[Yes, much easier to accept kindness when there's a dollop of self-interest in it, he would agree—]

Techmaturgy... I have not heard the word before.

[But he knows how language works, so it's not hard to figure out what it probably means. He raises an eyebrow curiously, drifting around to perch on the arm of the chair he's haunting; putting a pin in real estate to talk about things-with-"tech"-in-them—]

Magical technology, is that correct. In life I was an inventor first. Before alchemy. And I have dabbled in the magical arts.

[He can't actually show much more interest without sort of dissolving around the edges, but maybe his unblinking stare and the way he tilts forward a bit can stand in for that. Tell him all the details.]

Then you require space for machinery.