By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter 14

Chapter 5 Episode 14: Invitation

“I understand that you hate being put in restrictive positions. I won’t force you to do anything,” Reinhart said just after he’d made the offer. “I take it that’s the reason you aren’t serving some other noble, either. But if they catch wind of how much you know about serums and such, many nobles will want you as a servant, whether you like it or not. You know that, right?”

I nodded. The cure for cursed wounds alone would be widely sought after were society to learn of it. There would be merchants and nobles who would want to sell it for a high price. Unfortunately, it would be no surprise if someone did something drastic to steal the rights to the medicine.

“If such a thing came to pass, we would like to assist you. But under the current state of affairs, it would be difficult,” Reinhart said.

While I was treated well by the Jamil family, I was still a commoner. I wasn’t even their retainer; I was just some kid they took some interest in. But even that was enough to keep people from messing with me too much. Nobody wanted to have a family as powerful as the Jamils as their enemy. I was just an adventurer, an owner of a small business, and the manager of an abandoned mine. I had some odd ideas before too, but none of that was worth the risk of going after me.

“Still, if you can create a cure for cursed wounds, that would change everything,” Reinhart continued. “We may wield a lot of power, but it’s not impossible to defy us.”

I worried that there could be some sort of plot against me. Elise seemed to guess what I was thinking and bitterly smiled. “You probably aren’t wrong, Ryoma, but it’s more simple than that,” she said. “I mean, you have the right to do whatever you want with your business, right? But if you tried to do something too self-serving with it, there would be people who’d try to stop you. It would depend on what it is, and maybe you’d get away with it once or twice, but eventually you could lose the trust of the people around you. It’s like that. We have a lot of power, but we can’t just wield that power whenever we want. But if you were our technician, we could tell them you’re not interested and reject their attempts to recruit you. If we tried that without employing you in some way, they’d just argue back. We’ll have to come up with some good reason to grant you that position, of course, and I don’t think it’ll be simple. But it’ll be worth it.”

If we acted like this conversation never happened and kept the serums a secret, maybe there wouldn’t be a problem, but I would have to live the rest of my life in fear that someone would find out. And as knowledge of the bloody slime serums spread and research picked up steam, they would discover that the serums could cure other diseases as well. I couldn’t predict how great an impact the serums would have, but they could save a lot of lives. To hide them away would be unfortunate, to say the least.

“Can you tell me a bit about what serving as a technician would entail?” I asked. “How would my life change if I agreed?”

“Well, a technician is a technical expert who serves a noble,” Reinhart explained. “They only have to work when their services are requested. They may be asked either to use their expertise personally or to provide consultation. Aside from that, they’re afforded a fair amount of freedom. A lot of talented technicians are picky in ways that are hard to understand, you see. For example, we have a medical technician who lives and works in the estate, but we also have a blacksmithing technician who runs a workshop and store in the middle-class district. On paper, they strictly serve us, but we don’t want to stifle their talents by keeping them all to ourselves.”

As long as they could get in contact with me, I wouldn’t even have to live in this city. “Could I keep living at the mine and working out of Gimul?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure we can always send letters to your store. I’d like you to inform us in advance if you’re ever going to be away from Gimul for a long time, but that’s all I would ask. You already send us letters regularly, so I can’t imagine that will be a problem. I’m thinking of making you a third-class technician. That’s the lowest rank, but it will give you the most freedom. And all technicians, regardless of rank, serve me personally for the most part. You won’t have to take orders from other technicians that way.”

“Could you tell me more?” Specifically, I wanted to know what a third-class technician was, and what it would mean for me to serve Reinhart personally. If they only served him for the most part, presumably there were exceptions.

“Third-class technicians are the lowest rank, followed by second- and first-class technicians,” Elise said. “Your rank is determined by your history and accomplishments before becoming a technician, as well as the accomplishments and contributions to the family that employs you after becoming a technician. That rank has a substantial effect on how you’re treated. Technicians of all ranks receive job security and research funding, but for third-class technicians, that’s all they get. Second-class technicians are provided with employees and a place to perform their experiments. If necessary, they could also be given a few guards. First-class technicians have the right to lead a whole squad.”

“It would be no exaggeration to call a first-class technician’s knowledge and techniques hot property,” Reinhart added. “Protecting those technicians and their research facilities requires a fair number of guards.”

“Incidentally, as far as accomplishments go, I’d say your cure for cursed wounds is good enough cause to make you a first-class technician,” said Pioro. “But first-class technicians have a lot of fame and influence, which could put a burden on you. With that in mind, third-class might be better for you.”

According to Serge and Pioro, the specific conditions of employment for any given technician differed based on their particular expertise. That gave technicians more freedom than other roles, which seemed to be one reason that Reinhart suggested it to me.

As for the question of who I had to serve, each field of expertise had multiple technicians who could sometimes form teacher-student relationships, and sometimes a teacher and their student would be hired as technicians concurrently. All I had to do was not form such a relationship.

“Most of the time you’d be doing work for us as a technician, I probably won’t be around,” Reinhart said. “I’ll send a representative in my stead at those times, but you won’t be working for that representative. You talk to them as equals, offer your own opinion, and if you disapprove of them, you can make a direct appeal to me.”

“This doesn’t sound like a bad deal, to be honest. It sounds great for me, but I take it that I won’t be able to keep living life as usual.”

“I’m afraid not. First of all, technicians must prove that they’re worthy of their position once every few years. You’ll have to present that your research has produced something useful, or use your expertise to help our territory.”

I’d already presented my cure for cursed wounds, so there was no problem hiring me as a technician. But depending on my future work, it was possible that I could be stripped of my role and the authority it offered.

“Makes sense,” I said.

“Considering the magnitude of your accomplishments, maybe we could delay those evaluations for you, but we pay you with the taxpayers’ money, after all. You have to provide something in return. I’m sure you’ll be more than capable of keeping your job, but just remember that some work will be expected of you. We won’t make any unreasonable requests of you, of course, so you may continue your current work. But you will probably become busier, and it may take time away from one of your other jobs.”

“And there’s one other thing,” Reinhart said gravely. “If you’re going to be our technician, you have to tell us where you learned your skills and from whom. It will be kept a secret from outsiders, but understand that we may have to provide some of this information to other departments.”

It felt like the temperature in the room precipitously dropped. All four of them went stiff.

“Is there anything else?” I asked.

“No, not in particular. Simply becoming a third-class technician should limit how many invitations you get from other nobles. If you want, I can share your name with as few of my servants as possible. You should be free to work however you wish, as long as your research gets results. Knights have to train every day and serve in wars as needed, but technicians have no such obligations.”

Not having to serve in the military sounded like a big plus to me. The country seemed to be at peace now, but there was no telling if something might happen a decade or two down the line. If a war did start, I was glad that I could choose not to fight in it.

The rest was all favorable to me as well. Nearly anyone who became a technician for the Jamil family would be moving up in the world pretty significantly, especially for a commoner. I was also offered incredible conditions even compared to the average technician, so I would think that the average person wouldn’t hesitate to take this opportunity. I didn’t know about anyone else, but maybe I was in the minority for needing to think about it.

“Well, I know this was sudden,” Reinhart said as I quietly thought about it. “I’m sure it would be hard for you to answer me right away, so could you take some time to think about it? The cure for cursed wounds isn’t complete yet anyway, is it?”

“I’ve only tested it on animals. I don’t know whether it would work on humans yet.”

“Then there’s no need to rush. I want to hire you as a technician because of the value of your serums and the effect that will have on you. If you don’t introduce them to the world, then there’s still time. We can limit all discussion of these matters to this place and wait until you’re ready, if you would prefer.”

“I agree with that,” said Elise. “I’d love to have you as a technician for us, but this decision will have a big effect on your life going forward. It would be a big decision even for an adult, so you should think about it long and hard.”

“I agree as well,” said Serge. “Not only do you have the serums, but the results of your slime research could be turned into new products. You can get all of that sorted out, and you’ll still have time afterward. I often forget it when I talk to you, but you aren’t even fifteen yet.”

“I’m thinking the same thing,” said Pioro. “Technicians are usually talented craftsmen with years of experience, or they got top marks at the school in the capital or a research institute. They’re typically in their twenties at minimum. I know you’ve got skills, but you’re too young compared to those people. A boy just over the age of ten becoming a technician for the Jamil family? Serums or no serums, that could end up starting a few rumors.”

“Now that you mention it, I suppose that would draw some attention for how unusual it is. He could probably protect himself, but yeah...” Reinhart said, his voice getting quieter and quieter. Elise looked at him like she wondered how he didn’t realize it. Serge and Pioro drank their lukewarm tea and smiled. The air that felt cold a moment ago had warmed up again. “But remember something, Ryoma.”

“Yes?”

“Be careful what you tell people,” Reinhart said as he avoided his wife’s gaze. “We’re the first ones you told about the serums, right? You discovered the cursed wound serum on a trip with many adventurers around, and it’s been a long time since then, but I presume you kept it a secret because you knew it would be dangerous to share with the wrong person. You haven’t even mentioned it in your letters.”

“Of course not. I figured someone else might end up reading them.”

“I’m glad you understand. I thought you could be a bit too generous when it comes to sharing your skills and your knowledge.”

“I know that sharing isn’t always the best idea,” I said, but noticed that Elise, Serge, and even Pioro didn’t look convinced. They must have thought I was awfully careless. I didn’t obsess over every little thing, I guess, but I thought I was reasonably cautious. We all smiled awkwardly, with nobody able to strongly deny what I said.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you something,” Reinhart said. “I believe we have a full list of requests from the servants regarding Hughes and Lulunese’s wedding.”

“Got it. I’ll start constructing everything tomorrow.”

“How many workers will you need?”

“Anyone who’s good at physical labor and has time on their hands can help. I’d like to build everything from the foundation up, so there should be enough work for everyone.”

“Sounds good,” Elise said. “If it’s physical labor you need, can work start in the afternoon? The guards will be done with their training by then.”

“That would be fine, thank you.”

We put the previous topic aside and continued the discussion like nothing had happened. They were considering my feelings by giving me time to think, presumably. I just hoped they didn’t think of me as reckless.