As Friedrich steadied his breathing, vowing not to grow impatient but to move forward steadily and surely, a familiar voice rang through his mind.
[Oh, you’re playing it rather safe, aren’t you?]
Friedrich jumped in fright at Merkl’s voice, which had come out of nowhere.
‘Holy shit, you scared me!’
[Heh heh heh! You killed people so easily, so why are you so startled?]
‘Is that the same thing? Why did you suddenly pop up?’
[Hey, I am a god, a god! I am Merkl, youngest son of Yupir, king of the gods worshiped by the imperial people!]
‘Yeees, yeees. What business do you have, god. Sir?’
At the extremely insolent reply from his Proxy, Merkl let out a sigh.
[How did I end up calling a fellow like this as my Proxy...? You are trying to solve that assignment because of the mission I gave you to hire Merlin, right?]
‘That is right?’
[I came out to give you one more mission for that assignment. Ta-da!]
[During this Imperial Diet, pass a bill that will protect the interests of Medichin Konzern in the way you envision. (Time Limit: Before the closing of this Imperial Diet, Incomplete)]
Friedrich stared blankly at the mission message that appeared before his eyes.
‘That is too easy, is it not?’
[It is easy for you. It is something no one else has ever thought of until now. Even your father, the greatest intellectual and merchant in the empire, could not think of it, so what more needs to be said?]
‘True...’
Even the Astella Empire, the largest power on the Western Continent of Ers, a medieval-fantasy world, was honestly inferior to the modern Republic of Korea if one set aside Magic and Aura.
Accepting Merkl’s point, Friedrich answered.
‘Deal!’
What bill would he present to clear the mission?
***
That evening.
After finishing dinner, Wilhelm heard an intriguing answer in Friedrich’s room.
“Patent-Intellectual Property Law?”
“Yes. Until now, every nation in Ers, including our empire, has treated only tangible things as property. By contrast, knowledge and technology have not been treated as property.”
“That was indeed the case. That is why, the moment the blueprints for the Carrack Ship were leaked, anyone and everyone copied it, was it not?”
Friedrich posed a question to his father, who answered while recalling an unpleasant memory.
“But is such a custom truly proper? Are the effort, time, and money invested by those who create new knowledge and new technology meaningless?”
After he finished speaking, Friedrich shook his head at his father, who was staring hard at him.
“I believe that custom is unjust. To correct the present reality, in which those who refine new knowledge and new technology are decreasing because of such an unjust custom, we must recognize and protect various kinds of knowledge and technology as property under the name of patents.”
“You are right, Friedrich!”
Friedrich was startled when his father suddenly shouted in delight after hearing his answer.
“Mother!”
“What do you mean, Mother! After coming up with such a thoughtful idea! Hahahaha!”
Wilhelm laughed heartily and thumped Friedrich on the back.
“Ugh! That hurts, Father!”
What a terrifyingly heavy hand!
Wilhelm was strong even by the sheer physical power of his own body, and his touch left Friedrich’s back burning.
At his son’s complaining cry, Wilhelm stopped patting him.
“I am sorry. It was the first time I had heard an answer that cleared my chest so completely, haha.”
Wilhelm, who had been laughing awkwardly, soon stopped and fell into thought.
“In that case, we must pass this law by any means necessary. No, before that, we need to find every loophole in this law and perfectly supplement it...”
“I will organize that for you, so please wait a little.”
At Friedrich’s answer, which amounted to, ‘Follow-up support included!’ Wilhelm grinned.
“I never imagined that you, who always chased only art, would come up with such an idea. Good! I will wait as long as needed!”
Friedrich smiled with his eyes at his father, who boldly puffed out his chest as if to say, ‘I am magnanimous.’
“But Father, have you not forgotten something?”
“Do you mean the reward?”
“I gave you what you wanted, Father. Now I believe it is your turn.”
Wilhelm lightly furrowed his brow at Friedrich, who was attempting a deal.
“There is no merchant who hands over an unfinished item and receives money for it.”
“As I understand it, time is more precious than money to a merchant.”
At his son’s daring counterquestion, which yielded not a single word, Wilhelm burst into laughter.
“Well now, it seems our son has finally awakened to business.”
“Moreover, would time not be even more precious to a merchant magnate like you, Father? Especially since Flandern has even cast aside the favor it owes us and is now chasing closely behind us.”
“!!!”
Wilhelm flinched in surprise at his son, who had pierced straight into an unexpected point.
“How do you know that?”
“I picked it up while looking around the trading district. Especially when I stopped by the Billen Konzern trading house, they seemed to be sharpening their knives, determined to enter Banking one way or another.”
“Grrr...”
Wilhelm rarely revealed his emotions, but at this moment, he could not help showing his displeasure. Had even his son learned of the crisis facing Banking, the pillar of House Medichin, Medichin Konzern, and, further still, the Etilant Autonomous Territory?
‘I seasoned the main ingredient of truth with a lie, but...’
It sure works.
Friedrich inwardly smiled after seeing firsthand that an answer mixed with truth and falsehood had an effect. Unaware of this, Wilhelm wore a sullen expression before giving a bitter smile and speaking.
“If you go this far, your father has nothing more to say. Good. I will hire Merlin, so bring me the supplementary measures organized by tomorrow before sunset.”
“I will give them to you by lunchtime tomorrow, so please learn enough about Merlin and prepare the Contract. According to that man’s value.”
Calculating a person in money was discourteous, but Friedrich had a reason for saying it this way.
‘The annual salary of a Mage who is an eternal 1st Circle even at forty is obvious.’
However, Friedrich thought that if Merlin’s stated background was true, it would be unjust to pay him according to 1st-Circle standards.
‘He is not merely someone who can use Magic. He is a man who will achieve greatness as a scholar as well. Once Father looks into him properly, he will match that part rather than his Circle.’
In other words, Friedrich wanted his father to recognize Merlin’s true value and set his salary accordingly.
‘And it would be even better if he saw that I am not acting solely out of personal feelings.’
‘The boy is openly advertising that he is not blindly taking his side.’
As a merchant to the bone before he was a politician and ruler, Wilhelm read his son’s intention and felt pleased.
‘I am sorry for pushing you into that dangerous matter without a word, and I am also grateful.’
Reflecting on the past, when he had sent such a deeply thoughtful son into battle against Goblins without so much as a word of explanation, and feeling grateful now that the boy’s talent had blossomed because of that incident, Wilhelm nodded.
“I will do as you say. Tell Merlin not to worry too much.”
Wilhelm Medichin felt as though he would be full even without eating as he watched his son, who had shown an extraordinary side day by day since that battle.
***
That night.
Friedrich went to Merlin and told him what had just happened.
“Then...?”
“It is essentially confirmed, aside from the salary. What do you think?”
Merlin abruptly seized Friedrich’s two hands as Friedrich posed with a slight air of pride.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
“There is no need to thank me. Have you forgotten what I said?”
“Ah...”
[...I always keep a promise once I make it, and I take care of my people no matter what.]
Words were easy. Showing those words through action was not.
Moreover, was confirming his employment in a single day by solving a task even Wilhelm Medichin had been unable to resolve, to the point that he had offered rewards to others for it, something an ordinary person could do?
‘This boy is...’
How far will he soar?
In one corner of Merlin’s newly intrigued heart, a new thought began to sprout.
‘At this boy’s side...’
I want to see it.
I want to see how far he will soar.
By the time Merlin’s thoughts reached that point, his eyes had hardened with a new resolve.
“Thank you, Lord Friedrich. I will do my utmost not to disappoint you after you kept your promise.”
Merlin, who had even straightened his posture, lifted his head after bowing deeply and looked at him with determined eyes.
However, it seemed Friedrich did not want that.
“Do not do your utmost.”
“Pardon?”
What is he talking about now?
What is a person supposed to do at work if not his utmost?
To Merlin, who blinked in confusion, Friedrich revealed what he wanted.
“I absolutely detest people who do poor work while claiming they did their utmost.”
“Then...?”
“Do well, no matter what. You are more than capable of doing well.”
This was the first time Merlin had ever experienced anything like this.
[At your age, and you are still an eternal 1st Circle? Tsk, tsk.]
[Who brought that bastard in? He is vermin who only eats away at the school funds.]
The malicious gossip of those who had only ever ignored and mocked him meant nothing now.
Because the boy he was facing now—no!
Because the person he had resolved to serve as his lord!
Had used even his own reward to employ him!
And had placed in him the trust he had never received until now!
Overcome with emotion, Merlin could not stop tears from flowing from both eyes as he shouted with all his might.
“I will do well, no matter what!”
Leibniz Merlin no longer cared about a salary that had not yet been confirmed.
***
In the distant future, historians would call Friedrich Medichin and Merlin, who had exchanged trust with each other, ‘the two great giants who advanced the civilization of the Western Continent by more than several centuries.’
Just as Friedrich had kept his promise to Merlin, he also kept his promise to Wilhelm and held out the documents at the noon lunch table.
“You finished it already?”
“Not already. I am only finally giving it to you now.”
Unlike his son, who answered with a grin as if it were nothing, Wilhelm was left speechless.
“......”
‘He definitely slept as much as he needed...’
Did he throw it together?
With a spoonful of suspicion still remaining, Wilhelm narrowed his eyes and asked.
“Are you certain?”
“If I were not certain, I would not have given it to you, would I?”
‘He refuses to lose even a single word.’
Even as he grumbled inwardly, Wilhelm was newly astonished. They had gone to sleep at around the same time and risen at the same time, yet the boy had already completed it?
Even he himself had not dared attempt it.
Johanna, who had been watching her blinking husband intently, gave a small laugh and raised her hand.
SLAP!
“Ah, why are you hitting me again, wife?”
It was not as if they were still children playing house!
As Wilhelm rubbed his arm and grumbled, Johanna replied with a prim smile.
“The boy’s arm is going to fall off. Why are you not taking it already? You are a man for whom even one minute is precious. Are you that surprised?”
“!!!”
It was a moment in which his authority as the head of the household cracked, but what did it matter? The capability of his heir was certain enough to leave him speechless!
“Hurry and take it, Father.”
“Take it and tell us what you think!”
“That is right!”
When Maria and even the twin sons urged him to receive it, Wilhelm let out a dry cough.
“Ahem, ahem! I understand, so wait a moment.”
Wilhelm, who belatedly displayed composure and laughed heartily, accepted his son’s ‘final assignment’ and began inspecting it.
“Hmm...”
Watching his father rapidly check the contents while narrowing his eyes and moving his gaze from the upper left to the lower right, Friedrich was inwardly surprised.
‘Since he can read diagonally and evaluate it at the same time...’
He is not in that position for nothing.
Friedrich Medichin found himself newly impressed by this new side of his father, unlike the dignity-shattering side as the head of the family he had shown just moments ago.
To that son, Wilhelm placed the documents on the dining table and shouted.
“Pass!”
“Pass?”
“It is truly perfect! Very well done! I want to give it 120 points out of 100!”
At Wilhelm’s high praise, delivered with clapping hands and hearty laughter, the family’s eyes went round.
‘For that man to go this far...?’
‘Father almost never gives praise like that, does he...?’
How impressive could it be?
Johanna, her curiosity stirred, picked up the documents lying between herself and her husband.
‘Good grief—Mother is reading diagonally too...’
As if to prove they were husband and wife, Johanna rapidly scanned the document in the same direction, and Friedrich was surprised once more.
Though she was slightly slower than her husband, she seemed to confirm the contents in an instant and put the papers down. Then she looked at her son with a smile so bright that the corners of her mouth nearly reached her ears.
“You have done splendidly, my son!”
After that, Maria, Felix, and Julian likewise checked the contents all the way through by reading diagonally, then stared at Friedrich with their mouths hanging open.
“Did you really write this?”
“Are you sure you really wrote this, Brother?”
“Brother, are you a genius?”
I am not a genius. I am just a twenty-first-century Earthling.
Friedrich Medichin could only answer the sudden spotlight with an awkward smile.
***
Wilhelm Medichin was deeply satisfied with his son’s assignment.
As soon as he finished eating, he went to the Medichin Trading House.
‘If I show this to the employees...!’
It would be a great help in solidifying Friedrich’s position as heir!
And!
‘It will also be a great help in provoking the employees!’
Wilhelm Medichin’s mouth rose to his ears at the thought that he could make his employees work even harder in a dignified manner.