Chapter 620: A Cool Gramophone, Please

I resumed breakfast, still feeling vaguely dissatisfied that my performances would be placed on the gramophones for Their Majesties. This time, Rosalia began giving us her report.

“Brother Alex’s gramophone is complete as well. I shall bring it here as soon as breakfast is over.”

“You’ve finished it already? Thank you, Rosalia. I’m really looking forward to seeing it. I’ll have to take it straight to the trading company and show it off to everyone.”

Rosalia beamed at Brother Alex’s words. I was glad he liked it. With that, she had successfully completed gramophones for both Mother and Brother Alex.

That was certainly cause for celebration, but it also meant Rosalia would have nothing left to occupy her.

Oh, I knew.

“Rosalia, could you make Father’s gramophone too? I’m rather busy at the moment, and at this rate I may keep him waiting.”

“Erm, I…”

Rosalia kept glancing towards Father, apparently wondering whether she was truly allowed to make it.

There was no need to worry. Deep down, Father surely wanted Rosalia to make his gramophone too.

“Julius has magic potions to prepare as well,” Father said. “Rosalia, would you make mine in his place?”

“Leave it to me!”

Rosalia broke into a brilliant grin, delighted that she could make another gramophone. Perhaps I should ask her to make Sister-in-law Daniela’s too? No, that would be going too far.

Her Majesty’s gramophone was already complete, so I could begin making a new one as well. Leaving absolutely everything to Rosalia would undermine my dignity as her elder brother. I wanted to remain a dependable brother in her eyes.

“Rosalia, could you record the music from your gramophone onto Her Majesty’s?”

“Certainly. While it records, I shall work on the design for Father’s gramophone.”

We couldn’t make anything noisy during a recording, so that was a sensible decision. Rosalia was supposed to study this morning, and the recording period was a convenient time for her to do so.

“I have a design I was considering, so I’ll give it to you in case it proves useful.”

“Rosalia, please make me a cool gramophone,” Father said. “I want to show mine off to everyone too.”

“Of course!”

Realising what I intended, Father made the request with a smile. Rosalia generally preferred cute things, so her designs often featured adorable animals. Even Brother Alex’s gramophone had little animals peeking out here and there, although he didn’t appear to mind.

After breakfast, I exercised for a while before going to collect Lady Fabienne. It would have been impolite to visit the Ambert estate too early; mornings were busy in every household. I had told Lady Fabienne yesterday that I would arrive a little later today, so I was able to invite her back to the House Heine estate without incident.

“This morning, I plan to inspect the clover field. Naturally, I’ll take everyone else with us.”

“They did seem rather restless with curiosity yesterday. Since we shall need their help from now on as well, I believe that’s an excellent idea.”

As soon as we reached the compounding room, I invited everyone to the clover field. Naturally, we brought all the Rapid Growth No. 2 that had been completed yesterday. The field was enormous. Treating the entire area in a single day would be difficult.

“So this is the clover field. I never expected the soil to have been tilled already.”

“It’s remarkably large. I suppose that shows just how difficult Holy Clover is to obtain.”

Everyone analysed the site with serious expressions. They were right. The book of magic potions I had inherited from Grandmother contained no formula using Holy Clover. Perhaps she hadn’t known how to use it—or perhaps she had been unable to find any.

Privately, I suspected the latter. I had never seen it in the forest either.

“That area over there’s where we applied Rapid Growth No. 2 yesterday.”

As I explained, Lady Fabienne, who had gone ahead to inspect it, came trotting back towards us. She looked rather pleased.

“Lord Julius, the soil appears to have properly absorbed mana.”

“Let’s see… You’re right. It seems the first stage was a success. That makes me want to plant the clover seedlings as soon as possible. Perhaps I should hurry Lionel along.”

The soil where we had applied Rapid Growth No. 2 was clearly a different colour from the rest. It resembled leaf mould, even though we hadn’t spread any there.

Everyone picked up handfuls and examined it.

“It certainly feels as though it contains mana, although only a little,” one of the Royal Magic Pharmacists said. “Would increasing the concentration not allow us to grow more Holy Clover?”

“That may be possible, but I’m concerned that the field might turn into monster territory.”

“Monster territory… Yes, the accepted theory is that such regions form where mana stagnates more heavily than elsewhere.”