Episode 117 I’d rather eat it all. (1)
“I’m going too? Why me?”
“Then should I go and do business alone? We’ll have to go together and figure out how to sell it.”
“No, I have a lot to do! Where are you going when you’re busy?”
“Don’t make me laugh. If I weren’t here, you’d collapse and rest right away.”
Giselle knew very well what kind of guy Claude was.
“Oh, no! I’ll work hard.”
“You speak well.”
Jiselle clicked her tongue and continued.
“Well, even if that lie is true. If I’m going to continue doing business anyway, I need you to come and see me at least once. I’m going to sell from the capital to the entire kingdom, so the person in charge needs to know.”
“So what’s going on here now?”
“Now that the big picture has been set, someone else can take on the role of supervising for a while. Just find someone to take care of the work for the time being.”
“Ugh… … .”
Claude was speechless and just held his head.
Even if you save people, the work doesn’t decrease.
You’ll probably end up with more work to do since you’ll have to check up on how things are going while you’re away.
But I couldn’t not go.
As Jiselle said, in order to oversee cosmetics sales in the future, we need to go to the capital, find sales outlets, and prepare for distribution.
Because Claude is currently taking on the role of the top lord of Fenris.
Of course, it’s a ghost shop that only buys things and doesn’t sell anything.
As Claude was twisting his body, not wanting to go, a brilliant idea flashed through his mind.
“Wait a minute. Do we really have to sell it ourselves?”
“What are you going to do if you don’t sell it yourself?”
“Why don’t you just sell it to a big, trustworthy company? Then they’ll verify it somehow and sell it to the nobles.”
Cosmetics were products whose efficacy was that certain.
If it’s a huge top, it would be easy to save people and verify them.
But Giselle clicked her tongue, looking at Claude pitifully.
“Why me?”
“No, wouldn’t it be easier to just pass it on to the big top?”
“We also have a top, so why are we wasting it?”
“Our store is just a store in name only, it has no recognition, and it was just created for the convenience of people buying things.”
“So now we have to start with cosmetics and grow big. If we sell directly, we can take all the profits, so why include other people? I have never given my stuff to anyone else.”
Claude laughed bitterly.
“Wow, what is greed… … .”
“And if you leave it to other upper level, it will take too long. You need to create a sales channel and make money as quickly as possible. You also need to grow the upper level, so don’t talk nonsense and just follow me.”
“No, why are you in such a hurry when you have so much money? There are still a lot of rune stones left.”
Giselle answered Claude, who was grumbling, in a calm tone.
“It’s not enough. Time and money are always in short supply.”
‘You never know when the Duke will move. You have to get ready before that happens.’
The Fenris Estate will not be attacked immediately.
Desmond would rather focus on taking Leipold as soon as possible than this, if only to make up for his loss in the last war.
We must use this gap to increase the power of the territory as quickly as possible.
When I think about what I have to do in the future, the money I have now is not enough.
‘Runestones are starting to show their limits.’
Although the runestones had not yet fallen, there were still plans to use them in large quantities.
It’s precarious to even think about how much to hand over to the rooftop.
‘I don’t have time to go to the Demon Forest again.’
There wasn’t enough power to open up a new forest of demons.
Until you gain more power, you’ll need to utilize other bases besides the Forest of Demons.
‘We need to create a force to link up with. We need people who can hold us back.’
I wasn’t going to the capital just to sell cosmetics.
To stand up to the mighty power of the Delphine Dukes, the power of the opposing faction is needed.
‘I don’t need to fight the Duke alone. The royal family will be gnashing their teeth at the Duke of Delphine.’
Now is a good time to take advantage of the fact that the conflict between the royalist faction and the duke’s faction is intensifying.
We need to meet them and hold their hands.
‘The war will start when and where I want. If I start a war, I will start it first. I will never fight on my land. I will destroy your foundation.’
Jiselle clenched her fist.
Growing the territory is important, but it is ultimately just a means to deal with the Duke.
However, other people who did not know her true intentions could not understand Jiselle who was impatient about everything.
Claude was the same.
We’ve solved the food problem, we have rune stones, and now we’ve even developed a specialty product.
If things continue like this, the Fenris Territory will continue to develop.
But Jiselle always seemed to be in such a hurry, as if she was being chased by something.
‘That’s it. Who do you have a grudge against? Oh, this is driving me crazy.’
What Giselle said is not wrong.
If you develop a hit product and then hand it over to someone else, it’s like you’re only doing someone else a favor.
But Claude absolutely hated going around selling cosmetics himself.
I’m already tired, and if the upper-level work piles up, I might as well die.
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When cosmetics start selling, things will get busier than they are now.
“Ah! Seriously! When I get back from the capital, I have to check how things are going! When will I be able to do it all by myself? And on top of that, you want me to do the upper-level work? No! I say no! I can’t do it! Just kill me!”
Finally, Claude started to fight back, almost falling to the floor.
“I told you to hire more people. You can just delegate some work to other managers.”
At Giselle’s words, Claude beat his chest and cried as if he was frustrated.
“Right now, those people are so busy with their own work that they can barely do it. They don’t know anything about anything other than their assigned field, so they can’t help each other. Don’t you think you should know something about work?”
“hmm…….”
Even Jiselle thought that there were definitely too few people capable of doing the work compared to the amount of work.
Although Giselle took charge of important matters herself and brought in Claude to take on the role of general manager, there were still too many things going on at the same time.
No matter how excellent the two people were, there were limits to being human.
Giselle knew that too, but time was running out and there was so much to do that she had no choice but to keep squeezing Claude.
“There’s nothing I can do. Just roll over a little more… … . Hmm? Just a moment.”
Suddenly, Jiselle thought of one person.
He wasn’t exactly trustworthy, but… … he was still capable of handling most of the tasks required to run a territory.
He would be a good fit for Claude’s assistant.
Jiselle suddenly spoke with a kind smile.
“Are you having a hard time these days? Should I introduce you to someone? I know someone who might be able to help you.”
“Are you a girl? Are you pretty?”
“Hey man.”
“… … I don’t like it.”
“Then just continue doing it alone.”
Claude bit his lip. This lord always asks questions as if there are choices, but in reality, the answers are set.
He finally sighed and asked.
“Who are you? If you’re going to be entrusted with a task for the spirit world, you really need to have at least a minimal amount of knowledge.”
It’s a shame that even one cat’s paw is missing.
However, if you are going to be entrusted with running a territory, you must at least be able to read and write, and be able to do math.
“Let’s meet up and check it out. Let’s get started right away.”
“… … Right now?”
“Time is gold, they say.”
“No, why are you in such a hurry… … . You should have contacted me in advance. What if I ask you to meet and work? What are you going to do if that person refuses?”
Jiselle answered with a snicker.
“If you refuse, you die.”
* * *
Giselle went with Claude to the castle of the old Count Digald.
The two people who were looking around the estate on the way frowned upon checking the condition of the estate.
“Wow, the condition here is not so good either. I thought we were looking at our territory. No, we are much better now.”
The Digald estate had not been properly restored after the war.
Ferdium also had little money and people, so he could barely touch the Digald territory.
They were barely able to survive by sending relief supplies to the people of the territory using the rune stones that Jiselle had given them.
Even though I had expanded my land, I was in a difficult situation where I was spending more money than taxes.
“I guess I should send you some food later. Or would it be better for me to just eat here?”
“You are so blatantly unfilial.”
“It’s a shame. It would take too long to leave it to Ferdium.”
Jisel decided to return to Digald territory once Fenris had reached a certain level of orbit and turned around.
It was a waste to leave the land to chance, but there was nothing I could do about it right away.
Right now, even if we put all our efforts into developing Fenris, it’s not enough.
As soon as Giselle arrived at Digald Castle, she went straight down to the dungeon.
“Hmm, where could that guy be? I don’t know about other people, but I told you not to take that guy away.”
All the lower-level officials who did not directly participate in the war had already been taken from Perdium.
But one person was left in prison at Giselle’s request.
“Wow, I’ve seen a lot of new friends I haven’t seen before. This is a mess, this is a mess.”
The prison was packed to the brim with no empty cells.
Most of the prisoners were newly captured criminals who had caused trouble in the run-down estate.
Jiselle clicked her tongue and checked each prisoner one by one until she finally found the person she was looking for.
The man was still receiving special treatment, as he sat alone in the relatively clean room, dazed.
It was Lowell who survived by making Giselle laugh with his ridiculous number calculations.
“Hmm, his name was Lowell? He’s still alive, though.”
Lowell, as skinny as a skeleton, raised his head at Giselle’s voice.
“Who, who… … .”
“It’s me, it’s me. Don’t you remember?”
“Uh-huh-huh!”
Lowell backed away on his haunches, slumping against the wall behind him.
It was dark so I couldn’t recognize it right away, but how could I forget that face?
He is the one who invaded from Ferdium to Digald and killed all the surrendered counts and their vassals.
To Lowell, Giselle was a terrifying, grim reaper-like being.
“Uh, uh, why, why are you here? Are you, are you planning to kill me now?”
Immediately after being locked up in prison, I was relieved that I was barely alive, but as time passed, I had a bad feeling about things.
Everyone else who was trapped with him was released, but he was the only one who remained trapped.
From then on, I spent every night with an anxious mind.
Out of fear that he might be left in prison to be executed later.
And then, in the end, the demon that held his lifeline appeared before his eyes again.
“Please save me! I’m really innocent! I did what I was told! I just worked hard!”
Instead of answering that, Giselle asked the same question again.
“Then what is 750 times 1920?”
“1.44 million!”
The answer came at the speed of light.
Lowell spent each day in prison regretting his answer.
I should have said this!
But Claude, who didn’t know that fact, was surprised by the answer that came out so quickly.
“No, what is it? What’s going so fast?”
There was not an inch of hesitation.
‘If he’s this smart, he’ll adapt quickly with just a little bit of teaching, right?’
Claude quickly spoke to Giselle.
“Please give this to me. I will use it well.”
“What do you think? Do you like it?”
“Yes… … . But it looks like a skeleton soldier. I guess the food here isn’t that great.”
“It must be because you didn’t eat well in prison. You just need to eat well. That’s not the important thing. Are you really going to take me?”
It was a subtly suspicious conversation.
Do you like me? Give me to him? Feed me well and use me well?
Lowell tried to step back without realizing it, but was blocked by the wall and could not escape.
At that moment, Jiselle grabbed the bars and spoke quietly.
“Hey, come work with me.”
“Wh, what are you talking about?”
“Before I tell you that… … . Would you like to sign a 20-year slave contract? That is, to work hard for 20 years.”
“20 years… … right?”
If it meant living a life of slavery for 20 or 30 years, I would not hesitate.
But the flow of conversation that followed those words was so awkward that I couldn’t answer right away.
Jiselle hesitated for a moment, then clicked her tongue and sighed.
“Okay, if you don’t like the slave contract, I can’t force you. Then choose another option. Option 1, starve to death in prison. Option 2, death penalty. I’ve become a good person since I’ve given you more options.”
It was certainly not forced, but it was a suggestion that left no other choice.
