Chapter 46
‘Did Ralph Steiner have anyone he could call a friend in Reinke? I didn’t hear anything special about this while preparing for this event?’
Given Reinke’s nature, if there had been any gossip, it would have surely become an issue.
After pondering briefly, Ruan quickly gave up trying to find an answer.
It wasn’t like they were enemies, and if they were friends, it wouldn’t be a problem to find out later.
That was something he could look into slowly, and there were many other things to do now besides that.
Ruan rose from his chair.
As the business scale was about to grow, he needed to go check the goods.
* * *
Ruan’s footsteps led him to a workshop located in a corner of Reinke.
This workshop, recently established under Ruan’s leadership, was…
“Who used up all the ogre tendons!”
“Hey, they caught an ogre today. Wait until it’s processed.”
“Wow, I didn’t know we could do this with goblin leather!”
“Crazy. I think I’ve found a tip for carving orc bones. Gather ’round if you’re interested.”
It was the workshop of the ‘Monster Product Guild’, centered around the dwarves Ulrik had brought.
Ruan looked around at the craftsmen who were so engrossed in their work they didn’t even notice his arrival.
Ulrik had really brought quite a few dwarves. Add to that a few Reinke people who originally showed talent in crafting…
Despite being newly established, the Monster Product Guild was shaping up to be quite a respectable crafting guild.
‘They’re all really working hard.’
Announcing his visit might disturb the concentrating craftsmen unnecessarily. Thinking it would be better to just quietly call out the guild master Ulrik for a chat, Ruan looked around the workshop interior.
And before finding Ulrik, what caught Ruan’s eye was…
“No… why again…”
At first glance, they looked like stunningly beautiful crafts that could be placed anywhere or carried around. But in reality, they were household items blatantly themed around the romance of certain individuals.
A complex emotion appeared on Ruan’s face, as he was one of those ‘certain individuals’.
‘I told them to stop making these, so is this their way of hiding it… Couldn’t they just make normal things instead of putting in this kind of effort…’
Of course, the quality was amazing… It really had the visuals of something that should be in the Louvre…
But why go this far?
As Ruan was contemplating the dwarves’ mental world…
“Ah! Assistant, you’re here!”
Ulrik appeared from behind, carrying a box full of monster bones. No wonder he wasn’t visible; it seemed he had gone to fetch new materials.
Reminded that his reason for coming here wasn’t those items that looked like cosplay goods for ordinary people, Ruan spoke.
“Yes, Ulrik. I came because I have news to deliver.”
“News?”
As Ulrik asked while putting down the box he was carrying, Ruan said with a bright smile.
“We’ve decided on a merchant group to trade the monster products with.”
“Ah! Finally!”
“Yes. I heard the head of the Steiner merchant group will be visiting soon in person.”
“Hmm. Then we should prepare items to show.”
Ulrik, who seemed to be recalling the items recently made in the workshop, curved his lips into a refreshing smile.
“I think you can look forward to it. Everyone’s motivation is at its peak these days.”
Indeed, even to Ruan, the craftsmen’s enthusiasm seemed considerable.
The only problem was…
“By any chance, is the source of that enthusiasm…”
Ruan’s gaze turned towards the works he had just discovered.
Ulrik’s face showed embarrassment as he followed Ruan’s gaze.
“Ah… With the source of inspiration right beside us, we just couldn’t help but make them…”
Looking noticeably elsewhere and scratching his messy hair that showed no trace of its original neatness, Ulrik carefully asked.
“At this level… isn’t it okay?”
Ruan couldn’t help but marvel at Ulrik, who didn’t seem to have any intention of giving up.
Where on earth did this persistence come from?
And before that. Weren’t they all busy being scared of the Northern Grand Duke? How are they so good at making these things?
A sudden thought occurred to Ruan, and he spoke.
“Weren’t you all afraid of His Grace? How do you keep making these things?”
To Ruan’s question, Ulrik answered seriously.
“Isn’t art supposed to be able to criticize even the king? How can you make art if you’re afraid of power?”
He made a plausible face and said plausible words, but… in summary, it was saying that otaku can drag anyone into deep interpretation.
‘Hmm… Come to think of it, even the people of Reinke, while trembling in fear, were eagerly talking about the Northern Grand Duke’s scandals… What principle is this?’
As Ruan was thinking about the relationship between people’s distance from the Northern Grand Duke and romance stories…
Perhaps seeing this as an opportunity to change the subject, Ulrik suddenly held out an item and said.
“Assistant. By the way, I remember you saying you needed something like this, so I made one.”
The item the dwarf presented was none other than…
A fishing rod.
A fishing rod with a structure suitable for catching cats rather than fish, with dangling toys attached to the end instead of a fishhook. Moreover, befitting a dwarf-made item, it had a quality that seemed like it could withstand the Northern Grand Duke cat’s attacks for quite a while.
Ruan, who had been managing somehow with the skilled hand movements of a 26-year butler but was feeling that the quill pen was losing its effectiveness, completely forgot about the conversation they were just having and quickly accepted it.
“Oh, you remembered what I briefly mentioned before and even made this for me. Thank you so much.”
Ulrik, having successfully hooked the picky assistant, looked at Ruan with a satisfied face… and then, as if suddenly remembering, asked.
“But what do you use a fishing rod with toys attached instead of a fishhook for?”
At Ulrik’s words, Ruan could only smile.
Well… he couldn’t say it was for catching His Grace the Northern Grand Duke, after all.
* * *
With the visit of the Steiner merchant group approaching, the tasks Ruan had to do were increasing exponentially.
Unlike with the dwarves, this was an affair Ruan was leading proactively, so even with help from others, it was inevitable that Ruan would be the busiest.
Exhausted from a full day of intense work, Ruan collapsed onto the bed, looking like a tattered rag doll.
Once lying down, even pulling up the blanket felt too bothersome. As he was sprawled out like that, seemingly dead, his eyes suddenly met with the cat who was already stretched out on the bed.
Ruan stroked the cat’s jet-black, sleek back gently with his hand that felt unusually heavy, and thought.
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t even inaugurated the new fishing rod yet…’
He certainly had a grand goal of testing various baits and understanding the Northern Grand Duke’s preferences to provide optimized toys…
As Ruan was reproaching himself for his negligence as a butler…
The Northern Grand Duke, who had been staring at the human who could barely manage a few strokes before just resting his hand, suddenly got up.
Just as Ruan was thinking ‘Where is he going?’ and feeling a bit disappointed at the furball leaving his hand…
The cat, after stretching out its long legs that had been hidden, leisurely moved towards Ruan’s head and settled down again.
Then, placing one front paw on Ruan’s head…
He started grooming Ruan’s hair. It was a part that Ruan knew was messy but had left untouched, unable to groom it.
Feeling the rough tongue combing through his hair, Ruan felt conflicted, wondering if he looked so terrible that even the cat noticed.
‘Wait. Didn’t he say last time that only kittens who can’t take care of their own fur get groomed by others?’
For a moment, recalling the Northern Grand Duke’s past statement made him feel odd, but… in his current state, it didn’t seem like an incorrect statement, so he decided to let it go.
If the cat lord deigned to groom him out of pity, the human could only accept it with a grateful heart.
Ruan, while letting the cat groom his hair, started thinking about the person who would visit Reinke the next day.
‘Tomorrow, that Ralph Steiner is finally coming.’
Despite being busy with preparations all day, realizing that Ralph Steiner’s visit was the very next day gave him a new feeling.
He had only been thinking about work until now, but… Ralph was the second character from “Tales of the Sirah Empire” that Ruan would meet since his possession.
Of course, the neighbors in Reinke he saw every day were also people from “Tales of the Sirah Empire”. It’s just that since they weren’t directly described, they felt more like real neighbors than ‘characters’ from the beginning.
But Ralph was a character directly described in the novel, active in major events. A ‘character’ whose actions could be followed through reading text from an omniscient viewpoint. A cog that turned the grand narrative.
The thought of facing such a person in person made him newly realize his status as a possessed person and feel a bit unsettled.
‘Come to think of it.’
The first character he met after possession… was right here.
Ruan rolled his eyes to find the ‘violent and cold-hearted Northern Grand Duke Dietrich Reinke’.
That great ‘Northern Grand Duke Dietrich Reinke’… was sitting at Ruan’s bedside with his tongue slightly sticking out, perhaps resting after diligent grooming.
Seeing this sight, Ruan’s feelings suddenly became very complicated.
‘If the Northern Grand Duke turned out to be such an amusing cat… Could it be that he too…?’
