[Melas] Chapter 147: Business Talk (Patreon)

“Don’t make a fool of yerself, got it?” Gennady said as he led the way.

There were no gilded corridors. There was no red carpet following our footsteps. It was a dull, brick hallway with some paintings hung on the wall— mostly to mask the pipe that ran alongside the hallway. A few windows made out of clear glass. And heavy wooden double doors at the very end.

It reminded me more of a factory building. It certainly didn’t seem like a place fit for a king. When I first met Adilet, it had been at the royal palace. The entire building was designed in an almost minimalist manner. No ornamental decorations— lacking in detail. Yet, the interior design was where the decor flourished. It was reminiscent of Greek architecture back in my world, in a sense.

It was quite the sharp contrast now to be meeting Adilet here. But this was where he worked. This was his proper office. There were dozens of Emerald Golems waiting on guard, standing alongside Dwarf soldiers dressed in fancy military armor.

Gennady crossed his arms as he spun around. “Did ye hear me?”

“Yes, yes.” I rolled my eyes. “I’ve spoken to King Adilet before. I know how to carry myself. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” he snorted. Gennady pointed past me. “I was talking to him.”

I blinked, craning my neck to face Aniyar. The Dwarf Engineer tensed. He carried with him a dozen different blueprints, which he dropped the instant Gennady faced him. He scrambled to pick them up as I sighed.

“Right.”

“S-sorry about that!” Aniyar said, straightening. He breathed deeply, calming himself down.

He was coming along with me to help propose the idea I had for Adilet. But, apparently, despite being quite an influential Engineer within the MTC, he had never had a one-on-one conversation with the King before. He did have audiences with Adilet— but usually in front of the House of Or’taq as a whole, along with his team.

Today, Gennady and I were going to be his team. Well, actually, Gennady was only here to arrange the meeting. He couldn’t care as much about the proposition I had written up. So… mhm, he was left with just me to back him up.

But I knew that nothing would go wrong. I was confident. The double doors swung open once Gennady showed a slip of official papers proving that we could speak with Adilet, and we entered the room.

It was an office, of course. It was rather plain, which I kind of expected. Although, there were a few bookshelves around the edges of the room. It wasn’t nearly as big as I thought it’d be. I’d have expected it to be, like, the Oval Office in the White House. But it was probably half of that size.

“Welcome,” a voice greeted us as we entered.

Adilet sat behind his curved desk, lowering a piece of document to face us. Gennady beamed and waved at his old friend.

“Adilet! How are you doing, buddy?”

“I have been doing quite well, Gennady.” The King of Taw smiled as Gennady sauntered up to him. “Swamped with work, as you already know.”

“C’mon, we should have drinks sometime. Get you to relieve stress.” I watched as Gennady grinned, walking behind the desk and speaking casually.

I shot him a sidelong glance. “Didn’t you tell me to keep things formal?”

“For you, lassie. Ain’t talking about me.” Gennady scoffed.

That was true. I wasn’t familiar with the King of Taw as Gennady was. I’d met Adilet only once— and he offered me sanctuary. Protection. I was grateful to him, but he wasn’t my friend. I bowed respectfully as I strode behind Gennady.

“Thank you for this audience, King Adilet. I am most grateful for this opportunity.”

“Please, Ms Melas,” Adilet said as he gestured to a chair. “Have a seat.”

I sat down in between Gennady and Aniyar. Both Dwarfs squished me from their seats. We sat across from Adilet. The King leanedt back, making himself comfortable.

“So, I heard you three have a proposal for me.” He turned to Aniyar. “It is quite a surprise to see you here, Engineer Aniyar. I assume with your presence it is something truly extraordinary.”

Aniyar flushed. “I-I hope you are not disappointed, your majesty!” he almost shouted.

I shot him a glare, and he shrank back. Why was he so stiff? It wasn’t like he hadn’t met Adilet before.

Gennady nodded, brushing off Aniyar’s nervousness. “It’s a brand new patent which Melas here actually invented. I’m sure you’ve heard… some word about it?”

Adilet strummed his fingers against his desk. “Perhaps. Perhaps not.”

“Of course you do! Stop playing coy, you’re the king!” Gennady rolled his eyes, but Adilet didn’t respond. Adilet stared wide-eyed as my good friend continued. “Anyway, Melas here will explain how it works.”

“Wait, me?” I blinked a few times. “I thought Aniyar would be leading this.”

“It’s your damned invention.” Scoffing, Gennady leaned back.

That was true. I fumbled for a bit, pulling up a mana scroll. “So, uhm, this is a mana scroll. It’s—”

I began explaining the processes behind it. I told him how I came up with the idea, and what kind of applications it had.

“It’s able to power mana tools,” I said as I laid it on the table. “It can work as a fuel source for anything. Whether it’s cars, basic tools, or even… weapons.”

I felt myself hesitating before the last word. It wasn’t something I was proud of. I didn’t want to do this. But I had no other choice. Adilet furrowed his brows.

“I see, I see. But, my dear Ms Melas, how does this relate to the Kingdom of Taw?” He shook his head. “This country is a free place. You may sell your inventions as you wish. It does not need to

Author's Notes:

This is basically half a chapter because I'm dying because I had to stay awake for the AC repairman to come. Sorry. I promise the next chap won't take so long to come.