The sunlight streamed in, so bright it stung.
I rubbed my eyes against the glaring sunlight. "…What time is it?"
I looked at the Magic clock and it was just a little past two in the afternoon.
I did eat breakfast before going to sleep, but I guess I slept way too long, though I had wanted to keep it to just a nap so I could sleep at night.
Realizing my mistake with a sigh, I considered that if I want to keep from sleeping too long, I could just make a Magic Tool with an alarm function.
Nobles have servants and maids, so they can have someone wake them up, but if there's a Magic Tool with an alarm function-
…No, that's not important right now.
I need to check if the Timer Function I finished is starting up like it's supposed to.
I got myself cleaned up and opened the door to the Workshop.
Having set it to start at noon, I found the Workshop was being kept nice and cool, with no visible issues.
Next I'll set it to stop after one hour, and if there are no issues, I'll hand the specs over to Uncle Alex.
While that's going on, maybe I'll go grab a light bite.
After I finished eating and was drinking some tea, the door to the Dining Hall opened.
"Big Brother Philip, did you just wake up too?"
Philip offered a faint smile over his morning tea. "Indeed. Thanks to the Cooling Magic Tool, I was able to sleep in for the first time in a while without worrying about the heat."
"That's good to hear," I replied with a smile.
"I rather enjoy the Folding-Fan Magic Tool as well. Even in this heat, I can spend my time feeling quite elegant."
While saying that, he elegantly picked at the light meal that had been brought in.
"Are you going to make Magic Tools again today, Finn?" Philip asked.
"Hmm-… Today I think I'll go buy materials at the Lilien Trading Company. I've finished writing the specs too, so I'll drop them off with Uncle Alex while I'm at it."
"I see. I should like to make another Cooling Magic Tool, so I'll borrow the Workshop."
"Okay. Got it."
"I want to use one at work and one at the dorm, so if I have two, I won't need to carry one around. And when I'm walking, I've got the Folding-Fan Magic Tool."
"Even if it's small enough to sit on a desk, it's way too inefficient to carry a Cooling Magic Tool around."
While we were talking about that, an hour passed, and I headed to the Workshop.
I checked the Cooling Magic Tool I'd left there, finding it had stopped just as intended.
"Alright, that means it's done!"
Doesn't look like I need to rewrite the specs either, so I'm finally done with this for now.
Anyway, I guess I'll go buy materials at the Lilien Trading Company while delivering the specs to Uncle Alex.
I put the specs and a memo with the materials I planned to buy into my bag, then headed to the Lilien Trading Company by Carriage.
Stepping out of the Carriage, I walked directly into the Lilien Trading Company.
I offered a polite nod to the front desk. "Hello."
"Welcome, Lord Finn, sir," the clerk bowed low.
Then, I heard a familiar voice from the back of the shop.
"Big Brother Finn!"
I looked toward the voice and saw a group of young ladies in Academy uniforms gathered around Tiana.
"Huh? …Tiana? What are you doing here?" I blinked in confusion.
When I asked what was going on, it turns out the Folding-Fan Magic Tool became a hot topic at the Academy, prompting them to come together to place orders.
"…Huh?" A foolish sound slipped past my lips before I could stop it.
"See, I told you. It was gonna be proper peak."
"While I was asleep, this happened…"
Looking around, I realized there were more than ten of them gathered in the lobby.
After exchanging greetings with Tiana's friends, the Duke of Rievert's daughter and the Marquis of Evaris's daughter, they invited me to a new café that had opened up, but I used my meeting with Uncle Alex as an excuse and politely turned them down.
"Finn. Go ahead and wait in the Guild Master's office. I'll head over as soon as I'm done here," Uncle Alex called out over the crowd.
Uncle Alex was quick on the uptake and played along.
"Got it."
I was guided by the Clerk and headed to the Guild Master's office.
Uncle Alex pushed open the heavy wooden door. "Sorry to keep you waiting."
Just as I finished the tea they'd brought me, Uncle Alex came into the Guild Master's office.
"Thanks to Tiana, we've already got a ton of orders. Advertising at the Academy really is super effective. Once the pre-orders are finished and everyone's using them, it'll spread even more."
"I just gave it to Tiana last night, though…"
"The Folding-Fan Magic Tool has demand from men too, but I figured it would really grow as a product for women. You can pick patterns to match your dress, so some people will probably buy several for the summer social season."
Women's shopping drive is something else….
Even in my past life, design mattered, but in noble society it might mean even more.
…Well, I don't have that kind of taste anyway.
"By the way, did you have some business with me? Another new product?"
"Oh, right. I made some improvements to the Cooling Magic Tool and added a time-setting function."
"Time-setting function?"
"Yeah. It's a function that lets you set the time you want it to start and the time you want it to stop, and it runs automatically. For example, while you're sleeping in your bedroom at night, you'd have the Cooling Magic Tool in your office stopped, right? But by the time you go to your office in the morning, it's gotten hot."
"Since everything's closed up at night. When I go to my office in the morning, the heat's all trapped in there and it's the worst."
"So if you set it to start thirty minutes before you head to your office, it'll be comfortable by the time you get there."
"I see. That really is helpful."
"Anyway, here are the specs."
Uncle Alex looked over the specs.
"…A Mana insulation plate, huh. The Cooling Magic Tool and the Cooling Magic Tool that can start and stop on a timer will probably be sold at slightly different prices."
"I'll leave that stuff to you like always, Uncle Alex."
"Got it."
"More importantly, you've already made Cooling Magic Tools and you're using them not just in this Guild Master's office but in the shop too."
"Yeah. Having people actually experience this coolness is the quickest and surest way to advertise."
True. Even in my past life, there were lots of products you couldn't appreciate until you actually tried them; this might be the kind of Magic Tool where letting people experience it proves most effective.
"Oh yeah! There was something I wanted to talk to you about, Finn. I'm glad you came today."
"Talk? With me?"
"I forgot to ask last time you came. The product names for the Cooling Magic Tool and the Folding-Fan Magic Tool."
"Huh, product names? I mean, anything's fine."
"Well, we should at least have the creator involved. Naming is part of the product too."
In the end, since I've got no taste, I always have Uncle Alex come up with some candidates and then I pick from those or think about it… but even so, apparently it still counts as the creator being involved.
"This time too, I've come up with a few candidates on my end."
Trivia:
- Finn's idea about an alarm-function Magic Tool is a quiet callback to his modern-world habits, showing how his past-life thinking keeps bleeding into this world's convenience culture.
- Philip mentioning he wants a second Cooling Magic Tool for both work and dorm hints that noble Academy students live in separate quarters from their family estate, a small detail about noble education life.
- Uncle Alex's plan to price the timer version differently from the base Cooling Magic Tool shows he understands product tiering, a business instinct Finn lacks, quietly reinforcing their maker-seller partnership dynamic.
Notes:
• Alex - Owner of Lilien Trading Company. Called Uncle Alex by Finn. Experienced merchant with an eye for sellable goods and a close, familiar relationship with Finn's family. Practical about product development and eager to commercialize new magical tools.
• Philip - Big Brother to Finn and knight. Loves magic and learned Magic Tool crafting from Grandpa. Serves in the Knight Order and often moves between his room and the Captain's office.
• Finn - Third son of a marquis family and a magical tool maker. Graduated from an academy and became a full magical tool maker after apprenticing. Currently staying at the family estate during summer. Working on a prototype magical tool that can cool the air, using a fan blower's magical circuit as a base. Has a tendency to forget meals when absorbed in work, though this has improved. Finds the dining room and hallways uncomfortably hot. Wears his shirt with two buttons undone at home. Knows Noah well since childhood. Third son of a marquis family living in the royal capital. Aspiring magical tool maker who retains memories of a past life. Currently working on creating a cooling magical device to deal with an unusually hot summer. Gets absorbed in work and loses track of time.
• Tiana - Younger sister who returns from the academy. Complains about the cold Workshop and worries about their mother. Curious about her brother's inventions.