CH 141

Warning: Non-consensual intimate physical contact, ambiguous consent. These horny teenagers are being horny and either ignoring or ignorant of the concept of enthusiastic consent.

After leaving Emma, Mikoto and I headed to the dining hall again.

“Honestly, you’re such a good-natured soul, Flora,” Mikoto said.

“Am I?” I asked.

I’m not particularly good-natured or a good person. Rather, there aren’t many people who live as they please as I do. Even I have constraints on my life and there are many things that don’t go my way. But even so, I think there is a part of me that ignores such things to live as I please.

In the first place, when I intervened earlier, I didn’t do anything with the intention of helping Emma. It’s true that I wanted to stop it because I thought it was unsightly, and I don’t think Emma would have been saved even if I just stopped then. They happened to be bullying Emma in a conspicuous place in the hallway, so that’s why I stopped them, and if I left, the bullying would probably resume elsewhere.

“Even so, I can’t believe Simon did that… huh…” I said.

“Who’s Simon?” Mikoto asked.

Oh no, oh no. It seems that I’m thinking out loud again. There’s no reason for me to hide my being friends with Simon, but at least it’s better to avoid making things public at school. I deceived Mikoto by saying that I would explain it later. As long as you don’t say unnecessary things in a place where you don’t know whose ears and eyes are present.

Anyway, back to Simon. It’s going to be hard, isn’t it? He looks like a miserable young man who is somewhat ridiculous, but he may be solidly reliable in his own way. Moreover, like an aristocrat, he was doing some pretty showy things. Shall I tease him about it later?

No…let’s stop that. It looks like it will go well with Emma. It would be a big problem if the two of them became embarrassed because of me teasing them.

I don’t think Emma is such a bad partner if Simon can manage her personality. She looks a little chubby and her future looks uneasy when you look at her mother, but as long as she’s careful not to be overweight, she’s not particularly ugly. She looks more than adequate as a noble’s daughter.

If Simon can hold the reins firmly and control Emma’s personality, they will surely become a good couple.

If his partner is Emma, I don’t feel too envious, but I’ll support them from behind the scenes.

After finishing school and returning to the Carruthers Residence, I thought about the many things I had to deal with while relaxing in my room. Even after completing the paperwork, with my landowning and company-related work, I still have a lot of things to do.

Territory development and business operations are progressing smoothly. The new village under development seems to be progressing steadily, and it seems likely that the village will open when I return to Carruthers during the next long vacation.

Also, the company’s profit is too high and it may be a little dangerous. Do you think it’s okay as long as we make money? But it’s not. Market purchasing power is limited. You will understand that the income of the citizens of the Kingdom of Ploiss and the money they can use to buy things are both limited. As long as the amount of income does not increase, the amount that can be used for consumption will not change.

Nevertheless, spending money to buy products or use services that you have not bought before means that you have stopped spending money on the products and services you used to put it into instead.

What I’m trying to say is that even though the pie hasn’t gotten any bigger, that our slice has gotten wider has meant other people’s slices have gone thinner. It would be nice if the income of the people of the Kingdom of Ploiss increased and their consumption increased accordingly. However, the fact that only our products and services are selling without such a rapid increase in the population’s income may cause the sales of other firms and stores to drop sharply and go bankrupt.

Right now it’s not that extreme yet, but if our sales continue to grow too much, it will put pressure on the other people in the same industry.

You may think that free competition by capitalism is a matter of course, and that there is a problem with products, services, and prices that aren’t eliminated for lack of competitiveness. That’s true to some extent, but it’s not always true.

If we drive out all other companies in the same industry, distribution and retail will be destroyed. Naturally, there is no way we can manage distribution and retail in the Kingdom of Ploiss by ourselves, and I’m afraid of the aftermath if we become such a monopoly on that scale.

Let’s say it’s fine as long as I’m alive and I’m managing it. But if I die, can I assert that the person who succeeds me will continue to do fair and just business? If only Caanza Trading Firm has taken control of all of the Kingdom of Ploiss’s business, and if there were no one to stop or control Caanza after my death, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine what would happen after.

In the first place, if we monopolize too much and others collapse, we will be hated by our competitors and the people around them. At the current pace, if the number of customers is a little higher, it’s fine, but if the monopoly progresses to the point where all the surrounding shops are crushed, the danger of being attacked will increase. Doing too much of anything is not good.

So far it hasn’t progressed to that extreme, but if this pace continues in the future, such a future is possible. No, on the contrary, if we actively develop it in that way, it will easily happen. The products I deal with are products from different worlds and the future. I don’t think other firms will compete with us in product development. After all, it’s like cheating by knowing the answer in advance.

I’ve been careful until now, but from now on, I’ll have to be even more careful and control our market so that I don’t monopolize it too much. It is necessary to think about a form in which coexistence and co-prosperity are possible while making us profitable to some extent.

Also, there was a report that the new weapon that Eins had made had been completed. During the school’s long vacation, I have to return to the territory to witness the live fire test, identify the problems, and formulate a mass production system and mass deployment plan. It is absolutely essential to break the Hulk Sea Blockade. Whether or not this can be deployed successfully will make a big difference in future development.

By the way, the Academy has a two-semester system of 4 months each in the 1st and 2nd semesters. Between semesters is a long vacation of 2 months. January and February, and July and August, are midwinter and midsummer, are holidays, and classes are held for 4 months before and after.

In Japanese terms, it would be a long vacation twice a year, winter vacation and summer vacation, but there is a reason for that. If the school system is divided into three semesters like in Japan, students cannot go home.

Berne Academy is located in the royal capital and attracts high-ranking nobles from all over the country. My territory is also quite far away from the royal capital, so it would take about a month to move around in a normal carriage. Most of them have territories closer than mine, but some of them have territories in places that are even further away than mine.

Under such circumstances, if the long vacation is only 2 weeks or so, there is nothing that you could do in it. There will be a lot of distant lords and nobles who can’t go back to their hometowns and have stay in the royal capital and kill the time in-between.

Therefore, to allow as many nobles as possible to return to their parents’ homes for a long vacation, the two-semester system is designed so that they can take 4 months of classes and 2 months of vacation, which is easy to understand.

Amelie’s evening party was held 2 ½ half months after school started, and Helene’s evening party was scheduled 3 months later. Of course, before that, there is a test that is familiar even in Japanese schooling, so if your score is bad, it will be inconvenient in various ways.

It’s a royal academy, and high-ranking aristocrats can attend without any conditions as long as they can clear their family status, so there’s no need to drop out or repeat a year. However, grades at school will follow you even after you graduate. There is almost no worry about what rank you were if you were in the middle of the pack. The problem is the top and bottom of the lists.

Since we are girls, school grades don’t really affect us. After graduating, most of the daughters of high-ranking aristocrats only need to marry for convenience and enter some other House and go out to social gatherings with other ladies. Rather, it’s considered a woman’s job, and as I said before, sociability and friendships are emphasized.

Compared to that, for men, their grades at school affect their work. Those with very poor grades will always be seen as lowly because their grades at school will be brought up even if their future jobs don’t strictly need academic skill. Conversely, if you have good grades at school, you can get a good position, and even if you can’t do much at work, you will be treated favorably.

Of course, it doesn’t matter much if you don’t want to work at the royal castle. If you take over your family territory as a local lord and manage it, there is no reason to be told about your grades at school. It’s a good story as long as you manage your territory properly.

However, those who are unlikely to become successors such as the 2nd and 3rd sons, and those who want to become advisers, bureaucrats for other lords, or court officials, need to get good grades at school. Such a person should be studying as hard as possible.

I’m both a woman and have already been given a territory as a local lord, so there’s no reason for me to be worried about my grades at school. I also don’t need to worry about scoring especially high or scoring low as I’ll never need to get a job under someone else.

But that doesn’t mean it’s okay to get the lowest grades. As long as I carry the name of Margrave Carruthers on my shoulders, I can’t forgive my poor grades. At least it is necessary to have good grades to the extent that the family name is not tarnished.

The test starts soon after Helene’s soiree ends. It’s not like I’ve been playing around lately… or so I would like to say. I’m busy with various things, and I’m neglecting my studies, so I need to study a little. Well, what I learned in class was more than 10 years ago, and I haven’t forgotten it.

I thought it would develop into a more difficult class because it’s a school attended by children of nobles who have received advanced education, but so far there are no signs of that and it’s very easy. It’s not a good idea to let your guard down, but if it’s about the content of the current class, it’s almost certain that I’ll get a perfect score… no, wait?

If I’m about to get a perfect score, wouldn’t it be natural that all the other students would also get a perfect score?

When I went to school in Japan, some had high scores and some had low scores. There was a considerable range in the scores, and the difference in grades was obvious. But isn’t this school’s test method a matter of course, with most people getting almost perfect scores? If so, where and how do you make a difference? Everyday attitude? Submissions? I don’t know…….

In addition, the test consists of lectures and practical skills. What is practical skill? I know the classroom lectures. It’s the same as Japanese pen-and-paper testing. But what is practical skill? There was no practical test in Japan. I didn’t have time to seriously think about test preparation until now, so I left it alone, but this is not good… if it is natural that almost all of them get perfect marks in classroom lectures, there is a high possibility that there will be a difference in their grades due to their practical skills.

Oh no! Ah, crap! I haven’t done any testing so far. In the first place, I didn’t even research about practical skills. This is very bad. What kind of practical exams for what subjects are there? What are the exam trends and measures? If you don’t do that much research and prepare…

When I was in a hurry to prepare for the test, there was a knock on the door of my private room. This is one bedroom among several private rooms. It’s rare for anyone to visit my bedroom at this hour. When I’m entrusting Isabella with a secret mission, she’ll secretly come and report to me, but I don’t think I’m entrusting her with a particularly urgent mission right now.

“Yes, come in,” I said.

“Pardon me.”

“Katharina……?” I asked.

Katharina quietly came in when I wondered who in the hell was here for what. It’s extremely rare for Katharina to come to my bedroom at this time. I can’t say that it will never happen, but it’s rarer than Isabella coming, instead. I wondered, is something wrong?

“What’s happened?” I asked.

“Yes, you’ve reached a good age, Miss Flora, so I think it’s time for you to learn from me, as well….” Katharina said. “And I’d be honored to be your partner.”

What in the hell is she talking about? What am I learning?

“Katharina? What are you talking about?” I asked.

“It’ll be fine,” Katharina said, smiling strangely. “It’ll be just fine. Come on, Miss Flora, this way.”

“Ah, what?” I said.

She stood me up from my table and brought me to my bed. And when I sit down, Katharina quietly sits down beside me.

What happened? My maid Katharina sitting next to me on my bed, this has never happened before. What is this…?

“Now, Miss Flora, please relax your body.”

“Huh? Huh? What?”

Katharina gently pushes me down. Huh……? Isn’t this like the time to “do” something like that?

“Katharina? This is…” I said.

“There is no need for you to worry about anything, Miss Flora. Please leave everything to me,” Katharina said. “I’m going to teach you a few things about the bedroom.”

Be-Bedroom? That means…

“Well then, let’s begin,” Katharina said.

“Hey! Wait! Nnh…!” I said.

Katharina’s hand goes from pushing me down to gently touching my neck. Just that alone made me feel like I had goosebumps, and a tingling sensation ran through my back, making my body stiff. The hand that was gently touching my neck gradually moved up and touched my cheek.

“Miss Flora.”

“Ka-Katharina……” I said.

Katharina’s hand on my cheek is a little cold. She pressed me down, staring at me from above. Her eyes are moist and her cheeks are red and flushed. Katharina had such an erotic expression that I can’t believe she’s 15 years old, her face gradually approaches mine. But I couldn’t even move, and all I could do was stiffen up.