The day after the military competition.
When I stepped outside the lodgings arranged in the royal capital and headed toward the encampment, the soldiers of Razgrim were in surprisingly high spirits, despite their lingering exhaustion from yesterday. Though some wore bandages around their arms or walked with a limp, far fewer were bedridden with severe injuries than I had expected, and laughter could even be heard here and there as they looked back on yesterday's battle.
I called over Raisa, who stood right at the center of the crowd, and tossed her a leather pouch.
"Here. There are ten gold coins inside."
"...Boss, what're we supposed to do with this?"
"What do you mean, 'what'...? Spend it, obviously. We came all the way to the royal capital and took first place! No training or duties today. As a reward for winning, go have some fun in the capital however you like! Throw a banquet for everyone, feast on good food, do whatever you want... Ah, and if there's any left over, feel free to split it amongst yourselves, got it?"
For a brief moment, our surroundings fell dead silent. Ten gold coins was pocket change compared to the five hundred I had hauled in yesterday... These guys had worked their asses off to bring home the championship, so letting them enjoy themselves and boosting morale would only make them work harder next time. That was all I had really been thinking, but for some reason, the soldiers were exchanging stunned glances.
"...We can really use Lord Vain's money to party in the capital?"
"And no training today either...?"
The very next second, pandemonium erupted outside the lodgings.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!! LORD VAAAAAAIN!!"
"Booze! Meat! Today we feeeeast!!"
"You hear that?! Today's on the boss's dime! You've worked yourselves to the bone, so eat and drink without holding back!"
"YEAAAAAH!!"
They were deafeningly loud for early morning. On top of that, even Raisa was hoisting the pouch high, actively riling up the troops.
"Hey, don't blow it all on booze, alright? There are three hundred of you, so spend it with some sense."
Half of them were already beyond listening. As the soldiers grew rowdy debating where to go, Lydia stood outside the circle, looking over at me with a conflicted expression.
"Lord Vain... Is it truly appropriate for me to join them? I am not a soldier of House Razgrim, after all..."
"What are you talking about? You were calling the shots yesterday, which makes you one of the people who put in the work. You've been working for us for two months now, so go let your hair down for once. Raisa! Drag this one along too."
"Leave it to me! Don't expect any special treatment as a highborn lady today, Lady Lydia, so brace yourself!"
"Huh?! W-Wait a moment, Raisa-dono!"
Watching Lydia get seized by the arm and hauled away, I let out a soft sigh. With that much energy, they'd be just fine. Let them run wild today, and I'd put them back to work starting tomorrow.
"Clarice, Serena. You two come with me."
As I turned and walked in the opposite direction of the cheering, two sets of footsteps quickly fell in behind me.
"Wait a second!... Everyone else gets the day off, but what about me...?"
"It'd be a problem if you took a break. We still have business to attend to today."
"You say that like it's the most natural thing in the world..."
Clarice grumbled, but she made no move to turn back. Serena trailed diagonally behind me, as she always did.
"Master. Where are we headed?"
"First, to the publisher of the Royal Capital Newspaper."
Without answering Clarice's suspicious stare, I headed straight for the capital's main thoroughfare.
◇
The building that published the widely read royal capital broadsheet was located just one street off the main thoroughfare. People were bustling in and out from early morning, and when I gave my name at the front desk, a man who seemed to be the manager came rushing out from the back in a panic—presumably shocked that the head of yesterday's victorious house had dropped by unannounced.
"Y-Your Grace, Duke Razgrim?! What brings you to our establishment today...?!"
"You're running an article on yesterday's military competition, obviously, right?"
"Of course! It was the finals where you dethroned last year's champion, House Eldran. The entire capital is clamoring for the details."
"Then there's one thing I want you to include... The armor and shields my troops were using. Those were crafted by blacksmiths in the Razgrim domain. Even after going toe-to-toe with Eldran, the gear held up through the very end, and hardly any of our soldiers suffered serious wounds. Make sure that gets into the piece."
The manager's eyes instantly sharpened.
"I see...! If the equipment used by the soldiers who defeated the reigning champions was forged entirely within your domain, our readers will be immensely intrigued!"
"Right? No need to lay it on thick, okay? Just state the facts clearly: the Razgrim domain is home to master blacksmiths, and yesterday's troops fought with their gear... That's all I need."
I was simply telling the truth. Yet a frosty gaze bore into my side, and when I turned, Clarice was giving me a deadpan glare.
"...Vain. Yesterday, right after your speech, you had that horribly villainous smirk on your face. You were scheming this all along, weren't you?"
"What do you mean, 'villainous smirk'?! I just came to supply the press with factual information."
"Isn't marching in here yourself to say, 'Our equipment is incredible, so write an article about it,' the very definition of advertising?"
"Did I say a single word telling people to buy it?"
There was no reason for me to go around bowing and scraping before the other noble houses. If the people who watched yesterday's tournament read about the gear in the paper, the interested parties would come knocking on their own... It was far less hassle that way, and if they came begging to buy, the price negotiations would tilt entirely in our favor.
"Master... You have that evil face again."
"...Serena. Are you ganging up on me with Clarice now?"
"Same face as yesterday."
Her flat observation sent Clarice into a fit of giggles. What a thoroughly disrespectful pair! The manager seemed to have decided it was best to play deaf and kept his pen flying across the parchment, so that was more than enough... The word could spread on its own from here.
◇
Leaving the newspaper office behind, we headed straight for the royal castle. Alecia had apparently been swamped since morning with paperwork, audiences, and post-Founding Festival affairs, so it was nearly noon before we were finally granted entry. Her office desk was buried under a sickening mountain of documents—just glancing at it reaffirmed how glad I was that I hadn't become king.
"My, my... Vain? Weren't you supposed to be touring the capital with your troops today?"
"I tossed the soldiers ten gold coins and told them to go fool around. I came because there was something I wanted to ask."
"Generous as ever, I see... So, what is it you wish to know?"
"Is there anywhere in this capital that crafts prosthetic limbs?"
Alecia blinked in mild surprise.
"A prosthetic arm? How curious... Yes, of course there is. The capital has long been home to a renowned workshop that crafts not only standard prosthetics, but mechanical prosthetic arms as well."
"...Mechanical prosthetic arms?"
"I am told they are specialized apparatuses that link the remaining nerves in a severed limb to intricate internal mechanisms, allowing movement. The wearer can flex their wrist or articulate all five fingers by thought alone, or so they say... Though there is scarcely anywhere else in the entire kingdom capable of producing them."
That was it! If such a marvel existed, that settled things! If it would expand what she could do with her hands compared to being one-armed, it was the perfect fit for Elsa.
"Tell me where it is! I'm going to check it out!"
"Certainly, I have no objection... However..."
"However... what?"
After studying my face for a moment, Alecia pressed a hand to her lips as if recalling something and flashed a slightly mischievous smile.
"...No. Well, you will understand once you arrive."
"What's with that ominous tone...? Now you've got me on edge!"
"Fufu. Their craftsmanship is the genuine article. That much I can guarantee."
Once I got the directions and rose from my seat, Clarice was eyeing Alecia with narrow, suspicious eyes from behind me. Even Serena was staring in the exact same direction, a rarity for her.
"...Alecia, are you keeping something from me?"
"Who can say? I merely pointed you toward a skilled workshop."
"She's smiling."
At Serena's blunt remark, Alecia briefly tightened her lips, only for her amused grin to return an instant later.
"It is merely your imagination! Now then, wouldn't it be best to make haste while you have the time?"
Clarice and Serena exchanged deeply skeptical looks with Alecia. A bad feeling gnawed at my gut, but if it truly was one of the kingdom's premier workshops, there was no reason to pass it up. Gathering the two of them, I took my leave of the castle.
◇
The workshop she directed us to sat tucked away in the deeper recesses of the capital's craftsmen's district. Inside the weathered stone building, prosthetic arms and legs fashioned from wood and metal were displayed in neat rows, while the shelves were crammed with tiny gears and intricate fittings. When I inquired about a mechanical prosthetic arm, an elderly craftsman brought out a specimen from the back room.
"Are you looking into a mechanical prosthetic arm? By linking the residual nerve endings to the internal mechanism, the fingers and wrist will articulate whenever the wearer attempts to move their hand... However, tactile sensation will not return, nor will the wearer instinctively feel how much force they are exerting. Mastering it requires extensive training."
I see... It wasn't a magic cure-all, but being able to move the fingers at will was more than enough. For a blacksmith, simply having an off-hand to brace or grip tools would broaden her range of work exponentially.
"She lost her arm below the elbow... Can you still build one for someone in that condition?"
"We would need a physician to examine the state of her nerves first, but the possibility is certainly there... However, since each piece must be tailored entirely from scratch to suit the individual, it will take considerable time to complete..."
Was it really that elaborate a process? Still... if a prodigy of her caliber could regain the use of both arms for years to come, it would more than pay for itself, even if the price was steep! I could just treat it as an advance payment to get even more labor out of her down the line!
"Understood! So, roughly what are we looking at for the cost?"
The craftsman pressed his lips together, looking somewhat hesitant to answer.
Well, I knew it would be far costlier than a run-of-the-mill wooden limb... Ten gold coins... no, maybe I should brace myself for twenty.
"We cannot know for certain until a thorough examination is conducted, but to tailor a mechanical prosthetic arm entirely from scratch... you should expect the total to exceed two hundred gold coins."
"............"
............Hm? What did he just say?
"...Huh?"
"As I said... it will come to over two hundred gold coins."
"............Haha! Wow, you really know how to tell a joke, don't you...? You almost had me there! Two hundred gold coins... for a single arm? No matter how you spin it, that's just—!"
"I assure you, I am not joking."
My laughter died in my throat. The craftsman's face was dead serious, and seeing that, my own expression turned just as rigid.
No, hold on a second... The championship prize I had bled for yesterday was five hundred gold coins, right? I handed ten to the soldiers this morning, and now more than two hundred here. In my mind's eye, the towering mountain of gold coins suddenly vanished by nearly half in a single breath.
"............Urgh."
Clutching my chest as an actual pain shot through it, I saw Clarice peering worriedly into my face, while Serena glanced back and forth between the craftsman and me.
"Hold on!... Vain, are you alright?"
"Master. Poor complexion."
"O-Of course I'm not alright...! Just in case! Just in case...! I'm going to ask one more time, okay?! How much was it...?!"
"Over two hundred gold coins."
I hadn't misheard. It really was two hundred.
"Y-You've... gotta... be... shitting... me...!!??"
My knees buckled, and I collapsed straight to the floor.
In that very moment, Alecia's mischievous, knowing smile at the royal castle flashed vividly across my mind.
'No. Well, you will understand once you arrive.'
That woman—! That damn woman—!!
"ALECIAAAAAAA!! YOU DEFINITELY KNEEWWWWWW!!"
My agonizing howl echoed through the quiet workshop. Beside me, Clarice pressed a palm to her forehead, looking utterly exasperated as she fought to stifle her laughter.
"...So that's why she looked so amused back then."
"Damn it! She was getting a total kick out of this!"
Then Serena, after looking back and forth between me and the mechanical prosthetic arm on the counter, parted her lips slightly, her face as completely expressionless as ever.
"Master."
"What is it now...?!"
"Gold coins. Over two hundred."
"I know that!! Don't rub it in right nooowwwwww!!"