Tsukasa arrived at the second floor under the butler's lead.
Judging from the decor here, it should be a VIP room used for entertaining guests.
Speaking of which, it seemed she hadn't prepared such a place in her villa.
It wasn't that there were no empty rooms to design.
But rather she hadn't thought about this matter at all.
After all, in her heart, she hadn't considered the possibility of guests coming to her door at all.
However, wanting to develop a power certainly required networks.
In other words, whether they were fake friends or real friends, the more the better.
Before this, she hadn't considered making friends with others at all.
Even for something like finding business partners, she had intended to control them rather than winning them over through normal social relationships.
How was this any different from an evil Demon King?
In the end, her subordinates would surely revolt.
Because this was undoubtedly the way of a tyrant.
But she lacked the confidence to do things the normal way.
She knew herself well; she certainly didn't have the ability to manage subordinates well, nor was she sure she could look after every level of an organization.
Without using such forceful methods, she couldn't even guarantee that those below her would work diligently.
So from the start, she didn't want to consider these things.
Even though she knew it was wrong, she didn't want to change.
Because her advantage lay in her own strength.
Aside from that, she had no other advantages.
Her social skills were a particular weakness.
"Sigh, it's really a headache, but now I can only keep going down this path."
"Maybe I'll have to take some time to learn these skills later, but that will have to wait until after my influence has grown."
If she was a tyrant, then so be it.
Anyway, she didn't want to be a king right now; she just wanted to be the president of a chamber of commerce.
So even if she used power to dominate, it shouldn't cause too much backlash.
Not long after.
The Count came up.
"Hello."
On the surface.
No emotions could be seen.
The Count said, "I apologize for before; we were being rude."
Tsukasa looked at the Count, who was apologizing to her, with some surprise.
Then she indicated she didn't mind.
"No, I didn't take it to heart."
The Count didn't seem to expect her to answer like that and was momentarily stunned.
But he quickly reacted.
"That's good. However, as a token of my apology, please accept my gift."
The Count clapped his hands.
The butler, who had been waiting outside, walked in carrying a tray.
Tsukasa looked at the item before her and asked, "This is?"
The Count said, "A small token of my appreciation; please do not refuse, Your Excellency."
A savings card from the Silver Bank.
She didn't check how much money was inside.
But since it was from a Count, the amount inside was likely not small.
Although Tsukasa didn't know why the Count was being so generous.
But since he wanted her to take it, she might as well.
Otherwise, she wouldn't know how to refuse politely anyway.
She felt that if she refused, a fight might break out.
The Count saw her accept his gift.
He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he said familiarly, "Is Your Excellency a Mage?"
"Yes," Tsukasa replied.
The Count said, "Pardon my intrusion, but did Your Excellency come here for a mission, or...?"
"No, I just plan to settle down here."
"I see," the Count said. "Well, you are very welcome. If there's anything you need help with, I will do my best to assist."
"Thank you."
Tsukasa could still tell the Count was just being polite.
Even if he wasn't, she wouldn't just accept this favor casually.
"Mhm."
The Count hesitated, as if wanting to say something more.
Tsukasa waited quietly for what he had to say next.
"My subordinate offended you earlier; I apologize on his behalf, I'm truly sorry," the Count said. "I wonder if you could help lift the spell on him? Of course, I am willing to pay a price for it."
A high-level knight was a significant combat force for a Count, the kind of loss that would be quite painful. Therefore, as long as there was even a sliver of possibility, he would try his best to save the knight.
However, this price would certainly be limited.
If it exceeded that range, the Count would decisively give up.
As for how large that range was.
The Count didn't say explicitly.
This was a transaction.
Whether she could push to the Count's bottom line depended on whether Tsukasa had the ability.
Tsukasa was very clear on this point.
And she was also very clear that she certainly didn't have that ability.
But she had seen plenty of people acting mysteriously and putting on airs.
Novels and movies provided too many examples to reference.
So she said with a smile, "Lift that one spell? I can. What can you offer?"
Tsukasa actually had her considerations.
Under normal circumstances, she should give the Count some face now and stop while she was ahead, which would also earn her some friendship.
But she thought about it carefully.
This friendship seemed meaningless to her.
First of all, she wasn't good at socializing.
This was very important, so it needed to be stated repeatedly.
Because of her poor social skills, even if she gave the Count face and gained some friendship, she didn't have the ability to develop that friendship further, nor did she know how to use it to seek benefits for herself.
In such a situation, the long-term benefits that this friendship might bring were equivalent to no benefits for her.
So the only chance she had to gain profit was this one right in front of her; if she missed it, it would be gone. Although this was a complete windfall—since she hadn't expected the Count to negotiate and trade with her over this—she had no reason to pass it up, did she?
Some might think this was being petty.
But clearly, that wasn't entirely the case.
Because she had to conduct this transaction.
If she didn't agree.
It would be the Count who felt uneasy.
Seeing Tsukasa kick the question back to him, the Count fell into silence for a moment.
Originally, he hadn't stated his chips because he wanted to test this Mage; if the price she asked was too ridiculous, he could basically judge that she came with ill intent. But now that the question was kicked back to him, the Mage's purpose became somewhat hard to see through.
However, the Count was also prepared for this.
"Butler."
"Yes."
Soon.
The butler brought up the items the Count had prepared in advance.
Tsukasa understood in her heart.
The other party had already prepared all the responses.
Even if she kicked the question back.
They could answer quickly.
"This is my sincerity," the Count said. "What do you think?"
Tsukasa looked at the items.
It was a land deed.
The location was in the center of the Commercial District.
It could be said to be quite valuable.
Tsukasa didn't know if this was the Count's bottom line.
But she felt that it was indeed what she wanted.
So she nodded.
"Fine, I'll take it."
Next.
She lifted the Petrification spell.
She left with a bountiful harvest.
As for what the Count would think afterward.
That was no longer within her scope of consideration.
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