Chapter 24: We Built a Brewery and a Cellar!
In the end, it was decided that the cook, servants, and maids would come here after negotiating some conditions with Sword. They settled the whole affair by agreeing that those remaining behind would henceforth never make any of the things I had developed and stay silent about everything they might know about it.
I created a magic tool that could roughly determine locational information. Using that, a one-month trip was shortened down to three days. In any event, we stuffed all the liquor into our magic bags, which I had revised, and returned to our base.
“If you’re going to use this town as a base anyway, you might as well buy a house and set up a brewery there, don’t you think? Sword will provide the money, so just grab yourself a place of your choice.” The guild master said and took us to a stately mansion which he and I had already pretty much decided on.
“Heeey! What the hell is this place!?”
“It’s a safe and secure brewery of the scale you’d hoped for. While at it, you can also live there. The miss over here is genuine nobility, and you’re an S-Rank. I think a mansion of this size should meet your standards.” The guild master nonchalantly explained when Sword got upset.
“The deposit and improvements are already done.”
“Indra!?”
I had improved this place after deeming it to be a good place for living.
The toilet flushes, and the bathroom has a proper bathtub! Since I had the chance, I also added a disposer to the kitchen, and the sewage processing is perfect thanks to a magic tool.
“I used the full extent of my knowledge, reforming it into a living space with a comfort close to the place I lived at before. As it is, I can live here without crying, okay?”
When I told Sword all of this with a smile, he sighed.
Why the sigh?
＊
The cook and the others arrived, and immediately gathered around me, kneeling down for some reason.
“Lady Indra, it is our pleasure to see you after such a long time.”
“Yeah, it’s been a while. But let me get something straight first. I’m no noble anymore, just a simple commoner like you guys. And the one who negotiated with you was Sword. That’s all.”
“Even so, we came to this place because of your wisdom, Lady Indra.”
…Okay, I wonder what’s going on…? Just why does it feel like all of them are somewhat fanatic?
“Anyway, please ask Sword for further instructions. Sword and I are partners, but you guys are basically Sword’s assistants.”
I outsourced them to Sword.
“No need to be so cruel to ’em, is there? You could at least get their feelings of bein’ happy over the possibility of meetin’ you once more.”
“That makes no sense, does it? Why would they be happy about seeing me? I’m sure they must have considered me to be no more than some weird noble who possesses the knowledge how to make foodstuff and liquor for some odd reason while at the same time suspecting that I might be hated by the mansion’s lord. It’s unlikely for them to have embraced any other thoughts or feelings about me, and even if they had, it wasn’t visible in any way.”
At once, all of them cast down their eyes with their heads hanging.
“…Now listen, girl, your always tellin’ others that they can’t guess the feelings of others, but do you realize that your just the same?”
I became dumbfounded at what Sword told me.
“Don’t you understand their regret of bein’ unable to do anythin’ although they wanted to help you somehow when bein’ forced to watch you gettin’ abused? It sounds like your sayin’, 『Feelin’ something while bein’ unable to do anythin’ to fix it is the same as not feelin’ anythin’ to begin with』, but ain’t that somethin’ totally different? I mean that’s like sayin’ you can’t understand their feelings since you can’t put yourself in their shoes. …Get a clue why these guys came to you and bowed their heads, geeze.”
……Certainly, he got a point. I was fully convinced that I couldn’t get anyone to understand my circumstances. It was the same before and after my memories revived.
The butler, the head maid, the maids, the servants, and the cook…now that I think about it, they’ve looked out for me in various ways. It was the butler who organized the money at the end, bringing it to me against the will of the family head.
Even though she’d never taken care of private business during work, it was the head maid who stopped me before leaving to give me all kinds of stuff. The servants and maids had also chipped in some things for me. The cook politely bid farewell from me, but my answer to her was cold and curt.
While recalling the line, “I don’t know about the part with the many years to come,” and similar, I realized how nasty I’ve been.
“Argh! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to blame you!” Sword spoke up to me in panic, suddenly taking me into his arms.
And then he excessively and roughly stroked my head.
“……I’m an ungrateful person, am I not?”
“No way that’s true! Don’t worry, your not! You’ve got a nasty tongue, but your basically a gentle person. You even forgave a guy like me, and didn’t you also look out for your half-sister one way or the other!? It’s just that you’ve become too distrustful of other people because of your shitty environment! Originally your someone who’s considerate of others!”
…It looks like I ended up crying again.
After sobbing for some time while clinging to Sword, and him wiping my face with a towel, I finally turned around. Just to notice how everyone present looked flabbergasted.
…….?
Sword cleared his throat, “…Even if she acts all grown-up, she’s a kid in the end. If she gets too worked up, she acts like a normal girl. Since she’ll immediately cry as soon as she sees a dirty place, make sure to keep the mansion clean.”
“””As you wish.”””
They all replied at once.
How promising.
＊
“The cellar has been set up in the basement of the mansion.” I explained while guiding everyone around. “The barrels we brought over have already been stored away down here to ripen. The preparation room is above this place. Since the carpenter and I added it on the spot, it’s turned out somewhat unshapely, but please deal with it as it’s a workshop.”
I set up the areas above and below the ground to be big so that it’d be possible to add distillation apparatuses in the future and to stock up plenty of liquor for ten or even fifteen years.
Even though I was justifying it to myself that it’d be fine as long as we were to drink it by ourselves, everything was heading towards a genuine brewery.
“As for the living space, I’ve decided on my room. After Sword chose his room, you guys are free to choose whichever rooms you like.”
Everyone froze on the spot.
“No, that is…” The cook looked at Sword with a troubled face.
“Hmm? That’s no good, Sword?”
“Ain’t it just fine? In short, you’re sayin’, 『I’ll leave the management of this mansion to these guys』, right?”
I nodded.
“But…”
“There’s a lot of rooms. I want a big, pretty room, but I don’t need several of them. Please clean my room when I’m not here. Dirty and small places are scary.”
“””Certainly, Milady.””” The maids acknowledged humbly all at once.
…Eh? Huh? Somehow they seem to be super understanding? Like emitting an aura that tells me to leave everything to them?
Sword stroked my head, “Indra burst into tears with her body tremblin’ all over after seein’ a lodging room that’d be used by normal adventurers.”
I mean, anyone would cry after seeing it. That was no place for people to enter. It was so awful that I spent all night awake, crying, while remembering all kinds of things and asking myself why anyone would cower all by themselves in such a dirty and small place.
“You took Lady Indra to such a foul place!?”
“Just what have you done!?”
“Please don’t ever take her to such a filthy place ever again! Otherwise we shall shatter all barrels!”
For some reason the maids seemed awfully agitated.
Huh? I don’t remember having been such a popular person, though?
One of the servants suddenly planted himself in front of me as I was brooding.
“Originally the residences of the master and their servants should be separate, Milady.” The servant, who seemed to be something like a leader – probably – told me with a grim face.
“Right now I’m a commoner. And Sword is a self-alleged 『Bigshot』.”
“You can leave the self-alleged away!”
“He’s claiming to be awesome, but in the end he’s a guy who got told to die and had a dagger thrown at him by a receptionist.”
“……”
“The money to buy this place has been paid by Sword and me. But, a mansion has something you’d call maintenance costs. It’s fine for you to live here as you please. But, you’ll handle the cleaning and keep things in order. That’s your rent. We won’t pay you any wages. That’s all.”
It looks like they came to terms with that.
“…Also, don’t invite anyone else over. The brewery is especially off-limits. After all, the liquor is going to turn into poison if carelessly touched. Even bad liquor might taste good, but if we’re doing it anyway, we might as well aim for new heights. Strict management by people with the right knowledge is crucial for that. Liquor is alive.”
You never know what balls of curiosity like humans might do, and that’s not just limited to children. Moreover, they won’t even be aware of the harmfulness of their own actions. Thus it’s best to not let them get anywhere close in the first place.
Everyone bowed simultaneously.
