The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat - Volume 7 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5 | The Assassin Develops a Product

My date with Maha was underway. We were taking a break in a café after spending some time visiting famous tourist spots. It wasn’t long before we ended up discussing work. Dia hated talking about real life during our dates, but Maha was the opposite—she continually brought it up. She likely thought of business as a hobby rather than just a job.

“You said you rushed here using the fastest horses you could find, but how did you get the staff and product needed for the festival?” I asked.

I’d been wondering about that all day. Maha could accomplish difficult feats on her own using her power as a mage, but how did she get everything else here in time? She didn’t have any special items like my Leather Crane Bag to make transporting easier. Setting up a temporary Natural You store in the holy city by herself was nearly impossible.

“I got lucky. I’m in the process of opening a Natural You branch in a nearby town. I sent orders to that branch via carrier pigeon when I left Milteu, requesting to borrow the staff and stock for the celebration. I planned on holding a grand opening sale, so the branch had plenty of stock,” Maha explained.

“Oh yeah, you put that in your report.”

Natural You currently consisted of its headquarters in Milteu, one branch in the royal capital, and another in Maha’s hometown. I’d heard that she wanted to open another branch, but I didn’t know it was near the holy city.

“A flood of pilgrims visits the holy city every day. I’m opening the branch to capitalize on those customers. I wanted a store in the holy city, but I had to settle for a town twenty kilometers away.”

“I’m sure it’s hard to establish a business here, even for a company of our stature.”

There were a great many enterprises competing for a coveted spot in the holy city. Many of them wanted in for religious purposes, not just for profit. The waitlist was years long, and even opening a small shop cost a fortune. To make matters more difficult, money wasn’t enough—you needed powerful connections as well.

“Yeah, that might be a pipe dream. Even the price of land in the nearby town was insane… The lord of the domain helped us out because he happens to be a Natural You fan, but it’s going to take a while for us to get a return on our investment.”

The profit margin of Natural You’s cosmetics, the business’s main focus, was extremely high. That applied to all cosmetics. In my past world, it was common for skin lotion to sell for one hundred times what it cost to make. We weren’t that egregious—most of our products sold for about ten times the production expense. The price of opening the branch must have been enormous if earning back the investment would take a while.

“Even if the branch loses us money, the price will be more than worth it if we consider it an advertising expense. We’ll gain a lot by serving customers in the holy city,” I said.

Maha nodded. “Exactly. That’s why I decided to go ahead with it.”

Pilgrims came from all over the world to visit the holy city. Selling to them would spread our products far and wide. The new branch might not make a profit, but the cost would be cheap, considering the publicity it would bring. It was an example of Maha’s incredible wit as a merchant that she was able to make that call.

“If you’ve got staff and our regular product covered, then we have to think up a special item suitable for the festival,” I said.

“I was worried about that. I’m sure we’d make a fortune just selling our regular merchandise, but that’s not enough to leave a mark on the celebration, I suppose,” Maha replied.

“Natural You is still a young company. You could consider our lack of experience with this kind of event a weakness of ours. We were given a great location—we have a duty to live up to the expectation.”

Festivals were special occasions, and companies tried to rise to the occasion by offering unique goods that couldn’t be bought anywhere else.

“I understand that, but I think it’s a little ridiculous they expect us to prepare in a week.”

Companies normally spent half a year preparing for something like this. Product development was a lengthy process.

“These difficult circumstances are the perfect opportunity to set ourselves apart from the pack… We were finally able to improve our production lines, too. I want to use this chance to reach more people.”

Natural You had never been able to keep up with demand. Our production lines were less than adequate, and our inability to serve all our customers meant there was no point in trying to increase popularity. I had viewed this as an issue since the first store opened, and we’d only recently succeeded at increasing production.

Keeping the recipe for Natural You’s flagship product, moisturizer, a secret was what made increased production challenging. If the formula got out, anyone could easily fabricate an imitation. Rival companies regularly attempted to bribe our employees or sent secret agents into our factories, so we had to stay on guard.

“I want to impress, but I’m at a dead end. Which means it’s your turn, dear brother,” Maha said.

“What, are you leaving this product entirely to me?” I asked.

Maha wore a teasing expression. “Says the guy who counts on me to run Natural You by myself year-round. You need to step up and do some work every now and then, too. Let’s go back to the store.”

Work on a product didn’t end with its development. You also had to produce a sufficient supply, package everything, and explain the item to employees. That left us only one day to work on development.

“No, let’s continue our date for a little longer,” I responded.

“You’re not giving up, are you? We won’t get anywhere by hiding from reality.”

“No matter what we make, we’ll need materials, right? Given our limited time, the product has to be something we can manufacture in good quantity while remaining within budget against the resources available in the city. It would be most efficient for us to continue our date and look at shops to figure out what we can make.”

“Ah, that’s a good plan.”

“Also…” I trailed off, too embarrassed to continue.

“Go on.”

“You work so hard for me. I want to show my appreciation. Is a date sufficient?”

Maha giggled and gave me her best smile. “Yes, and then some. Let’s head out.”

She stood and urged me to do the same. After taking my hand, she leaned against me as we left the café.

We walked to a shopping district. The variety of businesses in the holy city truly was astounding. There were plenty of souvenir stores offering goods that came very close to breaking the rule against selling items related to the church.

“That book has to be exceeding every sales record,” Maha said.

“Please, don’t bring it up. I get a headache just looking at that fairy tale drawing of myself,” I grumbled.

“The book was actually pretty interesting… I want to hire the author. They couldn’t have had more than one or two days to draft it.”

“Yeah.”

That book was written absurdly fast. It was put to print three days after I killed the Puppeteer demon, which gave the author only two days to create the story. They likely had to deal with a long list of meticulous requests as well, including giving each of the cardinals a moment to shine and fitting the signature line into the last scene. That was to say nothing of the most important mission of improving the image of the Alamite Church. Only a talented author could have completed this book on such a short deadline while satisfying all their clients’ demands.

“The author’s name isn’t in the book,” Maha noted.

“It was probably left out in the interest of disseminating the church’s ‘truth.’ They decided it would be best for people to not think about the author of the story,” I explained.

“That makes sense… Excuse me, can I please buy five copies of that novel? Oh, really? It’s only three per person…? Then I’d like three of them delivered to the building where Natural You…”

“Hey.”

Maha ignored me and finished checking out.

“What are you playing at?” I asked.

“Oh, come on. You— Ahem, Lugh Tuatha Dé is so cool in this book. I have to buy it. I’ve already purchased a personal copy, but I want more as souvenirs. I think Mother will love it.”

An image of Mom gushing over how cool her “little Lugh” was while hugging me flashed through my mind.

“…I’m sure she would, but I wouldn’t be able to take it. Please don’t do this to me.”

“Hee-hee, no promises.”

“What are the other two for?”

“One is a spare and the other is for Tarte. She won’t buy a copy in front of you, but I’m sure she wants one very badly.”

“How kind of you.”

“She’s a friend… Actually, I’m not sure I think of her as a friend anymore.”

“Tarte would cry if she heard that.”

Maha was Tarte’s best friend.

“No, that’s not what I mean. ‘Friend’ just doesn’t feel right… She’s more of a clumsy and cute little sister. Yeah, that’s it. That might be why I don’t get too jealous of all the time she spends with you.” Maha clapped her hands and nodded as though satisfied.

“So she’s family.”

“Once your harem is complete, we’ll have to make our family official on the register.”

“I don’t know how I feel about the word harem.”

“What else would you call it?”

Ouch. In noble society, people would call Dia my first wife and Tarte and Maha my concubines, but I wasn’t comfortable with that, either.

“We’re a team.”

Maha giggled. “We’re certainly more than that.”

We continued to look around the shopping district as we talked. When we entered the back alleys, we found fewer shops geared at tourists and more that primarily served other businesses. Nothing gave me the inspiration I was looking for, though.

“Any good ideas yet, Illig?” Maha asked.

“I have a few, but I can do better. Let’s look around a little more.” There were a couple of candidates. I could throw something together using the city’s resources, but I wanted a quality product.

“I’ve always liked your refusal to settle.”

“You’re the only one who would put up with this.”

We kept walking until we reached the end of the shopping district. There was a church at the end of the street. Unlike the cathedral, which was built to flaunt the authority of the Alamite Church, this was a more compact establishment that also served as an orphanage.

There were children in the yard selling candles made of beeswax. It didn’t look like their business was going particularly well. Cheap oil lamps were widespread, decreasing demand for beeswax.

“Beeswax… That could work,” I muttered.

These orphanages received little from the church’s headquarters to give the kids comfortable lives, necessitating side businesses to make more money. Beekeeping was the primary industry in this quarter of the city. It was time-consuming and came with the risk of getting stung, but it didn’t require much strength, making it accessible to children. This region’s climate was too cold to grow sugarcane, driving up the price of sugar and creating a high demand for honey as a sweetener. Beekeepers earned a decent amount. They could also sell beeswax.

“What are you staring at that church’s yard for?” Maha asked.

“Maha. If you had to divide cosmetics into two major categories, how would you do it?” I questioned.

“Hmm… Broadly speaking, I’d divide it into skin care and makeup. The first is for improving the condition of skin, like Natural You’s signature moisturizer. The latter is for enhancing one’s appearance. Lipstick falls into that category.”

“If we were to make a new Natural You product, what should it be for?”

“Skin care,” Maha answered immediately.

“Why? Skin care is our core business, but we could find a new market if we put effort into a makeup line,” I argued.

“I disagree. The makeup market is too competitive and difficult to break into. It’s better to play to our strengths than to take on that challenge. Natural You became successful by making novel skin care products. We are associated with bringing out women’s original beauty, not embellishing it, and we should protect that image.”

I nearly grinned at the perfect answer. I’d taught my pupil well.

“That’s right. It’s important that we use festivals like this one to convey what makes Natural You special.”

I approached the kids in the yard and told them I’d buy their entire stock of beeswax, including what they had in reserve. They excitedly sprinted into the church and returned with handfuls of containers.

“What are you going to do with all these candles, Illig? I thought you wanted to make a cosmetic product,” Maha said.

“Yeah, I am. I’m buying them for the beeswax. I can use it to make something great.”

Beeswax was formed from honeycombs, making it safe to digest. It was perfect for the item that would convey Natural You’s core message.

“I can’t imagine how a candle can be used for cosmetics.”

“I think you’ll like it once you see the finished product. Also, I’m not just using this beeswax because it’s a good ingredient. It will add value that will make this new commodity into the perfect festival item… I need to speak with the priest.”

Quality wasn’t the only factor that determined a product’s success—the packaging and added value mattered, too. I had to negotiate with the priest to ensure I could present this product how I envisioned.