Volume 8, Chapter 15 – Margaret’s Situation

After hearing what Laxy said, Yisi, before she even had a chance to tie up her hip-length twin tails, immediately followed the directions on the [Omniscient Map] to one of the temple’s audience halls. Although the nuns along the way were quite surprised to see Yisi running around in thin clothes, Yisi was a Cardinal, so the nuns only gossiped for a bit before returning to their work.

Through the crack in the door, she could glimpse four people standing in the luxurious audience hall. On one side were a hesitant Fran, Mary, and Shinku, who was protectively shielding the other two with a defiant look. On the other side was Camilla, holding a report and scolding Fran and her companion.

“Why didn’t you tell me before making these decisions? Offering tribute to the royal family can be considered force majeure, but for the hired help, didn’t I say that only slaves and the Fallen could be involved?”

“Even if you are Miss Yisi’s sworn sister, I will not allow you to use such a rude tone with Fran.”

“Rude?” Camilla’s beautiful brows furrowed. “Don’t think Onee-sama didn’t tell me. Onee-sama only said she would allow you to establish a branch, not to casually hire people of unknown origin. If the recipe for the distilled wine is leaked, are you, Shinku, going to take responsibility for that?!”

Even when facing the imposing Camilla, who was half a head taller than her, Shinku, with her deep red hair and fluffy cat ears, defiantly lifted her head.

“They are all trustworthy people. Clementine also agreed with our view. And they are only involved in the production of the boots, which has nothing to do with the distilled wine.”

“Even so, to make such a decision on your own is too arrogant. To take them in without investigating their backgrounds, what if they are spies sent by others to gather intelligence—”

It seems they’re arguing over Margaret’s management issues.

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To be honest, I don’t really want to get involved right now. Both of them have their own points of view. No matter which side I support, I’ll end up offending the other.

But a boss is supposed to make decisions at times like this…

If she let the two of them continue, given Shinku’s and Camilla’s defiant personalities, the situation would only get worse. Yisi took a deep breath, straightened her long blue dress, and steeled herself to push the door open.

“Ahem. Good morning.”

“O-Onee-sama, good morning.”

“Miss Yisi, good day to you.”

“Master!”

Compared to the respectful attitudes of Camilla, Shinku, and Fran, Mary, who had been caught between the two sides at a loss, looked as if she had seen her savior. She ran towards Yisi with a joyful expression, her lovely purple eyes full of anticipation.

Yisi couldn’t help but stroke Mary’s chestnut hair. The soft texture and Mary’s slightly warm body temperature gave Yisi the feeling that ‘a beautiful day starts in the morning.’

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“What’s wrong?”

Although she could roughly guess what the two sides were arguing about, Yisi pretended as if she had just arrived.

“Miss Camilla and Miss Shinku, they…”

“Let me explain, Miss Yisi.”

After bowing to Yisi, Fran, who, like Camilla, had blonde hair but with a more mature air, slowly stood up straight. When they had first met, she had been so sallow and thin, but now she already had the air of a proprietress. Yisi couldn’t help but marvel inwardly. Her gaze naturally fell to the hem of Fran’s clothes. For some reason, Fran was wearing a purple qipao ¹ traditional Chinese dress . The slit on the lower half revealed a sliver of her snow-white thigh, making it almost impossible to look away. Of course, standing next to Shinku, who was in a Western-style dress, the combination seemed somewhat incongruous. Considering Shinku’s petite figure, it was probably because a qipao didn’t have the right elegance on her, so she had to make do with a dress.

After everyone was seated, Yisi listened to Fran’s account and got a general idea of the cause of the argument.

The crux of the argument was that Margaret had opened too many branches, leading to a shortage of manpower, which ultimately resulted in the hiring of a group of unfamiliar people to handle what should have been confidential matters.

As for how this group of people came to be in Shinku’s and Fran’s hands, it was not a simple employer-employee relationship, but one of rescuer and rescued.

When Shinku and Clementine were leading a caravan to transport goods, they encountered bandits in the mountains. The bandits, judging solely by their numbers, assumed that the caravan led by Shinku and Clementine was weak, and as a result, were naturally defeated by Margaret’s caravan. Then, following the common practice within the kingdom—that the property of bandits was not protected by the kingdom, and whoever took it, owned it—the caravan pressed the bandits back to their hideout and plundered it.

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In the process of looting the spoils, the caravan rescued a group of girls who had been held captive by the bandits. Among these people were girls from ordinary commoner families, as well as girls who, like Fran, were originally of noble birth. Because they had been defiled by the bandits, even if they were sent back to their original villages or homes, they would only be treated as unclean by their fellow villagers and then cast out by their husbands and parents. Thus, Shinku decided to take them with her, all the way back to the Margaret tavern headquarters. And to give these girls a place to live, Fran assigned them to the newly built Margaret workshop, where they were responsible for cleaning and participating in the production of the Black Slime Boots.

In Shinku’s and Fran’s view, this was helping those in need. But Camilla believed that this group of girls was not trustworthy and should not be allowed to participate in the process from cultivating the black slimes to making the boots. Currently, Margaret was the only place that could produce rubber-soled boots. If these girls were to leave after working for a period of time and leak the secrets of the workshop, that is, the method of making the boots, then boot workshops would pop up like mushrooms after rain, greatly reducing Margaret’s profits.

Furthermore, what Camilla could not tolerate even more was that Shinku and Fran had broken their promise to Yisi. In the business plan submitted previously, Fran had intended to only hire slaves and the Fallen who, like her, had suffered discrimination, as companions. This would better ensure that the recipe for the distilled wine would not be leaked. Now, Fran had clearly violated the original plan, and Yisi and Camilla were completely unaware of this violation, which was why Camilla had been so angry just now.

In summary, Shinku and Fran had made a decision on their own. Although I don’t think it’s a big deal—I said from the beginning that I would leave Margaret entirely in Fran’s hands and just collect a symbolic dividend regularly—but now that I’m regularly reviewing the reports and have even given advice on Margaret’s future development, it’s not right for me to act as if it has nothing to do with me.

It’s time I faced the fact that I’m Margaret’s owner.

Yisi secretly glanced at the lowered head of Fran and the drooping red cat ears of Shinku. The two of them probably knew they had done something wrong, which was why they were now wearing expressions of waiting to be criticized. Yisi then turned her head slightly to look at Camilla, who was frowning at the side. The latter had her hands slapped on the table, looking at Shinku and Fran with a scrutinizing gaze.

This is tricky…

I don’t really want to punish Shinku and Fran. If I were in their shoes, I would have also given those girls a place to stay. But in that case, it would be tantamount to negating Camilla’s criticism just now. From an objective, self-interested point of view, Camilla’s criticism was indeed pertinent. The reason Margaret had been able to develop to its current state was because of its unique recipe. If the recipe were to be leaked, then Margaret would lose its competitiveness. Camilla was also doing this for my sake, the ultimate beneficiary of Margaret.

But if she were to go along with Camilla and criticize Shinku and Fran for doing the wrong thing, Yisi was worried that from now on, they would no longer extend a helping hand to the weak. If that were to happen, not only would Shinku and Fran be sad, but she herself would feel bad about it when she found out. After all, compared to money, she cared more about life—of course, valuable life. As for existences like bandits or murderers, it would be better if they were dead.

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Her knuckles unconsciously tapped lightly on the table—in the past, Andrea would have considered this a sign of lying, but when she lied, the rhythm of her tapping was faster. Now, she was just thinking. Yisi hesitated and murmured.

“Mmm…”

“Onee-sama, if you don’t punish them, they will only become more and more excessive in the future. The lower-ranking servants in Margaret will also follow their example.”

“What kind of punishment does Camilla think is appropriate?”

“Five lashes each.”

“Lashes, huh…”

Yisi tilted her head back slightly.

In the past, she had thought that flogging was a very light punishment, like parents hitting their children with a leather strap in the old days, and that one could recover in a few days. But after coming to this other world and seeing Pepe’s memories, Yisi knew that flogging was actually a very severe punishment. The whip was not only made from tanned thorny vines with barbs, but the executioners were also often specially trained. Each lash would break the skin and tear the flesh. Even a strong adult man would pass out from the intense pain after a few lashes. And after waking up, they would be unable to get out of bed for at least a week.

To use such a punishment on Fran and Shinku was really going too far.