Volume 7 Chapter 4 Not Just at School, But Tons of Problems in My Private Life Too
The wild, festival-like energy of the entrance ceremony finally faded out.
The next week, Randy and his group headed back to Victor, with a new academy life waiting just ahead.
Their goal?
Of course, growing the new town──Verinea.
The town's layout was already mapped.
Houses lined the streets, and the place was buzzing.
But stacked against the royal capital──or even Rivernant, the biggest city in the dukedom──it still felt like a small, backwater town.
For Victor, Verinea was a pretty good-sized change.
But nobody wanted it to be another capital or a giant city like Heisenberg.
Still, measuring by the actual concept for the town, it was pretty far off from anything fancy.
To be blunt, it just wasn't impressive.
You could call it plain.
Ordinary.
Nothing special.
In the unremarkable magistrate's mansion in Verinea, Randy sat on the couch, holding a report.
Keith, always there to back Randy up, stood by quietly.
The reports had started before noon.
After a lunch break, they were only now reaching the finish line.
"Last thing──the spinning mill. Construction just started outside town."
Keith handed him the latest report.
Randy took it, mumbling "Thanks," and reached for his coffee.
He stared down at the report, tilted his cup, and let out a small groan.
"So, the city plans are on track... mostly."
Randy set the cup down and murmured that.
Keith just nodded. "Yes."
Keith was right──the city project had no serious snags.
Even the population growth matched what they'd hoped for.
Only one real snag remained: how would they actually make the town lively?
That was the big, looming problem──Randy's problem.
They had the town's concept.
The talent for it, too.
Whether they could truly make the most of it──that was all on Randy... and Alan.
Randy had mouthed off to Madame──and more than that, had made a promise to Lucian.
Messing this up wasn't an option.
Without Braubelg, it was up to him to make the town pop, enough to shock Lucian himself.
School was starting up again, but for Randy, this was just as important.
To sharpen his focus, Randy slapped his cheeks, then looked over at Keith.
"Keith, how's your wife doing?"
"......"
Keith held the silence, but must have realized there was no point protesting the 'wife' comment.
He gave a resigned look and finally opened his mouth.
"She's in a meeting for the new workshop design."
"Got it."
So things were going smoothly on that front too.
If Madame got the workshop she wanted, he'd definitely do his best work.
But his part wouldn't kick off for a good while yet.
"Still a ways till things really start... but we've got mountains to do."
Since using the Braubelg brand was off the table, they'd have to prep everything themselves.
Find buyers, set up deliveries, market to the upper class──
Plus, they'd be selling finished goods, so commoners needed to hear about it too.
(Really shows how wildly competent Braubelg was...)
Looking to the ceiling, Randy realized he still only had the vaguest outline of a plan.
Up till now, he'd only worked on development.
The crucial stuff after that──he'd left it all to Cedric and Lucian.
No wonder he was lost.
Sure, he'd had a hand in selling beauty products before, but without Braubelg's name, it never would've taken off as smoothly.
He might still be scrambling for market share, fighting uphill the whole way.
"Ughhh. For real, it's not like I've got time for school right now."
Randy eyed the ceiling again, muttering if he should just quit altogether.
Keith let out a small sigh.
"About that, the master wanted me to tell you──"
Keith said it like he'd seen Randy's dropout comment coming a mile away.
Randy couldn't help turning to face him.
"'There's stuff you can only get at the academy. Or do you want to break your promise to Elizabeth and Eleonora?' That's what he said."
Keith grinned, while Randy jabbed back, "It's the academy, okay?"
"I was just saying it out loud."
Randy shook his head, repeating that it was just a manner of speaking, and Keith should know better than to say too much.
"You wouldn't want to upset your loved one, would you?"
Keith smirked again, while Randy's cheek twitched slightly.
It felt like Keith had lost all restraint in dealing with Randy since that day he had envied their reunion with Madame.
But Randy wasn't one to let it slide.
"When you say it, it sounds so lightweight."
Randy smirked back, causing a faint twitch in Keith's cheek.
Keith had no retort, knowing he'd only continued to sadden Madame.
"But still, it's enough to satisfy His Excellency..."
It wasn't just a matter of patching things up on a whim.
After all, even if Madame was left aside, selling the ready-made products of an unknown designer was no easy task.
In the merchant guild, they'd simply get buried and fade away among the other makers.
Randy massaged his head again, and Keith spoke with a sigh.
"Perhaps, it would be better to publicly appeal to the revival of Elris's... Madame Valmoir?"
Keith tilted his head, but Randy shook his head, "No way."
That's right.
As they said, no one else knew yet that Madame Valmoir was making a comeback.
Only Braubelg and Victor were in the know.
"But we're actually at a dead end."
Randy agreed with Keith but had no intention of using Madame's name value.
Randy stubbornly shook his head and, with a quizzical look from Keith, said, "Hey," as he tossed the report he was holding onto the desk.
"The difference between having Madame and just saying 'Madame was here' is like night and day, right?"
What Randy meant was that even if they used Madame's name value to draw attention, in the end, only Madame would be noticed.
Of course, over time, the other designers and their products might get some attention too, but it would always be seen through the lens of "because Madame is there."
If they made Madame the poster girl, this place would just end up as "the town where Madame lives," and that's it.
But what Randy and Liz wanted was different.
They were aiming to turn this town into a fashion mecca.
"Most people don't even need to know Madame's here."
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