Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Will This Really Work?

"Sorry, but I don't think I can."

Rumble!

What was that? Thunder?

I looked outside, but the sky was perfectly clear.

"That's odd."

Muttering to myself, I turned my attention back to Pinky.

Her face had gone completely pale.

She asked me to hire her as a part-timer, and when I refused, she suddenly looked devastated.

I felt bad for her, but there was nothing I could do.

"You know how bad business has been."

The store was painfully quiet again today.

Why would I be crazy enough to hire help when there weren't even any customers?

I'd asked Pinky to bring some friends, but aside from bringing Whitey that one time, she hadn't produced any results...

I hadn't expected much from someone so shy and awkward to begin with, but that also made hiring her as a clerk rather absurd.

"I-Is that so..."

She'd clearly gotten her hopes up. I felt a little sorry.

"Why do you want a part-time job in the first place?"

I was genuinely curious about that.

If she attended the Academy, shouldn't her family have at least some money?

"Well..."

Pinky squeezed her eyes shut before forcing the words out.

"I need money."

"Money?"

What, are you in debt or something?

Of course that probably wasn't it, but the thought made me pause.

At the same time, a memory flashed through my mind.

-The Academy doesn't only have nobles.

The principal's words that had broken through my assumptions.

Could this girl be one of those non-noble students?

I took a closer look at Pinky, who had lowered her head.

I'd deliberately avoided staring too closely because a grown man openly inspecting a female student could easily invite misunderstandings, but now that I looked carefully, I noticed things I'd missed before.

Her uniform was visibly wrinkled from not being ironed, and judging by the signs of frequent washing, she probably didn't own a spare.

'Hmm...'

She's definitely not a noble.

Once my thoughts reached that point, a good idea suddenly came to mind.

If I made good use(?) of this girl, couldn't I score some points with the principal?

As a true educator, she'd surely look favorably on it.

'All right.'

Decision made.

But like I said, actually hiring her as a clerk was impossible.

"Your name was Seria, right?"

"Yes..."

Her voice was completely dejected.

Just wait, kid.

I'm about to make you an offer that'll perk those ears right up.

"Among the kids who take classes with you, who are the ones with the most pull?"

"P-Pull...?"

Oops.

I thought asking who had the most money would be too blatant, so I picked a different word. Maybe that wasn't much better.

"You know, the ones with powerful backgrounds."

"Ah."

She didn't have to think for long.

"Her Highness the Princess, Yekaterina, and Violetta, maybe...?"

So you take classes with a princess.

If she's an imperial princess, there's no need to ask about her background.

But I didn't particularly want someone like that as a customer. I'd just feel uncomfortable watching my every move around her.

"Yekaterina is the girl who came with you last time, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

That was a little surprising.

If Seria wasn't even a noble, how had she become friends with someone that influential?

"Who is she?"

"She's the daughter of the Grand Duke of the North."

Oh, she was the Grand Duke's daughter?

Cold sweat trickled down my back at Whitey's completely unexpected identity.

Come to think of it, she was pretty cold.

Not just her expression, either. I'd literally gotten chills when she came in.

It was ridiculous that I hadn't realized sooner.

"But she... I mean, Yekaterina. Why hasn't she come back since then? Did she not like the dumplings?"

"No! She loved them!"

"Really?"

She looked pretty indifferent to me.

Still, her friend would know better than I did.

The daughter of the Grand Duke of the North was every bit as troublesome as an imperial princess, but whatever.

At least our first encounter seemed to have gone well, so I figured it would be fine to keep her as a customer.

"So, did she say she'd come again?"

"Um... Well."

After hesitating for a moment, Seria spoke while looking oddly self-conscious.

"I'm sorry. I want to bring her, but my finances aren't exactly good right now..."

What kind of nonsense is that?

"What does your wallet have to do with her coming here?"

Is she extorting money from you or something?

...Why?

What could the Grand Duke's daughter possibly lack?

"It's a little hard to explain... But if I ask her, she'll definitely come!"

She said it confidently, though it wasn't exactly convincing. Still, they probably had circumstances of their own.

It would be overstepping my bounds to pry that far.

Either way, if she came back, that was good for me.

Which left...

"Who's the third one?"

"Violetta is... the daughter of the Eastern Naval Admiral."

The Naval Admiral's daughter.

Then she must've eaten seafood until she was sick of it.

That's what an amateur would think. That she probably wouldn't care much about seafood.

But in business, the people who exploit a niche are the ones who succeed.

"All right, Seria. I'm going to give you a mission. If you bring me satisfying results, I'll seriously consider hiring you."

Seria's expression instantly brightened.

Customers won't come?

Then I just have to make them want to come.

* * *

'Will this really work...?'

Feeling doubtful, Seria pulled a stiff rectangular object from her bag.

Dante had picked it out for her from the miscellaneous goods section, which she'd never paid attention to because it was full of things she couldn't identify. According to him, it was a bundle of paper meant for taking notes.

Flip-flip-flip.

Just as Dante had shown her, Seria neatly flipped through the notebook, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

'What's that?'

Questions appeared on the students' faces.

Yekaterina, who had somehow naturally begun sitting beside her—or rather, Seria had started occupying the empty seat next to her every time—also watched what she was doing.

"Ah, this is called a notebook."

Seria explained even though no one had asked.

"Parchment is still thick and inconvenient to carry even after a workshop processes it, right? This has lots of pages, and as long as it doesn't get wet, you can use it for a long time."

Yekaterina simply nodded.

"I brought one for you too. Try it."

In truth, Dante had given both hers and Yekaterina's to her for free.

-This is an investment. So make sure you do well, okay?

Remembering Dante's words, Seria resolved to complete her mission no matter what.

But the other students snickered at the commoner bringing in some strange object.

'Hmph. Like the Grand Duke's daughter would use some unidentified thing like that.'

'She's really desperate to suck up to her.'

But it was too early to give up.

As soon as the lecture began, Seria took out a ballpoint pen to take notes.

Scribble, scribble.

While the other students repeatedly dipped their quills into ink whenever they dried, Seria smoothly wrote down the lecture in her notebook without stopping.

'Wow.'

Even she was amazed by how convenient it was.

Looking beside her, she saw that Yekaterina was already taking notes in the notebook as well.

With a ballpoint pen, of course.

"Well? It's really convenient, right?"

"It's useful."

High praise.

"Hehe."

By the time the lecture ended, the students' gazes toward Seria had completely changed.

'What is that?'

'Some specially crafted writing tool from a workshop?'

'No way. Where would a commoner get that kind of money?'

Every one of them was dying to ask, but they held themselves back to preserve their dignity.

'It does look incredibly convenient...'

Those same students glanced at Seria's notebook, then looked down at the parchment in front of them.

At the same thickness, dozens of sheets of paper could be stacked together, while parchment amounted to only a single sheet.

Once they thought of it that way, the difference felt enormous.

They had always used parchment and had never considered it inconvenient─

But after seeing such astonishingly convenient new technology with their own eyes, the shortcomings suddenly became impossible to ignore.

"I brought some food too."

When break time came, Seria pulled several things from her bag.

Most of them were snacks, and after scanning them once, a trace of disappointment flashed through Yekaterina's eyes.

Seria didn't miss it.

"Sorry. He said dumplings taste best warmed up, so I didn't bring any. Let's go eat them together next time."

"Okay."

The two of them began opening various snacks.

Every single one tasted good, making Seria's eyes widen each time.

Yekaterina didn't say anything was delicious, but judging by the way she kept reaching for more without hesitation, they clearly suited her tastes too.

'Eating food in a classroom. Where did she leave her manners?'

'Typical commoner.'

Naturally, the surrounding gazes were far from friendly.

But.

'Wait, then what does that make Yekaterina?'

Yekaterina's status was far too high to lump her together with a commoner.

'Idiot. Yekaterina is obviously indulging the commoner.'

'True. Look how expressionless she is. She doesn't seem to actually enjoy it.'

'But isn't she always like that?'

The students didn't dare say anything aloud.

There wasn't actually any rule forbidding food in the classroom.

The only reason no one had ever done it was to preserve the dignity expected of nobles.

But now Yekaterina, who practically stood at the very pinnacle of nobility, was casually breaking that unspoken rule, leaving the students unsure how to react.

Then it happened.

'Ugh, what is that smell now?'

A sharp odor suddenly filled the classroom.

The students whipped their heads around and quickly discovered that the source was none other than Seria.

'...!'

Seria was just as startled.

'Why does it smell so strong?'

The moment she opened the red bag with a shrimp printed on it, the scent of the sea burst out.

It couldn't exactly be called pleasant. After all, the line between fishy and foul was thin.

'Ughhh...'

Caught completely off guard, Seria lowered her head as her face turned bright red.

-Listen carefully. You have to eat this in the classroom.

She suddenly became intensely curious about Dante's intentions in asking her to do this.

Because unless he was deliberately trying to embarrass her, why would he make her do something like this?

Even Yekaterina was frowning.

'Is she actually insane?'

'Seriously, what a nuisance.'

'Someone go tell her something.'

Whispers broke out all around.

'Gross. Commoners actually eat things that smell like that?'

'If Yekaterina eats that too, I'll completely lose respect for her.'

'That smell is awful. It's not coming from the girl herself, is it?'

The students were angry enough to start making personal attacks.

And so─

As Seria stood there unable to do anything, her hands trembling with embarrassment.

While everyone—even Seria, who had caused it—was wrinkling their noses at the smell, someone suddenly said something completely unexpected.

"What is that delicious smell?"