“So… do you understand now?”
“I think I kind of get it.”
‘She still doesn’t understand after all…’
“It’s fine, you’ll learn slowly as time goes on.”
His Blackstone gently ruffled the girl’s hair.
“Mmm…”
“Do you want to talk about it now?”
His Blackstone suddenly changed the subject.
“Huh?”
“It’s about… what you mentioned earlier…”
“No! I don’t want to.”
For some reason, Ni Wei suddenly felt afraid to hear His Blackstone’s answer.
“Can we talk about it after the Church of Light people leave?”
“Fine.”
The girl’s reaction caught His Blackstone off guard.
‘I thought she’d want to know right away…’
***
Three days later, His Blackstone brought the contract that Florin and Molis had drafted and waited early in the conference room for Sijina’s arrival.
“Oh? Making Young Master His Blackstone wait for me, how rude of me.”
“It’s no trouble, I just arrived myself. Are you the only one today?”
“Yes, after all, you were so cooperative last time, I didn’t see the need to bring so many people.”
Seeing Sijina’s confident demeanor, His Blackstone breathed a sigh of relief inside.
‘That’s right, that’s exactly it. This kind is the easiest to fool.’
In that case, he might as well put on a full performance.
“I’ve already drafted the contract on my end. Take a look first.”
With that, His Blackstone stood up and handed the contract to Sijina with both hands.
Sijina took the contract and raised an eyebrow.
‘What’s going on here?’
‘Last time I saw him, he wasn’t this polite to me.’
‘As expected, the King’s decree really does work wonders.’
‘No matter if you’re the son of a Duke, you still have to behave obediently.’
However, when she saw the terms in the contract that she couldn’t understand at all, Sijina began to regret not bringing a few knowledgeable people with her today.
Even so, Sijina gritted her teeth and kept reading.
‘Hmph, no way he’d dare pull any tricks.’
‘Let me just look at the key parts first.’
Sijina’s eyes swept quickly across the contract, and she soon noticed the points she cared about.
[Regarding Gray Crystal resources: The Blackstone Family will share Gray Crystal ore with the Church of Light. Forty percent of the mined ore will be received by the Church of Light.]
Mmm mmm, see, see? I knew he’d obediently do as he was told.
Looking at the contents of the contract, Sijina nodded in satisfaction, unable to stop a smug smile from curling at the corners of her lips as she continued reading.
[…From this point onward, the entire process of forging Gray Crystal ingots into weapons will be supervised by the Church of Light, and the Blackstone Family will proactively provide the Church of Light with the smelting techniques for Gray Crystal Weapons.]
“Um… Miss Sijina, are you satisfied with the contents of the contract?”
Seeing Sijina’s smile, His Blackstone quickly spoke up to ask.
“Not bad, not bad. I can see you’ve put plenty of sincerity into this. Thank you for your contribution to resisting the Demon Race.”
“It’s only right. Here, the pen is right here. Please sign first, Miss Sijina. The contract is made in duplicate, and we’ll each keep one copy, alright?”
With that, His Blackstone proactively handed over a pen.
“Mmm, no problem.”
After pretending to quickly scan through the contract once more, Sijina signed her name on it without hesitation.
“Regarding the forty percent of ore mentioned in the contract, we’ll send people to the mine to pick it up every week. Any problem on your end?”
“Why trouble you with making the trip? How about this—I’ll have my people deliver it directly to the church in your town. Is that acceptable?”
“Sure, delivery works great.”
Sijina had completely fallen for His Blackstone’s sugar-coated barrage.
“So, when do you plan on sending people to station at our factory that produces Gray Crystal Weapons?”
“No time like the present. How about today?”
“Of course. I’ll make the arrangements. Feel free to bring your people over this afternoon. The factory is located at…”
***
After seeing Sijina off, His Blackstone immediately returned to his study.
“Young Master His Blackstone, how did it go?”
The moment he walked through the door, Florin stepped forward and asked urgently.
“Relax, it was just her today. She didn’t catch anything wrong.”
His Blackstone sat back down in his chair, feeling a wave of relief wash over him.
“But what if the Church of Light figures out the problem later…”
Molis voiced his concern to His Blackstone.
“Don’t worry. She signed her name on this contract with her own hand. It’s not like I forced her.”
His Blackstone shrugged nonchalantly.
“As for what happens later, we’ll deal with it when the time comes. Molis, how are things at the factory?”
“Don’t worry, Young Master His Blackstone. Following your orders, we’ve set aside a separate Blacksmith Shop exclusively for melting Gray Crystal.”
“Good, that’s what I wanted. As for the rest of the process, it’s just ordinary blacksmithing anyway. If they want to supervise so badly, let them watch all they want.”
“Understood!”
Molis nodded.
“Li Nuo Er.”
His Blackstone called out, and the expressionless girl appeared in the study.
“The Church of Light is sending people over this afternoon. You and Molis head back to the factory now and keep an eye on things. Report to me if anything comes up.”
His Blackstone instructed.
“Okay.”
The two answered in unison, then left the study together.
“Florin, I need you to take this contract to the Royal Capital now.”
His Blackstone handed Florin the contract he had just signed with Sijina.
“Young Master His Blackstone, what do you need me to do?”
“First, go find my father. Have him bring you to see the King.”
“See the King?!”
Florin was startled by His Blackstone’s words.
“But didn’t you say before—”
“Hey, circumstances have changed. The advantage is on our side now.”
His Blackstone pointed to Sijina’s signature on the contract.
“The Church of Light has signed their name, which means they now acknowledge this contract as well.
All you need to do is find the King and tell him that the Blackstone Family has fully cooperated with the Church of Light according to his orders, jointly resisting the Demon Race.”
“This… will it work?”
“Why wouldn’t it? This is exactly the outcome the King wants to see.”
Seeing that Florin still didn’t quite understand, His Blackstone revealed a mysterious smile and began to explain.
“The Church of Light is, after all, the church with the most believers in the Kingdom. And they’ve given themselves a reason like resisting the Demon Race, which no one can possibly refuse. The King naturally couldn’t outright reject them in that situation.
Now that we’ve done this, he has something to show the Church of Light, and the Church of Light can no longer use this matter to apply pressure.”
“I see, now I understand.”
Florin immediately caught on.
“In that case, I’ll set out for the Royal Capital right away.”
“Good, thank you for your hard work.”
Florin gave His Blackstone a smile in return, then left the study as well.
At that moment, only the bewildered Ni Wei and His Blackstone remained in the study.
“Hey, what are you spacing out about?”
His Blackstone walked up to the girl and waved his hand in front of her eyes.
“Ah! You… you guys are done talking?”