Magical Devices Craftsman Dahlia – Chapter 15

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Royalty Agreement

Late noon the next day, Dahlia visited the commerce guild.

Until now, her job contract was signed along with Tobias under the joint signature, so this was her first time to do it alone. She had planned to go for a honeymoon after marriage, but now it doesn’t seem to matter anymore.

First, I need to check/confirm the revenue from the registered magic devices royalties, and if possible, take up a new job/order/commission– thought Dahlia as she went upstairs in the midst of the hustle and bustle of people.

“Ah, Ms. Dahlia. Just at the right time.” A male receptionist called her as she made her way upstairs. “The transport guild just requested 10 waterproof canopies for their carriages to you.”

“I understand. Let me confirm the details.”

“Please, this way.”

She looked at the written request and confirmed that the specs were the same as the previous commission.

If it was from the transport guild, it probably how Marcella show his/her help. They had provided the cloth for the canopy, there was no problem with the deadline and payment, so it was okay to accept it as is. Regarding the cloth, it would be delivered to the Green Tower several days later.

Relieved that now she already had a job to do, Dahlia headed to the contract-related counter 

“Good afternoon, Ms. Dahlia.”

“Thank you for the other day, Mr. Ivano.”

The one at the contract-related counter was the Notary form the other day, Ivano. Seeing her bright face, he smiled in relief.

“Well then, what business do you have here today?”

“I want to affirm the revenue from my registered magical devices. Can you bring me the Royalty Agreement, please?”

“Understood. I will bring you the contract in a minute.”

Ivano went inside and come back with a light brown wooden box. It contains the Royalty Agreement of the registered magical devices form Dahlia and her father, Carlo.

Magical devices that have been registered at the commerce guild was sold, they give a fixed amount of royalties to their developer. While there were many small differences, it has a similar structure with “patent” from her previous life. It has a period of 7 years starting from the day the contract was signed. Once expired, it won’t give any royalties.

Dahlia registered her waterproof cloth when she was 18, so it will continue until she reaches 25. The dryer that she previously developed with her father has registered 10 years ago, so its contract of royalties has expired. Although, her name was left out since she was below the age limit of 15 years old at the time.

“All items registered under Mr. Carlo’s name, as well as the ones registered under yours; the waterproof cloth and the raincoat, total to this amount.” 

Dahlia tilted her head when checking the documents.

“What happened to the small portable magic stove I registered last month? It wasn’t included here.”

“The small stove…my apologies. It seems the agreement was missing from the box. Since it was our mistake, let me search it for you.” 

Ivano quickly got up from his chair with a clatter. The document might be misplaced in another box.

While Dahlia relaxes for a moment in her chair, the inside becomes noisy.

“I am sorry!” A young woman staff ran towards Dahlia, “I was the one who handled the royalty agreement for the small portable magic stove!”

“I am sorry, I have registered the small portable magic stove under Mr. Tobias name.” She apologized and bowed her head deeply. 

“Hah?” Dahlia was baffled.

Behind the flustered staff who started sobbing, Ivano has come bringing some documents. Dahlia scanned those documents and found out that her small portable magic stove was really registered under Tobias’ name.

All the idea and production comes from Dahlia; Tobias only checked her blueprint in case something was missing. She got her hand full of jobs, so she entrusted the registration to Tobias when he went to the commerce guild for a business, but it seems he did it under his name.

“Um, last month, when Mr. Tobias came here to register, he said he has Ms. Dahlia’s agreement. So I thought that this was a case of you using your spouse’s name…” explained the staff.

Originally, in the case when the name inside the contract and the one who signed is different, they must always validate it with the concerned party; it cannot be done by proxy. However, since both of them have filled engagement document/form, and has signed a contract with commerce guild under a shared name/register, the staff misunderstood that she would take her spouse’s name after marriage. Hearing that explanation, Dahlia felt a familiar headache has come back.

Certainly, in terms of management and profit, a married couple could share their property under one name, so using your spouse’s name wasn’t rare. However, Dahlia never remembered giving her consent/agreement to Tobias.

“I have understood the matter and details. So, I declare that I have never given any right or whatever to Mr. Orlando. Also, we have broken our engagement, so now we are strangers. Can you tell, what should I do to have the name in the royalty agreement changed?” Dahlia just asked disinterestedly without blaming anyone.

“Let me over my apology too. I will ask for the directive from above as soon as possible, are you willing to wait?” said Ivano while also bowing beside the female staff.

Her father once said– ’When you develop a magical device that can reach the masses, you engrave your name on it, and take the responsibility to look after it afterward.’

Did her senior apprentice Tobias already forget that? It was sorrowful when she thought that.

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If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com.

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After a while, Dahlia, together with Ivano, has arrived in Vice guild chief Gabriella’s office.

A carpet with a gorgeous geometric pattern, A beautiful engraved white table, a comfy white leather sofa– although it gives a relaxing mood, the atmosphere in the room was incredibly tense.

Gabriella stood up and apologized. “I have heard the matter. Ms. Dahlia Rosetti, on behalf of the guild chief and as a representative of commerce guild, I offer you our apology,” said her as she bowed deeply and kept that low posture.

“Vice-chief, please raise your head!” perplexed, Dahlia stopped her in haste before her beautiful fair would sweep the floor. Even so, Gabriella kept still for a few seconds, before raising back her head and sighed without even concealing it.  

“I deeply apologize for putting you in this kind of trouble. We will thoroughly seek confirmation for the next time,” said Gabriella as the three of them finally sat around the table.

“I have confirmed the documents about the small portable magic stove,” Ivano, who already looked tired, spread the documents and started to explain. “The blueprint and the specification document was unmistakably written by Ms. Dahlia. Since we also have the testimony of the one who was responsible for this, we will renew the document after immediately sent a formal protest to Mr. Tobias. As a penalty, we will ban Mr. Tobias from making contracts with the  commerce guild for a certain period of time, and the person responsible will also be demoted–”

“Just changing the name in the contract is enough for me,” Dahlia interjected his explanation, making his eyes went wide as he looked at her.

“Ms. Dahlia, is that fine with you?”

“If you want, you can sue him for fraud contract, Dahlia. Although since it happened when you two still engaged, it could become a dispute over whether you have said it or not. If you decided to sue him, we can find you an attorney, you can even leave everything to us. Of course, we will also cover the expenses,” added Gabriella.

“I am thankful for your consideration. However, if I do that, it would end his career as ‘magical device meister’, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes. At least, for a fraud contract, he won’t be able to do business with the commerce guild as  ‘magical device meister’ anymore.”

“Dahlia,”–Gabriella asked her as she narrowed her blue eyes–” don’t tell me, do you still have lingering feelings for him?”

“I don’t have any lingering feelings for him as a fiancee, or rather, you could say it was in a deficit.” denied Dahlia. “But even so, he still my ‘senior apprentice.’”

Tobias becomes her father’s apprentice at 19 years old after graduating from the academy. When Dahlia was first met him, her father introduced him as her “senior apprentice.” He bowed awkwardly, with a clock in one hand and a metal plate in the other.

While she has been studying under her father since she was a child, Dahlia only become an official apprentice 2 years after graduating from the academy; she was helping a professor in those years. So he certainly was her senior.

“…If the person himself cancels the royalty agreement on his own accord, and then I re-register it, can Mr. Orlando and the responsible staff be spared from the penalty? Of course, I wouldn’t mind if this one month period was left out from the contract,” suggested Dahlia.

“If you said you’re fine with this, we can’t say any more about this matter.” Gabriella finally yields to her decision.

“Well then, I will go to Mr. Orlando soon and tell him to cancel the agreement as soon as possible.”

“We could call him here, you know? Or if you’re so inclined to meet him, do you want me to accompany you?” offer Gabriella.

“It’s okay, I will go alone,” declined Dahlia. “However, if things go south… and doesn’t look good, I will consult it to you.”

“Things go south, huh. Ok, I understand.”

Dahlia then gave them a bow and left the room as Ivano and Gabriella saw her off with silence.

After the door was closed, they stayed still as silence filled the room. 

“…Even if she doesn’t have any lingering feelings, to tell the truth, it would be fine if she were to beat him up. Going that far, is ‘senior apprentice’ has that kind of respect?” grumbled the man on his own. The woman across him could only laugh weakly.

“I think it was different,” said Gabriella. “That child may didn’t notice it, but the one who she protected, was probably Carlo.”

“Ms. Dahlia protected Carlo, who was already dead?” asked Ivano.

“Yes. If her senior apprentice Tobias quit being a magical device meister, or if he was guilty of some crime, in the end, Carlo’s name would also be tarnished, he would also be sad– that’s probably what’s going on her head unconsciously.”

“Aah, I see, so it was like that…”

Ivano turned his head and once again closed his eyes.

He recalled the sand-colored hair and gentle smile of a certain magical device meister in his prime.

On a certain day in the summer, he suddenly collapsed in the guild’s corridor, and the one who first rushed to his aid was him. He breathed roughly a few times before the man stopped moving in front of his eyes without a single word. When the doctor came, it was too late. There was nothing they could do.

“Mr. Carlo sure die young. He must be full of regret…” reminisced Ivano.

“Good grief… he should live for 20 more years, or at least 10 more years, that man,” lamented Gabriella.  

Gabriella opened the office window to let the air in. But there was no wind blowing in, as she looked at Dahlia’s back as she walked away.