I took a deep breath. "Don't worry," I thought to myself, "just think of them as customers from your past life. I have marketing skills, so this should be okay, right?"
I walked down the stairs and saw three people sitting in the main room.
"Welcome, sir and madam. I am Ruby Gredoll, the temporary leader of this house while my parents are on duty in the capital."
I sat in the chair where my father usually sat. I observed the three visitors: a thin man wearing a butler's uniform with a monocle, a portly man adorned with gold accessories, and a woman in secretary's attire. I often saw them come to our home, debating with my father.
"Are you sure a child like you can handle a negotiation?" the portly man asked.
"Does that mean you're not interested in our dragon?" I countered.
"Well said. Let's begin. We'll buy your dragon for 600 gold coins."
"Do you have a detailed price breakdown?"
"Of course I do."
I noticed the soldier from earlier standing near the door. I gestured for him to come to my side. He approached and handed me some papers while the secretary began preparing her own documents.
"Here's our receipt," she said, handing me the papers. "We've weighed the dragon meat, dissected the bones, peeled and counted the scales, plucked the teeth, and harvested the organs."
I compared the papers from the merchant and guards. The quantities were roughly the same, so I didn't mind their slight overcounting.
"How did you accomplish all this so quickly?"
"We have professional looters, of course," the portly man answered proudly.
"Are you certain your hired help didn't steal any scales?"
"They're slaves. What could they possibly do?"
"Oh, I didn't realize slavery was still legal," I remarked, momentarily forgetting I lived in a mid-century setting.
"Thanks to the new rule, slavery is allowed to a certain degree."
I continued to read their paper, then consulted the selling history book, comparing their price with previous records. After thinking for a while, I made my decision.
"I'll pay you 500 gold coins."
"What part do you want to keep for yourself?"
Oh, he understood I'd be taking some parts.
"I want the meat from its tail, and I also want its magic crystal."
I wanted to try dragon meat, and the crystal could probably help grow my mana pool.
"The dragon's high price is due to its crystal. It's unreasonable to cut only 100 gold coins from the payment," he blurted out after hearing my proposal.
"Oh dear, what can I do? I want the crystal too. Do you want to buy it or not? If you don't, I'll use the whole dragon for myself," I said, putting down the receipt.
"Do you want to sever Greydoll's relationship with us?"
"No, you're currently negotiating with Ruby, not the entire Greydoll family. As I killed this dragon solo, have you ever seen such a beautiful dragon corpse? No blood spilled, no scars, only a hole in its head. Imagine how much you could sell the whole bone structure to collectors."
"Is what she's saying true?"
The butler whispered something to him. Why couldn't he just speak out loud and clear?
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"If you can keep providing us dragons in perfect shape—no, any monster—I'll buy from you at a 30% higher price than the current rate."
"So you're agreeing to my proposal of 500 gold coins?"
The secretary wrote up a contract quickly. I read the content.
"Only 10 corpses and then the 30% increase is over?"
"Yes, we don't want to make it look like you've entered into a trap contract with us. Also, we can always renew the agreement."
I kept reading and saw his name, Burdun… Noviria. I snapped to attention and put the contract down.
"Noviria family?"
"Yes, we are," he said proudly.
"I'm sorry, but I need to reconsider my decision to sell the dragon to you. You can contact my grandfather if you wish to convince me further," I said as I closed the selling history book and stood up, preparing to leave.
"Can you tell us the reason why?" he asked, sounding worried, as if he might lose a fortune.
"Nina Noviria," I said, pointing to my feet. "Tell her to come here, kneel before me, and beg for forgiveness. How dare a mere count's daughter disrespect a Greydoll?"
"What are you talking about?" he asked, looking at his butler.
The butler whispered to him, and his face turned red with anger.
"I am terribly sorry for what my daughter did to you," he said, bowing deeply. The secretary began putting the papers back into her suitcase.
"You'd better hurry before the dragon corpse starts rotting," I warned.
The three of them then rushed to their carriage.
"Young miss, is it alright to do this?" the guard asked.
"I haven't reported the party incident to my grandfather yet. I asked my parents to keep it quiet," I explained, opening the book to show the guard beside me. "I don't know much about nobility, so I think I want that girl to become my guide. She seems influential enough. I've also noticed my father started selling dragon parts to him at higher prices since that incident."
"This is... too expensive," the guard remarked.
"Yes, it slowly increased to 50% higher than usual rates. I think that's punishment enough for them."
"You are so kind, miss."
"Well, I'm wearing my pendant right now. I wonder what the other me would do. At the party, I was thinking of burning down the whole building."
I returned to my father's office and opened the door to find the maid crying.
"Cook me chicken stew. I'll decide what to do with you after I've tasted your cooking."
"Ah... yes!" She stood up, startled.
I walked to the kitchen with her following behind.
"Wipe your tears. You don't want them to be suspicious, right?"
"Okay."
I opened the kitchen door.
"Hello, chefs. Could you all stop cooking and take a break? I need to interview a new maid," I said, clapping my hands to get their attention.
"Oh, okay, Ruby," said the head chef. "You all heard what Ruby said! Stop cooking right now!"
"Aye, sir!"
The chefs stopped cooking, turned off the stoves, and walked outside. Some of them cheered for me.
"Alright, start cooking."
"Okay!"
I watched her prepare the meat. Her knife skills were impressive.
"How can you make such novice moves if you're a professional? Isn't your mentality too weak for an assassin trusted by the crown prince?"
"I was trying to observe you for a month, looking for your weaknesses. I also have a presence-concealing skill, but you still detected me. I have many reasons prepared in case you caught me."
"You're too ambitious for an assassin. You're not even willing to die if your mission fails. Are you really an assassin, or is this another way to approach me?"
She didn't answer.
"I'm not good with people, so I don't know if you're lying right now."
I took off my pendant and put it in my pocket.
"I'll kill you if you spy on me again. You'd better hurry up; I need to meet the Noviria family shortly."
Half an hour later, she served me a bowl of chicken stew. I glanced at it once and looked at her.
"Serve this to your family. I don't want to eat it. Take this gold and never come back."
I tossed her 10 gold coins.
"Th-thank you for your kindness."
She then ran away after taking the gold. I felt something ominous about her—she knew about my ability. The only time I used my skill was when I ordered her to walk to the door. The rest of the time, I was talking normally, yet she acted as if controlled. I was agitated, nearly killing her by casting out the magic spell in her head.
I know this house is small, but she seemed familiar with it, as if it wasn't her first time here. She knew where the ingredients were. Could she be bait to draw Greydoll into opposition with the crown prince?
I then looked at the chicken stew in front of me. I burned the whole pot and bowl to charcoal before going to where the chefs usually sit during their break.
"Sorry, guys. The new maid burned a pot and bowl. She's been rejected, of course."
"What? How is it possible for a person to be that bad?"
"Ahahaha!"
They laughed and returned to the kitchen.
"Hey! Cook me some chicken stew!"
"Okay, Ruby!"
Yeah... I hope I don't run into any more problems after my business with Noviria is done.