Chapter 46
Chapter 46
The child’s circumstances were more typical than expected.
Newspaper companies usually assign several orphaned children to one branch.
Then these children barely maintain their livelihood by selling newspapers in that area.
But an exceptionally good seller appeared, and his name was ‘Yen Kavitz’.
Yen Kavitz achieved an incredible performance of selling close to 10,000 newspapers alone in a day…
However, the Pahir branch of the daily newspaper ‘Morning Shartin’ rewarded, not Yen Kavitz, but all the newspaper sellers belonging to them.
“But Gale took all that money!”
“Oh my, was our Yuri was upset?”
Yuri started telling me while fuming, and Yen Kavitz, with a kind-looking face, laughed heartily and instead comforted Yuri.
“So there are thirteen people selling newspapers, and among those thirteen, the loudest ones are Gale and his gang, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. After they started realizing I was selling well, Gale began extorting my share of the profits too.”
He says he complained not only to Gale but also to the branch, but what came back was harsh extortion of sales money.
“The more newspapers I sold, the smaller my share of income became, and even when I tried to move to another newspaper company…”
“Word got out, I see.”
So our Yen Kavitz, the legendary sales king, seemed to have been blacklisted.
The one calmly telling all this was only seventeen years old.
As a thank you for telling me all this, I took out the last remaining ice cream from my inventory.
“This is very precious, but I’m giving it to you.”
“What? Why?”
“Scoring points? A bribe?”
Both Yen Kavitz and Yuri just blinked, not understanding.
If he could sell ordinary newspapers that well without any promotion, it didn’t seem like he couldn’t sell ice cream.
“So, Yuri and Yen, children?”
“Yes!”
“Yes…?”
I smiled brightly and said,
“How was the ice cream you ate today?”
“Is this called ice cream?”
“Yes. It’s ice cream because it’s cold cream.”
Both children nodded vigorously about the ice cream and shouted that it was good.
“If you want to eat it again tomorrow, come to where Yuri was selling newspapers.”
“Will you come out tomorrow too, miss?”
“Yes. I’m going to try selling some ice cream too.”
Of course, as soon as I get back to the mansion, I’ll have to pester our Apple to somehow solve the container issue.
Ding-!
[SYSTEM | The quest ‘Explore Pahir District’ has been completed.]
[SYSTEM | Receiving reward ‘Minion 1’.]
Huh?
Where did I receive ‘Minion 1’?
‘No, more importantly, who is Minion 1?’
[Puhahaha!]
Of course, the system just laughed and didn’t tell me until the end.
* * *
When I returned to the mansion, there were traces of labor.
That messy mansion had become clean again.
Even parts of the windows or the mansion itself that were damaged had all been repaired.
[That’s all money.]
[Check it out, the debt.]
[SYSTEM | The amount remaining until debt repayment is ‘99,992,271’ jurang.]
“……”
The debt has increased a bit more.
Right.
Even if it costs money, we should fix what needs to be fixed.
“…Hng.”
Still, what’s upsetting is upsetting.
“You’re back.”
“Hello, Betty. Is the unpacking all done?”
“Yes. I’ve finished organizing the room as well as your clothes, miss.”
“Good job. Where’s His Grace?”
Betty answered.
“He went out briefly with Secretary Roen. If you return early, miss, they said to proceed with dinner first without worrying about them.”
Seems they’ve gone out.
If that’s the case, I should use this opportunity to think about containers to hold ice cream again with Apple.
I thought the container issue would be quite easy.
Since we can’t sell to everyone in glass cups, we needed to get disposable containers.
But since we didn’t have the technology to make paper cups right away, I was planning to steal ideas from 21st century Earth.
I thought everything would be solved if we baked thin waffles and rolled them into cones!
“Miss…”
“Failed again?”
“Sob sob, I’m hopeless.”
Because our all-round cook Apple keeps failing.
Apple, who could make other strange dishes easily, was strangely unable to make waffle cones.
Even though it doesn’t seem particularly difficult or requiring extraordinary skill.
“It’s okay. These things happen.”
“I’m trash.”
Apple was sitting on the floor blankly, holding waffles slightly thinner than regular waffles in both hands.
It was funny to see such a big guy, like a mountain bandit, sitting like that.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Let’s take a bite.”
“It’s not okay. Huh.”
“Why, what’s wrong?”
I was stuffing the waffle in Apple’s hands into his mouth when I was startled by his reaction and tasted a piece of the waffle myself.
It tastes good, so what’s the problem?
“Sob, even though I made it, it tastes too good.”
“Ah.”
That kind of thing.
Right, it’s disappointing that it didn’t come out in the shape I wanted, but the waffle itself was excellent.
The outside was baked crispy so it didn’t lose its shape, and when you bite into it, the texture of the bread that crumbles with a crunch.
As I was munching and tasting, Apple held out the waffle in his other hand to me.
“This one is less crispy but moist inside.”
“Really?”
“Huung, honestly, I prefer moist over crispy.”
Apple said while wiping tears with his sleeve.
“Waffles should be fluffy! If it’s too crispy, it doesn’t taste right!”
“Oh my.”
Such excellent professional consciousness.
The days when you whined about not wanting to go to the Eastern Continent seem so distant now.
I hit Apple once with a regretful face.
“Apple, you seem to have forgotten that our goal isn’t to make desserts, but to make containers.”
“Hng.”
“Get up right now!”
* * *
“It’s a shame we don’t have cones, but these crispy waffles seem fine.”
I folded the waffle in half and put ice cream on it.
Then, when I wrapped it in thin paper, it looked pretty good.
It seemed okay to hold and eat with hands if you control your eating speed well.
The degree of sogginess was also acceptable.
“Alright, Apple.”
“Yes, miss.”
Apple, who finally gave up his stubbornness and obediently followed my words while grumbling, nodded.
“It’s better to have too much than not enough… Okay, bake about 200 waffles.”
“What?”
“I’m going to sell ice cream on the street tomorrow, so keep that in mind.”
For now, since there’s nothing else we can prepare, I plan to use my skill to make ice cream in real-time at the site tomorrow.
I just filled my inventory with plenty of ingredients to make ice cream.
‘Please increase my inventory slots.’
[Let’s make good use of the ‘Random Skill Box’~]
Sheesh.
Say that after giving me lots of luck skills.
Anyway, once it starts selling a lot later, it will be impossible to use skills every time on site.
So we need to think about storage containers or scoops to serve ice cream.
But we can think about those things later.
While I was busy making Apple bake waffles, I heard footsteps behind me.
“Irina, you’re back.”
It was Roen.
“Where’s Cassis?”
“You’re looking for His Grace as soon as you get back. Cassis is at the Duke Lemiere’s mansion.”
“To see Isiel?”
“Yes. He said he’d stay overnight and come back tomorrow.”
What?
He leaves us in this collapsing mansion and selfishly stays at the Duke’s mansion himself?
As I immediately made an angry face, Roen grinned.
“And I’m going to my family home tonight too.”
“Family home, you mean the Count Blonde family?”
“To see my parents after a long time, and my sister too.”
I pouted.
People without a family home are so pitiful.
I hope Seike becomes a big hit soon so we can get a house in the capital too.
Roen smiled brightly and took off the coat he was wearing, draping it over his arm.
He naturally peeked into the kitchen, looking around.
“What are you doing?”
“It smells delicious.”
“Would you like to try an ice cream waffle?”
I asked, holding up an ice cream waffle that Apple baked and I made.
[More precisely, made by Irina’s skill.]
[So I can say I made it.]
Roen gladly accepted.
When I wrapped the waffle in paper once and put it in his hand, he opened his eyes wide, saying it was an unexpected combination.
“Is this a waffle?”
“Yes. I was thinking about what to use instead of a container and tried putting it on a waffle. Surprisingly, the taste combination between the waffle and ice cream is good too.”
At first, he ate a few bites awkwardly, but soon began to eat the ice cream and waffle skillfully.
“It’s a good idea, isn’t it?”
“Really?”
“Yes, this way it would be possible to sell without space constraints.”
He wiped his fingers with the handkerchief I handed him and then held out his hand to me as if to escort me.
[What’s with him, why is he trying to seduce you?]
[Don’t fall for it, Irina!]
‘He’s not seducing me… It’s because he’s a noble.’
Our system seems to play well together even without me saying much.
Roen seems to have something to tell me.
When I took his hand, he naturally escorted me to the reception room.
The reception room before we went out was almost like a warehouse, but now it was quite well-furnished.
Still, since the furniture wasn’t properly arranged yet, we naturally stood in front of the window.
“Do you have something to say?”
“……”
He seemed to be thinking a bit.
There was a moment of silence, and at the end of it, he asked.
“Anyway, you’re thinking of ice cream as a business item for Luwin, right?”
“I think there’s a high probability of success.”
“What if it doesn’t succeed?”
I sat on the windowsill.
I tilted my head and went “Hmm”.
“Part of the reason I came to the capital is because I can’t guarantee success. I’m going to sell ice cream in the nearby shopping district starting tomorrow.”
It would be good to achieve the quest while selling ice cream, but before that, I will check how much ice cream can appeal to the public.
“If I’m lucky, I might be able to see how well high-end ice cream works for nobles too, right?”
“Yes.”
“Just by checking, we can know whether it will succeed or not.”
If I check in the capital and the response is just so-so, I’ll boldly look for new items, and if I see potential, I’ll bet on it.
“Even if ice cream doesn’t become Luwin’s main business item, I’m going to do my best because we don’t know yet.”
It’s dangerous to use Luwin’s name from the start, so we’ll have to start from the bottom.
“Then Irina, you’re not challenging this with a ‘let’s just give it a try’ attitude, right?”
“Of course not.”
How dare he ask such a rude question.
I was about to frown, feeling a bit unpleasant, but Roen said with an ambiguous expression.
“Don’t make that face. Cassis said he had something to say, so I checked on my own first.”
Cassis has something to say?
It had been a while since he sought me out individually outside of work hours.
Seeing my puzzled expression, Roen explained.
“It seems Cassis is always sincere only to you, Irina.”
“That’s quite nice to hear.”
As I laughed “hehe”, Roen sighed.
“That’s why I keep testing Irina, checking… anyway, I ended up doing bad things.”
I laughed even louder.
In the end, it seems Roen’s somewhat aggressive questioning of me today was to protect Cassis, his master.
As someone who also serves Cassis as my master, I’m okay with that.
