Chapter 1512: Where’s Your Manager?!

"How dare you? Do you know who I am? Get your manager out here," I demanded coldly, making use of my [Authority Projection] skill to its maximum capacity.

The Wrunch let out another growl at me, "I don’t care who you think you are. And you’re not speaking to any managers. Either get lost or get to the back of the line."

Listen here you little shit... You’re actually doing your job properly right now, so you’re a really good employee. I’ll see if I can get Emilia or your superior to get you a raise, you hear me?!

Ahem... Anyway... I need to act like a villain right now so I’m sorry but I will need to do this...

I hugged my egg tighter and took a step towards the Wrunch, showing that I was not intimidated by him in the slightest.

"Why don’t you get your manager here first and see if you can still keep up this attitude? It’s clear that you have no idea who I really am at this point. Maybe you can still keep your job if you do that now."

He scoffed and it was clear he wasn’t going to do what I suggested but a voice spoke up from behind.

"What’s going on here?!"

A female Mahun was standing at the entrance of the store also dressed in the same uniform as the rest of the staff.

Hmm? Wait... She also looked familiar... Where have I seen her before?

The Wrunch turned back and actually jumped a little when he saw her, almost like he had been beaten by her before or something.

"Ma... Manager Crystal! W... We... It’s nothing! We’re dealing with it right now!"

Crystal? Hmmm... Wait a minute... Wasn’t she the one who tried to sneak on board Emilia’s ship the last time and we ended up capturing her? She also had a sister didn’t she? And she was also an Off-Worlder as well?

Last I remembered... She was supposed to be serving as a maid in our Shadow Corps or something? I wasn’t really paying much attention to her after that but... Apparently she was also assigned specifically to serve me or something?

So... What the heck is she doing here?

Wait... Don’t tell me she’s like Yermine who chose to get herself assigned here just to stay close to me? I’m actually not even sure if she even remembers me-- Wait, what am I talking about? Of course she remembers me... I’m the entire reason why she’s even working for my family right now.

She had a scowl on her face as she glared at the Wrunch, "I know you’re a newcomer but are you seriously having trouble dealing with--"

Crystal paused when she saw me, her eyes widening in surprise.

Honestly... I already know that the people related to my family were most likely in on the plan to set the stage for me to be a villain so... If she’s acting surprised right now, she’s doing a really convincing act.

She hurriedly approached me and bowed her head, "Lady Aster!! My apologies!! I did not know you were coming!! If you were, I would have made sure to inform the staff of your arrival!!"

Hmm... I have a feeling this was what Emilia was talking about when she said the staff will follow up with whatever I do?

I lifted my chin at her, "Despite all the investments I made to this company, is this really the way I deserve to be treated?"

I had to pat myself mentally on the back for managing to speak like that without cringing outwardly... Because I was definitely cringing really hard inwardly.

Crystal played along perfectly as she remained vowed, "Not at all, Lady Aster!! I will rectify this immediately!"

I peeked at the Wrunch to see him looking quite worried at this point, most likely unsure of how screwed he was.

I would have laughed if I didn’t actually feel a little pity for him since he’s technically the unfortunate victim here of our little act.

Instead, I focused my attention on Crystal, "I take it that there’s no problem with me going in right now?"

"Not at all! Please! Follow me!"

She led the way into the store while the others outside gaped at me being given special treatment by the staff.

Even the guards themselves could not believe it but they obediently stepped aside instead of asking questions.

The Wrunch’s face paled to a light green colour which honestly almost made me break character but I managed to hold in my laughter all the way until I stepped out of sight. Only then did I let out a giggle which I quickly muffled with my hand.

Crystal turned back to face me, a smile appearing on her lips which told me she was definitely acting the entire time just now.

"Mistress. It is an honour to meet you again."

"Hello Crystal. It certainly has been a while hasn’t it? Last I remembered... Your entire family was hired to work for my family right?"

She nodded, "I am honoured you remember us, Mistress. It is thanks to you that my family is able to have our current lifestyle now."

"Mmm... How have you been by the way? It’s been a few years since we’ve last seen each other, hasn’t it?"

She poked her fingers together shyly, "Ehehe... Umm... You might not have seen me, Mistress but... I have seen you a number of times already..."

I gasped, "Wait... Don’t tell me I walked past you without even recognising it was you multiple times?!"

"Ah, no, no... Not like that, Mistress. I was... Umm... Serving as one of your Shadows. Which is... Umm... Basically I was guarding you from the shadows..."

Ah... I was aware that there might have been a few maids that were arranged to keep an eye on me out of sight but I didn’t know that she was one of them.

I mean... I know she was assigned to the Shadow Corps, but I thought she was a trainee and that she didn’t receive assignments involving guard duty...

I suppose the fact that I didn’t even realise she was there showed how skilled she was.

"So... Why are you a staff member of this store?" I asked.

I was honestly expecting her to give a similar answer as Yermine but...

"Miss Emilia said she needed some muscle as well. Or rather... People who are well versed in the service industry and can also wield a blade, so I volunteered myself!"

Ah... I’m assuming she has experience working in the sales sector back in our old World so she decided to help out here. And since I was also here, it allowed her to stay close to me as well so it was beneficial for her too.

She then changed the topic, gesturing in the direction of the entrance, "Should we do anything to those guards, Mistress? They were quite rude to you just now."

That was what I was afraid of...

I shook my head quickly, "He was doing his job so let’s not punish him for that."

"Ehehe~ I thought you might say that, Mistress. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure to compensate him fairly for his role in this."

That’s good, I can at least feel less guilty about putting the poor guy through all that now.

I then looked around the place, finally shifting my attention to the store itself.

Honestly, the interior was quite well decorated. It wasn’t lavishly decorated like some kind of high class store meant for nobles but more like it was clean and looked quite well put together. That way, even commoners would not feel intimidated by the store and the nobles would not feel that the store was beneath them.

For the first floor, it looked like this was the general goods section and there were various products on sale ranging from daily life necessities like soap, dining utensils and even writing materials that students would need for classes.

Thus, the first floor was the most crowded as students, professors and even residents of Aerialla Academy were browsing the wares on this floor.

"Impressive," I admitted, nodding at the sight of the floor.

Crystal smiled at me, "Miss Emilia was very thorough in the planning, Mistress. She had been preparing for this store’s opening for a while but... Ehehe... After knowing about your plans to play the villain, she made the decision to expand the operation even more~"

Seriously? I mean... I’m not surprised that she had been planning this for a while but she expanded it even more just because of that? I guess... As expected of Emilia I suppose...

"Where is she now? Is she here?"

"Yes, Mistress. Shall I lead you to her? She did give us instructions to let her know if you’re here and to let you know she wants to meet you as well. That is... If you want to, of course."

Why wouldn’t I want to meet my Nekomata lover? There’s a lot of things I want to say and do to her... In particular, giving her a good spanking for hiding all this from me.

She better get that ass of hers ready for me...