NOVEL NEXT Chapter 143. Advertiser Found & Adventurer’s Guild!
Immediately, the six of us walked downstairs where we were greeted by the sight of none other than the Duchess who was sitting on the couch with a smile. She wore a light blue dress, a blue hat and carried a single cup of tea in her hand as her eyes stared at us warmly.
“Greetings, dear Mother…” I bowed down appropriately while carrying Bella.
“You don’t have to act like strangers; it seems like you are far capable than your father and I thought, to think that the dryland and crumbled town here has reverted back into a functioning town with farmlands, it’s like the angels above have descended,” she giggled.
“I am honored to have your compliments, dear Mother,” I replied with a smile before she gestured us to sit beside her which I felt a bit inappropriate of me which is why I decided to let my naughty little sister take the spot instead while I sit on the other side with a smile, “Do you need anything from me, dear Mother?”
“Nothing really, I was just checking up on you. Are you really sure about the proposal given by Her Majesty?” she asked with worry on her face, “We are still one of the prestigious ducal families in the kingdom, after all. We have the influence and power to object her even if it means to bring out our entire army.”
“There is no need for that, Mother,” I answered with a firm voice, “It is my decision to follow through, not only because I am favorable with the reward but also because I sympathy the people who lived here… I have seen a lot since arriving here and I understood inside that my decision to take up her offer was the best choice.”
“Is that so… If you think you cannot handle the situation here anymore then feel free to send us a letter. You are still our dearest heir to the Windsor family, whether it’d be in the future or in the present,” she smiled.
Ayumi Windsor is truly blessed, to have a family that is willing to go to such lengths for her. To challenge Kaori with everything they have, that is how desperate they will go just to satisfy her—no, their daughters. I know that Bella would also receive such treatment from them, in my past life, I always thought that noble families think of their children as chess pieces, but it was different.
“Also, now that you are revealed to the public world. Do you want to hold a debutant party someday? After all, you are now someone who owns a town that has the potential to become a city, you will really need connections whether it’d be from merchant families or noble families. How about I assign a debutant party for you in the capital on the 26th?” she asked.
Debutant party, that’s right. The normal procedure for daughters of nobles when they reach the age of maturity is to have a debutant party where they would be officially introduced to the world of nobility, the biggest benefit of having a debutant party is the connections that you might make. Some may find their fated ones there while others may prosper from the connections they find.
The only reason why Ayumi Windsor hasn’t had a debutant party is simply because the Windsor family loves to hide in the shadows. They like to be lowkey and the people in the family usually never show up in public unless they have to which acts as another layer of defense for them since little will know of your weaknesses.
“I am fine with the 26th but would you have enough time to prepare for the party?” I asked with a bit of worry. After all, the 22nd which is my appointment with Mana and the others is five days from now and the 26th is just a little over nine days.
That means they only have nine days to prepare for the party, usually noble families would prepare months if not years ahead from the dress to the location where it would be held. I can only imagine the stress it would give to them if they were given nine days to prepare everything.
“It isn’t much since we already have a lot prepared. The family always prepares for situations like these and even situations that are even considered unnecessary, simply because we want to be prepared in all situations,” she showed a proud look before patting Bella’s head who was confused.
“Then I will leave it to you, dear Mother,” I stood up and bowed a bit before she shook her head.
“A debutant party isn’t much for the family, we could invite your former classmates as well since they must have missed you a lot. Not to mention, most of them should have been shocked to know about your real identity and have a lot of questions,” she replied.
Indeed, as far as the memories I have tells me, Ayumi Windsor actually went to school under a different name—Ayumi Rosalia which is somewhat derived from the Duchess’s own name. The reason is the same as well, the Windsor family’s low-key nature.
“I will go with Mother’s arrangement then,” I showed a bright smile before sitting down as I turned towards the kitchen where the two chefs together with Tanya and Raeliana carrying trays of meals. They were mainly steak with vegetables which was a common dish for nobility though there was a bit of onigiri there.
A few plates used the leaves of the plant while another few used some of the stems which intrigue me as to how it would taste. Seeing the four of them coming, I soon turned towards the Duchess while saying, “Do you mind if you try a new condiment I have invented, dear Mother?”
“I can tell from your eyes that you want me to advertise the condiment to the world of nobility, is that right?” she smirked which made me giggle a bit. As expected of her, she can tell my intentions just from a single question, “Naturally, even though you are my daughter, all the products that I advertise have to go through my own tests to see whether it is worthy for me.”
“That much is expected, I know you will like it, dear Mother. Please have a try our rice balls if you want to test out the condiment when paired with a dish, and if you would like to try out the condiment itself, please do so,” I smiled before gesturing Lia to give me one of the bowls which she quickly understood and handed as I placed it on the table, opening the linen wrap.
“I apologize ahead of time for the packaging since we lack the funding to make a fancy packaging, though I can tell Mother doesn’t care about the packaging, right?” I said before she nodded as she took one of the rice balls and looked at it closely.
After taking a few short glances, she soon took a bite before a slight movement of her face could be seen. It wasn’t a sign that she was disappointed but rather she was pleased by it, chewing it a few more times before taking a look at the wasabi on the bowel.
“Is this the condiment—this is indeed good even for the highest qualities of condiments, it has this spiciness with it that just doesn’t make sense with the sweetness… it has this complicated taste to it. My intuition can tell that this condiment will make it big,” she looked at me with a serious expression.
Once she says her intuition can tell—that means the product or item is guaranteed to make a large hit in the capital, the Duchess before she married into the Ducal family was a very influential person who could make markets tremble. Her intuition is one of the biggest points why she could become someone influential, there was never a chance for her intuition to be mistaken when it comes to the market.
“How about taking twenty of them with you, dear Mother?” I suggested.
“Wouldn’t they go bad—not to mention, we need to change up the packaging for these if you want to make this big in the world of nobility. I may think that ordinary packaging is fine, but the others there thinks differently, beauty is one of the ways to succeed there,” she smiled, “How about this, our family will personally handle the design and packaging and we will send them all the packaging here—but still, the issue of the longevity of this product is still prominent.”
“You don’t have to worry about the longevity of the condiment, dear Mother. I have invented a magic device that can imprint a special spell circle onto the container which extends its lifespan by three to six months. You can find the spell circle at the bottom of the container,” I answered which surprised her a bit as she looked at the bottom of the container with surprise.
“This is impressive…” she looked shocked as she stared at me in the eye, “Are you sure you made this… you could become rich by simply imprinting those spell circles onto containers from other companies, a spell circle that could extend the lifespan of food is highly sought after and no one has succeeded even once since it is pretty much impossible for such spell to exist.”
“If you are convinced, you can feel free to try out the condiment that isn’t placed on this container. It would lose its original spiciness within half a day to a day and the condiment I gave you was made last night,” I smiled.
“I am already convinced, to think that my daughter has grown like me—indeed, the capitalist blood flows within us well,” she joked which made me giggle a bit. I now understood where this sudden capitalist personality came from.
After that little discussion, the three of us had a quick meal together with Bella before the two of them said they would be leaving. It seems like they really only came here to check up on me which made me smile inside, I did hope to tour them around the town a bit, but the Duchess said that they have a few more things to do in the capital and brought forty bowls with her since she wants to advertise them early.
We sent them off with a warm goodbye before heading back inside the manor where I sat down on my couch with a heavy sigh of relief, “Everything is still smooth-sailing… thank goodness.”
I was nervous the entire time since if I failed to impress the Duchess then I would have to find a less efficient and more expensive way to advertise the wasabi paste. I could rely on Kaori but that would make me heavily reliant on her which is not what I want.
“You did well, milady,” Raeliana said as the others nodded.
“What plans do we have for today? We still need to prepare to visit that village for tomorrow, we need to monopolize on their supply even if it costs a bit,” I showed a wry smile. At maximum, I plan on offering only twenty gold coins which may sound petty of me, but this world was never fond of fairness whether it’d be in the modern world or in here.
Kaori has taught me that in the modern world since she was the one who was heavily involved in managing Solis VR’s entire business as well, she told me that to succeed, you must scheme against others.
“We don’t have any plans for today, milady. You have finished all your tasks for five days which means you can take a break for five days,” she answered.
Five days break—I guess that is enough time for me to test out some stuff with my second race. I do want to become an adventurer since I heard dungeons have been popping up now but with this new body’s overly unique features, I can’t even go incognito as an adventurer.
This second race has given me the best opportunity to do so. I have read plenty of novels where the main character would disguise himself or herself as another person whether it’d be some kind of heavily armored knight to adventure while being someone of royalty… it excites me a bit.
“I will take a five-day break then, Raeliana and the others are also free to do whatever for that five days. You can take a few gold coins to enjoy since all of you deserve it. As for Tanya, I want to have a private discussion for now,” I said before all of them nodded as I turned towards Tanya who nodded.
The two of us immediately went upstairs to my room where I locked the door and immediately activated the noise-canceling magic device that Kaori gave me before looking at Tanya with a wry smile, “You already know about my vampiric form right?”
“I am planning on registering myself as an adventurer as a vampire, though I don’t want people to know which is why I want you to make sure that no one gets suspicious whenever I am out… that should be fine right?” I asked.
“My lady, you are prohibited to become an adventurer according to the Duke,” she answered.
“I will explain to him if we are caught, I am only telling you simply because I want someone to help me hide this…” I said before she looked at me with a frown.
The two of us stared at each other for a few moments before she let out a heavy sigh as she replied, “As you wish, my lady but if ever the Duchess or the Duke finds out, I may not be able to hide you being a vampire anymore…”
“That’s fine,” I showed a bitter smile, “I will handle it when that time comes.”
“When will you start adventuring, my lady?” she asked.
“I want to register right now, so I will need to transform back into the form. If you don’t mind, can you please watch the outside for me. Make sure no one comes until I give you an empty piece of paper, okay?” I said before she nodded as I immediately turned off the noise-canceling device before opening the door as she followed her words.
After making sure the door was locked, I immediately turned myself back into the vampiric form through the opposite method of what the system had told me which worked as intended. Everything felt a lot comfortable in this form, my body was lighter and flexible.
“Now… I want to at least hide some of the more visible features of a vampire, that should be possible right?” I mumbled before a window appeared.
|
[The Library] The Vampiric Form’s wings and horns are purely for decoration, you are free to hide them whenever by imagining them vanishing. You can still fly without the wings visible and still use all the powers of the Empress Vampire without the horns. |
The Library is indeed the handiest system I have, even though I have lost the statistics window and the mini-map, they aren’t as huge of a loss compared to losing The Library which is basically your wiki for everything.
Following its instructions, I soon imagined both my wings and horns vanishing before turning towards the mirror as my wings and horns were no longer to be seen. I only looked like a young white-haired beautiful girl with strange red eyes. This body is super cute though.
After wearing a hood, I soon looked at myself at all angles before nodding over at my cuteness. My life was now at its best time, I have a beautiful body and also a cute and extremely powerful body. I don’t feel like missing my time as Ayumi Ai anymore.
“Now, it’s time to head off…” I said before taking out a piece of empty paper from my vanity table and slipping it to the bottom of the door as I soon walked towards the balcony before tightening my hood as I soon remembered how to fly from my days as Ayumi Ai, jumping off from the balcony as I soon turned into a bat and flew towards the inner parts of the town.
After a few moments of flying, I soon landed on a dark alleyway where I turned back into the vampire form which is apparently normal. From what I can tell, if I hide my wings then I would turn into a bat when I want to fly which is pretty convenient.
“It’s time to enjoy a bit of time as an adventurer,” I smiled inside before looking for the adventurer’s guild which is still active in this town even to this day.
After a little way of looking around, I soon found the building for the guild which was a simple-looking tavern that was filled with knights, mages, and other kinds of adventurers. All of them stopped for a second and looked at me with surprise which was as expected from this body’s height.