“Did you say you founded a Merchant Guild as the patron of Lord’s Young Lady, Frana Bella?”
“I’ve answered that three times now, and my answer hasn’t changed. To summarize for the masses, yes.”
“So it wasn’t a secret play after all…….”
Meat looked quite shocked. Even so, Meat still seemed suspicious, glancing around as if worried someone might be watching from behind a nearby building.
“You still think it’s some sort of secret act…”
Aside from the critical details, I exaggerated my meeting with Miss just enough.
When no mysterious actors ever appeared, Meat finally chose to believe me.
“Honestly, if it was just you boasting, I’d never have believed it… but with such a handsome bodyguard beside you, I guess I have no choice.”
“Haha… thank you.”
Why thank him… I suppose Slot really does enjoy being called handsome.
“You really never know about people. To think you’re running a merchant guild now… I even started to doubt if you were really the same person I knew…”
“Hey… it’s already been years since you left, after all…”
I felt a pang, but forced myself to appear indifferent.
With memories of Earth mixed in, I was certainly very different from how I’d been before Pizza.
But both were me…
“Well, you always were… a bit odd. You liked listening to stories about the world, seemed smart, but you were also so lazy, staring off into space for hours on end.”
Was I really like that? Suddenly, I was curious about how Meat had lived after leaving the village.
“Anyway… how have you been? I want to hear your story.”
“Me? I lived fiercely in the Grand City. It’s a long story… After I left the village, I headed for the Grand City… It took me seven days and nights on foot to finally arrive. All I brought was a few loaves of bread… I really thought I might die. But eventually, I reached Grunvalt. Once I got there, I had no idea what to do. I looked around and wandered into a restaurant that seemed to be doing good business. I asked if I could just help with anything.”
“After getting thrown out several times, I finally found a restaurant willing to take me in. That’s how I ended up working at the Meat Pie Shop. Looking back, the pay was so little it was embarrassing to call it a wage. After buying food, there was almost nothing left. I had to sleep on the floor of the shop after cleaning late into the night. I’d wake up first and leave last.”
“At first, I just cleaned, then learned to bake meat pies, prepare side dishes, do packaging—lots of things. But I couldn’t save much money. So I figured I needed to learn a skill if things were going to change. Coincidentally, a regular customer at the shop worked with coaches, and thanks to his introduction, I was able to start training as a Coachman.”
“Ah, of course, it wasn’t free. I poured every bit of money I’d saved into learning the skills to become a Coachman. It’s really an attractive job. The day begins before dawn. While everyone is still sleeping, you head to the stables and care for the horses. Check their condition and feed them, and that’s how your day starts. After that, you check the schedule. On days without a schedule, you might train with the horses or take a break. Those days are truly peaceful.”
This guy really must have a knack for being a Coachman…
“On days with outings, I’d clean the carriage and carefully check the horses’ condition. Usually, I’d escort the master, but on lucky days, I’d get to drive the Young Lady instead. The kind Young Lady often attended tea parties and gatherings of nobles, always dressed in truly beautiful clothes. I’d load her luggage into the carriage and set out.”
Why suddenly bring up the Young Lady?
“Sometimes, when she’s in a bad mood, she takes it out on me, but on good days, she speaks kindly. Then I can hear all sorts of city news and interesting stories about the nobles. The greatest perk of being a Coachman is experiencing so many different places. You get to sightsee, and if the party lasts late, you can rest until it’s over. By the time you escort them back, it’s evening already. Once back at the stables, you feed the horses, clean their hooves, or bathe them—and that’s the end of your day.”
I asked how he’d lived, and he gives me a long, winding story that seems never-ending, weaving in bits of every detail.
Meat must have had a tough time, but he seems quite satisfied as a Coachman.
The guy’s been through a lot…
“So… what happened to your face?”
“What do you mean?”
I glanced at his face.
A battered face.
Meat laughed awkwardly.
“Haha, in our line of work, that sort of thing happens sometimes. While working as a Coachman, sometimes I’d get hired by merchant companies, sometimes by nobles, but the jobs never lasted long. This was the third place I’d been hired. The Young Lady was beautiful and kind, but sometimes the master’s temper would turn violent…”
“That day, I was supposed to take the master out in the afternoon, but strangely enough, the Young Lady suddenly called for me in the morning. She needed to shop urgently and asked if I could take her into the city. My schedule was tight, but I couldn’t refuse the Young Lady, so I escorted her into town. I hurried, but arrived a little late, and the master was furious for missing his scheduled time. Well… I got beaten pretty badly.”
It seems being a Coachman means getting beaten isn’t that rare.
“Does this happen often?”
“Abuse from the higher-ups is common. Maybe if they had two carriages, it would be okay, but our master only owned one, so… In the end, the master was late for his appointment. I begged for forgiveness, but I got beaten and thrown out. Actually… recently, attitudes toward Coachmen have gotten really aggressive and oppressive.”
“So a lot of Coachmen have been leaving the city. Rumor has it there’s a Coachman’s Union hiring out on the outskirts. Honestly, if I hadn’t found a new employer by today, I was planning to head there myself. It’s really hard to get hired around here now…”
“If you have a good opportunity, why not take it?”
“Well… there’s some stuff from my previous job…”
Meat trailed off, not giving a clear answer.
He must have his reasons. Next to us, Slot, who had been quietly listening, spoke with anger in his voice.
“Which noble was it? From what I’ve heard, it wasn’t even Meat’s fault—he only drove the Young Lady out in the morning because she suddenly requested it. To be beaten and thrown out for that… Captain, what should we do?”
Slot turned to me quickly.
“What…what….what?”
“If we see injustice and ignore it, we’re no Unicorn Company. We should drag that noble out, strip off his jacket, and flog him in front of the villagers!”
This guy’s sense of justice is flaring up again…
Unicorn Company is quite good at putting up with injustice. But Slot apparently doesn’t see it that way.
“Hey, I’m the employer here… We’re not Hong Gil-dong, you know…”
***
Bram, Black Sass’s subordinate, stood close to Black Sass.
He was just a lowly subordinate, but the person before him was a great officer of the Demon Army.
“How is it progressing?”
At the question, Bram smiled and replied.
“It couldn’t be going more smoothly. More and more Coachmen are being hired by us.”
They created a culture of abusing Coachmen so the nobles would look down on them.
Then, by hiring Coachmen who’d come to hate the nobles, they turned them into subordinates of the Demon Army.
Later, these Coachmen would disrupt supply lines and spread chaos during the war with the Demon Army.
“It’s not just brainwashing nobles and high officials that matters… Sometimes, betrayal by those at the very bottom—Coachmen and servants—can inflict the greatest wounds. Even if they don’t plan logistics, it’s the Coachmen who actually transport the supplies.”
“Corrupt them from the bottom up…”
“Do whatever you must to make the Coachmen hate the nobles even more.”
Bram straightened further at those words and recited a phrase to him.
“Return of the Shadow Lord, prosperity to the Demon Army.”
Black Sass smiled in satisfaction.
***
We left the carriage exhibition and moved on.
I wanted to find an inn for the night, but Meat insisted he knew a good place.
The place we arrived at was where Meat seemed to be staying long-term.
According to him, it was much cheaper than any inn and the food was delicious.
As soon as we arrived, Meat placed an order and we continued our conversation.
Slot still insisted on punishing the noble. I talked Slot down.
“Do you think punishing one noble will solve the situation?”
“Well, at least it’d serve as a warning, and maybe the other nobles would be more careful?”
“And we’d become fugitives. Unicorn Company would become Unicorn Runaways after just one day.”
“Th-then, what if we punished him while wearing masks? No one would know who did it.”
Slot clearly seemed clever and innocent before, but in this state of justice-fueled agitation, he seems to lose his wits.
“Think about it. First, there’s no guarantee we wouldn’t get caught. And even if we punish one noble, it won’t fix the problem. Of course I’m angry about what happened to Meat, too. But to make a living, sometimes you just have to bow your head. There are plenty of workers to replace you.”
“In this job, Coachmen must always rely on being hired. Whether by a merchant guild or a noble. And even after you’re hired, if your employer doesn’t like you, they can easily just get a new Coachman. So punishing one noble won’t change anything.”
“So you’re saying we should just look the other way? That’s not what knighthood is about.”
Slot looked genuinely upset.
Who taught him this…? The knights in stories may cry out for justice, but real knights are different.
Real knights have to quietly endure their master’s injustice. Sometimes, like thugs, nobles order them to beat up whoever displeases them.
“Looks like he learned his code of chivalry from a novel…”
Still, I need to offer a solution… Otherwise, Slot will cause trouble and we’ll all end up as Unicorn Runaways.
“Slot, your idea isn’t a real solution. It doesn’t solve the root of the problem…”
“Then what should we do?”
“So what should we do?”
This time, both Slot and Meat spoke at once. I turned to Meat.
“You said it earlier.”
“I did? What?”
“If there were two carriages, there wouldn’t have been a problem, right? If there had been two, you could have driven the Young Lady while the other carried the noble…”
Meat looked disappointed.
“Well, yes, but… with the wealth of a lower noble, it’s not easy to maintain two carriages.”
“It’s hard to own two, but not hard to use two.”
“To use two?”
As a company builder, the Unicorn Company was all about making business items into Startups in this world.
The first item I’d gotten inspiration for from Miss Frana Bella was now coming into focus after meeting Meat.
“Meat, want to start a Startup with me?”
“S… what? What’s that?”
At last, it was time to launch the Unicorn Company’s very first Startup.
She wore a light pastry color dress with lace and detailed bead decorations.
A lace ribbon hat suited her face perfectly.
She wore amethyst jewelry—necklace, earrings, bracelet—that made her elegance shine.
A fan fluttered lightly in her hand. Her eyes were fixed on me.
Sometimes, it felt like she was watching me with a piercing gaze, but at the same time, there was an air of expectation.
“I’ll have to explain it to my friends again later. Not just pretty, but unbelievably beautiful…”
“Stop staring and greet the Young Lady.”
Sir Richard spoke, still smiling with narrowed eyes, but there was an inexplicable irritation in his tone. I knelt and greeted her.
“I have seen the Young Lady several times, but without a doubt, you are most radiant today. It is my honor to serve you.”
“There’s no need to kneel on both knees.”
She smiled slightly, as if amused, and boarded the carriage.
“As promised, I shall escort you to the Grand City.”
“Young Lady, you?”