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Complaints [Part 1]
“We are terribly sorry. But the store currently does not have any cotton products.”
“Pardon, but this
 is really troubling. There must be a few pieces in your warehouse, right?”
“No, not even one piece. Rothschild Company did not stock up on any cotton this year.”
“How come? Every year, cotton is a must-have fabric to make new underwear around this time.”
“As I have said several times before, the cotton the Empire offered this year did not meet the quality standard of the products our company sells.”
“But, you must have a few pieces left
”
“No, we absolutely have none.”
“
I really hate having to say this, but my master is a Marquis, you see? We’ve been a patron of this company for a long time, can’t you work it out for us? If it’s going to be like this, I would have to ask my master to reconsider our future partnership with the Rothschild Company.”
The servant of a Marquis household had been hindering the store clerk and insisted about how the store wouldn’t take out the cotton for him for more than an hour now.
It wasn’t until a few weeks after Joshua returned from Imperial Japan that a situation like this turned into a familiar sight in the Rothschild stores.
Although Joshua started attending his classes even later than the three siblings, he still had to take a break from school often because he was hard-pressed to deal with the increasing number of complaints.
“Excuse me, Sir.”
The clerk was at a complete loss facing this unreasonable customer, who refused to believe that they didn’t have any cotton even after he had explained it so many times. Upon seeing the situation, Joshua stepped in and signaled the clerk with his eyes that he would be taking over from here.
The clerk felt relief for finally being set free from this trouble, but at the same time, felt like he couldn’t stand having to foist this on Joshua, who, despite being this store’s manager, was 10 years younger than him. Feeling obliged, the clerk stood aside with complex emotions.
“I got this.” Joshua nodded with a light pat on the clerk’s back before facing the customer.
“Our company also has silk of first-rate quality. Someone working in a Marquis household such as yourself is surely more fitting to wear a material better than cotton
”
“Huh? And who are you? I don’t want to interact with an unrelated person like you!”
The customer’s attitude changed in a flash when facing the young Joshua.
“Let me apologize for not introducing myself earlier. I am Joshua Rothschild, the regional manager for Rothschild Company’s stores in the Royal Capital.”
“I am here to listen to all your complaints,” with a smile on his face, Joshua politely and gracefully introduced himself to the customer, who was being all haughty and impolite. He was so used to having this business smile on his face that he was now worried about whether he could revert his face back to his normal expression or not.
“Manager
? H-Hey, uh, I mean
 pardon me, but isn’t this weird? How could there be no cotton in this store! How do you intend to take responsibility?”
After hearing Joshua’s name, the customer’s attitude changed by a lot.
“To satisfy our esteemed customers, our Rothchild Company always offers products that have gone through rigorous selection. As the person earlier has said, the cotton quality this year did not meet the standards set by our company, to be offered to our customers. A store under the Rothschild name cannot sell such inferior products. But we do have high-quality silk and hemp in store.”
We don’t have what we don’t have.
Because Dad didn’t buy even a single roll of cotton fabric, the condition of the cotton brought by the Imperial merchants must have been even worse than how it was described in the information I obtained beforehand.