The three rewards

 
 The woman, named Sofia, glanced at us with her bespectacled eyes and gave a short, businesslike bow, her hair tucked away behind her.
 
 “I’ve come, Your Majesty.”
 
 “Umu. I’ve kept you waiting, secretary.”
 
 His Majesty Conrad stood up and walked over to the woman.
 Otou-sama and I also got up, and immediately followed after His Majesty.
 
 “Let me introduce her. As I’ve said earlier, this is the daughter from the Westford Viscount, whom we have considered dispatching to support in Lady Ainsworth’s territory management.”
 
 Having been introduced by His Majesty, the woman this time did a proper curtsey.
 
 “I am Sofia Brixton, the second eldest daughter of Viscount Westford. I currently work as an administrative official in the Urban Development Department.”
 
 “I am Brad Ainsworth, and have been bestowed the title of Marquis Owleyes.”
 
 When Miss Sofia gave her greeting, my father was the first to respond.
 I also followed with a curtsey and gave my greeting.
 
 “I am Leticia Ainsworth, and have been given the title of Count Ainsworth. Please treat me well.^[1]”
 
 “…”
 
 Sofia stared intently at me as I returned to my former posture.
 A beat later, she replied 『Please treat me well』 and once more gave a short bow of her head.
 
 
 
 “Miss Sofia is particularly outstanding, even amongst the administrative officials in the castle. She’s been nominated as the Third Secretary^[2] from a young age. When looking for someone to place under the Lady’s command, several departments gave their recommendation for her.”
 
 “So, she must be very talented, huh.”
 
 When I raised a voice of admiration, His Majesty nodded, going 『yep, yep』.
 
 “As they’re meant to support the Lady, it would be meaningless if they were incompetent. More or less, I’ve had her come here as a candidate, but of course, if there’s someone else who’s good, that’s fine too. That person will be paid their salary by the royal family. ——— so what shall you do?”
 
 “I wonder…”
 
 In response to His Majesty’s question, I hesitated for a moment, and once again looked at Miss Sofia.
 
 Two eyes stared back at me, unperturbed.
 
 Recommendations from several departments, huh.
 I wonder, is it fine to take this at face value?
 
 
 
 In the male-dominated bureaucracy, female administrative officials are rare.
 
 Although the public stance is that the doors for the administrative officials’ examination are open to women too, our country still has a strong conservative way of thinking that 『women should marry and stay at home』, and so there aren’t that many female bureaucrats.
 
 In such a situation, she was appointed as the Third Secretary from a young age.
 Excluding the Bureau Director, she occupies the third seat in the bureau.
 As she’s been recommended by His Majesty as well, her ability in actual work is reliable.
 
 ——— However.
 I’m a bit stuck on the fact that she was recommended by several departments.
 
 I wonder, what does it actually mean for a different department to go out of their way to recommend someone?
 
 Is it that they’re just that good?
 Or perhaps…?
 
 I turned to His Majesty.
 
 “Your Majesty. May I speak with Miss Sofia later on, and also give my answer then?”
 
 “Of course. They’ll become your right-hand man. Therefore, whether they suit you or not is the most important thing. ——— then Secretary, sorry, but you’ll have to wait in the waiting room once again.”
 
 “Understood.”
 
 Miss Sofia bowed, then left the room.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 I returned to the sofa once again, and His Majesty had two more 『rewards』 remaining to give.
 
 “The first, is this.”
 
 His Majesty opened a drawer and took out a jewel box decorated with metalwork and gems.
 
 “It’s because this time’s matter was a request from the royal family. I thought to hand over a reward not from the country, but from the royal family. ——— Now, open it.”
 
 Following His Majesty’s words, I opened the box.
 
 “This is…!”
 
 Lying in there was a stone filled with clear blue light… a magic stone inlaid into a pendant.
 
 “May I hold it?”
 
 “Of course.”
 
 I picked up that pendant.
 
 A strong magic power was conveyed to the palm of my hand.
 That power was intensely clear, with calm stability like that of a lake.
 
 “-… I’ve never seen a magic stone of such purity.”
 
 Seeing me surprised, His Majesty said 『that’s right, that’s right』 while grinning.
 
 “Moreover, it shouldn’t be possible for anyone to raise the magic power density this far in a stable condition!”
 
 “I’m sure that’s true.”
 
 His Majesty nodded, pleased.
 
 
 
 Generally speaking, the purer and larger the magic stone, the more magic power it can store.
 
 In the case of magic stones in nature, the stone itself originally holds roughly half its maximum capacity.
 When magic power is artificially poured in from there, it’s said that it can increase up to 80%.
 
 However, most magic stones sold commercially don’t have magic power added.
 
 The shops that sell inferior goods sell their magic stones the same as it was collected.
 Even with shops that sell proper magic stones, such as the Ainsworth Workshop, most of them get lined up in the shop after only going so far as getting stabilisation treatment.
 
 Items with magic power added to them are limited to special products, such as gifts and ornaments.
 
 Why is that?
 This is mainly due to the cost and labour it takes to inject magic power, and also because the risk is great.
 
 In order to inject magic power into a magic stone, the magic power must be injected evenly and with considerable pressure, and if the balance of magic is lost during supplementation, the magic stone may explode in the worst case.
 
 This work is basically manual, and can only be carried out by those who have a large amount of magical power and are skilled in manipulating magic power.
 
 Even if the magic injection is successfully completed, if the magic inside is not stable enough, it will be dangerous and could explode with the slightest shock.
 
 This is the reason why the obtaining of magic stone mainly relies on mining in magic stone mines and collecting it from defeated demons.
 
 It doesn’t mean that they cannot be recycled.
 But that work is dangerous, limited to certain people, and takes too much time and effort.
 
 Even now, magic stones are scarce and are sold at a high price.
 
 If in the future, magic tools become more popular and magic stones get consumed in large quantities, the resource problem will become more apparent and recycling will become a major issue.
 
 
 
 “…”
 
 Setting that aside.
 
 The pendant in my hand is inlaid with a magic stone the size of my thumb.
 
 In terms of size, it’s about the size of the small-type magic stone used in the magic rifle, and I think it’s just about the right size to be used in ornaments.
 
 The problem though, is that the magic stone conveys an unusual 『weight』 of magic power.
 
 Magic power of such a high density and in such a large amount that would normally fit only if it were ten times larger.
 I had never seen such a pure magic stone that could withstand this amount of magic power.
 
 What is even more surprising is that the magic stone maintains such a high density of magic power in a stable manner.
 There shouldn’t be anyone with enough skill to stabilise magic power of such a high density.
 
 By some possibility, perhaps I could pull it off.^[3]
 
 But, it’d be tricky for Otou-sama and my Onii-samas, who are unfamiliar with delicate magic power control.
 
 I wonder, who on earth filled and stabilised this magic stone?
 
 
 
 “Hmmm…”
 
 As I was pondering while turning the pendant over and observing it, Otou-sama, who peered at it from the side, suddenly opened his mouth.
 
 “Your Majesty. Is this pendant by any chance the 『Drop of Still Lake』^[4]?”
 
 Hearing my father’s words, His Majesty chuckled.
 
 “As expected of the family head, Sir Owleyes. ——— That’s correct. This is the 『Drop of Still Lake』.”
 
 “I knew it…!”
 
 Otou-sama opened his eyes wide.
 
 “Otou-sama, you know of this pendant?”
 
 In response to my question, my father nodded deeply.
 
 “Yeah, I certainly know about it. The 『Drop of Still Lake』 was what my grandfather… your great-grand Papa went and presented as a processed magic stone requested from the kingdom at that time.”
 
 “Great-grand Papa-sama^[5]… is it that Joachim-sama, the one who developed the magic stove and ice room, as well as the magic motor vehicle?”^[6]
 
 “That’s right. You know a lot.”^[7]
 
 Otou-sama stared in amazement.
 
 “I heard it from my Onii-sama’s, that he was a man who went above and beyond in various ways.”
 
 “Ah, so you heard it from those kids, huh.”
 
 My father nodded in understanding.
 
 
 
 My great-grandfather, Joachim Ainsworth, is said to have been one of the three greatest magic-tool specialists of our Family in history.
 
 Although he is scowled at by his current relatives as 『the fool who incurred a hefty debt and ruined the Family』.
 
 In fact, in order for Grandfather to pay back Great-Grandfather’s debt, he had no choice but to sell the design and production technique for the magic armaments^[8] to the Royal Magic Armoury.
 
 He was the person who cued for the Ainsworth Family to give up on developing new magic tools, and instead converting the family business to contracting the Owleyes Knights Order for demon subjugations.
 
 From one point of view, he was a 『genius ahead of his time』.
 From another viewpoint, he was 『a fool who ruined the Family with debt』.
 
 His good and bad balance each other out.
 
 But, well, if it was that Joachim-sama, then I’d agree it’s possible to inject and stabilise magic power to this degree.
 
 After all, my Great-Grandfather-sama was indeed a magnificent magic-tool specialist.
 
 
 
 Otou-sama continued his explanation.
 
 “That pendant was a gift from the king of that time to the queen when he proposed, who was a high-ranking magician. No one has seen it ever since she died…”
 
 “Well, that’s because it was lying in the castle’s treasury.”
 
 Hohoho, His Majesty laughed.
 
 “The treasury, you say… isn’t that a national treasure?! Is it really fine to give me such an important thing!?”
 
 When I was taken aback, His Majesty nodded with a gentle smile like some good-natured old man.
 
 “It’s fine. There’s no one in the current royal family who is suited to wear it, and more importantly, you have achieved that much. Accept it with pride. Besides, it would be best if it were useful for you in an emergency, rather than having it collect dust in the treasury.”
 
 Saying so, His majesty smiled, and I gave in.
 
 “If you insist that much… I’ll gratefully accept it.”
 
 “Umu. If you need it, don’t hesitate to use it.”
 
 “Understood.”
 
 I bowed my head right on the spot.
 
 
 ☆
 
 
 “Now then. The final reward, is this.”
 
 His Majesty went and fetched a single document from the office desk and spread it on the table.
 
 Otou-sama and I peered at that page.
 
 “Uhh… a 『Lending Contract』, is it?”
 
 As I read the document title, His Majesty nodded.
 
 “You know that all the magic stone mines within the country are owned by the royal family, right?”
 
 “Of course.”
 
 As His Majesty said, all the magic stone mines within the country are owned by the royal family.
 
 This is a policy with the aim of regulating the price and circulation of magic stones, which are a precious resource.
 At the same time, it also has the intention of avoiding fights between territories over ownership of the mines.
 
 Of course, mines are scattered around various territories, so the mountains alone are treated as detached territories, and an arrangement is set in place to pay a portion of the mining profits to that territory.
 
 By the way, the Owleyes territory also has just one mine, and our Family has a history of buying and processing the magic stones produced by that mountain.
 
 
 
 As I was recalling this, I once again looked down to read the long-winded text.
 
 And then, His Majesty said simply what was written there.
 
 “Various things are written there, but in short, the mining rights for the magic stone mine in the Owleyes territory will be loaned to Lady Ainsworth, is what it says.”
 
 ““Huh?””
 
 At the exact same time, Otou-sama and I let out hysteric voices for the first time since the peerage award ceremony.