Fostering the Male Lead

“It’s been a while, Baron.”

“…Yes.”

The Baron’s face, which remained calm no matter what, cracked when I reciprocated his greetings and used honorifics. He was suspicious of my sudden weird behavior and wondered what kind of tricks I had up my sleeves this time. Of course, as a great vassal, he didn’t show any of this, but I could tell what he was thinking.

“There’s also a wolf you haven’t met yet.”

“Grrrrr.”

“This is the guy that I’m raising these days.”

‘Shh, you have to be quiet.’ Shasha closed his mouth as I whispered and tugged his leash. But he kept staring at the Baron vigilantly.

“He’s cute, isn’t he?”

“… Huh, yes.”

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It was so obvious that he was answering reluctantly. The expression on his grim face was a common sight.

‘You must be thinking that a crazy princess is now raising a dog that resembles her.’

It was so obvious. The outsiders always looked at me like that. But unlike them, the experienced Baron quickly removed his thoughts from his face.

“Young Master, I have something to tell you about the mine you mentioned the other day.”

The Baron held something in his arms and put it on the table. It was a black stone with an uneven surface.

‘Oh, is it really that?’

The stone felt familiar to me so I picked it up and took a closer look.

It was light, yet hard enough that it didn’t break easily. It was cold to the touch, as if it was ice. Yet it was a stone I knew very well.

“The diamonds you were looking for were last reported a week ago. There are only stones like this left.”

“What a waste!”

Lanoa clicked his tongue in disappointment.

‘The mood here is like a house in mourning.’

I tilted my head, feeling the heavy atmosphere between the two.

“Why?”

“It’s a useless stone.”

“What nonsense are you saying! It’s a mana stone. You would make a lot of fortune with it.”

Even if it was a bit small, it would be worth a lot. As I was rolling the mana stone in my hand, I raised my head feeling the piercing gazes. Two pairs of eyes stared at me intently.

“A mana stone?”

“You say it’s a mana stone?”

‘Huh…? Wait a minute, don’t they know it’s a mana stone? I think I brought up something wrong again….’

In the original plot, the duchy was famous for its mana stones, so I thought they would know about it. But at the same time, I didn’t know much about the existence of mana stones, let alone the famous ones.

“A mana stone is a jewel that shines with a blue light.”

“Mana stones are processed stones, while this is a raw stone.”

Just as the Baron said, a mana stone was a smooth jewel with a subtle blue light. But because it was a processed stone, one would need to break the hard shell of the raw stone, before grinding and polishing it to make it smooth.

The gemstone that I was holding was an ugly stone.

It had the same characteristics as the one I had read in the original book. If you weren’t a wizard, there was no chance anyone would know if the jewel was a mana stone. Even nobles who knew about its existence had a hard time distinguishing it. Moreover, it was much harder for the Katzel family as they were very far from magic. The Baron asked as if he couldn’t believe what I was saying.

“How do you know about it?”

“I’ve seen it.”

“Where? There’s no way you would be interested in this sort of thing.”

At Lanoa’s question, I just quickly cooked up a story.

“The wizard I knew showed me.”

I used an unknown wizard from Rosetta’s memory.

“Ah yes, there was a wizard Young Lady had sponsored last year.”

The Baron successfully bit the bait I had just thrown.

“He showed it to me, boasting that it was a rare gemstone. I’m sure. It looks just the same as that one. Though, this is bigger.”

This answer was much more plausible than saying the stuff I knew from the book.

Because Rosetta wasn’t interested in magic at all.

She wasn’t the type to be interested in magic and wizardry. She would rather wield her sword a hundred times than waste her time on such things.

“If you don’t believe me, then you can check it.”

“I’ll do that.”