TBRFC 18

I headed toward Sharon Abner’s office with Miel and Soya accompanying me.

No matter how I thought about it, the conclusion always came back to one thing: Koel was scamming the Abners.

‘The nerve of him. Defrauding a ducal house.’

Because if that wasn’t the case, there was no way a contaminated mana-stone vein could suddenly become purified.

‘People talked about it a lot in my previous life too.’

Many suspected that Koel had manipulated the contamination in the Abner mines from the very beginning.

Of course, Koel buried the rumors with money soon enough.

I shook my head inwardly.

‘If it’s true, then he’s seriously rotten. Of all things, he had to target that mine.’

The Abner family’s mana-stone mine actually had a hidden story behind it.

For generations, House Abner had placed enormous importance on martial strength.

During the era of the Unification Wars, they wielded tremendous influence.

They were called the Shield of the North, and whenever there was a place of honor, the Abners were always there.

That period could truly be called the height of the Abner family’s glory.

But the problem began after the wars ended and the Empire stabilized.

As the continent entered an age of peace, a new field of study emerged: magitech.

The previous heads of House Abner failed to keep up with the rapidly changing world.

The branch families lost sight of their duties, and the retainers were incompetent.

All they cared about was snatching up scraps if the direct line ever collapsed.

So when Sharon Abner had only just become Duchess, the family’s situation was already disastrous.

Then famine struck, and everyone thought House Abner was doomed.

But the family did not fall into ruin.

Instead, they slowly rose again.

All because Sharon Abner discovered a mana-stone vein in the northern territory.

In other words, the mana-stone mine was practically the key that reversed the fate of House Abner.

‘Mana stones were found in massive quantities on land everyone thought was worthless.’

Most people would hear that and think:

The Abners must be rich now.

But the mining business wasn’t that simple.

‘Mines require an absurd amount of initial investment.’

Finding a vein and constructing mining tunnels alone required astronomical sums of money.

‘And that’s when Sharon Abner accepted Koel’s help.’

Of course, she never imagined he would stab her in the back later.

After nodding to myself, I looked up.

We had arrived in front of the reception room.

I gave a short knock, and Wendel stepped outside.

“Little Lady. What brings you here…?”

After greeting Wendel, I scampered over to Sharon Abner.

Sharon removed the glasses she had been wearing and looked at me calmly.

“So it’s you. What is it?”

“Your Grace, are you really busy right now?”

As I asked, I quickly glanced over the top of her desk.

Documents were piled high like a mountain.

But Sharon Abner immediately shook her head.

“No. Not at all.”

Fortunately, it seemed they were already finished documents.

I walked up to her desk, poked my head forward, and spoke.

“Then can I ask you something I’m really, really curious about? If you say no, I’ll just leave.”

“What is it? Go on.”

I took a breath before speaking.

“I saw it in the newspaper. It said the Abners have a mana-stone mine. And that you found it yourself….”

Sharon Abner’s expression instantly turned serious.

“But mana-stone mines are super, super valuable, right? They make lots of money too.”

“……”

“Then why isn’t House Abner rich?”

Sharon Abner’s eyes blanked for a moment.

Wendel, standing by the door, also turned to look at me.

I tilted my head.

“It was in Today’s Terra of the Capital too! It said House Abner ranks last in wealth among the twenty great noble families!”

Today’s Terra of the Capital was the Empire’s most famous economic column.

Teacher Anne from Evehill Orphanage read it every week.

Because of that, stacks of old issues were always piled up in one corner of the orphanage bookshelf.

‘Good thing I read through the past year’s worth after regressing.’

I had figured it might come in handy someday.

I just didn’t expect it to help this much.

“Why though? Why is House Abner poor? Even with a mana-stone mine?”

I kept asking persistently.

‘I already more or less know the reason.’

But I intended to keep asking until Sharon answered herself.

She had to say it out loud for my plan to proceed naturally.

* * *

Sharon Abner looked at Annelia’s curiosity-filled face with a complicated expression.

“…You’re asking why the family has no money.”

It sounded like the sort of question a child might ask.

And yet… not quite.

“Yes! If you sell mana stones, you make lots of money, so why isn’t House Abner rich?”

Sharon Abner hesitated.

She had given permission for the question, so she needed to answer.

But she wasn’t sure how much she should explain, or how to explain it.

After a long pause, she finally replied.

“First of all, mana stones cannot be sold exactly as they are mined.”

“Huh?! Then what happens?”

“What comes out of the mine is technically raw ore. To turn it into mana stones, you need a refinery and a refinement formula.”

“Oh, a refinement formula! I know about that!”

Sharon Abner’s mouth fell open in surprise.

‘She knows what a refinement formula is?’

Mana-stone refinement formulas were extremely complex magical equations.

In the Empire, only two houses possessed them: Longturn and Koel.

Naturally, since the formulas were essentially proprietary technology, both families encrypted them carefully to prevent outsiders from learning them.

‘Then how does she know about them…?’

“So if you use the refinement formula, you can really make mana stones?”

Sharon regained her composure.

“Yes.”

Then she slowly added, making sure the child could understand.

“But to use a refinement formula, you must pay the family that owns it.”

“Why?”

“Because the formula belongs to them. They created it. If we want to use it, we must pay a usage fee.”

“Oooh, I see!”

Annelia nodded vigorously, as though she understood perfectly.

The reaction somehow encouraged Sharon to keep talking.

“So, for example: if you earn ten tera selling mana stones, half of that goes to the people who provided the refinement formula.”

“Huh?! Half of it?!”

“Yes. And there’s one more thing.”

Without realizing it herself, Sharon stood from behind her desk and walked toward Annelia.

Then she bent one knee and met the child’s eyes.

“Let’s say you discovered mana stones deep underground. But to extract them, you’d need to dig tunnels taller than you are and move enormous rocks. Could you do that alone?”

The child shook her head.

“No, I can’t do it by myself…. I’d ask the workers to break the rocks. And dig the ground too.”

“But would they do it for free?”

“I think they’d ask for money!”

“And what if you didn’t have any money?”

The child fell silent.

Then she furrowed her tiny brow and thought hard.

“If I didn’t have money, um….”

After struggling for a moment, her eyes slowly turned toward Sharon.

“Could I maybe borrow a little from Your Grace…?”

Sharon felt a smile spread across her face before she even realized it.

“That’s right. Adults call that an investment.”

Sharon lifted Annelia into her arms and sat her down on the sofa.

Then she seated herself across from her.

“When the Abner mine was first discovered, there were people who helped make the mine possible. Every time mana stones are sold and money comes in, we must give those people a portion as payment.”

“Why? Can’t you just pay back what they lent at the beginning? Why do you have to keep paying forever?”

“……That is how adults’ agreements work. Once a contract is made, it cannot be undone.”

What she meant was that she had signed a contract with Koel.

Sharon Abner’s eyes darkened.

Suddenly, memories from the days before the mine’s development surfaced in her mind.

“How are we supposed to trust you, Duchess?”

“We’re not talking about a small sum here. Seventy billion tera is a bit…”

“Are you even certain there’s anything there?”

“You’ve spent your whole life attending social events. What exactly will you do if this fails…?”

At a time when the family fortunes were worsening by the day, they desperately needed capital more than ever before.

But nobody trusted her analysis or her judgment.

And within House Abner, the atmosphere wasn’t much different.

“We absolutely refuse to allow the ducal title to go to Sharon Mishelian!”

“There’s already a grown male heir standing right here!”

“Hah. She should stick to drinking tea and dancing.”

“This is why blood from the Mishelian line was always a mistake!”