Chapter 323 The Morning Commotion After Oversleeping
Because she stayed up late the night before, Sara woke up slower than usual that morning.
Maria visited Sara's room at the usual time, but when she called out, there was no sign of Sara waking up. When she opened the curtains, she saw Sara frown and turn over, so she decided to let her sleep a little longer.
Sara finally woke up more than an hour later than usual, crawled out of bed, and quickly fixed her messy hair with her hands. The light coming through the window was brighter than usual, and the room felt warm.
"I guess I overslept. I was up late last night."
After filling the bowl Maria left for washing her face with magic water, Sara finally felt awake. When she got closer to the window, she saw golems busily running around in the garden.
"Hey, are there intruders at this time?"
Just as she was about to open the window, there was a knock on the door, and Thomashiina called out to ask for entry. When Sara allowed her in, Thomashiina approached quietly and gracefully curtsied in front of Sara.
"Good morning, Milady Sara."
"Good morning, Thomashiina. Have you all learned the manners of noble ladies too?"
"If they show them in front of the golems, we will imitate those manners."
"That makes sense. I'm glad to hear your learning is going well. Teaching golems etiquette at the new school might not be a bad idea."
"That wouldn't be a problem for me as a Magi, but I came to talk about something else."
Suddenly, a loud voice was heard from outside the tower.
"I recognize that voice. Is that Mr. Theofrastos?"
"You're quite perceptive. It seems he has been carried by a golem for a while now, and it looks like he has found out Sir Rihito is here in the tower."
"Oh, I see. So he came to see his great-grandfather. But it sounds like he's angry about it."
"She's angry at Ms. Alicia. It seems he wasn't pleased that she didn't inform him about Sir Rihito."
"Oh dear. I thought he was soft on Alicia."
"It seems to depend on the situation."
Since Rihito is staying here, the rule against men being present has been broken. It would be quite unfortunate to keep Theofrastos any longer.
"Thomashiina, if Alicia and Rihito don't mind, let's allow them to meet inside."
"Understood."
"However, my business is not with Mr. Theofrastos."
"Oh, is that so?"
Thomashiina communicated through Magi to the golems outside, granting permission for Theofrastos's visit, while handing Sara a piece of paper. It listed the names of merchant guilds that enter and exit the Grandchester territory.
"The Sophia Merchant Guild hasn't opened yet, but several merchant guilds have sent messengers requesting an appointment to meet Lady Sophia. This is the list."
"Oh, for buying wheat, huh? I told them to make a reservation at the Commerce Guild yesterday."
"Since the employees haven't arrived yet, it seems the golems are lining them up."
"Is everyone following the golems' instructions?"
"I don't think there's a merchant who doesn't know about the golems from the Sophia Merchant Guild. They wouldn't dare to go against them."
"I see. So everyone is being good and waiting in line. That's fine. I want to finish this before I go to the Harrington territory, so please tell them to submit the documents today with the amount of wheat they want to buy and their desired purchase price. I'll only negotiate for 3 days starting tomorrow, with 15 minutes for each merchant guild and a 5-minute break in between."
"I understand, but... you're negotiating in a pretty high-handed way."
"Oh, but yesterday I was the one who was called out and pressured by sheer numbers, okay?"
'If they were normal merchants, they would probably listen. After all, the head of the Commerce Guild is in charge, and it would be a problem if they got banned from entering. But that's just intimidation.'
Sara was angry that she was using her stock of wheat to threaten the merchants while easily ignoring her own actions, treating them like a tough interview.
On the other hand, Thomashiina was moving her hands while talking to Sara. She created a form for the buyers on a new piece of paper and presented it to her.
"If they fill it out like this, it should reduce confusion, right?"
"Yes, thank you, Thomashiina."
Sara checked the standard form and approved it. By now, the golems from the Sophia Merchant Guild were probably handing out the same forms to the messengers from the merchant guilds that visited them. Moreover, the golems' writing was very beautiful. They must have learned from a textbook on writing.
"Looking at the long term, I know that being cold isn't the best strategy, but negotiating with this many merchant guilds is impossible. Time is limited, after all. I want to believe they understand that too. And to be honest, I want to keep the sale of wheat to a minimum."
"Is it for price manipulation?"
"That's a harsh way to put it... Well, I admit it's hard to call it a fair trade."
"If Milady Sara releases all the stock she has into the market, there will be chaos. It's really a forbidden move, isn't it?"
"I know that. Most of the wheat I have needs to be saved until a real famine happens. Time stops in spatial storage, so there's no worry about it going bad."
Thinking about how busy she would be starting tomorrow, Sara decided it would be best to change her plans for today. She rang the bell by her bedside to call Maria.
She instructed Maria to get her clothes ready and began to put on her underwear eagerly. Thomashiina, having learned from watching her change many times, started to assist Maria.
"Thomashiina is really impressive. You're much more skilled than I was when I was a maid-in-training, and it makes me feel a bit insecure."
"I'm just mimicking Lady Maria and the other maids."
"Being able to replicate everything so accurately is amazing."
Maria smiled wryly but continued to give Thomashiina detailed instructions.
"If we're talking about forbidden moves, I think the existence of Magi is pretty unfair too."
"That includes us as terminals, right? It's strange for the created Milady Sara to say that."
"You all are part of the Magi, right? It's not just the 3 wise scholars."
"Recently, Balthazar has been saying that each golem should have more personality."
"I think they already have personality."
"Sure, there are differences, but according to Balthazar, it's just a matter of error."
"Ugh. If anything, the personalities of the Three Wise Scholars are too strong."
"The personality of the Magi is based on Milady Sara, so that personality originally comes from you, you know?"
"I don't want to admit that..."
"Milady Sara is still young, so please say that when you're a bit more grown-up."
"How does the Magi know this line?"
"I picked it up from Sir Rihito's records. It's surprisingly used a lot."
"That makes sense. Still, you have a lot of useless knowledge."
"There's no such thing as useless knowledge!"
Even though it was morning, Sara felt a bit tired.
After changing and fixing her hair, Sara left her room and started down the stairs toward the dining hall when she noticed Theofrastos shouting loudly. It seemed he was scolding Alicia.
Curious, she peeked into the library and saw the two of them arguing near the second-floor carrels.
"Mr. Theofrastos, what's going on this early in the morning?"
"Oh, Miss Sara, I apologize for the disturbance."
"I could hear it all the way in my room. You don't need to shout that loud; Alicia can hear you just fine. What's the matter?"
"I heard that my great-grandfather returned to the tower. However, Alicia didn't inform me about it."
"Rihito didn't want it, so Alicia wouldn't just tell you."
"But Paracelsus is my great-grandfather and the head of our family. So why is there no news at all? Even his wife lives in our house!"
Looking around, Rihito is nowhere to be seen. It seems he has been out since this morning.
"Thomashiina, can I ask about Rihito's schedule?"
"He's cleaning up the basement where he was sleeping. He also has some other materials related to Magi. Lady Amelia seems to be gathering plants in the Secret Garden, so she asked me to bring lunch for both of them."
"I see. Is he taking the golems with him?"
"Yes. There's a lot of heavy work, so two of them are helping."
"Then could you let him know that Mr. Theofrastos is in the tower?"
"He already know, but he said, 'Just ignore that bed-wetter Theo'."
"That's from over 40 years ago!"
"Well, it sounds like something a relative who knew him as a kid would say. Don't take it to heart."
Sara and Alicia looked down, trying hard not to laugh at Rihito exposing Theofrastos's past.
"Father, great-great-grandfather did go to see Sylvia and it seems they talked, you know?"
"What?! He came to our house?"
"Well, it seems he didn't stop by the main building on his way back."
"Why? Why won't Mr. Paracelsus show himself to us? There are so many alchemists who want to see him, even just once!"
Theofrastos shouts loudly. However, the more he makes a fuss, the calmer Sara becomes, which is quite strange.
"Maybe that energy of yours is annoying. He doesn't seem like the type who likes loud noises."
"But if he come to my house, I can prepare a laboratory for him."
"Can that really compete with this Maiden's Tower?"
"Ah, well... that's impossible, but we can't have him staying here forever."
"Rihito has officially contracted with the Sophia Merchant Guild. You don't need to worry; we will properly prepare a research facility just for Rihito. More importantly, Mr. Theofrastos and the alchemist guild should stop interfering with Rihito. He is an alchemist who is solely focused on pursuing his own interests. If you interfere too much, he might leave the Grandchester territory and go somewhere else."
"But if that happens, we alchemists won't be able to learn from Mr. Paracelsus."
Theofrastos kept talking to Sara.
"I'm not a teacher, so I'd like to be left alone. Little Theo is still a greedy and selfish brat."
When Rihito appeared at the entrance on the second floor, Theofrastos hurried over to him.
"Mr. Paracelsus!"
"It's been a while since you started calling me Paracelsus. You used to call me 'gramps'."
"I'm not a kid anymore. I'm the Guild Manager of the alchemist guild, you know."
"Hmm. Theo has really grown up. Have you stopped wetting the bed?"
"Please stop bringing that up! I made mistakes when I was a kid!"
"That's the privilege of a great-great-grandfather."
With Rihito around, even Theofrastos is treated like a child.
"Anyway, I won't be living in your house. I might visit Sylvia, but I won't stop by the alchemist guild unless I have to. I really hate being bothered. Theo, stop clinging to your great-grandfather. If you keep making a fuss, you should be ready to be kicked out by a golem."
After saying what he wanted, Rihito returned to the basement in the Secret Garden. Theofrastos could only watch silently and sadly left Maiden's Tower to head back to the alchemist guild.
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