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The Scorned Noble Lady Picks Up The Path of Alchemy in Her Second Life

Dining with Alice

Translated by: S3

Treat me to a Ko-Fi to give me more motivation!!!

*****

It was the morning, three days after I had created two hundred potions and finished the quality check. My days were now spent visiting Lord Clein’s clients and making deliveries.

By reporting that I had personally created the potions and had become Lord Clein’s assistant, I gained the trust of the clients. While normally, earning trust would be difficult, my experience handling noble requests at the Adventurers Guild had a positive impact.

Even with the career change, their trust in me remained constant. Coupled with Lord Clein’s excellent reputation, transactions proceeded smoothly without any major trouble.

The only difficult place to deliver to was my former workplace, the Adventurers Guild. Since Catarina, my ex-fiancé’s affair partner, was in charge of the noble clients, I really did not want to step foot in there.

Therefore, I arranged to meet my former receptionist colleague, Alice, during the day and was now visiting a restaurant near the Adventurers Guild.

This restaurant, famous for its beautiful night view, was Alice’s family's business, so I was using the space to conduct the potion transaction.

「I can’t believe the day has come for Mia to become an alchemist and wholesale potions to the Adventurers Guild.」

Seeing Alice squinting and inspecting the potion in her hand, I felt exactly the same way. I never thought I would be asking Alice to appraise a potion.

「I’m still just an apprentice alchemist, you know.」

「You say that, but isn't this a pretty good potion? You made it all by yourself, right?」

「Well, yeah. Even when I appraise it myself, I think it qualifies as good quality.」

「More than just good quality, hmm... It has a significant artisan-level, professional feel to it.」

As we were chatting, Alice’s father brought over the special omelet rice with demi-glace sauce.

「I heard, Mia-chan. You became the Court Alchemist's assistant, didn’t you?」

When I worked at the Adventurers Guild, eating lunch at this restaurant was a daily routine, so he already knew my face and name. Since he was Alice’s father, I felt a familiar resemblance, which allowed me to interact with him easily.

「Thank you. It’s only been a week, though.」

「But it’s still a step up, isn’t it?」

「Since it’s an entirely different profession, I feel 'a step up' is slightly inaccurate. You could just think of it as a normal job change.」

Unlike my own father, he spoke to me very frankly... but Alice, right in the middle of her adolescence, seemed annoyed. She only took the omelet rice and shooed him away with her hand as if dealing with a nuisance.

「Yes, yes, go away, Dad. You're interrupting a conference of beautiful maidens.」

Perhaps this is what girls her age are like. Alice’s father seemed busy, too, and quickly returned to the kitchen after saying, 「You girls take your time.」

「Honestly... that is so embarrassing.」

Alice, whose face was flushed red, maintained a harsh attitude, but I knew she didn't genuinely dislike him. It was well-known from her time at the Adventurers Guild that Alice actively helped out at the shop. Her nature was usually straightforward, but she couldn’t be honest with her family—that was Alice.

I immediately took a bite of the omelet rice that was just made for me, and the familiar, nostalgic taste filled my mouth.

It had only been about a week since I quit the Adventurers Guild. Yet, eating with Alice like this felt like it had been a very long time.

Above all, the fluffy eggs and rich demi-glace sauce were exquisitely delicious.

「Alice’s father is such a good cook, isn't he? You can really tell he’s a professional.」

「I think it just means Mia’s taste buds are commoner-level.」

「Hmm, that might not be entirely wrong. My family doesn't hire a chef; a commoner maid makes our meals. Our dinner table is usually filled with commoner dishes.」

「Whoa, what a shocking truth. That's a noble secret I didn't want to know.」

Alice seemed to think nobles were creatures from a different world, and hearing a practical detail like that gave her culture shock.

Since we had been eating lunch together for three years, I wished she would realize sooner that we shared a similar palate.

While thinking that, Alice suddenly looked startled, as if she remembered something.

「Ah, that’s right. I had a shocking story too.」

「What is it?」

「Well, Catarina had been absent from the Adventurers Guild without notice, but it looks like she’s finally been fired.」

Alice told me this with a casual expression, but as a commoner, she didn't grasp the gravity of the situation. Having the noble clients' attendant fired was a major incident that could cause an enormous amount of trouble. Nobles are, after all, extremely bothersome creatures.

It's not just the Adventurers Guild, but nobles tend to dislike having their attendant changed drastically. They are easily provoked if they feel they are being treated carelessly or neglected. They become highly wary because they have to start by probing the new attendant’s intentions.

Even when I resigned, I spent three months on the handover process and visited all the relevant parties multiple times to offer my greetings. If they try to assign another person in such a short period, there will be more nobles who cause trouble than those who don't.

Speaking of which, Catarina was with Lord Zeel when I delivered the annulment papers. The thought that she might have skipped work at the Adventurers Guild to accompany Lord Zeel... is frighteningly plausible.

「Then who is going to handle the noble requests from now on? There aren't any nobles currently employed at the Adventurers Guild, right?」

「That’s the problem. There’s no one who can properly use respectful language for customer service, so the Guild Master is temporarily handling the proxy work... but it feels like it's going to get passed to me.」

「W-woah... Seriously, Alice, I wouldn't recommend it. You should definitely decline. It's not suited for straightforward Alice.」

「I agree. But they seem to have strange expectations because I was close with Mia.」

Even if the clients were girls her age, most of the people who submit requests to the Adventurers Guild are the heads of noble houses. If a commoner girl goes to a request meeting, the best she can hope for is to be turned away.

However, it is also true that there is no other suitable person. And it's not appropriate for me, who is not even an employee, to intervene unnecessarily.

「Even if you have to handle noble requests, be careful. If any problems arise, I think I can help you a little, so don't hesitate to ask.」

「Yeah, thanks. It'll probably be a temporary measure until a new noble attendant is hired, so I guess I just have to bear with it until then.」

「I see. I wish I could go back to the Adventurers Guild to help you out, but I can’t exactly do that...」

「Don't worry about it. We'll manage somehow over here. More importantly, Mia, you should be careful. Your ex-fiancé is rumored to be quite agitated.」

When the topic suddenly shifted to Lord Zeel, I remembered his confrontation with me a few days ago. However, although there were elements I needed to be cautious about, I couldn't think of any reason for him to be agitated.

Perhaps it was the effect of him saying he would get serious. They must be mistaking his overflowing determination for agitation.

「Maybe he just seems agitated because he's always been volatile. When I handed him the annulment papers, he was elated.」

「Maybe his true colors are showing? Perhaps he can't manage things well with you gone.」

「I don't think that's true. After all, he said he was going to get serious now.」

It was certainly a make-or-break moment for Lord Zeel, who had presumably been acting as if he couldn't do alchemy to hide his true talent. Since Obaba-sama said the rumor spreading was "the man who cheated and was dumped by his fiancée," he must be desperately trying to work hard at alchemy to improve his image.

There was no way the punchline was that he genuinely couldn't do alchemy and was panicking. However, Alice seemed to believe that, resting a hand on her forehead and letting out a deep sigh.

「Mia. That is absolutely the line of someone who's already raised a total defeat flag.」

「What’s that? Is that a word that’s popular among commoners?」

「Well, you'll understand eventually. Anyway, please be careful not to get dragged into any strange incidents.」

「That goes for you too. Handling noble requests is much harder than you think.」

We discussed the events that had occurred in just a single week, sharing information with each other.