“You have a Black Key?”
Essel, the leader of Sky, skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point. As soon as his subordinate brought him the news, he had abandoned his breakfast and rushed over.
“May I see—?”
Thunk.
Before the question had fully left his mouth, something was tossed onto the table. It was a black key.
Essel picked it up and examined it carefully, suppressing a groan as he did.
So the second key has surfaced too.
What was going on?
For hundreds of years, the keys had vanished without a trace. Yet now, they were suddenly appearing one after another.
His mind was a mess, but Essel kept his expression perfectly composed as he looked across the table. The man was lounging there as though he owned the place.
Grand Duke Persia.
“I never expected Your Excellency to be the one carrying this key.”
Who would have imagined it? The very key at the heart of Sky was in the Grand Duke’s possession.
“You found the other one too.”
“.....”
Essel didn’t answer. First, he needed to know how much Kainel already knew.
“That’s why you’ve been keeping an eye on Ceres, isn’t it?”
Essel remained silent. He was already aware that his subordinate Ben had been exposed by Ceres and was now carrying out her orders.
How do I know that?
Because Ceres herself had told him when she came to see him not long ago.
“You want to keep Ben around?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I’ve got plenty of errands for him to run.”
“Ah...”
“Hmm? You don’t like it? Or were you planning to compensate me some other way for spying on the owner of a Black Key?”
“N-No, not at all! Ben will do just fine! Should I send someone else too? The more helpers, the better, right?”
As someone who couldn’t refuse a request from a Black Key holder in the first place, Essel was more than happy to let the matter end there.
“That’s not for me to say.”
Returning the key after finishing his inspection, Essel bowed his head politely.
“So, is that why you came all the way here yourself?”
“Partly.”
He wanted to verify the key for himself, and there were a few questions he’d been meaning to ask.
Kainel wasn’t particularly interested in discussing the key Ceres possessed. He made no effort to pursue the topic further.
“Do you know what Ceres has been up to lately?”
“Well, nothing comes to mind in particular...”
Clink.
“She’s currently serving as the acting head of House Ellesia. The Council of Elders has already approved it, but it seems she’s still having some trouble with the knights.”
The head of Sky was about to brush off the question, but the moment Kainel rattled the key, the information began spilling out without hesitation. After all, the question came from a Black Key holder.
The fact that the person Kainel was asking about also happened to be a Black Key holder made things a little awkward, but his duty was simply to answer.
“House Ellesia?”
Until then, Kainel had been listening with little interest. At the last remark, his brow twitched.
“...Trouble?”
.
.
.
Chapter 30: Test
“Eighty-twenty.”
“Fifty-fifty.”
“Seventy-thirty.”
“Fifty-fifty.”
“...Sixty-forty. I won’t go any lower than that.”
Juno, the secretary who had recently taken over the management of House Ellesia’s affairs, sighed to himself. No matter what he said, Ceres’s answer never changed.
“Don’t you think it’s a little unreasonable to take half the profits when we’re handling everything from production to sales?”
Ceres had made House Ellesia an offer. She would hand over the formula for the medicine that had cured those afflicted by demonic energy. In return, she wanted half the profits.
Juno had seen the medicine’s effects with his own eyes. There was no questioning its value. The fact that it could replace holy water, which cost a fortune, was astonishing enough on its own.
If Ceres hadn’t approached them first, he would’ve sought her out to discuss a deal himself.
“Sixty-forty. That’s the best we can do.”
But wasn’t fifty-fifty asking a bit much?
“Fifty-fifty.”
“Be reasonable.”
“It’s not like this is the only place that can manufacture medicine.”
Geez, I’m offering it to you first out of consideration for old times instead of taking it somewhere else. What are you even complaining about?
“You can produce it for less than a tenth of the cost of holy water. When it comes to effectiveness, holy water doesn’t even compare.”
You saw it yourself, didn’t you? It doesn’t just remove demonic energy. It stops bleeding instantly. Most wounds heal noticeably faster too.
“You don’t actually think we’re incapable of recreating it, do you?”
House Ellesia was home to no shortage of skilled healers, including Herion. If all of them devoted themselves to recreating the medicine, they could surely produce something worthwhile...
“Go ahead, then.”
Ceres snorted. Did he think no one had tried that before?
After she first created the medicine, plenty of people had rushed to make their own version of it.
Every one of them failed.
A few managed to come up with something similar, but compared to the original, the difference in effectiveness was obvious. Before long, they all disappeared from the market.
Though if they really want to learn that lesson for themselves, who am I to stop them?
Sometimes people only learn through experience.
“Fifty-fifty.”
There was no room for negotiation. She’d already been generous enough.
“.....”
Another silent sigh escaped Juno.
The problem was that Ceres wasn’t wrong.
As Black Forest incidents became more frequent, the price of holy water continued to climb with no end in sight. In a situation like this, a medicine that could replace it was impossible to ignore.
He had boldly claimed they could make it themselves, but Juno knew better than anyone that it wouldn’t be that easy.
Besides, what if Ceres sold the formula elsewhere in the meantime? Even if they succeeded in recreating the medicine afterward, they would be entering the market late. There was a good chance it would never sell as well.
Still...
They’d be the ones producing and handling distribution too...
“Then forget it.”
Ceres remained unmoved.
They should’ve taken better care of the formula from the start. Who were they blaming? It had taken her six whole months to develop that medicine.
But they just up and lost a formula that valuable? How does that even make sense?
Fools.
“Let’s do it.”
“Lady Herion.”
Before Juno could continue agonizing over it, Herion grabbed the contract.
“If we let this one get away, the Council of Elders won’t sit quietly.”
“...That’s true.”
Juno finally gave in.
Herion was right. Letting a medicine like this slip through their fingers would be foolish.
If another house got its hands on it first, the repercussions for House Ellesia would be severe. They could even lose their standing as the Empire’s foremost healing family.
“I just need to sign here, right?”
The contract stipulated that any medicine produced using the formula would be sold exclusively through House Ellesia.
Production and distribution would both be handled by House Ellesia as well, while half of all profits would go to Ceres.
“Here!”
After signing both copies, Herion handed one back to her.
“I look forward to working with you, Lady Ceres!”
Apparently delighted to have established a connection with her, Herion flashed a bright smile and held out her hand.
“Likewise.”
Ceres smiled and clasped her hand firmly.
***
“We’re no longer purchasing holy water?”
“Yes.”
“That secretary is behind this again, isn’t he?”
Knight Captain Tylo scowled. As soon as he heard the news, his mood soured.
The holy water purchased from the temple had been bringing in a steady sum behind the scenes for quite some time. After all, the knights received a monthly allotment of it.
For sword-wielders, holy water was considered an essential supply. A Black Forest could appear at any time, so they were expected to carry some on them at all times for emergencies.
Skimming off part of that allotment and turning it into cash was something they’d been doing for years.
So, when the servant involved in the arrangement had just informed him that they would no longer be purchasing holy water, Tylo felt his anger rise.
Just how far were they planning to take this? Were they determined to cut off every avenue he had left?
“It wasn’t the secretary.”
“Then who was it?”
“The new acting head.”
“What?”
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