Preparing for the Future desu wa! (Part 1)

Thus, the Koleha-brand medicinal herb sold like hotcakes.

Using the knowledge learned from Roborovski-sensei and further enhancement with Poison Magic, the enhanced Kias achieved medicinal efficacy on par with Naori grass.

Although it was traded at less than half the price of conventional Naori grass, it could be harvested endlessly from the fields. Kias, being originally a weed, grew quickly; in the hands of the marquis house gardener, it could be brought to harvest in about two weeks, enabling far greater distribution than Naori grass to date.

Despite the big drawback of being extremely bitter, word spread that "Kias, a mere placebo-like wild herb has become a readily usable medicinal herb," and Koleha's reputation soared.

(That's a clever turn of phrase.)

Koleha thought, quietly impressed.

"I just can't get enough of everyone's faces, desu wa—"

"Ojou-sama…"

Of course, the faces Koleha imagined were those writhing from the bitterness, but Emma — who had been thoroughly won over as of late — misunderstood it as the faces of joy.

A small misunderstanding, but thanks to it, the Nyarlathotep household was perfectly peaceful.

Now then. Business was booming.

As a result, the fields were expanded, the herb business moved beyond Koleha's personal handling and became a major enterprise of House Nyarlathotep, and a portion of the profits flowed securely into Koleha's purse.

Since the enhanced herbs reliably produced enhanced progeny, she could sell far more volume even on thin margins, and at her age she already enjoyed a stable stream of passive income.

"… Hah!? But thinking about it, wouldn't 'these herbs can't be maintained without my magic' have been a better setup for emergencies!?"

"I'm not sure what you mean by 'emergencies', but did you really want days of enhancing Kias from morning till night? At the current production pace, even staying up all night wouldn't finish the job."

"Getting money easily without labor is the best, desu wa—!!"

Labor was harsh on a noble young lady.

Also, the money she received was rightful compensation, so whether she ordered dessert with it or bought snacks at stalls, it was money no one could complain about. The Koleha in her heart was thrilled: "Let's flaunt our financial power to the poor rabble!"

If anything, the etiquette teacher might scold her that eating on the street was unladylike.

Now then, Koleha had become a proper little rich girl.

With her small fortune, Koleha found something new she wanted.

It was a staple of serves-you-right stories. It was, in fact, not a thing, but rather a person.

Yes: a "pointlessly competent, utterly loyal retainer"!

Someone who didn't appear in the main game; a helper from outside the story's rails! A helper free from the game's railroading!

— I've seen stories where someone like that dashes in to help the villainess. I'm well-versed, desu wa!

You sometimes saw that in serves-you-right tales. But of course, such capable retainers didn't just roll around fully formed.

You raised those who might have talent and made them allies. That was the villainess's pastime in serves-you-right tales.

Typically, the orphan you picked up would be ridiculously talented and, to boot, unnecessarily beautiful — a conveniently simple tale.

… Conversely, if such a convenient person did happen to be around, that would surely mean this story was barreling straight toward a serves-you-right plotline with Koleha as the protagonist.

To divine such a future, she at least wanted to pick up one commoner orphan and try raising them as a retainer.

And so, she had a carriage take her to the lower town where the security didn't seem so great.

Even so, this was Nyarlathotep territory. Thanks to the herb business, the town was experiencing unprecedented prosperity.

"… It's actually quite clean, desu wa."

The scenery through the carriage window, despite the quasi-medieval setting, showed a properly neat townscape. There didn't seem to be excrement dumped on the roadside.

That reminded Koleha that while it looked medieval, it wasn't actually the Middle Ages; there was magic, and on top of that, this was an otome game world.

If the streets were covered in filth on a date, it'd kill the mood. This cleanliness was surely maintained for the sake of maidens' dates.

"So then, Ojou-sama, what are you looking for?"

"Yes. If there's a just-right child… Oh! That one!"

Koleha's eyes caught a single girl.

In contrast to the townscape, she wore shabby rags. In her hand was a woven basket, filled with what looked like flowers picked from the roadside.

No doubt about it, that was a flower-selling child! … Would anyone buy them?

"Johnny! Please stop the carriage!"

She had the coachman stop and got down.

Emma followed after her. In that time, Koleha briskly closed the distance to the flower girl and spoke up.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho! You there! My, how shabby you look!"

"Y-you, m-my lady of the nobility…"

"Are you selling those flowers? Do they even sell? For how much? My, my, such wilted, lifeless flowers! Even if someone received these, they wouldn't be happy, would they? Who would buy them, I wonder?"

"Uu…"

With an eager expression, the young lady drove the girl back with cutting words. As it started to look like overt bullying, Emma caught up and reached out, "Ojou-sama!"

"So. Would this be enough to buy everything in that basket?"

"Eh?"

What Koleha produced was a single silver coin — about ten thousand yen in Japanese terms.

Far more than enough to buy the wilted, weed-like flowers.

"Th-thank y—"

"Listen well. How you sell things matters. First is your appearance! You look like you have good raw material, but dressed that dirty, even things that could sell won't sell!"

"Ah, um."

"Hm? Oh my, taking a closer look, these are wild medicinal herbs, aren't they? I remember seeing them in the encyclopedia."

"Ah, yes. A medicinal herb called Meishin."

Meishin had been another candidate alongside Kias. Its petals had somewhat better efficacy than pre-enhancement Kias.

But by the time you gathered seeds, Meishin's petals withered and fell, making them useless as medicine. Kias was better for both making medicine and propagation. Also, it wasn't bitter.

"But recently, we haven't been able to sell at all… It's the same for everyone at the orphanage…"

"… "

What a thing. That was undoubtedly because of Koleha-brand Kias.

In other words, it was Koleha who had cut off their source of income.

Koleha had created a herb field that shouldn't have existed, for her own desire of money.

She almost smiled at the melancholy, ill-fated look born of her own influence… but held herself back a little.

Could this be… the sort where, on the way from engagement cancellation to exile from the country, someone stabs her saying, "How dare you take our livelihood! Now is the time to settle a grudge of years!"?

Not good! Very not good!!

Then she remembered. She'd been getting sidetracked by the conversation, but originally she was looking for a commoner retainer candidate.

And she'd mentioned an orphanage. In other words, an orphan.

It felt like manufacturing a problem just to solve it, but if she saved her from hardship, perhaps loyalty would have a head start. It was like setting the fire then pumping the water. In fact, it was nothing but that.

Well, if she returned money earned from herbs to those who sold herbs, it would come out even. Yes. Surely. Probably. Perhaps. If all went well.

Suppressing the urge of her facial muscles to grin, Koleha made a proposal to the girl.

"… Would you like a job? Right now I'm looking for someone who could become my retainer. It would be from my pocket money, but I can promise a fair income—"

"I'll do it!!"

The girl's eyes flashed. Like those of a carnivore sighting prey.