/
The spacious interior was completely peaceful.
There was no fire, no noise, and not even a hint of smoke.
“Thank you, master!” Melvin cheered, then froze in place.
He must have been frozen because Kirios was glaring at him with a truly diabolical look on his face.
“I told you my kid was coming today. I know I did.”
“Ma, master! That’s……!”
“You didn’t even respond to my call, and now you dare to experiment with this crap inside the Magic Tower?” Kirios spoke, emphasizing each word. “And to top it all off, you even risked catching the little kid in the blast of your explosion?”
The green eyes flashed with madness.
“You little prick, I’ll not stand for this.”
“St-stop! Please, it’s not……!”
Melvin seemed to be holding onto Kirios’ pants at any moment. At the same time, Kirios’s lips parted.
“Research budget.”
Despair washed over Melvin’s face as soon as he heard the word.
No, I don’t think he’d show despair like that even if he heard a death sentence.
“Three months’ pay cut.”
“Magic Tower Master!!!” Melvin screamed as if he had lost the whole world.
But Kirios was unrelenting.
“Any more whining here, and it’ll be six months instead of three.”
“…….”
At the savage declaration, Melvin’s mouth closed. Then he turned his resentful gaze on Kirios.
“So why did you come to see me?”
“To apply for a patent,” Kirios answered, smugly lifting his shoulders. “My kid had an idea, and it’s a real thing.”
“And the kid is…….” Melvin turned to me. “Oh, is this the Lady of Orleans?”
He sounded like he knew me.
I turned wide-eyed with surprise.
“You know me?”
“Of course, I’ve heard the Tower Master talk about you so much, I’ve got scabs on my ears…….”
Melvin started to grumble but was silenced by Kirios’s murderous glare. He smiled awkwardly and changed the subject.
“So, what are you trying to patent?”
“Well, it’s…….”
I recited the explanation I had given to Kirios earlier.
Melvin seemed to have grasped the concept of sticky notes easily enough, as Kirios interjected here and there to explain further.
“So, you’re going to patent a notepad that you can tear off and put back on, and you’re going to call it a sticky note?”
“Yes. And I’ll take care of the production and distribution myself,” Kirios declared.
Melvin’s eyes widened.
“The Magic Tower Master?” He grumbled in a deep, gravelly voice. “Why don’t you be a little more diligent with your paperwork this time…….”
“This guy?” Kirios rolled his eyes, and Melvin scowled.
“By the way, isn’t this a brilliant idea?” Kirios continued. “I’m sure there’ll be a huge demand for it once it’s produced!”
“Hmm, do you think so?”
Unlike Kirios, who was just giddy with excitement, Melvin’s response was somehow a little reserved.
“Honestly, glue is for sticking things together.”
“So?”
“Wouldn’t it be inefficient to develop a glue that’s not strong enough to hold things together?”
“What?” Kirios frowned.
Melvin stuck to his guns, though.
“In my opinion, I think we can get away with just using the notepad as it is.”
With that, Melvin glanced sideways at Kirios.
“After all, notepads are too insignificant to be developed and distributed by the Master himself…….”
Snap!
Kirios snapped his fingers furiously, not even listening to Melvin’s words.
“Ugh!”
Melvin was yanked back into the room, as if someone had grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.
Bang!
The door slammed violently shut.
Kirios looked at the closed door with a pathetic gaze.
“Ha, stupid bastard.”
He rubbed his forehead and let out a long sigh.
“They can’t see the brilliance of this idea? I’m going to have to replace those incompetent bastards right now…….”
“It’s okay,” I comforted Kirios, feeling a little defeated. “More than that, my second dad doesn’t have to be so hard on them.”
“What?”
“I don’t think you need to do something for my sake, something that’s not even possible.”
I meant it.
Although in the world I lived in, sticky notes were a huge success.
After all, as Melvin said, it’s such a small thing, isn’t it?
After all, the mages who create so many wonderful (and sometimes grotesque) spells in their magic tower, would they be satisfied with a sticky note?
“…….”
Kirios interrupted, “No, I actually think your idea is brilliant.”
“What? But…….”
“Of course, you’re my daughter, and it’s true that I love you very much.” Kirios shrugged. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to waste my time and effort on something that has no chance.”
“Re-Really?”
“Well, it’s an archmage’s time and efforts, and that is priceless.”
He nodded, as if it were obvious.
“It would be a shame to waste it, wouldn’t it?”
“…….”
Hmm, that sounded reasonable on the surface.
I stared at Kirios through cloudy eyes.
But Kirios had already done this before, hadn’t he?
He’d been spending a lot of time in the Orleans townhouse, just hanging out with me.
So, Siegfried’s anguish was deepening by the day…….
“Of course, the cuteness of my kid is worth it.”
……His word can’t be trusted.
I offered a compromise.
“How about I make a sample and give it to you to try?”
“Sample?”
“Yes. We can make a small batch of notepads and give them away for free, just to the people here in the magic tower,” I explained calmly. “If you really think this idea is a good one, don’t you think they’ll respond to it?”
Even as I said this, I was a little skeptical.
If Melvin, whose main job is patent work, could say something like that, wouldn’t the other mages feel pretty much the same way?
Kirios, however, seemed to disagree.
“Oh, that’s a good idea.”
He stroked his chin and his eyes sparkled.
Still, I didn’t want to throw cold water on his excitement.
“I hope so, too.”
I just smiled broadly.
* * *
Melvin Korhonen.
A mid-level Mage in the Tower, forced by the Tower Lord to work on patents.
He was currently staring at the notepad in front of him with a sullen glare.
“Well, I suppose I could patent it, but…….”
Melvin drummed his fingers impatiently on the desk.
“No, what the hell is this that even the Tower Lord is insisting on a patent?”
Perhaps it was because of the Lady of Orleans. Tatiana.
The adopted daughter whom the Lord of the tower would die for.
Well, honestly, he’d be lying if he said the little girl wasn’t cute.
But…….
‘I’ve never seen that before.’
The Lord of the Magic Tower, who doesn’t seem to bleed even if stabbed with a needle, had never looked so tenderly at someone before.
Even the Duke and the High Priest, who were with him in life and death, did seem to care about her deeply.
Perhaps it was because she was weak?
Maybe that’s why he’s willing to listen to a child’s insignificant words.
‘No, but still, isn’t that a bit much?’
In any case, the mages in the tower were instructed to pass around all the notes and react.
“Eh, I’d rather die than suffer.”
Melvin sat down at his desk in irritation.
He had a stack of patent papers to deal with again today.
* * *
And then, some time passed.
‘What?’
Melvin blinked in confusion.
‘When did I run out of the sticky notes?’
There wasn’t a single piece of paper left in the thick stack.
Instead, the sticky notes were stuck to a pile of patent rejections.
‘The magic formula is too weak to proceed with a patent.’
‘A tool with a similar idea has already been patented.’
‘The driving principle is lacking; improve it.’
And so on…….
On top of the sticky note was a short list of reasons why the patent was rejected.
That moment, Melvin had a sudden realization.
‘This paper is so convenient!’
No need to worry about typos, no need to worry about destroying documents.
If you don’t need the note, you can simply tear it off and throw it away.
‘I can’t do it.’
Melvin jumped to his feet.
‘Don’t we have some sticky note paper left? I’ll have to get some from the others first……!’
Surely there must be some left somewhere, since they’d scattered it among all the mages in the tower.
No, there had to be!
Melvin made a determined attempt to get it.
As soon as he stepped out into the corridor, one of the mages ran up to him, panting.
“Melvin!”
“Oh, Joseph! Do you happen to have any more sticky notes…….”
“Sticky notes!!!” The mage exclaimed, his face bright red.
Melvin blinked.
“Eh, huh?”
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