The second store was also on track, and sales were growing steadily, which brought relief to Kent. Then, as the weekend arrived, Kent decided to head to the town of Sumput in Baron Frederick’s Territory to complete the task given to him by Baron Frederick, Caro’s father. He had made a promise that if he could achieve results within the remaining month and a few days of summer vacation, his relationship with Caro would be permitted. If he failed, their relationship would not be recognized, so he couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.
“Well then, Marie and Catherine, I’m off.”
“I’ll be lonely not being able to see you, Kent, for a little while.”
“I don’t understand territory management, but it sounds difficult, doesn’t it? Do your best.”
After being seen off by Marie and Catherine, Kent left his house.
(Come to think of it, Al wasn’t around this morning either. I wanted to tell him to look after the shop.)
Al, who should have been sleeping with him last night, was gone in the morning. Kent felt a pang of loneliness at not being able to say goodbye, but he had other plans for the day and entered the first store.
“Ah, Master. Good morning.”
Emily, who was cleaning the store, rushed over to Kent.
“Good morning, Emily. Are everyone here?”
“Yes, I’ll go call them.”
Emily ran upstairs and brought back Rachel and Elnet.
“Good morning, Older brother.”
“Are you leaving already, Kent?”
“I’ll be away for a little over a month, so please look after the shop for me.”
“Understood. Leave it to me.”
“I wish I could have gone too. What a shame.”
“Please leave the rest to us.”
Elnet also offered to accompany him, but Kent declined. With Kent and Caro gone, the shop would also be short-handed. If more people left, it would affect the operation of the store. While it would be encouraging to have them as guards, the store was also important, so it couldn’t be helped.
“I think it’ll be alright if you go through Emily for orders for the second store, so please take care of it. I know it’s your own money, but please try to refrain from unnecessary orders as much as possible.”
“Okay!”
Kent emphasized this to Rachel. Recently, there had been an increase in private purchases made through Emily. Before he knew it, Rachel’s room, except for a few unobtainable items, was equipped with game consoles and computers (not connected to the internet), creating an environment as fulfilling as her private room in her previous world.
While Kent was away, Emily would be taking orders for items that were usually procured through the terminal. As long as Kent approved them, they could be obtained, so there would be no impact on the store’s operations. Even if an unexpected situation arose, Kent and Emily could contact each other in real-time, so it should be fine.
“Well then, I’m off.”
“Have a good trip!”
Kent parted ways with the three of them and headed for the stagecoach station. This time, he would be staying for about a month, so he had a bit more luggage. He could procure items locally using the terminal if he found himself lacking anything.
“Good morning, Caro.”
“Good morning. Kent, I’ll be counting on you from today.”
Caro also had a slightly larger amount of luggage. She was wearing clothes Marie had given her as a present before, making her look like a commoner from the outside.
“Caro, you changed your hairstyle.”
“…Huh? Yes, does it suit me?”
“It suits you very well.”
“Thank you.”
Caro usually wore her hair in twin tails, but today she had it styled in a bun on top of her head, secured with something that looked like a yellow flower ornament. The flower ornament looked incredibly realistic, as if it were a real plant rather than an artificial one.
Kent and Caro had ridden the stagecoach to Sumput before, so this time they had no trouble finding their way.
“We’d like to take the stagecoach to Sumput. There are two of us, is that alright?”
Kent spoke to the man organizing the stagecoach.
“Just in time. You two will fill up the remaining seats perfectly. That will be two large silver coins for the fare.”
Caro handed the fare to the man.
“Thanks. We’ll be departing soon, so please get on and wait.”
Kent and Caro boarded the stagecoach and took their seats. Unfortunately, it was full, so they couldn’t sit next to each other.
“Oh my, it’s a shame for a couple traveling together to be separated. Let me see, I’ll switch seats for you.”
“Thank you.”
A kind merchant offered to switch seats, allowing Kent and Caro to sit together.
“Thank you for waiting. We’re departing for Sumput now!”
The stagecoach set off towards the town of Sumput.
Kent was heading to Sumput with the title of Deputy Lord. Normally, a lord would use their own family’s carriage. In this case, it would have been Caro’s family carriage, but the Baron Frederick family didn’t have much in the way of funds and only owned one carriage. Since the Baron also needed the carriage for official duties, arranging for a noble’s carriage would incur significant costs. For this reason, they decided to travel by stagecoach again, as Caro had suggested.
“Still, when we rode last time, there were empty seats, but there are a lot more customers this time.”
“Yes. It seems to be the effect of the changes we made based on the previous inspection.”
Caro said. The stagecoach had a capacity of 10 people, but last time, including themselves, there were only 7 passengers. This time, another similar carriage was accompanying them, bringing the total number of passengers to 20.
After half a day, the stagecoach arrived in the town of Sumput. They stopped briefly at the town entrance for entry procedures.
“Thank you for your long journey. We apologize for interrupting your arrival, but the entry procedures will take a little time.”
The soldier guarding the entrance informed the stagecoach passengers.
“The procedure is different from last time.”
“Yes. I thought the overbearing way of speaking was not good, so we changed it. I’m relieved to see that the education seems to be thorough.”
Then, the passengers lined up at the counter for the entry procedures. Kent and Caro also joined the queue.
“Normally, we wouldn’t need to go through the procedures, but we have to consider the eyes of those around us.”
Caro whispered to Kent. It seemed to be a consideration to avoid unnecessary tension among the other passengers.
“Next, please.”
Kent wrote his name, and then Caro wrote hers.
“Thank you.”
The soldier in charge of the reception processed the paperwork for entry.
“You’re not collecting an entry tax.”
“We’ve stopped that.”
Kent understood that the entry tax, which Caro had been furious about last time, had been abolished. As a result, more people were coming and going, and the stagecoach carried more passengers. Once all the passengers’ procedures were complete, the stagecoach arrived at the stagecoach station in Sumput.
“Kent, we’ve arrived. My backside is a little sore from sitting for so long.”
“I feel the same. So, where should we go?”
“We’re supposed to go to the Mayor’s house, but…”
In response to Kent’s question, Caro replied with a slight wry smile. When the lord stays in this town, they use the residential area designated for lords, which is adjacent to the Mayor’s house. It is equipped with facilities for conducting official business.
Kent and Caro began to make their way towards the Mayor’s house.
