Chapter 396: Eating Lunch

Fabienne chose matching earrings for me. It seemed she had intended this from the beginning. While her earrings featured large blue gemstones, mine had smaller ones.

“This won’t get in the way. Thank you, Fabienne. I’ll treasure it.”

“Not at all. That said, since I wasn’t the one who paid for it, I have mixed feelings about it.”

Fabienne furrowed her brows as much as possible, making an incredibly pitiful face. To cheer her up, I lifted her cheeks and gently poked them. Her eyes widened in surprise, and her cheeks flushed red.

“J-Julius-sama…”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m just happy that you picked it for me.”

Fabienne’s face turned bright red. Maybe I went a little too far? Slightly flustered, I glanced around and saw that quite a few people were watching us. Yeah… I should have considered the time and place.

I hurriedly tried to hide the blushing Fabienne.

“Hehe, you two get along well. Now, let’s go pay.”

Led by my smiling parents, we headed to the cashier. Seeing how affectionate we were, my parents seemed relieved.

After the jewelry store, it was time for lunch. We decided to eat at a restaurant that had recently expanded from the royal capital.

…Is this a hamburger?

“There’s a big piece of meat in the middle.”

“Hmm. It’s different from a sandwich, but it seems to have a much richer flavor. Still, it’s quite satisfying, and I like it.”

My lovebird parents were happily eating. If only there were fries and cola, it would have been perfect. Come to think of it, fried potatoes don’t seem to be a thing here. Maybe I should suggest it to the head chef when I get back?

Looking closely, there’s no cheese in the burger either. Such a shame. The taste is amazing, though.

“It might have been even better with cheese.”

“I see, melted cheese would likely pair well with this.”

When I made the suggestion to Alex-niisan, he seemed to think it was a good idea. Meanwhile, Rosalia and Mira were both eating enthusiastically, with sauce smeared on their cheeks. Siblings, huh? Fabienne, acting like a proper older sister, gently wiped their mouths.

Nearby, a staff member was jotting something down with a pencil. Ah, they’re using Heine Trading Company’s products. Good, good. Alex-niisan also seemed to notice and watched with a content expression.

“Looks like a lot of people are using them.”

“Is production keeping up?”

“For now, yes. But when summer vacation comes, and more people visit the Heine Count’s territory, it might get tough. We can’t just hire extra people temporarily, after all.”

Alex-niisan furrowed his brows in concern. Maybe we should improve our tools for mass production? Or should we industrialize it? We have magic stones as an energy source, so it should be doable… but maybe it’s still too soon.

Since our father had plans in the afternoon, we returned to the mansion immediately after lunch. Alex-niisan seemed to have planned to take the day off, but he was still concerned about the trading company. Saying he was going for a walk, he left with his guards.

Since we didn’t have any particular plans, we decided to start polishing the raw stones we had purchased. When I quickly built a polishing machine in the workshop, everyone was surprised. Well, as long as you know how to make it, it’s not that hard.

“Um, Julius-sama… I don’t even know what to say…”

“I had no idea how you even made that.”

“Well, it’s not like we’re going to sell polishing machines, so you don’t have to remember how to make one.”

Ignoring the stunned expressions of Fabienne and Rosalia, I proceeded to check if the polishing machine worked properly. With a quiet whirring sound, the file began to rotate. It seemed to be functioning without any problems.

Next, we moved on to checking the magic crystals we had bought. Since they were black in color, it was difficult to distinguish them from unwanted minerals. I decided to imbue them with magic to change their color.

“Julius-sama, does the color really change when you infuse magic into it?”

“Yes, do you want to try?”

I handed one to Fabienne so she could try it herself. Though skeptical, she infused it with magic. Of course, I had taught her how to do it beforehand. Gradually, the color of the magic crystal shifted to blue.

“It really changed color! I feel like I can still infuse more magic into it.”

“Fabienne, your strongest attribute must be water. You can determine it based on the color.”

“Oniisan, I want to try too!”

Leaving behind Fabienne, who was staring at the magic crystal in fascination, I handed one to Rosalia. She had been listening when I taught Fabienne how to infuse magic, so she immediately began doing it without needing further instruction. The color of the magic crystal gradually shifted.

“It’s green.”

“Green represents wind magic. So, Rosalia’s strongest attribute is wind. Nero, do you want to try too?”

Nero, who had been peering at the crystals with great curiosity, also gave it a shot. Just like Rosalia, his crystal turned green. It seemed that wind magic was his strongest attribute as well. Wind magic is quite versatile, so personally, I consider it a lucky trait to have.

“Julius-sama, what color did yours change to?”

“Uh…”

It was a natural question. I hesitated for a moment, wondering whether I should say it or not, but Rosalia answered before I could. And she did so with great pride, puffing out her chest.

“Oniisan’s was seven-colored!”

“Seven-colored?”

“Ahaha, yeah, it’s true.”

“Seven-colored… No way…”

“Yeah. That ‘no way’ is exactly what it is. I’m proficient in all attributes.”

“That’s… unbelievable…”

Fabienne looked at me in complete disbelief. Her expression clearly said, “This isn’t just rare, this is completely absurd!”

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