*
Once the business discussion was concluded, the guild leader deftly changed the subject.
“Where shall we have our meal?”
I checked my watch.
It was already lunchtime.
“I see. It’s mealtime, then.”
“How about going to that place you said was fine last time, Young Master?”
“Hmm…”
A restaurant, not bad.
The music had been decent, and the taste had been excellent.
If even the picky nobles of Saintem Hill came down to eat there, that said it all.
But there was something bothering me.
I glanced at Eri for a moment.
A restaurant that even the Saintem Hill nobles visited.
This child didn’t seem like she would know the table manners of such a high-class restaurant.
Hand her a knife and tell her to cut the meat, and she might very well grip it backward.
The nobles would point their fingers at Eri, and Eri would sense something was wrong, leaving with nothing but bad memories.
I didn’t want this child to have an experience that left her feeling intimidated in a place like that.
So I subtly asked the guild leader about a different location.
“Unfortunately, this was not planned, so I was unable to meet the dress code. It is regrettable, but would another place be possible? Somewhere comfortable would be preferable.”
The guild leader paused at my question.
I subtly gestured with my eyes toward Eri.
Gustav looked at her curiously.
Just then, Eri sniffled and wiped her nose with her sleeve.
Even dressed in silk, the wildness of Limbus Fit could not be hidden.
Realization sparkled in Gustav’s eyes.
“Aha! Haha!”
The guild leader slapped his knee.
“I’ve actually been quite taken with buffets lately! The variety of food is excellent, and the atmosphere is relaxed! Would that be alright with you, Young Master?”
“That sounds good.”
Lunch was decided to be a buffet.
Eri tilted her head.
She had a look that sensed something was off, but didn’t know exactly what it was.
‘She still doesn’t understand the way things are spoken around here.’
Well, she could learn slowly.
“Then let us go there.”
Right. She’s at an age where she’s growing fast.
Today, just eat to your heart’s content.
***
The place Yulian’s party arrived at was a restaurant called [Gastro & Gusto].
It was one of the standard buffets that the Mercure Merchant Guild had contracted for employee welfare.
Ring-a-ling.
As they entered through the door to the sound of a bell, Erika’s footsteps halted.
“. . .”
Her jaw dropped as if it might fall off.
The place was far too vast to be called a restaurant.
It was enormous, majestic, and hot.
It was literally closer to a massive factory.
Sssk— ssskk—
White steam billowed out from beneath the long rows of brass tables.
Hot water pipes running beneath the floor kept the food warm so it would not cool.
On top of them, roasted turkey and thick steaks were stacked like mountains, steam rising in steady puffs.
On the opposite side, coolers hummed as they blasted out cold air.
On a mountain of ice that would not melt even in the height of summer, colorful fruits and ice cream were displayed like jewels.
And the staff bustled about, constantly refilling the pots so they would not empty.
“Is this… all for eating?”
Erika muttered blankly.
In the slums, people drew knives over a single piece of stale bread.
Yet here, they crammed in amounts of food a person could not eat in a lifetime, filling everything to the brim only to throw it away when it cooled.
The overwhelming violence of abundance.
The girl was left dumbfounded before she even had time to feel relative deprivation.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming in?”
“Can I really eat anything?”
“Put as much as you want on your plate and eat.”
“Is there a limit to how many times?”
“None.”
“Does the owner here even want to make money?”
At her words, Yulian let out a brief laugh.
I wonder if she knows how much a single entrance fee costs here.
Even if Eri sat here chewing cud like a cow for twenty-four hours, it would still be a profitable business.
“Don’t worry about such things and eat your fill.”
“Eheheh…”
With a silly laugh, she was guided to the table.
Yulian held her hand tightly so she would not get lost.
Forgetting that he himself was barely a twelve-year-old child.
His caring for Erika looked exactly like close siblings, which was more than enough to make the adults watching them smile warmly.
After restraining Erika, who had tried to go fill her plate before she even knew where the table was, the party took their seats in a private room.
“…Teacher.”
“What.”
“Do nobles eat like this all the time?”
Inside the private room.
Before going out to get food, Erika asked.
Yulian held his water glass and did not answer.
He merely wore an ambiguous smile that was neither affirmative nor negative.
In truth, the truly wealthy did not come to places like buffets.
Not needing table manners meant, conversely, that there was no need to display one’s dignity.
The true upper class ate course meals at restaurants to confirm their pecking order among themselves; they would never line up to fill their plates like this.
Buffets were restaurants for the ambiguous middle class—slightly well-off compared to commoners, yet unable to join the ranks of the nouveau riche.
But there was no need to pour cold water on an excited child.
“Don’t worry about such things and go get whatever you want to eat.”
“…Really? You won’t regret it?”
“Yeah. Eat plenty.”
Eri sprang up.
She couldn’t understand why he was being so kind to her.
But how could she refuse just because she didn’t understand? If this was happiness with no known end, she had to enjoy it to the fullest before it ended.
Plate in hand, she walked briskly toward the food tables.
But her resolve appeared differently to others.
“Haha. That’s how it is at that age.”
The guild leader smiled paternally at her retreating figure.
Erika had stood up carrying her own resolve.
But to the guild leader and Yulian, she had looked different.
In their eyes, she was simply an ignorant child who knew no etiquette, running off to get food before the host.
As Erika’s guardian, Yulian subtly bowed his head to the guild leader.
“My apologies. She is still a child who finds restraint difficult.”
“Not at all. It is rather pleasant to see.”
The guild leader lifted his teacup.
“By the way, Young Master, there is more good news.”
“What is it?”
“You are aware of the grade evaluation at the Imperial Ministry of Commerce soon, yes?”
“Yes. I am aware.”
The world within the brass walls was finite.
Land, resources, and people alike.
In such a world, free competition inevitably led to monopoly, and monopoly soon led to chaos within the walls.
The Ministry of Commerce was an institution born from the wrong answers of the past.
Its task was simple.
It evaluated the scale and influence of each merchant guild, assigned grades, and levied taxes and obligations according to those grades.
In exchange, it provided corresponding benefits and protection.
Those who possessed more gave more, and those who gave more gained greater rights.
That was roughly how the system worked.
“Hehehe…”
Having brought up the keyword “Ministry of Commerce,” Guild Leader Gustav suddenly let out a suspicious laugh.
His face was practically spoiling what he was about to say, but Yulian played along, feigning ignorance to draw out his answer.
“But what about the Ministry of Commerce? Could it be that some taxes were omitted?”
“Hehe. No.”
“Then have we violated some prohibition?”
“Noo~?”
Each time Yulian gave a wrong answer, the guild leader’s smile deepened.
Then, around the time Yulian was getting the impression that the man’s behavior was growing increasingly nouveau riche by the day, the guild leader finally revealed the answer he had been stringing along.
“It seems we will likely be promoted to Class Two.”
“Ah, I see. Congratulations.”
“It is all thanks to you, Young Master! Without the quinine and insulin, we could not have even dreamed of this!”
Despite Yulian’s dry reaction, Guild Leader Gustav wobbled his jowls and flapped his arms exaggeratedly.
Class Two meant a great merchant guild.
A scale of business that spanned multiple cities rather than just one.
A guild that had been on the verge of bankruptcy only a few years ago had become a great guild operating across the entire nation.
“If the insulin succeeds as well, we could stand at the head of even the Class Two great guilds!”
The guild leader chattered excitedly.
Yulian calmly clapped for him from across the table.
He was not displeased.
The Mercure Merchant Guild was also Yulian’s guild.
He sat on its board of directors and held fourteen percent of its shares. (For reference, the guild leader held sixteen percent.)
That was why Yulian was also cheering inwardly, calling it the miracle of Mvidia’s soaring success.
But his expression was cold as always.
Because he had an image to maintain.
“This truly is wonderful news.”
“It is all thanks to the director!”
Suddenly, the guild leader burst into tears and tried to hug Yulian.
Yulian leaned back slightly, escaping the guild leader’s clutches.
Fortunately, the table between them blocked the guild leader from reaching him.
The guild leader sat back down, embarrassed.
Returning to his seat, he pulled out a handkerchief, wiped his tears, and spoke.
“But you see…”
“Hmm?”
“With the promotion, our taxes will increase as well, will they not?”
“. . .”
“Sob, sob. How is a small merchant like me supposed to survive? This country takes everything, I tell you.”
Yulian stared at him in silence.
He desperately wanted to retort that it was nonsense.
In this world where everything was ranked, a rise in guild grade was not simply hollow honor.
A guild’s grade was a type of noble title.
When a guild’s grade rose, one could gain some noble rights even without the bloodline.
For a Class Two guild, it was the equivalent of Baron to Viscount.
In other words, the guild leader had gained the right to freely enter and leave Saintem Hill without permission.
In the first place, even double the taxes was no severe imposition.
Considering the privileges and monopoly rights granted to Class Two, even triple taxes would amount to nothing more than crocodile tears.
Thus, Yulian looked at the weeping Guild Leader Gustav with cold eyes.
Thinking that, no matter how he considered it, the guild leader’s nouveau riche image was not solely due to his appearance.
*
At that moment, Erika.
She stood at the crossroads of a once-in-a-lifetime choice.
“Lamb or pork…”
The very small space remaining in the corner of her plate.
The problem was what meat to put in that spot.
Then, a voice came from behind her.
“Excuse me, young miss.”
She turned to see a white-haired old man standing there.
A neat black suit. His waist was slightly bent, but even that was hidden by the dignity flowing from his bearing.
It was a face she had seen before.
The old man who had seen the Young Master off at the Saintem Hill mansion.
He was the head butler of the Nihirit household.
“. . . Huh?”
Erika blinked.
“You’re the head butler… right? But why are you here…?”
The old butler smiled benevolently and bowed his head.
“This old man could not overcome his curiosity about what kind of person the Young Master had kept by his side for the first time. I am afraid I have committed a discourtesy.”
“Were you tailing me?”
“Let us call it an escort.”
Erika was at a loss for words.
“I am Wilhelm, the head butler. It is an honor to meet you.”
“No, no. Please don’t.”
Erika hurriedly waved her hands.
The highest power she had known until a few days ago was the street chief.
That was the limit of what people living in those dark alleys could imagine.
Yet now, faced with this dizzying procession of the Young Master—who dismissed even those street chiefs as beneath him—the merchant guild leader, and now the head butler, she could not keep her wits about her.
“You shouldn’t greet me like that. I’m just… just an assistant.”
At her denial, Wilhelm’s eyebrows moved slightly.
“If you don’t mind my asking, where are you from?”
“. . . Limbus Fit, Tannery Street.”
Erika answered honestly.
There was no use hiding it. It would show anyway.
Moreover, she could not even consider lying before that seasoned butler.
But the old butler’s reaction was different than expected.
“I see.”
He bowed even more deeply.
“In that case, I must be all the more courteous.”
“. . . Yes?”
Erika was bewildered.
The old butler continued quietly.
“Young miss. Do you know who chose you?”
“Teacher Schnabel… no, the Young Master.”
“The Young Master… hehe.”
The butler’s gaze turned toward the private room in the distance.
Through the window, Yulian could be seen conversing with the guild leader.
Unlike the nouveau-riche merchant guildmaster, Yulian across from her radiated an untouchable dignity even through the window.
“To describe that gentleman with a mere phrase like young master may, perhaps, be discourteous.”
At the old butler’s subtle reproach, Erika closed her mouth.
Her gaze reached beyond the window to Yulian, who was holding a teacup with an indifferent expression.
He looked like a nobleman born to deal with an upstart who was chattering away in high spirits.
“…I know that too.”
Erika lowered her head and mumbled.
“That’s why I understand it even less. The young master is a genius. He’s like a magician who can whip up medicine with a touch of his hand, so why did he take me of all people… I don’t know if someone like me is allowed to be by his side….”
An excessive stroke of fortune bestowed upon a slum orphan.
Rather than a blessing, it felt like a sheet of thin ice that might shatter at any moment.
But the old butler shook his head.
“You are mistaken, my lady.”
His voice was low, but firm.
“The reason I said it was discourteous to call him young master is because what makes him noble is not his bloodline.”
“Pardon?”
“For the same reason, calling him a genius may also be discourteous. That word… feels as though it praises only the result, without knowing what efforts he has made beneath the surface.”
The old butler paused for a moment and looked at Erika.
Erika nodded blankly.
The old butler signaled for her to follow, then slowly moved toward the food table.
His steps were as natural as if he were taking a stroll.
Before she knew it, Erika was following him.
“My lady, do you know how many times he has failed?”
“…No.”
“I imagine not. People always look only at the finished result. They do not know how much blood and sweat was needed to create it.”
The old butler stopped before the corner with the warmly heated meats.
He glanced at Erika’s plate.
There was still empty space left on it.
“Ah, I recommend the lamb. The rosemary fragrance here is exquisite. There is nothing better when one is being introduced to lamb.”
“Ah… yes.”
Clink. The old butler picked up the silver tongs and placed the meat on Erika’s plate himself.
“…!”
When Erika, flustered, tried to draw back, he continued speaking gently.
“My lady. Would you answer this old man’s question?”
Gazing at the steak from which steam was rising, he spoke as if reciting.
“A noble born with nobility etched into his blood.
A genius granted talent by God, who changes the world with ease.
And….”
The old butler’s gaze slowly came to rest on Erika.
“One who was born with nothing, yet shoulders a noble mission alone and walks a thorny path.”
His eyes sank into a deep stillness.
“Of these, which do you think is the most radiant title?”
Erika held her breath.
She wanted to answer, but her lips would not part so easily.
As if her reaction itself was the correct answer, the butler smiled in satisfaction.
“Then I shall ask one final question. To stand by the side of such a person, what kind of person do you think you must become, my lady?”
“….”
Erika’s lips trembled, but no voice came out.
It was not because she did not know the answer.
It was because she sensed the weight she would have to bear the moment she spoke that answer aloud.
Had he read her hesitation?
The old butler’s eyes curved gently.
“You need not answer right away. If the clothes are too large, one need only grow into them. I see more than enough potential for that in you, my lady.”
“….”
“Now, let us go. The meat will grow cold.”
As if he had never spoken of anything heavy, the old man smiled benevolently once more and turned his steps toward the dessert corner.
Then, suddenly, as if something had occurred to him, he stopped and whispered softly, just loud enough for Erika to hear.
“By the way, did you know?”
“?”
“This old man, too, once ate No. 13 Standard-Issue Blocks, and hated nothing in the world more than getting a cricket’s hind leg stuck between his teeth.”
“…Huh?”
No. 13 Standard-Issue Blocks.
They were cricket nutrition bars provided to the poor by this city in order to maintain a minimum labor force.
And for the head butler of Sanctum Hill to mention that fact meant…
Erika’s eyes went round.
But the old butler pressed his index finger to his lips with a shh and gave her a wink.
“There is no reason you cannot do the same, my lady, so you may hold your head high.”
“…!”
He bowed politely and turned his back to her.
“Please enjoy your meal, my lady.”
Left behind, Erika could not move for a long while.
In the midst of the clamoring noise of the buffet.
The plate she was holding felt unbearably heavy.