"Dear Gino. If you don't mind, I'm going to have some tea."
"I'm sorry.
I have business with the Chamber of Commerce and I have to leave immediately."
Anna invites me to tea with a thoughtful look on her face, but I cover her words before she can finish and decline her invitation.
"...I see."
Ana visibly sinks .
My heart hurts when I see the sadness in Ana's eyes.
I want to hug her and comfort her.
But you hold on to that feeling.
When I finished my work at the house of the Seventh Worth, I immediately went to the laboratory and transferred directly to the golem house.
◆◆◆◆◆
I was immersed in the work of creating a cure.
When you're in pain, it's easier to focus on something else.
All that was left was to cast a granting spell on the potion and the cure would be complete, but I was having a hard time with that granting spell.
It is necessary to apply a granting spell to each grain of polymer, which is impossible for me, a former engineer, to do even if a skilled potion maker could do it.
No matter how much I practiced, no matter how many times I tried, it never worked.
Well, I guess it's impossible for an amateur to become a skilled potion maker after only a few months of practice.
My specialty is golems.
It occurred to me.
Even though each polymer must be enchanted, there are only three types of enchantments to be enchanted.
I wonder if it would be possible to make a golem do this.
Repetition is the golem's forte.
If I try to make several identical magic circles, they will look the same, but they won't be, and some of them will be so distorted that they won't have any effect.
However, a golem can draw many identical magic circles as if they were made by hand.
Wouldn't it be more efficient to let the golem do it?
Golems are my specialty.
In my previous life, many jobs were replaced by golems and there were many people who lost their jobs because of golems.
However, the field of magical pharmaceuticals and preparations was one of the few fields that did not allow golems to replace work.
The reason why golems did not take over was not because golems could not replace them.
It was because the Association of Magical Medicine was a powerful supporter of the political party in power at the time, and the government imposed restrictions on the use of golems.
By the way, the government regulated golems on the pretext that "human contact is important.
A magician rarely shows his face in front of customers.
Oh.
I remember now.
In foreign countries, there are hospitals where everything from diagnosis to healing is done by golems.
I wonder if there's anything like that in potion making.
There it is.
As expected of a university library with a Department of Potions.
There were also a lot of books related to foreign medicines.
I didn't know that golems usually made medicines in foreign countries.
I didn't know that.
The principle is the same as magic dyeing.
I've set up a production line for magic dyeing.
I think I can manage this.
◆◆◆◆◆
No.
There's not enough time.
I'm applying the technology involved in the magic dye production facility to make a golem that grants healing magic, but I'm not going to be able to meet my schedule at this rate.
I've asked the Duke for a leave of absence.
"So, you want to devote two weeks to the Chamber of Commerce before you graduate? "
Said the Duke with a disgruntled look on his face .
"Yes, sir. That's right."
That's not good.
I don't know if I can get permission.
If I don't get it, the whole plan will fall apart.
"You are the heir to this family.
Isn't it time for you to leave the running of the business to someone else and seriously consider taking over the Seventh Worth? "
The duke says so .
"That's why I'm applying for leave .
As a matter of fact, I'm thinking of leaving the Chamber of Commerce to someone else as soon as I graduate from the academy."
That's really what I'm going to do.
It's the only way I can keep my employees from going out on the street.
"Oh. I see.
All right then.
Go get it done."
Suddenly in a good mood, the Duke granted him a leave of absence.
"Thank you, sir."
That was close.
I managed to get permission.
"Mr. Gino."
When I got to the entrance hall, Anna was waiting for me and called out to me.
"I was told that you are taking a break today due to the busy business of the Chamber of Commerce."
Since then, I've always been cold towards her.
I'm sure she's still feeling depressed, but she's forcing herself to smile brightly at me.
I guess she thinks she will be hated even more if she acts depressed.
My heart hurts.
It's really hard to see her trying so hard.
I turn away from Anna, my face contorting with grief as I watch.
"Oh. I'm sorry .
I won't be able to come until the day of the graduation party."
"Well, the graduation party..."
"Yes. I'm sorry, but I can't escort you to the graduation party.
I'll be there and I'll meet you there."
Anna probably wanted to talk about the costume fitting for the graduation party.
Interrupting her, I unilaterally announced that I would not be escorting her.
Ana's eyes widen in surprise.
"...Yes, of course.
Mr. Gino is a busy man.
It can't be helped."
She smiles and says this, but halfway through her words, she bursts into tears, unable to hold back her tears.
I couldn't hold back my tears either, and they overflowed.
I turned my back to Anna and got into the carriage so that she could not see my face.
As the carriage began to run, I looked out the window and saw Anna covering her face with her hands and crying.
The dress she was wearing was the first purple dress I had ever given her.
She must have chosen that dress to attract my attention.
More tears flowed, and soon I couldn't see clearly.
It's painful.
It's heartbreaking.
◆◆◆◆◆
I used the time I had on vacation to make a golem.
It takes a lot of time to make a golem that grants magic in polymer units.
If I had special equipment, I could finish it in less than a day, but if I had to make it from special equipment, I would have missed the deadline.
That's why I continued to work on the project by myself, steadily and in detail.
This kind of work is good when reality is hard.
When you concentrate on the work, you don't have to think about reality for a while.
Finally, I have created a golem that adds magic to medicine.
It's not a mass production of medicines, so it's a small thing, about 50 cells in length, width and depth.
After applying magic to it and inspecting the final product, the potion is complete.
As expected from the library of the Department of Potions, I could easily find out how to inspect the finished product.
I've already prepared for it.
I'm just in time.
Now that the cure is complete, there's no turning back.
Anna will be cured and the engagement will be renewed.
He would stop making the potion, marry Anna, and resume making the potion when no one could take her away from him.
The thought popped into my mind again and again.
As I've done so many times, I reject the idea again.
That's no good.
The average person has about a hundred framers of magic power.
But the Magician King and his eggs have at least 100,000 framers of magic power.
About 100,000 flamers is the lowest value that can turn a litho-martial magic test paper black.
Since Anna also turned the test paper black, it is certain that she has at least a thousand times as much magic power as an ordinary person.
I read in a medical book that the more magic power a person has, the more likely they are to develop internal diseases caused by chronic magic power circulation failure, and the more magic power they have, the faster those internal diseases progress.
With the amount of magic power the Magician King possesses, the symptoms will worsen at a frightening rate.
In other words, there is a high possibility that the disease will worsen as soon as it starts, and in less than a day, it will become so terminal that there is nothing that can be done.
The onset of the disease is the end, and Anna's life may end at any moment.
Marriage for a highborn takes time.
Even if they start preparing for the wedding now, it will be at least a year before they can hold the ceremony.
There's no guarantee that Anna's life won't end within that year.
Even with the most enticing reward of "walking through life with Anna," I could not gamble with her life as a chip.
Willingly, I activate the granting magic golem and grant magic to the potion.
It seems that the Crown Prince and the First Prince are both after Anna, but I would prefer that she be with the First Prince.
Not the crown prince.
I can't have the crown prince.
While I was thinking about this, the magic was done.
It would have taken several hours to cast a spell on a huge tank of medicine, but since it was just one bottle on trial, it was done in a few minutes.
No problems were found during the completion inspection.
It's done.
I suppose I should be jumping for joy.
But I can't bring myself to be that happy.
Because this is the end of my relationship with Anna.
But still, the thought that this was a blessing that would save Anna's life and bring her a brighter future made me feel calm and gentle.
Well, there's still time.
I still have a lot of work to do to clean up.