"Hahaha, you're a smart boy, Erik."
The director laughed pleasantly at the sharp inferences Erik had reached with the little information he had. After all, the only ones who knew how the tournament would unfold were Adrian, Ngozi and himself.
Although the Master-level individuals present had been at the meeting where the rules were discussed, several of them had their own disciples in the tournament. Therefore, they were not informed of everything and only general guidelines were discussed. That was why it was a bit surprising how close his conjectures were to what they had planned.
"You flatter me too much, Director. It's something anyone could have thought." Erik responded in a formal and respectful tone, then took his cup of tea and a cookie. At that moment, the director replied with a cheerful tone, albeit filled with conviction.
"Don't be so sure about that. You're quite brilliant and perceptive to assume something like this."
"Well, you've interrogated our disciple enough. My poor Erik must be tired after surpassing a tournament in record time, so please excuse us; we'll take him to rest." Sigrún commented with a calm and measured voice that could not hide the vanity she felt as she rose from her chair, followed by Eleonora, who added elegantly.
"I apologize for our early departure, but Sig is right, Erik needs to rest."
"Yes, we've talked enough. Go and rest, Erik; we'll continue this conversation another time." The director nodded and spoke calmly, bringing the questioning of Erik to an end, to which Erik promptly replied with gratitude.
"Thank you very much, Director. I'll take my leave, then."
After saying his farewells, Erik bowed respectfully before everyone present and then walked toward the exit accompanied by Eleonora, Sigrún, and Seraphina, who seemed to be floating with happiness. Everyone looked on with profound, meaningful gazes at the monstrously talented, star-haired boy.
"That boy is an absurd monster…" Once Erik left the room, Ngozi commented in a somewhat tired voice as she looked at the other people present, who could not help but nod in agreement. Then she added thoughtfully.
"Besides, I have a strong suspicion that the spirit accompanying him is beyond just a simple mature spirit."
"Are you sure about that, Ngozi?" Adrian asked in surprise as he looked at her. A feeling shared by all the other Masters present. Ngozi nodded and responded with a much more serious tone.
"I'm not certain; it's only a suspicion. Although everything around that dragon spirit indicates it's a mature spirit, there was something peculiar: in the competition there was a member of my clan who also has a contract with a mature spirit, but curiously, his spirit was incredibly afraid of the dragon spirit accompanying disciple Erik."
"Aren't you exaggerating a bit, Ngozi? Even among mature spirits, there are differences in their power levels, and it could just be that this dragon spirit is more powerful." Thalia remarked somewhat incredulously. Ngozi shook her head and explained.
"The issue is that you don't have contracts with spirits, so you can't fully grasp how strange the situation is. Spirits show respect toward power, not fear. After all, spirits are, in themselves, quasi-immortal creatures. But the spirit that accompanies the member of my clan—and even the guardian spirit of the Sakuraba clan—reacted in a strange way around that dragon." Ngozi turned to look at Ryoma and asked with interest.
"Don't you think the same, Ryoma?"
"In that regard, Ngozi is right. Hiyori-sama behaved a bit oddly around that dragon…" Ryoma commented thoughtfully, recalling the brief encounter between Hiyori, the nine-tailed fox spirit allied with his family, and the dragon spirit accompanying Erik.
"Let's cut these diatribes short." The director suddenly remarked with a firm tone, drawing everyone's attention and forcibly pulling them from their thoughts.
"Do you know something, Director?" Ngozi asked curiously, but the director shook his head and replied.
"It's not so much that I know something; it's just that it isn't worth trying to pry into the secrets of such a valuable member of the Order as Erik. His future is practically limitless, and he also has a strong attachment to this faction, to the point that he offered to donate two of his patents to the Order. It's not worth alienating him over something like this, and you already know his Masters."
The Master-level individuals present—apart from Adrian, who already knew this information—looked at the director in surprise. After all, donating patents was incredibly rare throughout the entire Arcane Order, and giving a patent to the faction by one's own free will was something that likely had never happened before in history.
That was because patents as useful as Erik's typically required an immense amount of investment and represented a massive profit for their owners. Furthermore, within the Arcane Order, patents held a certain special status, granting both the inventors and the organization investing in them the standing of "creators of knowledge", a highly attractive distinction not only for reputation but also for business. Since it generally commanded a great deal of respect from the public.
Because of the respect the title held in the Arcane Order, it was seen as unfair for an inventor not to benefit from their own patent. To the point that it was considered an aberration for someone who had not invested directly in the research to profit from it. Moreover, it wasn't as if the faction lacked funds or anything like that; they were by far the wealthiest faction in the galaxy. Even with their low tax rate—the lowest in the galaxy—their annual budget was orders of magnitude greater than those of the other factions.
That didn't mean the faction had no patents of its own, of course; they invested heavily in research and development, so countless researchers worked for the Order. The patents they developed were the property of the Order, although the researchers retained 30% of the royalties generated by their patents, and their names were recorded as the inventors.
"Director, did Erik really do that? Did he really donate two of his patents to the Order, not just the licenses?" Thalia asked, filled with surprise. The director responded with a satisfied smile.
"He really tried to donate the patents in their entirety, but in the end, we ended up purchasing them at a good price because it wouldn't look right for us to accept such a donation, and it's highly useful technology with plenty of applications."
"But why did he do it? I don't see Eleonora or Sigrún advising him to do such a thing, and really the faction hasn't done much for him. After all, if he's grateful to anyone, it should be to his masters, who brought him here and have cared for him." Ryoma asked, somewhat confused, to which the director replied cheerfully.
"You're right, Ryoma; the Order hasn't done much for him. But according to Erik's own words, the Arcane Order is a paradise come true, and he only wants to show his support in some way. As he said, 'A place with equality before the law, a free market, low taxes, and without collectivists doing stupid things is like a dream come true', hahaha."
"Collectivists?" Ngozi asked, somewhat puzzled by the unfamiliar term. Adrian answered with an ironic smile:
"Yes, it's something Erik mentions from time to time, and he tends to refer to that group in rather disparaging terms. Apparently, he calls 'collectivists' those who believe that the group is more important than the individual."
"Is it okay for him to have those thoughts? His words only seem to indicate that, for him, the individual stands above the common good, which isn't very healthy if we're thinking about the benefit of the Order." Jessica asked, somewhat worried. The director answered with a faint smile as he looked at the Master-level with ashen-blonde hair, who was no longer wearing her usual suit but was now clad in the Order's uniform.
"Although indeed an individualistic mindset could be harmful for someone who will undoubtedly hold a very important position in the faction—since it could mean they'd seek personal benefit over the interests of the Order—the reality is that his 'individualism' is somewhat different. The simple fact that he offered to donate his patents to the faction, very likely against his masters' wishes, is a clear example of this.
"For Erik, individualism is less about excessive selfishness and more about personal freedom to make decisions and assume the consequences of them, whatever those may be. That's why he loves our Arcane Order and considers it a paradise—because here, he's free to choose, and it appears he's quite fond of low taxes as well, to the point where he submitted several proposals about different revenue sources and potential cost reductions that would allow taxes to be lowered even further, hahaha." The director laughed happily as he recalled the documents Erik had sent to the government offices with his suggestions. Jessica, a bit unsettled, commented.
"Erik is a strange and somewhat contradictory boy…"
"You're telling me. Eleonora and Sigrún don't stop complaining that Erik only accepts a tiny fraction of the money they give him, which he spends in just a moment, and then goes around 'with no money' for the rest of the month, as though he were a poor man—so much so that he ends up 'saving' for several months to buy more expensive materials, even though he has mountains of crystals to spend." Thalia added with an ironic smile, recalling some of her conversations with Eleonora and Sigrún.
"Hahaha, Erik really is a strange boy, but most likely thanks to that, he was able to present so many valuable patents that greatly reduce the cost of different devices and production methods. Perhaps that way of thinking is what's led him to achieve so much in such a short time." The director commented, amused by Erik's quirks. Among the Children of Myst, those with such uncommon behaviors weren't unusual; in fact, Erik would be considered among the 'cute' ones.
"The director is right about that. They say that genius and madness are two sides of the same coin…"
Ngozi remarked, somewhat distracted, as she gazed at the door through which Erik had left. But she quickly shook her head and added with a more serious expression, looking directly at the director.
"Well then, leaving the matter of disciple Erik aside, I'd like to confirm what we're going to do about the rest of the tournament. Will we change the rules or keep them the same?"
"There's no need to change anything. It's unlikely someone else can pull off what Erik did, and if anyone does manage it, that would be far from a bad thing. It would be quite good, actually, because knowledge in Artificery and Alchemy, as well as special skills, will be extremely valuable during the exploration.
"If anything, perhaps we should add a few extra rewards for those who manage to overcome the trials in 'unorthodox ways' and pass those events off as 'hidden tests', since if they can do well here, it's equally likely they'll do well in the exploration and bring back plenty of benefits." The director spoke in a calm tone as he looked around at everyone present, who nodded in agreement. At that moment, Ngozi asked with a professional tone.
"What rewards do you think would be best, Director?"
"Hmm, let's have Adrian handle that." The director turned to Adrian, then continued speaking calmly.
"Adrian, coordinate with Ngozi and look through the vault for some things the participants might like."
"Understood, Director." Adrian answered seriously, then glanced at Ngozi and nodded with her before leaving the room. The director then commented happily.
"Well then, let's continue to see what surprises the younger generation will bring us in this tournament."
***
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