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Seeing Koni trying to say something in return, Savine sighed.

"Just pull your shirt a bit," Savine said impatiently.

"Wait, seriously?"

"Just do as I say."

Hearing something strange and authoritative from the girl's mouth, Koni suddenly looked flustered. He then panickily pulled up his shirt as he stared at the brand in Zuri's hand.

"Go up to him, and press the brand to his abdomen," Savine said. "Put it just below his navel."

Zuri looked confused, but she still obliged.

When the brand reached Koni's belly, though it was cold, a hissing sound came out of the contact. Koni was startled at the sudden sound, but he didn't pull himself away. He only stared at the brand with confusion in his eyes.

"Pull it off," Savine said.

When Zuri obliged, a blue mark could be seen on Koni's body. It glowed brightly for a few seconds before disappearing out of sight.

"You'll feel the effects by tomorrow. You can wait till then to see its effects or you can do it now."

"Ah..." Eventually, he spoke up. "Please, I'll brand them now. But we'll have to wait until evening when the flock comes back."

Savine sighed again and gave him the brand. "We'll entrust this to you. Brand only the females, since the mana stones infused into the brand wouldn't be enough for all your flock. Just shear the wool off their bellies and press the brand to it.

Also, keep it a secret that you were branded. Don't tell your sons, friends, whatever. And never brand your wife. She'll die."

Koni was startled and looked down at where he was branded.

"You'll be fine. It's only deadly for women." Savine shrugged. "After you're finished with branding your own animals, go to the other animal owners and brand theirs as well. When there's no one left, bring the brand to the temple. Did you get that all?"

"Alright, girl, I'll do as you say."

Savine sighed and pressed her Vasa to the brand again, making it glow slightly. "If this brand touches another human, I'll know. And if you somehow lose it, then Eliseline here will come to chop your head off, do you understand?"

Koni was startled, listening to Savine's emotionless, no-nonsense voice describing his own murder. Eliseline could even see him starting to sweat a little before he gulped loudly. He must've tried to think that Savine wasn't serious, but with how the girl spoke, it was hard to convince oneself of that.

"I understand… Lord Mage."

"Good," she nodded with irritation and turned to the carriage. "Let's go back."

Though it was natural for Zuri to follow along, Eliseline also found herself meekly following behind the little girl.

The ride back to the temple was silent. Savine was sleeping once again, while Zuri and Eliseline sat there like strangers. When they reached home, Savine dragged Zuri into her room, and Eliseline changed into her High Priest's garbs and headed to the ducal residence. She picked up the magic tool that Savine worked on in the morning.

Bowing back to the servants on her way, Eliseline arrived at the duke's room. She knocked on it three times before opening the door.

"Hey, Lucy," she greeted.

"Yeah."

As always, Lucius sat buried under documents, today's batch especially bad, since he didn't even look up towards Eliseline. She felt bad for the extra headache she was about to put on his head.

"I came to report about Savine."

The name triggered something in Lucius and his neck jumped off the document he was reading. He stared at Eliseline as if he just noticed her standing in the room.

"…Can you get me a coffee? No, tea… No, coffee. Put less beans in it, thanks."

Eliseline opened the door slightly and whispered.

"A runny coffee and a cup of tea."

"Yes, madam," the servant replied and walked off.

"Busy day?"

"Yes… There's a lot of nobles who are curious about the new countling, since she's under our management."

"What? Who leaked her existence?"

"Ugh, it was me," Lucius groaned. "Should've told the citizenship manager to keep his damn mouth quiet… I wanted to keep her away from the public eye, but now I suppose we must hold a tea party of some sort to debut her."

"Little Julius's birthday party is happening a month later, right? Why not debut her then?"

"Nooo, no. I don't want to ruin my son's birthday party because of that little spawn of evil."

"But if you do it during your son's party, the nobles will be less likely to approach her, no? After all, they wouldn't want to steal the spotlight from Julius."

Lucius thought about the idea for a bit before shaking his head. "I'll think about it."

"Aside from them letters, is the rest of your work fine?" Eliseline asked.

"Ugh, we lack money. Though the people like to say the ducal family was barely punished because no one was executed, they somehow forget about the 30000 gold we must pay off. The more I try, the more I fear we'll be stuck with these debts for the next three generations."

Eliseline grimaced.

'Should I tell him about Savine's plans? …I'll tell him the safer version first.'

"We decided to send some samples of magic tools to the Head Temple to ask if we can sell them in their name."

"That girl's inventions?"

"Yes."

Lucius scoffed. "Do they really work?"

Eliseline gave Lucius the magic handlight.

"This? Isn't this a magic handlight?" Lucius asked.

But when he pressed the tool's button and saw the light brightening up the entire room, his face went through a dramatic change.

"What? Why is it so bright? What is this?"

"It's a magic handlight prepared by her," Eliseline said.

She then removed the Registrar's cell and showed it to Lucius.

"I've sliced it open as much as I could, but without damaging the Registrar, but the only thing I could infer was that there was a thin piece of metal that is burning at incredible heats, hovering in the middle of the Registrar."

"But that would-"

"Yes, you're right," Eliseline said. "This thing should burn to cinders. But for some reason, it doesn't. I then tried to go into the Registrar, but the metal just fell on the table and then burned into nothingness."

Lucius stared at the Registrar. He soon scoffed and seemingly decided to ignore it.

"So we're sending these to the temple?"

Eliseline sighed. "Probably not. Savine asked for blacksmiths and woodworkers and lots and lots of Registrars. I think she's trying to make different tools."

"Like what?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Yes. But she did say that the registrars she will work on will only require new mages to supply it with mana. They don't have to recast the spell from scratch."

"Wait that's possible?" Lucius groaned.

"According to her, yes. But that's not the only thing she did today."

Quickly but meticulously, Eliseline reported on everything Savine said and did today. Lucius's already furrowed face was turning uglier by the second and when Eliseline finally mentioned Savine's plan to make products in the slums and selling them while passing them off as products from the Magicracy, he finally exploded.

"No! The little devil's been here for a day only and now she wants to run the whole duchy?!"

Eliseline listened to his words and realized it was true. She was literally getting involved in everything she could, the craftsmen, the farmers, the temple and even the slums. The only thing out of her reach was the nobility, but that, too, would change when she debuted.

What was even more confusing was that she didn't feel as if the thought was ridiculous at all. It felt like that was the natural thing to think of.

"But her idea might be worth-"

"I said no!" Lucius shouted. "Did you forget about what negotiating with them lead to? Give them an inch and they'll take the whole damn duchy! Shit… I should've never involved myself with them! What do you think will happen when you get those greedy rebels and that devil's spawn together in one room?"

Eliseline sighed. Lucius was right. She knew it especially because she spent the so much time together with Savine. It was possible for God's Chosen to give the slums a weapon or a method powerful enough to affect the current status quo. It wouldn't even take her much effort. A passing idea in her head would be strong enough to give the duchy a run for their money.

"Elise, you must keep your eyes on that girl at all times. You can never allow her to do as she wants here."

"I understand."

***