170 – Food Taste
“…Coal mine?”
Hearing my story, the siblings put on a bewildered expression.
Her sister Stella, in particular, showed her displeasure enough to frown her openly.
“I heard that there is a pretty good coal mine near the Heinz estate.”
“It has to be there. Of course, the lords are already mining.”
“That is not enough. It means to make it the main business of the family itself, not just a few miners.”
Stefan didn’t react as violently as her younger brother did, but it was hard to see her as particularly attractive.
“Can I make money with just that?”
“Of course. I can assure you.”
As the background of the era is the time when the industrial revolution is just taking place, the value of coal will jump up day by day. Some quick-witted riches were already buying coal mines at bargain prices.
Of course, there are differences from the real Earth. This is because it is difficult to be certain how science and technology will develop in the future thanks to the existence of magic.
To put it bluntly, if an era in which magic engineering is the mainstream comes, coal may become nothing more than a useless lump of stone.
This is only possible when the technology developer, Dr. Franken, reappears.
Nevertheless, it is certain that you can make a lot of money if you are one step ahead of the market.
The industrial revolution has already begun. A lot will change around London in the next few years.
But no matter how young he was, it was not as easy as he thought to convince a nobleman with a high nose.
In particular, Stella, who is full of lofty pride, was a problem.
“Coal is a stone that commoners have to mine, and it doesn’t suit nobles like us.”
“Who went into a coal mine and dug it himself? It’s just that I want to expand the business I’m doing now.”
“Our development of the coal mine was only to provide jobs for the permanent residents so that they would not starve to death. It’s like charity work, so to speak.”
Charity work sucks. In this era, where is the business item that sucks money as much as coal mine development?
“Hmm. If you reject the solution like this, there is no way for me either.”
“Do you have any other business models besides coal mines? I think the finance business or the military business will be fine…”
You’re laughing. Stefan throws a plausible field where he heard it.
However, the initial costs of the mentioned businesses are enormous. Even so, there is little change in a short period of time, and only after long-term investments can the effects begin to emerge.
In other words, it was like saying that he would make money with bank deposits, leaving behind the guaranteed Bitcoin.
But at this rate, no matter how much I try to persuade them, I just can’t seem to listen to them. It’s a problem that happened because I still lacked my credit, so I can’t blame anyone.
He sighed and decided to propose a compromise that the two of them could accept.
“Then let’s do this. I will cover all the initial costs of starting the business. In return, give me half of the proceeds from the coal mine. All you have to do is lend the mine.”
“Hmm…”
Stella, who values face as an aristocrat more than profit, still didn’t like it, but Stefan seemed to be quite interested, and looked like he was deep in thought with his chin on his chin.
“And if the business fails, give me my name. Conversely, if the business succeeds, it will be possible to raise the reputation by raising the name of Heinz.”
“That’s not bad.”
It was only then that the younger sister seemed to be somewhat satisfied.
“By the way, isn’t Lupin-nim losing too much money like this?”
“I am not interested in the income from coal mines. After all, the only purpose is consulting aristocrats.”
She promised to give Gilbert more money anyway, so she wasn’t particularly greedy.
Rather than that, it was more important to capture the attention of nobles through business success.
Besides, wouldn’t it be enough to make a profit just by taking away half of the profits?
“So what do you do?”
“Um…”
The two whispered to each other and talked in whispers, then nodded at the same time.
“I will.”
“I take it specially.”
Fortunately, the first button seems to have been safely inserted.
We must not forget that this is only a way to deal with Grace. So, we need to move on as quickly as possible without any time to spare.
“But we have no business experience…”
“Can we forcibly conscript the lords and put them in a coal mine?”
As soon as I heard the answer, I let out a deep sigh at the overwhelming feeling of helplessness.
Anyway, it’s a picture that I have to take care of, beyond just paying the cost, to the development of the coal mine.
I grabbed her throbbing head, worried about her future, and decided to take it easy.
‘Juliet will take care of it.’
Isn’t it natural that if a job is properly done, a competent subordinate will take care of it on its own.
I hate complicated things.
As expected, I am a phantom thief.
***
“So you’re telling me to take care of this?”
“Only you will believe me.”
I went to her office and told Juliet about her ‘Noble Consulting’.
I felt guilty for some reason when I saw him rubbing his eyelids and complaining of fatigue, but since the salary is generous, there won’t be any problems…?
“If you want to do charity work, you have to secure funds. If this item settles down well, you won’t have to worry about money after that.”
A service for aristocrats as customers. Looking at it like this, it is not difficult to guess that it is a golden egg that will sweep a large amount of money.
“I understand, so please pay for this.”
She took the documents she handed over and checked them carefully.
“Oh ho. Are you ready already?”
“The basics. I guess I just have to pick them out through interviews.”
We had already decided on a new office to relocate to, and even the manpower we desperately needed had finished the first document review.
“As you said, I took care of most of the things on my own, leaving only the boldest ones.”
“Very good. As expected, Miss Juliet’s work skills are always surprising.”
“For reference, the amount of money spent so far is roughly this amount.”
“… Um?”
I rubbed my eyes after checking the amount stamped on the statement of accounts at the very back of the document.
Something is strange. Is this the correct amount unit?
Isn’t there one more zero?
Of course, there is still quite a bit of money left. It was not only because of simple phantom thief activities, but also because of the considerable wealth he had accumulated by selling to witches using original knowledge.
However, if it cuts steeply at this speed, even I can’t handle it.
If you do it wrong, you might go bankrupt before you give Grace a shot.
That shouldn’t be the case. I think I need to put more effort into aristocratic consulting.
I went back into concentration mode before I knew it and glanced at Juliet as she was processing her papers.
You didn’t mean to spend your money on a spree, did you? Could it be that they are trying to ruin me economically as an industrial spy?
Probably not. When I opened the statement, I couldn’t blame anything because the money was recorded in great detail.
To put it in a good way, it should be said that the execution power is extraordinary. It’s not even my money anyway, so I don’t think it’s the feeling that I’m going to have a good time.
But I can’t limit the budget because I don’t know exactly how much budget I need because I’ve entrusted all the tasks.
In the end, the only solution is to entice Juliet completely to my side.
I have to go beyond a boss-subordinate relationship in a simple company and act as an assistant who moves only for me.
How can I do that?
I stared down at her back as she sat at her desk and worked, then opened her mouth.
“How about today’s dinner? Now that I think about it, it seems like I only made you suffer and couldn’t treat you to a meal in the meantime.”
“There are a lot of documents that have not been processed yet. I guess I’m having a hard time.”
An answer to rejection that pops out without a second’s thought.
Before I could say anything, I heard another person’s answer from the side.
“I-I’m fine! Just the two of us together with the director… hehehehe.”
“Kuhm. Wouldn’t it be nice if all the employees ate together? Think of today as a day off and put your work down for a while.”
When Leah tried to ignore her perverted laugh and asked her persistently, Juliet let out a sigh and took her eyes off her papers.
“What would you like to eat?”
Okay. Let’s raise your liking with delicious food here.
“Hmm. How about a steak?”
“My stomach hurts when I eat meat.”
“Then do you like lobster?”
“I can’t eat seafood because it is fishy.”
“Do you hate pizza too?”
“Foreign food doesn’t suit my taste.”
After that, a fierce battle went back and forth for a long time.
Fish and chiefs, roasts, cutlets, sandwiches, meat pies and more…
However, Juliet, who has a picky appetite to the point of wondering what to eat on a regular basis, rejected all of her menus with a single stroke.
She finally uttered it without going through her brain as if she was going to be the last one.
“Go to a dessert cafe and eat mint chocolate cake.”
“Yes.”
···What?