The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 211

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Part 2, Episode 16
Of course I knew the name of the woman said to be the most beautiful in the Empire. But she rarely appeared in high society, and the people of Russell Count House had been too busy with survival to pay her any attention.
“Good day.”
Soon the door opened and Brisa and Delmia entered.
“I am Delmia Naisar.”
Delmia wore a black hat draped with a veil, so her face was not clearly visible. Thanks to this, I was not captivated as the rumors suggested, but even the slight glimpse of her jawline conveyed considerable allure.
“Please forgive me for not being able to remove my hat just now. My eyes are rather swollen.”
Delmia spoke with a plaintive tone.
Brisa added her own words.
“She saw Alpheus just now. She said tears keep coming.”
“You mean Marquis Sears?”
Jerdian blinked as he asked in return.
These days, Alpheus had been doing work spreading seaweed thinly in sunlit places to dry. It was quite labor-intensive and the volume of seaweed was large, so he worked all day long.
“But it’s a mechanical arm. It’s not particularly wet and it works wonderfully.”
His mechanical fingers were even extremely useful.
“How convenient it is when meticulously cleaning the seaweed!”
She wept seeing that sight?
Brisa shrugged and spoke.
“So we couldn’t even greet Alpheus. She just watched from behind.”
Was that labor scene with the seaweed spread truly so sorrowful?
Only then did I notice the tray Brisa was carrying.
On a round metal tray were stacked crispy black sheets of paper-like material.
“Would you like to try some?”
“…Pardon?”
Jerdian nearly stepped backward at Brisa’s suggestion. Surely she wasn’t asking him—he wasn’t a goat—to eat paper?
“It’s seaweed.”
Looking more closely, salt was sprinkled lightly over it. The surface gleamed, as if it had been fried in oil.
“Ah… um….”
But his hand hesitated, and Delmia lifted her veil slightly.
“B-Brisa always recommends things that are delicious….”
Her moist red eyes gazed upon the Russell Count.
“I see!”
At once the Russell Count seized a piece of seaweed and bit into it.
“…Oh?”
The Russell Count’s eyes widened.
Brisa shrugged once.
“Delicious, isn’t it? To be precise, it’s seasoned seaweed. Seasoned seaweed snack.”
“This is… this is that rotting seaweed they speak of?”
At the Russell Count’s reaction, Jerdian could not restrain himself and reached out. Then he put the seaweed directly into his mouth.
With a crisp sound, the salty ocean flavor and clean nuttiness spread across his tongue.
“Well, it’s just… something like that….”
Jerdian tilted his head and muttered.
“To be frank, it doesn’t seem particularly exceptional.”
Yet his hesitant hand soon reached for the seaweed again.
He consumed five pieces in succession before speaking gravely.
“It doesn’t seem to possess any overwhelmingly remarkable taste or texture.”
But his hand was reaching toward the plate once more.
Jerdian stuffed another piece into his mouth, exhaled once, and narrowed his eyes.
“Well, I grant that it has an appealing flavor, but the appearance is simply not enticing enough to readily draw the hand.”
He made an effort not to look toward Delmia, and he applied all his characteristic negativity.
“If the distinguishing quality is its salty and crisp nature, then such a snack could certainly be made more presentable.”
The thought struck him that this was the “variable” Brisa had mentioned, and disappointment tinged his voice.
He consumed another piece as he continued.
“I fail to see why one must eat something with such an initial barrier to entry. Certainly it is unprecedented on the continent, but is it truly possible to ‘sell’ such a thing in other regions?”
I could easily guess why Delmia had been brought along.
He continued, somewhat petulantly.
“If your scheme is to use Lady Naisar’s Charm to force sales, then what is the point of even extracting the seaweed? You might as well simply command people to buy sea water….”
At that, Brisa’s brow furrowed.
“That’s just fraud. And more than that—you cannot play such tricks with food that people actually eat.”
It was a sensible remark. Through no fault of his own, Jerdian had suddenly become the sort of person who toys with people’s sustenance.
“In fact, my sister has been traveling the continent in secret and performing work of immense importance. It was something only she could do. This time, I wish to entrust her with similar work.”
At this point, Jerdian swallowed dryly.
Traveling in secret?
What sort of mission could it be that warranted Delmia herself—she who possessed Charm—to move directly?
Her face beneath the black veil seemed grave.
She murmured in a trembling voice.
“Even for me… honestly, it was quite difficult, Brisa.”
“But precisely because of that, only you could accomplish it.”
Brisa squeezed Delmia’s hand to comfort her.
“The people of the continent owe you an enormous debt.”
“You’re kind to say so… but still….”
That was when the door opened and Alpheus entered, his face radiant.
“Lady Delmia!”
He rubbed his mechanical arm with a towel as he called out.
“It’s been so long. I hear you and our Brisa have become quite close!”
At that, even beneath the veil, Delmia’s face flushed deeply.
She nodded, breathing heavily.
“Y-yes.”
Gripping her dress hem tightly, she stammered.
“I-I am n-no longer h-hiding away.”
Though she seemed to be hiding quite thoroughly….
“B-because I w-want to b-be helpful to e-everyone… I’ve b-become b-braver!”
Though she hardly seemed to understand the meaning of brave….
“To advance together toward a shared goal is a noble endeavor! Is this not a world of shared life?”
Alpheus spoke in first principles. Jerdian could not bear such things.
“Why must you utter truisms that everyone already knows….”
“Oh, these are delicious.”
But just then Alpheus seized a piece of seaweed with his mechanical hand. The mechanism struck the plate with a sharp ping.
“Ah, my apologies. In my haste and loss of composure, I fear I’ve dented the plate somewhat.”
Alpheus spoke gently as he savored the seaweed.
“I’m sorry. I interrupted you, didn’t I? Please, go on.”
Seeing this, Jerdian rolled his eyes and replied.
“The reason being that it is a good thing to hear, no matter how many times one hears it.”
An interrupted sentence was far preferable to a severed one.
“Exactly!”
Alpheus draped his mechanical arm over Jerdian’s shoulder.
“Jerdian, I believe we are well matched in spirit! The arrival of another comrade is always a joyful occasion.”
Jerdian nodded desperately.
Meanwhile, Delmia glanced at them, then clenched her fists with determination and cried out.
“Y-you’re r-right! F-for my c-comrades, I’ll st-step forward once more! And s-since what I’m d-doing is s-similar, t-they said!”
Brisa crossed her arms and nodded.
Jerdian looked at that composed face and asked quietly.
“S-so… what exactly h-has Lady Delmia been d-doing all this time?”
* * *
The day Alpheus fell, and Delmia underwent her Dark Transformation and came to Sears Territory.
I had made a request of Delmia.
“Everyone needs to eat garlic. From now on, everyone must.”
After tasting garlic bread, Delmia said it wasn’t particularly difficult work. Moreover, there were quite a few garlic dishes like aglio e olio, so it would be fine.
I shook my head and said this.
“Including the children.”
Children were no less a target for vampire attacks than anyone else.
Children are naturally picky eaters. They rarely try new things, and when something smells strange, they avoid it all the more.
“They need to become familiar with garlic from as early an age as possible. Looking at Leopold, if he develops picky eating habits in childhood, there’s no hope.”
I gazed at Delmia’s vacant expression and made my plea.
“Children are particular not about faces but about the face of whoever offers it….”
And so Delmia took on the grave responsibility of traveling across the continent feeding garlic bread to children.
It was truly momentous work. I am certain it would never have succeeded without Delmia.
“Come now, children? Would you like to try this?”
Thus did Delmia take her first steps into the world.
And the children began to readily eat garlic bread because of Delmia.
At first she began with noble households, and gradually progressed to wealthier commoner families. Ordinary territory residents, after all, readily ate the garlic bread their lords distributed freely, so the children took to it naturally.
Of course, when the territory residents requested it, Delmia would visit even the poorest households to offer garlic bread to the children.
Once they had tried it, the effectiveness was remarkable, as children would quickly succumb to reasoning like “I ate it before and it was fine!”
In other words, over the past several years, Delmia had been traveling among wealthy households raising children….
“Ah, so you’re saying I should promote seaweed as a nutritious snack for children?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————