CH 69

Somehow, I managed not to show my displeasure in front of King Wilhelm and Duke Dietrich, so I walked around the party venue while being greeted by the attendees. Because it is an open-air buffet style, you can see the Port of Cien as soon as you look at the sea. I am also deeply moved by this ideal port, finally completed after nearly two years of construction.

“Hey, Flora! Your lipstick looks wonderful,” Ludwig said.

“You’re here, Prince Ludwig,” I said. “Thank you for coming to today’s event. And please don’t make a mistake again, today I am Floto von Caan…”

I’m in a bit of a good mood, so I brush off Ludwig’s mistake. I don’t care about Ludwig, but I’m a little happy to get compliments on this lipstick. I worked hard with Anneliese to develop it.

In the Kingdom of Ploiss, safflower was only used to extract oil. Therefore, it was not cultivated much and was not used as a dye at all. From there, based on my obscure knowledge, I and Anneliese went through a lot of trial and error to make dyes from safflowers. This lipstick that was finally completed is a product that I am proud of, and its color and luster are incomparable to existing lipsticks.

“To me, you are always Flora,” Ludwig said. “But still… we will soon be able to see each other every day at the royal capital. I’m eagerly awaiting the day you arrive there.”

“That’s right…” I said. “We will all be heading to the royal capital in a few months…”

Yes. I will soon be 15. Those turning 15 this year will have to attend school in the royal capital in 3 months. Of course, only high-ranking aristocrats can attend the academy in the royal capital, so it’s probably going to cause a fuss for a baron or a viscount to attend, let alone a knight. If I could go to a school in the royal capital, you’d think I needed to be a count or higher.

Of course, the fact that I will be attending that school is not as the Sir Caan of House Caan, but as the daughter of Margrave Carruthers.

I’m quite independent and I don’t really feel like I’m the daughter of House Carruthers, but in the royal capital, I’ll be treated as the daughter of House Carruthers. If I don’t keep that in mind, I may end up in a lot of trouble again, so it’s better to be careful from now on.

Considering the transportation and the preparations in the royal capital until school starts, it is necessary to leave at least one month in advance. If possible, it would be better to leave earlier and have time to spare, but that is not possible. I’m pretty busy right now. To tell the truth, it is more interesting and worthwhile to develop my territory than to go to the academy in the royal capital. I can’t say I don’t want to go, but I don’t want to go…

“Hahn…!” someone snorts derisively. “In the end, a country girl like you will only be bullied in a posh place like the royal capital. If that happens, come and tell me about them. I’ll punish any coward who goes out of their way to bully country girls.”

“Lord Rutger…” I said.

This guy should be 16 years old, but he’s still the same as before. Ludwig and Rutger are one year older than me, so they should have been attending school since last year.

“As always, you’re not honest, Rutger,” Ludwig said. “Why don’t you just tell Flora outright that you’re worried about her and that she can come to you for anything she needs?”

“Wha–?!” Rutger sputtered, furious. “Prince Ludwig! I’m not like that! I’m worried about that country girl! I just can’t forgive a coward who bullies country girls!”

I don’t care about this. It’s unlikely that I’ll consult with Rutger for anything.

…… No, wait?

I thought it didn’t matter because I rarely met him until now, but I might be able to use Rutger. I had forgotten about it too, but if I don’t start moving to dissolve my engagement with Ludwig soon, I might actually get married to him. In that case, Rutger, who is familiar with Ludwig, is a useful source of information depending on how I use him.

I can use Rutger well to break off my engagement with Ludwig. This is an important point for me to go to school.

“Ah……” we gasped.

Crash.

I heard the sound of a shattering plate. It seems that while Rutger was talking to Ludwig, he got so worked up that he dropped the plate he was holding. Our staff will come right away and quickly clean up the broken tableware and scattered food. Besides Isabella and Helmut, there are many excellent butlers and maids now, which helps.

I think that all of our family servants who were trained by Isabella and Helmut are quite elite. It’s a level that’s not inferior at all compared to the family servants of House Carruthers. Thinking about it normally, I think it’s amazing that the quality of a knight’s servants is not that different from that of a margrave’s servants. I can’t help but be grateful to Isabella and Helmut who trained these people.

“My-My bad,” Rutger stammered, embarrassed. “I’ll pay for it.”

As expected, he seems to know that white porcelain plates are not cheap. It’s kind of funny since he usually is so arrogant.

“Fufu, no, it’s fine. Please don’t worry about it, Lord Rutger,” I said.

“No! That can’t possibly be fine! How much?” Rutger said, thrusting his hand into his chest pocket.

It seems that he intends to use his pocket money.

“This is a new rococo style white porcelain plate… I think it was more than 3,000,000 ploe for this size,” I replied.

“Thre-Three million…?!” Rutger gasped.

Rutger stiffened up with his hand still in his coat. Well, no wonder. It would be shocking to hear that if you broke a single dish that cost nearly 100 million Yen. We’re a producer, so we use white porcelain plates for buffet parties like this, but if you’re a normal noble house, just collecting this many plates will bankrupt your family.

It’s a world that I don’t really understand, but there were a lot of very expensive things like porcelain in this world and even on modern Earth. Every time I heard stories about how antique plates cost hundreds of millions of dollars, I couldn’t believe it. I never thought that I would be the one to make and sell it myself.

“So-Sorry…” Rutger said. “I don’t have enough on hand right now. I’ll pay for this eventually.”

Completely different from his usual tone, Rutger said it calmly with his shoulders drooping and a depressed look on his face. It’s good that he’s being humble about it, but if he gets depressed like this, it’s my fault, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The Kreff Duchy could afford this much, but it wouldn’t be an amount that Rutger could buy with his pocket money.

“Naturally, chipping and shattering are already factored into the costs of today,” I said. “So you don’t have to worry about it.”

“But…!” Rutger said.

Even though I said “don’t worry about it”, he doesn’t seem to give up. I’m in trouble if he keeps pursuing me forever. And the surrounding attendees also put down their plates. That’s right. If by any chance they were asked to pay 100 million yen, it would be unbearable.

Crash.

I heard the sound of breaking plates again. That’s right. Because I purposely dropped a nearby plate and broke it. While I’m at it, I’ll break another piece.

“Wha-?! What are you doing!?” Rutger yelled.

“Isn’t this alright, Lord Rutger?” I said. “Plates are not meant to be used as decorations. It will break. If you don’t use the plate with that in mind, it is blasphemy to the craftsmen who made it. There is no need to apologize or compensate for the breakage. Please enjoy delicious food while looking at the beautiful plate. If you don’t want to use the dishes and plates prepared for that purpose, let’s shatter all these them.”

Rutger grabbed my hand when I was about to drop another one. The people around us seem to be watching our exchange in suspense.

“Okay! I get it! Now stop that already! It’s bad for my heart!” Rutger yelled.

Ah, well. It’s bad for my heart to think that hundreds of millions of yen worth of dishes have been broken now. However, if the plate that I have prepared is not used and the food is not eaten, I truly believe that there is no meaning in even making those plates.

Clap.

Clap-clap.

Clap-clap-clap-clap-clap-clap.

Applause began to resound from the surroundings. The cheer quickly spread throughout the venue and was directed at us. When the applause eventually subsided, the attendees began to use the plates they had once put down. Apparently, they understood that they could use it without worrying about breaking it.

“You’re as unreasonable as ever, Flora,” Ludwig said.

“Prince Ludwig… I’m sorry to have shown you such an unsightly side of me…” I said.

After this, there were no particular problems, and the Port of Cien’s opening ceremony and party ended without a hitch.

A few days have passed since the Port of Cien was opened, and I can’t stop sighing as I return to my normal duties. If I go to a school in the royal capital, I will have to live in the royal capital for three years even if I can go back from time to time on long vacations.

House Caan is now developing at a tremendous pace. It’s not that I’m praising myself because I’m the Lord, but it’s a clear fact based on the data.

Caanburg’s population is now 1,207, nearly 6.6 times what it was 2 years ago. As for Cien, it is 872 people, more than 13.6 times. The number of soldiers has increased to 154.

The 3 captains who have served me since the early days, Oliver, Ignaz, and Arman, now have 20 infantrymen each. 63 infantrymen. In addition to that, there are 91 sailors. I told King Wilhelm I don’t have a navy, but in practice, I do have one…

Well, it’s not as serious as the navy. They’re just crew members who protect and operate the ships. I still have a separate crew of simple workers…

After that, a new village is being cultivated at the point where I headed all the way west from Caanburg. This is not the northwest, but rather close to the border of the Kingdom of Frasia in the west. There is also a large river there, and a new village is being built around the east side of the river. It’s close to the border, so if tensions with the Kingdom of Frasia rise, it might become the front line, but the location is good.

It seems that if you go north along the river along the village that is being developed, you will come to the north sea. I don’t know if it’s connected to the sea that goes north from the Dierbe River. However, I have not been informed about whether the Demon Country in the northwest of Caanburg was like a peninsula, or whether only that part is confined and the east and west seas are not connected.

Even if the Demon Country is a peninsula, even if the land continues beyond it and the northwestern sea and the northeastern sea are not connected, both the Dierbe river basin and the river basin of the village under development are important. If you hold them down and get the trade routes in your hands, you can expect a considerable profit.

There are new developments, and the development of Caanburg and Cien is progressing rapidly, so I’m pretty busy. The three administrators that Victoria introduced me to help, but I still can’t get around to pushing it all on them.

The three are independent of each other and don’t even know the other’s faces. I’m the only one who knows about all three, and we don’t even know each other’s faces.

Why is the system like this? For example, if I entrusted all the work to one person, the problem would arise as to how to find out and stop that person’s potential dishonesty and embezzlement.

So Victoria taught me how to have multiple managers do the same job separately without letting each other know who and how many there are, which is said to have been used by Kruck Trading Firm for a long time.

Considerable authority such as accounting and launching new businesses have been given to the three of them. However, since the three people are accounting without knowing who each other is, if the contents of the three’s reports are different, it will soon be found out that something is wrong. Of course, there is still a way for the three to collude and cheat the accounting, but it is designed so that it cannot be done so easily.

Even at Kruck, one person cannot manage everything alone, so it seems that they are doing it in such a way that there is no fraud and it is properly managed.

Victoria introduced me to the young man Melchior, the middle-aged Balthazar, and the old Caspar. The three do not know each other, nor do they have contact information for each other. They’re doing the same work that I’m going to do in pieces. If the results of the three people’s work are different, it will be investigated and it will be immediately clear what is wrong.

If it’s a simple calculation mistake, you can fix it, but if there’s embezzlement or fraud, it will be revealed in one shot, so we don’t do that to each other. The three of us are working while monitoring each other, so I can leave the work to some extent with peace of mind, but even so, my hands are never free.

I have to go to the royal capital soon, but there are too many things I have to do! No less work!

“Miss Flora, there is someone I would like you to hire.”

“Helmut?” I asked.

He opened with that line.

“A butler or a maid? But like always, you and Isabella can hire family servants as you please, right?” I said.

I don’t say anything about hiring butlers or maids. It would be a problem to let a suspicious person in, but there’s no way these two would let in such a person. The people the two of them always let in are all excellent people, and I feel sorry for having them serve a mere knight’s household.

After all, their master is a knight of the lowest noble rank, so I can’t even give my subordinates titles. If I did, they will be equal to or higher than me, the Lord. A margrave’s house has counts and their children as subordinates, but a knight can only have untitled commoners and lower nobles as subordinates. It’s only natural that there shouldn’t be any subordinates with peerages or positions that surpass their lords.

“Please meet her at once and make a decision,” Helmut said. “Come in.”

Apparently, she was already waiting outside the door. A young lady comes in. She looks…

“Ka-Katharina?!” I yelled.

I haven’t seen her in years, so she’s changed a lot. She used to be a skinny girl with ragged skin, hair, nails, and a protruding stomach… but even so, I recognize her at a glance. Who appeared in front of me now was Helmut’s younger sister, Katharina, who had become so cute and beautiful that I couldn’t believe it was her.