Volume 4, Chapter 21 – A Brand New Margaret

First, in her Viel identity, Yisi brought Akarin and the other four to the attic of the Margaret tavern. Then, she switched back to her original form and brought Camilla, Mary, and Tiffany to the tavern’s main entrance. Since she had ordered Akarin’s group not to leave the attic without permission, she didn’t have to worry about them being discovered by Shinku and causing a commotion.

As for the astonishing nature of teleportation magic, Yisi had blindfolded them with black cloth to prevent Akarin’s group from discovering her ability. For the explanation of their sudden arrival in the human world from the vampire territory, Yisi planned to brush it off by saying, “they had been asleep for a long time.”

Unlike the desolate streets in the vampire territory, Celtic City, where Margaret was located, was bright and full of life. Even though Margaret was in an outer district and there wasn’t a single person on the street due to it being noon, this distinct difference was clearly palpable.

It felt like coming home.

Yisi couldn’t help but smile, patting the shoulders of Mary and Tiffany, who were still blindfolded. ¹ wait… tiffany eyes are everywhere right?… hmmm

“We’ve arrived. You can take off the cloth now.”

“Huh? We’re here? Did you use magic to make us sleep for a long time, Master?”

“Although thinking that way would save me a lot of explanation, the truth is, it took us less than ten minutes to get from the vampire territory to Margaret.”

Yisi patted Mary’s head as she looked back at her. The soft touch of her chestnut-colored hair was addictive, and with the faint fragrance it emitted, if Yisi were hugging Mary from behind right now, she would definitely bury her nose in her hair.

Unfortunately, she was currently in the body of a Magic Fairy.

I really want to teleport back, flatten those two fallen angels, and then urge Count Pescia to hurry up and find a solution with the Tower of Pescia.

Of course, Yisi was just thinking about it. If she were to actually do it, she would definitely be on the opposite side of Edith.

Suddenly, a light green object with the scent of apples appeared in front of Yisi. She came back to her senses and found it was Tiffany’s jacket. The latter was holding up the piece of clothing, frowning in dissatisfaction.

“Yisi, it’s hot.”

“Well, it is summer now. But are you okay, Tiffany? Won’t you get dried out by the sun?”

“It’s fine.”

She puffed out her chest confidently, her light green twintails bouncing along with the movement. Tiffany gave Yisi a look that said not to worry, then nudged her chin towards Camilla.

Camilla’s face was slightly pale. She clutched her chest, swallowing repeatedly, as if she were enduring something.

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Yisi subconsciously placed a hand on Camilla’s shoulder.

“Camilla, what’s wrong?”

“N-nothing… Just a little… uncomfortable…”

It might be because of the consecutive teleports. Using teleportation magic brings a brief moment of daze and dizziness.

Just as Yisi was thinking this, Camilla added, “Onee-sama… you flew too high.”

So it’s a fear of heights.

Yisi couldn’t help but smile, surprised that Camilla was afraid of heights. Camilla had always given the impression that nothing could faze her. Suddenly discovering this weakness made her seem much cuter—or rather, even more adorable. ² /bonk ²

“Miss Camilla, do you need some water?”

“No…”

“Huh, huh? Is that Miss Camilla? And Mary? Are you back? Where’s Miss Yisi? And who is this girl?”

Because the four of them were standing right at the entrance of the Margaret tavern, Fran, who was cleaning inside, quickly spotted them. She dropped her broom and ran out in a few steps. Unlike the destitute and grimy appearance she had when Yisi first met her, the current Fran was full of feminine charm. Her flaxen hair reflected the sunlight, and her skin was exceptionally fair. Although not very obvious, you could still see traces of her noble past in her gestures.

The first to move was Mary. As someone who had worked with Fran at Margaret, upon seeing her, Mary rushed into Fran’s arms, and they hugged each other tightly. However, due to their height difference, their reunion looked less like a reunion of friends and more like one between sisters. ³ cute

“Miss Fran!”

“Mmm… Mary-chan has gotten heavier.”

“Fran.”

Camilla, who hadn’t yet recovered from her fear of heights, greeted her with a short sentence.

Unlike her attitude towards Mary, Fran released Mary and bowed to Camilla.

“Miss Camilla, welcome back.”

“Mm.”

“And these two are…”

“This is Master, and the girl with the twintails is our new companion, Tiffany.”

Mary introduced them for Yisi. Tiffany, with very ladylike etiquette, lifted the hem of her dress and curtsied to Fran.

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“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure is all mine…” Although she said this, Fran’s attention was clearly on Yisi, her face full of doubt. “Mary just said Master… Is this Miss Yisi?”

“It’s good that I didn’t scare you, Fran. It’s been half a month—no, it should be three months. You’ve grown a lot, Fran.”

Not just in height, but also in the chest area.

It wasn’t that Yisi was paying special attention to that point, but the growth of Fran’s chest was so obvious that it was impossible not to notice.

A smile appeared on Fran’s face.

“Having escaped my old life as a fugitive and being given such favorable conditions by you, Miss Yisi, if I don’t grow, I would be betraying your kindness. But how did you become a fairy, Miss Yisi? Aren’t you human?”

Fairies were a race that lived only in the far west, also palm-sized, with a pair of wings on their backs that allowed them to fly.

“A lot has happened. I’ll explain it slowly in the future. I came back this time because of Viel. Let’s go inside and talk.”

“Viel?”

Hearing the familiar name, a serious expression appeared on Fran’s face. She led the way, guiding Yisi and the others into the tavern.

Perhaps because it had become famous and they had a lot of spare money, although the internal structure of Margaret hadn’t changed, the smaller details were completely different. For example, the cheap magic lamps Yisi had originally bought were now chandeliers that only nobles would use. The wooden floor had been renovated, and the supporting pillars and the previously burnt staircase had all been replaced with brand-new, high-end, painted ones.

“It really has changed a lot. Just like the rumors, Margaret has become famous.”

When Clementine first told her that the Margaret wine had shocked the royal family of the Hels Kingdom, Yisi had just taken it as a joke. Now, looking at the interior decoration, perhaps it was true. But there was something Yisi didn’t understand.

Since Margaret could be sold for a high price of one gold coin per sip in other places, and only nobles were qualified to enjoy it, Fran must have heard about it. She would have then raised the price of Margaret to increase her profits. After three months, she should have saved enough money to open several more stores, but Margaret was the same size as when she left, with no signs of expansion.

Yisi called out to Fran, who was about to run to the kitchen to have the other Fallen girls come out to greet them.

“Fran, wait.”

“Oh, okay.”

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Stopping in her tracks, Fran returned to Yisi.

“Let me just ask, how much is a glass of Margaret now?”

If she remembered correctly, a glass of Margaret was 7 iron coins before she left.

Like a child watching TV who was suddenly told by a parent to do their homework, Fran’s whole body jolted. Then, with a shy and seemingly embarrassed expression, she slowly spoke.

“O-one silver coin… After you left, Miss Yisi… many nobles from other places would squat here every day to buy out that day’s Margaret, so I raised the price a little—I’m so sorry!”

At the end, Fran’s knees went weak, and she was about to kneel on the ground. Yisi quickly used magic to stop her, feeling bewildered at the same time.

“No, wait, why are you apologizing, Fran?”

“To raise the price of Margaret without your permission, such a transgression—”

“It’s okay. In fact, you haven’t done enough. When I went to Antonio City, Margaret was being sold by merchants for one gold coin per sip. You only raised the price by three iron coins. I was thinking that selling it too cheaply would make you all work too hard. You can absolutely raise the price even more.”

“But then Margaret would only be for the nobles…”

It seemed she hadn’t forgotten the people who had helped her in the past just because she had made a lot of money. Yisi thought for a moment and changed her approach.

“Has Margaret been renovated by you, Fran?”

“Yes. Because it was partially destroyed by the fire during the invasion by the empire’s Fallen, I had it completely renovated after we had sufficient funds.”

“What’s the balance now? I mean, in gold coins.”

“Nine hundred and seventy-one gold coins and five silver coins.”

Wow.

Isn’t that quite rich? ⁴ rich richhh~

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To think, she had bought this tavern from Baldy Darc for only 51 gold coins. Now, the tavern’s working capital could buy more than ten similar taverns.

Fran continued to explain.

“Most of this income comes from orders from nobles. The largest one, an order for four hundred gold coins, came from Duke Herbis, to deliver twenty barrels of Margaret to him at the end of the year.”

“Four hundred gold coins for twenty barrels…”

The number was too large, and it felt a bit unreal. Yisi had barely participated in the making of Margaret, so she didn’t know how much manpower and time it took to make twenty barrels. But one thing was clear: over nine hundred gold coins were enough to open several more Margarets and recruit staff to share the tasks.

“With so much money, why not expand Margaret’s business?”

The original reason for establishing Margaret was to collect blood, but now with Tiffany, she no longer had to worry about a lack of blood. At most, the taste was a bit monotonous. Margaret could be completely handed over to Fran to manage.

“Expand the business? We did think about it, but we didn’t have your permission, so we wanted to wait for you to come back, Miss Yisi, to discuss it with you…”

Should I call this conscientious or inflexible…

Yisi felt like she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Just go for it, Fran. You don’t need to discuss it with me.”

“How can I do that? You are the owner of Margaret.”

With great apprehension, Fran rejected Yisi’s proposal without hesitation.

“Then take it as my order. I am ordering you to recruit more staff and open more stores.”

“I-in that case… I understand.”

“It just so happens that I came this time for staffing reasons. Viel brought me new members. Fran, go get Shinku. Someone is waiting for us in the attic.”

“Yes, Miss Yisi.”