Chapter 67 - 67 Nancy
That day, a shockwave ran through the Archibalt Territory. A new young female employee had come to the inn in the Main Village. It was Nancy, who would work alongside Sophia.
She was around 20 years old. Her height was 180cm, making her tall, but she wore oversized clothes that hid her body lines, and she wore pants instead of a skirt on her lower body. There was little skin exposed, but with beautiful silver hair that sparkled in the sunlight and an endearing face, she quickly caught the interest of the village men.
Nancy was hired as an assistant to Sophia, whose workload had increased, through a referral from the Emmanuel Trading Company. Sales of the Double Pot Refrigerator and Reversi continued in the Main Village and New Village, and with income from crops sold to the Third Village added, the monetary economy was fully established. Therefore, villagers gathered at the shop and inn where they could spend money, and Sophia became overworked.
They had tried organizing shifts with villagers from the Main Village to hire them as part-timers, but since they wanted dedicated employees, they had previously consulted with Emmanuel.
Watching the bustle of such an inn from afar were Steve, Christina, Sherry, and Bella.
Sherry looked at that bustle with a dumbfounded expression.
"Men are really simple, aren't they. As soon as a beauty comes, they flock over."
"Big Sister, could you please stop lumping men into such a large category? It invites misunderstanding."
Steve, worrying about Christina, offered a sharp remark to Sherry.
"Steve-sama, do you have something shady regarding me?"
"No. See, Big Sister's way of speaking is bad, so Chris is worried, isn't she?"
When Christina looked at Steve with eyes where the highlights had vanished, Steve threw another sharp remark at Sherry.
"But didn't Steve use his charms on the tall Mrs. Daphne?"
"I did not. Yes, I absolutely did not."
"She was targeting Steve. I felt that when I spoke with her."
"Bella, could you tell me that story in detail?"
Christina also knew the story that Daphne had feelings for Steve, but she was curious about what kind of conversation Bella had with Daphne and begged Bella to tell her.
Just as Sherry joined in and it became noisy, Steve felt a gaze from Nancy. When Steve returned that gaze with his own, Nancy suddenly looked away.
He felt a vague sense of incongruity with that action, but did not pursue Nancy particularly, continued watching the inn's bustle from afar, and returned to the mansion when the three women grew tired of talking.
Upon returning to the mansion, he spoke to Brian about the inn's situation.
"Father, the subjects are swarming around the beauty, and it seems they will spend extra money."
"Hmm, if sales increase steadily with this, we should open shops with beautiful salesgirls in other villages too."
"For the New Village and the Third Village, the monetary economy is established, so there shouldn't be a problem. But the villages that were part of the former Baron Curtis Territory and Baron Derby Territory when you became a baron might still be difficult."
The villages in the territories of Baron Curtis and Baron Derby that Brian took on when he became a baron continued traditional agriculture and did not have an established monetary economy like the original Archibalt Territory. Harvest yields were normal, and they did not suffer from food shortages, so there was no need for currency to buy food from outside.
Furthermore, since there was no interaction between villages, they did not know the lives of the subjects in the original Archibalt Territory who enjoyed the benefits of the monetary economy.
Therefore, neither Brian nor Steve had thought to force the introduction of a monetary economy.
"There are no shops in the New Village, so if we open one, that should be first."
"Well, at that time, please leave the personnel selection just to Father. Chris gets jealous."
"Do you think Abigail won't get jealous?"
To Brian's question, Steve shook his head. Abigail also had a strong jealousy, and Brian feared unnecessary misunderstandings.
Moreover, Brian had no intention of making a second wife or a mistress. He was devoted only to Abigail, but that feeling had not been conveyed to Abigail.
"Why don't we just have Big Sister become a salesgirl?"
"She wouldn't do something like that. Besides, what about marriage?"
Brian had also thrown in the towel regarding Sherry's laziness. So, he thought it was impossible to make her a salesgirl.
"Will she get married?"
"Our house does not have anyone we particularly want to strengthen our relationship through marriage. There is no need to forcibly find a partner. However, if things continue like this, she will just stay at home doing nothing."
Sherry had gotten used to luxury using various things invented by Steve, and now she was in a state where she couldn't marry into even a Viscount's house. Spring mattresses and travel on trolley trains. In some cases, if she knew about Steve's teleportation magic, people simply cannot return to their old lives.
If she were to marry into a place where her quality of life would drop compared to now, her desire to live at her parents' home forever like this was strong.
Moreover, seeing her older sister Freya struggling to wipe her husband's ass, she felt no merit at all in getting married.
"Well, leaving Big Sister aside, there is something suspicious about Nancy, isn't there?"
"How so?"
"Could she not be a spy from somewhere?"
"There are those looking for the secrets of our territory both domestically and abroad, so that possibility is quite high. However, as long as she is in the Main Village, she is only making products that are already widely known, so there is nothing to hide."
"Yes. Perhaps we should fire her if she starts wandering around the territory on her own."
"That's right. However, such worries will likely increase from now on. After all, the population is increasing along with the development of the territory, and we will continue to accept immigrants in the future."
Brian's worry was mainly due to domestic conditions in foreign countries, the Kingdom of Forest and the Kingdom of Pasture. Both countries lost much land due to defeat. Disliking the rule of the Kingdom of Cascade, those who migrated elsewhere caused an increase in unemployment and worsening security, and disliking that, those who migrated to the Kingdom of Cascade instead never ceased.
Additionally, due to the conflict between the hardliners who believed territory should be reclaimed even by allying with the Empire, and the moderates who sought to maintain the status quo without friction with the Kingdom of Cascade, officials and others became unemployed due to retaliatory personnel changes and abandoned their countries to defect or migrate to the Kingdom of Cascade.
Naturally, spies from both countries were mixed in among them, and several had slipped through the Kingdom of Cascade's checks and entered the country.
And he could imagine that some of these spies would be tasked with investigating the Archibalt Territory. Counter-espionage in the Archibalt Territory is difficult, so only the Third Village, which has many secrets, is managed for entry and exit.
Even subjects are not allowed to enter the Third Village without permission, and residents of the Third Village are not allowed to go outside the village on their own.
"For the time being, I advise caution even though it is a referral from Emmanuel."
"Understood. I will tell Cody to instruct him to report immediately if she makes suspicious movements."
Thus, while being wary of Nancy, they would use her existence for business. They decided to hold a barbecue festival jointly by the Main Village and New Village. The venue was in front of the inn. The village men's expectations rose whether they liked it or not.
Ingredients grilled at the barbecue were provided free of charge, but like the previous festival, stalls were set up to make villagers spend money. Then, customers aiming for Nancy were gathered at the inn, made drunk with alcohol, and their purse strings were loosened.
The night tavern was very bustling. All customers were men. Since everyone could not fit inside the store, and the weather was good, chairs and tables were hastily made outside using empty wine barrels, and that was also made into a store.
"Nancy-chan, refill the sake here."
"Here too."
"Bring homemade food here."
The drunkards said whatever they wanted.
Sophia's popularity did not drop, but orders concentrated on the newcomer Nancy. Since the two were busy carrying alcohol and food, Steve was cooking in the back. It is unthinkable elsewhere to eat what the peak of domestic nobility cooked, but that is what happened here.
Nancy was confused by that sight, and during work breaks, she asked Sophia about Steve.
"Wakasama received a medal from the country, but why is he cooking?"
"That is because Wakasama is the best at cooking."
Steve's cooking skill was equivalent to a first-class chef thanks to the work standard manual. Naturally, he was the best within the territory. So Sophia, or rather everyone in the territory, thought it was natural for Steve to cook.
Although it was beyond common sense.
And Steve did not complain about that and took the lead in cooking, so he did not feel incongruity.
Only Nancy, who had recently come from elsewhere, felt the incongruity.
"You'll get used to it sooner or later."
"Is that how it is?"
Nancy was not convinced, but when told that is how it is, she did not ask further.
However, when she ate what Steve made as a meal, its deliciousness made her think she could accept that Steve cooks and provides it.
The barbecue festival ended successfully, and requests were made from the men to hold it again, but complaints were received from the women saying husbands spend money wastefully or chase young women, so they wanted it stopped, and Brian became troubled.
Also, even without the barbecue festival, villagers came to buy products aiming for Sophia and Nancy, and sales were definitely increasing.
During that time, without taking any suspicious actions Steve was worried about, peaceful times flowed by.
When a month had passed since Nancy came to the village, she made a request to resign.
Now, in front of Brian and Steve, she is in the middle of asking for resignation.
"I received a letter from my parents telling me to return to my hometown and get married, and I absolutely have to return. My mother's health is poor, and she wants me to return soon and show her my bride appearance, so I want to return tomorrow or so."
Nancy bowed her head apologetically. Then, she handed the letter from her parents to Brian, saying this was evidence.
Brian checked the contents of that letter, then handed it to Steve.
Steve also looked at it, and the contents matched what Nancy was saying.
"If that is the situation, there is no helping it. We will not forcibly keep you here, so go back to your parents. I will prepare the wages up to today immediately."
"Tomorrow I will go with you to the station on the trolley train. If it becomes obtaining tickets suddenly, it would be better if a noble is present."
"Thank you for your consideration. However, you don't need to go that far."
Nancy tried to refuse politely to Steve, but Steve stubbornly did not yield.
"No, if something happens to a young lady before marriage, it would tarnish our family's name. I do not want such a situation. Well, anyway, I have to go ask Emmanuel to find a replacement for Nancy, so accompanying you is no problem."
Hearing his son's words, Brian thought "Oh?" Usually, Steve would move to Emmanuel via teleportation. If he moves with Nancy on a steam locomotive, he deduced there must be a certain reason.
"That's right. You may go with my son. You might be nervous, but I will guarantee the safety of the journey."
When Brian said that too, Nancy could not refuse and decided to ride the steam locomotive with Steve. Nancy returned from the mansion after receiving permission for resignation.
After she returned, Brian asked Steve.
"Why did you think to accompany Nancy?"
"Nancy, whom I heard about from Emmanuel, was said to be a child of an ordinary family, but the letter's characters and sentences were beautiful. If this were a letter from a noble, I wouldn't have felt incongruity, but I can't believe a commoner wrote this."
Hearing Steve's point, Brian understood.
"That is why I wanted to confirm with my own eyes that she returns smoothly."
Steve had a premonition that Nancy would make some kind of movement.