The Villainess Enjoys Her Seventh Life as a Free-Spirited Bride (hostage) in a Former Enemy Country

From her life experience as a merchant, there was no doubt about it. She could tell that the craftsmanship of the Koyor Kingdom was among the best in the world.

Garkhain, on the other hand, lacked artisans who could produce such works.

This was the consequences of the previous war.

Blacksmith skills to forge metals weren’t the same as fine-tuning skills, and today’s Garkhain lacked the skills in metalworking.

In other words, it was a field in which the powerful Garkhain wasn’t proficient.

“―― ……”

However, Arnold’s gaze remained cold.

He sat in his red velvet chair with his languid cheeks, watching Kyle with boredom.

“Rishe.”

“…”

Arnold’s eyes were the image of indifference.

At the moment he named her, Rishe felt a tingle of tension, but she kept her soft smile.

Here we go.

She knew that The Art of Jewelry Making didn’t interest Arnold one bit. Even Kyle was worried that she couldn’t convince Arnold with it.

But this was a commercial practice.

When offering a product, the customer has two choices: to buy or not to buy it. Most of them would choose “Don’t buy,” and often they wouldn’t gain a business opportunity.

However, when multiple products were offered, different mindsets arose other than buying or not buying.

It would become a matter of making a choice: “Which one of these products is the most valuable?”

In this instance, the decision to buy wasn’t a choice between “buying or not buying,” but rather, “which one of these should I buy?”.

Business deals of letting them choose “one they like among several items” was easier to conclude with a purchasing decision than if they were only offered one item from the beginning.

Of course, I don’t think such a petty business practice would work for His Royal Highness Arnold…But for me, this business negotiation isn’t just for the purpose of forming an alliance.

To that end, it was necessary to present a skill that was of no value to Arnold.

“Prince Kyle.”

When Rishe called her former business partner, Kyle nodded quietly.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out something from his coat. You will be able to find a lot more information about the company and its products. Even though Kyle displayed “it” on the tabletop, Arnold’s expression remained the same.

Rishe turned to Arnold and asked, “You recognize this item, don’t you? Your Highness Arnold?”

The obvious question was met with a bland reply.

“It’s mine to begin with. What about it?”

“This is—”

Rishe took this as a cue to elaborate.

“–Wait.”

Arnold stopped Rishe with a slightly raised eyebrow.

There was a slight change in his expression, which earlier looked like nothing mattered. Rishe was surprised, but she knew why.

“… I didn’t expect you to notice this much.”

Her business smile remained on her face, but her tongue rolled inwardly. Although Arnold didn’t say much, he surely saw through Rishe’s “trick”.

“This is undoubtedly identical to the one that Your Highness said was useful during the war… But what we have on the table now isn’t yours.”

Rishe reached into the bag beside her and pulled out another item. Then she placed it in front of him as Kyle did.

“Your watch is still with me.”

Lining up on the table were two pocket watches.

They were almost identical in appearance, yet they have a different golden glow. This small difference was probably the reason why Arnold distinguished it.

“Prince Kyle’s watch is a replica of your watch I borrowed.”

“…”

Arnold stared quietly at Rishe.

“A jeweler who came to Garkhain on board the same ship as Prince Kyle developed it. After consulting with the owner of the jewelry store, I borrowed the necessary equipment for casting. — I was told that it is possible to cast jewelry such as rings and metals in exactly the same way as gears and screws.”

They scraped wax and other materials to make a prototype, then used the prototype to take a mold and pour metal into the mold to harden it.

The most time-consuming part of these processes was making the prototype.

However, on the contrary, once the prototype and mold were finished, the mold could be mass-produced in a short time. That was the advantage of the casting technique.

A skilled craftsman could perform error-prone castings even with great precision.

Nevertheless, it was a gamble to see if they could make it in time.

I thought it might be someone who is a “skilled craftsman in Koyor” and who “can ride on a royal ship with Prince Kyle”…But I’m really glad he was someone I know well.

The inventor of that watch was also a person with whom Rishe got involved with in her past life.

That man entrusted the casting of the parts needed to make the watch to Koyor craftsmen, and he also chose Koyor because of their prowess in jewelry-making.

The artisans who traveled to Garkhain had molds for casting watch parts.

When working in other countries, it was common to bring along the products of one’s previous work for sales pitches.

And fortunately this time, things worked out just as Rishe had hoped.

If only I had the parts on hand, I could put together a perfect watch…It’s all thanks to Teacher Michel’s careful instruction in my life as an alchemist.

She faced Arnold feeling some regret.

“The gears and screws are products of elaborate metalwork. Their combination produced this pocket watch that you found so useful in the war. Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, similar objects will be developed in the future.”

Rishe was confident.

These processed metals could create a variety of possibilities depending on their uses. Although it was but a fantasy now, Rishe knew that there were many scholars in countries around the world who were studying these fields.

In her life as an alchemist, Rishe has seen a lot of their research.

“Your Highness, I’m sure you will want it.”

If he properly understood the value of this watch and used it for his own purposes…

“Transfer this technical skill to Garkhain.”

“―― ……”