195 – Returning to the Family
A grand feast was held in the Dwarven United Kingdom.
Expensive food and alcohol were lined up on the table.
This is to welcome the state guest, Count Edgar Fix.
That’s because 30 minutes ago, Edgar Fix signed an agreement to spend an amount equivalent to 50% of the dwarf national budget in one day.
-Our workshop’s technology is of the highest level. I have a student here, and if he watches me tempering even just once, he will be fascinated.
However, before this feast, there was fierce competition.
An 80 billion won civil engineering project led by Edgar Fix.
This is because countless workshops entered into a bidding war to win the right to participate in the project.
– In particular, I will show you our workshop’s patented technology that has never been revealed to the public. Look. I will explain the mana processing technique to harden materials.
The reason why Dwarves have established themselves as the world’s best engineering nation.
The reason is that their unique technological innovations have been continuously achieved through generations.
There are as many as 300 dwarf workshops.
Those workshops are constantly competing with their own talent to win bids from other countries.
Just as Korean archers are elected based solely on ability, dwarves, both senior and junior, have also proven themselves solely on ability.
– Wow. Aren’t there some problems with post-processing in your workshop? Deadline status is zero…
-What are you talking about! Didn’t you betray your customers by slashing unit prices?
-Sir Fix, why don’t you ignore those inferior workshops and take a look at our products? This will be enough to show you the technical skills.
However, this time the competition has heated up.
A crazy business worth a whopping 80 billion won.
Even if you participate in the project and earn just 10 percent, or even 5 percent, there are tremendous benefits that far exceed the two-year budget of the workshop.
“Let’s just all participate.”
“······?”
But at that moment.
A statement that no one expected came out of Edgar Fix’s mouth.
It was decided to hire all 36 dwarf workshops that participated in the bidding competition for large-scale civil engineering projects.
“B-but Lord Fix. If all 36 workshops participate, I think things will not be done properly because the command system will be dispersed…”
However, the representatives of the Dwarf workshop expressed concerns.
If all the teams participating in the competition participate, the amount of money they can earn will also decrease, so they expressed the difficulty in the name of the command system.
“Don’t worry. “Wouldn’t it be better if we collaborate well?”
“Well, still…”
“I think the scale of my business will grow bigger. It will increase 10 times from what it is now. Of course, the money you invest will also increase tenfold.”
“10 Times!?”
“Yes.”
“hahahahaha! “We are also a people of collaboration!”
In that way, the stubborn, prideful dwarves achieved great unity.
The dwarf workshops, which had been feuding for hundreds of years, signed to cooperate through mutual respect and due process under the leadership of Edgar Fix.
“I can’t believe I’ve seen a day like this in my life…”
The Dwarf King Magran, sitting at the head table in the banquet hall, was impressed.
The representatives of the workshop, who used to fight every time they met, are now smiling and shaking hands after receiving 50% of the advance payment.
“You surprise me every time I meet you. This is the first time in my life that I’ve seen those stubborn assholes get along so well. “I feel sick to my stomach every time I have to mediate with those guys… Do you ever plan on changing your nationality?”
“Puhahahahaha. “You got the joke.”
“I’m serious. Can you see the top of my head here? “It’s all about those guys…”
Ed, who restored the honor of King Magran’s younger brother, Dagran.
And out of respect for Ed, the Dwarf King sat him on a chair of the same height and size as the King.
“······.”
However, Adrian was quietly watching Ed.
He came as a landowner for this project and is examining the possibility of whether Ed’s plan to ‘conquer the northern extermination’ can be achieved.
This is the result of my observation of Ed so far.
I was having hopeful thoughts that maybe the ridiculous plan he talked about could come true.
He treated the famously picky Dwarves, especially the Dwarf King, as if he were his own friend, and brought in all 36 representative workshops.
“Bilson, what do you think?”
And then Adrian asked Bilson, the head of the Graham family and his only close friend, about Ed.
A smile spread across Bilson’s swarthy face.
“Trust him.”
“······.”
“He is a man who can put his words into practice. “Didn’t you make this space your own?”
This space.
I looked around Adrian.
At this event to welcome Ed, everything revolved around Ed.
The Dwarf King, the representative of a country, treated him like a close friend and placed him at the same level, and the representatives of that difficult workshop were praising Ed.
Beyond simply being an employer who provides money, I deeply respect him because I know his technical level and what he has done for this country.
-I have great expectations for this project. We can work on the blueprint designed by the blacksmith of salvation.
-This time, I plan to make sure I beat my student. He can work with Lord Fix’s engineering corps, so he’ll definitely have a lot to learn.
And if you listen to the stories they were sharing, it wasn’t just about going to work.
Learning.
Dwarves, united with pride in technology, are going there for the purpose of learning technology.
“Although small people do not believe in fictional things such as myths… I think that perhaps Edgar Fix may truly be the reincarnation of a ‘celestial person.’ If you think about it, didn’t Edgar Fix always stand out? As soon as he is admitted to the Academy, he gives an address to the students, restores his honor against the machinations of Klendor, and is now the center of the Empire and the intellect of the world. The world revolves around him.”
······ Adrian nodded his head.
As Deacon Bilson said, Ed had the power to attract people.
The power of oneself.
The sharpness of knowledge that inspires scholars.
Absolute skills that earn the respect of engineers.
Even the charm of the man himself that ignites the hearts of the opposite s*x.
He lacked nothing.
He is the only one with the ability and possibility to prevent the planned destruction.
“And decisively…”
As I was thinking about Ed, the head deacon, Bilson, continued speaking.
He said, looking at Adrian with bored eyes.
“I also hope, master, that you will lay down the burden of your family. “It is true that your family has been entrusted with a great mission, but from my personal perspective, having served everyone from the previous head of the family to you, I hope that you too will find happiness now.”
As Bilson said that, he recalled Adrian’s childhood.
A bright child who was more optimistic and sociable than anyone else until he was given his family’s destiny.
However, the child lives a life of accumulating negativity and becomes obsessed with hatred and revenge.
He dreamed of one day taking revenge on his father, and ended up living a life of Sura, filled only with malice and a desire for revenge.
-These are his words.
However, as always, the previous head of the family sacrificed herself to Lilith and passed on her memories.
And Adrian, who received that memory, realized that his father was actually in love with him.
But when he realized the truth, it was all over.
-···This is my fate.
After that, Adrian was confused for a while, but eventually decided to follow the path of the previous head of the family.
In the end, there is nothing other than ‘carrying out the family’s duty for world peace’ to find something meaningful in a life marred by tragedy.
There was no other way than such rationalization to accept his father’s false abuse and hidden truth.
-Isabella, you will continue your sister’s fate.
So Adrian did to his daughter what his father had done.
Although his heart felt like it was breaking, he was also finding the meaning of life by sublimating it into negativity.
He ends up saying that the more negativity he gives to Lilith, the more satisfied Lilith will be, and that will delay Isabella’s moment of sacrifice just a little longer.
“Bilson, then I ask. If, as you say, Edgar Fix can solve all these problems, where should I find the meaning of life? “What on earth have I been living for?”
He has accumulated negativity throughout his life to become Lilith’s ‘food’.
Days of destruction as he abused his daughter under the pretext of ‘world peace’.
Bilson suddenly saw the owner’s eyes filled with emptiness.
Those eyes were filled with regret, like those of an old man discussing the transience of life.
“Then, master…”
However, Bilson already knew the answer.
I have lived a life of over 80 years and have served the Graham family for three generations.
He knows very well what they should do.
“···Go back to when you were 12.”
“·····12 Years old?”
“Yes. When my master was a master, and he had just accepted the duty of denial… Didn’t he say this when he was held in my arms? “I hope the previous head of the family returns to his friendly side again.”
“······.”
“Listen to the wishes of that 12-year-old boy. “He lives by granting all of our wishes.”
The wish that 12-year-old Adrian wished for.
Going back to your old family and leading a happy life.
Adrian said, twisting his lips.
“Have we come too far for that?”
“It’s not too late.”
“Do you think I can do that?”
“It will be very easy. All you have to do is not block the natural flow of your mind.”
“······.”
Adrian looked up into space for a moment.
He then said, putting the glass in his hand down on the table.
“···Please take note.”
***
Adrian, who confirmed Ed’s influence, gave permission for all of Ed’s civil engineering projects on his land.
He decided to temporarily entrust the fate of the world, which only his family had been in charge of, to him.
“Prepare a meal.”
“Yes.”
After completing his schedule, he returned to his territory and ordered dinner to be prepared.
However, the dinner held every day at 7 o’clock was more like a ‘homework inspection’ time for Adrian to check Isabella’s infidelity rather than a meal.
Therefore, Isabella, who was staying at her estate, also sat down for dinner as if she was inertia.
“······Lift.”
However, Adrian did not check his homework as he always did.
Unlike the previous practice of not being allowed to eat dinner if one did not meet one’s daily intake, anyone was allowed to eat any meal.
“······Yes.”
Isabella stared at Adrian for a moment and then nodded.
The meal continued in silence with an icy chill flowing between the two.
The atmosphere was so desolate that the viewer felt as if they were pretending.
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“Hmm.”
Meanwhile, Adrian cleared his throat and picked up the chicken.
And he put it on Isabella’s bowl of rice.
Isabella looked at Adrian with eyes as if she were looking at some crazy person.
“······.”
“······.”
A breathtaking silence.
A heavy atmosphere that feels like suffocation.
Adrian was the first to speak.
“It is the most tasteless part.”
“······.”
“It’s so soft that my throat gets clogged.”
He twisted the corner of his mouth as he said that.
Even when he thinks about it, he is like an idiot.
“Are you telling me to choke to death?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry about that. “I have water.”
Isabella said that and ate the lean meat and rice together.
Then, I poured water into a glass, drank it, and swallowed it.
She also twisted the corner of her mouth.
-So soft…
However, he was trembling due to convulsions.
Adrian said, nodding his head.
“···I failed.”
And he started eating again.
Isabella also picked up her spoon and started eating.
The ears of the two women were turning red.