The Unfilial Heir Who Tries to Kill Me Tempts Me - Chapter 36

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 36.

All eyes fixed on it.
It was the brooch I’d received not long ago when I went to restore Eden and Yeongjimin Village.
I hastily removed the brooch and examined it. In small but unmistakable lettering, it read: Vulcan.
“…For real?”

“Please accept this, at least. It’s nothing much, but my family has been working in metal processing for generations.”

…Was that family of hers that’s been doing metal processing all this time actually Vulcan?
I couldn’t believe it.
Who describes Vulcan like that?
Talk about a complete lack of self-awareness. I’d nearly walked right past without recognizing her, for crying out loud.
Now that I thought about it, Meri’s frame was unusually imposing. That’s why I hadn’t seen through her.
“Well, it seems the problem’s solved either way.”
I looked up and stared directly at Kaius.
“What?”
“I’m just fascinated. The Lord is a conceited demon king, yet the territory residents are absurdly humble. How does that work?”
Could this be some law of conservation of mass?
Kaius let out a scoffing laugh and swept his enormous hand across my face.
“Ugh.”
“Stop talking nonsense and move.”
So just because his hand’s big, that makes everything okay?
While my nose tingled and I wrinkled it indignantly, Kaius was already striding off into the distance. I offered the craftspeople a polite farewell and hurried after him.

***

Strike while the iron’s hot, or so they say—I wanted to find Meri immediately, but Kaius stopped me. Even if it looked casual, it was an official cooperation request, and we had to follow procedure.
When we first met, he’d tried to kill me without a second thought for procedure or formality, yet now he was suddenly all about royal propriety.
What a farce the Opening Church could be.
“Oh, hello there, Magician!”
“Welcome, Meri.”
“The day I’d visit Archduke’s Castle—I never thought I’d live to see it!”
Kaius had carefully observed every bit of procedure and form, sending an invitation, and the next afternoon I received Meri in the Reception Room.
The reason I came instead of the Lord was simple: his face was far too forbidding to ask anyone for cooperation. It would’ve looked more like a threat.
“Thank you for coming all this way. Please, sit.”
“Oh, it was nothing. By the way, am I allowed to eat all of this?”
Meri’s eyes were already fixed on the desserts arranged on a gleaming five-tiered tray.
“Of course, help yourself.”
“Wow, thank you so much.”
That’s precisely why I’d had it prepared. Throughout history, people’s wariness drops dramatically and their generosity flows freely in the presence of good food.
There’s a reason villains in novels and films feed the protagonist lavish meals and let them rest before executing their schemes.
Meri spread clotted cream and strawberry jam generously over a fig scone and popped it whole into her mouth.
She certainly had an appetite.
There’s something admirable about someone who eats well.
I observed quietly as her cheeks puffed out like a hamster’s, then spoke.
“Meri, that brooch you gave me last time—it really was beautiful.”
“I’m so glad you like it.”
“Did you make it yourself?”
“Oh no, I have no talent for craftsmanship. My father made it for me with his own hands when I was small.”
I’d thrown out the question on a hunch, and I’d guessed right.
So she really was Vulcan’s daughter.
What was such a distinguished person doing in such a humble place?
My moment of wonder was brief; I quickly moved to the real reason for this meeting.
“Meri, is that father of yours one of Vulcan’s craftspeople?”
“You know my family home?”
What was she talking about?
Some kind of wordplay?
Since Meri blinked her round eyes in complete earnestness, I gave up chasing the escaping logic and answered her instead.
“Of course I do. You’re famous.”
“Not quite that famous. I simply run a small workshop.”
Excessive modesty is just dishonesty in disguise, they say. It was clear that Kaius had absorbed all the presumption of this territory’s people.
“Meri, would you take a look at this?”
I produced the Work Order I’d prepared in advance.
“I’m looking for a craftsman who can make this armor. The raw material is a Steel Golem Body—such an uncommon metal that the territory’s craftsmen say processing it is difficult.”
“It’s an unusual design. Given the saddle work alongside it, it looks like knight’s armor, but the form suggests… not meant for riding a horse.”
“That’s right.”
“Hmm… I think my family’s techniques could manage it. Though you’d need suitable facilities and various equipment. The Steel Golem Body is light and durable, but its melting point is so high that conventional methods won’t work.”
Hadn’t she just said she had no aptitude for craftsmanship? Here at Vulcan, someone who can judge whether work is possible just from looking at a Work Order is counted among the untalented?
A brutal family, indeed.
“As long as it becomes armor, I don’t mind. The real difficulty was securing Vulcan’s cooperation. That’s why I called you—I was hoping you might help with this.”
“Certainly, if it’s truly the legendary Steel Golem, Father would likely be interested. However…”
However?
Why did her voice trail off like that?
With such unease.
As if to confirm my suspicion, Meri squeezed her eyes shut.
“I’m sorry. This might be difficult because of me.”
“…I’m sorry?”
“The truth is, I’ve practically severed ties with my family right now.”
What in the world was she talking about?

***

“Apparently she eloped with her husband against her family’s wishes. That severed almost all their ties, and now they only exchange letters about whether the other is alive or dead.”
“Quite the dramatic affair.”
So that’s why Vulcan’s daughter was in such a humble place.
Love ruins everything. Absolutely everything.
I would never make that mistake.
“But what are you doing right now?”
Kaius asked, puzzled, watching me arrange items neatly inside a large box.
Well, naturally.
“Preparing for persuasion.”
It was an unexpected development, but I couldn’t simply sit idle.
From what I gathered, Meri’s father—the current Family Head of Vulcan—had been absolutely furious to learn that his only beloved daughter had married some unremarkable man.
It was certainly true that a minor soldier from the borderlands without even a knight’s title was woefully inadequate to be Vulcan’s son-in-law.
Then we simply needed to make him acceptable, didn’t we?
I placed the letter I’d written with care at the very top of the box and closed the lid with a soft thunk.
“After all, we have the Griffin Knights as our secret weapon.”
Meri’s husband happened to serve in the Security Force. After this training concluded, he would formally receive his commission and join the order.
“I included a Steel Golem Helmet Sample that would make Vulcan’s Family Head’s eyes bulge, and in the letter I wrote all about the upcoming ‘Flying Knights.’ Meri agreed to provide the address of where the Family Head is currently recuperating.”
A father who’d fallen ill for a full three years, his heart broken by his daughter’s elopement.
Whether to call him a doting father or the very embodiment of patriarchal authority, I couldn’t say.
“No matter how much the Family Head opposed their marriage, could he possibly resist coming to see the ‘Flying Knights’? He’d be absolutely desperate to know.”
“So you’re planning to summon Vulcan’s Family Head directly to the territory and persuade him yourself?”
“Once he sees it in person, his mind will change.”
And once the Family Head was thoroughly captivated, that’s when I’d have Meri’s husband—now a member of the Griffin Knights—make his entrance.
“Somehow you seem more passionate about this than I am.”
I flinched.
“…It’s all for the sake of His Highness the Archduke.”
Truth be told, my zeal had another reason. I’d secretly tucked a few Black Steel Stones into the box along with the Steel Golem sample.
Black Steel Stone was just as rare and legendary a material as the Steel Golem Body. Vulcan’s Family Head would be unable to resist working it with his own hands once he learned of its existence.
Purified Black Steel Stone possessed astronomical value. The moment Mages learned of it, they’d scramble over one another to purchase it.
In the extreme, this alone could shift the entire balance of the Magical society.
“Anyway, since I’m sending it by Magical Messenger, it’ll arrive there in exactly one day. Assuming a prompt reply, we should have an answer within three days.”
Before Kaius could intercept and inspect it, I quickly wove a spell and hurled the box out the window.

***

Several days later, a servant brought word that a Letter had arrived from outside, along with it into the office.
“Has an answer already come?”
“See? I told you a reply would arrive any moment now.”
I should have known.
But what arrived fell far short of what I’d expected.
“A letter from Crown Prince Fabian, Your Highness.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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