“Ahem! Today marks our first staff meeting! I’ll be chairing!” Tori had everyone sit around the table. She cleared her throat and launched into something most of them couldn’t quite follow. “So, we spent the past two days cleaning up the shop and stocking all the drinks and Potions we’re going to sell. Today’s meeting is mainly to discuss a few things!”

Everyone wore the same expression: “I’m just watching you put on a show.”

Tori stood at one end of the square table with her hands on her hips. “First on the agenda: the shop’s name! A good name is our brand, like the Three Coins Tavern. Almost everyone in Blackwater Town knows it. Our shop should have a memorable name too—something with a story behind it, or something that catches people’s attention right away… You get what I mean?”

She had a point. Ethan hadn’t known what Tori was planning, but after hearing her out, he thought holding this meeting made sense.

“Well, since I’m the one putting up the money, I think Ethan’s Shop is a pretty good name.”

“?!”

Tori hadn’t expected Ethan, with those earnest-looking eyes, to be so greedy and devious. How could he say something so shameless? She’d been planning to call it “Tori’s Treasure Trove.”

After thinking it over, Tori decided to reject Ethan’s suggestion. “Actually, there’s nothing wrong with calling it Ethan’s Shop, but if we look at it from another angle, there’s a better option. Like the Third Young Master’s Treasure Trove. Doesn’t that sound impressive?”

“Ooh~” Everyone let out a gasp of amazement.

It did make for a good hook. And with the Third Young Master’s name behind them, no random troublemaker would dare cause a scene. The only problem was that Ethan himself was in a difficult position. He had his father’s orders, but his brothers and sisters didn’t seem to take them seriously. Or maybe this was also a test from his father for his siblings?

Tori didn’t know much about power struggles among nobles. But if no ordinary troublemakers dared to show up, that usually meant anyone who did would be no ordinary person. They’d either be one of Ethan’s siblings’ people, or someone with connections of their own.

“That name might attract a little too much attention. But if we can handle the consequences, it really would be a good choice.” She looked at Ethan. “What do you think, Young Master?”

Ethan thought it over carefully. After a brief hesitation, he finally rejected the suggestion. “It wouldn’t be appropriate. I don’t want to be branded as the Lord’s Third Young Master, and you wouldn’t want people thinking you’re his lackey, either. Our future can’t be limited to Dais City. The title might be useful within its jurisdiction, but it won’t work once we leave.”

“That’s true. Does anyone else have a suggestion?”

Lydia raised her hand to show she had something to say.

“Lydia! Let’s hear your thoughts!”

“Yes, Boss! I think we should call it the Invincible Shop!”

“Rejected!”

“Then the Ultimate Shop!”

“Rejected!”

“The Supreme Shop!”

“Rejected!”

After Tori rejected her three or five times in a row, Lydia sank into despair. But Tori showed no sympathy at all. “You’re only eight! I hope you’ll wait until you’re thirteen or fourteen before saying things like that! Yes—about the same age as Young Master Ethan!”

“Huh? Why would I ever pick a name like that?” Ethan said, baffled.

Well, you might have to grow up a little faster.

Tori turned to Old Master Yabu. “Uncle Yabu, do you have any suggestions for the name?”

“I’m only a servant. I don’t have any particular opinions on the matter.” Yabu refused Tori’s request as a matter of course. He clearly didn’t want to offer advice about his young master’s business.

This was hopeless. She couldn’t rely on anyone!

“In that case, we’ll just have to call it Tori’s Treasure Trove!”

“?” Ethan stared at Tori. He didn’t need to say a word.

Tori spread her hands. “Fine, then. What name would be more suitable?”

“Why don’t we go without a name and just call it the Nameless Shop?”

“That’s not a bad idea. Let’s keep it as a backup. Any other suggestions?” Lydia’s eyes seemed to light up. She hadn’t expected one of her ideas to be accepted. Plenty of biographical novels had a scene like this.

In reality, though, very few people actually used a name like that. It was just weird for a shop.

Tori thought for a moment. “Actually, I have an idea. I’m just not sure if it’ll work… What do you think about borrowing the Witch’s name?”

The Witch’s name?

Ethan gave it some serious thought. “When you say the Witch, you mean the one who rules the Demon Realm. But plenty of people in the world have ‘Witch’ in their names now—Flame Witch, Frost Witch, and so on. Lots of powerful women imitate the Witch, and quite a few shops use the name too. There’s even a merchant guild in Colin City called the Witch’s Secret Treasures.”

That was pretty wild. Luckily, this world didn’t seem to have any laws specifically protecting intellectual property. If you couldn’t keep your recipe safe, that was your own problem.

Still, it wasn’t so bad.

“So, what do you think about calling it the Witch’s House?”

“The Witch’s House?”

The others looked at Tori in surprise, their eyes full of confusion.

Tori scowled. “What?! You think I’m not worthy of being the Witch?!”

Ethan didn’t hold back. “If people come into our shop and find only two eight-year-old girls inside, do you think they’ll believe we’re Witches?”

“Then I’m an ageless Witch! I’m actually eight hundred years old! I just appear before you in the form of a little girl!”

Ethan froze. A moment later, his expression somehow shifted into one that said, “I knew it.”

“Hey! Young Master Ethan, what’s that look supposed to mean?!”

Ethan shook his head and muttered under his breath, “I see. Hide the truth among a bunch of lies, and no one will pay attention when you mention it. They’ll just think you’re joking. Brilliant. I’ve learned something.”

“You’re not actually taking me seriously, are you?”

“No. Of course not. But I do think the name Witch’s House is pretty good.” He took out a contract. “I’ve already had the town chief stamp it with the crest. Now we just need to fill in the name of our shop.”

—So this is what being a noble is like? How is that any different from handing someone a blank imperial edict with the royal seal on it? You just fill in the contents yourself, huh?

“Great! That concludes the first item on the agenda. Our name is tentatively Witch’s House. Next, we need to make sure everyone’s duties and responsibilities are clear. We’re a proper company—” Tori watched Ethan write on the contract and found it hard to say the word “proper” with a straight face.

“What’s a company?” Lydia asked, quite reasonably.

“In a proper shop like ours, everyone’s daily duties, the system of rewards and penalties, and the profit-sharing all need to be clearly laid out. Young Master Ethan is here as an investor, so we need to discuss all of this in advance. Otherwise, people might be unhappy when it’s time to divide things up. If we settle it now, anyone with concerns later can ask for another meeting to discuss them.”

She’d suffered a lot in her previous life, and this time she didn’t want her business to turn into one of those bloodsucking enterprises from her old life. Though who knew? Maybe money would corrupt her someday, too. She laughed at herself inwardly.

Still, at least in the early days of the business… she was a wage earner too, in a way. Ethan was the real boss.

Tori thought about it with a dejected sigh.

“I’ll be responsible for brewing Potions and making sure we have enough to sell. I’ll also come up with ideas and other products. I’ve already talked with you about the Miniature Meditation Potion, Young Master, and the drinks too. So how should we calculate things if I come up with something else?”

“For other Potions, if I provide the formula and ingredients, I want forty percent. If I don’t provide them, I want ten percent.”

“Hmm… Fair enough.” Tori nodded. “What about Lydia and Uncle Yabu?”

“I’ll just take the wages we agreed on. It’s not like I can do anything else.” Lydia was young, but she was very clear about what she wanted.

“I’m the same. Of course, I can also serve as a guard—in other words, protect the shop. So I’d ask for a little more. What do you think?”

Ethan looked at his butler in surprise. “Uncle Yabu…”

Yabu shook his head. “Young Master, at my age, I ought to start saving for retirement! A little extra income wouldn’t hurt, would it?”

Ethan was deeply moved. He looked gratefully at his butler, but said nothing.

Tori was more than happy with the arrangement. “Heh heh~ Great! We’ve settled the two most important things! Next, we need to advertise—and then open the shop!”

Ethan’s assessment was that Tori was quite capable—at the very least, she had the makings of a good merchant. Tori spent another two days preparing stock, then paid some people at the tavern to spread the word as a rumor: a shop selling Miniature Meditation Potions would soon be opening. Anyone with money who hadn’t managed to buy Potions from the Witch Church could try their luck there. But if they weren’t quick, the stock might sell out just as fast.

The news spread incredibly quickly.

At least, it spread faster than Ethan had expected. On the very first day the shop opened, Tori had prepared two hundred Meditation Potions. She was exhausted, but still insisted on staying to watch how the shop was doing.

By the afternoon, they were sold out.

It turned out that even a town like Blackwater Town had its share of wealthy people. The villagers might not have much money, and only the likes of the village chief could afford to buy them. But the town was different. It had a lot more people than the village, and those who lived there could easily spare a few silver coins for Meditation Potions. Now that she thought about it, the village chief must have had connections of some kind. Otherwise, he might not have been able to buy Potions from the Witch Church.

Two hundred Meditation Potions. Each one cost one silver coin to make and brought in twenty-four silver coins in revenue. This batch brought in four hundred silver coins, with costs of seventeen silver coins.

Of course, that was only the cost of the ingredients. Add in all the other miscellaneous expenses, including advertising, and it still wouldn’t come to more than fifty silver coins. That was thanks to Ethan being a noble. Otherwise, paying off the town chief and others to smooth things over would’ve cost a lot, and Potion taxes were high—sixty percent.

400 × 0.4 = 160 silver coins. After subtracting fifty silver coins in costs, only 110 silver coins were actually left.

That was the profit, which she and Ethan would split… Split what? She wasn’t getting any of the money from the Miniature Meditation Potions.

In return, though, she could drink as much of the Meditation Potion she brewed as she wanted. Tori realized that not a single coin had gone into her pocket.

She couldn’t help growing anxious.

She had to hurry up and make other Potions, or else—otherwise… She was so jealous of Ethan right now.