166. As the Crow Laughs 1
(Note: Original t.i.tle is [The Road to Chelsea "Terawarosu" (テラワロス)], Parody of [The Road to Chelsea Terrace] which is j.a.panese t.i.tle of a novel [As the Crow Flies], and the [] part is a net slang for [LMAO], [ROFL], et cetera. So that"s where the [As the Crow Laughs] came from. Phew)
Just as planned, by using the [] strategy, I succeeded in making contact with the daughter of Selz Company, Rephilia. After I did a lot of research, I"ve found her who perfectly matched with criteria, I won"t miss such a catch!!
"P-p-please spare my family with my life as the only compensation! By all means, forgive me…" (Rephilia)
"Are you taking me for a tyrant!?" (Mitsuha)
I"m stunned seeing the agitated Rephilia, is this kind of reaction normal in this country?
Depending on their mood, the aristocrats or the powerful people can simply crush commoners as if they crush an ant…
Well, that doesn"t matter now.
"No, I won"t do something like that! Leaving that aside, you said you"re a daughter of a firm? In that case, I want to talk a little…" (Mitsuha)
While saying so, I reached my luggage that is placed next to the table. And what I took out from the inside is, a small bottle.
"I brought things like this from my country and want to sell them in this country. Do you think it will sell?" (Mitsuha)
"Eh…" (Rephilia)
Following the first small bottle, Rephilia unable to take her eyes from the items I take out of my luggage one after another.
The contents of the small bottles are black pepper, red pepper, salt, sugar and other various seasonings. And one 300ml bottle of each brandy and whisky. Of course, the salt is the purified sea salt, and the sugar is white sugar made from sugar beet.
There are also various herbs such as cinnamon, etc.
Right, they"re the things that will disappear if you eat them, commonly known as [consumable]. It"s unlikely that the cultivation method or the purification method can be understood just by looking the finished products.
Those are cheap items in j.a.pan, but quite expensive in this world.
Salt is also cheap here, but if there"s salt with higher quality available widely and cheaply on the market, it"ll disrupt the existing routes, namely the producers and the distributors.
This will squeeze the country"s gold… not the gold coins, but [gold], and effectively reduce its national strength.
And let them a.s.sume that [the money I earned is circulating in the country, so there"s no problem], and once I earned enough money, I will carry all gold, silver, and pearls out of the country.
Fuha. Fuhahaha. Fuhahahahahahaha!!
…whoops, no good no good, I have to deceive…. I mean, to convince Rephilia right now!!
…or so I though.
"ko-ko-koko-kokoko…" (Rephilia)
Ah, Rephilia has become a chicken…
"ko-ko-kore wa…" (Rephilia) (Note: Kore wa = This is)
Alright, she bit the bait!
"I think it should be cheaper than the ones currently sold in this country… however it"s troublesome to sell in small amount here and there. I wonder If there"s a firm that can do the collective sales in my stead…" (Mitsuha)
"Signe—eed!!" (Rephilia)
Alright, strike!!
"eh?" (Rephilia)
"No, like I said, I"m hoping that Rephilia to establish your own firm rather than the company your father runs…" (Mitsuha)
"Eeeeehh!!" (Rephilia)
Right, there are too many disadvantages to dealing with hard-headed old man.
First. There are possibilities that they may look down on me because I"m just a young girl, that they may not listen to my requests, that they may break their promises, and that they may push random requests on me.
Second. There"s a possibility that they may treat me as a target of exploitation because they only considered me as one of their many trading partners.
Third. There"s a possibility that they may notice my grand scheme.
That"s why, it"s better to have an inexperienced naïve-chan whose field of view become narrow because of this opportunity, treats the deals with me as the backbone of their business, easily moves according to my intentions, and thinks that they"re an expert. Thus, the best prey, I can choose, from among the children of many mid-sized firms, as my ideal trading partner is, Rephilia.
(Note: This gonna backfire really bad)
"I will finance the establishment fund. Since the money that I got from exchanging 30kg of gold ingots to the bank is almost remain untouched, let"s use it. Well, golds of that amount can"t be cashed in one go, so actually I don"t have much money on me. But I think it would be enough to rent a store that has a decent warehouse for the time being, since we plan to focus on selling small and expensive items that aren"t too bulky… Ah, since I have my own connection as a n.o.ble, I can introduce you to someone if you need. What do you think?" (Mitsuha)
Shop.
Firm.
Selz Company, that was founded by her great-grandfather, is run by her father and to be succeeded by her elder brother.
No matter how talented she is, in the end, she is just a woman. She has no chance to take over the company, her opinions were never taken seriously, she"s only considered as a helpers, and in a few years, she will be married to a business partner. Just like a [chess piece]…
Her will, ability, dreams, and hope, everything is trampled, just like a chess piece…
"I"ll do it! Let me do it! With this life and pride, I will surely meet your expectations!!" (Rephilia)
There can be no other answer.
I pushed the luggage that was placed on the side of the table towards Rephilia.
"You can use them as samples. I have some confidence in their quality" (Mitsuha)
Grin! (SFX)
Seeing me grinning, Rephilia also smiled. And…
"I am hereby presenting my deepest grat.i.tude and my utmost loyalty towards your excellency the viscount…" (Rephilia)
(Note: did she just got a new follower?)
After that, Rephilia acted quickly.
She quit from her father"s company and started the procedure for establishing a firm.
She"s willing to go through everything to save time. Right now, it"s more important to establish a firm as soon as possible rather that the slight loss from bribes.
Her father and elder brother, who were laughing at her after hearing the story, stunned with their mouth wide open after they find out that Rephilia, who should have neither funds nor mentor, completed the paperwork, secured a store with attached warehouse, and developed her own sales channel within a short time frame.
According to Rephilia, the name of Viscount Yamano and the product samples I provided were as powerful as a divine sword. …well, that"s to be expected, the funds are also plentiful.
If your name is known to a certain extent, you didn"t need to sell it desperately. On the contrary, they would come to approach you instead. Even though we"re still in the introduction stage and the actual goods has not arrived yet.
Thus, [General Store Mitsuha] has acquired a partner shop abroad.
The firm strictly belongs to Rephilia, I"m neither the owner, the shareholder, nor the investor of the firm.
I"m just a business partner who lends money to Rephilia and provides the goods.
In other words, I have nothing to do with the procedure for the establishment of the firm and if there"s any legal trouble in the firm, I have nothing to do with it. If one day I suddenly flee to my home country with all the money I have, no one is going to complain.
…no, I don"t have the intention to abandon of dispose Rephilia. …For the time being.
Even If it has become an unavoidable situation, I have no problem.
Well, I don"t really need to take such safety measures.
No matter what happen, all I have to do is to throw everything else out and withdraw all of my money.
No one can detain me or take my money in an unreasonable way.
…And if they try to deprive someone by unreasonable means , then they can"t complain if they"re deprived by the same manner. I"ll hit back indiscriminately, whether it"s a merchant or a n.o.bleman…. or even the whole power of the state.