Chapter 134: The Leaf That Travels

“A watch?”

Jay was surprised by the unexpected answer.

Not saying he would become a jeweler, but a watch. There was no boundary between possible and impossible in a young child’s thinking.

Seeing Jay’s wide-eyed expression, Lapillus continued with a face full of pride.

“Yes, because Father’s watch is the coolest.”

Even if it was a very erratic idea, the origin was somehow touching to Jay.

Is this the joy one can feel when being with a child?

Glancing up, a smile was also on Philius’s face.

To a third party, it would have been a quite funny scene. Parents rejoicing at the child’s words that his future dream is a watch.

But there was no one else there. Jay felt only joy at that moment.

“But isn’t Father smaller than Daddy?”

At Lapillus’s voice, Jay returned to the present from past memories.

Lapillus, gauging Philius’s height, couldn’t hide his complaint.

Although he said he has to grow as big as Daddy, he seemed to think it unfair that Jay, smaller than Philius, handles tools. Jay realized his mistake only then.

“Father misspoke. Lapillus is right. Father is shorter than Daddy. So Lapillus only needs to grow as big as Father.”

Even saying it himself, he felt strange.

Referring to himself using the word a young child uses. Jay suppressed the laughter about to burst out and admitted with a quite serious face that the child’s words were correct.

Lapillus’s face brightened. It seems both his words being correct and the goal being lowered were joyful things for the child.

If he really grows as big as Jay, will he want to hold tools? That would also be joyful, but Jay decided not to expect it.

“What does Lapillus want to be in the future?”

“A book!”

“What kind of book?”

“Just a book! Books contain many stories. Scary stories, strong stories too!”

The child who said he wanted to be a watch yesterday says he wants to be a book today. Probably tomorrow it will change to something else again.

How Lapillus’s future dream would change was quite exciting for Jay. Getting to know about the child, and the future changing constantly.

There was a time when he wished only for unchanging daily life with nothing particularly memorable to repeat. A time when he wished to spend time alone.

But his present was full of things he never imagined. And that felt enjoyable.

“Is reading books fun?”

“Yes!”

Lapillus was a smart child. Neither Philius nor Jay had ever held the hand of the child not even five years old and taught him letters. Lapillus learned it by himself.

However, it was unknown if he had talent for magic or strong pheromones.

Setting aside that problem since there is no way to gauge the pheromones of a child not yet at the age of manifestation, Philius had confessed that he manifested basic magic already at Lapillus’s age.

Lapillus didn’t show interest in magic either. Although magic items were everywhere in the house and magic circles were naturally engraved on accessories Jay made, he was only interested in gems themselves.

Jay didn’t feel that fact disappointing. However, he was a little worried.

Lapillus was a child who made a miracle-like thing happen while in the womb.

Jay remembers the sense of unity he shared with Philius.

The blurring of boundaries between himself and him, his thoughts being conveyed clearly and his own thoughts being conveyed intact to him, never happened before or after.

Only on the day of the victory ceremony, only then.

The mighty power threatening from outside must have created such a miracle.

Still, Jay thought it would have been impossible if Lapillus wasn’t in the womb.

Therefore, his worry was whether that event had a bad influence on the child.

Even if the child’s pheromones were weak, or if he were a Beta, it didn’t matter. Even if he had no aptitude for a mage at all, it was the same.

He just hoped there were no adverse effects.

“Father, are you going to work now?”

The child’s question was much closer to urging than asking. His two eyes seemed to sparkle with expectation.

“Yeah.”

As he answered obediently, Lapillus twitched his lips trying to hold back laughter.

The child didn’t know how to hide emotions, and that appearance was another joy for Jay.

“Ready?”

“Wait a moment!”

Lapillus took out a small box from the table drawer with exciting hand gestures. Inside were earplugs.

Even if the child liked the workshop, the noise of the workshop wasn’t good for the child.

The child, hurriedly putting on earplugs Jay made himself, looked up at him again with eyes full of expectation.

At times like this, one shouldn’t delay unnecessarily. Jay walked to the workbench.

Taking out things worked on the previous day, he felt like laughing for some reason.

What he was making these days was a brooch. Expressing leaf veins with melee diamonds, and putting a few objet decorations on top.

The motif was taken from a book Lapillus was reading these days.

Although it was a short passing anecdote in the book, Lapillus focused on the fact that a leaf attached to the protagonist’s clothes traveled with him for quite a long time.

Like a child whose future dream was a watch, he personified the leaf and enjoyed imagining the protagonist’s journey from the leaf’s perspective.

Jay’s hand sketching that appearance moved almost automatically.

What the child likes, feels interested in, and wants to be in the future changes moment by moment. Although he listens carefully to the child’s chattering, he often orders himself not to become overly sensitive.

By the time this brooch is completed, the child’s favorite book might change to something else. Unlike watching his work with sparkling eyes now, he might show no reaction to the finished product.

The child didn’t ask him to make a leaf. He had to remember that he was moving his hands by Jay’s own will.

This brooch might become an auction item, not an item cherished by the child.

Jay knew well that items he put up for auction received favorable reviews.

If this brooch is completed and goes to auction, he could expect not only appearing on the front page of newspapers but also receiving quite flattering praises.

When Jay decided to resume activities as a jeweler, it was after the events of the victory ceremony day when the former King died were no longer talked about by people.

Although he missed the time when people’s curiosity was most vigorous, Jay didn’t regret his decision. If he had worked as a jeweler earlier, he wouldn’t have been able to see Lapillus as a baby in detail that much.

The child was growing day by day.

Jay sometimes regretted that fact. If Lapillus hadn’t been curious about the workshop, Jay’s return as a jeweler might have been delayed a little more.

After deciding to return, he moved under thorough calculation.

Making praise, not criticism, return to a working Omega was possible because there was such a plan.

An item that didn’t exist before but nobles could accept lightly. What was made with such thought was the cravat medal. Wearing it as a couple item was also to attract a bit more attention.

Nobles went wild for the item that was a new shape but easy to imitate. The fact that the shapes of pins decorating cravats were similar until then was also a reason it could receive attention.

Thus, the name of jeweler Jay, which seemed to be buried in the past, gained fame once again, and when medal-shaped cravat pins could be seen anywhere in Noberten, Jay put items up for auction.

The necklace released at the precise timing became a hot topic at once. It had been a long time since the citrine necklace became the Queen’s new symbol.

Although the gems used and the engraved magic circle were completely different from the citrine necklace, it was enough to remind people of the memories of the victory ceremony day they had forgotten.

Actually, the successor of the Dime family and the Crown Princess also attended that auction.

They appeared at the auction wearing the accessories they wore at the victory ceremony 5 years ago intact, making jeweler Jay, who didn’t show himself directly at that place, the protagonist of the day in name and reality.

The appearance of the young Crown Princess smiling brightly after winning the auction item appearing on the front page of the newspaper was also favorable news.

The reason she attended the auction was to give a gift to her mother, Queen Florence, and their popularity, although perhaps slightly less compared to Queen Diane two generations ago, was incomparably higher than the former King. Therefore, the name of jeweler Jay could be welcomed more.

Jay thought that much was luck. Although the accessories the Queen and Crown Princess cherish most were also made by him.

After that, every time he put items up for auction, it became a hot topic.

Although the winning bid price varied depending on the type of gems used, the fact that the last item of the auction and the highest bid item was submitted by Jay didn’t change.

The leaf-shaped brooch he is working on now would also become quite a topic if submitted to auction.

The winning bid would be considerable too. But asking Lapillus if he intends to own it should be prioritized.

Actually, Jay continuing jeweler work didn’t have much to do with money now.

Leaving aside Philius’s property, calculating only Jay’s own property, there was no lack at all.

Still, he liked jeweler work. Perhaps he could work more happily because there was no pressure to earn money.

Jay stopped his hand for a moment and looked sideways. He met eyes with the father and son looking exactly alike, looking at him.

“Father, cool.”

Philius paused the fountain pen signing documents in the air for a moment, and Lapillus turned his body completely sideways, gathering his two hands, eyes shining towards him.

Muttering in a voice quite loud for talking to himself.

Jay returned a smile towards them.

The father and son resembling each other exactly were lovely.