As we crossed the streets, I checked behind me and noticed how tense the children were. I sighed and stopped our march.
“No need to be so anxious. What happened to me… has ended, so it’s fine.”
They watched me cautiously. It was Orun who spoke first.
“Tila, you’re not upset anymore?”
I crouched in front of him and tried my best to smile.
“That’s right. I’m not upset anymore.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Hehe.”
He smiled back, and I felt the urge to pat his head. I only restrained myself because I knew Erin hated it when anyone touched him.
“How was your first magic lesson, Orun?”
“I didn’t understand anything!”
I chuckled.
“Haha, is that so? That’s fine. You can take your time and learn slowly.”
I looked up at the two other siblings.
“What about you two?”
They hesitated for a moment more before Aren opened his mouth.
“It was harder than I expected.”
Erin stayed silent, but I could see she thought the same. I stood up while nodding at them.
“That’s right. You must understand now. It’s almost impossible to rank up without receiving some teachings.”
Aren nodded, and I went on.
“The world is an unfair place. If you’re born to parents who can teach you or have enough money to pay for your education, you’ll be able to rank up and live for much longer. But if you have none of this, you’re condemned to stay at rank 0, at the bottom. Of course, being rank 0 doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do. You can still learn other skills and try your best to get a job. It’s just that life is a lot more difficult.”
There was no need to tell them too much since they knew exactly what I was talking about.
Erin then frowned.
“What about you, then? Why are you still rank 0 when you have so much money?”
“It might be hard to believe, but in a way, I also started with almost nothing to my name. Everything I have now, I acquired recently through hard work. I’ll start increasing my rank from now on.”
As expected, they were surprised by my ‘confession’, which made me chuckle again.
“Did you think I was the son of some rich merchant or something? Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s not the case.”
They looked at one another before Erin shook her head.
“We’re not disappointed. Why don’t you learn magic with us?”
“I already acquired the information I need. It’s mostly self-training from now on. You’ll also be like this soon.”
Even though teaching contracts included checking on them twice a week after some time, it was mostly to see if they weren’t going in the wrong direction with their training, and to keep them motivated. It was very easy for the spirit to slip if someone was left to train alone for a long time.
Now that the children were more relaxed, we went to another martial center. I chose one close to both the inn and my shop, for convenience, which meant it was also located in the same opulent district. It was where the children of rich and powerful people were sent, which meant that the place was large, with high-quality teachers, and not just some random mercenaries. Of course, the price was also higher, but it wasn’t bad enough that I couldn’t afford it.
Now that this was taken care of, the next step was to check on Minsto’s progress. Since I was so busy, she had been taking care of most everything on the factory’s side. Not only was it now built, but the first three assembly lines were completed, too.
Another piece of great news was that the recruitment process for factory workers was coming to an end. The only thing left was to organize the people and start mass production. This was the theme of today’s meeting with her.
We met in her workshop, the place where she was the most comfortable these days.
“You’re here.”
Even though we had argued in the morning, none of that was reflected in her attitude, which was as calm as usual.
“Hi, Minsto. Sorry about this morning. I was still a bit upset.”
“I don’t mind. Let’s start quickly. I have a lot of work to do.”
“All right. Is everything going according to plan?”
“Yes. I have a few interviews in the afternoon, so you’ll need to teleport there. If it goes well, I’ll be done with recruitment today.”
“Did you hire a factory manager?”
“Yes. I don’t think it was necessary, but I did as you said.”
She still didn’t realize how bad she was at people management. At least, this would avoid part of the crisis, even though the factory manager would still have to report to her.
“How’s she?”
“She’s someone Fayin recommended, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Oh… Fayin’s amazing.”
“She’s good at networking. The next problem is raw materials. We’ll need a lot of them, and in constant supply. You said you’d take care of that part.”
“That’s right. I can get any material easily from Taifau, and it’s much cheaper than inside the domes. Leave that part to me.”
“You’re adding yet another task to your list, Tila.”
“I know, I know. Look, if we start making some good money, and we know exactly how many materials we need, I’ll hire someone to take care of that for me. I’ll just need to teleport the goods, and that’ll be it.”
“Fine. You said you also wanted to sell the products in the domes, but you didn’t start anything in that direction. What are you going to do about it?”
“Ugh… What about we… wait a bit for now? Start production a bit slower, to give time for the workers to adapt. When everything is streamlined, we can hire someone to manage the sales in the domes. What do you think?”
She stared at me for a long time, and it felt like she was telling me I was blabbering nonsense, even though her expression was as still as a windless lake’s surface.