NOVEL NEXT Chapter 42: Side Job
"Hey! Do you know about the swordsmanship tournament? Who are you rooting for?" Ronya asked me. She mentioned that the girls were discussing the annual swordsmanship tournament. This was my first time hearing about it.
"Where was the tournament last year?" I asked.
"Hmm? They are held every year around this time. Ahh... Do mages miss it? I still remember some mages attending it, though." I tilted my head and looked toward Alicia, who promptly answered.
"She was talking about the general mages who are level 5 or below, attending the normal mage classes. Our special curriculum didn't allow for such leniency, so the school elected not to tell us so we could focus on our studies."
"I see. Special grade students didn't attend it."
"Well, we will surely see them when we graduate the special classes next year. There are no acceleration classes there, after all," Alicia said.
"I see. I guess gifted students have their own difficulties. I never thought you guys would be prohibited from attending or seeing such tournaments."
"Well, Level 6 and above account for less than 0.1% even in the entire empire," Safira, who had just returned from picking up her lunch, commented to Ronya. "I must tell you, though, that it was not all shiny up here. My family just got a threatening letter because of me two or three weeks ago, after all. Alicia and Lady Eli here have already faced assassins."
"I see. Sorry. I didn't mean to sound so jealous," Ronya replied.
"Alicia, where is Nana?" I asked Alicia.
"Nana is currently studying. She got left behind in some of her studies. She might finish her test any moment now." as I heard Alicia's answer, I wondered if we could hold a study session together. Just because we were mages doesn't mean we could abandon our studies.
"Hmm? Nana? Who is she?" Ronya asked.
"Ah, her father is a merchant, right? She got admitted here due to her high level of magic. She is level 6," Safira replied. Ronya's face clouded over whenever she heard "commoner" and "mage" in the same sentence.
"Let us be friendly with each other. Such things like mages or nobles can take a back seat, Ronya," I said to encourage her.
"Um... Yes. Thank you." She gave a wry smile. She wasn't too keen on neglecting the noble status, huh?
"R666, could you have R663 work as your butler in your noble villa?" R25B said when I gave my daily report. There has been no suitable commission for me lately. There were commissions like harassing storeowners, but I didn't want to do that.
"Hmm? Sure. But would he accept it?"
"He was the one who asked for it. He had a quest in noble quarters, but since he was a commoner and not a student at that, he was having trouble entering noble quarters." A light bulb popped into my head, and I accepted it immediately. I was having a hard time getting out from Alicia lately. If I used this opportunity, I could do more quests. It's too bad the investigation on Safira's father turned out to be nil.
"More than that, R25B, how about if you made him a CEO of a company? How much does it cost to own a company?" I asked further. If we had an entire building for myself, I could kiss this strict noble upbringing goodbye. I could have parties and befriend anyone I liked! I would no longer have responsibilities as a noble because I have a company! I could live by myself without relying on nobility!
"Your points would barely be enough to start a company. But why did you ask me?"
"You see, I was planning to start a company. But a 13-year-old having a company would be weird, right? That's why I was planning to have R663 be the CEO instead. He looked like he had too much free time on his hands!" I tried to explain my plan to R25B.
"He worked full-time in our guild, unlike you. Please don't say ordinary reapers that worked hard for us as having too much free time, alright?" R25B was pissed for the first time. "But I acknowledge the merit in doing so. I shall issue a quest for it."
"Meanwhile, I shall have R661 be your butler. He will be known as R663's little brother."
"Alright." I nodded. I then went to Alicia to tell her the good news.
"Alicia, I hired a new butler. I think he will arrive somewhere tomorrow or this week."
"Hmm? How did you hire him?"
"I just met him when I was sneaking out from the noble quarters. I wanted to hire him." I tried to make excuses. I didn't account for her to be wary when I invited some unknown guy to become a butler. Alicia then gave me a stink eye when she heard I sneaked out from the dorm.
"Lady Eli, at least bring me during one of your outings. The capital's slums are known to be unsafe. If something happened to you, I don't think I could take it."
"Yes, Mom," I answered sarcastically.
"Yes, come here to your mommy." She tried to hug me, but I dodged her. I returned an accusing glare to her.
"Ahem. I apologize." We ended the awkward banter as she affirmed me about the new villa butler. Letters pertaining to the butler came to her the very next day. There stood a gorgeous man with long silver hair to his shoulder that could be mistaken for a woman in our villa. He was slim and was a bit short for a man. He was about the height of Ronya, a thirteen-year-old tall girl. His round face was cute, and his voice was also androgynous. The school gave me some time off on Sunday. I gawked at him, feeling lost. Beside him stood R663. That means this beautiful man was R661?
"Greetings, Lady Elidranthia. I am glad that we meet again. Please, let me introduce myself. I am Narwhal, and he is Leon, my brother. We are mere lowborn, and thus, we didn't have family names."
"You can call me Eli. I don't really put that much emphasis on noble etiquette. Ah, but please call me Lady Eli in front of other guests. This is Alicia. Narwhal, Your brother… He is… male?" I stared at R663.
"Yes. He is a male, Lady Eli. His face might not look like it. But he is a male." R663 smiled wryly. This was all just a cover story. We knew it. But I never thought R661 could be such a beautiful guy. Ugh! I am so jealous. But I kinda understand why our guild recruited people like him. He could go to places like men's bathrooms, and he could also disguise himself as a woman to exploit men's weaknesses.
"I shall welcome you to my estate. Since we are just students, I didn't expect to visit here often. But please work hard, okay?"
"Of course. My loyalty lies with you, Lady Elidranthia. You have saved me! I owe my life to you. I wished to be the one that serve as your butler." R663 started to rave about how he adored and respected me.
"Whoa there, R663. I know this is only for the commission, but you are overacting. Look, Alicia is getting suspicious…" My thoughts fleetingly went to Alicia, but she didn't show a single speck of wariness.
"Yes, you are right! Lady Eli saved me too. As fellow people from the slums, we have to serve Lady Eli the best we can! She is the best noble in the world. If there were more people like her, this empire would be safe from power harassment and mage discrimination." R661 was accepted without any issue. Alicia, you should be more suspicious of him. How easily influenced you can be. Though her acceptance was to my benefit this time.
"By the way, what kind of company did you open, R6… I mean, Narwhal?"
"Glad you asked. I plan to sell toys such as dolls or wooden swords. I hope you will be my patron. Of course, I also accept custom orders, Lady Eli. Here are some of my goods. As a sign of my goodwill, please choose one of the dolls here." I was amazed as he laid down three dolls. One was a squirrel rag doll, one was a rabbit rag doll, and the other was a bisque doll in local noble dressing. I chose the bisque doll, of course. They were pretty. They sure polished R663 to open a shop. He looked like he had that shop for years with how smoothly he talked. His behavior didn't look shady at least. I hope he worked on his salute better than before." Unfortunately, we are still looking for stores to rent. They are expensive in the capital."
"Why not open it in our county?"
"Lady Eli, would it be wise to open a toy store aimed for kids in our county? There weren't that many rich kids in our county."
"Hm? Toys are not exclusive for children, you know. We could have something like chess or cards. Cards don't have to involve gambling either. Something like a card memory game or Uno is enough."
"Brilliant! As expected of Lady Elidranthia. I will strive to meet your expectations," Narwhal said with stars in his eyes. He looked delighted.
"R663, are you willing to open a store? This will be your chance to have a stable job." I asked R663 to get a stable job. Higher-ranking operators and reapers all had their own establishments. If I could rack up R666 points, I could become a mid-tier operator in one go. Along with that, all of my reapers could get a raise.
"Am I fired?" R663 said horrified.
"No. On the contrary, this will be counted as a friendly commission by R666. She was willing to put 350P or 350 gold into this venture. I suggested hiring you as a butler, but she went far and beyond and asked to open a store. With a store bearing the count's name, it would be far easier for you to accept jobs that include nobility. And it would be easier to act as a middleman with a storefront. As expected of our rising star."
"Really? She was willing to go that far for me? I was doubtful she would even hire me as a butler. Being a reaper on top of that might tarnish her good name. I see. She wanted to separate the reaper's job from her house name. As expected of nobility, huh? She could throw away 350 gold like it was nothing."
"Don't say it like that. It was almost all of her points. Moreover, we should work together as a team. So, what kind of business should we open?" I replied. She was a mage and didn't splurge. Even if she did, she used her legal money from her mage work for it. She didn't need money from a dark organization like ours. I sometimes wondered how R4 managed to recruit her.
"Hmm. I don't know. Maybe jewelry? But that would be expensive. How about toy stores! I always wanted to sell and give out toys to children! And maybe a little food, too!"
"Excellent. Let's go with toy stores. I also wanted you to open an orchard, but since County Shadowstep has just found citrus and banana trees in their region. While that would establish your base in her county and not the capital, we can always expand. Since we have no external support, the store still needs to turn a profit. Otherwise, R666 and you would have to invest money each month to cover the deficit."
"We could certainly open that too. I think it would be enough to open a small arm. Land prices are still cheap around Shadowstep, right?"
"It is rising exponentially day by day. I shall arrange for you to buy land in our rising star's county." I replied. It shall be our name, though. I couldn't let him get all the passive income, could I? I shall also arrange for R661 to become her maid. R666 needed someone to distract that Alicia. She stuck around R666 like glue. R666 could pick more jobs if Alicia wasn't so clingy.
After arranging everything and even working past midnight, I coordinated several reapers to buy land at County Shadowsteps. Using 200G to buy 1 Hectare of land, we planned to divide it by four and plant citrus and bananas there. Then, using the rest of 150 gold, I could hire a craftsman and some cheap workshops for two months. I wonder if we could make a profit here. If we do make a profit, we could kiss this job goodbye. Hehehe. I no longer needed to worry about my rent.
It was during my daydreaming that I got a surprise commission from Handler 5.