Isaac felt satisfied with his progress.
"Now I need to focus on reaching Awakened (Intermediate) in Magic Core."
In his last life, he took fifty years to reach that level.
This time, he planned to reach it within the next four years.
"I have the Mana Breathing Technique.
"And as soon as Merlin finishes the communication technology, I can start earning money.
"I can use that money to buy rare resources.
"With resources and Mana Breathing Technique, it’s possible to reach Awakened (Intermediate) in four years."
It was an ambitious goal.
Geniuses spent decades to reach that level, but he wanted to do it in four years.
...
Several months passed.
"Hahahaha! I did it! I did it! Hahahaha!"
Merlin jumped around Isaac’s room with pure joy.
His face kept shifting between excitement and tears, then back to excitement again.
"It took nine months. I used all my free time for this. Sob, sob. But now I can finally rest easy! Hahaha, I can earn a lot of money from this!" Merlin shouted.
Isaac made a strange face.
Wasn’t this man the reincarnation of the Magic God?
Where was his dignity?
Where was his calm nature?
He was jumping around like a child.
"What do you mean you can earn?" Isaac asked.
"Well, of course—"
Merlin froze.
He slowly turned his head, stiff like an old door, and stared at Isaac.
"S-Surely you don’t mean I won’t get any share, right?"
Isaac stayed silent. Merlin panicked.
"I worked on this for months! Give me a share! You will earn a lot from this. A small cut won’t hurt you!"
Merlin looked ready to drop to his knees, grab Isaac’s leg, and beg.
Isaac frowned and pulled his leg back.
’...Is this really the Magic God’s reincarnation?’
’Where is his pride?’
Merlin had lost all shame after he started treating Isaac as his best friend.
Isaac did not understand why Merlin thought they were best friends when, in truth, Isaac ignored him most of the time.
"I can serve you, Sir Isaac! Please give me a small share! I will even kiss your feet—"
"Stop."
Merlin stopped just as he bent down to kneel.
A grin appeared on his face, but he quickly hid it.
After spending months together, he knew Isaac like the back of his hand.
If he made Isaac uncomfortable with excessive begging, he could force him to agree.
Isaac understood him too.
So, he said, "I won’t give you a share. But I can give you the patent."
"...What?" Merlin frowned.
"You can take the full patent for the technology. I will use my reward from the Sacred Duel to claim all profits from it."
"Then what about me? Doesn’t that mean even with the patent, I won’t get any money?" Merlin asked, quickly putting on a pitiful expression.
Although the protagonist felt something was wrong because Isaac was easily giving away the patent, he needed to secure his own share first.
"You will own the patent. You can earn money by giving others permission to use the technology."
"Mhm."
Merlin thought about it.
He would only get a small portion, but even mosquito’s meat would could fill one’s stomach if the mosquito was the size of a mountain.
"What? Are you not satisfied? Should I reduce it—"
"I will go get the patent from the Royal Family, Sir Isaac!"
Merlin ran out before Isaac could change his mind.
Isaac rubbed his temples.
He could not tell if this was Merlin’s true personality, or if he liked being a drama queen just to get on Isaac’s nerves.
...
The protagonist returned after a week.
He looked like the soul had been sucked out of him.
"Did you get the patent?" Isaac asked.
"I did. But the nobles surrounded me and would not let me leave. They all wanted a share. Shameless buggers," Merlin said.
"Show me the patent," Isaac said, ignoring his shameless complaint.
"Here."
Isaac checked the file and nodded.
"Good. Now we are on the same boat," he said.
"...Huh?"
Merlin, who was buried deep in the sofa, still tired and lifeless, stiffened.
For some reason, he felt that he had been scammed.
"...What do you mean we are on the same boat?"
"The foundation I gave you is based on the Royal Storm Elf’s secret magic formations. If you sell this technology, the elves will realize it sooner or later that it’s theirs. Then they will come after you for stealing their magic formations."
"Motherf—" Merlin jumped up and pointed at Isaac. "So this is why you gave me the patent!"
"Don’t worry. I have a solution."
"Go to hell!"
"You need to create new magic formations for the technology. You already know the result, so you can design them easily. Then you must sneak into the Royal Patent Office and change the records. After that, you can sell the modified version. If you ever try to betray me, I will reveal the original patent documents I have."
Isaac held up the file.
"Then the elves will come after you."
Merlin opened his mouth, then closed it.
He wanted to curse Isaac’s nine generations.
He thought of Isaac as his best friend, but Isaac had placed his neck on the guillotine!
Wait.
"S-so what? Even if you reveal the real documents, I won’t suffer. You gave me the information in the first place. The elves will come after you, not me," Merlin said.
"Do you have proof?" Isaac asked.
"What?"
Merlin froze again as he finally understood why Isaac gave him the patent.
"What proof do you have that I gave you information? The only proof about the inventor’s identity is this patent, and it has only your name on it.
"This thing proves you made the technology alone.
"I had no hands in it," Isaac said.
Merlin clenched his fist. His body trembled.
"Damn you, Isaac!" he shouted, then ran out.
He had no time to curse Isaac.
He had to alter the technology and create new magic formations as soon as possible.
The only good thing was that no one would try to steal the documents from the Royal Patent Office. Yet.
When Merlin was getting the patent, the news of his patent spread, and the king had called him.
The king understood how important the new technology was.
He praised Merlin for inventing something that would revolutionize the kingdom, and promised him the Royal Family would do everything to support him.
The king was old and close to death.
Hoping to be blessed by the heavens, and gain more life, or be lucky enough to chance upon a rare treasure to increase his life, he had become a fervent devotee of Goddess Qaia, the Goddess of Law and Order.
As her devotee, the king was a strict person regarding rules.
Since Goddess Qaia ruled over Law and Order, the decrepit king made sure no rules were broken in his kingdom as much as possible—especially serious rules.
The decrepit king would be aware people would try to sneak into the Royal Patent Office and steal the Communication Technology’s information in its patent.
They would want to reverse engineer it and create something similar.
To protect those documents—as the rules demanded of Royal Patent Office—the king would place heavy guards in the place.
Merlin wanted to cry when he thought about such things.
Altering the technology was already difficult.
Now he also had to sneak into a heavily guarded place to replace the documents.
’If I knew this would happen, I would have controlled my greed and never asked for a share,’ he thought.
...
Three months passed.
Merlin succeeded in altering the technology.
But he still failed to sneak into the Royal Patent Office and change the documents.
Without that, he could not sell the Communication Technology.
They could only sell the altered version, but the patent still described the original one.
The king or someone else might notice the difference.
So Merlin had to be patient.
But his patience was growing thin.
He wanted to start selling the technology and earn money as soon as possible.
That money would help him gather resources and grow stronger.
...
Isaac was training when he heard the knock on the door.
His maid was out today, so he had to open the door himself.
The protagonist stood on the opposite side.
"I told you not to come here until you changed the doc—"
Isaac stopped speaking when he noticed Merlin’s unusually grave expression.
He understood what was happening.
"My sister called for me?"
Merlin’s eyes widened.
"How did you—"
He closed his mouth. By now, he knew Isaac would not answer questions like this.
A sigh escaped his mouth, then his gaze became determined.
"Listen to me, Isaac. I am on your side. I know you did nothing wrong. Let’s apologize together and explain everything. If we do—"
"Let’s go meet her."
Isaac walked past him.
"Wait! I need to explain what is happening!"
Merlin ran after him, but Isaac didn’t slow his steps.
’The day has finally come.’
Isaac’s sister had become an adult and joined the academy a week ago. His maid, Hazel, had also started coming less often.
This time, she had not come for a full week.
The signs were clear.
’Well, I already took as much money as I could from Duke Wright’s treasury and used it to buy resources. I don’t mind getting kicked out now.’
Isaac reached his sister’s door and knocked.
Merlin stopped talking. He took a deep breath and gave Isaac a pleading look, hoping Isaac would follow his plan.
"Enter," a pleasant voice said.
Isaac opened the door and walked in.
The room was much more modest than his. One would think the girl living here was not the daughter of a Duke, but of a low ranked noble.
Isaac looked around, then turned to his sister.
Black hair. Red eyes. A sharp gaze.
A youthful beauty whose presence was sharp like a knife.
Hazel stood behind her like her maid, not Isaac’s.
Several armed knights stood in the corner.
Their muscles were strained, and they looked ready to fight at any moment.
Isaac sat at the table.
His sister, Amanda, handed him a document.
"You are being cast out of the family. You will receive a mansion in the countryside and 1000 gold coins. Do not ask for more or try to change father’s decision."