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Chapter 3
Once freed from the grueling experiments, Lulutie spent her days receiving a variety of lessons.
It was a calculated endeavor—she needed to be intelligent and refined so she could eventually be married off for a high price. Yet, regardless of her father’s motives, Lulutie genuinely enjoyed learning. She was especially fond of history class, taught by Gust Espeda.
Gust was once an overseer guarding the iron ore mines of Brücke. Now, he served as the head of the Brücke Merchant Guild.
There had been a time when running merchant guilds was all the rage among the nobility. Countless nobles rushed recklessly into business, but only a handful survived. The Brücke Merchant Guild, which manufactured daily necessities for commoners, was one of those rare successes.
Most nobles had naively assumed business would be simple, choosing to create and sell expensive luxury items meant only for their own peers. Gaeld, too, had envisioned crafting high-end sculptures for the aristocracy. He had summoned his vassals to outline his grand business plan.
“I intend to craft and sell sculptures. So long as we acquire raw black crystal and master artisans, it is a business bound for guaranteed success.”
The black mineral was a symbol of good fortune. Demand would surely be astronomical.
“It will yield magnificent pieces, but the cost of raw materials is a significant flaw. There is only one active mine where black crystal can be harvested.”
“We shall simply sell the finished products at a correspondingly exorbitant price! A single sale will be worth fifty raw stones!”
The vassals of Brücke exchanged uneasy glances. Numerous nobles had charged headlong into business with such blithe optimism, only to end up utterly ruined. While a single failed venture might not bring down the house entirely, it would certainly cast a long, dark shadow over all of them.
“I shall oversee it personally, so have no fear. Was it not my own brilliant capability that expanded our domain to its current glory?”
Gaeld had indeed earned immense prestige through his exceptional magical prowess, receiving additional territory as a reward. Thanks to him, the house currently held the vastest lands in Brücke’s history.
Slowly, a vague, blind trust settled over his men.
“That sounds like a splendid plan, my Lord.”
“You think so as well? Excellent. Therefore, I shall be raising taxes.”
“As you naturally should, my Lord.”
“Haha! I do appreciate a sharp mind. Should we succeed, I shall bestow a fine villa upon each of you.”
“Magnificent! We look forward to it already.”
While everyone bubbled over with excitement, only one man remained unsmiling: Gust, the young heir of the Espeda family, one of Brücke’s vassals.
The empire’s sole black crystal mine belonged to another family. The moment word leaked that House Brücke was launching such a business, the owner might jack up the price of raw ore ten or twenty-fold. Furthermore, rumors were already circulating that the mine’s yield was diminishing. There was no telling how high prices would skyrocket. It was a business fraught with overwhelming risk; proceeding down this path meant dragging them all into ruin.
He gathered his courage.
“My Lord, merchant guilds targeting the nobility already exist in abundance. We must pivot our gaze toward the commoners.”
“Are you daring to suggest my plan is flawed?”
Gaeld flew into a fury, but Gust refused to back down.
“If you fail to produce results, the entire Espeda family shall bear the blame!”
Gaeld hurled threats in a desperate bid to force his own agenda, but Gust stood his ground. In the end, Gaeld yielded to Gust’s vision—and the Brücke Merchant Guild achieved sweeping success.
Having secured ample capital, the time had come to expand the business. Regrettably, Gaeld refused to grant permission to the very end. His pride, it seemed, simply could not stomach it.
Truth be told, even at its current scale, Gust was swept off his feet with work. He was so pressed for time that he often brought prototype products directly into his history lessons regarding the neighboring empires.
‘Brooms today, is it? Five of them, no less.’
Thanks to his hectic schedule, Lulutie enjoyed the delightful privilege of inspecting all sorts of curious goods.
“Forgive me for being late, Lady Lulutie. Where did we leave off last week?”
“We made it up to the relationship between the Holy Kingdom and the Empire.”
“Then the next chapter should be… Ah!”
Teetering under the precarious armful of brooms he carried, Gust finally dropped the entire bundle across the floor.
Lulutie, who had been flipping through her textbook, scampered over and picked up one of the brooms.
“You needn’t trouble yourself, My Lady.”
“If we do it together, we’ll finish faster. That way you can start teaching me sooner.”
Gust was a merchant lord who calculated time and profit with formidable speed. Deeply aware of the value of every second, he gave a firm nod.
“You are quite right, My Lady.”
He never dismissed the young girl’s words, always listening attentively to her thoughts. Because of this, Lulutie felt uniquely at ease around him compared to her other tutors.
Smiling up at him, she picked up another broom scattered on the floor.
“Oh?”
“What is it, My Lady?”
“They’re all different.”
From afar they had looked identical, but up close, the handles and bristles were entirely distinct colors.
“Indeed. Only this one right here belongs to our Brücke Merchant Guild. How does it look to your eyes?”
It was a broom with an unusually dark, muted tone—a piece that hardly drew the eye.
“It’s hard to notice.”
At her delightfully candid, child-like response, a troubled smile flickered across his face.
“Right? The rest of these brooms belong to competing guilds. We are meant to launch our product next week, but I am at a loss as to how we ought to display it.”
“What are you going to do, Gust?”
He gathered the brooms and lined them up along the wall. The Brücke broom stood at the very front.
“I have agonized over this for days, and lining them up like this seems to draw the most attention. I am considering paying shopkeepers an extra commission to arrange them in this manner.”
It stood directly beside the brightest broom in the stack.
Was he trying to create a contrast between light and dark?
It certainly caught the eye, but Lulutie found herself leaning toward the brighter broom over the gloomy, dark one. Truthfully, Brücke’s broom looked as though it had already been used.
“Does it really have to be so dark?”
“I’m afraid so. It is crafted from rock-juniper, which imparts a subtle fragrance. It is far sturdier than competing products and will last much longer, but its deeply tinted wood is its fatal flaw.”
“It looks like a broom used for sweeping chimneys.”
“Ugh.”
Gust let out a pained groan, clearly harboring the exact same thought. Releasing a heavy sigh, he scratched the back of his head in frustration.
“Hah… Displaying it like this will surely spell disaster. If only customers could use it once, they would instantly realize how superior it is…”
Unlike the other nobles, targeting commoners had been a brilliant strategy. The issue was that the market for basic necessities was already dominated by well-established, long-standing guilds run by the commoners themselves. House Brücke had successfully used its vast wealth and intelligence networks to engineer a superior product, yet they frequently collided with hurdles like this.
“If it doesn’t catch the eye, no one will buy it.”
“Will the problem be solved if it simply stands out?”
“Yes. But given its dark tone, it is destined to be buried. I fear we may have to settle for merely recovering our initial investment on this new release.”
Lulutie stared intently at the neatly aligned brooms. Then, she looked down at the dress she was wearing.
If the broom wore clothes, it would look pretty, too.
“Are you going to display them just like that?”
“Yes, My Lady.”
Standing up, Lulutie pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wrapped it around the handle of the broom. But without anything to secure it, the fabric instantly slipped off and crumpled to the floor.
It hadn’t worked out as she envisioned. A complete failure.
Fearing she might be scolded, she cast a hesitant glance up at Gust.
Meeting her eyes, Gust spoke softly. “Take your time. Putting your thoughts into practice is a wonderful lesson in itself.”
Relief washed over her; unlike her father, Gust did not get angry. Emboldened, Lulutie decided to indulge her curiosity a little further, determined to bring the idea in her head to life.
‘I need something to tie it with.’
She untied the yellow ribbon binding her hair. Though she had never tied a ribbon herself, she had watched the maids do it countlessly. Moving her small fingers busily, she managed to fashion a clumsy, lopsided bow.
After fidgeting with it for a long while, Lulutie finally pulled her hands back.
It was finished.
Yet Gust remained completely silent.
‘Am I going to get scolded after all?’
Silence was never a good sign. Lulutie searched his complexion anxiously. With a sternly set jaw, Gust was staring unblinkingly at the handkerchief-wrapped broom.
“I’ll… I’ll untie it…”
“No. Please leave it as it is.”
“You’re angry…”
“Me?”
Instead of answering, she gave a tentative, tiny nod.
Gust immediately dropped to one knee, bringing himself down to Lulutie’s eye level.
“I must have frightened you. Forgive me—when I crunch numbers in my head, I concentrate so hard my expression turns rigid.”
He offered her the same gentle, reassuring smile he used during their lessons. Only then did Lulutie finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“Regardless, I am utterly astonished. To think of packaging it…”
“I thought it would stand out more this way.”
Merchant guilds run by commoners spared every expense to keep costs down, so they never decorated or packaged their goods. Even if they tried to copy the idea, they could never mimic the luxurious packaging techniques of noble houses. And this strategy wouldn’t just work for brooms—it could be applied to other products as well.
A flurry of calculations rushed through Gust’s mind.
“You are entirely correct. You did an exceptional job, My Lady.”
He was the very first person to ever praise her for something she had done. The tips of Lulutie’s ears flushed a faint pink.
“We won’t need to pay shopkeepers extra commissions at all; we simply need to invest in proper packaging. How on earth did you come up with such a brilliant idea?”
“I just… thought it would be nice to dress it up in clothes.”
“To think of dressing an object in clothes… You are truly remarkable. Just as you suggested, My Lady, I shall have small garments made to dress these brooms.”
Lulutie’s face flushed an even deeper shade of crimson.
Having Gust say such things to her felt wonderfully nice. Yet, not knowing how to react, she could only fidget with her fingers in embarrassed silence.
She was at a loss for words, but the feeling lingering in her chest was far from unpleasant. Deep inside her coat of armor—right near her heart, where a sharp, stabbing ache usually resided—a gentle, unfamiliar warmth began to spread.
