Slap!
"Ouch! What was that for? Why do you always hit me? A girl being so violent—you'll never find a husband!"
"What's it to you whether I get married or not? You used magic to pay with fake money again, didn't you?"
"Stop hitting me! I'm sorry! I swear I won't do it again!"
The landlady furiously whipped Jay's backside with a rag as he sprinted away, their voices fading into the distance.
Tribios, accustomed to such scenes, turned to Olivia and remarked, "Is he really testing his magic? Or is he secretly a masochist?"
Olivia hiccuped, swaying slightly, her head seemingly sprouting tiny bubbles. "I don't know... Also, what's a masochist?"
"Well, it's like..." Tribios trailed off. "Could Jay actually like the landlady? Maybe he keeps using fake money just to get her attention?"
Jay gave Tribios the impression of a well-bred, impeccably mannered nobleman—perhaps with a touch of philandering. He seemed to strike up conversations with any pretty girl he met, trying to charm them and win their favor.
For instance, his first encounters with Tribios and Melly followed this pattern, though both attempts ultimately failed.
However, these two failures shouldn't overshadow his usual success rate. During his time in the Kingdom of Ukel, Jay's status as a wealthy merchant, combined with his handsome looks and gentlemanly demeanor, had won him the hearts of many young girls.
Yet, despite his efforts to charm, Jay never crossed any lines. It seemed he could easily have invited any of these girls to spend the night, yet he never did.
This led Tribios to wonder if Jay's flirtatious exterior masked an unexpected devotion to one person—perhaps someone he already cherished.
Olivia shook her head, "I dunno~"
Well, asking was pointless. Olivia was clearly half-drunk. How could someone who loved alcohol so much have such a low tolerance?
Olivia used to drink those cheap liquors without any reaction, but now that she's drinking my potent brew, she can't handle it at all.
Tribios shook her head slightly, took a sip of her beer, and then suddenly thought of something. She murmured, "Half, are you there?"
Little Husky materialized beside Olivia, asking, "What is it? What does this great lord need?"
Tribios chuckled softly, clasping her hands together. "I do indeed have a very important matter I'd like to ask Lord Half to assist with. Would you be willing?"
Seemingly, no one had ever treated him with such respect before. Half's eyes lit up, and the corners of his mouth nearly reached the sky. "Heh heh~ Tell me, what is it?"
Tribios replied, "Could you conjure a few ice cubes in this glass for me?"
Half: "?"
As a warlock, Olivia naturally possessed the ability to wield magic. However, warlocks typically relied on their Lords to cast spells. Unfortunately, Olivia's Lord was far too weak, limiting her to casting only First-Level and Second-level Evocation spells.
In reality, Half had been casting these spells all along, so Tribios asking Half directly was essentially the same thing.
Though the request was undeniably rude, Half, still basking in Tribios's earlier politeness, agreed. "Ice Knife!"
Instantly, several ice cubes materialized out of thin air and plunked into Tribios' cup. She swirled the cup, took a sip, and her eyes lit up. "Ah, it does taste better this way!"
Half drifted closer, chuckling. "Heh, you should feel honored. Having this lord's magic cool your drink is a privilege few get to experience."
Tribios tilted her head slightly, red hair cascading over her smooth shoulders. "So, you keep calling yourself 'this lord'... What exactly are you?"
The question stumped Half completely. He froze in place, pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't know. I can't remember... I just remember that this great lord should be incredibly powerful."
Tribios retorted, "By 'super strong,' do you mean getting choked out by Jay or being chased and bitten by those two dogs at the village entrance?"
Half's face flushed crimson. "Now is now, and then was then! I was definitely super strong before! But now... I don't know why I turned into a little puppy!"
Half's voice grew softer and softer until it was barely a whisper, but Tribios still heard him. She immediately replied, "It's okay, little puppy! You're cute too~"
Half let out a soft whine, said nothing more, and vanished into thin air before Tribios.
Thud!
At that exact moment, accompanied by a soft thud, Olivia face-planted onto the table, instantly sinking into a deep, peaceful sleep. Tribios sighed helplessly, first draining her glass of beer in one gulp, then using the Century Gate to fetch several more drinks for Tide.
Just then, Jay returned, still being chased by the Landlady. Tribios greeted them both before scooping up the now-sleeping Olivia and heading home.
Overall, the beer brewing had been quite successful, and Tribios was already pondering how to market it.
Though beer had been a ubiquitous staple in her previous life, she couldn't possibly adopt a low-margin, high-volume strategy in this world.
Since brewing beer required grain, mass production was out of the question. Limited quantities meant this brew would have to be positioned as a premium product.
Tribios considered: What if I treat it as a non-commercial item, a bonus gift for 'high-end art pieces'? We could bundle them together.
Anything limited, exclusive, and unattainable is always the most valuable!
As Tribios pondered, Olivia slowly stirred awake in her arms. Glimpsing Tribios's face so close, she reached up and wrapped her arms around her neck.
"Little Trib," Olivia slurred drunkenly, "I love you so much~"
Upon hearing those words, Tribios's footsteps faltered slightly, her entire body freezing for a moment. No... was she being so direct and blunt?
Olivia continued, "Thanks to you, Little Trib, everyone in the Grand Duchy of Augustus can... hic... can live the way they do now..."
Ah, so that's what it was about?
Tribios sighed in relief and gently laid Olivia on the bed. She retrieved a damp towel and wiped Olivia's face, during which Olivia kept mumbling incoherently, her words disjointed and impossible to understand.
Tribios couldn't help but sigh. "She loves drinking so much, yet she's out after just one cup. Sigh. If we ever manage to make something stronger, I bet just the smell would make her dizzy."
After tucking Olivia under the covers, Tribios left the room and returned to her own quarters. Unbeknownst to her, Olivia continued to murmur softly after she left, "Little Trib... I really, really love you..."
Two days later, the papermaking experiments were a resounding success. Tribios had successfully produced the first batch of paper.
Unlike beer, paper's raw material was wood, and the Grand Duchy of Augustus had an abundance of it. This meant mass production was feasible.
Of course, the price wouldn't be as ridiculously low as it had been in Tribios's previous life. The primary consumers of paper would be the state and the nobility. Tribios vaguely recalled how much she had spent on parchment in the Kingdom of Ukel. Since the paper she was now producing was of superior quality, it would naturally be more expensive than parchment—a perfectly reasonable arrangement, right?
However, this put a considerable burden on Jay. He was juggling selling wood, buying paper, preparing for the art auction, and gathering intelligence on villages, slaves, and the Demon Lord. The familiar problem persisted: the Grand Duchy of Augustus still had far too few intellectuals to handle the workload. There was no getting around it.
Speaking of which, Tribios suddenly remembered something. Today, instead of heading to school to teach as usual, she had traveled to the outskirts of the Grand Duchy of Augustus, where she stood before a half-built wooden cottage.
With the massive influx of immigrants, the Grand Duchy of Augustus's original housing stock was woefully insufficient, necessitating a large-scale expansion. This required a vast construction workforce, and nearly all of the first wave of civilian arrivals were recruited as construction workers.
Thus, a truly remarkable scene unfolded: these individuals were hired by Tribios to build homes for themselves, and they were even paid wages for the work!
The wooden cottage standing before Tribios was home to Little Melly, one of the first civilian arrivals. Because Melly's age fell within the required 12-16 range, she had been "compelled" to attend school after settling in the Grand Duchy of Augustus.
But what happened next was astonishing. This child... was exceptionally intelligent!
In just one day, Melly mastered material that took other students a month to learn. The following day, Tribios tentatively introduced her to more advanced concepts, like elementary school mathematics. Melly grasped it instantly, understanding everything on the first explanation.
Could this child be a true prodigy? Tribios wondered.
On the third day, Tribios summoned Jay to teach Melly some basic magic. After all, in this world, if someone was considered a genius, they would undoubtedly prioritize learning magic to become a powerful wizard.
Jay taught Melly the fundamentals of magic and even showed her his only spell, Minor Illusion. To his astonishment, Melly grasped it instantly, leaving him utterly dumbfounded.
But then came an unexpected twist: Melly's incantations and gestures were flawless, yet the magic simply wouldn't manifest.
Jay was completely baffled, his face etched with confusion. "This... this shouldn't be happening! Why?"
And so, at Jay's recommendation, Tribios prepared to take Melly to the Kingdom of Green Eagle to seek the counsel of an old mage named Friedrich Smith.
These names were ultimately unimportant. What mattered was that the Kingdom of Green Eagle was Jay's homeland, and the long-named old mage was his former teacher—a powerful wizard who had always treated Jay well and might be able to discern the source of Melly's magical blockage.
"Teacher, I'm ready!" Little Melly emerged from the house and ran to Tribios' side. Tribios gently ruffled Melly's hair, and the girl responded by squinting her eyes like a contented kitten, her face radiating pure bliss.
Following the coordinates Jay had provided, Tribios opened the Century Gate. In the blink of an eye, they found themselves in a corridor, standing before a room guarded by two sentries.
The guards stared in disbelief at the golden Century Gate that had materialized out of thin air, and at the two women—one tall and one small—who emerged from it.
A moment later, they drew their weapons and shouted, "Who are you?! How did you get here?!"
Tribios glanced around with a resigned expression. Jay's coordinates had been too precise; the Century Gate had opened right in front of someone's bedroom door.
She said, "I was sent by Jay Roberts to discuss an urgent matter with Wizard Friedrich Smith. Can you tell me where he is?"
However, her words did nothing to ease the guards' vigilance. "Who's Jay? Never heard of him!"
Seeing this, Tribios couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. That Jay guy said mentioning his name would work! Watching the guards' tense, ready-to-attack posture, Tribios braced herself, prepared to use the Century Gate to suck them away the moment they made a move.
Just then, a childlike girl's voice suddenly rang out, "You two are relatively new here, so you wouldn't know that Jay is my student. But... that brat's still alive?"
After a pause, the voice continued, "Let them in."
The two guards exchanged glances before sheathing their weapons and stepping aside. Tribios and Little Melly pushed open the door.
It was indeed a bedroom. A beautiful, large bed stood at its center, surrounded by a mountain of adorable plush toys of all sizes. On the bed, a girl in a white nightgown, who looked even younger than Melly, was rubbing her eyes and yawning.