Ailaira, of course, had no idea her ex-girlfriend was relentlessly pursuing her. At this moment, after half a month of arduous travel, she had finally returned to her hometown.
Sitting in the carriage, Ailaira admired the sights along the street.
Armored soldiers politely inquired about the prices of goods, and streams of people came and went through the Adventurer Hall. Even shops selling magic items, once rare, were now everywhere.
“Who would’ve thought that after all this wandering, I’d end up back here.”
Things were actually much better than Ailaira had imagined, surprising her a little. It seemed her hometown had developed quite nicely over the past few years.
She just wasn’t sure how the family Ranch was doing. After her parents were imprisoned, the property she inherited from them included the family Ranch.
But since the Verlendel Kingdom’s livestock industry was badly oversaturated, the Green Family’s Ranch was never very large to begin with, lacking any competitive edge.
Back then, Ailaira had only wanted to take her sister to the Royal Capital, so she couldn’t be bothered to manage the Ranch. She entrusted it to the housekeeper for the time being. The last update she’d gotten was two years ago, when the housekeeper mentioned the Ranch had suffered some kind of natural disaster and wasn’t running well.
As Ailaira pondered, the carriage stopped in front of a small but exquisite Western-style house. The housekeeper, who had already received the Messenger, was waiting at the door to greet her.
Dressed in a fluffy Maid outfit, the sweet and adorable housekeeper watched as the carriage door opened and immediately rushed up, tears welling in her eyes as she poured out her emotions:
“Uuuu, Young Master Ais, you’re finally back! Jody missed you so much! You wouldn’t believe, Eh? Who are you?”
Jody stared at the elegant girl before her with clear eyes.
The girl’s every gesture and movement matched her memory of the young master, but the gender was completely wrong! Had Miss been pickled and seasoned by that scheming young master? After hesitating for a long while, Jody tilted her head and tentatively asked, “Miss Vista?”
Ailaira lightly massaged her waist. The long carriage ride had left her body a bit stiff. Glancing at the bewildered housekeeper, she sighed years had passed, but Jody was still just as clueless.
“You didn’t get the person wrong, but the title’s off. Your Young Master Ais is now Miss Ailaira. From now on, the Green Family only has two young ladies.”
Ailaira handed over the token proving her identity to Jody and headed straight inside. Jody, meanwhile, clutched her little head, dazed at the entrance for quite some time before she finally sorted out her chaotic thoughts.
She shivered and muttered, “Is the Royal Capital that terrifying…? Even the young master gets turned into a young lady?”
“Wait, isn’t body modification illegal?!”
The slow-witted Jody finally snapped out of it and hurriedly dashed inside. Ailaira, just entering her home, didn’t go to her room to rest and recover from the journey.
Instead, she headed straight to the study and started going through the financial reports prepared on the desk. The documents detailed the Green Family’s income and expenses over the years since Ailaira had left.
As Ailaira mentally tallied up the gains and losses, her little Maid burst in, lugging a messy suitcase. Flustered, she said, “Ais… Miss Ailaira, I’ve arranged an escape route out of the kingdom. Let’s hurry and run! The Cathedral Inquisition Army will be here soon!”
Ailaira skimmed through the tidy figures without even looking up. “By the time you think to plan an escape, I’ll already be in prison, enjoying my old age with those parents.”
Jody collapsed to her knees in despair, the suitcase slipping from her arms and spilling a variety of snacks and desserts onto the floor.
“Does this mean I can’t escape either? Uuuu, don’t worry, Miss, even if we end up in jail, I’ll take good care of you! No matter what they try to force out of us, I’ll shoulder it all for you!”
“No need to worry about me getting caught. The Church has already handed down its verdict. The only reason you don’t know is that the news was sealed.”
Hearing this, Jody instantly perked up, patting her modest chest in relief. She thought to herself: Miss Ailaira really is incredible, committed such a huge crime, yet still came home unscathed. Relaxed at last, Jody quickly gathered up the scattered luggage.
“That scared me to death. I thought I’d have to see off two generations of the Green Family. Well then, Miss, I’ll go put things away and prepare lunch for you.”
Ailaira, however, rained on Jody’s parade with another casual comment: “No rush. If there’s a problem with this Account Book, all your packed things will come in handy.”
Jody’s cheerful smile froze on her face. She immediately turned into a nervous student awaiting her teacher’s corrections, anxiously watching every stroke of Ailaira’s pen.
Before long, Ailaira closed the Account Book and shut her eyes in thought.
“The Account Book checks out, but why did the Ranch’s profits drop so much starting two years ago?”
Jody didn’t hesitate for a second and answered fluently:
“Because two years ago, the Ranch suffered a series of natural disasters. First, strong winds destroyed the environment, and then, for some unknown reason, the cattle and sheep started disappearing. I suspected theft and hired adventurers to guard the Ranch, but found nothing.”
“Later, more and more livestock disappeared, but I still couldn’t catch the culprit. So I sold the remaining cattle and sheep and bought saplings, planting them where the Ranch used to be. With the profits from the Fruit Trees, I managed to keep the Ranch running.”
After finishing, Jody nervously lowered her head, staring at her toes and not daring to meet Ailaira’s eyes.
Although Ailaira had indeed entrusted her with the family business before leaving, it was still her master’s property. Making changes on her own was sure to earn her a scolding, right? Still, she wanted to quietly defend herself, poking her fingers together in grievance.
“I did write to you, Miss, to ask what to do. But you never replied, so I made the decision myself…”
“Miss, could you not fire Jody? I really like this job.”
Ailaira recalled the letter from two years ago, it had mentioned these things, but at the time, she’d been at a critical stage in constructing the Rite of Divine Audience and hadn’t had time to respond.
Thinking of this, she got up and walked toward Jody, ignoring her pale face, and stuffed a list into her arms, instructing: “Get everything on here ready. I want to see it when I get back.”
Jody looked back at Ailaira’s departing figure, pleasantly surprised: “Miss, does that mean I can stay?!”
“You can. Well done.”
Ailaira left the study, shaking her head at the cheers from behind. She couldn’t understand what Jody liked about this house so much. Jody had worked here since Ailaira’s parents’ time, starting as just a little errand Maid. After the Green couple was arrested and the other servants scattered like birds, only this silly girl stubbornly stayed.
Ailaira found that, while Jody didn’t seem very bright, she was unexpectedly gifted with managing finances. So after a bit of simple training, Ailaira let her take on the housekeeper’s duties. Looking at things now, this housekeeper was surprisingly capable.
Leaving the residence, Ailaira tapped her toe lightly on the ground, activating a magic circle on her shoe.
A jet of air propelled her rapidly into the sky, flying toward the Ranch in the forest outside the city.
Upon arrival, Ailaira hovered in mid-air, surveying her family’s Ranch from above.
The once lush woodland had been transformed into a vast orchard of Fruit Trees.
Judging by their growth, some magic techniques had been used to speed up the process, allowing the trees to bear fruit out of season.
Just as Ailaira was about to inspect the Ranch’s surroundings to see what kind of trouble Jody had been talking about, a swaying Fruit Tree caught her attention.
Focusing her gaze, she spotted a girl with horns on her head and a tail behind her, sprawled across a Fruit Tree and feasting away.