Chapter 027 - Merchant - 2
I dismissed the gathering crowd. As for the Kobold tribe, I asked them to quickly set up simple things to tie down the horses in the vacant land at the 13th district.
The reason why I didn’t put the horses in the grazing lands was because I didn’t know what the camels with their violent tempers might do.
We went along the street with me riding Catherine while Elsa and the swordsmen stayed in their horse-drawn carriage. Three wolf tribesmen served as our escorts.
“Hoo ~ Well, it"s a liddle-biddy town, but this is quite a big deal. It"s like we are in a different world.” Elsa exclaimed as she looked around the town in wonder.
The two swordsmen were the same, and looked around restlessly. Then, Elsa seemed to notice something as she sniffed around.
“What is this? This town... It is remarkably cleaner than ours!” Elsa said as she cast her eyes on the ground restlessly. She seemed to be looking for something.
“There is nothing there!” Elsa exclaimed.
“And ‘that’ is?” I casually asked Elsa.
“T-That is that.” Elsa said vaguely, her face becoming slightly red.
Yes, [that] can be perceived in many ways, so it is impossible to answer it correctly without understanding it.
“No, even if you tell me something like that, I don’t understand...” I stated.
“That is that! Don’t make a beautiful and innocent girl say something like that!” Elsa suddenly became angry.
“Ha?” I really didn’t understand why.
“Umm... It"s about night soil.” The male swordsman who remained indifferent elaborated.
Night soil, in other words, excrements That reminds me, I heard a story about them throwing away the excrement from the window into the town in medieval Europe. In other words, Elsa is asking why is there no large amounts of excrement to be found on the ground.
By the way, I didn"t know about this, but this world has a culture that can be said to be excessively shy, especially concerning smell/odor. Looks like it’s their main subject of embarra.s.sment. That was why Elsa had tremendous resistance about saying foul things like that.
“The reason why this town is clean is because we have restrooms in various places. The excrement collected from each restroom will be thrown out daily by the person in charge to a distant place everyday. Afterwards, we dry it out. Because we dried it out quickly, it doesn’t smell.” I explained.
“Is that so? It’s much better than our town. Isn’t it difficult?” Elsa asked.
“Well, because there’s not many people, it is still under our control.” I replied nonchalantly.
“Ho? Elsa huffed, impressed.
But, when the female swordsman listened to our talk, I noticed that she frowned in displeasure. Did we say something to hurt her feelings?
“That’s right, what is with the houses in this street? I noticed that there is a large shop at the entrance, but almost all of them are closed.” Elsa pointed out.
“We have a small population.” I stated.
“Hey, is it okay to look at the stores for a while?” Elsa requested.
“I don"t mind, but there are nothing else besides sake, clothes and sundries. Is that ok?” I shrugged casually.
“Then, later is okay.” Elsa nodded.
And then, we arrived at an unused store in the middle of the street. It is to avoid them meeting Romatto, who was still being held captive at the inn.
First of all, the store we entered isn’t the store in the main street. The reason was to avoid public eyes when they are here. I do not want to expose them to the humans that they hate so much in town.
“Please use this place while you stay in this town.” I told the three.
The store is a 2-story, j.a.panese-styled storehouse.
After they have unloaded their baggage from their carriage, a wolf tribesman took their horses to the 13th district.
When I open the door and entered with them, I provided a brief explanation regarding the amenities, especially regarding how to handle the fire. I also gave them a warning to not wander around the town without permission. Then, we move to tatami room on the 2nd floor.
“Please, sit down.” I offered.
“...” The three remained silent.
Oh? Even though I offered them a seat, none of the three tried to sit down. There were no floor cushions since the floor is tatami, so they will be able to sit down without sitting cross legged even if they were women.
“Umm... I want to fix my make up...” Elsa requested nervously.
Fixing make up is a secret code. Hahaha, I understand.
That reminds me, when we entered the room, the girls seemed to be perplexed when asked to take off their shoes. No matter how they sit down, their feet will be seen. In other words, it"s that.
“I understand. I will fetch some drinks, so make yourself at home.” I stated and left.
I told the people from the wolf tribe who kept waiting on the first floor that I will be back immediately before returning back home with Catherine, who was lying outside.
Several minutes later...
While hanging the sake jug on one of my arms, I used both hands to carry a tray with 3 lidded vessels on it. The contents of these three vessels were reserved for today.
“Elsa-san, can I come in?” I asked for permission.
“Yes.” She replied.
After getting permission, I opened the sliding door. A floral scent drifted out from inside. It’s the smell of perfume.
“I am really sorry for my rudeness.” Elsa apologised as all three of them stood up to greet me.
“No, I don’t mind at all.” I replied easily. “Please, sit down.”
Elsa sat down, cross-legged, while the two swordsmen sat in seiza.
What is this? Doesn’t she feel embarra.s.sed at all? I don’t understand her at all.
While thinking such a thing, I sat cross-legged too.
“Please try this rare liquor which Frost-sensei was talking about.” I pour the sake for Elsa and the swordsmen.
“Oh, so this is it!” Elsa stared at the cup excitedly.
Of course, because I will be troubled if they become strangely cautious of me, I poured the sake for myself as well, and drank it first.
“Then, please drink up.” I offered.
First, Elsa swallowed her saliva and picked up her cup as the two swordsmen picked up the cups as well.
“This is certainly some rare liquor.” Elsa licked it to taste it.
Her face became serious, completely different from her expressions up till now. Should I say that this is the face of a merchant; as if she’s evaluating this sake?
“By the way, what kind of relationship do you have with Frost-sensei?” I asked.
“Hm? There’s no particular relationship, to be honest.” She answered plainly.
They aren’t acquaintances? Is that true?
“Then why do you have a letter from Frost-sensei?” I questioned.
“The Red Dragon Knights had come here, right?” Elsa asked.
“Yes.” I nodded.
“After that, the Red Dragon Knights were defeated by you, and returned. Is it right up to here?” She asked.
“That is right.” I nodded once more.
“To tell you the truth, the Red Dragon Knights suffered from a plague, so they couldn’t help but return back to the country. Well, that is the story back in the kingdom. However, after bribing the soldiers, I was able to hear the true story.” She stated.
“Ho?” I mused.
The Red Dragon Knights reluctantly retreated because of plague, huh? That is a plausible story to save their face.
“Then, after hearing that the Red Dragon Knights were defeated, it struck me. A town that was able to beat the Red Dragon Knights... I thought that this town which had gathered the beastmen together wasn’t simply a paper-tiger town.” She explained. “If we were able to open a trade route here, it won’t be strange if we could make huge earnings. That was why we earnestly asked Frost-han about the route to find this beastman town first. We were able to hear about this town in exchange for delivering the letter.”
“I see. Does this mean that other merchants will come here too?” I asked.
“No, I don’t think so. After all, this is a beastman town. No matter how many lives they have, it will not be enough.” Elsa laughed.
“Then, why did you come to such a dangerous place?” I questioned.
“That is of course, for the sake of accomplishment. Back in the kingdom, we are just a small commercial firm. We will not be able to move forward if we don’t step forward because of the danger. You will not gain anything without going out to adventure.” She snorted.
I get the story now. Looking at her behavior, Elsa didn’t seem to have told any lies here.
“Honestly speaking, are you a secret agent from Sandra Kingdom?” I decided to be direct.
“Haa? No, wait a minute. I thought you are going to ask a strange question. So you are suspecting us?” Elsa sighed.
“Yes, well...” I just shrugged in reply.
“I will say it clearly. If I do such thing, I will never become a full-fledged merchant. Well, I can"t give you any proof though.” Elsa huffed.
[TL: I hate kansai ben.]
“What do you think Sandra Kingdom will do from now on?” I wanted to get her opinion as one of their citizens.
“I did just say that we are merchants right? Well, it"s okay. The price of wheat is stable. At least for time being, there will not be any movement. The wheat merchant has connections with many people from the government. If the army makes a movement, it will boost the value of wheat immediately. Moreover, because there is a price limit set by the country, there is a limit to how much they will be able to make a profit. So, if it is repeated frequently, they will be able to ama.s.s a huge amount of profit.” Elsa explained.
“I see.” I simply nodded.
There is no way to check if whatever she said was true. But, if I a.s.sume that they are spies, what can they do? Because the thing which should be concealed is inside me. Even if they investigate the town, there is nothing to be exposed. For that reason, I should treat them as normal merchants.
“I understand. I will treat you as merchants after this.” I told them.
“You really are an honest person, huh?” Elsa smiled pleasantly. Combined with her red hair, it gave off a warm impression, just like a sunshine.
“Then, let’s move on to the main act.” I take out the tray which I had placed behind me.
I removed the lid of the vessel in the middle of the tray. What was inside was a white powder.
[TL: tsk you try to sell heroine now?]
“Do you know what this is?” I asked them.
“What is this? Is this white powder... Salt?” Elsa answered unsurely.
“That means you don’t know.” I smiled.
Elsa thought that this white powder was salt, but it was not. I laughed inside my mind when she asked if this was salt.
“Even though it is a little bit crude, please try to scoop it with your finger and lick it.” I requested.
Elsa scoop the white powder with her middle finger, and brought it to her mouth. Probably because she thought it would be salty, she tightened her front lips as she licked her finger. But, her guess missed big time.
And then, she finished licking everything from her fingertip in no time.
At that moment...
“Eh!? Wh... Wha... What is this?! Sweet! It’s sweet!” Elsa’s eyes became perfectly round as she raised her voice in surprise.
That’s right, it’s sweet. Because Elsa’s voice was too loud, I could hear the sound of people climbing the stairs from below.
“Fujiwara-Sama!” The sliding door opened without ceremony as the people from the wolf tribe called my name worriedly.
“There is no problem. Please continue to stand by downstairs.” I ordered.
The man from the wolf tribe looked around swiftly. When he confirmed that there was nothing out of the ordinary, he answered replied in affirmative and left.
Elsa was still surprised, and her shoulders were shaking.
“It is called sugar.” I told her.
“Sugar...” While she muttered absentmindedly, Elsa scooped the sugar with her finger, and brought it to her mouth again.
[TL: I just know that sugar in j.a.panese is Satou, no wonder the MC from death march can charm a lot of loli, he is a sugar oji-san.]
While watching this, I thought that it was reasonable for her to be surprised. In my previous world, the origin of [Sugar] was from Asia. To go there, they need to struggle to cross the desert or the sea. Don’t even talk about sailing; in this world, they don’t even know about anything beyond the desert, so there is no way there is sugar here.
“Congratulations. In this world except me, you are the first human being who has eaten sugar, Elsa-san.” I laughed.
The woman who ate sugar for the first time - Elsa. Ah, I feel like the people in the future generations will name a food after this name.
[TL: yeah yeah yeah, so as a couple of humans that eat sugar for a first time can I expect a romance?]
Then, I could hear a small hint of laughter that gradually became louder coming from Elsa.
“Good! Good!” Elsa stood up and shouted to the ceiling.
Immediately, she sat in seiza, and placed her head onto the tatami.
“Fujiwara-san! This thing! Please, sell this sugar to us! No matter how much it costs, we will pay it! With this, we will even be able to take over the world!” She begged.
From outside the room, I can hear the sound of people climbing the stairs again.