eastern Region without hesitation.

It's only one piece of the larger industry anyway.

Ferda already had several business ventures of his own in mind.

He handed another stack of documents to Isabella.

"Administrator."

"Yes?"

"These are projects I've researched personally. Could you secure investment for these as well?"

Isabella opened the folder.

The moment she read the title, she instinctively frowned.

"You intend to purchase mining rights for desert sand?"

"That's right."

The Southern Region had sand in endless abundance.

Wondering what possible use he could have for so much sand, she turned the page.

"Glass."

Ferda intended to establish a glass industry.

"Someone submitted a proposal to industrialize glass production. I'd like to recruit him and build a glass factory."

"A glass factory... Certainly, glass is a valuable luxury item, but the demand isn't particularly high."

"Turn the page."

Following his instructions, she continued reading.

Then she immediately understood.

"Glass that won't shatter easily without magical reinforcement..."

The words glass and unbreakable felt almost contradictory.

"Do you truly believe this is possible, Lord Ferda?"

Isabella looked unconvinced.

But Ferda already knew.

He knew that glass, once reserved solely for noble ornaments, would eventually become commonplace even in ordinary homes.

As Magitech Engineering advanced, luxury itself would be redefined.

"I believe the possibility is more than sufficient."

A possibility...

If anyone else had said those words, Isabella would have rejected the proposal on the spot and accused them of wasting money.

He must already have something in mind.

The one thing she knew about Ferda was that he never acted on impulse.

Trusting that judgment, Isabella quietly picked up the documents.

"I'll move forward with this project. And..."

As if suddenly remembering something, she added.

With an unusually sour expression, she said,

"It seems that insufferable witch has finally achieved results with her project." 1

There was no need to ask why she disliked her so much. The reason was obvious.

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