Chapter 258: Negotiation
A few days after seeing Asu off, Milagros came to visit.
She carried a large bag—perhaps bringing ores to trade for sweet potatoes.
“Milagros-san, welcome. Was everything okay after that?”
“Hm. Asu actually seemed more energetic, thanks to you taking care of him, Sato-san.”
“That’s good to hear. It was strange timing, so I’m really glad we were able to protect him.”
“I truly apologize. I thought I had been careful, but my management was sloppy… Ah, right. This is a gift from Asu’s parents as thanks.”
Milagros handed over a large bag.
I had thought it would be ores for trading sweet potatoes, but it was actually a gift to thank us for protecting Asu.
“Thank you. I didn’t do anything deserving of this… but I’ll gratefully accept it.”
“Asu has been talking about this place non-stop. Lately, he’s been insisting on coming to see you, so it must have been really fun for him. We should be thanking you instead.”
We both bowed and I took the large bag.
It looked like it contained ores—perhaps what she had brought previously.
“Milagros-san, are the contents of this bag ores?”
“No. They’re chunks of mana that you wanted, Sato-san. Our whole family hunted monsters to gather them.”
“I see… Thank you so much for so many mana chunks.”
“No need to thank me. I didn’t ask what ores you wanted, so I was planning to ask when I came. …Has Rozzo finished testing them yet?”
“I’m not sure, but probably. We can go to Rozzo-san later.”
After this conversation, we decided to head back to the villa.
We needed to put the mana chunks away, and before discussing ores, I wanted to check on the sweet potatoes.
Judging from the situation, they seemed to have grown well—but if the yield was low, we might need to recommend a different crop.
“Milagros-san, may I ask how the sweet potatoes turned out?”
“Hm. Thanks to you, they grew well. There aren’t many left since we didn’t plant that many, but if we grow more, we might solve the food shortage.”
“That’s wonderful. Ideally, the planting season would be a bit later, but from what I see, we could start the next batch immediately.”
“Yes. They taste good too, so thanks to you, Sato-san, it seems manageable.”
“I’m relieved as well.”
I was genuinely happy to hear this report.
I had been worried if they would grow properly, and now that I knew they did, we could plant a lot more.
The only concern was whether people would get tired of the taste—but compared to the food in this world, they were delicious.
If left to ripen, they become sweeter; eaten immediately after harvest, they’re more like potatoes. With that in mind, there’s room to experiment for a while.
“I’d like to get seeds for the next batch soon. Can we discuss that? We can provide ores or mana chunks as needed.”
“In that case, we should call Rozzo-san. I was planning to visit him anyway, but since there’s still tea left, I’ll call him over.”
Milagros said this and went to fetch Rozzo, who was working at home. After hearing the situation, he came to the villa immediately.
“Hey! Milagros, long time no see!”
“Hm. Rozzo-san, it’s been a while.”
“So, you wanted to know about the ores! To sum it up, all of them worked! However, some ores have limited uses. The ones I really want are the white-streaked ore and the orange ore! I’ll need a bit of the others too, but if you focus on these two, they’re the most useful!”
I didn’t understand which ores were best, but I could fully trust Rozzo’s judgment.
So we agreed to mainly trade the two ores he mentioned along with the mana chunks.
“The two ores—Garmenta and Shottratt, got it. I’ll collect them as soon as I return.”
“Milagros-san, thank you. I’ll give you the sweet potato seeds when you leave, so please start planting immediately.”
“Eh? Can I take them even though we haven’t prepared anything yet?”
“Of course. We trust you, Milagros-san, and we want to solve the food shortage as quickly as possible.”
“I can’t thank you enough, Sato-san. I’m really glad we found this place.”
“I feel the same way. Meeting you has been a blessing.”
Milagros had tears in her eyes.
I’ve seen her cry before, and it’s always about food. That alone shows how dire the situation has been.
“This is a good deal! I don’t have to do anything, but I get to use great ores—is that okay?”
“Of course. We want you to make useful items and facilities with them. Rozzo-san isn’t doing nothing, so you’ll be busy enough.”
“For me, that’s the reward! Well, as long as everyone’s happy, it’s a fair trade!”
Then we talked about wanting to try the grilled bananas Asu had eaten, and I served some to Milagros as well.
After enjoying the grilled bananas, she took the sweet potato seeds and happily returned to the Demon Lord’s territory.