Chapter 54

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 54

Chapter Title: Safety Rules of the Haunted Duke's Castle 2nd Special Edition, and Thermos Inspired by Heroine Nadia Release!

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The Safety Rules of the Haunted Duke's Castle 2nd Special Edition dropped, along with a thermos modeled after the heroine Nadia!

The thermos launched smoothly and claimed a full page in the Imperial Gazette.

Of course, it'd be great if it sold like hotcakes!

But my top priority was popping the market bubble and making sure no one got scammed.

That's why I sent one straight to Baron Pavron the moment they hit the shelves...

I stared blankly at the mage bowing before me.

A mage from the Magic Tower, out of nowhere? What did he want with me?

Before I could shake off my confusion, the weary-looking mage bent even lower, pleading with me.

"Lady, please... spare us."

I'd dragged myself out of bed at the crack of dawn and was already exhausted, so this early morning intrusion left me flustered.

"Pardon? Spare you...? What on earth are you talking about?"

Was I unknowingly plotting their demise or something?

"It's just..."

He paused briefly before speaking up again.

"The Magic Tower is swarming with merchants—and even regular folks now."

"Pardon? Why...?"

Wasn't the Magic Tower always open to tourists?

The mage continued, filling in my puzzled expression.

"People visiting the Tower isn't the issue. It's that they're constantly demanding the Nadia Edition, day and night."

"But hasn't the Nadia Edition already launched? I thought the Tower was doing everything possible to ramp up production."

The letter from the Magic Tower had arrived with the newspaper, all good news about things progressing smoothly. This made it even harder to understand.

"That's not it."

The mage began explaining in a somber tone.

The trouble started right after the Nadia Edition release.

Suddenly, crowds gathered, blocking the Tower's entrance and cutting off the mages' contact with the outside world.

Any mage who showed their face got hounded for thermoses. They couldn't take it anymore.

"The Tower Master said we couldn't burden our benefactor with this...

Tears welled up in his eyes, clear and glistening.

"But seeing our Tower Master, advanced in years, stuck inside without even going home for three days straight... it broke my heart. Please, help us out...!"

"Oh..."

An elderly person, trapped without even returning home.

I let out a sympathetic sigh and propped my chin on my hand out of habit.

Truth be told, piecing it together, I had a pretty good idea why this was happening.

For anyone who remembered the tumbler frenzy, this was a golden opportunity.

Naturally, merchant guilds would zero in on the surging demand.

I couldn't swear there weren't folks diverting stock or hoarding during distribution.

Which meant...

No matter how firmly we announced ongoing sales, initial supply couldn't keep up with demand.

This whole thing was to quell the frenzy—I'd barely convinced the Empress for that. If it backfired, all my efforts were for nothing.

Having thought it through, I asked the mage cautiously.

"Could you maybe increase production...?"

"On the Tower Master's orders, every mage is dedicated to crafting Partanium thermoses. Supply's steady, but distribution speed is the bottleneck."

"Then..."

"No one's handling customs clearances or paperwork for shipments everywhere. It's backed up..."

This was worlds apart from the limited 100-unit run.

The sudden crisis gave me a throbbing headache.

I should consult the Duke.

But he'd been buried in work lately, nowhere to be seen.

As I hesitated, unsure what to do, the door flew open without a sound or knock.

"Huh?"

Incredibly, there stood the very person I'd just thought of.

"D-Duke?"

"...We have a problem."

The Duke always followed protocol, even in a rush—no way he'd skip knocking unless something big was up.

His grim tone alone screamed trouble.

"What kind of problem...?"

Looking closer, he didn't seem fine either.

Dark circles under his eyes like bruises... utterly drained, I guess.

His skin had that healthy glow after the blackout curtains, though?

"Overseas letters flooding our house have ground normal operations to a halt."

"Overseas...?"

...Wait. No way?

I shot him a look that screamed It can't be..., but his eyes said it all.

"Every single one—from people connected through a friend of a friend of a friend, names I've never even heard of—is about the Nadia Edition."

Uh, um.

Bottom line: the Nadia Edition launch sparked even fiercer competition...

My mind reeled, face paling as I struggled to process it.

Ah, it's been ages.

Since I last felt this royally screwed.

"Ahem, ahem. So this is the Nadia Edition...?"

Baron Pavron nodded at his wife's question, spooning her some warm soup.

"Yes, just as you hoped. It has some truly remarkable features."

"Must've been hard to get. Ahem, ahem! Thank you so much, dear."

"...Not at all, my love. It's the least a husband can do."

He lingered by her bedside long after she drifted off, rising only as dusk began to fall.

Stepping out of the warmly lit room, the stark emptiness of the house hit him.

The baron's home was near the capital but on a pitiful scrap of land hardly worth calling an estate.

The modest mansion lacked staff, so the couple lived in the annex, not the main house.

Everything had worn down over time, furniture mismatched like scavenged junk.

Yet the baron didn't find it odd.

He knew full well how poor he was.

And that he'd brought it on himself.

"Sigh..."

He pulled cheap liquor from the cupboard and poured himself a glass, drinking alone.

Downing a full one, he bit his lip, face etched with worry.

We're at the end of our rope.

He could no longer deny that his stubbornness had delayed his wife's treatment.

He was the family outcast, cast off for defying them to marry her.

Once the parents' golden child, now estranged, barely in touch.

"James, do you really mean to defy your mother's command?!"

"Yes, I'm done with it! Done with you, Mother—done with this money-grubbing family!"

Between his pride and his wife, she'd win every time.

Bend his pride, and the Empire's finest doctors could treat her.

But...

Fear crept onto the baron's slumping shoulders.

If I did, Elena would surely get hurt.

What good was healing her body if her heart broke?

He could vividly picture his family scorning and wounding her over her background.

And that terrified Baron Pavron.

His hand trembled faintly as he lifted the brimming glass again.