Chapter 29

Although at first glance one might have said that Ekaterina deliberately took her time with that dialogue to remember the Baron's name, the truth is that the calm way she spoke and the way she praised the entire Barony of Fuderia for their fortune with grace and gentleness was a gesture that no one could have created in the heat of the moment just to buy time.

At least Airedia was sure she didn't have that ability and couldn't help but feel annoyed by how Ekaterina was able to handle the situation so calmly, as if the actions of that unknown baron wouldn't affect her in any way.

In the first place, if a Barony dared to bring a gift like that to her own birthday party, she would only feel that they were blatantly boasting about their luck in front of her and would not be able to help but show her displeasure even at the thought.

The young princess of Asmuspheres couldn't really understand what was going through Ekaterina's head. The same was true for the rest of the ducal family that controls the north.

Although her parents seemed to be talking about how these country barons were currying favor with the Dranalian Duchy with this gift, from her perspective, she couldn't see that action as anything other than an insult. They were literally bragging about something the Duchy itself, and no one else in the Empire besides them, had right under their noses, and they acted like it wasn't a bad thing at all.

Seriously, even his parents didn't seem to find the Barony's actions to be the pure arrogance it obviously was, though his father rightly despised such pathetic nobles getting their hands on such a source of wealth they weren't worthy of.

Why? What's happening that they don't punish them as they should?

If it were up to her, Airedia would have put those useless barons in their place and made them give up their mina to gain mercy. They didn't deserve such wealth, and it's only right that such a valuable mine should be in the hands of a ducal house like hers.

However, why are they standing there, just looking at their daughter with those proud eyes while those people looked down on them in their faces?

She couldn't understand it. Were they idiots or just very soft? She couldn't come to a conclusion intelligent enough to ignore such brazenness, and that frustrated her because she didn't like not having answers to what she was curious about.

But more than anything, he was angered by how the little sister that shameless Claudia bragged about so openly seemed so charismatic and beautiful that with just those simple words she seemed to have won the goodwill of that arrogant Baron as if it were nothing.

I didn't want to admit that I was jealous of that girl.

And of course, the princess of the eastern duchy had no idea that in front of Ekaterina's eyes, there was a magic screen that showed the relatively recent affection of the Baron and his family towards the princess of Dranalian.

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In HAD, information was extremely important for all players if they wanted to progress. For this reason, most players became obsessed with acquiring as much information as possible about the lore and other elements of the game, since without it, even if you miraculously managed to defeat the final boss, you would still have a very low rating at the end of the game.

For those who were dedicated to reaching the true ending of Heroes & Dragons with dire care, using save and load to gather secrets and knowledge without worrying about anything else was the bread and butter of every day, and thanks to that, everyone began to advance to obtain higher ratings... although there still had to be someone who reached that level.

Anyway, for a player obsessed with acquiring every kind of information possible for the sake of progressing in the game, it was only natural to know of many important materials such as ores, magical herbs, and beast parts needed to craft particularly powerful items. Among them, being very high on the list…

The Mana Diamonds.

Also popularly known as Celestial Rainbow Diamonds among players for their beautiful, slightly glittering, multi-colored appearance, Mana Diamonds were magical minerals that formed under very strict conditions on the continent of Fredonia, with naturally underground lands with high mana density being a more important requirement than any other.

Because in the past, areas with lands with dense mana on their surface were mistakenly believed to be ideal sites for the formation of mana diamond mines, people across the continent rarely found a mine to exploit this extremely valuable resource to the point that a century has passed since any official news of its extraction was heard.

Today, the only Mana Diamonds that are not being used in some form of technology and remain in their raw state were kept by the Hazar imperial family as their most valuable decoration.

It could be said that the news of a random Baron discovering a Celestial Rainbow Diamond Mine could easily shake many nations around the world. It's no wonder that even though there were some rumors, no one had believed it until today. That said, one had to wonder who spread those rumors in the first place…

But regardless, the Barony of Fuderia could easily become the richest noble family alongside Dranalian. Possibly, that's why they were here. Ekaterina could see that's what most of the guests were thinking, along with the question: How did these bastards get so lucky?

Answer? It wasn't luck.

Well you know, leaving aside everyone else, Ekaterina already knew from the game that thanks to the Baron of Foundry, not only was a new mana diamond mine discovered within the borders of the Hazar Empire, but a new theory would also spread that would lead them to find more and more magic diamond mines one after another all over the nation and later the continent.

But... that didn't happen out of the Baron's goodwill or his desire to contribute to his nation at the expense of potential benefits, but tragically because the Baron, in the original timeline, made the mistake of giving this Mana Damante to the Crown Prince on his birthday. That would cause an incident that many would rather keep quiet about.

According to the information that would be discovered about it if you actively searched for it, the Empress, filled with greed for the Baron's mine, offered to give him her mine in exchange for the title of Marquis, this being a significant promotion in rank due to the tremendous merit of finding such a mineral deposit.

However, the Baron of Fuderia rejected the Empress's wishes, as there was no real benefit to him. Accepting a higher title might seem wonderful at first glance, but it would only bring many responsibilities that he couldn't handle without a stable and powerful source of income like the mine. In the end, he would be one of the poorest Marquises in existence, if not the poorest, and he would surely eventually fall into ruin.

The Baron did not want that for himself or his family, and the Empress at the time seemed to calmly accept his rejection with mercy despite being known as a woman without blood or tears among the Aristocracy.

Of course, that was a good joke.

Soon, the Baron received news from commoner friends that the Empress was accusing several nobles allied to the Baron and even Baron Marcus of treason by illegally selling mana diamonds to foreign countries and powerful criminal groups.

Faced with this terrible accusation, the Baron had no choice but to quickly flee Hazar with his family in an attempt to escape the Empress's evil and the crimes he was unjustly accused of. Along the way, he boldly revealed the secrets of how he came to discover this mine far and wide, effectively preventing the imperial family from being the only ones to benefit from this knowledge.

The process was clearly not described in detail but, because of this, the Empress was so furious that she sent her best knights to hunt down Marcus and his family, eventually capturing them and torture them for a month inside the Palace of the Sun, until finally achieving release in the form of death.

Not even the little boy with honey-colored hair and beautiful emerald-green eyes behind the baron was spared that horrible fate… Ekaterina could only think with chills how terrifying that woman could be.

The Grand Dragon Witch of Hazar, Ibelia Lian von Hazar

That was the title given to Empress Ibelia of Hazar by all Heroes & Dragons players, her reputation as a vile woman spread among everyone to the point that a random person with no interest in the game would know about her from the constant curses shouted at her by almost the entire player base.

There wasn't a single player who didn't hate this troublesome NPC who was part of many of the hero's/heroine's obstacles, and everyone considered it a shame that it was that crown prince who killed her when she lost control of her draconic blood, after being poisoned with hydra saliva by opposing political forces.

A pity, really.

Speaking of which, I wonder if that woman sent spies to this party of mine. If so, it would be problematic if she noticed the Baron's diamond mine again long before anyone could react.

The possibility that Empress Ibelia would send spies to Ekaterina's birthday party was not unheard of.

The Empress would certainly want to know what was happening within the walls of Dranalian from the mouths of loyal subordinates firsthand rather than from outside sources, and she could easily keep a watchful eye on each of the nobles and vassals gathered in the Hall, using any means to obtain valuable information on any political movements in play during the party.

In short, with all this number of aristocrats gathered in one place, it was a good way to notice any alliances between various noble houses that were forming inside the hall, as well as any incidents they hadn't heard about.

Anyway, what's truly worrying is what will happen once Empress Ibelia is informed of this by her people. Ekaterina wanted her family to be the one to reach an agreement with Baron Marcus's family before the Empress makes any strange moves. That way, since the madwoman still wanted her father in her nice imperial harem, he wouldn't do anything rash against the Barony of Fuderia...

Of course, this would not be done out of pure goodwill.

As a rare and famous material for crafting powerful arcane technologies that even made players covet those mines, Mana Diamonds were a commodity that many mages, not to mention nobility, desired to have without fail for their research and production of new technology.

And with the protection and support of the Dranalian Duchy that Ekaterina, a former gambler, sincerely hoped her father would offer them, the Barony of Fuderia would be able to afford to mine and sell those precious magic diamonds without worrying about the oppression of other, more powerful nobles, and her family would benefit greatly from being their partners as well.

They may be rich, but for the sake of future plans, they wouldn't mind more wealth. Besides, if the duchy doesn't do anything wrong like stealing someone else's business, wouldn't that give other lesser nobles and even small merchant families the confidence to try to do business with Dranalian?

Maybe that's why he came to my party this time instead of that man's? Very likely...

That was what Ekaterina thought as she watched the servant carry the diamond to deliver the gift from the Baron's heir with a serene expression.

Due to her death in the original game's timeline, the Dranalian Duchy was going through some internal instability with the Duchess having collapsed from grief, the Duke furious and desperate, and the eldest princess slowly descending into madness, so the Baron couldn't turn to them because of that and it was doubtful if they would have cared about the mine anyway.

Other Dukes?

The House of Asmuspheres would have already fallen into oblivion at the hands of his rude grandfather, and the remaining dukes, for various reasons, had become so weak that even the earl families could become more influential and wealthy than them. All that remained was to try to win the favor of the imperial family through the grace of the crown prince, who was known as a quiet man compared to his mother. (Something many players would disagree with.)

Again, Ekaterina didn't know the details, she only understood that Baron Marcus trusted that as the Empress, who was away on a trip to another nation at the time to have fun and not want to be bothered by palace matters, he could negotiate with the crown prince quietly without having the crazy woman on his toes.

Unfortunately, the Empress somehow magically returned at the worst possible time and interfered with the whole affair by retaking control of the palace from the Crown Prince while she was away, which ultimately led to the aforementioned consequences.

Although Ekaterina felt that something bad could have happened anyway at the hands of that crazy prince….

Regardless of the true reasons why they decided to gift a mana diamond to Ekaterina this time instead of the Crown Prince (currently First Prince), anyone could easily see why they would take this approach.

By gifting the most beloved princess of Dranalian (Let's not kid ourselves and call a spade a spade, as even Claudia thinks so) a valuable Mana Diamond of this size, and of such purity that it shines enough to softly illuminate the common noble's room, Baron Marcus surely hopes to gain her family's favor and gain some leverage in future negotiations with the Duchy, as something like this is not something even the Dranalian currently had...at least not in its pure state instead of an expensive machine.

If that wasn't the reason they were here, then Ekaterina would have to admit that she would feel lost as it would be completely idiotic to show off like that just to show off... But judging by Baron Marcus's delighted expression, she was more certain of her assumptions.

Besides….

Name: Marcus Janal von Fuderia

Tendency: Business (Those with this tendency tend to take actions for Business and Commerce purposes much more frequently than most blind people)

With this kind of trend, why should I care that this man is just here to boast about his newly acquired wealth?