Chapter 51: CHP 51

"That's his strategy, he wants to slowly keep us in check. That's the way Bruno's business works, he strikes from the beginning to make us anxious."

The Blancia Master, raised the corners of his mouth, smirking, then threw a gold coin in the air and caught it on the back of his hand, once again he was lucky, it was heads.

I stared silently at the coin and petted Cookies head who was sitting next me, watching me with twinkling eyes.

"Prrrrr."

While purring, Cookie pricked his ears and sniffed my palm with which I previously touched the pouch with catnip.

"The fact that there are people trying to steal our recipe means that we represent a threat to them."

The employee who they tried to bribe, immediately reported it to the shop manager.

And that was possible because Armand is operating on an 'incentive system'.

One of the criteria for evaluating excellent employees also included fidelity towards their employee and their attitude towards competitors, so the employee was heftily rewarded because he notified the manager of the fact that the competition is trying to steal from us.

But in the first place, it was impossible to reproduce the recipe because of the magic tools that are the core 'ingredient' for our smoothie production.

And for the ionic drinks, the Blancia Master ordered the drinks to be prepared elsewhere and then sent to Armand, so the staff don't know the recipe.

"We took many good measures so that our recipes won't be leaked. But even so Bruno has no business ethics and is very unpleasant and annoying to deal with."

'Why is he so petty, even though he copied our set menu and the coupons idea?

I let it go before because all he did was just a sloppy imitation, but this time he crossed the line.'

"What should I do?"

I frowned and rubbed my temples.

"I will leak a fake recipe, and will make sure to emphasize that the raw materials and production costs are very high."

'Just as I expected, Master has a natural talent for using people to his advantage.'

While I secretly admired his genius, an idea came up in my mind, an idea to make life more difficult for them.

"I think we should use the patent for the magic tools that Belreck made for us, to our advantage.

My share from that patent is 30%, I can decide to whom we can sell them to. So when other businesses will start to inquire about the price for blenders or mixers I can just leave them out."

'Even Master bought a mixer for Maisond and is using it.'

"If all the other businesses will be able to purchase them and he will be the only one who can't, it would deal a huge blow to his business. So from now on, I won't be doing any sort of business with Bruno."

'After all I can exclude the ones I don't like. This is one of the good advantages of patents.'(⁠＾⁠3⁠＾⁠♪

"I will blacklist all the shops Bruno owns and the ones he is affiliated with."

Master sighed lightly and then continued.

"It seems that if someone turns the Princess into their enemy, they will suffer greatly, at this pace they will fall behind the competition. Using the patent for the magic tools in such a way. You are even monopolizing the formula patent..."

"Master, you receive 10% from my formula patent."

"I consider myself lucky that I took action at that time."

Then he laughed softly.

'I am luckier, to be honest, being ripped off by Master was not a waste.

Thanks to him I could use Blancia's vast manpower and their many distribution networks to make sure Armand's first shop can grow at a fast pace. It would have been absolutely impossible to do it alone, so all the credit goes to Master.

Because of him I have it easy and can focus only on planning and ideas while he handles all the tedious administrative tasks and the miscellaneous work instead of me.

I want to keep this give and take relationship with him. We work well together, so I don't want to ruin things.

This is one of the reasons why I keep hesitating to ask some other guild to find information about Isidor. I can't predict how Master will react if I get caught.(⁠;⁠ŏ⁠﹏⁠ŏ⁠)

Instead I should test the waters.'

"Ah! Master!"

"Yes?"

"About Sir. Isidor... I-it is nothing..." I stopped mid sentence, looking hesitant.

"Why did you stop talking?"

Master frowned slightly.

"For no reason, it was nothing important..."

"I'm curious now, even if it's nothing important."

"Well if you want to know, it will cost you 9 gold coins and 99 silver..."(ﾟ⁠οﾟ⁠人⁠)⁠)

Before I could finish my sentence, Master pushed 10 gold coins, that were stacked like a tower on the table, towards me.

'Oh my Goodness, this cheapskate is giving me money?!

As expected! When the conversation is about Isidor, he reacts differently than usual.'

My suspicions about Master's relationship with Isidor was confirmed again, but I made an effort to speak as off-hand as I could.

"It is really nothing. I was going to say that I was impressed by Sir. Isidor's performance at the jousting competition. You were right, his swordsmanship is excellent."

"..."ಠಿ⁠_⁠ಠ

"It was a good idea to ask him to promote our takeout as well, since everything that Sir. Isidor does, everyone follows suit."

The Blancia Master put a sugar cube in his tea without saying anything, and I put the 10 gold coins in my pouch while watching his reaction.

'I think that I should stop talking about Isidor, for now. It is not good to cause unnecessary conflict. The leak problem has been solved, but there is still another issue to discuss.'

"Master, how is the menu plan for the next season going?"

"The staff came up with a great idea."

He handed over the proposal from the Armand manager.

"Hmm. It is not a bad idea."

The smoothies are selling well since the weather was still hot, but there will come a time when their popularity will decrease since autumn is coming. So Armand was already preparing to attract the customers attention with a new menu for the different season.

"At first the seasonal menus seemed like a hassle but now it's nice and fun planing all these."

"I told you that it would be fine."

Then I shrugged my shoulders like it was something obvious.

'The seasonal menu is something like a limited-edition, since it contains special drinks that you can't have in another season. So it makes one feel pressured to at least try it one time during that period.

And in addition, only the seasonal special menu gives two coupon stamps, so customers have a pleasant illusion that the drinks are even more special.

Using abundant seasonal ingredients, reduced the production costs significantly, and made the shop image look good because we developed a variety of choices for our customers to enjoy.

Also I heard that the staff's mood has also improved, since they get an incentive if they came up with a good idea, so everyone actively participated in the development of the new seasonal menu.

If the menu in which they participated will actually be used, or at least some ideas from it, their sense of belonging and their self-esteem will increase.'

"Ah, and also, I am planning to use a new magic device..."

Curiosity flashed in Master's eyes.

Master was very interested about how the blender and the mixer work.

'Of course I have to test it first, but I think he can make it just in time. And he seems to be free now.'

I barely swallowed a sigh that was about to come out.

'The most difficult one, slave nr. 2, the one who always pretends to be busy and makes a fuss whenever he has to do something for me. So I always have to nag him in advance when he has spare time.'

...

As soon as Belreck saw Deborah approach him, he instinctively trembled.

'I can't believe that I'm afraid of my little sister.'

But he had many weaknesses, so he really couldn't help it. And there was one more troublesome thing that had happened.

'Fuck.'

Belreck, who was recently confined in the Wizard Association to prepare some artifacts for an exhibition, stopped by the Seymour Library after a long time, and realized that the internal material classification system changed dramatically.

"A book catalog card? Who brought this in? Could it be that you came up with this idea?"

He hoped his instinct was wrong, but the young lady, whom his sister brought in, answered so happily that he felt his stomach turn bad.

"It was Princess Deborah!"

Then for some reason, he felt a chill sweeping down his back as he walked near the flower garden, still he swallowed that ominous feeling that he felt only when trouble was brewing.

But then he encountered his viper-like sister.

'It's no wonder I didn't feel like coming home recently.'

"Make this for me."

Deborah approached him with a brazen attitude and handed him a blueprint.

Again she drew another bizarre magic tool that was supposed to apply heat to the bottom while rotating at a high-speed.

It gave him goosebumps because his little sister was capable of drawing such a detailed blueprint that even he could roughly understand its function

Her understanding about mechanics was so high that he secretly wanted to entrust her with the blueprints for offensive magic tools.

"Deborah, what are you planning to do with these magic tools? Seymour can only cover up the lower nobility. More than that you too can be brought to trial."

"It is nothing like that."

Deborah mumbled with a bitter voice.

"What do you mean, nothing like that! From what I can see, this is a magic tool that uses heated venom to make poisonous gas!"

'In addition to the poisonous gas, If I added a magic missile function to such a machine, it would be a dangerous military weapon.'

"You are suspecting and slandering me yet again without reason."

"Because you are suspicious! How dare you make Seymour's successor and your noble older brother sign a slave contract with poisonous clauses. You are a con artist!"

Every time Belreck remembered the hidden contract clause, written in tiny letters, his anger flared up that some time he couldn't even sleep.

It was the first time he saw such a contract.

Suddenly, Deborah raised the corners of her lips.

"Who is my older brother?"

"What?"

"Have you forgotten that you decided to call me older sister."

In that moment, he was reminded again of the nonsense that had come out of his mouth in the past.

This was it, the bad premonition that made him have goosebumps earlier.

Then Deborah tapped the artifact she was holding, it had a recording function and she looked like she was waiting for this moment. The artifact had a 10 minute long conversation recorded that he wanted to erase at all costs.

"What if I prove that I am not bluffing?"

"Ha! Then I will personally call you elder sister."

"That n-nonsense."

Belreck was taken aback by the obvious evidence, so his voice cracked a little.

"You promised to call me elder sister if I solved the librarian problem properly.

How could I overlook such an important promise easily?"

"I-I can't believe you! You recorded a slip of the tongue that I made in a fit of anger! Can you really say that you are a noble lady who behaves with dignity?"

Belreck said with a pale face while trying to quickly grab the magic stone from Deborah's hand. But her reflexes were so good that she quickly stepped back.

"Sorry, but even if you break this, I have many other copies hidden. After all I have a lot of magic artifacts like this one."

"You crazy..."

"If you make the device according to the blueprint, you won't need to call me elder sister anymore, so don't worry."

Deborah smiled while narrowing her eyes like a snake.

"But if you are mean to my vassal again, I may change my mind."

Deborah pretended to be concerned about her vassal to naturally intimidate him.

"What kind of evil demon..."

"If I really was a demon, I would have sold this recording to brother Rosad for a hefty price. So let's just leave the compliment as a villain."

Belreck trembled at Deborah's meticulous attention to detail.

"Sell it to Rosad?"

He didn't even think about that possibility until that moment, the thought of it made him feel a chill down his spine, again.

'That Rosad with hid bad personality, would probably roll around laughing as soon as he hears that statement.'

Belreck was born later than Rosad only by a few minutes, so he never called Rosad older brother.

Because this issue became more serious, after all he couldn't lose his pride not to Rosad with whom he was competing for the title, Belreck quickly changed his stance.

"Deborah, making artifacts is the most enjoyable thing in the world for me. So just leave this to me. I will make it as fast as possible."

"I will come often to oversee the progress, because the design of the central part in the drawing is not perfect. Well then, have a good day."

Deborah patted him on the shoulder as if she was treating him like a younger brother, and then left abruptly.

After he was alone, Belreck, who was so frustrated because he couldn't speak up, pounded his chest hard and ripped off his hair.

To get out of this terrible situation, he had to marry Deborah off as soon as possible, but he couldn't find a wizard that was good enough to satisfy his father.

'If I bring home someone who is not good enough, I might get kicked out of the house...

No. Is there even a man in this Empire who will marry her, who threatened the honorable Prince of Visconti?'

Belreck pressed his temples with his fingers with a dark expression on his face.

............................