Feeling kind of tired so I might fall asleep before next chapter, otherwise 4-8-12~ hours. Also there was a part that"s slightly confusing this chapter how they knew his dream but I think it"s just a.s.sumed that came out in Ralpha"s conversations with them before-hand. I don"t think it"s just my imagination at least...
Anyone remember how they sometimes catapulted dead cows into castles in siege warfare? It has absolutely no relation to this chapter. Also Al you are a frightening person and I look forward to your wars.
Year 7444, Month 12, Day 14
"..I feel as if scales are falling from my eyes. I"m really very sorry for saying something so embarra.s.sing. Certainly that"s true. I was lacking the thinking, "when you enter the village abide by the village". I apologize. I"m sorry and have no excuses."
Faruergaz sincerely apologized as well. Though it"s common for j.a.panese people to easily lower their heads even if you retort to them even just a bit but on Orth that"s not a virtue or anything at all. I need to stop around here.
"Hirosukol-san, Faruergaz-san. Please raise your heads. I already understand your feelings."
I raised my back from leaning back into the sofa and smiled. Let"s change the topic.
"This just my own personal interest, so if it"s inconvenient for you two then you don"t need to reply but..do the two of you have any friends other than those in this place?"
I think they probably don"t though. Ah, please don"t misunderstand. Just now they referred to Basutoral as a "friend". Even though I"m sure their relationship doesn"t go beyond one month. I just was wondering if they didn"t know of any other j.a.panese people. The reason I didn"t ask them directly, is if possible I didn"t want them to know that I was trying to gather j.a.panese people as well. After all they still haven"t become my allies.
"Friends, huh...I, don"t have any..just these two."
"I..have one that isn"t far from being called that in my home town. A fighting friend who"s two years older than me."
Faruerugaz said lonesomely and Hirosukol said nostalgically. As expected I guess there"s no other people. This can"t be helped.
"Though it wasn"t our intention to, we were able to gain this new life to live. It would be good if you can make a lot of friends."
It would feel bad if it"s just that.
"If you have as many chances to interact with various people then I think you"ll be able to gain more chances to touch on various ways of thinking. It"s some kind of fate that we met here. Would please include me in the group of friends of you two?"
I first stretched my right hand out to Faruergaz.
"Eh? A, Ah. Yeah, of course! Of course that"s the case, Greed-san."
Faruergaz grasped my hand and then even put his left hand over that while saying.
Next I stretched my hand out to Hirosukol as well. He grasped my hand just the same.
At the very least with this our relationship shouldn"t get dangerous anytime soon. It might be naive but for now I should remain satisfied with this. After all, putting aside the initial misunderstanding, they called my dream a "grand lie that can"t be done". At the very least I"m sure they can"t empathize with it and they don"t have the type of mentality to believe in the fantasy story that is the country I"m trying to make. Whether for better or for worse they"re j.a.panese people after all.
However, it"s not as if I"ve given up on including them as my subordinates. In terms of future potential I can only imagine Hirosukol as being in the same position as my current allies but I desperately want Faruergaz. Even if I have to use this and that methods I want to get my hands on him. I think it"s necessary not just for his body but to take quite a bit of time to train his mentality as well but other than my magic, while most likely it would be difficult to deal with, he is the only thing that could come close to a tactical weapon. In terms of pure power his might even be superior to my magic. If I gain any sort of confidence that he won"t fall for me then it"s to the point where before he goes somewhere far away I need to make sure to definitely kill him.
"Now then, putting that aside, for starters there"s the expenses that Faruergaz-san lent to Basutral in order to free him. How much was it?"
"In terms of cost to release him it was 150,000 Z to the temple, 3,000,000 Z to buy him. Other than that, he had intended to start up his own company so other than I lent him 1,000,000 Z in order to obtain a company license, and 850,000 Z to get it started up."
Ha? 3,000,000 Z? Though he"s an adult male, that"s quite the price for a weak Cat-people brat. It should be at most 2,500,000 Z...I"m sure he must have been overcharged. How pitiful.
"What about interest?"
"I didn"t intend to take it, right now, I"ll bring the loan doc.u.ment."
Faruergaz said that, stood up from his seat, and went outside. So it"s 5 gold coins. I can accept 3,150,000 Z of that but the rest I"ll have him pay back right away excluding the expenses of his daily necessities. I"m sure he still has some cash on him. That"s fine but I think I probably only have 2,000,000 Z in my wallet right now...I don"t normally walk around with that kind of large sum on me...and, this was my company. I"m sure there"s at least 5,000,000. Since I knew there was around 10,000,000 laying around for buying seeds and grains and such to import to the village and such. Though anything other than that is in a borrowed locker in the government office.
I stand up from the sofa as well and after pa.s.sing by Miduchi"s side I went up to the second floor. I entered the Ryogu"s bedroom at my own convenience and then opened the hidden drawer, after just grabbing 5 gold coins I returned. The currency was separated and wrapped up in different cloths. Thinking it was Rozural and Wendy"s methodical side I made a small bitter smile. In addition to returning I went further in the back of the first floor, grabbed a piece of paper from the warehouse in the back yard and then returned with a contract use magic stone.
Faruergaz returned at almost the same time as me. I placed the display money 5,000,000 Z on top of the table and talked to Basutoral.
"Basutoral-san. There"s 5,000,000 Z. Please use as much as you need."
Matching it up with the money he currently has on him, I thought he should probably pay off his debt on his own. And, huh? Huhuh? Why are you taking all of it? I want to praise my power of will for keeping the surprise from showing on my face. Basutoral just lowered his head to me once and and returned all of that...Faruergaz is using status open on each of those to confirm them. After he confirmed all five he tore up the loan doc.u.ment. Ah, well when it comes to silver coins there"s so many of them you can"t be bothered checking the status of all of them right. When it comes close to 2,000,000 Z then they end up like a pile of useless small change..though I guess you can"t call silver coins useless small change.
However, in comparison to what I was thinking Basutoral isn"t intending to open his wallet at all. Not just that he"s looking back at me.
"Is there something?"
This isn"t a marriage interview. Return the money. You have some right?
"Umm, is it fine not to write a loan doc.u.ment?"
Eh? No, of course I"ll write one though. Ah! I see! Sorrysorry. I"m sure he needs to buy a weapon and armor and various things as well. I had completely forgotten.
"Ah, of course I intend to write one but I had intended to add a postscript to the contract. Would it be better to add it to the loan amount?"
"Umm, I have a bit of a request in regards to that but.."
"Hn? What is it?"
I felt that Basutral"s timid manner of speech was unnatural.
"Another 2,000,000, no, could you please loan me another 1,000,000? I know it"s shameless of me but could you please?"
Hoe? 1,000,000 on a weapon, 500,000 - 600,000 on some leather armor, 200,000 on his expenses for the time being, so I thought the 5,000,000 was fine but another 1,000,000? Does he really want equipment that expensive? Putting aside a magic weapon and my handmade sword, there"s not even anyone among our members who use weapons that high quality? Though recently our armor has gotten pretty decent. Ah, come to think of it Angela"s broad sword was one that was around 5,000,000. If I think about it like that then excluding me, the greatest equipment in our party is two suits of banded-mail and a high quality broad sword used by a female slave..It"s laughable.
"Hn..is it fine if I ask what the use of it is?"
Since I"m lending some money it"s only obvious from a j.a.panese standpoint to confirm the usage. I really want to know as well.
"N..There"s a woman I"ve promised to marry in my home town. She"s a slave as well but I want to buy her. Since the individual tax of a slave owned by a Free Person is 1,000,000 I"ll release her soon after and get married though.."
Yes? Hey, wait just a minute. I looked at Faruergaz and Hirosukol in order. They were seriously nodding. It seems that what this guy is saying it true but as expected that is...
"..Basutoral-san. That"s unreasonable. No, I"m not saying it because I don"t have the money. Just as I said just now the dungeon is a dangerous place. Putting it quite frankly it"s even possible for you to lose your life this year. Are you telling me to take on anymore risk than that? In the first place, after you buy that woman how are you planning to prepare your own equipment and weapon? Just in case I"ll say it but even infantry use short swords and spears have market prices of around 700,000 - 800,000 Z, and leather armor is only a bit cheaper than that? The expenses for daily life for the time being are also necessary."
When I said that Basutoral choked up on his words. I"m sure Faruergaz can"t say anything in regards to this either.
"Please endure it for a year or so. I"ll say it frankly but there"s no way to give you the same treatment as my other members from the start. Please think that you"re starting from the reserve troops. However, it"s fine if you take this as a promise but if one year later you"re still splendidly alive then while luxuriously is impossible, I"m sure you"ll have earned enough to buy your wife, properly pay both of your individual taxes, and be able to live on that...Where is your birth village? If you"re worried then six months later if you"re still working properly it"s fine if I buy her as well."
Somehow I"m not satisfied with this. Am I an idiot? Is this some sort of charity company that hires people from the same home town who are troubled with money~? This, no matter how I think about it I"m paying more than I get back in returns. It"s only obvious that my orders are absolute obedience right. After all if we"re doing contracts then I should properly think up the content. The contract can be on equal terms but it"s only obvious that the details change based on the power relationship between sides~ If that wasn"t the case places with subcontracts in j.a.pan wouldn"t be crushed. Somehow it"s all just become idiotic.
"This is the greatest compromise I can offer. If you can"t accept this then I can"t hire you."
I won"t say any complaints about not be able to employ him at this point. If he complains about refusing to increase the loan amount then I can"t deal with that. If it comes to that I"ll seriously throw him out and if he can"t return the money I"ll just turn him into a slave again from the debt.
"..I understand. I"m very seriously for saying something so impudent at my own convenience. I"m looking forward to working with you."
"Yes, I"m also looking forward to working with you. Well then, let"s go and buy a weapon and some armor right away. We need to take a room for you at an inn as well."
When I said that I ordered Zulu who was standing at the doorway to let Yotlen and the others inside.
"I"m sorry about suddenly intruding in on you. Also, could you tell Rozural that I used 5,000,000...and, I guess it"s fine, I"ll tell him directly on my way back. Also, use this to feed something warm to Anna and Hanna."
I gave her an adequate amount of 2-3 silver coins and then lead everyone out of the company.
"Umm, Greed-san."
I put my helmet on and just as I started to put my gauntlets on my hands Faruergaz started talking to me. Ah, I need to properly mention it to Miduchi and find out where you guys are lodging. There"s no way I would give up so easily on two j.a.panese people, even more so when they"re knights at that.
"Hn? What is it?"
"Is it alright for us to go to Baldukk as well?"
Eh? Do as you please. Though that"s even more appreciated for me as well. Ah, come to think of it they did say something about watching over him.
Even if it"s only for a short while if you two are going to follow along with us at your own convenience then it saves me the trouble of watching you.
"Yeah, I don"t mind. Ralpha, Gwine, stand up. Let"s go. Zulu, Angela, go to the pa.s.senger carriage and take some seats."
I guess their feet went numb, when the two of them stood up they were staggering and when I was glancing at them from the side Bel poked those legs emitting a gya~ scream from the two idiots and then I was called out to again.
"And also, I have a request but.."
What is it now, really. I have no intention of hiring you two for the time being. Since it seems troublesome.
"That is~ I..I want you to sell us some Saya but.."
"In..In reality we just came because we wanted to buy some Saya."
They said it with a voice so low I almost couldn"t hear it.
Eh? Really, just stop it already. There"s young children here after all. And so you were customers?
"Yotlen, is there any Saya still remaining?"
I tried asking in a low voice and it seems that while the stock is extremely low there still is some. However, it seems the only things remaining are SS and XL sizes. The rest is just made of the stock for brothel companies that we"ve already exchanged contracts with and our free stock is zero. Since it couldn"t be helped when I told them there"s only super small and insanely large sizes remaining they were disappointed.
"If you"ll come along to our inn then I can share a bit of S and M sizes but.."
Of course it"s the M size I use but there"s also the M size I provide Angela with and the S size I sell to Toris, so I obviously have secured a reasonable size of stock at the inn.
For the time being we all packed into the pa.s.senger carriage, Miduchi and I, the two of us rode to the workshop on horseback and after I told Rozural and Wendy that I suddenly had to use 5,000,000, we chased after the pa.s.senger carriage.
Author Note Spell:
"Detect.Lie" Divination
(All elements Lv. 3, Void magic Lv. 5, Consumes 22 MP void magic double)
Choose one target and when that target speaks a lie it can be detected. The lie isn"t based in fact. It points to whether or not the target intentionally spoke with intention to deceive. If the person them self believe in it then it"s not a lie. The reverse magic is {Conceal.Real.Intention}.
When this magic is being used, the judgements will be based on the level difference of the user.