"Honestly…"
There was a whole plethora of emotions Narmidor could be feeling right now. From anger over such a blatant challenge to his authority, through sadness to see one of his close confidants backstab him like that, all the way to resignation over the apparent difference in power between the two of them, to the simple surprise ending.
Yet, as he shook his head and turned his eyes away, searching for something in the now messed-up garden, none of those appeared on his face.
"There it is," the patriarch muttered as he found the stone bench toppled by the magical shockwave over to its side, with the push strong enough to uproot it from the ground but nowhere near concentrated enough to actually lift such a heavy, stone bench and toss it away.
As if Theo didn't just put his heritage at risk, the man casually picked up the heavy stone bench with one hand, turning around with it as if he wanted to turn on the spot and use the bench to smack Theo over the head with it…
Or actually, to just do what he did and calmly place the bench down in its rightful spot, sit down on it with his back to Theo before throwing his legs over the bench's leg to face him properly again.
"So?" Narmidor then shortly asked. "What kind of deal are we talking about?"
Theo's eyebrows moved up. He was taken aback by how laid-back about everything the man could be, given all that just happened, given all that Theo put on a display for him.
"Just like that?" Theo asked, too stunned by the man's apparent adaptability to let it go without a word of explanation.
"Just like that."
Narmidor nodded his head.
"Or what, did you expect me to throw my life away in a fight I was clearly set to lose?" he asked while shaking his head. "Since it's either fight and die, accept the challenge and lose, or accept the deal, isn't it simply reasonable to find out what's the deal you are suggesting?"
Then, Narmidor's face lit up with a small, mischievous smile.
"Or maybe you hoped we would fight?"
Theo's eyebrows moved up on his forehead, before he took a small breath and sighed.
"Of course not. A fight was just an eventuality I was ready for if you somehow proved blind to the weight of what I have to offer," Theo admitted, suddenly jealous of the bench Narmidor got for himself now that a sudden wave of weakness washed over him.
Even if he was perfectly capable of handling the kind of energies that he invoked, a star difference to how he was back when his inborn constitution still shackled him, he still wasn't used to doing so.
As such, while not harmful long term, wielding glyphs still was a bit too unnatural for his current body for him to do so without a proper effort and the following exhaustion.
"So?" Narmidor leaned back in his seat. "What's your proposal?"
Theo scanned the man's face for a moment, happily buying himself a little bit of time to mentally prepare.
'In a way, what I'm about to say might be even worse for him than just duking it out. Because a fight only lasts a few moments, but the role I have for him…?'
Theo took a deep breath.
"Long story short, I'm going to need you to be the fools' face to cover up all that I will be doing," he admitted with a shake of his fingers. "For example, if I will need a lot of sugar, you will have to act as if you found your calling in stuffing your face with pastries. If I will need the sect to expand to the frontier, it will be your job to act as if you decided to throw all the care away in a bid to leave a legacy or something."
Theo breathed out before raising his arms and then shrugging his shoulders.
"Basically, when someone looks into the sect, I want them to see its patriarch in a mid-life crisis doing the weirdest of stuff so that they won't investigate any further."
Theo expected the patriarch to maybe not fly into a rage but get agitated at such a suggestion at the very least.
For a proper noble to assume the role of a paid actor whose task would be to appear stupid if not outright insane enough to cover up all that was actually happening below the surface?
That wasn't an easy pill to swallow for someone as high on the social ladder as Narmidor! And yet…
"Sugar?" Rather than focusing on the parts Theo was worried about, the man latched onto a completely different detail instead. "What would you need loads of sugar for?"
This question was enough for Theo to raise his eyebrow in surprise, only to then give the man a nod of genuine respect.
"The easiest way to manufacture a spirit stone is to infuse spiritual energy into a crystalline structure. And making crystals out of sugar or even salt is worlds easier than finding ways to afford the initial investment necessary to use precious stones instead."
It was that simple.
Back in Theo's original life, it was the invention of the magical batteries that kickstarted the development of the industrial-levels of salt and sugar production, only for the inventions of new, more efficient chemicals to follow that allowed the creation of much bigger and thus better crystals.
But in Theo's current circumstances, attempting to replicate the same chemical compound he didn't even know the name of was too tall of a task. That, and it would take way too much time—the one thing he had a very limited reserve of and wouldn't be able to get more of.
"So that's the gold you mentioned at the very beginning," Narmidor smiled, his face lighting up with the sort of energy Theo only ever saw the traces of before. "And how soon could you start churning out those spirit stones? How many could you produce a month? Are they going to be of the same quality as the stone you destroyed before?"
Theo didn't even need to think to answer all of those questions.
"I can start in the morning. It would take a day or two for the crystals to form from what we can find in the kitchen, then a day or two before they could be matured while I could set up the first few arrays while the crystals grow…" Theo brought up his hand to his chin, rubbing it as he made the calculations in his head.
Then, he raised his eyes to the patriarch.
"For a proof of concept, I can get the first batch out in three, maybe four days. But it will be limited, with more failures than what I can personally accept and with the stones of generally the lowest possible quality," he explained in detail. "For the proper production?" Theo shook his head only to then reveal a small yet perfectly confident smile, "a week, maybe two. But it's going to take another week for the first batch to be ready."
There was a massive difference between a stone good enough to serve as a proof of concept and a stone that could get a good price on the market. And as much as it pained Theo, only by slowly infusing the stones over time could the mana properly settle into its pores and create a product that could take the world's market by storm.
"So the procedure of crafting those isn't all that hard, huh?" Narmidor muttered, extracting the very core information about the whole process from the stuff Theo explained to him about. Then, his smile only widened, the energy in his eyes only growing stronger. "Which is exactly why you need me to act out, so that no one will bother to look into it, right?"
Theo didn't even need to answer, judging that a simple nod of his head would suffice.
"That only leaves the last question," Narmidor muttered before tapping his hands down on his thighs, then standing up from his bench and dropping his hands onto his hips with a determined look on his face. "Where do I begin? And what story do you need me to spin?"