Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor [EN]: Chapter 804

“Timothy.”

At Ian’s call, Timothy, who had been quietly gazing out the window, turned his head. He recognized Ian and looked slightly surprised, much as he had long ago.

However, Timothy was not as Ian remembered. His features seemed softer now. While his rough and sharp edges remained, he now exuded a natural ease that was new.

“Minister Ian.”

“Ah, yes.”

There was a palpable awkwardness. It was their first meeting since the abyss incident, so it was inevitable. Ian smiled faintly and gestured for him to sit.

“It’s been a while.”

It had been a short time for Ian, but for Timothy, it was a past that was ten years removed. He unconsciously touched his chin. Looking at Ian, some of the blurred memories from the past slowly resurfaced.

“…I thought it was just a rumor.”

“It’s not easy to believe. How have you been?”

“I was in the central area for the construction of the Magic Department’s annex until a few years ago, but now I live on the outskirts. It’s all thanks to you, Minister. I’ve always wanted to express my gratitude.”

Thanks to the pass Ian had given him, he had survived Damon’s assassination attempt. He had lost his wife and children in the process, but that was simply an unavoidable fate.

Life was truly unpredictable. The desperate pain of that day had faded, and now he was smiling like this. It was an image of himself he had never imagined.

“I’m glad you seem to like Bariel. Are you alone?”

The original Ian would not have inquired about someone else’s family, but Timothy was an exception. He was Naum’s ancestor. He needed to establish a new family here for the future Naum to exist.

Timothy paused for a moment, as if surprised by the unexpected question. But he soon shook his head.

“…I’m not alone.”

“That’s good. It’s important to nurture the relationships that will support you. Especially for you. Don’t be bound by the past.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“Well then, shall we discuss work?”

Ian picked up a piece of paper on the desk and smiled. Jin had cleared the foundation while he was gone, but that was all. It was practically starting from scratch. Ian frowned as he looked at the blueprints, as if he didn’t like something.

“What’s wrong?”

“Who drew these blueprints?”

“The architect in charge at the time. It’s a blueprint that has been approved by the majority of the Magic Department. Is there a problem?”

“This won’t do.”

Ian muttered to himself and took out a pen. Then he drew lines all over the place.

“The stairs leading to the second floor are here, here, and here-”

“Ah. Just a moment.”

“I want two archives, facing each other on the left and right of the hallway. And the floor height should be generous, four meters, no, maybe five meters. The windows should be large enough to see all the ash tree branches on the west side, so let’s adjust it accordingly.”

Timothy carefully wrote down Ian’s instructions, wondering. It was as if he was describing something he had seen with his own eyes.

“And most of all, the exterior….”

Tap, tap. Ian pondered for a moment, then began to draw something diligently. Timothy watched for a while, wondering what it was, and then realized it was a drawing of the building’s exterior.

“It’s something like this. Is it possible?”

“……”

Timothy remained silent. It was a jumble of lines so crooked they resembled some kind of geometric abstraction.

As he pondered what to say, staring at the paper for a long time, Romandro approached with drinks.

“Oh my goodness.”

Then, looking at what was in Timothy’s hand, he exclaimed with pity.

“Sir Timothy, do you have a child?”

“Yes?”

“I had that when Bibi was young. She put ridiculous scribbles on the report I had to submit right away!”

“Um, Romandro.”

“But don’t be too hard on them. They’re all like that when they’re babies. Looking at the drawing, they must be about two years old. But they have talent. Haha!”

“……”

“Haha, ha, ha…?”

Romandro, sensing something was wrong, let out an awkward laugh. He looked back and forth between the pen in Ian’s hand and the drawing. Something, it felt like it was drawn with that, was it just his imagination?

“Romandro.”

“Uh-huh?”

“Please call Hale, Nakina, or Tommy.”

“Okay, okay.”

Romandro fled the office as if running away, and Timothy straightened his posture, watching Ian’s reaction. Ian offered him tea and asked.

“If the blueprints change, how long will it take to complete?”

“To be honest, it’s inversely proportional to the cost. The previous construction only cleared the ground, so you don’t have to worry about that, but from now on is the key.”

“If the cost is covered, will there be no problem?”

“That’s not certain either. There are magical construction processes involved, so it’s quite different from the usual construction process. It’s tricky.”

Timothy thought it was a good time and handed over the next report.

“And there’s something else to discuss. It’s a list of magic stones needed for the annex construction, and I heard that most of them are purchased from the Imperial Palace.”

“The necessary ones will be allocated to the Magic Department.”

“All of them?”

“Probably. Why?”

“The market price of magic stones has suddenly soared, and it seems like it will exceed the budget. Have you checked?”

It was the first time Ian had heard of this. He read what Timothy had handed him and frowned slightly.

The magic stones brought from Vergos were allocated to the Magic Department through the Imperial Palace, at a unit price set within the Magic Department’s budget. If the market price soared, the unit price would increase, and the number of magic stones allocated would decrease accordingly.

“When did this happen?”

“About ten days ago.”

It was when he had collapsed unconscious. To be exact, it was two days after the Foreign Minister’s mansion was shattered by the Eastern mages.

Ian sensed that there was some kind of trickery hidden and clicked his tongue.

‘They’re working hard.’

Now that they had no justification to block the construction of the Magic Department’s annex head-on, they were trying to interfere in this way.

The person in charge of the Imperial Palace’s finances was Minister Quintana. She was not the type to plot behind the scenes, so it was clear that other interests were involved.

“If the budget is insufficient, I will cover it with my private funds, so please proceed without worrying about the payment.”

“Yes, I understand. And in addition, we need the help of the mages. It’s about removing the roots of the fairy tree buried in the ground. It seems like it would take too long to use laborers. It was stopped during the previous work and is still there.”

Ian suddenly thought of Marib and Gale. The first thing that was mentioned when the two were arguing over the Magic Department’s annex was the fairy tree.

Because of the rumor that it was blessed, the opposition to the annex construction said it could never be cut down, while the Magic Department dismissed it as nonsense.

But now, not only were the roots left, but they were about to be completely removed. Sometimes, Ian felt a strange sense of time passing from things that had no meaning.

“Okay. I’ll tell the kids.”

Knock knock.

“Ian, you called for us.”

“We’re here!”

It was Nakina and Tommy.

As the two bowed and entered, Ian handed them the blueprints he had drawn. Nakina, who was looking at the messy scribbles, raised her head as if she didn’t understand at all.

“What is this?”

“Use this as a reference and work with Captain Hale to redraw the exterior of the Magic Department’s annex.”

“Yes? Us?”

Putting aside the scribbles that were impossible to recognize, it was a very strange assignment. They were the combat team.

“Yes.”

But Ian did not change his mind. He didn’t know how much the three of them remembered, but they had seen the completed Magic Department’s annex with their own eyes in the basement of the Masantar Temple. He had a hope that they might subconsciously recall it.

“This-”

“Are you talking about the one we saw at the Masantar Temple?”

Ian turned around in surprise at the immediate response. Nakina and Tommy also looked surprised that they had the same fragmented memories.

“No, Captain Hale said the same thing. The memories were fragmented under the Masantar Temple, but strangely, only the image of what is presumed to be the Magic Department’s annex remains. Is it the same for you, Ian?”

“…Yes.”

“Wow, is it because of the abyss? There must have been something there. But Ian, you didn’t draw this exterior, did you?”

The saying that ‘what if’ can get you into trouble was not for nothing. Nakina read Ian’s expression and unconsciously covered her mouth.

“That’s right.”

“Ah. You’re right. I’m sorry. I said something I shouldn’t have. Sir Timothy, when do you need it by? It seems like the three of us can work together with the architect.”

“The sooner the better. If you don’t have any work, let’s go out together. I’ll introduce you to a talented architect.”

“Shall we?”

In fact, they had a lot of work, but what did it matter? Anything was better if they could get out of this place. As Timothy got up from his seat, Ian also followed him to see him off.

“Romandro.”

“I’m here!”

“Sir Timothy is leaving. And tell the people who don’t have work to go to the annex site and clear the tree stumps.”

“Okay, I’ll prepare right away. Sir Timothy. Your group is at the annex site now.”

So there was a group.

They left the main building together and went down the south stairs. Just then, Timothy’s group, who were looking at the annex site in the distance, recognized him and ran towards him. Among them, a woman stood out.

“Timothy!”

Long brown hair and a gentle demeanor. Ian thought he had seen wrong. It was because the woman looked quite similar to Naum.

Timothy also smiled faintly and waved to her. She pointed to the carriage with her finger and signaled that she would go ahead.

“That’s Sir Timothy’s support.”

“She is someone I can learn a lot from in many ways.”

“That’s good to see.”

“…Thank you.”

Naum and Timothy didn’t look alike at all, which was strange, but now he seemed to understand.

Ian smiled and patted him on the shoulder, as if telling him to hurry up.

“Then, I’ll be going. I’ll report the schedule again.”

“Take care.”

As Timothy went down to the carriage, Nakina and Tommy also followed closely behind. Romandro burst open the door to the lounge and told the mages who were playing around.

“Everyone, go out now and do something about the tree stumps.”

“Ah, what are we supposed to do? Call someone. Do we really need to do that?”

“That’s right. We should pay for that. It’ll create jobs, how great is that?”

“Ian ordered it?”

Romandro narrowed his eyes and added, and the mages turned to him at the same time. Then, they sighed and got up, putting on their robes. It was obvious that they were doing it reluctantly.

Romandro complained.

“Seriously, they never listen when I talk!”

It was a sound close to sobbing. The mages ignored him.

“Hey, don’t be like that. We’re listening now.”

“We have to do what we’re told. It’s Ian.”

“Not just anyone, right.”

“Anyone want to bet? The first person to clear it gets to pass on one task. How about it?”

At that, the mages all ran outside at once, unleashing their magic.

Kwaaang! Bang!

“Just clear the stumps! The stumps! Don’t break anything else!”

Romandro pleaded and shouted, but no one listened. Seeing that, they were all fine, weren’t they? Crazy people. Romandro made a disgusted face as he watched the unruly mages.

“Romandro.”

“Oh, Ian.”

Kwaaang!

“Hahaha! Did you see that? I broke it!”

“That’s ridiculous. You just slipped in.”

“Get out of the way! Thunder and lightning are coming!”

Kwarururung! Crack!

Ian also glanced at the mages who were running wild like unleashed colts, then turned around with a faint smile. Then he said quietly.

“Let’s prepare for the general assembly. And please look into the matter of the fluctuating market price of magic stones.”

There must be something going on.