165. The Stomach of a Giant Whale
"I will take three of each of Lortor-san" and Tiras-san" work" (Mitsuha)
I"m in the royal capital to buy the sculptures for the Gallery Café [Gold Coin].
Instead of buying their works directly, I"m decided to buy their works that has been put in a small, independent art shop. That way, their works would still have the chance to be displayed in this world, and they might sell to those who interested in them. It"s better for them to sell and spread their names in this world, after all.
I just have to buy the ones that haven"t sold yet, and the rest of their works that are displayed in the store as merchandise will be more advertised because [That Viscount Yamano purchased their works].
In addition, it helps the grandpa of the art shop to make some profit. As expected, it won"t make a good profit if the display shelves were packed with the unsold works of newcomer artists.
A small art shop owner who gently supports newcomers whose works doesn"t sell well.
How nice. Just like the [Portrait of Jennie], it"s wonderful!
Everyone is happy, a win-win outcome!
A moment after I returned to the [General Store Mitsuha], Sabine-chan came.
"Onee-sama, Princess Remia has asked for support via the radio!" (Sabine-chan)
"Eeeeh!!" (Mitsuha)
The potential rebels in her country should"ve been wiped out. Is it invasion from another country?
In this crucial time when the countries on this continent must unite to prepare for the invasion from the New Continent?
d.a.m.n, which idiot nation is this… I"ll crush them! I will crush them!!
"When I tried to hold an Oth.e.l.lo tournament, the productions couldn"t catch up with the demands because of the unexpected response, and I don"t know how to hold the tournament wither" (Princess Remia)
…I don"t care…
And she started the production on her own accord…
In other countries, the right to partic.i.p.ate in the tournament and the punishment of the Himemiko-sama is ineffective, I guess it"s natural that we lose our share outside this country. What a blunder…
Well, since it has already been taken out of our country by a merchant or someone, I guess it"s just a matter of time.
However, as expected, the cards cannot be manufactured on a practical level. But it"ll be difficult if they managed to go beyond that, so we have to hurry the card production…
I sold Eras to the King… or rather, to the Country. Well, at a reasonable price.
Eras might be an oversized and to-be-sc.r.a.ped garbage for the Kingdom of Vanel, but for our county, the latest state-of-the-art ship, even if it"s wrecked, is a great learning material to [Build a large ship with much lower hurdles than starting from scratch].
For Vanel Kingdom, building a new ship is easier and cheaper than repairing Eras, but it"s different for our country.
The sales money went to the territory"s treasury instead of my personal safe.
Well, it can"t be helped. If you don"t separate the funds between the lord"s personal a.s.sets and territory"s budget, it will be confusing when the lord retires.
Actually I was wondering if I can make it my personal a.s.set, but I wanted to invest in research for the underground resources, steelmaking, ship building, fishing nets production, etc. there are many more. I have to put up with this…
And apart from the money, the county offered the exchange terms for selling Eras.
The country wanted to launch the near-completed [prototype small sailing ship] on a route that connects our fishing port and the military port of Earl Bozes.
With the training of the crews is in progress, the three captured boats will soon be in operation, so it"s unlikely that the country needs a small prototype boat. The country initiated to build that ship only for a practice platform for learning skills after all. And now, the country can start building a full-scaled sailing ship by doing reverse-engineering on Eras. The operation of the small prototype boat may also serve as training for new sailors.
With this, we can establish a trade route to start selling the increasing crops production and the fish and other marine product whose catch has increased sharply. This goes well with the fact that the population on the fishing village… no, [Naval port city] in Bozes territory has increased dramatically due to the growing shipbuilding industry and the training of naval personnel. This, naturally attracts a crowd of merchants, taverns, and many other to make money in the rapidly-developing city.
Umu, food sells. No matter how much!
This effectively resolve the problem regarding the rapid ma.s.s transport of perishable seafood and leafy vegetables.
Alright, we"ll win with this!!
However, I don"t want to attract naval-related facilities to my territory, just by looking at the fact that the security has deteriorated in Bozes territory due to the influx of a large number of ruffians and criminals.
Well, after the storm, a stable development period will come, so it"s a game of patience. Good luck, count-sama!
And I went to the new continent.
The problems on the Earth and the territory has been settled, so let"s start the all-out plan!
Right, the business on the new continent has begun.
The plan is to involve not only kingdom of Vanel, but also the surrounding nations, to sell expensive and useless things to weaken the country"s power, and to bite as a merchant so that I can pull back whenever I want in the event of an emergency.
And on top of that, it also wastes labor and productivity.
…Right, this is the real-life practice of [Tetris Effect].
(Note: Slightly different from wiki, Tetris Effect is when someone develops addictive allure on a specific repet.i.tive activity.)
I"ll be . Breaking through from the stomach of a giant whale by eating it from inside.
Anyway, that"s that.
It"s piracy… I mean, it"s conspiracy time!
(Narator"s POV)
(…d.a.m.n, that hardheaded bunch…)
A girl about 15 to 16 years old was walking down the avenue with a grumpy face as if having swallowed a bitter bug.
(Dad and big-bro are just too stubborn! From now on, the era of large-scale trade with long-distanced regions by large ships will come! Clinging to the old way of doing things today, medium-sized firms like ours can"t keep up with the times and die…)
Her father, the third generation of a medium-sized firm, and his successor, her elder brother.
Both of them are not that feeble-minded, but their idea is that if you"re still making profit right now, you can just keep going and do the same trick. And only take actions If the situation changes and profits begin to decline.
By that time, you can tell why the profits declines. So you just have to take the corresponding measures. You don"t need to change the way things work when you don"t know when and what will happen.
That is one way of thinking.
But that"s not the way of the merchants who aims for the top.
She persuaded them, but her father and brother just did not want to listen to her.
It is said that [the third generation will crush the store], but neither her father nor her elder brother, who will be the fourth generation, is foolish.
(However, it"s useless as it is. At this rate, we would fall behind the times, and as a result… )
"Kyaaa!!"
"Ah, I am sorry!"
Because she was walking while thinking frustratingly, she collided into a girl who was carrying a big luggage.
The girl who fell down on her b.u.t.t seemed to be unable to stand up because of the pain, probably because she hit her tail bone.
"are you okay!?"
A cute girl, about 12-13 years old, with black hair and a slightly exotic features.
It is terrible to injure such a beautiful girl. Moreover, she"s wearing such an expensive-looking dress. If she is a daughter of a powerful n.o.ble of another country, it"ll become an international issue…
When she thought so, the blood suddenly drained from her face.
(She just hit her b.u.t.t. She just wasn"t immune to pain because her pampered upbringing. Please, tell me that is the case!!)
"…my name is Rephilia, the daughter of Selz Company…" (Rephilia)
"My name is Mitsuha von Yamano" (Mitsuha)
(S-sh-she"s a n.o.ble!? What"s more, [Von] means she"s a n.o.ble from other country!! …my life ends here…) (Rephilia)
Rephilia is half-crying.
This was a café near the location where Rephilia hit the foreign girl.
After that, she cannot leave the girl and she cannot carry the luggage the girl was carrying either, so she decided to take a break at a nearby café for the time being.
While praying that it"s just a bruise without any further injuries… she introduced herself.
And then, she learned that the girl is a n.o.ble from other country. She thought that she was a rich daughter, but she was a n.o.ble. With this, If she caused serious injury on the girl…
(Aaaaaaaaah!! Sorry, dad! Sorry, big-bro!) (Rephilia)
"H-hoho-ho-how should I apologize to your parents…" (Rephilia)
She desperately trying to squeeze such words out of her mind.
"Oh, no, that was my fault. Walking around with such a large luggage is a bother, isn"t it? My apologies… And I"m alone in this country, so I"m not together with my family" (Mitsuha)
(Eh?) (Rephilia)
"Also, I am not claiming the t.i.tle [von] as a n.o.ble daughter. I myself have a n.o.ble t.i.tle. It is Viscount Mitsuha von Yamano." (Mitsuha)
"Gi…" (Rephilia)
"Gi?" (Mitsuha)
"Gyaaaa!!!" (Rephilia)