Chapter 83: Not a Sapphire.

When I shrunk my neck, a lazy chuckle followed.

“…Are you referring to Baron Sella of Montes Province connecting Westell and Ramus?”

“I knew you would know immediately.”

“How could I not know? To go from Westell to Ramus, one must pass through Montes. Baron Sella is a man skilled in business.”

The time when limited edition watches available only in Westell are released is also when Montes Province is bustling.

The place one must pass through when transporting crystals from Westell is Ramus, where transportation connects to anywhere in the country.

Conversely, people from all over the country going to Westell to buy limited editions also had to pass through Ramus.

Montes was in the middle of the road connecting Ramus and Westell. Since Montes and Westell are a distance impossible to travel in a single day by carriage, naturally, the number of people lodging there increased.

Baron Sella was the landowner of Montes and a person who knew well that the city’s revival was due to Westell.

He maintained the roads to make travel between Westell and Ramus convenient. Not satisfied with just being a transit point to and from Westell, he actively developed entertainment in the city itself.

He was also a man skilled in worldly wisdom.

The people directly benefiting from the convenience he provided were not residents of Westell but transporters belonging to the national coachman association.

Politically, he didn’t seem close to the Duke of Westell. Baron Sella and the Duke of Westell had never officially invited each other.

However, the working-level staff contacted each other frequently.

Because Montes is also the place that buys the most wheat produced in Westell. Thanks to that, even after the war ended, there was no time for old wheat to pile up in Westell.

“Did you have a personal connection with him?”

“With his son. Baron Sella’s eldest son served as a supply officer in the New Continent.”

“Baron Sella loves his sons very much. He must have been very worried.”

“Captain Lapis Sella was also very worried about his younger brother, who is an Omega. Saying he went on a trip abroad, met a Petanian, fell in love, and isn’t returning home.”

“With a Petanian? During the war?”

Even now, relations between Petan and Henia are still not good. It’s natural. They just see each other as thieves trying to steal each other’s national wealth.

Henians hated Petanians calling them arrogant bastards showing off, and conversely, Petanians hated Henians calling them impertinent bastards who don’t know gratitude.

It wasn’t just arguing; terrorism targeting Petanians in the country also occurred. The reverse case was the same.

Baron Sella’s second son and his lover were in a situation where it was difficult to go to either Henia or Petan.

“Then where is Liberalis Sella now?”

I heard that Liberalis Sella, Baron Sella’s second son and an Omega, went on a trip around the continent.

But I only thought he returned from the trip and was recuperating in a villa to relieve the fatigue of the long journey. Baron Sella kept his whereabouts strictly secret.

“Captain Sella attempted a brave challenge to load letters to his brother on a transport ship without censorship, and almost succeeded but caught my eye. He was a bit unlucky. Actually, he had succeeded a few times before. Since he was a supply officer, sneaking in one or two letters with checks enclosed wouldn’t have been difficult. Since he begged me to overlook it because his brother’s situation was difficult, I decided to overlook it. While at it, I also let Liberalis Sella stay at my house in the capital of Kentrum.”

It meant the Commander-in-Chief and the supply officer joined hands to violate military law.

“You must have diverted reports going to the King in a similar way.”

“He did feel quite aggrieved knowing I was doing the same thing.”

With a quite brazen answer, a wet sound of chuu rang out again. I ended up laughing a little.

“Then is Liberalis Sella in Kentrum now?”

“No, here on my lap.”

“…I see.”

“He seemed very worried because his brother didn’t return even though the war ended. Coming up to the capital to enter university, he heard the Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of Westell, returned, so he visited his house. And was caught by him just like that.”

“A brave person.”

“A braver person than anyone I know.”

I was flustered that words meant for the real Liberalis Sella returned to me.

“I am not brave at all. Actually, I’m just a coward.”

My nape was bitten quite stingingly. As if he couldn’t agree at all.

“If you were really scared, you wouldn’t have taken care of a monster everyone shunned.”

“You are not a monster, Duke.”

“You are not a coward either, Jay.”

At the lips touching as if soothing the bitten spot, I exhaled a long breath.

“I should be careful with titles when others are present.”

“…Lis.”

The voice saying Liberalis’s nickname didn’t sound very pleased.

“I should get up now.”

I caressed the scar engraved on his hand crossing my chest. It seemed a new habit formed. Still, I needed a little courage to say the next words.

“…Phil.”

Only after finding the excuse that if I borrow a fake identity, I should do it properly, could I call his name. Not shouting frantically while connecting bodies, but in a state of clearly recognizing it.

“Is there something you must get up for right now?”

The voice cracked at once, and the arms hugging me tightly urged courage once more.

“No, Phil. Nothi…”

Actually, words with the end swallowed didn’t matter anyway. As urged by Philius’s tongue digging into my mouth at once, I hugged his neck and approached him closer.

****

The list I handed over returned as real objects the very next day. The most conspicuous among them was, of course, a blue raw stone weighing almost 1kg, or 5,000 carats if converted to carat units.

Cutting a raw stone loses more than half of its weight. That large raw stone will probably weigh a little over 2,000 carats.

Blue gem, weight likely to be over 15 carats when cut, top quality. It seemed to satisfy all requirements, but there was one problem.

“This is not a sapphire.”

It was dumbfounding.

“It’s a diamond.”

This blue raw stone was a diamond, not a sapphire.

Among the so-called big 4 gems, diamond, ruby, sapphire, and emerald, sapphire’s price is on average the lowest.

It’s because reserves are relatively abundant among the big 4 gems and there are various colors like pink and yellow besides blue, but still, the vivid blue sapphire usually associated with sapphire boasts a price that is never easy.

But a blue diamond wasn’t just about a formidable price. Obtaining a giant stone of this size was a problem in itself.

It’s not something you can buy just because you decide to, like manufactured goods.

Philius must have secured this item, for which my entire fortune buried in the Beta residential area wouldn’t be enough to pay, long ago.

“Does it go against your plan?”

But his worry was elsewhere, not the price. I answered firmly.

“Completely different.”

“Really?”

“It’s too excellent a raw stone. Available magical power will remain surplus.”

I couldn’t lie about the utility of a blue diamond. When I eventually confessed, only then did he tell me the reason for showing me a diamond instead of a sapphire.

“I thought about adding a barrier magic circle and engraving it.”

“You knew what item I intend to make, right?”

“Distortion by pheromones, blocking detection, cognitive interference magic circle.”

He spoke as if he prepared the answer in advance. I nodded. As Philius said, I intend to make an item with the same function as the Queen Consort’s necklace.

“Correct. But I won’t pursue perfect balance like that necklace. Rather, I intend to create the opposite effect.”

The goal is to create a blurry impression difficult for people to recognize easily using blue and red, two conflicting colors.

“No matter how much magical power I infuse into the magic circle I thought of, it seems it will fall far short of this diamond’s limit mana capacity. We can put in a very sturdy barrier.”

“Thank you for accepting my unreasonableness.”

“It’s too humble a greeting for someone who obtained a blue diamond instead of a sapphire.”

Showing an eye-smile at my words, he took a seat at the table prepared in a corner of the workshop. Just as there was a table in the basement workshop of Palmer Jewelry, a table and chair set was placed here as well. By acknowledging it, I agreed to Philius spending time here.

He immediately picked up a pen and started looking at documents. Seeing that, I recalled this morning’s newspaper article.

Even after the King’s threat regarding the mention of a dominant Omega, related articles didn’t disappear from newspapers.

Although they didn’t directly mention the whereabouts of the dominant Omega, special articles dealing with how important it is to find a partner for the Little Duchess Mare who manifested as a dominant Alpha, and how many boys and girls with outstanding qualities exist, followed one after another.

In newspapers where the Prime Minister can exert influence, that is. Just as the King and Prime Minister worked together before the war to make people talk about the potential of the New Continent mines for a long time.

Then today, finally, a new article came up.

It seemed they judged suspicion about the King searching for a dominant Omega spread enough.

And the headline of the new article was ‘Why Does the King Delay the Victory Declaration?’

Through the mouths of mercenaries who arrived first, the fact that the war with Petan over hegemony in the New Continent was Henia’s had already become widely known.

But there was still no official announcement and even the King’s Brother, who was the Commander-in-Chief, maintained silence, so nobles were half in doubt, unable to trust the mouths of lowly mercenaries.

Even letters going to and from the New Continent were cut off under the excuse of typhoon influence.

The article started with ‘According to information obtained from Petan’ and ended with the sentence ‘Why must we hear the news of this glorious feat from those detestable Petanians?’

At this time when hostility toward Petan hasn’t subsided, victory acknowledged by those Petanians filled Henians with pride.

No one could carelessly raise words of doubt about this fact.

Simultaneously, it also fueled antipathy toward the King.

An interview with a war veteran who requested anonymity was also published. Although rank and name were hidden, the scenery of war drawn vividly without exaggeration suggested he really participated in the war.

The interview emphasizing the misery of war rather than glory paradoxically emphasized what an amazing victory Henia achieved.

To tell the truth, the source of the news obtained from Petanians was Philius’s bedroom.

Also the source of the interview describing only facts plainly without a single exaggeration, making the struggle of those who participated in the war touch the heart more, was the same.

Once I knew how to control pheromones to some extent, I could barely be liberated from estivation that visited anytime.

Therefore, last night, I could suggest inserting the word Petan into the draft of the article Philius wrote.

The article I seasoned slightly went through reporters’ hands and became something stimulating pride as Henians spicily.