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Chapter 5
“FIFO.” In the restaurant industry, this usually stands for ‘First In, First Out’—meaning the inventory that comes in first goes out first. However, I was planning to apply this term a little differently. Full-hands In, Full-hands Out. Go out with hands full, come in with hands full. “When you go out, carry your hands full of fertilizer, and when you come back, carry your hands full of lake water.” Minimum movement, maximum efficiency. And finish it off with discounted sugar at the end. “Hurry up. Don’t waste a single second.” I poked dazed Ian sharply in the back. Sensing the crisis, Ian grabbed the fertilizer sacks piled in the corner and dashed out. Running, no less. I tidied up the sacks that had been scattered as Ian left. ‘If I pile them up right by the door, it’ll shorten the path.’ Then Nanny asked from beside me. “Uhm, young lady, but you see……” “Yes.” “Even if it’s been pulverized, since it’s fertilizer… I’m worried we might get complaints from the neighbors. About the smell of fertilizer drifting right past their homes.” “Ah, that’s why we’re not going to sell it.” “Pardon?” Not going to sell it? Nanny asked, her eyes going wide. “Nanny, what do you think is most important in business?” “Uhm… the location of the shop?” “Right. Shop location matters.” What is around this shop where I’ve set up? Is it a residential area? An office district? Or a nightlife district full of pubs? “Products matter, too.” Especially the materials to make the products. Like the herbs the farmers supply. The fertilizer was merely bait to lure in the farmers who would supply those materials. “We’re going to sell something else.” “Excuse me, what kind of…?” “Something that fits the commercial district of 36 Maple Street.” Combining my past-life knowledge with present-life magic. “Something I’m confident in.” I glanced briefly at the calendar hanging inside the preparation room. ‘I wonder how long it’ll take for the farmers to show up.’ After one or two of those farmers try out the fertilizer, feel the effects firsthand, and spread it by word of mouth… About three days? ‘To get all the work done in three days, time is going to be tight.’
And exactly three days later. The first farmer arrived.
[Green Roof Magic Shop]
Sales: 0
Expenses: 0
Total Assets: 75G
(Sold lace, shoelaces, and a fountain pen brought from the study!)
D-4 until Grand Opening
Meanwhile. In the Iris Territory, shortly after Riche left.
“The pearls are way too small. If they’re this small, how are other people supposed to know if it’s a diamond or a salt crystal? Are you showing me only these kinds of jewels because you’re looking down on me for not being a noble?” “Not at all, Madam! This diamond might look light at first glance, but with the artisan’s special—” “I don’t care about that, so how much is it?” Always the most expensive ones. “Madam, what would you like to do about the coats?” “Give me everything in fur. …No, no! What are you doing?! I told you to put gold-foil decorations on every single doorknob and under the drawers!” Make it dazzling enough to blind anyone the moment they walk in! In the warm southern spring of Iris, Madam Iris—wrapped in two fur coats and wearing rings on all ten fingers—shouted. Beside her, Morris Iris, Riche’s uncle who had been ordering golden decorations to be placed all over the house, tilted his head. “Come to think of it, I haven’t seen Riche since earlier?” “She’s probably holed up somewhere crying.” Madam replied. “She’s probably sniffling under her parents’ portrait or in the garden… and will crawl out when she gets hungry. Where else would a sixteen-year-old girl go all by herself?” “True.” Morris Iris nodded. ‘By now, she must realize things are taking a weird turn, but even if she knows, there’s nothing she can do about it.’ She has no choice but to stay put. Watching with her hands tied as the situation gradually gets worse. ‘All the retainers have come over to my side, too.’ The ones who wouldn’t yield had been cut loose, so the only people left in the territory on his niece’s side were powerless servants. ‘Essentially, it’s the same as having nobody at all.’ Just as commoners can play no role when kings change. Later on, when Riche dies, she’ll probably just cry around her coffin. Feeling cheered up by that thought, Morris said, “We should reward the mercenary troupe that has worked hard to help me thus far. A bag of silver coins to every single member of the mercenaries—” As he said that, he pulled out his deceased older sister’s checkbook from his inner pocket. The family lawyer, who had been watching with a peculiar expression and twitching the corners of his mouth since earlier, spoke up. “Pardon me, Mr. Iris. The checkbook you just pulled out cannot be used.” “…What?” “Precisely as I said. The late Count’s checkbook has had its usage suspended.” “Why?” “Because the trust bank managing Iris’s assets has frozen all of the family’s wealth.” Let’s see. It’s been about an hour, I believe. The lawyer said, glancing at his wristwatch. At those words, silence descended upon the drawing room for a moment.
“……” “……”
Madam Iris, who had been trying on a ring over another ring, the merchant guild leader who had been putting the ring on her, and the guild employees busily carrying high-end goods inside, all froze in their tracks and stared at Morris and the lawyer. Morris stammered, “Wh-What… Why? How?” “Lady Riche exercised her authority as the heir.” “Riche? But she’s a minor, and—” “A minor misusing assets is a problem, but freezing them to not use them is not a problem.” “What did you say?” “That’s how the law works.” The lawyer nodded. With a face turning beet red, Morris shouted, “How on earth can you process something like that so fast?!” It normally takes at least ten days just for paperwork! At Morris’s roar, the lawyer merely shrugged. “The bank clerk in charge must have been in a hurry.” “……” “What would you like to do?” “……”
Silence. Morris looked around. Jewelers, furniture dealers, head dressmakers filling the drawing room…. Merchants who had rushed over at the news of big spending. Everyone was still smiling, but their gazes were turning chillingly cold. The guild employees, who had been putting down golden statues and aquariums here and there in the drawing room, read the room. They silently asked their superiors with their eyes, ‘What should we do?’ “H-Honey… what do we do?” Asked Madam, looking as though she could barely breathe from layering so many thick garments together. “Dammit!” Gritting his teeth, Morris dropped the checkbook he was holding as if throwing it and rummaged through his coat. “I’ll write a check with my own money for now! How much is the total?!” “The approximate amount is this.” “…Wh-What…!” The amount written on paper by the merchant guild leader was astronomical. For Morris Iris—who had squandered all the generous funds his older sister had given him when he married, let alone having built up the property steadily after the succession—this was an amount he could not handle. Especially now that he had taken out bank loans to even hire a mercenary troupe. It was an amount he couldn’t resolve simply through a bluffing desire not to lose face in front of merchants. “D-Dammit!” Morris’s face was now practically dark red. “C-Can we take the goods first and pay for them later?” “That’s difficult.” ‘It wouldn’t normally be difficult, but making an exception for someone who looks incapable of paying is another story.’ Morris could read the words clearly written on the guild leader’s face. That statement served as a signal; the merchant employees began packing up their luggage. The implication of that action was unmistakable. ‘It’s over.’ “H-Honey….” When Madam looked alternately between her husband and the drawing room, unsure of what to do, an employee asked, “What would you like to do, Madam? Shall I help you purchase at least the fur and rings you are currently wearing?” “Honey, honey…?” Morris looked away from his wife’s pleading gaze. Huffing and puffing, Madam pulled off her rings and practically dropped them into the employee’s hands. “Now that I look at it, they don’t really suit me anyway! My fingers are too thin for chunky rings like these! And the fur feels awful!” Though she tried desperately to say so, Everyone in the room knew she was just disparaging what she couldn’t have. “M-Mom… then what about my dress and jewelry?” Asked Joza, Riche’s cousin, from the side. Joza, who whenever she came to play at the Iris estate had coveted Riche’s sunny third-floor room, pretty dresses, and cute hair ornaments. She had been so excited, thinking that all of Riche’s jewelry, dresses, and shoes would finally become hers. “Those are fine. Go on and try them on.” Just as Madam was comforting her daughter amidst her burning frustration, “Ah. Those are also family assets, so you cannot touch them.” The lawyer chimed in once more. “What?” “Precisely as I said. Lady Riche’s dresses, jewelry, shoes… even the carpet in the young lady’s room and every single shoelace have been registered as family assets.” “That makes no sense! What noble registers their personal belongings as family assets?!” If you do that, you have to get permission every single time you use or dispose of an item! Madam screamed. “Then what on earth is that brat Riche’s personal property?!” What in this mansion are we even allowed to use?! At Madam’s scream, the lawyer replied, “I apologize. There is none.” “Aaaagh!” Clatter-crash! A teacup slipped from Madam’s furious hand and smashed to pieces. The lawyer promptly recorded it: — Family teacup. Broken by Madam Iris. Compensation for damages to be claimed.
“Dammit!” Madam’s hands shook with anger, but fearing she’d incur yet another charge for damages, she couldn’t throw anything else. Beside her, suddenly sensing something strange, Morris asked, “When was that property registration done?” “Pardon?” “You said Riche registered all her belongings as family assets. When did that happen?!” “Ah. That, too.” Having ultimately failed to control the corners of his mouth that had been twitching since earlier, the lawyer answered with a wide grin. “One hour ago.” “Bwahaha—!” The butler, who had accidentally burst out laughing beside them, hurriedly made an excuse. “That was a sneeze sound. I’m quite sickly, you see.” Crash! Ultimately, another teacup shattered in Morris’s hand. “Bring that brat Riche here, right now!” +1 to items to pay back.
