Kapitel 26: A set of actions

They went inside the Grand Chambers, where the bishop was waiting. He was staring the magic tool that Savine charged, except it was broken down to its base pieces.

Though the filament itself was nowhere to see. It must've run out of power and disappeared, or perhaps it dissolved into mana after being put out of the device.

'Oh.'

On the table, there was a thin burn mark, shaped exactly like the brass filament that Savine created.

The bishop was staring at it, his expression full of confusion.

"Can you make that light again?" Eliseline asked.

"Sure."

Savine repeated the process and the magic tool shone brightly once again.

"How did you prepare that magic handlight?" the bishop asked.

Savine smiled at him politely and spoke flatly.

"Trade secret."

"What do you mean trade secret?" the bishop snorted. "I remember you saying you will introduce new inventions and whatnot when you're inside the Duchy?"

"I said I may introduce them, not will," Savine said, emphasizing the two words.

"That's the same thing!"

"No, of course not," Savine scoffed. "How do you even reach that conclusion?"

The bishop ground his teeth before shouting. "I'll go talk to Duke Fest and have him revoke your noble title!"

"Be my guest."

'You're the one who's going to suffer from the contract's backlash.'

As Savine hoped for the bishop to die of a sudden heart-attack, Eliseline spoke up from beside her.

"Is there anything we can do for you to share your secrets?"

Savine smiled, seeing the beauty's serious expression.

"Sadly, even if I told you how, I fear you wouldn't be able to make use of them," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"My products are too good for your duchy," Savine shrugged casually.

"W-what the hell does that mean?"

"Imagine I create something that everyone wants. A medicine that makes you ten years younger, no questions asked. But it's only produced here. In the grand and majestic Fest duchy. Your infamous name will spread throughout the Sovereignty once more. What will the other duchies think when they see that?"

Eliseline's eyes went cold.

"They'll want it for them."

"Yes. And it wouldn't be anything difficult for them to take it. The winning duchies simply need to gather their representatives together and kindly as us to give it to them. Can we say no?"

"No."

Savine shook her head.

"Sadly, renown and riches must wait until we can firmly clutch them with our greasy little hands."

Eliseline and the bishop went deep into thought.

"But we can try some less flashy methods. I have a few methods that can increase crop output and also special brands that can increase an animal's fertility."

"Really?"

"That shouldn't be too noticeable. But aside from that, perhaps I can simply sell items through your duchy."

Savine offered them another plausible option.

"What do you mean?"

"I can start new businesses in Strati city and have them sell to the Sovereignty through you. You can simply make money by working as border inspectors. Even if the other duchies feel jealous of you, I don't think they'll force you to move or try to take away the trade rights from you. Overcomplicating the process should end up more expensive as well."

Eliseline nodded.

At that point, Savine told them a bit of a spicier option.

"It should also be possible to create the new products in the slums and pass it off as merchandise from the Magicracy."

"No!" the bishop immediately refused.

"We can't do that," Eliseline also refused.

Savine could tell they weren't willing to accept no matter what she said, but she could at least ask for the reason.

"Why not? Despite its name, it's still part of Fest. You can simply think of it as the Architect submanaging the eastern side of the city. And if the slums thrive, the duchy will receive its fair share of the money as taxes, no?

"Also, the likelihood of the other duchies leaving us be would be higher as well. If they see the rebel forces in Fest doing better than the duchy itself, they'll likely leave the matter be, finding it amusing."

"Do you have no sense of patriotism?!"

Savine rolled her eyes at the bishop. Did he really forget how she ended up here?

"No. Also, your precious duchy's reputation's already rock bottom. I say we at least make good use of the fact. There are things you can only do as a shameless failure, you know?" Savine said, pointing at the bishop. "Don't you know why no one points out the fact that you act like a pig? It's because in their eyes, that's normal for you."

"You… little!"

"We can't do it through them, because if we do that, we will be forced to annihilate them."

Eliseline's cold declaration put an end to Savine and the bishop's little argument.

"For now, we're hanging on a thin thread of balance and anything that tips it over to either side will result in a war. We've spared them once, hoping there's a chance for reconciliation, but we don't want things to get out of hand."

Savine nodded.

The two sides were currently in a standoff. The duke hoped that the slums would reach out to them and ask to be reinstated as part of the duchy again.

As for what the slums were thinking, Savine couldn't know and she didn't want to think about it yet.

Besides, she had something more important to offer. A choice that's most beneficial for her.

"Then why not sell these products in the name of the church?" she said.

From Eliseline's lectures, Savine knew that although the church was something scorned by the nobles, its influence was definitely not something that could be casually trampled upon.

"What do you mean?" the bishop was suddenly very interested.

'Oh yeah, he should be thinking of a way to one up the duke,' Savine thought with glee.

"If we send a letter to the church's headquarters of the Sovereignty, asking for protection from the nobles, I feel it's very likely for them to respond kindly."

"But wouldn't they simply take it away from us, regardless?" Eliseline asked. "Though their names are different, the church and the nobles operate similarly."

Savine nodded. "Which is why we have to basically offer this for free. We'll be the manufacturers and the sellers, but they'll take 80% of the profits. Hopefully, they'll at least provide us with the raw materials."

"80%?!"

"It's a sacrifice we must make as the weaklings. We must show our sincerity and we also must make them think that they're losing nothing by giving us a promise of protection," Savine said.

Savine really didn't care for the money. If she wanted to, she could easily her inventions and hold a tight rein on its production. And when someone from a greater duchy comes to offer her a hand, she could simply switch sides. As for the contract with Eliseline and the Bishop, there were ways to nullify it when she had enough mana.

In the first place, the punishment for breaking the contract was her heart stopping. Her blood would stop flowing, meaning that her body would stop receiving oxygen. After ten minutes, the contract's spell would stop functioning, but that was enough time for anyone to die. Even if they survived, in the best case scenario, they would be a vegetable.

If Savine had Divinity, she wouldn't even be worried about such a spell. But even with mana, she wasn't completely helpless. It would be much harder since she would be operating on herself, but she was confident in being able to keep her brain and heart safe.

After the spell concludes, she can work on fixing the rest of her body.

Regardless, switching sides to a greater duchy wasn't really her goal.

What she wanted was for her and the temple's name to spread. For that, she couldn't simply excel as an individual.

"Besides, even if it's us who takes the 80%, there's no way we'll be able to keep our hands on it," she concluded.

Eliseline and the bishop fell into thought, before glancing at each other again. Eliseline used the noise-cancelling spell again, and the two started talking. This time, it was Eliseline who was facing Savine.