Chapter 62

As the king's birthday celebration approached, preparations were underway at the Vizel Castle.

For generations, the royal family had celebrated birthdays grandly every year. This was because, during the time when the royal authority was strong, it was an important event to gather subordinate nobles and demonstrate their power.

However, at present, it had become a mere formality, a hollow tradition.

Prince Aurelio summoned Baron Alfred to his room and inquired about Crown Prince Gaius.

"When will my brother return?"

"He is scheduled to return the day after tomorrow."

"Why do you think His Majesty allowed my brother to return? Despite how much he disliked him."

The baron directed a scrutinizing gaze at Prince Aurelio, sensing hostility towards Crown Prince Gaius in the prince's words.

"Crown Prince Gaius has defeated the monsters that were surging from the Demon Gate and achieved a great feat. His Majesty must be evaluating that."

Prince Aurelio's expression turned slightly displeased.

"Something like that, I could do as well. My brother didn't fight the monsters directly, did he?"

"That's true... However, his decision to quickly introduce magic cannons to the Demon Gate Guard and defeat many monsters is indeed commendable."

Prince Aurelio seemed unhappy that the crown prince was being praised.

The baron speculated that one of the nobles who were close to the prince had suggested that Prince Aurelio was more suitable as the next king, and thus viewed Crown Prince Gaius as a rival.

"If I were of age, I would have gone to the Demon Realm and exterminated the monsters in place of my brother."

Prince Aurelio muttered regretfully.

The baron had an interesting idea.

"Do you wish to serve His Majesty so much? That's a wonderful attitude. There are several issues troubling His Majesty. How about you solve them?"

"What kind of issues are they?"

"The budget for the capital's reconstruction. The ministers are discussing it, but they can't come up with a good plan."

In the workshop district, public facilities had been burned by the hell lizards. A significant amount of expenditure was required for their reconstruction and the repair of damaged roads, which was causing the ministers a headache.

There was also the issue of what to do if such an incident occurred again. One of the ministers suggested that the Demon Gate Guard should be equipped with magic cannons, but the finance minister did not agree due to funding issues.

Prince Aurelio frowned when he heard about the budget problem.

The prince was well-versed in military matters but was not familiar with financial issues.

"How do you expect me to solve that?"

"Have you heard of the Palente Plateau in the Mil territory?"

"I have. I remember hearing that it's a coalfield where high-quality coal can be mined."

"That's right. In the past, a large amount of high-quality coal was mined there."

The prince looked as if he remembered something.

"Ah, I see. The monsters that overflowed from the Demon Gate occupied the Palente Plateau, didn't they?"

The armored mountain cats, ground-running spiders, and death oaks that had settled in the Palente Plateau attacked and drove out the residents.

Prince Aurelio was confused by the baron's idea.

"Are you suggesting I exterminate the monsters and reclaim the Palente Plateau's coalfield?"

"No, Your Highness doesn't have the military force to exterminate the monsters. Instead, how about proposing to His Majesty to sell the mining rights of the coalfield?"

The baron knew that Duke Melvis envied the royal family's ownership of the Palente coalfield.

Even though mining was currently difficult due to the monsters, the duke had said that the day when the royal family could reclaim the Palente Plateau was near with the development of weapons like magic cannons.

If the royal family could be stripped of the Palente coalfield, it would weaken their power, the baron thought.

"But I've heard that the Palente coalfield is an important source of income for the royal family."

Prince Aurelio confirmed his doubts.

"However, since there is no way to completely drive away the monsters, the coalfield has little value."

When the Palente Plateau was occupied by monsters, the royal family had gathered an army to exterminate them. They succeeded in defeating the monsters except for the death oaks, driving the armored mountain cats and ground-running spiders out of the Palente Plateau, but the situation quickly reverted to its original state, the baron had heard.

Especially the ground-running spiders, which laid eggs in various places, would hatch and return to their original state even after being exterminated.

Moreover, the armored mountain cats, which were the ground-running spiders' favorite food, would gather again.

Incidentally, while it was possible to mine coal during the period when the monsters were reduced, the number of casualties in coal mining increased as the monsters grew again, and it became necessary to call for another military force to exterminate the monsters.

The cost was enormous, and large-scale mining was not profitable.

Even if it were only the armored mountain cats and ground-running spiders, it was possible to mine while being guarded, but when the death oaks attacked, they had to abandon their tools and mined coal and flee, so mining had been suspended.

"In such a state, wouldn't there be no one willing to buy the mining rights to the Palente coalfield?"

"However, there are those who are mining the Palente coalfield without permission."

The baron had heard that small-scale mining was profitable, and unauthorized miners continued to operate.

They repeatedly mined only the surface coal and fled. As a result, numerous small holes were created in the coalfield, and rainwater collected in these holes, forming small ponds.

"Is there such a person?"

Prince Aurelio, who had never heard of the unauthorized mining, showed anger.

"As you can see, there are merchants who want to do even small-scale mining that is not profitable for the royal family to operate as a business."

The next day, Prince Aurelio proposed to the king to sell the mining rights to the Palente coalfield.

The king and the ministers began to consider the proposal. The royal family's finances were in a difficult state.

After consideration, it was decided to sell the mining rights to the Palente coalfield. However, the royal family, hesitant to completely relinquish it, limited the mining rights to a 20-year period.

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A few days after the crown prince returned from the Yorgul territory, Isarco and Ricardo were summoned by General Samuele and headed to Vizel Castle.

Ricardo and the others were led to a room that resembled a reception room. The crown prince and General Samuele were waiting there.

Isarco, who seemed nervous when meeting the crown prince, had a tense expression, which Ricardo noticed.

"Thank you for coming. I heard that your master, Ricardo, has developed a new technology. What kind of technology is it?"

Ricardo took out a water attribute color rod from the storage aquamarine and showed it to the crown prince.

"Hmm, this is a beautiful thing."

Ricardo explained the performance of the attribute color rod.

"To summarize, the attribute color rod has the effect of reducing catalyst consumption and increasing power."

The crown prince thought for a moment and then took the water attribute color rod in his hand.

"Would it be all right to ask about the manufacturing method?"

"I apologize, but magicians do not teach their secret techniques to anyone other than their disciples."

The crown prince smiled wryly at the answer. The law prohibited even the royal family from forcing an answer about a craftsman's secret technique.

"How many attribute color rods can be produced in a month?"

"Consider it to be no more than ten."

Ricardo, who did not want to be solely occupied with the production of attribute color rods, gave a conservative answer.

The crown prince frowned.

"That's a small number."

Hearing this, Isarco speculated that the crown prince was considering replacing the court magicians' rods with attribute color rods. Isarco himself had thought about how much catalyst could be saved if the rods used by the extermination bureau's magicians were replaced.

Isarco made a suggestion to the crown prince.

"Crown Prince, the attribute color rod is a rather quirky rod. It will require rigorous training for magicians to use it as a magic rod. It might be better to use it as a part of a magic cannon."

To Ricardo, the attribute color rod was a slightly quirky rod. However, this was because Ricardo's magic control was at a very high level, and ordinary magicians would struggle to properly activate magic.

Noticing this, Isarco suggested to the crown prince to use it as a part of a magic cannon.

"Magic cannon. Would the catalyst consumption reduction effect be the same if used in a magic cannon?"

General Samuele, who also became interested, asked Ricardo.

"Yes, that's correct. We have confirmed this through prototypes at the Emilia workshop."

"Indeed, I would like to have Emilia come and test the prototypes tomorrow."

Isarco promised to pass on the message to Emilia.

Isarco judged that the crown prince and the general had understood the content of the new technology and brought up the matter.

"We are concerned that releasing weapons using this technology might lead to the same problems as when the magic cannon was developed, so we have come to consult with Crown Prince."

Crown Prince Gaius nodded, looking at Isarco's face.

"I understand your concern. I've heard that there was an incident where Lucio, the inventor of the magic cannon, was almost kidnapped."

The crown prince and the general had serious expressions.

"Crown Prince, it would be foolish to refrain from releasing weapons using this technology out of fear of trouble. How about announcing that this technology was developed under your command?"

The general's suggestion was met with a nod from the crown prince.

"Indeed, releasing the attribute color rod to the public through the royal family, huh?"

Ricardo realized he had forgotten to mention the magic color guns and magic rifles.

"I apologize, but the application of this technology is not limited to rods."

The crown prince remembered the magic rifle given to him by Ricardo.

"Could it be..."

"Yes, we are developing a magic color gun using an attribute color wave tube."

"Hahaha... interesting."

Ricardo was a bit scared by the crown prince's laughing face, which looked demonic.

Ricardo and the others headed to the shooting range in the castle, which the crown prince had built when the magic cannon was developed.

No one was in the shooting range. Ricardo took out four types of magic color guns and handed the wind, earth, and fire magic color guns to the crown prince, the general, and Isarco, respectively.

First, the crown prince fired the wind magic color gun at the target and confirmed its power.

"This is good. The power has increased significantly."

The crown prince was pleased with the power of the wind magic color gun.

Next, when the general was about to fire the earth magic color gun, Ricardo warned him.

"General, the earth magic color gun has a recoil, so please grip it firmly before pulling the trigger."

"Is it just a matter of gripping it firmly?"

The general gripped the gun handle tightly and pulled the trigger cautiously. With a "bang," the gun's muzzle was pushed upward by the recoil. Immediately after, a shock wave flew out and hit the sandbags above the target, causing them to collapse.

"I see, this is the recoil."

The general pulled the trigger again and hit the target this time.

Finally, Isarco fired the fire magic color gun.

Seeing the target charred, the crown prince found it amusing.

The three of them continued to test the magic color guns, exchanging them. The earth magic color gun was the most popular. The solid recoil when firing was interesting.

"Can we test the water magic color gun?"

The general asked, looking at the water magic color gun in Ricardo's hand.

"The water magic color gun is no different from a regular magic gun."

The crown prince and the others tested the water magic color gun but could not tell what was different from a regular magic gun.

"Lastly, this is what I promised to the crown prince."

Ricardo took out a wind magic rifle and handed it to the crown prince.

"Is this made with a special large magic vine? You changed the shape from a magic gun, didn't you?"

The crown prince muttered and then pulled the trigger.

The shock wave fired from the rifle shattered the target board into pieces.

The three of them were surprised by the power and were speechless.

After a while, Isarco spoke up.

"Could this power be enough to bring down a boar?"

The crown prince agreed.

The wind magic rifle seemed to satisfy the crown prince.

In exchange for entrusting the sale of the attribute color rods and magic color guns to the crown prince, Ricardo made a contract for the crown prince to conceal the source. This made Ricardo feel relieved that he would be uninvolved in the trouble that the attribute color rods and magic color guns might cause.

He could have chosen not to sell them to anyone and use them only for himself, but that would have made them unusable in places where no one was around, which he considered meaningless.

After parting ways with the crown prince, Ricardo and the others headed to the Magician's Guild.

They went to Isarco's room.

"Do you know the results of the magician certification exam held this spring?"

"I do."

"Sydney, who was a servant, has passed and started working as a magician in the miscellaneous affairs bureau."

Sydney, who was no longer of the age to work as a servant, had taken and passed the exam. The remaining Robson and others also said they would take the exam next spring.

"Sydney told me that you are a good teacher."

"I think I'm average."

Ricardo was not being modest. He evaluated himself as average during his teaching days, so he answered that way.

"No, I felt that you have talent as a teacher when I read the 'Self-Study Magic Textbook.'"

Ricardo understood.

"Is it about the matter with Lady Boniperti?"

"Yes. Gretta has become my disciple. I want to teach her from the basics, but I don't have the time. I need to entrust it to someone."

"What about Tania?"

Ricardo suggested. Tania could teach adequately.

"I intended to ask Tania as well. However, Tania has decided to take the entrance exam for the Advanced Magic Education Academy next year and is studying. She might not have much time to teach."

Tania, after seeing the advanced magic Ricardo used, decided