Chapter 107 - Custody Commotion

"Excellent. You did well."

The labor union formed by the village's laborers would ultimately become nothing more than a puppet unable to escape Ferda's influence.

That was the situation Ferda desired.

"Thank you. And by the way, the name change for the Dandolo trading company has been fully completed in the Empire."

From now on, it would officially operate as the Hestia trading company, not the Dandolo trading company.

The family crest engraved on the tents would now also be replaced by Valdrova's crest.

"You are doing well. Please keep up the good work."

"Leave it to me."

The council meeting with the temporary labor union ended like this.

"Since it has been resolved amicably, I believe you may return to your other duties now."

Instead of rising from his seat, Ferda shifted his gaze to the documents she had piled up.

"I believe there are a few more dispute cases."

"That is true, but I can resolve them by proxy with my authority as administrator."

"No, I will resolve them while I'm at it. Since I've already come down here, wouldn't it be better to resolve them quickly? And..."

"And?"

"It feels refreshing to resolve things through conversation like this."

"Mm, understood."

Could this really be considered a conversation?

Isabella felt a bit doubtful, but she didn't complain.

Isabella moved, and a moment later, two men entered.

"These are the masons requiring arbitration that I mentioned before."

Ferda glanced at them roughly.

A dark-skinned man and a relatively pale man sat side by side.

At a glance, their appearances clearly distinguished them as being from the South and the Central region.

Ferda questioned the dark-skinned one first.

"Are you from Halim?"

"Yes. I've spent twenty years solely working on wall construction in Halim—"

"And you're from the Empire?"

"That's correct."

"I've roughly heard the story. In short, your two construction methods are different, and you're in the middle of coordinating them?"

The pale mason spoke.

"Yes. I'm telling him how we should build the wall considering the terrain and its characteristics, but this Southern bastard completely refuses to understand..."

The imperial mason clicked his tongue.

At that, the Halim mason snorted.

"Doesn't a wall that requires considering terrain and characteristics ultimately mean it isn't perfect? The walls we construct in Halim boast of being unbreakable no matter the situation."

"You must have come from a hot region and let the winter wind get to your brain. You've never been invaded once and just stack walls with sand, so do you even have any genuine expertise?"

"If shoving pebbles into empty holes is called construction, then my three-year-old son is a master craftsman too."

"You bastard—!"

"Enough."

He stopped them before they could aim the hammers meant for striking walls at each other's heads.

Ferda could easily understand what was going on.

It was an issue caused by the pride of the two master craftsmen.

"I understand both of your opinions well. So I can give you a clear answer."

"Are you saying you know which method we should use for construction?"

"How could I?"

No matter how smart Ferda was, he couldn't compare to people who had spent their entire lives just touching walls.

However, he could clearly resolve this problem.

Ferda raised his index finger.

"One month."

"... Pardon?"

"You are to build a wall four meters in length and height within that time."

The two wore dumbfounded expressions.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Are you perhaps telling us to decide whose method to use on our own?"

"Yes. Because that is what you need to do."

It was a ridiculous ruling from the perspective of those who had come for arbitration.

Ferda didn't stop there and added more.

"You will have to build a wall capable of fully withstanding my siege magic within one month."

"Pardon?"

The two master craftsmen looked at Ferda with bewildered eyes.

They wondered what kind of joke this was, but Ferda's eyes were gleaming.

"Since I wouldn't understand if you talked about construction methods and such, I am offering a solution in my own way."

Ferda pointed at them with his finger.

"You know how to build sturdy walls."

And this time, at himself.

"And I know how to break walls."

Even the imperial wall that boasted of its sturdiness had crumbled at his hands.

"So build the hardest wall you can within one month. I will strike the exact center of that wall with a Magic Blast. Understood?"

"What happens if that wall collapses?"

"It's simple."

He drew his thumb across his neck.

The two masons' complexions turned pale.

"A-Are you going to behead us just because a wall built in one month collapsed?"

"Since you built a flimsy wall, the charges applied will be impersonating experts and fraud. It will even go as far as threatening national security."

"That's too much of a leap."

"Is it a leap, administrator?"

Isabella shook her head.

"Demanding the death penalty for those who fail in vigilance is getting off cheap."

"So she says."

The technicians realized this was no time to be prideful.

Eclipsing the past days where they thought of each other as enemies, a true enemy threatening their lives had appeared.

As they were dripping with cold sweat, Ferda asked.

"Are you thinking of running away?"

Cough!

"H-How could we?"

Ferda had seen right through them.

"You may run away. Try it if you can. But I will pursue you and drag you back. Of course, when that time comes, whether there is a wall or not won't matter."

Ferda let out a breath with an 'Hmm...' and then calmly asked them.

"By any chance, have you ever been in so much pain that you were confused about whether to beg to be saved or to be killed?"

"..."

"If you are curious about the process, I can gladly teach you."

"N-No!"

"We lowly ones won't even run away, so what use would there be in knowing that, haha...!"

The two men were extremely tense.

Ferda nodded.

"Then it is safe to assume you have understood all my words."

"Of course! How could we not have understood!?"

"Then go. You now have 29 days, 23 hours, and 55 minutes left. You will have to build that wall as fast as you can."

"Y-Yes, sir!!"

As Ferda's order fell, they fled the area as if running away.

The bloodthirsty atmosphere subsided, and Ferda muttered.

"Conversation is a better method than I thought."

"If you can call that a conversation, that is."

She said that, but Isabella had a satisfied look on her face.

"At least they won't be fighting unproductively anymore."

"If they still fight even after this, then we'll just have to acknowledge it for what it is. The next dispute case?"

"This dispute is..."

Ferda continued resolving the disputes one after another.

Because there was no one with as strong a pride as the two masons, he could easily resolve them without resorting to threats.

"It seems the work ends here."

The documents Isabella had placed had all disappeared before he knew it, so he was about to wrap up.

It was then.

"There is still one case remaining."

"One case?"

Isabella took out a single document from her folder and handed it to him.

"Seeing the way you resolved matters today, I thought you would be suited to judge this case. This is a petition I wrote myself."

Ferda looked at the accused listed on the petition she wrote.

As soon as he saw it, his breath caught in his throat for a moment.

It was as if what would happen was already unfolding before his eyes.

"... You're accusing this person?"

"That is correct."

Her blue eyes were as serious as could be.

She spoke like this, driving the nail in firmly.

"I am accusing Echidna Philiaz of neglect of duty."

"This fucking bitch."

The one who hurled a curse as soon as they met face-to-face was Echidna.

It was the very first thing she said after flying over here the moment a telegram was sent to her.

'This is rather new.'

Since Ferda had only ever seen her gloomy, silly-smiling face, this was his first time seeing her get so furiously angry.

She finally felt somewhat like a witch.

Isabella, who had received a string of curses as soon as they met, remained completely unfazed.

Pushing up her slightly slipped glasses, she spoke.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, head researcher. Both humans and beasts would offer a greeting when they meet, but it seems you don't fall into either category?"

Isabella was not one to be underestimated either.

Echidna looked like her eyeballs were going to pop out.

"You're the one who picked a fight first, righttt? Did you eat your age through your asshole to the point you're completely sick of livinggg???"

"What do you mean I picked a fight? I merely stated pure facts."

"I didn't do my workkk? What do you even know to be saying such thingsss??"

The battle of nerves between the two highly prideful women was akin to a clash between two dragons.

Because of this, only the innocent bystanders were getting caught in the crossfire.

"U-Um, Regent..."

Stephan, who was getting caught in the crossfire, asked with a trembling voice.

"What is it?"

"That witch... who is she?"

"She's a witch we hired at our castle."

"Why have you kept this a secret until now? I had never heard any talk of a witch living here..."

"There was no particular need to hide it, nor any need to talk about it."

That was true.

Stephan calmed his chest and kept an eye on both of them to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

Isabella let out a fake cough and spoke to Ferda in a clear voice.

"As I have said, I hereby accuse Head Researcher Echidna Philiaz of neglect of duty. Her research progress is less than that of Burnel Marquis, who was recruited after her, and she has not reported on her progress even once. Recording whatever work one does is a researcher's duty. Abandoning that duty is no different from neglect of duty."

Isabella's words were logical.

Given Echidna's usual personality, it was a situation where she might have just apologized and let it slide.

However, there was an ultimate reason she could not accept it.

"So what you want is..."

Ferda swallowed hard, wondering if he should even read this out loud, and spoke.

"... Mori's custody."

Custody.

He thought it was a truly trivial reason.

But it was also because of that word 'custody' that things had come to this.

It was the reason Isabella had accused Echidna,

and the reason Echidna's eyes rolled back in anger.

"Please look at this rationally. Does it make sense for such a ferocious witch to manage a delicate child?"

"Mori-chan has been raised well by my hands since before you even arriveddd?? Regent, you aren't actually going to take her away from me because of those words, are youuu?"

Echidna glared fiercely.

"I'm asking just in case, but if I say yes, will you kill me?"

"Huh? No! No matter what, how could I ever lay a hand on you, Regent..."

Echidna, realizing her mistake, immediately softened her expression.

It seemed she hadn't completely lost her mind.

Just as they were agitated, Ferda's head was aching just as much.

'What should I do about this...'

It was not a problem that could be easily resolved.

In the first place, the process of making that golem was not easy, and he was currently fully feeling her worth from the fact that she was a Rune Maker.

'But Isabella's words make sense too.'

A bizarre situation where there was no progress in golem making, yet Mori's outfits were becoming more colorful by the day.

She would have no excuses even if it looked like neglect of duty.

'Besides, we are currently at a stage where the golem's value is highly anticipated.'

Since he had declared the Eastern Conquest, the priority for that golem had also increased.

He needed to spur on her research.

'The way to poke at that is custody.'

It was a subject no different from walking a precarious tightrope.

However, the witch was a possessor of the Red Circle.

As a Philiaz, her obsession was something to be feared.

Since they were subordinates who operated their circuits through emotion, she had to be handled carefully.

After the two growled at each other for a long while, Echidna made a suggestion.

"If you're going to take my custody, let's at least listen to Mori-chan's opinion first!"

At those words, Ferda turned his gaze toward Isabella.

"Fine."

Isabella showed a surprising amount of interest in that.

As if neglect of duty was none of her business.

In any case, to reach a conclusion, Ferda summoned Mori.

A neatly dressed young lady entered the room.

"Ah, what do I do... she's so cute..."

Gasp...

Echidna fussed over her with delight, and Isabella let out an emotionally overwhelmed sound upon seeing that face.

"Are all witches and dragon spawns like this?"

"How should I know?"

He didn't care either.

Regardless of what they did, Ferda decided to do what he had to do.

"I will ask the questions. Mori, how do you think it's best to resolve the answer to this problem?"

Mori looked back and forth between Echidna and Isabella, then wrote down some text as usual.

She replied like this in elegant handwriting.

-I believe splitting my body in half is the clear solution.

"...?"

Ferda seriously pondered upon hearing those words.

He wondered if it was a poetic metaphor.

"Does that mean to see which of the two cares for you more?"

-Eliminating the root cause of the conflict is also a method.

She was indeed asking to be killed.

Hearing those words, Ferda looked at Mori's face again.

Her eyes were full of heavy dark circles.

"... I will pass judgment."

Ferda opened his mouth.

"For the next week, Mori will be managed under me."

"Whhaat???"

"Pardon!?"

Isabella and Echidna were thoroughly shocked.

They protested as if it were only natural.

"W-Where is there such a ridiculous lawww? You entrusted her to me, didn't you."

"That was merely temporary until a countermeasure was found. Since Mori is the property of the Grand Duchy's territory, I can also choose how she is managed, and therefore, it is possible for me to manage her."

Isabella fiddled with her innocent glasses to hide her bewilderment.

"Above all, Miss Mori is a petite girl. I do not think it is good for such a girl to be handled by a man..."

Scribble scribble scribble!

"It seems the person herself thinks differently."

Mori was enthusiastically drawing an X mark with her pen.

It seemed she considered that judgment to be the answer for her.

"For this week, Luri and I will manage Mori. She doesn't speak anyway, so having her work next to me won't cause any particular disruption."

"What do you plan to do after that week?"

"I will decide based on the accused's results."

Ferda's blue eyes turned toward Echidna.

"Echidna."

His lowered voice made Echidna's body tremble with a jolt.

"Y-Yes!"

"The reason you entered this place is to research your golem. Correct?"

"Y-Y-Yesss, that's righttt..."

"Burnel has shown results, but you have had nothing to say so far. I know you like playing with dolls, but you must at least do your job."

"Ooh..."

Unable to refute, Echidna dropped her head.

"Therefore, I will grant you a grace period of six months. Until then, the management system will be rotated on a weekly basis."

"Are you saying that after I spend a week with her, I must hand her over to this witch for a week?"

"Yes."

Neither of them was satisfied.

When having her entirely wasn't even enough, they were told to switch off every week like it was shift work.

"And."

Ferda's words did not end there.

"Mori, report to me regarding the status of her efficiency. If her efficiency drops significantly, the alternate will take over the remaining time without warning. And if the alternate also shows a drop in efficiency, I will keep her under my command for a month."

If they fight over a toy, taking the toy away was the natural course of action.

The moment that judgment fell, vitality returned to Mori's eyes.

The text she wrote on her notepad was as follows.

-I consider this a judgment no different from that of a sage king.

"Good. Let's conclude it like this."

Echidna glared at Isabella.

Eyes mixed with resentment as if saying this was all her fault.

However, peculiarly, her circuits did not move.

It meant the emotion contributing to her circuit formation was far from such anger and resentment.

Isabella met her gaze as if not backing down either.

When it came to having a strong spirit, she, who had been the chief secretary of the Magic Tower, was no pushover.

One could feel the rift between the two deepening.

Aside from that, Mori wore a much more relaxed face.