He recovered rather quickly from the stares of his father and the chief engineer, both of whom continued watching him intently with penetrating expressions that seemed capable of looking straight into his soul. Especially the old engineer, whose gaze was far sharper than Sieghard's.
In a way, he was certain the man had the advantage of age and experience, and it was precisely because of that that he had been able to see a little further than his father had noticed.
After a few seconds, the elderly engineer offered him a genuine smile and a respectful bow.
"My lord, I am Ludwig, a humble servant of your family. Your father asked me to verify the authenticity of these schematics," he said with a calm and respectful voice.
Rose returned the gesture with the same courtesy his father had instilled in him since he was a small child.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ludwig. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot of each other in the coming days."
He wasn't trying to be cryptic or anything of the sort. However, Ludwig interpreted that statement as further confirmation of his own theory: these designs had not come from a merchant of the Far East. No. They were too precise, too complete, and written in perfectly fluent German to have been the work of a simple trader.
At best, the heir might have transcribed the plans… but even that required a certain level of technical knowledge that very few nobles possessed, and even then, they would not have reached the quality he had before him.
This made him completely reconsider his perception of the boy: he no longer saw him as a sickly and idle youth, but as someone truly gifted whose long illness must have left him apathetic and withdrawn.
Of course, the cunning old man did not intend to reveal his internal thoughts. Instead, he simply returned an equally genuine smile.
"The pleasure is mine, my lord."
Seeing that his son and Ludwig seemed to get along—or at the very least showed no real hostility—brought a smile to Sieghard's face. He couldn't help but think that working side by side with the stubborn engineer would be very beneficial in helping his son mature a bit. Naturally, he had no idea that Rose was the original designer of the schematics. Even so, he decided to let them talk for a while without his presence.
He had never shown much interest in engineering; he found it incredibly tedious and technical, so he usually let Ludwig handle those matters with complete freedom.
"I'm quite busy with some administrative issues. I suggest you accompany Ludwig and answer any questions he might have, as best you can," his father ordered.
"Yes, Father," Rose replied, biting his tongue to resist the temptation to suggest helping him manage the territory better. He knew that comment would have been very poorly received and, honestly, he had no desire to antagonize him. In this era, heads rolled for less.
Once his father dismissed them and shut himself inside his study again, both men—the older and the younger—left in search of a more suitable place to discuss the important matters they needed to resolve.
"How about we go to the library? I'll have some servants bring us food and wine, and I promise I'll answer all your questions as best I can," Rose suggested.
Ludwig nodded with approval at the young man's suggestion, who was proving to be even more thoughtful than he had imagined. And although the old engineer was burning with curiosity to inquire about the true origin of the schematics, he chose to remain silent and followed the young lord toward the library.
Once there, and isolated from the rest of the castle, they enjoyed some food and wine while chatting about trivial matters during the first hour. Only afterward, when both were sufficiently drunk, did Ludwig decide to ask the question that had been troubling him most.
"So, tell me the truth, my lord… where did those schematics really come from?" the old man asked.
Had he been in his true body—with its enhanced physical condition and supernatural tolerance to human alcohol—Rose would likely have been sober enough to maintain his lie without issue. However, now he was drunk, and he couldn't help but assume that the old man had already deduced the true nature of the designs.
"I made them myself…" he admitted sincerely, with a faint hint of pride. He wasn't sure whether that pride came from the fact that this represented the first step toward the era of peace he intended to establish, or simply because it felt pleasant to create something with his own hands.
His statement drew a smile from the old engineer's face and confirmed what Rose already suspected: the man did not seem surprised in the slightest, nor did he make fun of the idea.
"Though I suppose you already knew that, of course," Rose added, which this time did leave the old engineer completely astonished.
The boy was, in simple terms… quite the crafty fox. At least, that was the only word Ludwig found suitable to describe him at that moment. He couldn't help wondering whether this was truly the weak and petty heir he had heard about, or if he had simply been hiding his real intelligence and personality until his near-death experience.
After taking a long sip of wine, the old engineer continued his questioning:
"Do you have more of these designs?"
Rose hummed softly to himself a couple of times before letting out a heavy sigh, as though he had been lost in thought all this time. After a moment, he finally gave an utterly ambiguous response:
"A few."
Ludwig nearly jumped with excitement upon hearing it. There was only one thing he truly enjoyed in life, and that was advancing the field of engineering. And to think that this boy—dismissed by so many as weak and petty—was actually an incredibly brilliant person… it felt almost rejuvenating.
However, just as the old man was about to stand from his chair, Rose raised a hand to signal that it wasn't necessary yet.
"I'll give you those designs in the near future, so that we can move forward and improve things as needed. For now, we need to focus on steelmaking, and for that we need the blast furnace and the Bessemer converter."
Ludwig was momentarily perplexed by the young man's reasoning; however, he soon understood what he meant. Certainly, the prospect of working with new designs was tempting, but investing in them required a level of funding the barony of Kufstein simply did not have at the moment. He would have to calm his enthusiasm and wait for the right time.
"So I suppose you have a plan," the old engineer asked.
Rose took another sip from his goblet before letting a smile spread across his face.
"How much do you think five tons of high-quality steel ingots are worth?"
As he had learned from his father, Rose answered the question with another question.
Although he certainly couldn't make the calculation precisely in his head, Ludwig didn't need to. Any idiot with the bare minimum knowledge of mathematics could realize that five tons of high-quality steel represented, at the very least, a small fortune. And upon understanding that, he finally grasped the young man's true intentions. The more steel produced, its value would eventually drop over time; with that conclusion, Rose's plan became clear.
"So you want to sell the first batch and use the profits to invest in mining?" the old man asked.
"More in agriculture, actually. I want to keep the price of steel artificially inflated for a while before we begin producing it in mass," Rose replied with a calmness that surprised Ludwig, considering his age. Of course, he would eventually invest in mining as well, but that was only one part of the process. The more control he had over the steel market, the better the results of his plan would be. Even so, the old engineer hadn't been too far from the truth, which only solidified Rose's opinion of him: without a doubt, he would be his most valuable ally in this endeavor.
"Once I can secure certain things, I'll focus on the mines. And when they're running at full capacity, the raw materials extracted from the mountains will be used mainly for my own industrial purposes. We'll sell any surplus we have, refined into ingots, and offer it to the Empire to continue funding the barony… Father isn't very good at that, as you can see for yourself," Rose explained, no longer able to keep to himself the thought that Sieghard was not exactly a great administrator.
Ludwig was left utterly stunned by what he was hearing. Iron itself was one of the most valuable and scarce goods in the Empire; most regions needed it constantly. And steel was even harder to produce, requiring a complex process and typically reserved for forging swords, spearheads, arrowheads, or—on rare occasions—armor for the nobility. The idea of there ever being a surplus of steel had never once crossed his mind, especially considering the barony's own needs.
Yet the young heir's ambitions were far greater than he had imagined. Rose intended to transform his family's resource-rich territory into the engine of its own sphere of influence, creating a monopolistic steel industry. And all of that while profiting from the surplus—sold at a price he himself admitted would be artificially high. Ludwig knew such an undertaking would take years, but he was also certain he would live long enough to witness the beginning of a new era… and enjoy it.
Of course, Rose had not revealed all of his plans to the engineer; to begin with, he didn't even have them fully defined in his own mind. Even so, with just the partial information he had shared, Ludwig could see in the boy's eyes that he had envisioned a world the old man had never dared to dream of. Perhaps because of that, driven by a mix of excitement and respect, the old engineer extended his arm in a friendly gesture.
"Will you help me lead this barony into a new industrial age?" Rose asked.
Ludwig could hardly believe what he was hearing. The young man everyone described as petty and weak—rumors he had always accepted without question—was asking him for help. Him, a simple commoner, to create a unique steel industry in his family's lands. Although the boy's father had always valued his opinion, the old man was still looked down upon by many because of his humble origins.
And yet here was the baron's heir, hand extended, asking—not ordering—him to help in this monumental task. Ludwig couldn't stop the tears from beginning to well up in his eyes. Deep inside, he wanted those rumors about the young lord to be false.
With that thought in mind, he took Rose's hand and shook it firmly.
"Nothing would please me more."
And thus, just as his own father had found in the dark mage Zeref his most loyal ally, Rose found in someone with far more life experience than himself his first and greatest friend—someone willing to help him achieve his dreams and ambitions. Together, they would become the duo that, in the years to come, would lead the world into a new era: one more prosperous and stable than either of them had ever imagined.
End of Chapter.