I couldn't keep Rinia in the house.
The atmosphere would sour, and if the temptation kept up, eventually I'd crack too.
Leave her alone and the family falls apart, or I give in to temptation and cheat, and Sylphie leaves with Lucy, and the result ends up being that same diary-like ending all over again.
That needed to be prevented in advance.
So I decided to find Rinia some kind of work.
Naturally, I'd considered just wiping her debt clean and kicking her out.
But there's a line you don't cross, even for friends.
What the world generally calls "a large sum of money" has to be paid back.
Going easy on that wouldn't be good for me either.
Now then, what kind of work for Rinia...
Honestly, I couldn't picture her being good at anything.
She could do magic, and she could fight.
But when it came to something that could earn back 1,500 gold coins, nothing came to mind right away.
I'd racked my brain over it.
First, I thought about having her assist Cliff and Zanoba with their research and earning a paycheck that way.
Rinia had been an excellent student, so she might be useful for something, I initially thought.
But I quickly realized she wasn't the research type.
Meticulous, repetitive work wasn't her strong suit.
Also — though it probably wouldn't happen — I'd feel bad pushing a temptress onto Cliff, who'd just had a baby.
Then there was the idea of making her the sales manager for the Luidgeld dolls.
But I discarded that immediately.
I wasn't about to hand that to someone who'd already gone into debt the moment they started a business.
Make her Norn's exclusive maid at the Magic University.
That was another option, but it got rejected right away too.
Norn wouldn't like it, and it would probably end the same way it had this time.
Have her become an adventurer and earn money that way.
It was possible in theory, but adventurers didn't make nearly as much money as people thought.
Rinia didn't have an adventurer's license, it would take time before she could earn serious money, and she could die before that happened.
None of these options gave me confidence she could reach 1,500 gold coins.
But it was premature to dismiss everything based on imagination alone.
Maybe one of these jobs actually had high potential for her.
With that thought, I decided to take Rinia to the school.
---
Rinia in her maid outfit.
Once we set foot on school grounds, she marched ahead of me and started shoving students out of the way with a swagger.
"Move it, move it! The boss is coming through, nya! Open up or get stepped on!"
She looked like a delinquent through and through.
"Chisu! Long time no see, su!"
"Usse!"
I'd been about to stop her, but the beast-folk guys were greeting her so cheerfully that I decided to watch and see.
It had been two years since Rinia graduated.
Plenty of current students still remembered her.
Among the upperclassmen, there might even be some who'd been her followers back when she was still causing trouble.
Maybe I could find a lead on some work through those connections.
"Rinia-senpai! Long time no see, su!"
Just as I was thinking that, one of them walked up to me.
Who was this guy again?
I felt like I'd been introduced to him before, around the time he'd become a second-year.
I couldn't remember his name, but he'd been the top dog among the first-years.
"Oh, it's you. You keeping your spirits up, nya?"
"Usse!"
"Good, keep at it, nya"
"Usse!"
Rinia was supremely full of herself.
For a maid.
Drowning in debt.
"Hey, Rinia-senpai, is it really okay, su?"
"Hm? What's okay, nya?"
"I heard about the current situation. They say the student council president's big brother turned you into his slave, su?"
"Yeah, nya. I messed up and ended up like this. But becoming a powerful person's subordinate is kind of the beast-folk ideal too, so it's not all bad, nya."
She answered with smug pride, and the underclassman let out a heavy sigh.
"...Honestly, I'm disillusioned, su."
"What, nya?"
"The Rinia-senpai before graduation still had the spirit to reclaim the top of this school from Rudeus and Ariel. But the Rinia-senpai now is... like nothing more than a pet cat, su."
Rinia froze for a few seconds at those words.
I expected her to bare her fangs in anger, but instead, she just let out a soft laugh.
"Sure, I've fallen on hard times. But just you watch, nya — I will absolutely overthrow the top and take my place, nya."
"Gekokujō, su?"
"That's right, nya. To take the top through a reversal of the hierarchy, you have to start from the bottom first, nya..."
When Rinia said that, the underclassman's eyes went wide, looking at her as if scales had fallen from his eyes.
"Rinia-senpai, as expected, su! I never would have thought that far ahead, su!"
"Well, that's where we differ, nya."
Rinia tapped her forehead proudly as she spoke.
After that, the underclassman gazed at her with admiration, showered her with praise, then headed back to his classroom.
Well, having good relationships was a good thing.
"..."
I walked toward the research building.
Along the way, the greetings to Rinia didn't stop.
But once I entered the research building and the people thinned out, the greetings ceased.
As I walked through the quiet building, Rinia spun around to face me.
"Boss, about what I said earlier, nya — that was just for show, right?"
"The earlier talk?"
Rinia rubbed her hands together and sidled up to me, slinking close.
"About the gekokujō, nya. I only said that because of pride back then, but I have no intention of defying you, nya?"
"Right."
Because it was Rinia, I'd actually believed that was her real sentiment.
Considering the way she slipped back into her speech patterns just now, though, I still think this current conversation was the act and what she'd said earlier was the real deal.
"Aiming for the top is fine, but don't go biting the hand that feeds you."
"Of course not, nya. If you don't believe me, I can prove it right now in that empty classroom over there — just be gentle with me, nya, huff huff."
What the huff huff was supposed to mean, I had no idea.
Oh wait — the gekokujō thing, did she mean not "overthrowing me" but "becoming the top among my subordinates"?
Becoming my woman and being loved more than Sylphie, Roxy, and Eris — claiming the title of first wife?
What a scheming...
Was this girl actually an assassin sent by the Man-God to tear my family apart?
"...Hey, over the past few years, have you had any dreams where someone calling themselves a god gave you divine revelations or anything?"
"Why do you suddenly ask that, nya? Dreams with revelations? I don't really remember anything..."
"Hide it and things'll get ugly, you know."
I said it with a menacing tone.
The Dragon God's tribunal operated on "if in doubt, kill them."
I wasn't that ruthless, but still.
"I-I dreamt yesterday about fish falling from the sky, nya... Before that, umm, I don't remember, nya..."
What a happy dream she'd had.
Every time she caught a fish, her points must have gone up, and once she'd collected a hundred she'd get a 1-Up, no doubt.
Just watch out for the steelweights that sometimes mixed in.
Anyway, she was probably not an apostle of the Man-God.
If I were the Man-God, I wouldn't use someone who'd stir up this kind of situation.
"...Well, whatever. But if you ever have a dream like that, tell me immediately."
"Okay, nya."
Sighing, I decided to go check on Zanoba.
---
"Ah, Master... mmph!"
The moment Zanoba saw Rinia upon my arrival, his face soured.
"...It's been a while."
"Hey, Zanoba. Long time no see, nya."
Zanoba wiped cold sweat from his brow while surveying the room.
"Forgive me, I need to tidy up a bit, so please wait over there."
He quickly began stowing the dolls he could reach into boxes, one after another.
Hastily.
From the valuable-looking dolls to the ones that seemed barely held together.
Julie was in the middle of painting a Luidgeld doll, but she soon mimicked Zanoba and started clearing her own desk area.
"Hm, that should do. Now then, shall we talk over there?"
Zanoba pointed to a table a short distance from the workshop.
I stopped Julie the moment she left her desk and started shuffling over.
"Julie, continue your work."
"Yes, Master."
The three of us — me, Rinia, and Zanoba — took our seats.
But Zanoba still seemed uneasy, and he called out to Ginger, who was in the corner of the room.
"Ginger."
"Ha!"
He'd only said her name, but she positioned herself between the workshop and the table.
As if guarding the workshop.
"So, Master."
Zanoba then turned to face me with a more composed expression.
"What brings you here today?"
He kept glancing at Rinia as he asked.
He was quite on guard.
He didn't say it outright, but he probably didn't want Rinia allowed in here.
My bad.
"It's nothing business-related, actually."
"Hmm."
That ruled out having Rinia help with his research here.
As I'd expected — no, even worse than I'd expected — they had terrible compatibility.
It was probably because Rinia and the others had broken Zanoba's dolls back in the day.
Being bullied for breaking someone's stuff really sticks with you.
Well, it wasn't exactly bullying, but when Aisha had finally reached her breaking point, the trigger had been a cup being smashed.
Zanoba might keep his composure on the surface, but if I proposed having Rinia work here, he wouldn't be happy about it.
"By the way, Master — why did you bring Rinia along?
I heard she became a maid at your household, but..."
"Well, various things happened, and I'm looking into finding her a job."
"I see. Is that so..."
Zanoba's eyes darted around nervously.
Or rather, it was more like the face of someone who had an idea for a job but was terrified of having Rinia shoved onto him.
Relax.
I'll bring her home with me.
Still, past misdeeds really came back to haunt you at times like these.
"Anyway, that's that. Let's talk about your research now."
"Oh, yes, indeed!"
Once I made it clear I wasn't going to push Rinia's employment onto him, Zanoba happily launched into his usual talk about the magic armor.
---
We had lunch in the cafeteria.
While we quietly ate at one end, a crowd gathered around Rinia.
"Nyahahaha! So I told her, 'Pursena, are you getting fat or what, nya' — nya!"
"As expected of Rinia, su!"
"Talking back to Pursena like that — that's insane, su!"
I hadn't noticed it when Ariel was around, but Rinia had a kind of charisma of her own.
Delinquent charisma.
The rough crowd naturally gravitated to her.
If I could leverage that, maybe she could pull something off after all.
A job that involved gathering people... hmm.
Well, I'd go check on Cliff too, just to be thorough.
---
In the end, Cliff's place was a no-go as well.
There were things she could potentially do, but like Zanoba, Cliff seemed to have an aversion to Rinia.
He didn't want her nearby.
Not that having Rinia assist Cliff or Zanoba would have put a dent in her debt anyway.
What to do...
"Why not help her with your own work?" Cliff suggested when I consulted him.
My work meant the preliminary steps to transfer the world from the Man-God's clutches to Orsted's.
But there was a problem.
"As long as you're not directly viewing Orsted's mana, it should be fine. That means you just need to avoid meeting Orsted."
True, makes sense — no, wait, that doesn't work.
"If you're working in the same office, you'll eventually run into each other."
"You're right... Besides, beast-folk might be affected by the curse through smell alone..."
The curse affecting them through smell?
That was actually a bit interesting.
"You mean beast-folk sniff out mana through their noses?"
"Yeah, it's not confirmed yet, but it's a possibility. If Rinia's here, it might not be a bad idea to test that out. What do you think?"
Smell was the source of the curse.
If that was true, we'd also need research into suppressing Orsted's smell.
Animals' sense of smell was hundreds of times stronger than humans' — which meant humans could detect it in trace amounts too.
If that theory was correct, eliminating the smell would be necessary to fully negate the curse.
We'd also need to test whether perfumes or similar could overwrite it.
A floral scent to block both the smell and the curse in one go.
Orsted with his head covered in a fragrant floral helmet... hmm, that was grotesque.
"Let me look into that angle then, shall I?"
"Yeah, let's do that. Preferably from the Adoldia breeds, though. I hear they've got better noses."
Dogs over cats, then.
Come to think of it, how was Pursena doing?
Had she become the clan leader?
"Measuring sense of smell, huh... In that case, it might be best to look across multiple races, not just beast-folk."
Humans and other creatures could perceive different numbers of colors, after all.
There probably wasn't much difference among creatures classified as "human" in this world, but things like "magic eyes that can see mana" did exist.
If we investigated racial differences one by one, we might eventually find the particle responsible for the curse.
"...True, but even among beast-folk and demon-folk, there are all sorts of races. Gathering them would be a pain."
"Indeed..."
The magical city of Sharia was home to all manner of races.
That was because the Magic University welcomed anyone, regardless of race.
But not every race was always present.
Turnover was high.
Gathering those rare races, testing them one by one, and pursuing the answer through brute force.
It was dizzying to think about.
But that was how research worked.
Fundamentally, it was brute force.
"Anyway, step one is gathering people."
"Right. That said, I can't get around much, and I'm not great at recruiting either."
Cliff did have his shortcomings when it came to social skills.
Not that I was one to talk.
"Someone with enough presence that people gather on their own, even without doing anything..."
Our eyes naturally drifted toward Rinia.
If we limited it to the rough crowd, people did gather around her.
And where people gathered, more people tended to follow.
Rather than carefully curating the exact people you needed, casting a wider net would actually help cover more ground in the long run.
Of course, that meant more problems too.
People were dangerous when they grouped together.
There were countless examples of people doing things in a crowd that they'd never do alone.
A group without a leader was no different from a mob.
But the old Rinia had tamed and commanded delinquents.
Maybe she could show that same leadership once she'd gathered people.
"Nya... nya... You want us to do this together, nya?"
She'd been idly yawning in the corner of the room, but upon receiving our gaze, she shivered.
The question was how to get people to come. Rinia would probably draw a crowd without lifting a finger, but she could draw even more if she put in some effort.
What drew people... it always came back to money.
People clustered where the money flowed.
Events with bounties... no, a temporary gathering wouldn't cut it.
That meant a business, then.
And any business needed starting capital.
Putting up my own money for that capital felt a bit backwards, but I could think of it as an investment.
Oh!
That was it.
Once I'd gathered people, I'd have them help with Orsted's work — and by extension, mine.
When I thought about it, I'd been finding it tough going solo.
Having an organization to support me would be ideal.
Not just support, either.
If I could offload some simple tasks, I could handle three or four people at once instead of just one.
And the more I helped now, the easier things would be for Orsted in the future.
Of course, there was always the risk of the Man-God taking over, so I couldn't entrust anything critical.
But if I, with Orsted's backing, was pulling the strings from behind the scenes, the Man-God might not be able to meddle so easily.
But what would they do when there was no work?
Just adding more freeloading mouths to feed wasn't exactly fun.
I'd give each person a task.
A task... what kind, though?
Staffing services, maybe — no, the money was Orsted's.
Something like a general trading company, investing in talented people and letting them try various things...
Could Rinia manage that?
No, she couldn't. I'd need to assign someone to support her.
Someone who looked strong with numbers... I had someone in mind.
I'd mention that other thing to her too.
All right.
"Rinia."
"Nya... nya what, nya?"
"From now on, I'm going to have you gather people."
"Gather them for what, nya?"
"Get like-minded people together and have them start a business, or become mercenaries — anything goes. Just let them loose."
"And, the money, nya?"
"I'll put up the capital. Then squeeze tribute from whoever succeeds. A percentage of that tribute goes toward paying me back."
For the shortfall, I'd explain the situation to Orsted and ask him to cover it.
Depending on the circumstances, I might even need to lean on Ariel's financial network.
"...? O-okay, I get it, nya. But what about a location?"
"I'll go set that up right now."
"Right now, nya? Isn't that way too reckless?"
Rinia looked half convinced, half not.
Obviously, I didn't expect everything to go perfectly from the start.
At first, maybe ten people would show up... probably all beast-folk.
But even that few, if used well, should generate profit.
If by some stroke of luck there was someone with business sense, I could have them handle the Luidgeld doll sales.
"You won't know if it works until you try."
"I really, really don't want any more debt, nya..."
Rinia looked anxious.
The sting of a past failure was probably weighing on her.
But grinding away at miscellaneous jobs and spending the rest of her life as my slave wasn't an option either.
If that went on, my household would definitely fall apart.
And if that happened, I might end up developing time-slip magic all over again.
"...Do your best so it doesn't come to that."
"Uuu..."
Rinia still didn't look entirely on board, but in the end, she nodded.
---
After that, on the way home, we stopped by a real estate agency and purchased a small building to serve as our office.
It was shed-sized, and the location was mediocre.
But for a base of operations, having a roof overhead was important.
The price was reasonable.
I planned to write it off as a business expense.
I bought the place, and for now, I had Aisha come clean it.
"Use this as your base for the time being."
"Got it, nya."
It'd be nice to find an office worker sooner rather than later.
Someone to handle paperwork and administrative tasks.
Since they'd have to be fired if they fell under Orsted's curse, it would inevitably end up being disposable labor.
"Here's your working capital for now."
I handed Rinia the equivalent of ten Asura gold coins.
More than enough to start a business in the Kingdom of Ranoa.
"O-oh... you're giving me this much, nya?"
Rinia's eyes lit up at the sight of the money.
There was a saying about casting pearls before swine — or rather, gold coins before a cat.
Gold coins were valuable, but showing them to a creature that couldn't understand their worth was pointless.
But if a cat did understand their value, well, being a creature of fleeting impulses, it would squander those gold coins like water, so you must never hand them over.
That was probably the lesson behind the proverb.
"Hehehe, Boss. Leave it to me, nya. With this much capital, I'll definitely succeed, nya. This time, for sure, I'm going to pull it off, nya..."
Rinia's eyes had turned into dollar signs.
Deeply reassuring, that.
Giving this girl a large sum of money was probably a terrible idea.
After this, I'd be heading off to work for Orsted again.
When I got back, the debt might have ballooned to double, and Rinia might be down in the basement running some kind of scheme.
Or worse, she might be fully domesticated by Eris, wearing a collar and leash.
"Brother, I'm done cleaning!"
There she was.
Aisha's cue.
"Aisha, I need you to do something."
"...What?"
She looked up at my face with an unhappy expression.
That scowl — she was probably still holding a grudge over the other day.
"I want you to keep an eye on Rinia. Make sure she doesn't waste money, and support her so she doesn't make any big mistakes."
"...I have housework to do too."
"You don't need to watch her constantly. Once every few days is fine."
"Is this something I really have to do?"
She kept glancing over at Rinia.
After everything that had happened, Aisha probably didn't want to work with Rinia.
Seeing her like this made me worry whether Rinia could really draw people in after all...
But hey, even a corpse flower attracted insects.
Now then, I had to get Aisha on board.
I had my reasons for asking her specifically.
"It's not an absolute must, but I think you're the best person for this."
"Why? Because I was the one who suggested making Rinia a maid? Or because I'm the one who made the atmosphere in the house worse?"
She was being sulky. I crouched down to meet her eye to eye.
Aisha usually looked me straight in the eye, but today she was looking away.
"It's not that."
"..."
"It's just... when you found out Rinia kept screwing up, you were ready to cut her loose right away, weren't you?"
"Well, yeah, because she really was useless. Before any more damage occurred..."
Rinia was making a wounded face in my peripheral vision, but I ignored it.
"But conversely, you could say that happened because you couldn't bring out Rinia's abilities properly."
"...Yeah. I was the one who taught her the job, so that makes sense."
"In other words, you failed."
Aisha looked at me, startled.
She wore a look of indignation.
Her eyes said, I didn't fail.
Maybe I'd phrased it poorly.
Um...
"Aisha. I believe that just because something goes wrong, you shouldn't immediately abandon the people around you."
"...Yeah. I know. I think that part of you is amazing, Brother."
"Thanks. Now, this is going to sound like I'm imposing my values on you, but... I don't want you to become someone who throws people away."
Aisha was a prodigy.
The so-called genius type — whatever she tried, she excelled.
But precisely because of that, there were times she didn't understand what it felt like to be incompetent.
In the diary, she'd apparently stayed by my side until the very end, but the future had changed.
Perhaps Aisha would leave home and take a job somewhere.
She'd probably do fine, but if she had a reputation as someone who immediately discarded those less capable than her, people would shun her.
She might end up ostracized, or framed by someone.
I wanted her to learn something before that happened.
I wasn't entirely sure what that something was, but in short, it was the kind of thing you could only learn through dealing with people.
"Would you try working with Rinia again, from scratch, as an equal?"
"..."
Aisha looked back and forth between me and Rinia.
Then she closed her eyes.
One second. Two seconds.
She seemed to be thinking about something in silence.
"Is this for my benefit?"
"That's my intention, yeah... Honestly, though, I also figure that having you as a backup will help avoid the worst-case scenario."
"I see. Thanks for being honest."
Aisha opened her eyes.
Then she looked at me with an anxious expression.
"Brother... if I say no here, will you hate me?"
"No. If you really don't want to, that's fine."
"..."
Aisha hesitantly extended both arms toward me.
When I spread mine, she reached around my back and hugged me tight.
"Okay. If you feel that strongly about it, I'll give it a shot."
"Thanks."
I knew I'd said something pretty self-important.
But I wasn't wrong.
This had to be the right call.
By working with Rinia on a new venture, Aisha would learn something.
Maybe it wouldn't be what I expected, but that was fine too.
I wanted to believe that.
...Come to think of it, Aisha had gotten bigger in the chest since the last time I'd looked. Was she a D-cup now?
She was short but well-endowed.
Transistor glamour, right?
Would she eventually be as big as Lillia?
No, whatever. It was my little sister's chest. Never mind.
"Thanks, Brother."
"No, thank you for listening so openly."
"I'll do whatever you say, Brother."
Aisha flashed a mischievous grin and pulled away from me.
Her usual smile.
Still wearing that same smile, she turned to Rinia and extended her hand.
"Anyway, let's do our best together!"
"Ooh, nya!"
A firm handshake.
Two people who hadn't worked well together as boss and subordinate.
I hoped they could put the past behind them and make it work this time.
Finally, I gave Aisha a rundown of the plan and my ideal vision for the future, then called it a day.
Let's just pray that nothing terrible had happened by the time I got back.