"You're coming here often these days. Princess."
Cookie purred and laid its face on my thighs. As I carefully stroked its head, it tried licking the palm of my hand.
"Cookie is very pleased but, since the previous request is still in progress, if you could delay the deadline by just one week…"
The Master, who always had an expressionless face, looked tired from overwork today.
Well, I am a client who wasn't originally in his plans.
Even ten bodies would be insufficient to handle both the Crown Prince's request and mine at the same time.
"Master, I didn't come here to press you on the request, but because I had a question."
I handed him some accessories and immediately brought up the subject.
"What is your question?"
As soon as he saw the jewels, he recovered his energy a little.
"Can I have exclusive rights in exchange for revealing a new invention?"
As a Munchkin, he immediately understood what I meant.
(T/N: Munchkin is a gaming slang term for an overpowered character.)
"Hm. I think you are talking about the patent law. If you get a Letters Patent from the supreme court, you can exercise the patent right. It was enacted by the Visconti family about 300 years ago. Even Blancia often patents artifacts and alchemy."
"How?"
When I held out a bunch of jewels, to my surprise, he gave them back, resolutely.
"I'm curious about what the Princess intends to patent. If you satisfy my curiosity, I will help you with the patent process."
I was delighted to hear that he would act as a patent lawyer.
The Master has been proceeding with patents in various fields. He must know very well how to delve into the patent law.
I solemnly curled up my lips, which were twitching with joy, and bit them.
"… Alright. But in return, let's write a contract that says we will not reveal this discovery to anyone."
"Very well. But in return, if I succeed in patenting it, please give me 20% of the income the Princess will earn from the patent."
I started by imposing silence on the Master, and he cleverly asked for a commission.
"Are you like this all the time? I am the Princess of Seymour."
As I clenched my teeth and glared at him, the Master let out a groan.
"Then, 10%…"
I snapped my neck left and right, enough to make a cracking sound.
"Of course, in addition to this, the Princess will receive a 30% discount on all artifacts that you purchase at Blancia. How about that?"
‘Hm? It doesn't sound bad…'
The Master was making a scheme to sell more artifacts to me, as I am a VIP, through a discount event; but it was an offer I couldn't refuse as I wanted to buy a lot of artifacts with the recording function.
"Alright. Let's go with that."
"Very well. So, let's hear what it is."
He grinned as he succeeded in the negotiations.
"It's not a big deal. I have improved Simeon's magic formula, and I'm curious to see if the improved formula can be patented."
He quickly wiped the smile from his lips and put on a serious expression.
"It's not a big deal? Did you say you improved the formula of the Archmage Simeon? Are you serious?"
"Yeah."
A crack slowly crept over his mineral-like face.
"Really?"
"If you don't believe me, give me a quill."
As I easily organized the long formula in front of him, he, who had been silent for a while, frowning, let out a dispirited chuckle.
"The Princess always surprises me. You're amazing."
"What do you mean amazing? I don't know how to handle mana, so for me, it's like a pie in the sky."
"Ahh, so that's why you want to patent it…! I understand. You're similar to me in that I seek profit rather than honor."
"Is it possible to proceed with the patent?"
"This is the first time the formula has been improved, but apparently, it seems that there is nothing that cannot be done if we put it in Paragraph 3 of the Patent Act."
His explanation went something like this.
Wizards try to give various attributes to the energy called mana.
For reference, Duke Seymour is a wizard with a unique talent for changing mana into water and ice attributes.
And it is said that there are some wizards who often patent unusual attribute transformations.
Mana attribute transformation is classified as a kind of ‘technological patent', and improving the formula to increase the casting speed is also likely to be included in the ‘technological patent'.
"However, in this case, the biggest problem is how to obtain patent income. In the case of mana transformation patents, if there is a transaction on the related artifacts or mana stones, the patent income is returned to the wizard."
"Ha. I see it's not easy."
I murmured to myself.
The main point of the improved formula is casting speed.
There was no separate invention, so the income generation part became very ambiguous.
"For wizards to pay for each use of my improvement formula… No matter how you look at it, it will be difficult."
"It is impossible to check whether formulas are used or not; and if you ask them to pay each time like that, the backlash from wizards will be great. Wouldn't Duke Seymour probably be the first to object?"
"Then… How about a monthly subscription?"
"What is that?"
Curiosity rose in the Master's eyes.
"In exchange for providing a convenient service called "Improved Formula", every month I receive a service usage fee from the wizards. Instead, I will charge only a small fee to reduce the backlash."
In this way, there was a site that quietly stole 4,900 won from me every month.
I was busy and forgot about it, but before I terminated the service, the amount of money that was taken from me reached a whopping 110,000 won.
"How on earth do you come up with such ideas?"
While I vaguely recalled the fear of the monthly subscription, the Master suddenly started laughing, with his shoulders shaking up and down.
Whether he laughed or not, I continued.
"Wouldn't 4 silver 99 copper per month be cheaper and more reasonable than the fine for patent infringement? Like that, I can make some nice pocket money every month."
"The Princess is right. The fines are very high because they are taken by the court."
Nice!
If we just make an example out of a few people, they will all sign up for my paid formula service.
It's cheaper than a fine, and above all, I will be at ease.
Assuming that all magic-related people use my improved formula service, a solid profit will come in during the validity of the patent.
A little makes a lot!
‘Ah, right. I have to give this thug 10%…'
The Master smiled with his eyes.
"The Princess is a genius devil. You are trying to figure out a way to extort money."
‘I'm not a devil, I'm a monster created by capitalism.'
I swallowed the bitterness.
"Oh, and Princess. Even if you increase the service fee to 7 Silver 99 Copper, the wizards will still think it is a penny. Since most of them are highly paid people."
"…"
"And, instead of revealing all the formulas you have written here from the beginning, how about revealing them gradually and increasingly raising the service fee?"
But who created the capitalist monster in front of me?
I was secretly astonished, looking at the even more cunning Master.
***
Well, it's been a breeze since then.
Because William Lemont and Professor Kyle fully supported me by giving me a pretext to extort money.
Also, the patent documents were gradually coming into shape.
The concept of ‘brackets' and ‘unknown', which, in the end, organizes complex numbers by grouping them together, is the key of my improved formula.
By defining this part as ‘core technology', it is preventing everyone from patenting it in advance.
The day William's petition was submitted.
With good timing, my Father quarreled over this matter with Marquis Lemont, one of the elders of the Wizardry Association, and was already in a very bad mood.
"How dare these insignificant things disregard my daughter?! I can't let these good-for-nothings use the formula you developed with your blood and sweat."
Thanks to this, it was easy to persuade Duke Seymour to patent the magic formula.
"Patent it. It seems like a good idea."
He was even pleased.
Whereas I was interested in the fixed monthly profit, the Duke of Seymour was very interested in using the patent law to screw over the Marquis of Lemont.
Because in order to use a technology registered as a patent, the permission of the patent holder is basically required.
"Limit the Lemont family's use of the improved formula. They will be constantly picked out from the magical world for their rash words and actions."
‘As expected, the nasty Seymour is a manly man.'
"I will give them a lesson."
So, I pretended to be angry too.
Because showing retaliation for being insulted is much better.
I was able to hide my intentions to extort money from the wizards every month much more plausibly.
Thanks to Duke Seymour's active support, as soon as the fact-finding meeting was over, I was able to quickly obtain a Letters Patent.
In addition, thanks to the active role of the various notorious people who came to observe the fact-finding meeting, I was able to secure early customers of the improved formula service even more quickly.
‘I don't know why the Epsilon executives came to the fact-finding meeting all at once, but for me, it was a good thing.'
In particular, Arin just told me that the 5th Princess, an Epsilon executive and a fire wizard, was particularly excited that day and went around selling my improved formula.
"The 5th Princess said that the formula the Princess improved is more beautiful than Sir Isidor, the most handsome man in the empire."
Trembling, Arin Oslot concluded by bringing up a metaphor that I was not particularly curious about.
‘But, although she seems to be very scared of me, she says everything she has to say.'
When I looked at her, secretly dumbfounded, Arin's eyes suddenly turned red as she lowered her head.
"Good job."
I lightly tapped her on the shoulder, as she has been eagerly telling me about the rumors circulating in the Department of Magic.
"Wow!"
At my touch, Arin was startled like a squirrel who was bitten by a snake, and then suddenly floundered her hands and feet.
"I-I'm going to w-work! I need to do the research requested by the P-Princess…"
"Go."
As I gave her an order because she looked uncomfortable, Arin, who was talking gibberish, shut her mouth tightly and quickly ran away out of the campus of the Department of Magic, like a person with a motor on their feet.
‘I feel like a villain tormenting a cute little kid.'
Feeling ambiguous, I stared at her squirrel-like back and smacked my lips.
I could be friendly and kind to her, but I don't want my character to change.
‘I'm sorry. I'm going to live as the cold villain of this district.'
Even though I extort them 7 silver and 99 copper every month, because the Lemont family is the worst-case scenario, most people think that I'm showing mercy.
This atmosphere that I don't care what kind of crazy thing I do since I'm a wicked woman.
I liked it very much.
‘The bottom line is, I'm just going to live up to this image.'
