I pushed open the door of an old house, but the door cracked apart, leaving me to hold a large piece of wood from it. The smell of dust assaulted my senses.
“This house is in ruins, my lady...” said Mireille.
“That explains the price,” I responded. “I never thought we’d even find a building and some land for one gold coin.”
Then, I threw the large piece of wood to the ground. I’d fix it later... No, that was probably impossible. I’d hire a carpenter.
We were on the edge of Lebrick Viscounty’s capital. I had purchased this abandoned building at the Merchants’ Guild after registering my new business with Lucas’s help.
The place had terrible sun exposure and was far from the city center and the gate. Dead leaves sullied the well, and weeds had taken over the garden.
“My lady, this is no place for you,” insisted Mireille, glaring at a large fissure on the wall that let the cold air enter the house.
“There’s no choice, Mireille. I only borrowed a hundred gold coins, and we can’t waste them. Lord Lucas helped us with the trade authorization, but an address is required to register the firm.”
I handed Mireille a dust cloth and picked up a broom.
“M-My lady, please allow me to do the cleaning!”
“I can’t let you do everything, so I’ll help,” I said. “And please stop calling me ‘my lady.’”
“B-But...”
“We’re fugitives. Let’s avoid drawing attention until we’ve restored our power. In fact... I’ll go by Ellie Leis from now on. Just call me Ellie.”
“A-All right... Then, um... El-El... Miss Ellie.”
I let out a little laugh, then said, “That will do. Shall we start cleaning? Here’s to taking good care of our new headquarters and my first step toward revenge.”
Although I made it sound like the beginning of something grand, we were simply about to scrub, dust, and pull out weeds from this place... Oh, and fill in that fissure.
✦ ✦ ✦
After three days of hard work, we’d turned a ruin into a run-down yet habitable house. We had just added the final touch: a rough sign with the name of our new business, the “Traitre Commercial Firm.” I hoped to change the sign to a more elegant one quickly.
Either way, we had everything we needed for a proper firm.
“Will we focus on selling cosmetics like before, Miss Ellie?”
As Mireille stated, we’d mainly sold cosmetics in the past. I’d discovered incredible recipes in ancient records and used the Grimoire of Lucifer—the one I usually pretended was called Grimoire of Wisdom in front of others—to decipher them.
I’d even popularized some of them in the Kingdom of Haldoria. Nonetheless, I still had many recipes I had yet to commercialize recorded in my Grimoire of Lucifer.
However, I shook my head and replied, “Cosmetics are sure to interest noble ladies and have a high-profit margin, but I fear we don’t have the facilities or personnel for that.”
“Then—”
“This will be our first product,” I said, taking out a sample I’d made while Mireille was gathering information on the local businesses and influential individuals.
“Soap?”
“Indeed.”
“While this soap does seem to be of a higher quality than the one usually sold in the empire, I’m not sure we can sell enough to—”
“This is a stepping stone,” I cut her. “Once we build a customer base, we can move on to skincare products and increase our prices. We’ll grow our firm gradually. To achieve that, we’ll need to contact a few people, though.”
I took a piece of paper from the pile of reports Mireille had written for me, then continued.
“First of all, I want you to contact this man.”
✦ ✦ ✦
I’d left to run a few errands, which took longer than expected. The sky was already turning orange, and I started running to get back when I saw the sun setting over the horizon. Suddenly, I collided with someone at an intersection and landed on my back.
I let out a surprised yelp.
“S-Sorry,” said the beautiful woman I’d bumped into, extending her hand to me.
She seemed a few years older than me. Her shoulder-length black hair and fierce almond eyes made her look intimidating, but her gentle smile told me she was kind.
“Are you hurt?” she asked. “I’m truly sorry. I was looking for the Merchants’ Guild and didn’t pay enough attention to my surroundings.”
“I-I should be the one apologizing,” I said.
After she’d helped me stand up, I dusted off my skirt.
“You said you were looking for the Merchants’ Guild, right? Head toward the clock tower. When you reach the city square, you’ll see the guild’s headquarters.”
“Thank you so much. I’ve just arrived in this city and kept getting lost,” said the woman, smiling. “Ah, before you go.” She fumbled through her basket. “Please accept this.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Huh?” I gaped, taking the small packet she was handing me. “What is it?”
“A thank-you gift for pointing me in the right direction. It’s soap.”
“Soap?” I repeated, confused.
“I’m Mireille, from the Traitre Commercial Firm. We recently established the company and will be selling those soap bars. We use a special method from my hometown to make them, and I’m very proud of how they turned out. Do give it a try.”
She was advertising her product, and I didn’t see why I shouldn’t accept it.
“Thank you,” I said.
“The pleasure is all mine. I’ll be going, then. Don’t hesitate to visit our firm if you like the soap,” said Mireille with a mischievous smile.
We went our separate ways, and I returned to the baron’s mansion. My master was a noble of the robe who served under His Lordship, Viscount Lebrick. He and his wife were very kind people. Despite her being one of the most influential ladies in town, she often chatted with us maids.
Somehow, this admirable lady I’d never seen be so intimidating was questioning me.
“Hmm... M-My lady,” I mumbled awkwardly.
“I’ll ask you one more time, Melia. Did the woman who gave you this bar of soap say she worked for a firm called Traitre?”
“Y-Yes.”
Last night, I used the soap I’d received to wash up. The lady of the house hadn’t stopped asking me where I’d gotten it since.
“This soap is obviously of very high quality,” she said.
“I-I thought so too. It foamed really nicely, and the smell was amazing!”
“You said that Mireille was new here, right?”
“Yes, I found her looking for the Merchants’ Guild. Apparently, she’s from another country and just arrived. Her business is new too.”
“I see. Well, this soap is quite something,” the lady said. “I shall get in touch with Traitre at once.”