Inside the main building of the Black Bear Cannery, which had undergone several expansions, was a brightly lit office.
Shermane, wearing a gray dress that accentuated her lovely figure, was calculating this month's accounts at her desk. Not far from her, Leonard Mitchell lounged with a newspaper, dressed in a shirt and vest with his shirttails hanging out, waiting for her to finish her work for the day.
There were no other staff in the office. The entire factory had stopped work that afternoon, and aside from a handful of night guards, all the workers had gone home early.
Even with supplies coming in from Bayam, this factory hasn't been operating at full capacity lately... Leonard put down the newspaper. His gaze swept across the empty office before settling on Shermane's long brown hair and the elegant curve from her neck to her shoulders.
"I'm almost done. We operated for less than half as long as before this month, so there aren't many accounts to go through."
As though sensing Leonard's gaze, the Demoness of Pleasure, who owned several factories yet still preferred to review the accounts herself, looked up at him and smiled.
"It's all right. The later it gets, the more energetic I become."
Leonard waved a hand as he answered, then immediately realized how suggestive that sounded and hurriedly changed the subject.
"Besides this canned food factory, are your other factories facing the same problem?"
He meant the other food factories Shermane had acquired under Angel's instructions.
"More or less. The shipping routes from Bayam to Backlund have been attacked several times by the Intis and Feynapotter navies, so deliveries are much less efficient than before. Other raw materials on the market have risen to several times their old prices, and even with money, we might not