CH 74

I ended up making a nice profit with the short courses. Since I also sold the account books, I raked in quite a bit of money.

After being troubled about what to do with all the cash, I decided to give that income back to my mansion and its residents. First I expanded the brewing area. Moreover, I created a storage magic tool with a function to adjust the temperature, for the sake of making the workplace as comfortable as possible. In addition, I added a room where sterilization, laundry, and drying could be done in one swoop.

＊

Deciding to leave the brewing area at that, I extended the mansion itself.

Thus we bought new land!

Accompanying that, I increased the number of Ryokus. Since it’d be difficult to move around now that the grounds had become fairly large, I told the Ryokus to allow a ride if requested.

The spare Char would be available for a ride as well, as long as it wasn’t rented out by anyone else.

But!

The only ones allowed to ride Char were registered drivers who had passed the driving exam by Instructor Sword. Moreover, I made sure to add a 『Slow-Speed』 mode, and set it up so that it’d be impossible to change modes without permission.

――A huge number of people applied to become drivers. Almost everyone, even the women, attended the driving lectures, and everyone passed the exams.

Still, what’s up with that!? Won’t it be just fine to use the Ryokus to move around?

＊

“Next is…”

Sword rolled his eyes at me as I brooded, “There’s still more? Rather, isn’t it ’bout time to open the remodeled restaurant?”

True.

Maybe that’s the reason why I feel an urge to do other stuff. I mean, such things happen, don’t they? Once the deadline for stressful work or studies draws close, you’re drawn towards distracting yourself with other things.

After staring at Sword, I leaped at him.

“Whoa!”

“…It’s just that I’m slightly nervous. I’m constantly worrying that something might happen during the opening. Well, it might be fun if something does happen, but I don’t really feel too thrilled about it.”

Sword hugged me while gently stroking my head.

“That’s just normal for ‘nyone. It’s actually weird to feel thrilled when it comes to organizin’ big events.”

“You might have a point, but…I’m sure it’s simply that my senses got messed up thanks to all that’s been going on during my childhood. I’m not easily perturbed by things…but somehow I can’t quite get a read on what’s going to happen this time. My otherworldly knowledge is more of a hindrance here as I don’t know what kind of people the rich of this world are.”

“…Well, I doubt ‘nyone would be as crazy to pull shit at a restaurant with the name 『Haughty Restaurant』 that’s bein’ run by me, an S-Rank adventurer, and you, a former young lady of an earl family. But, it’s certainly true that things always escalate way beyond my expectations. I’ll come with you on the day of the openin’, so don’t kill anyone in a fit of short temper, ‘kay?”

I laughed.

＊

Basically, it’s a restaurant we started based on the idea of wanting “to showcase the skills we’ve nurtured so far” and “to allow other people to eat our food,” and not for the sake of earning lots of money.

Given that I’ve set up the restaurant because the master cook and those below him bitterly complained, “We have become able to make such wonderful dishes, and yet we can only feed it to a very limited number of people,” I’ve been thinking that it’d be no problem to let them do as they please.

It won’t matter even if it goes bankrupt, and I won’t mind it being in the red either. After all, it’s not like I’m looking for profit here.

I voiced those thoughts to the master cook and his staff, but since they enthusiastically reassured me that they wouldn’t allow that to happen, I ended up getting infected by their tension as well.

On the nervously awaited day of the opening, I was forced to wear a dress and even had a wig planted on my head.

“…This hair is completely identical to my natural hair. Where did you obtain it?”

“We took custody of the hair Milady had Lady Primrose cut off, and processed it into a wig.”

Scary! That’s a story from like eons ago! It’s already been more than five years, no!?

Still, it seems to come in handy now.

Seeing me with my hair up, Sword got so startled that he jumped.

“Whoa! Hey, why are you crossdressin’ as a woman!?”

……

＊

What’s wrong with him to blurt out something like that despite me constantly telling him that I’m a woman? Moreover, Bennyboy isn’t any better either.

“Eh!? Indra, why are you dressing like a woman!? Are you cosplaying? No matter how you look at it, playing a female noble is too much of a stretch!”

Wait? I mean, you’ve always been thinking that I’m a noble, haven’t you!?

I kicked the two at full force, and headed back to the maids.

＊

The maids and servants…

“Lady Indra, you are so beautiful!”

“It reminds me of your childhood! You are very lovely!”

“Haah… Finally we could dress up Lady Indra properly! I have always longed for this day! You are truly beautiful and it suits you exceedingly well, you know?”

…praised me to no end.

I returned to the two, groaning dudes.

“Sword, you can escort nobles to some extent, can’t you?” I asked.

In response, he stopped groaning and became confused instead.

“I can, but…I’m not good at it, ‘kay? I mean I unwillingly memorized only what I needed to know when I got invited by royalty or nobility.”

“That’s plenty. As you might expect, it’d be silly to walk around like an adventurer without any escort while wearing this dress. Everyone would feel dejected if I did that.”

After glancing at the maids, Sword scratched his head, “You got a point. They went this far to doll you up, so yeah… Okay, gotcha. I’ll escort you.”

He stood up.

“Nothing less of Mr. Sword. Despite knowing a term like escort, he doesn’t even know what it entails.”

Bennyboy, that’s no praise, nor is it the time for that.

“You’ll be stuck learning it yourself soon enough. If you start sellin’ booze, you’ll get your own invitations. You might be goin’ through brokers, but even so, low-ranking, rich nobles work quickly. I believe they’ll invite you personally in no time, you know?”

“Ugh!”

Bennyboy became as white as a sheet. But it makes sense. I mean he’s a playboy, so he’s obviously going to have problems learning all the etiquette.

Do your best~

＊

We got the Ryokus and Chars, but we headed over in a carriage. It’s a custom of nobility, that’s why.

…Maybe I should build a limousine next…hmm…

Even though it was a short trip, it was uncomfortable, and my butt hurt. Sword seemed to think the same.

“Yo, how ’bout you build us an exclusive, decent ride for the next time?” He asked.

I got out of the carriage while being escorted by him. The doorman, who threw a quick scrutinizing glance at me, bowed deeply and opened the door for us.

By the way, Sword was in full dress, too. He apparently owned several outfits for hours of need, but the maids pestered him, “Please get a suit that matches Lady Indra!”, resulting in him having a new one made.

“It looks just like the outfit of some high-rankin’ noble!”

The suit was exquisite enough to make Sword scream. Then again, my dress didn’t lose out in that respect either.