In the late afternoon, in the palace hallways…

With his hands in his pockets, Straf is walking down a junction in the hallway, when the marshal pops out from one of the corners ahead.

「Ah! Minister! I've been looking for you!」

Ursa says, raising his hand while walking up in a rapid step.

「Yeeeah?… Who are we at war with this time?」

Straf stops in his tracks, raising his brows.

「…Nobody. But the chancellor asked me to help him find you, and tell you that our neighbors are attempting to contact us by the magic slab.」

The marshal replies with a shrug of his shoulders after a brief pause, and points his hand down the hall.

「The magic phone?」

Straf's mouth tilts in mild frustration.

「Is that what it's called?」

Ursa cocks his head to the side, furrowing his bros a little.

「Ahhh… Might as well be. Fine, I'll see what they want…」

Straf sighs, then walks past the marshal with a shrug of his own.

Snap.

「…Hey, have you seen the mage around here somewhere?」

Snapping his fingers, Straf turns around and points at Ursa, stopping in his tracks momentarily.

「I'm afraid not, minister, sir. I rarely interact with the court mage… My affairs are war, so naturally, diplomacy and treasury follow…」

Standing at attention with his hands behind his back, Ursa shakes his head, then helplessly spreads his hands.

「Alright, whatever…」

Slightly disappointed, Straf rolls his eyes and continues onward, taking a turn down the junction…

…

A little over ten minutes later, in the negotiation room…

Straf arrives to a large, but rather empty room, filled with chairs around a single, long, and rather oval table.

「Minister… Finally. I've been waiting for you. I didn't want to touch it without you present.」

The very serious, middle-aged man says as he greets Straf with a polite bow of his head, and points at a chair in front of the diplomatic channel slab.

「Why the fuck not? I'm busy with my own things too.」

Straf spreads his arms with his mouth aslant, and takes a seat. The chancellor sits down right beside Straf.

「I didn't want to inadvertently break a magical implement, I could lose my head. The maids relayed your instructions, but I thought that I'd wait for safety's sake.」

He replies with a shrug of his hands, and the two take a look at the flat slab on the table.

「Aaalright, let's have a look…」

Frustrated, Straf shakes his head as he utters out, reaching out and sliding the slab closer.

Multiple numbers are flashing, blinking slowly. Straf leans in onto the table on his elbows, and presses one of them. The blinking on that number speeds up, rapidly flickering.

「…Let's do 'em one by one.」

He says to the chancellor, then moves his finger to the glowing answer text carved out into the slab, and taps it.

The number begins to glow with steady light, while the rest continue blinking slowly. The glow of answer disappears, while over lights up instead. A projected magic screen appears above the slab's runic circle, just like the previous version. On the projection, a small group of surprised and confused men turn their eyes to Straf and the chancellor.

「Who are you, and what do you want?」

Straf asks bluntly with his arms crossed.

「Ahem… I am Altonis, the chancellor, I represent King Verdes…」

The man on the other side of the projection bows his head slightly with his hand on his shoulder, while the rest of his group watch Straf.

「…These are all king's courtiers, and currently my aides. King Verdes has permitted them to listen. Am I speaking with Straf Katastrof Vindict? 」

Altonis presents the men sitting around him with his hand, then turns his eyes back to Straf.

「Yup. Now what do you want?」

Straf nonchalantly nods his head with a lightly frustrated, tight-lipped grimace.

「Well, you see… We did not have anything anything particular in mind when trying to reach you, we merely wanted to verify that this works…」

「So this is a fuckin' test call?… It obviously works…」

The foreign chancellor explains, which causes Straf to roll his eyes, rest his elbow back on the table, and his cheek on his fist.

「…Allow me to finish. While we were waiting for your response, a good idea cropped up… We want to discuss magic load-capable gems.」

Altonis holds his palm up, pausing Straf, then explains further.

「Magic gems? What about them?… Are you trying to reverse-engineer my magic phone already?」

Straf asks and shrugs his hand. The men on the other side of the projection exchange nervous glances with tight-lipped grimaces.

「…We are simply interested in purchasing steady shipments of magic gems-」

Altonis explains with his hands awkwardly raised, gesturing with them.

「And we're not interested in selling.」

Straf quickly cuts in and shuts him down.

「Ah- Er… Please at least hear out our offer?…」

The foreign chancellor gets taken aback by Straf's disinterested and blunt tone.

Altonis and the courtiers exchange quick glances again then look back at Straf, who is heavily scrunching his mouth to the side, waiting for them to speak.

「…We are willing to pay 25000 drakes for each full Verdes Kingdom standard shipment of Magic Federation standard gems, with no more than an eight of deviation in size.」

The foreign chancellor says with a nod of his head, gesturing heavily with his hands, before interlocking his fingers low on the table.

「…I have no fucking clue what any of that means, aside from drakes, and Magic Federation.」

Straf nonchalantly replies with a shrug of his shoulders.

「What? But… But aren't you the Mister of Finances?…」

Altonis asks, and his entire group exchange looks of baffled confusion.

「…Minister, Verdes Kingdom standard shipment is roughly 16 cargo wagons loaded with… With those large crates you may often find abandoned in alleyways around the capital…」

The chancellor leans in from Straf's side and begins explaining in a quiet, hushed voice.

「…Magic Federation standard for gems means the gems shouldn't deviate from that size much. They want gems no smaller than an eight of that. The bigger the better, of course.」

He adds while pointing his finger at the medium-sized gem mounted to the magic phone's back.

「I see… But I'm still not selling you shit.」

Enlightened, Straf nods with a tight-lipped grimace on his face, before bluntly replying to the foreign chancellor with a casual shrug again.

「But-! Minister Vindict, please hear me out!… There has been a large shortage of magic gems lately, and our mages are struggling with their research!」

Exasperated, Altonis leans forward towards the projected screen as he explains with his voice raised and desperate.

「I fail to see how that's my problem.」

Straf scoffs and smirks at him. The chancellor sitting beside him gains a lightly disconcerted expression.

「…Minister, perhaps you should use a more diplomatic language?」

The serious man leans in again and speaks in a hush.

「Huuuh? What the fuck for?… Go buy from someone else.」

With a ridiculing smirk, Straf turns his eyes away from one chancellor to the other.

「But!… Minister, you don't understand! There is no supply!…」

The foreign chancellor leans forward, desperately trying to explain their situation while shaking his hands up and down in exasperation.

「…I'll be plain. We are willing to pay a much larger sum than 25000 for a shipment of gems. Our jewelers are competing with mages, and no jewelry displeases the nobility! Please understand!」

Altonis adds, spreading his hands with a resigned look on his face.

「That's great. Take good care of the gems you already have. We're not selling.」

Straf scoffs, and reaches for the glowing text stating over on the magic phone.

「Minister, wait!-」

The foreign chancellor desperately calls out, but the projected screen disappears as soon as Straf's finger touches the text. At the same time, it stops glowing.

「Minister… Is this really wise? If we brought the steward here… We could wring them of all the gold that they have.」

With a tight-lipped grimace on his face, the chancellor asks.

「I'm not selling them shit. We're keeping every single gem that Telas Kingdom mines out… Supply problems? Good.」

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Straf's face gains a disdainful smirk as he replies, then looks at the rest of the glowing buttons. A few of them stopped blinking, but most remain lit up still.

「Do we even have a use for so many gems, minister?… What Telas mines out, it could support multiple kingdoms-」

「Nope… But it's not about having a use for them, it's about denying their use to everyone else.」

The serious-faced chancellor asks, but Straf nonchalantly cuts in and shrugs his shoulders.

「You want to prevent the other kingdoms from getting their hands on magic gems?…」

The chancellor tilts his head, greatly furrowing his brows at Straf.

「Yeaaah… Ideally. Realistically, they'll just send someone to buy up everything that's on the common market… The scraps that drop from the mages' and jewelers' tables…」

Straf nods while rubbing his chin.

「But to what end? If we frustrate them enough, it could result in another war… It's almost an inevitability.」

The chancellor asks, and glances at the magic phone in its idle state. The carved out numbers continue to blink steadily.

「Pft. Good luck… Good grief, let's get on with the next band of losers…」

Grinning and apparently amused, Straf scoffs and reaches for the slab…

…

Around the same time, in Lesthol Kingdom, in the king's council room…

Multiple men dressed in extravagant clothing are sitting at a table and leaning in towards Straf's diplomatic channel. The number 1 is lit and glows steadily, along with the text stating over.

「I think we should try to replicate this, your majesty. I don't know much about magic, but it appears to be a simple runic channel carved into the surface, and powered by this gem.」

One of the men in fancy robes turns his head to the man with a crown on his dark brown head, and dressed most exquisitely of them all. The fabric of his clothes shines brilliantly.

「And what if it breaks?」

The crowned middle-aged man asks with a disinterested gaze.

「I would tell the scholars to research it non-destructively, and to be careful when handling it…」

Another man, one wearing glasses on his nose, chimes as he leans past the group.

「…Moreover, it looks like it can take a beating, your highness.」

He adds, and adjusts his glasses.

「And the funding you'd need to accomplish that?…」

The king asks, slowly raising his brow.

「I cannot say at this point, your majesty. As Kyrion said, at a glance, it appears a simple runic circle… The automata at the Academy of Magic likely work on the same principle…」

The bespectacled man shakes his head, and shrugs his robed shoulders. The group's chatter quiets down, and their attention is focused entirely on him and the king.

「…But as a mage, I can tell there is much more going on here than a beginner at magic would assume. For example, your highness…」

He adds, and stands up, taking the slab with him to bring it closer to the king, who looks on with a bored gaze.

Clunk.

The robed man sets it down in front of the king, and leans over the table.

「…Please look here. This channel leads mana in from the gem, that much is obvious… But the path isn't perfectly straight. Can you see this pattern here, your highness?」

He asks, and points his finger at the narrow, carved-out channel at the back of the slab. The king looks at it, then leans in, squinting slightly.

「Hm. Zigzag?… Or dunes… Both?」

The king grimaces with disinterested gaze directed towards the slab, then turns it up to the man's bespectacled eyes.

「A little bit of both, your highness. It may not seem like much, but this pattern prevents the gem from draining all of its mana when not in active use… Now look here, your majesty…」

The man nods, quickly adjusts his glasses, then slides his finger further along the channel, and into the runic circle.

「…I'll spare you the exact details, but this pattern is very exciting. It reverts what this pattern does, effectively making them both two-way!」

He slides his finger to another pattern that looks very similar, perhaps with only minuscule, minute differences between the two. The king furrows his brows.

「But what do they do? Explain.」

The king demands, scrunching his mouth to the side a little.

「Ahhh… My apologies, your highness. I got a little ahead of myself…」

The mage adjusts his glasses, and points at the pattern, tapping it with his finger. The runic circle continues glowing with a faint light.

「…Normally, your majesty, sending mana over large distances would be rather costly. Impossibly costly to maintain, in fact. The larger the distance from the source, the costlier it becomes…」

He begins explaining, briefly tilting his head while shrugging his shoulders.

「…That's why mages can only cast spells from around themselves and not, for example, boil someone's brain with magic… There's also the quandary of natural mana resistance, but I digress…」

The mage gestures with his hand while the king grows visibly and increasingly more annoyed.

「…The creator of this circle compresses mana into something… Like a wave. Very few things in nature resist mana, so this allows it to propagate indiscriminately over large distances…」

The bespectacled man searches for a comparison in his mind for a few seconds, then continues his explanation. The king nods along.

「…And this pattern then picks up this wave, and decompresses it into its original form, making it theoretically usable by the rest of the circle. It's really genius. It's genius in its simplicity.」

The mage slides his finger back to the first of the pair of the patterns, and taps it with his index finger, grinning at the king.

「So it's like a boat's wake, but with mana?…」

The king asks as he glances up at the man, before looking back down onto the glowing slab.

「Precisely, your highness, but in voluminous space around us, rather than just the surface of water. All of these slabs presumably wait to receive a wave meant for them.」

「Hm.」

The king hums, nodding, and a projected screen appears above the slab.

「Ah!」「They responded!」「Quick!…」

The group of men sitting elsewhere jump out of their chairs and start scrambling around the table. The mage reacts quickly by turning the screen to face the chaotic band, but then realizes that he just had turned the screen away from the king. With a tight-lipped grimace and his eyes wide open, he corrects his mistake and flips it around, then adjusts it by sliding it back further onto the table. The group of men quickly run behind the king's large chair, and stand at attention.

「…The fuck is going on there?」

The man from beyond the screen asks with his brows furrowed, and his arms crossed. Another man in robes is leaning in from beside him, and staring at them.

「…Who are you? And where is Queen Cycelia? I thought I'd be talking with her.」

The king asks, pointing his hand at the stranger while visibly displeased.

「…Lia is busy.」

After a brief pause, the stranger replies with a tight-lipped grimace on his face.

「Lia?…」

The king echoes back, narrowing his eyes in confusion.

「The empress. We're an empire, not a kingdom. Don't make me remind you of that.」

The stranger replies, spreading his hands with his mouth scrunched to the side. The mage and the men behind the king exchange frustrated glances.

「…You didn't answer my question. Who are you? Speak.」

The king demands, almost matching the stranger's expression perfectly.

「I'm Straf. Katastrof. Vindict…」

Straf introduces himself, clearly enunciating each part of his name with a disdainful look on his smug, smirking face.

「That's their Minster of Finances, your majesty…」

One of the men whispers into the king's ear from behind.

「…And who are you? If that crown isn't for show, state the name of your kingdom for the record so that I can sticky note it here.」

Straf asks, expectantly spreading his arms, before pointing down somewhere below the point of view. The chancellor next to him winces heavily.

「I'm Varius Lesthol, king of Lesthol Kingdom… Now get me your queen, empress… Whichever it is.」

King Lesthol demands a dismissive wave of his hand, and stares expectantly at Straf.

「I told you she's busy. She's not coming. What do you want? I can pass it on.」

Straf throws his hands up in frustration, then casually leans forward onto the table with his elbow. The chancellor winces again.

「She's not coming?」

「That's what I said. Got hearing problems?…」

The king asks, and Straf confirms with a nod of his head and gently raised brows.

「I was going to discuss the recent events with her. This has been a waste of my time…」

With a disappointed grumble, King Lesthol stands up from his large chair and heads for the door. The group of men is unsure what to do, taken aback by his abruptness.

「Ahh!… Your highness! And the issue!?…」

One of the men in fancy clothing exclaims just before the king reaches the door.

「…Figure it out yourselves. That's what I'm paying you for.」

The king scoffs, and leaves while shaking his crowned head.

The men exchange confused glances, then one of them sits down on the king's still warm seat.

「Ahem… Minister Vindict… The king's moody nature aside, we have a matter to discuss…」

The man in the seat clears his throat, and interlocks his fingers on the table.

「And that is?…」

Straf asks with his mouth aslant.

「We'd like to purchase a large amount of magic gems from your kingdom. We've heard that-」

「Oh fuck off…」

Straf blurts out as he rolls his eyes, throwing his arms up in frustration as he cuts him off…