I widened my eyes in surprise. He was actually letting his emotions show. As I took a closer look, I could see the unmistakable signs of exhaustion on his face. Given how he had summoned me first thing in the morning after the events of yesterday, I could safely guess that he had spent all night cleaning up the mess.
In an instant, I understood that he was always being dragged around by the rampaging archduke. He probably had an even rougher time with things than I did, considering he was close to both him and Rozemyne. Somehow, knowing that there was someone out there suffering even more than me was a huge relief.
“May I ask how many nobles there will be in total? The archduke himself visiting an eatery in the lower city is unprecedented, which will make it a bit hard to prepare for.”
“Of course there is no damned precedence,” he replied, clear irritation on his face. Our eyes met, so I went ahead and gave a casual shrug as if to say “We both have it rough, huh?” Thankfully, it seemed he understood my intent; his expression softened just a little, and a sardonic smile crept onto his face.
“You will be stuck dealing with the archduke for as long as you continue associating with Rozemyne. I have my hands full with the temple and the Noble’s Quarter, so I shall entrust the lower city—and all of the suffering that comes with it—to you.”
“I would like to refuse from the bottom of my heart, but I don’t believe that’s an option.”
“If refusing was an option, I would be doing so myself.”
We exchanged a small laugh, and then the High Priest’s expression stiffened once more. “As for how many nobles will be visiting the eatery,” he continued, “there will be the archduke, the commander of the Knight’s Order to guard him, Rozemyne as the central figure in printing, and myself. There will be several other knights there as guards, but they will not be eating at the table with us. That said, they will be taking turns eating elsewhere, so a secondary eating area will need to be prepared.”
Even just a laynoble visiting a lower city eatery would cause a huge stir, but the archduke himself was coming this time. We wouldn’t even have the leeway to exploit this for marketing purposes. Our best option would be to hide it as much as possible to avoid any trouble; it was impossible to predict what would happen with the archduke, the commander of the Knight’s Order, the High Bishop, and the High Priest all in one place.
I grimaced while writing down the High Priest’s advice. This was going to be far too much work; neither printing nor the Italian restaurant were the Gilberta Company’s main business, so there weren’t many people I could put on them for help. That said, I couldn’t slack on the printing business now that I had a direct order from the archduke. I needed to get the work done no matter what, and had to think about how to lessen the blowback against the Gilberta Company growing so rapidly. There was no end to what I had to do.
First of all, I needed to find a way to stop the guildmaster from whining and getting in my way every time I needed a form approved for something. He would settle down on the surface if I said I was working for the archduke, but he would no doubt work against me in more subtle ways to compensate. I needed some kind of bait.
“...If so many nobles will be joining the archduke, I would like to have my chefs train elsewhere. They are currently training in Lady Rozemyne’s chambers, but would it be a problem for me to send them elsewhere?”
“I intend to educate Rozemyne in the Noble’s Quarter prior to her baptism. I imagine it will be fine once she has left, but I will check to be sure.”
“Could you deliver these to her, then?” I wrote down on some sheets of plant paper that I would be asking the guildmaster to become a partner in the Italian restaurant. I would use the restaurant as bait to get his help in the future, thereby lessening my workload and the blowback I would be facing. Meanwhile, I would send Hugo and Todd to train at the guildmaster’s home, where they would learn more noble recipes.
While I was writing the letter, the High Priest took a bundle off of a shelf and brought it to the table. “Rozemyne’s inauguration as High Bishop will begin as soon as her baptism ceremony is over. The plan is to hold it right before the Starbind Ceremony, and I ask that you alter these to her measurements.” He spread it out in front of me, and I immediately recognized it as the High Bishop’s ceremonial robes. Rozemyne’s archnoble father would be preparing her baptism clothes, but the temple had to prepare her High Bishop outfit, and they simply lacked the seamstresses to do it.
“You have Rozemyne’s measurements already, no? Don’t worry about the sash; she can use the one she has already. I have heard about those special sewing techniques she likes to request. I trust you to know what she wants. Furthermore, I will be ordering a ceremonial hair stick. Use the highest quality thread to adorn it with fanciful flowers.”
“...Understood.” To summarize, I had just been told to control the flow of information concerning Rozemyne, kickstart the printing industry, finish the Italian restaurant, and do my actual job of making clothes and accessories.
...I’m gonna die. At this rate, I’m actually going to be crushed under my workload and die.
When I returned to my store with the burden of overwhelming work already weighing me down, Leon was there to tell me that the guildmaster had summoned me. I listened to his report while changing out of my noble outfit.
“It seems he wants to discuss Lady Rozemyne. Just where
