Otome Game Mob Villain

Chapter 734

"Then I'll begin the demonstration."

"Yes..."

The White Magic Butterfly Shell and Black Magic Butterfly Shell that Shia prepared and Capella performed 'certain treatments' on.

First, I pick up the White Magic Butterfly Shell and begin channeling 'magical power' into it.

But it's not ordinary magical power - it's magical power transformed into specific attributes.

Amid the attention, a light magical wave occurs around me, and the White Magic Butterfly Shell begins to tremble slightly.

This actually requires quite a substantial amount of magical power.

I time it with the pocket watch I placed on the table beforehand, and after a certain period, stop channeling magical power and exhale.

"Phew... This requires quite a lot of magical power and concentration. Now, please verify it."

When I hand over the White Magic Butterfly Shell, Shia carefully checks both sides of the shell.

"...The size hasn't changed particularly. Lord Rid, did that really create a pearl?"

"Yes. Please open it and check the contents."

"Understood. Let me verify."

While looking suspicious, Shia picks up the small knife prepared on the table, inserts the tip into the shell's gap, and pries it open.

Then, as he carefully examines the shellfish meat, his eyes widen: "Th-this is...!?"

Because a 'pure white, small pearl' emerged from the meat.

"I saw it at the sea too. It's amazing no matter how many times I see it."

Vene, sitting in her chair, let out an admiring voice.

Actually, during the sea inspection, once we found a sea that met the conditions, I had already explained the proposal content to her beforehand and demonstrated it.

I haven't revealed the secrets of the 'treatment' or 'magical power,' but it was sufficient to draw the originally friendly Vene to our side.

"...Every time I see that, I wish we had just one Lord Rid in our trading company."

"That's right. If Lord Rid were in the Christina Trading Company, we could probably dominate commercial spheres throughout the continent, let alone the Empire."

"Ahaha... When you two say it, it doesn't sound like a joke."

When Chris and Emma murmured casually, Amon smiled wryly and scratched his cheek.

Watching this, Tink burst out with "Fufu" and a smile.

"I'm glad Lord Rid was born into the Baldia family belonging to the Empire. If he'd been born in Toga, he might have been treated as a 'divine child' and traveled around various countries, causing Mistina sect followers to explode in numbers. Don't you think so too, Capella?"

"While that's certainly well-put, I should say that Lord Rid would have caught the attention of those in power no matter which country he was born in. At best under house arrest, at worst imprisoned, I'd say. Probably wouldn't have been able to go out alone."

"Haha, not far off. If Rid were a commoner, even I would kidnap him."

I feel like Tink, Capella, and Vene are having some dangerous conversation.

I'm happy that Chris says she 'wants one in the trading company,' but if she means as a money-making golden goose, I'm not that pleased.

Being treated as a 'divine child' in Toga's Mistina sect is absolutely out of the question.

First of all, Father has strictly warned me 'absolutely not' to join the Mistina sect.

"Everyone, please don't say whatever you want in this situation."

When I narrow my eyes with a smile and glance at them, they all flinch and tremble their shoulders, smiling awkwardly with "Ah, ahaha. Our apologies."

Really, what are they doing?

Shrugging slightly, I look seriously at Shia.

By the way, he's been staring at the pearl with an astonished expression.

"What do you think, Lord Shia? I can't share the detailed mechanisms yet, but that is a genuine pearl."

"I... I can't believe it immediately. No, but with just one, it could be coincidence. Lord Rid, I'm sorry, but could you demonstrate with the 'Black Magic Butterfly Shell' too?"

"That's easily done. However, as I mentioned earlier, it's quite tiring, so I'll limit demonstrations to two times."

"U-uh. Understood."

When Shia nods, Capella picks up the Black Magic Butterfly Shell placed on the table and hands it to me.

Thanking him, I take a deep breath and heighten my concentration.

"...Then I'll demonstrate once more."

Saying this, I again channel magical power transformed into specific attributes into the shell.

Actually, this is magical power transformed into water or ice attributes.

The certain treatment Capella performed beforehand is 'making an incision in the parent shell's reproductive organ and inserting spherical processed shells of other freshwater shellfish.'

The mechanism of pearl formation begins when the shell recognizes foreign matter that has entered its interior as an enemy.

When unable to expel the foreign matter recognized as an enemy, the shell exhibits a self-defense function of covering the foreign matter with the same components as its 'shell' to neutralize it.

And what results from wrapping the foreign matter (enemy) that entered the body over a long period with almost the same components as the shell is what's prized as a 'pearl.'

However, investigating and selecting the foreign matter that these shells recognize as enemies when entering their bodies requires an enormous amount of time.

Additionally, 'inserting foreign matter into the parent shell's reproductive organ' requires advanced techniques to complete the treatment quickly in a short time, and if done poorly, the shell will immediately die.

I quickly grasped that these mechanisms are applicable knowledge in this world too by extracting them from my previous life's memories in Memory, compiling them into documents, and giving them to Sandra and Ellen. The problem was time.

Pearls require long periods - specifically about two years in parent shells - to slowly grow pearls.

If starting from juvenile shells, it takes about two years to become parent shells, and about two years to grow pearls - a total of approximately four to five years.

Additionally, even with proper treatment and two years of waiting, depending on the parent shell's health condition, 10-20% will fail.

Well, even so, it's still incomparably more efficient than searching for natural pearls.

When I was thinking about how to solve this problem, I suddenly remembered.

'Now that I think about it, when White and Black Magic Butterfly Shells appeared as enemies in Tokirera, they recovered when hit with water and ice attribute attacks. Plus, pearls in this world contain some magical power... Maybe if I channel water and ice attribute magical power, pearls would form faster?'

Thinking it was worth trying, I told Sandra the hypothesis while keeping 'Tokirera' secret, and she said 'That sounds interesting. Let's try it.'

And the result of repeatedly channeling magical power into shells is this.

"Phew... It's done. Please verify."

"Understood. Let me check again."

The 'Black Magic Butterfly Shell' infused with magical power is delivered to Shia through Capella.

As before, he carefully examines the parent shell.

"...Again, nothing has changed in appearance either."

Muttering this, he picks up the small knife and pries open the shell.

Soon, Shia's eyes widen greatly.

"...Magnificent. A splendid black pearl."

Shia's eyes sparkle as he raises the black pearl in his hand to the sky.

I'm glad he's pleased.

Just as I think that, he soon starts and looks at me.

"Even one of these alone would generate considerable profit, yet you looked past this and proposed a scheme that would generate even more enormous profits? What a fearsome prodigy."

"Ahaha... I'm honored by your praise."

If we sold them only through Baldia and the Christina Trading Company, they would generate considerable profit, but if we sold them without thinking, there would definitely be interference from others, and we'd attract unnecessary envy.

Precisely because they generate enormous profits, it's better to proceed with the cooperation of influential people.

Though I haven't told Shia and Vene yet, even though we're channeling magical power into the shells, too much or too little will cause failure.

If it's too little, the shell will quietly die without us noticing.

Conversely, if magical power infusion is excessive, caution is needed.

After all, cracks appear all over the shell's exterior, it starts trembling, and then suddenly explodes, causing a disaster with fine shell fragments scattering everywhere.

If I call it a natural hand grenade, that should convey the danger.

If it weren't for the magical barrier that time, it would have been truly dangerous.

Smiling wryly and scratching my cheek at the past event replaying in my mind, I clear my throat and speak formally.

"Now then, Lord Shia. Will you trust me and Baldia now?"

When I narrow my eyes and ask, Shia's expression turns serious.

"If pearls that appear in maybe one out of a thousand opened shells emerged twice consecutively with Lord Rid's treatment, there's no room for doubt. The sea information needed for shell cultivation, persuading the influential members, everything necessary - I leave it all to you."

Saying this, Shia stands up, comes to my side, and extends his right hand.

"Lord Rid. Once again, I'm counting on you from now on."

"Yes. Likewise, I look forward to working with you."

Standing up from my seat, I firmly grasp his hand in return.

This should have greatly strengthened our relationship with the Rabbit Tribe territory, so the subsequent talks should also be friendly and lead to mutually better results.

And you could say that new plans for the future have also been set in motion.

Confident of the talks' success, I feel relieved that no more problems should occur.