Chapter 165 - A Delivery and the Great Master's Teachings
The room the Rossetti Company rented from the Merchant Guild was starting to feel a little cramped.
There was simply too much paperwork. The shelves where the documents were stored in bundles were almost full, and the large leather box used for letters had books piled on top of its lid.
Dahlia found herself longing for the computer and scanner she had used in her previous life. Unfortunately, even with magic tools, recreating those devices seemed like a difficult proposition.
Their magic tool products had long since outgrown the point where they could be shipped directly from the Merchant Guild, so they had rented a nearby warehouse.
Fortunately, the goods were moving almost as quickly as they came in, so they did not need much storage space. Still, keeping track of the inventory looked like a daunting task.
Even so, Ivano had apparently found several business partners and was managing everything on his own without so much as batting an eye.
Ivano had mentioned that Orlando & Co. would also be given some work as one of their business partners, but he immediately moved on to discussing another company, so Dahlia decided not to ask for details.
Ivano was probably trying to be considerate of her feelings. Dahlia wouldn't have minded if the two companies dealt with each other purely on a business basis, though.
One thing that had surprised her, however, was that Ivano, who had previously been eager to expand the company's staff, had now said he wanted to take his time.
He explained that future transactions would involve nobles, so he wanted to be careful about hiring trustworthy employees. In the meantime, although it would cost more, he planned to keep things running with support staff from the Merchant Guild. Dahlia understood his reasoning.
At present, two people had been assigned to them as support staff from the guild.
Ivano had apparently entrusted them with delivering letters and documents outside the office as well. Dahlia had not yet had a proper conversation with either of them, but she hoped their help would ease Ivano's workload.
As for her noble patron, she had been asked whether she would be alright with Guido serving in place of Volf, since Volf was frequently away on expeditions.
After giving it some thought, she gratefully accepted the offer, especially with Volf's recommendation.
Between Jonas's scales and Guido's offer to act as her guarantor, she now owed both men favors. She had asked Volf to find out whether there was anything she could do to repay them.
Incidentally, Volf had already brought them a mountain of assorted dried seafood and laughed as he told her how pleased they had been with the gift.
Dahlia grew increasingly worried that they might actually be grilling dried seafood indoors this time, but somehow, she couldn't bring herself to ask.
There was one other matter on her mind. She was concerned about what to do regarding Gild, the head of the palace’s Finance Department, who had offered to serve as her noble patron, so she asked Ivano for advice.
Ivano explained quite casually, "Apparently, he meant that he was worried about you and wanted you to find a noble patron as soon as possible. I think he would actually have taken the position if you'd asked him, though." Dahlia found the explanation convincing.
Gild seemed to be the sort of man who acted quickly but was stubborn—or, rather, had a rather roundabout way of doing things.
For the time being, she consulted Gabriella, then painstakingly wrote a letter of thanks and sent him two portable expedition stoves and about ten scarves made from Auratello.
The very next day, a luxurious red carpet woven from the wool of magical sheep from a neighboring country arrived, along with expensive green tea and a letter of thanks. Dahlia had the nerve-racking experience of having to hurriedly write yet another letter in return.
Then, today, just as Dahlia had finished checking the account books with Ivano at the guild, Volf arrived.
It was his first day off in five days, and he had arranged to have a meal with Dahlia.
The three of them, Ivano included, were chatting about various things, including their work, when there was a double knock at the door.
"There's a delivery for the Rossetti Company from the Adventurers Guild. Um, would it be all right to show the visitor in?"
"Yes, please do."
The guild employee who had come to check seemed strangely nervous. Was it because Ivano, a highly experienced senior guild member, was here? Or was Volf making him uneasy? Wondering about it, Dahlia took out a pen and ink so she could sign for the delivery.
Beside her, Volf was relaxing in his chair, while across from her, Ivano was pulling a cord taut as he tried to tie together a stack of documents.
"It's been a while, Chairwoman Rossetti. I've come to deliver the Forest Serpent."
"Lord August!"
The moment she saw the man who had stepped through the door, Dahlia couldn't help exclaiming in surprise.
Volf's eyes widened as well, while Ivano snapped the cord he was holding.
"I'm sorry for arriving without sending word ahead. I happened to have some business in this area."
The visitor who had arrived carrying a stack of silver boxes was August, the deputy guildmaster of the Adventurers' Guild.
He narrowed his reddish-brown eyes and greeted her with an exceptionally pleasant smile.
Why had the deputy guildmaster of the Adventurers' Guild come to deliver materials in person? Surely this was a job for one of the guild's own porters, or perhaps the Courier Guild. Dahlia thought so, but couldn't bring herself to say it. Instead, she hurriedly offered him a chair.
"Oh, so you're here too, Volfred. That works out perfectly."
With a smile, he arranged three Magic-sealing Boxes on the desk. One was large, while the other two were smaller.
"Here are the Forest Serpent's heart and fangs, along with a little of its hide."
"So these are the materials from the last expedition."
"Yes. The heart turned out exceptionally well."
The largest Magic-sealing Box apparently contained the Forest Serpent that the monster-subjugation unit had brought back from their recent expedition.
"That's wonderful, Dahlia. Now you can make the bracelet."
"Ah, thank you very much."
Volf said this with obvious delight, but the magic tool bracelet Dahlia currently wore was extremely difficult to make.
Ozwald had told her that she might be able to make one herself in anywhere from a year to several years. But given that even a slight increase in her magical power was enough to leave her struggling to keep it under control, Dahlia wasn't at all confident.
"This is a full monster's worth of black slime powder, and this is the horn of a female unicorn."
"Um, another trading company ordered the black slime powder, and I haven't placed an order for a unicorn horn..."
Dahlia hurriedly responded to August's explanation.
The black slime powder was supposed to have been ordered by Orlando & Co. And she had no recollection of ordering a unicorn horn, either.
"No, please accept these two as gifts. They're tokens of gratitude from our Jean."
"From Mr. Jean? For me?"
Was this in return for the compact magical stove she'd given him the other day? But that had been sent as an apology from the Rossetti family. It wasn't the sort of gift that called for a return present.
As Dahlia pondered this, August smiled at her.
"Thank you for introducing Jean to Chairman Zola. I hear you've been looking after him in various ways, and Jean now admires Chairman Zola so much that he calls him 'Sensei.'"
The card August handed her bore a few polite words of thanks, written in neat, angular handwriting.
Beside Jean's signature was a small scorpion-shaped stamp, pressed onto the card as decoration. Dahlia couldn't help smiling when she saw it.
"Thanks to Chairman Zola's guidance, Jean is performing just as well as before despite working fewer hours. He's finally agreed to take on a new position, too."
"I see... That's wonderful."
"We had the other black slime turned into powder and sent to Orlando & Co. You'll receive it through them in due course."
The fact that Jean had casually gone out and caught two black slimes reminded Dahlia that he really was a former high-ranking adventurer.
"I also wanted to express my gratitude to you personally, Miss Dahlia. After you introduced him to Chairman Zola, Jean's wife and children returned to him. I'm truly glad his family has been restored. As his superior, I'd been placing too much strain on him, so it's a relief to see things turn out this way."
"Thank you for your kind words. But please, give your thanks to Chairman Zola rather than me. I'm truly glad to hear that Mr. Jean is doing well."
Hearing that Jean was living with his family again made Dahlia genuinely happy.
Jean must have received some excellent advice from Ozwald while drinking scorpion liquor with him. That had to be why he'd started calling Ozwald 'Sensei.'
"Jean seems very happy these days. Though he's looking a little 'worn out from happiness,' if you know what I mean..."
"Huh?"
August suddenly gave a wry smile, leaving Dahlia thoroughly flustered.
"Um, has something happened to Mr. Jean?"
What did it mean for him to be worn out from happiness when his wife and children had returned to him?
Was he pushing himself too hard at work again, telling himself it was all for his family?
Dahlia was suddenly filled with concern.
"Apparently, he'd been doing some soul-searching and decided to talk things over with his current wife and try to make their marriage work again. He also went to apologize to his former wife. As it turned out, she was still living alone, so they all discussed the matter and decided to live together."
"Excuse me...?"
"They've remarried, so his current wife is now his first wife, and his former wife is his second wife. I'm delighted that everything has worked out so nicely."
"...That is... truly wonderful news. Please give Mr. Jean my congratulations..."
Dahlia managed to offer her congratulations, doing her best to keep her voice from wavering.
It was a happy occasion. Wonderful news, really.
But her commoner's sensibilities couldn't help leading her to one thought.
Had Jean really needed to study under Ozwald to that extent?
She could understand reconciling with his current wife.
But she couldn't quite wrap her head around reconciling with his former wife as well.
No, well, if his current wife was happy with the arrangement and he and his former wife still had feelings for each other, then perhaps it was perfectly fine.
As long as Jean, his wives, and their children were happy, that was all that mattered. There was no problem at all.
Besides, it wasn't really her place to judge any of this. Surely.
"His former wife is a high-ranking adventurer, so apparently she went out to hunt black slimes with Jean. They made it a competition, but each of them only managed to catch one,” he said with a laugh. “They brought their son along, too, and when a unicorn happened to approach them, they took the opportunity to kill it as well."
"...A unicorn, just as an extra..."
Ivano murmured in a low voice from diagonally behind Dahlia.
Apparently, even rare monsters that were notoriously fast and difficult to kill could be treated as an afterthought by high-ranking adventurers.
Come to think of it, Volf also mentioned that the Monster Subjugation Squad had taken down a Forest Serpent while they were out hunting monsters.
Lately, it seemed as though there were suddenly far too many people capable of doing utterly unreasonable things to rare monsters. Dahlia decided not to dwell on it.
"Jean is being transferred to become the head of monster breeding, including slimes. We've arranged for his second wife to join the Adventurers Guild and assist him. I believe this will give him more free time than he had before. Jean also asked me to tell you, 'Chairwoman Rossetti, you have been a great help to me, so please don't hesitate to consult me about materials in the future.' We look forward to continuing our relationship with you."
"Thank you for your consideration. That's far more kindness than I deserve."
They chatted for a little while longer, after which Dahlia saw August off with a smile plastered on her face.
"Truly, the great Master Ozwald never ceases to amaze..."
Ivano's awestruck voice echoed through the trading company's office, now that only the three of them remained.
Jean had indeed gotten his family back.
Calling him the Great Master Ozwald was absolutely fitting. In fact, Dahlia couldn't think of any other way to describe him.
She couldn't begin to imagine what Ozwald had done to bring about such an outcome, though.
Ivano turned his deep indigo eyes toward the black-haired man.
"...Sir Volf, perhaps you should consider going to Master Ozwald for a lesson or two yourself?"
"Why would I need Ozwald to teach me anything, Ivano? It's not like I want a second wife or a third wife."
Volf replied with a thoroughly displeased expression.
Ivano, however, made absolutely no effort to smooth things over.
It was rare for the atmosphere between them to become so hostile. Dahlia hurriedly stepped in to defuse the situation.
"Ivano, Volf doesn't need to go!"
"Oh? You think so , Dahlia-san?"
"Dahlia..."
"Yes. Volf wouldn't even need to go out of his way. If he wanted to, he could probably have anywhere from a first wife to a tenth wife lining up for him in no time."
Under the two men's gazes, Dahlia stated this with complete conviction.
Knowing Volf, all he'd have to do was express a little interest, and he could easily acquire not just a tenth wife, but twenty or even thirty.
"A tenth wife... Sir Volf, you're being praised quite a lot..."
"I don't know why, but I really don't feel happy about this..."
The two men could only manage hollow smiles.
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(He never said he didn't want a first wife...)
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