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Three days after the summoning of the Great Spirit of Light, Leo went to the almost “Abandoned” church to meet with Albert, Oscar and Rolf, who seemed to be just chating like normal friends. But in reality, those three were discussing about Francis – Oscar’s brother – new business.
They were all sitting around a small table that was placed between the altar and the audience seats. It’s needless to say, but since this was supposed to be a business meeting, an absurd amount of documents and magic cloth were placed on top of the table.
Rolf was the first one to spot Leonora, so he greeted her and placed a new chair in between the two love rivals, Albert and Oscar.
The two rivals were more than happy to have Leonora join them, so they greeted her too and resumed the meeting.
Recently, Richard’s mayor was having some problems with his city, and the lack of water was one of those problems being addressed right now.
Francis, the one taking care of this, asked for Oscar’s cooperation in the matter, which proved to be the best solution for the small problems that he was facing, because Oscar and Rolf have a keen sense for business. Albert has a great amount of knowledge about magic and is good at managing a lot of people. And Leonora knew how to conduct business in the downtown, though no one dared to ask why.
These four were of great help to Francis, however, a fifth person was supposed to join them today. That person was Gustav, the new Head Priest, who in exchange for lending them the church, was allowed to participate in the meeting.
“Is Gustav really coming? Because we’ve been waiting for a while now… . ”
“Leonora-chan was a bit late too, so let’s give him some time.”
At first, Oscar was a bit reluctant in letting Gustav and Leonora participate on the meeting, but Leo wouldn’t miss his only chance – in a while – of earning some money.
And… well, Oscar wasn’t able to win against those puppy eyes.
(I’ll show Oscar-senpai that I’m useful and make him acknowledge me as his little brother!)
Leo then retrieved a small package that he had brought with him to the meeting and opened it.
“Here, Oscar-senpai, take a look, at these, please… . ”
“T-this is…!”
“Did you knit this yourself, Leonora-chan!?”
Oscar and Rolf became a bit surprised when they saw the beautiful magic crest that Leonora had knitted on the magic cloth, and Albert had a smug smile on his face, since he was the one that gave her the cloth.
“The water, summoning team, was having, a hard, time. But with these, they can focus, on the summoning, of the, water spirits.”
In thesis, a team of normal mages was necessary to use the the spell sewn on the cloth, but expert mages could do it alone. Although, the majority of them worked for Empire’s army and only a few could be found working as mercenaries. ( Tl/n: Maybe they have adventurers in this world too, but mercenaries is more convenient to use right now)
“This is… really well made.”
“I agree with you Oscar, but these aren’t normal magic crests, right Leonora?”
Albert pointed at one of the magic crests, he had noticed something different in it.
“Yes… each crest has, one extra line, sewn in it. Like this, they can be, stored and used, whenever you want–”
Leo was feeling a bit nostalgic right now. The last time he had to advertise one of his new products, was way before he even met Leena.
“–But, it’s okay. If you cut, this thread, right here… you can, activate the, magic crest.”
Leo grabbed a scissor and removed the extra line, the crest then activated and shone in blue light.
“I see… the crest won’t activate if you don’t cut the extra line. As a safety measure it’s a good idea.”
“I agree that the idea is good, but won’t the team end up overworking themselves?”
“Sure, it can be a hassle to cut the extra line every time, but remember that their safety is our top priority–”
Albert paused for a moment and looked at the ceiling.
“–Do you remember what happened yesterday? Those fake goods almost killed all of the workers.”
Leo was really happy that his merchandise would be used for the new business, but after Albert mentioned the fake goods, the only thing that came to his mind was–
(–N-no way! The only person selling fake goods in Richard is Yatsuki-kun! What is he doing over there!?)
The magic crest used to summon water is normally comprised of a small crystal in the center, with two half moons and two spheres on each side of the crystal. ( Tl/n: Something like this ⇒ •)♦(• ……maybe)
However, the fake goods had the entire crest painted on a normal cloth, instead of having it properly knitted on a magic cloth. This kind of business was shady in his perspective, so Leo never sold fake goods. But Albert, Oscar and Rolf couldn’t even imagine that Leonora was an acquaintance of the guy who sold them the fake goods.
“You’re right, Albert! We should worry about their safety!”
“And if we make a new team to cut the extra line on the crest, the mages can focus on their job… it’ll be more efficient that way.”
“But it’s just a disposable cloth, there’s no point in hiring more people.”
Oscar had a point. The work was too easy for them to hire more people, but Leo had a plan in mind and hiring more workers was part of it.
“If we hire, more people, we’ll finish, the wells sooner, and then, we’ll have, more time for, other places too. And because, the detailed work, needs a lot, of concentration, the main team, can focus, only in doing, their job.”
There’s a lot of houses in Richard and only a few wells, some of which were already dry, so finishing the job faster would help the entire population of the city. The Bernstein company would profit less from doing this… but in the first place, they weren’t doing it for the money, it was for the people.
“I know we’ll finish faster and the work will be more efficient… but it’s going to be too expensive to hire more workers–”
(Fufufu∟, I already have the right people for the job)
Leo then retrieved a list of names from his pocket and placed it on the table.
“–That’s why, I contacted, an orphanage.”
“An… orphanage?”
Leo smiled and told Oscar why it’d be better to hire the orphanage’s children to help them with the job.
“These kids know, how to knit. It’s cheap, and they’re, willing to help, for a, low price–”
That time when Leo sold the potpourri sachets to some of the students, he noticed that money wasn’t an issue for most of them.
“–They’re, from the, Hannah Orphanage, so I know, they can, be trusted.”
Leo wanted to create a connection between the Hannah orphanage and the Bernstein Company. That way, after switching bodies with Leena, Leo wouldn’t have to search for a job, since he’d work for Oscar and his father.
“Leonora…… . ”
“Leonora-chan…… . ”
And it was a well known fact that Leonora liked to donate gold and other things to that orphanage. Besides, it’s not like hiring these kids would make them lose a huge amount of money.
“Okay then, I’ll send a letter to my brother.”
“If Leonora trusts them, then I trust them too.”
(Really, Leonora-chan is so cool, and she’s so prepared for these kinds of situations. Sometimes I even forget that she’s only twelve years old… well, that’s why people say she’s a genius)
In reality, Leo didn’t care about being seen as a saint, or a genius. He just wanted to finish this job sooner and then receive the payment, though neither of the three knew about it.
But now that the main problem was fixed, they needed to find a good place to build the next well.
“Then… how about, we build it, near Carlo River?”
“We can’t, a lot of villages down the stream use that river too. So if we, by some chance, disrupt the flow of the river… well, a lot of unpleasant things would happen.”
“Richard was built between two rivers, so we can’t use any of them without disrupting the stream.”
“I didn’t, know… . ”
Leo never thought about that… building a well was more complicated than he imagined.
“There’s no problem in not knowing something, Leonora. But this time we’re not just building the wells, we need to build the flood control of the city too, since it doesn’t have one.”
If they couldn’t use the rivers, how about the underground water? There should be a lot of it in Richard.
“How about, we use the, underground water?”
“Actually, that’s the problem. Most of the underground water comes from the two nearby rivers, so we don’t know where to build the next well. That’s why we need more water magicians.”
Richard is a small city, so the annual flood never reached there. But the city was growing more and more with each passing year, and now they needed to build some canals to stop the flood and redirect it to one of the two nearby rivers.
Not to mention that Francis was in a bind right now.
His team needed to build new wells, but there was no new water veins for them to use, so the mages were filling the older wells with water, instead of making new ones.
“Hmmm… . ”
No one knew what to do, except Leo–
(There’s a lot of students that can manipulate water magic, we can ask them to help us)
–He remembered that a group of students, on the day of the presentation, were manipulating water in a weird way.
“Maybe some, of the students, can help us. There was, a group, on the day, of the presentation, that was, manipulating water, on stage… . ”
If the main team of magicians focus on filling the old wells, then the students can find a good place to build a new well.
“T-that’s it! Those guys are good at manipulating water, so it shouldn’t be hard for them to find a good place for the new wells!”
“And since Leonora-chan saved their lives, they’d be more than willing to help her!”
“Then I’ll go speak with them later. After all, I’m still the student council president.”
The name of that group is “Gentle Flow,” and they focus in water manipulation, rather than raw power. They’re usually treated as weak and useless mages, so no one knew their full potential.
“Now that we have two new small teams, maybe we’ll be able to finish the job by the end of the season.”
Leo and Leena would have enough time to change places while working on the magic crests. But to do that, Leo needed to be the one supervising the orphans while they work.
“Hey Oscar, about those guys from the Gentle Flow–”
Albert was making a serious face, so everyone focused on what he’d say next.
“–On the day of the presentation, they said that just using the right magic crest for the right spell was enough to summon water, fire, and other things. If that’s really enough to cast a spell, maybe we don’t need to knit all of those crests… . ”
“But they said the research was incomplete…… though I get what you’re trying to say… . ”
In a way, the crests were linked to the great spirits, so channeling magic power through one of them was easier and you’d spend less magic power to cast a spell.
But if the Gentle Flow’s research was correct, then the fake good should’ve worked too–
(–After all, if you draw a gold coin on a piece of paper, it’s still just paper… you won’t be able to buy anything with it…) – Thought Leo.
It was an unrealistic comparison, but really accurate.
“If the Gentle Flow complete their research, even someone without magic powers will be able to cast spells.”
“But you’re ahead of them on the research, right Albert?”
“Well… you’re not wrong.”
“So you can finish it?”
“…Maybe… . ”
(Wow! So Albert is almost finishing the research!?)
Trying to make a new type of magic crest was hard, but not impossible.
(Maybe I can help too!)
Leo then stood up and grabbed both of Albert’s hands.
“Albert-sama, please, tell me, how to draw, the crest.”
“…I’m still in the research stage, so I won’t tell you. Besides, that magic crest is a failure, it’s too dangerous when it’s out of control.”
“You shouldn’t, be afraid, of failures! Even an, orphan will, be able to, use magic, so it’s certainly, a good thing! It’s not a failure!”
More specifically, Leo would be able to use magic when he return to his body.
“…Haaah, okay… but I’ll explain it only once, so pay attention–”
After Leo, Oscar and Rolf nodded, Albert then continued the explanation.
“–When you use magic, you normally chant and then cast it, but with this new method, you draw a magic crest, imagine the spell and then cast it.”
(Ohh, it’s the same as Leena! She doesn’t need to chant her spells!)
According to what Albert said, the new magical crests didn’t have a limit on how many times you could use them. But they were a bit complex to draw–
“–The new crest isn’t that simple, but it’s not that hard either. First, you need draw the crest for the type of magic you’re going to use, then you make a circle around the crest–”
(Hmmm… a magic crest, then a circle…)
It was certainly complicated to draw the new crest, Leo was having a hard time drawing it on a piece of paper.
“–And then you write “Glory to the Spirits” in Elandic on the outer border of the circle. After writing that, you need to draw another circle around it and the crest is complete.”
“Wow! It’s really complicated! Right Oscar!?”
“Yeah, it’s complex magic crest.”
(Ohh, I think I finished the crest!)
Surprisingly enough, Leo managed to drawn the entire magic crest on the paper.
“The only complicated part is writing in Elandic, but once I manage to find the right words to put there, then I’ll finish the research.”
After the explanation was over, Albert saw Leonora playing with a suspicious piece of paper.
(What now? Will water really come out of this thing?)
Albert had a bad feeling about that piece of paper… it wasn’t the first time for something like this to happen, so he decided to ask her what was that drawing on the paper.
“L-Leonora, t-that thing you’re playing with… what’s that?”
“This…? …It’s the, magic cre–”
And then, out of nowhere, a lot of water appeared.
–Booooooom!!!