Published at 27th of February 2020 5:53 am

Volume 5, Act 01: Company

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Translator: Blushy

Editor: Sam

It has been three months since I’ve returned from Klaussner.

With the season gradually heading towards summer, it will be my second summer since I’ve come to this world.

Requests came from the Royal Palace even after I came back, so I went all around to subjugate demons.

I was pretty busy, but I was able to purify all the black swamps that have been found.

The demons in the places I had visited had decreased, relieving everyone of their worries.

However, it isn’t clear whether the surges of demons have settled down.

Since new swamps could appear.

Thus, black swamps were continuously investigated, and I went to purify them whenever they’re found.

The knights were in charge of the areas which didn’t have black swamps, and I never went to those areas.

Therefore, I was able to get some spare time recently.

At that time, a large amount of cargo arrived at the Medicinal Herb Research Institute from Klaussner.

“That’s amazing,” I muttered as I stared at the pile of boxes in the warehouse.

Piled up like a mountain were boxes filled with herbs and seeds from Klaussner.

Along with herbs for HP and MP potions, which were at a shortage, they also sent herbs for potions which are effective against abnormal statuses, such as burn and paralysis.

It seemed like they sent rare herbs as well, and the researchers, who were checking the contents cheered while looking at the packing slip.

It might be more correct to say they roared instead of cheered.

“Sei, there’s a letter for you too.”

That person could actually speak in such a loud voice.

I stared at my colleague, who was usually quiet while thinking so, and the Director spoke to me while holding a letter in his hand.

Apparently, the letter addressed to me was slipped into the letter addressed to the research institute.

I turned the letter around and saw that Corinna-san’s name was on it.

I opened the envelope on the spot and instinctively smiled wryly.

She seemed to have discovered that the forest, which had been damaged by the slimes before I’d left Klaussner, had been restored.

She was considerate of my feelings because I had restored the forest in secret, but she hadn’t written about it directly, instead, she wrote it in a roundabout way so that only if someone who knew about it would understand the contents of the letter.

She also included words of thanks.

This lavish hospitality isn’t just from Corinna-san; apparently, Feudal Lord-sama found out as well.

I, who isn’t interested in politics, thought, since Klaussner had sent so many herbs and seeds.

After all, they sent two different types of packages: one addressed to the research institute and the other to me.

That’s right, there was another load in another warehouse addressed to me.

They had probably scraped together all these herbs for me even though they hadn’t solved their herb shortage.

I felt terrible, but my heart felt warm since I can feel Corinna-san’s thoughtfulness.

“What’d it say?”

Director, who mingled with the researchers to check the contents of the boxes, came back when he noticed that I had finished reading the letter.

Director grinned and asked about the contents of the letter, but his gaze was on the bag in his hand.

There were probably medicinal herb seeds in the bag.

The name of a famous herb, which rarely appeared in markets, was written on the bag.

It looked like he was so happy to get his hands on these seeds that he couldn’t stop smiling.

“She was thanking me for subjugating the demons. The herbs are a thank you present.”

“I see. Did you go wild again?”

“You’re rude. I don’t think… I did?”

“There’s nothing more suspicious than you phrasing that like a question,” Director accused in a mocking tone while sticking out his lips a little.

I did feel a bit guilty, and faltered half-way through speaking.

Director’s voice changed into an amazed one at once.

I moved my line of sight up diagonally and heard a deep sigh.

“I’ve heard about it to some extent from Al.” I felt cold sweat when I heard him say that with a little laughter.

“I-is that so?”

Apparently, he had already heard about my actions in Klaussner from Captain-san.

I wonder if he knows about what happened in the slime forest too.

From his tone, maybe he hasn’t found out yet?

I feel like he would reprimand me if he had.

I pray that he hasn’t found out as someone who is usually told to restrain herself.

“At any rate, research will progress with all these different herbs.”

“Yeah. There’s even research that has been stopped because we didn’t have enough herbs. Come to think of it, there are also herbs in your load that doesn’t seem to grow around here.”

“That’s probably the seeds I asked for.”

“Really?”

“Yes. They also taught me how to cultivate herbs. I wanted to try to see if they would grow at the royal capital.”

“Oh.”

“I might ask you to help, Director.”

“I don’t mind.”

I talked about the boxes from Klaussner to divert his attention away from what I did there, and it worked.

Director pays more attention to seeds than herbs because he only researches herb cultivation.

He’s so amazing. He could tell whether the herb could be grown at the royal capital just by looking at the name on the bag.

I want to try a lot of things like growing seeds that need blessing and growing ones that don’t.

Influenced by a change of location, the 【Saint Technique】and Director’s earth magic. It seems like I’ll probably overdo it since I have all these.

I’ll serve Director a new dish since he’s willing to help me.

But they really did send a lot.

It’s safe to use these for something other than potions since there are so many.

There seem to be herbs that could be used for cosmetics in the boxes that were sent to me.

I might be able to make new toners or creams.

It’s also fun to get different aromas depending on what herbs I use.

I feel like I’ve gotten tan because of the demon subjugations, so it might be a good idea to make some cosmetics for whitening.

“What’s wrong?” Director spoke to me as I watched the researchers cheer around the boxes and pondered.

“Nothing. I was thinking about making new cosmetics with the herbs I received.”

“New cosmetics?” He replied dubiously when I vaguely told him what I was thinking.

I turned towards Director, and he looked at me with the same expression as his voice.

When I told him that I would be making aromas and cosmetics with different effects, he reached an understanding and nodded, “I see.”

“New cosmetics, is it…?”

“Is there a problem?”

“Ah, no… Are you planning to sell it commercially again?”

“I haven’t particularly thought about that.”

“I see. But, there will be people who would want your cosmetics.”

“Oh… You’re right.”

I recalled a specific incident when Director said that.

I completely forgot about it, but a lot of people want to use the cosmetics that I make.

Because my cosmetics are very effective.

It seems like my pharmacy skill is doing an outstanding job.

I had initially made cosmetics for myself, but Liz, who saw the effect, wanted some, so I also gave some to her.

The cosmetics also worked well for Liz, and Liz’s friends started gossiping about it, so a lot of people ended up wanting them.

However, it was simple for me to make some for Liz, but challenging to prepare cosmetics for a large number of people.

I also have to do my work at the research institute.

So, I consulted with Director, and he passed the recipe onto a certain company and got them to make the cosmetics for me.

It was intense after I told Liz that they would be handling the cosmetics.

More people than what I heard about came to buy the cosmetics.

Director told me that it was tough on the big company even though they were used to doing business because nobles lined up every day to buy the products.

They have set up a production system now and can respond to regular orders from nobles.

However, it would be a different situation if they had to make new products.

However, it was easy to imagine that that crazed situation would happen again.

I should consider commercialisation in advance.

“It would be better if I consult with the merchants.”

“Yeah. I’ll contact them for you.”

“I’ll leave it to you.”

It should be okay if I leave the merchants to Director.

I recalled the list of herbs that came with my boxes and pondered about what to make.

I was so immersed in my thoughts that I didn’t notice that Director was thinking about something as he left the warehouse.

◊♦◊♦◊♦◊

On days I had mannerism lectures all day, I had to transform myself to look like a lady.

I was surrounded by maids in a room at the royal palace early in the morning, and someone noticed a bottle on the dresser which hadn’t been there before.

It was Marie-san, who was in charge of my exclusive maids.

“Sei-sama, what kind of item is this?”

“Oh, it’s a new cosmetic product,” when I answered Marie-san, who was holding the bottle made out of white ceramics with both hands, the maids focused their gazes on me.

Their gazes were so powerful.

“It’s a new cosmetic product?”

“Yeah. I tried making a cream for skin-whitening.”

“Skin-whitening…” A nearby maid muttered, and I suddenly heard a gulping sound.

It’s inevitable that the maids would react this way.

One of the beauty conditions in Slantania Kingdom was white skin.

So, noble ladies are careful not to get sunburnt.

Having said that, they still get tanned.

It happens a lot to maids who work at the royal palace.

The maids, who are also noble ladies, painstakingly try their best to maintain their skin colour.

Thus, it was obvious that they would go crazy over whitening products.

I knew this.

“Sei-sama, this cream is…”

“I’d like to try it for a while, and if there aren’t any problems, then I would like you all to try it.”

“Of course, we’ll be happy to help!”

I asked the maid, who timidly spoke to me, to try the product, and she agreed while smiling widely.

Marie-san would usually rebuke, but this time, she had only smiled bitterly, so she might be curious about the new product.

When companies deal with a new product, they test to see if the product would irritate people’s skin.

I will use the product first, and if there are no problems with it, then someone else can try it out to see if they will have no issues with it as well.

Last time, or perhaps I should say when I first let the company handle the products, I got the maids to try it out first.

And there were already rumours floating around noble ladies about the trial, and they happily cooperated.

The test results were excellent, and the maids were delighted that it was highly effective.

Thanks to that, they even told me that they would cooperate with me when I make a new cosmetic product next time.

So, I thought I would ask them next time.

I’m delighted that they volunteered this time.

“This cream specialises in skin whitening, doesn’t it?”

“I’m looking forward to seeing how white my skin will go.”

While I was getting my make-up done, the maids talked about the whitening cream while carrying dresses and accessories in front of me.

By looking at their eyes that were shining, I could tell they had high expectations for the cream.

“I don’t know if it’ll get as white as you’re expecting, you know? The effect depends on the person.”

“There’s no one who doubts the effects of your cosmetics, Sei-sama.”

“Seriously. I can’t use other cosmetics anymore.”

I smiled wryly while trying to calm them down, but it didn’t work out well.

I don’t know if this product can meet their expectations, but it should be quite effective.

This cream uses a lot of medicinal herbs that are said to be effective for whitening, so the whitening effect should be high.

In fact, when I used it on my skin, which had turned red after I’d done some fieldwork at the research institute, the redness had instantly faded.

It whitened my skin so fast that I even thought that it would be fine to call this a potion.

However, I don’t know if skin that has already become tanned will suddenly turn white.

My skin has turned to the whitest it can since I’ve come here, so it’s hard for me to see the effects.

I think this might be the same for the noble ladies who buy cosmetics from the company.

For these reasons, I was worried about whether I could meet the maids’ expectations.

Despite my worries, the maids were livelier than usual but as quick as always, and they finished my preparations.

The day after I asked the maids to try the cream, Director called me in the morning.

He also asked me to make some tea, so I went to the dining hall to prepare tea before heading to his office.

He had requested four teacups.

If one is for Director, then are the other three for guests?

Were there guests coming today?

I thought as I prepared tea and knocked on the Director’s office.

“Excuse me.”

“I’m sorry for bothering you in the morning.”

When I entered the room after receiving an answer, there were strangers there just as I had expected.

However, there are only two of them.

I was puzzled, and Director urged me to sit next to him.

“This is Franz and that’s Oscar.”

“Nice to meet you. My name’s Franz.”

“I’m Oscar. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you. My name is Sei.”

The gentleman sitting opposite me had grey hair and deep, sapphire like blue eyes, and the other man had orange hair and bright green eyes like emeralds.

The gentleman’s name is Franz-san, and the man is Oscar-san.

Franz-san is slender, wore glasses and his grey hair was swept back.

Unlike Intelligent Glasses-sama, he looked like a good-natured old man with his gentle smile.

For some reason, he also gave off a butler aura, and I couldn’t help but call him Sebastian in my mind.

Oscar-san had a medium build and his hair stuck up a little. He had slightly raised almond eyes and gave off a lively aura.

He’s probably the same age as Jude?

Maybe a little older?

He looks younger than Director.

They didn’t quite look like nobles from their outfits, but they looked wealthy.

My impressions seemed to have been spot-on. Director introduced them as people from the company.

Franz-san is the chairman and Oscar-san is Franz-san’s assistant.

“People from the company?”

“Yeah. I’m thinking of starting a new company.”

“Starting a new company?”

“Yeah. Yours.”

“Excuse me?”

I looked doubtful, and Director explained.

The cosmetics I made are being sold at the company Director introduced to me, but a lot of them are being sold because of their popularity.

So, other companies have been jealous of them and have caused a lot of trouble for them.

Director chose this company, not because of profits, but because it was easier for him to make adjustments since they had relations with his family.

However, recently Director needed to go to the company more because a lot of problems had popped up and it was getting harder for him to balance that and his work at the research institute.

Recently, it seems that other nobles have also started interfering, so Director’s family also had to step in.

I’m incredibly grateful to Director who worked hard on my benefit instead of me, who had no knowledge of the company.

Thanks to Director, the profits were returned to me, and my personal assets have also increased.

I felt horrible that even his family had been dragged into this.

And now, it was time to launch a new product.

There’s no doubt that the problems will only increase since it’ll make more profit than the current products.

Thus, Director decided to separate the profits from the company his family had connections at.

He decided to set up a new company which had nothing to do with his family and will sell products that I make there in the future.

If so, then Director’s influence at the company will be gone.

But, will the problems be solved just from moving from the old company to a new one?

Director denied my question straight away.

“No one would lay their hands on the【Saint’s】company, now would they?”

“That’s… Umm, is that so?”

I tilted my head in confusion at Director’s point, but the two sitting across from us agreed with Director.

Is it natural if you think about the status of the 【Saint】in this kingdom?

I couldn’t wrap my mind around it, but I put my doubts aside for now.

If the new company is going to be mine, then there are other things I want to ask about.

“Even if you say that this will be my company, I can only develop new products.”

“I know. That’s why these two are here.”

I see.

The only thing I can do is make potions and cosmetics.

I can’t manage a company.

Director pointed at the two when I expressed my uneasiness.

According to Director, I can just keep on making things I come up with, and Franz-san and Oscar-san will take care of everything else at the company.

So, the recipes will be given to a different company, but my work and reward will not change.

Franz-san and Oscar-san are people who have been headhunted from the previous company and are very capable, so it was fine to leave everything to them.

I wondered if it was fine to headhunt such capable people, but apparently, Director’s family will fix this.

I felt like I should send a greeting present to Director’s family.

“I look forward to working with you,” Franz-san said while smiling, and Oscar-san also smiled while bowing.

Director also gave them his stamp of approval, so I guess these two will do.

“Me too,” I replied, and the meeting was over.

◊♦◊♦◊♦◊

A month after I was introduced to Franz-san and Oscar-san, a new shop opened up in the royal capital.

It is a shop managed by the company Franz-san is the chairman of.

The shop is located on the street with shops where nobles frequent.

Apparently, they built it here because the customers who had bought my cosmetics had only been nobles.

However, it was also close to where the commoner shops were.

They predicted that wealthy commoners will also become customers in the future.

Franz-san’s prediction seemed spot-on.

Not only nobles, but a lot of girls who looked like they were wealthy merchant daughters also frequent the shop.

The shop got really crowded because the young ladies also had their attendants with them.

I wonder if it’s rare to see such a busy shop at the corner of a street full of high-end shops.

I thought this when I watched the shop at a distance when it had just opened.

“It’s a great success.”

“That’s right. Sei-sama’s cosmetics are more popular than I’d expected.”

“Only nobles brought the products at the previous shop, right?”

“Apparently they also made a lot of profit from them. That shop was famous amongst the merchants in the royal capital. So, the young ladies from merchant houses also gossiped about it.”

“Did the previous shop only sell to nobles?”

“Apparently. They couldn’t keep up with the sales. Well, Franz-san is also grateful because he was able to expand his customer base thanks to Sei-sama’s proposal.”

The one speaking friendly is Oscar-san.

Maybe it’s because we’ve been talking a lot in this one month to prepare for the shop opening, but he started speaking in a more friendly tone.

He had humbled himself at first, but I guess that was being he was thinking about the time, place and occasion.

I didn’t blame him since this was more comfortable than him humbling himself, so I just let him continue.

Apparently only I thought like this, since the person opposite me was bothered by Oscar-san’s attitude.

Captain-san was accompanying me as a guard because I was going out to the royal capital.

Unlike his usual self, he threw a sharp expressionless glare at Oscar-san.

“What was the proposal?” Captain-san must have been curious about what Oscar-san was talking about because he finally spoke even though he had remained quiet until now.

“She suggested that we separate the products by how effective they are.” I don’t know if he noticed Captain-san’s gaze or not, but he explained humbly.

I proposed that Franz-san offer cheap cosmetic products.

What they had offered until now was stuff made by people with the pharmacy skill, so it was a little expensive.

However, I used recipes which were popular in my previous world to make those cosmetics, so people who don’t have the pharmacy skill should be able to make it.

In that case, the cosmetics would be less effective than those made by people with the pharmacy skill.

So, I asked them whether it was possible to keep the prices down.

The result is as you can see.

In the store, they explained that those products were less effective than the products on offer, but a lot of people still wanted them.

“There are no problems at the shop?”

“None. A lot of the new hires are great, so I think it’s fine.”

“Then that’s good.”

“Sei-sama, you said that you’ll visit the shop next time, didn’t you?”

“I did. It’s too packed today.”

“O-kay. Then, are you going straight back after this?”

“That’s the plan.”

“You haven’t been here in a while, so why don’t you visit some places? It’s a new place, but there’s this popular café.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It’s a café for nobles, but they offer exotic tea from foreign kingdoms, and it’s popular amongst nobles who love new things.”

I was planning on going back to the royal palace after I checked up on the shop, but I heard about the café and was a little interested.

I’m a little curious about foreign tea.

But if I go to the café, then Captain-san, as my guard, would have no choice but to come with me.

I took advantage of my day off to come here, but Captain-san didn’t.

Is it alright for him to accompany me when he’s in the middle of work?

Probably not.

I felt a little bad for some reason, from just thinking about it.

And even if he could accompany me, I was aware that I would be increasing his work.

Even though I really want to visit the café, I can’t cause trouble to others.

I was troubled over this a little, but Captain-san spoke before I could tell him that we should go home without visiting the café, “Where’s that café?”

“It’s…”

Huh? Why?

I haven’t said anything yet, right?

Is Captain-san also interested?

I looked at Captain-san, who was listening to Oscar-san’s instructions, and our eyes met when he glanced at me.

“You’re interested, aren’t you?”

“Huh? … Yes.”

“Then, let’s visit it for a bit.”

Is it alright?

If you say that with such a sweet smile, then I would obviously want to go to the café.

Could he tell that I was worried? Or are my expressions that easy to read?

We separated from Oscar-san and headed to the café, then I asked him how he found out that I wanted to go to the café, and he answered that my eyes had been twinkling.

Apparently, my eyes twinkled in the same way as when I talked about herbs and potions when the café was mentioned.

Seriously?

More importantly, I don’t know what I should do about myself since I put the new café in the same rank as herbs and potions.

Embarrassed by this answer, I dropped my eyes to my feet, making him laugh.

I couldn’t help but glare at him as he muffled his voice, and his shoulders shook.

“Looks like it’s here.”

“Wow!”

After separating from Oscar-san and swaying in the carriage for a few minutes, we arrived at the café.

There was a large glass window on the wall facing the road, and you could see inside the café from the outside.

It wasn’t crowded, probably because it was aimed at nobles, but there were a lot of customers inside.

Captain-san escorted me, and we walked into the entrance of the café. A waiter greeted us with a smile.

Then, we continued to the back of the café.

The right side of the shop wall was painted with landscape, and the left side had several mirrors fitted on the wall.

The inside of the café looked bigger than it really was because of the mirrors.

Did they put effort into the interior design because it’s aimed at nobles?

I thought as I sat down at the table we were guided to.

The waiter nodded with a smile when we told him that we wanted to drink the foreign tea without looking at the menu.

After the waiter left, I realised that I should’ve ordered something that was stuffed as well, but it was too late.

I was impatient because I was curious about the new tea.

“This is the café’s recommended coffee.”

“Wah?!”

Coffee?!

He just said coffee just now, didn’t he?

I was surprised by the word that had jumped out from the waiter’s mouth, and I stared at the cup that was presented to us.

I was wondering if the black water that was swaying in the cup was perhaps… but it was just as I’d expected.

A mystery since I have been summoned is that words of this world are sometimes replaced with words from my previous world, but the replaced words had a deep impact on me.

Since coming to this world, all I heard was tea and water, so Oscar-san’s words must have been replaced with tea.

Or perhaps, Oscar-san thought that coffee was a kind of tea, and he had actually said tea.

But, I can’t believe that it’s actually coffee.

“What’s wrong?” Captain-san said worriedly, probably because I was staring at the cup without putting my hands on it.

“No, I’m surprised because it’s a drink I know,” I explained, and he looked at me anxiously.

“From your home country?”

“Yes.”

I smiled at him to tell him that he didn’t need to worry, and he relaxed his expression.

It’s been a while since I’ve had coffee.

It’ll be a waste if I don’t drink it while it’s warm.

I lift the cup and carried it to my mouth. A nostalgic scent tickled my nose.

My smile deepened.

I used to drink this every day in Japan.

“It tastes stronger than tea.”

“It does. It’s also tastes delicious if you mix it with milk.”

The coffee tasted stronger than what I was used to.

When I tilted the cup, I saw coffee powder at the bottom, so it might be similar to Turkish coffee.

“Mm? You’d had this drink before, haven’t you Sei?”

“I’ve had it before, but it tastes different from the coffee I drank in Japan. They probably brew it differently.”

“Brew?”

“Yes. Coffee also tastes different depending on how you brew it.”

Apparently, Captain-san was curious when I had said ‘delicious’.

I mostly drank canned coffee and coffee made from paper drip in Japan.

There are other ways to brew coffee such as nel drip, siphon, or French press, but I rarely drank coffee that was made using those methods.

I’ve never had Turkish coffee either.

“Did you drink this a lot in Japan?”

“I used to drink it every day. You don’t feel sleepy anymore if you drink coffee.”

According to one theory, it was all in one’s mind that coffee makes you feel awake.

However, it was a habit of mine to drink it after lunch.

I didn’t drink it constantly because drinking more than two cups in a row made me feel sick.

Still, I couldn’t stop drinking a cup after breakfast and lunch.

“Is that so?”

“I’ve also brewed it myself before.”

“You made this before?”

“Yes. If I have the tools, then I can brew it here too.”

Tools that look like they could be used to make coffee here… the beaker and flask at the research institute?

But, I can’t think of a way to brew coffee with a beaker.

If I use the nel drip method, then can I make it if I have cloth and wires?

“Did you come up with something?”

“Yes. I think I can prepare tools to make coffee.”

“I see.”

There’s only one thing to do once I have the tools ready.

Even if I didn’t say anything, Captain-san’s eyes shone in anticipation as if he was expecting me to do something.

I know.

Of course, I’ll treat Captain-san to coffee if I can make some.

Can I buy coffee beans from this café?

I need coffee beans and tools if I want to make coffee.

When I asked the waiter, he told me that they sold coffee beans.

Apparently, some people had the same idea, and wanted to make it like me.

I purchased a small bag of coffee beans, and we returned to the royal palace.

It was quite expensive since it was imported from a foreign kingdom.

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