Chapter 232 Noble Lady Sara
Day 2 of the Hunting Tournament, today is packed with plans as Sara.
However, inquiries about Sophia are flooding in, and the employees of the Sophia Merchant Guild are in a state of panic. Because of this, they can only tell all the nobles and wealthy people that "we cannot provide individual attention to Sophia," and when asked for a reason, they explain, "We have received requests from many noble families, and we cannot choose one family."
Some of the higher-ranking nobles expressed their dissatisfaction with this explanation, but when it was subtly hinted that the royal family was also interested, those noble families backed down. In reality, Prince Andrew and Crown Prince Gerhart were quietly enjoying the hunt and were not making unreasonable demands, as they had heard about the popular drinks and new products being offered.
For the noble families that were fine with not dealing with Sophia, older employees were sent to assist them. The Spieluhr, which is not cheap, was selling surprisingly well, and the stock was already running low. It was time to switch to made-to-order production.
As expected, there were a lot of inquiries about cider and Elma brandy. The Sophia Merchant Guild promised to handle cider and Elma brandy when they open a store in the royal capital, declaring that they would offer limited quantities for pre-order every year.
Amelia the Pharmacist Girl's cosmetics seemed to be widely accepted by women, as all the stock had sold out, and now they were only taking orders. Also, several blends of herbal tea were selling like crazy. The blend with "skin beautifying effects" sold so well that there was even a woman who bought ten large wooden boxes of it.
'That amount must be for reselling. It seems more likely they'll sell it at a high price to friends who couldn't come to Grandchester rather than sharing it.'
While checking the amounts written in the ledger, Sara understood that there were resellers in this world too. Until they opened branches in the royal capital and other territories, such things would likely happen frequently, but it seemed necessary to prepare for the possibility of low-quality items being sold under the name of the Sophia Merchant Guild.
Other blends like "fatigue recovery," "women's fertility," and "men's fertility (?)" were also selling, but the men's blend received terrible reviews from the flower district. It seemed to put so much strain on the flowers in the brōtḥels that they were wilting. Feeling quite sorry about it, Sara sent fatigue recovery and skin beautifying herbal tea to the main brōtḥels without revealing the sender.
'Ironically, this proves Ms. Amelia's excellence.'
Thinking about how uncharacteristic this was for an 8-year-old, Sara finished checking the ledger. She called Maria to style her hair for today's concert, and Maria dressed her in a fluffy light blue dress. In her half-up hairstyle, she secured a stick barrette made from a slightly darker blue magic stone than her dress.
'Is this my first debut as a noble lady? Since I'm still a commoner, I might get some comments from people...'
However, Sara's worries turned out to be unnecessary. In fact, because she looked so much like Sophia (which was expected), many noblewomen were overly kind to Sara, wanting to deepen their connections with Sophia.
At Rebecca's tea party held in the morning, she was introduced as 'Sara, who will soon become an adopted daughter,' and she even played a little bit of the violin. Following the advice from those around her to "not overdo it," Sara played Bach's "Minuet No. 3," which she had performed at a recital when she was a child. Of course, Juliette accompanied her.
A popular bard from the capital also attended the tea party and performed trendy ballads. Actually, his performance was under a contract to use the sound source from Spieluhr, and employees from the Sophia Merchant Guild recorded it using a box with a magic stone.
One of the employees from the Sophia Merchant Guild looked shocked when they saw Sara, but it's understandable. Still, showing it on their face is a problem, so they need to improve employee training.
After that, noblewomen and their children took turns reciting poetry. It seems that recently, it has become popular to create poems on the spot with a set theme. The theme was 'autumn.' When it was Sara's turn, she stood up and read her improvised poem.
------
Red, red Elma fruit
If I touch it with my fingertips, I'm confused by its coldness
Red, red sunset
If I close my eyes from the brightness, familiar faces appear
Calling my father, hearing my mother's voice, distant memories of days
The blue, blue curtain of night approaches, and the sunset goes down
When I open my eyes and look back, kind people are calling me
I'm running toward the comforting voice, toward the warm home.
------
Sara thought, "I'm just happy to have new parents," and casually wrote a poem, but for some reason, it turned out to have a serious vibe.
"Uh-oh, did I mess up? Well, it's autumn, so I guess feeling sentimental is okay."
Suddenly, the bard sitting nearby started to put music to Sara's poem and sang it.
'Ahh, what is that? I feel like I'm being exposed! And they're even repeating the last part! Just because they're getting paid by the Grandchester family, they're going overboard!'
Sara's face turned bright red from embarrassment. But when she looked closely, she saw that the employees of the Sophia Merchant Guild were recording the impromptu song properly.
'I wasted magic stones on this.'
However, the noblewomen were listening deeply, and the music with this song would become popular, but right now, Sara just felt super embarrassed.
By the way, kids who can't make up poems often showcase their singing. Their cute performances while singing along with the bard's accompaniment are very heartwarming. Originally, Sara was supposed to sing and end it there, but Robert firmly insisted that she shouldn't sing in front of people, which led to her writing the poem earlier.
'I really feel like I messed up with the poem too. I stood out for no reason!'
At the tea party, filling snacks were served, so it naturally turned into lunchtime. Then, the afternoon would be a music appreciation session. The bard who sang with music added to Sara's poem and the orchestra that performed at the opening ceremony were eagerly setting up their instruments.
Sara played Mozart's "Turkish March" on the piano as the opening act, and a loud round of applause erupted around her. Everyone praised Sara's performance and the beauty of her movements.
'What's going on? I feel uncomfortable...'
Sara appreciate their kindness, but she can see a hint of ulterior motives behind it.
The bards and the orchestra know that the sound source for the Spieluhr is being recorded. This is because they share the income from the sound source. Plus, they have already received an advance payment, so they are in a really good mood. Their performance is lively.
Especially the bard's singing and playing was amazing, even for Sara, who had listened to various music in her past life. The theme was about fleeting love, and it reminded her of the music she heard in Spain during her Sarasa days.
'Love songs might be popular with noblewomen. It seems like it could become a hit as the first Spieluhr with a song sound source.'
Nearby, there was also a booth selling sheet music from the Sophia Merchant Guild. Since they are basically copying the works of great musicians from her past life, there might be some preferences, but there's no way they could be a total miss, which is great.
While preparing for the hunting tournament, Sara realized she could write both the full score and the parts for the orchestra, but transcribing a symphony into sheet music is a lot of work, so she probably won't do it for a while. Every time she thinks about her music cheat, she wonders, 'Was it the god of music who reincarnated me?' but she can at least be sure it's not the god of art.
'If it were the god of art, they wouldn't leave my artistic talent like that!'
Parents with children around the same age were eager to make their kids get along with Sara during the break. However, kids have their own personalities, and just because they are the same age doesn't mean they can become friends right away.
Sara was aware that she was the host, so when the kids approached her, she acted friendly. While offering snacks, she asked, "What instrument do you play?" However, most of the kids had already attended the tea party in the morning, where they listened to Sara's violin and piano performances. There was no way she could brag about her skills to someone who played better than her.
Time passed without finding a way to start a conversation, and the music appreciation event ended as scheduled. While she had made her debut as a noble lady, she failed to make friends her age, so it might not be considered a success in noble socializing.
In reality, Sara didn't plan to socialize or even try hard to be a noble lady, so she didn't care much about it. She just wanted Rebecca's tea party and music event to go smoothly.
However, considering that many noblewomen began to think, "If we marry Sara into our family, we might connect with the Sophia Merchant Guild," this social event could be seen as a big success. Sara herself was completely unaware of this.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Donate me
Support Me with USDC
(ERC20)
Support Me with XLM
(Stellar Lumens)