Chapter 53: The Crook Bird

Day 127 of living in another world

Six days have passed since the last village meeting, and Merinard and the others finally return from the city. Around noon the day before yesterday, Urgan, the spearman who is escorting them, came to tell us as a forerunner.

He said that this time, they would also be bringing along the slaves they had secured and asked us to prepare for their arrival. He said that the expected number of slaves was nine, all of whom were debt slaves of the beastmen.

Merinard spoke directly to me about the details of the negotiations with the council, and he reported that they were generally going well.

“It’s been a long time, village chief. I apologize for the delay in my return.”

“I’m glad to hear that you and everyone else is okay, too, Merinard. It must have been a difficult time for you.”

Merinard’s expression brightened. The slaves in the background also have tired faces, but…they don’t have the sense of despair as if their eyes were dead. Everyone was surprised to see the barrier, and they kept looking at the state of the village.

“There are a few more large houses. Are those the reception houses?”

“I’m going to ask them to live together in those tenements until we can let them in as villagers. I have asked Haruka to take over and explain the situation.”

“I understand. If so, Then it’s Merimus.”

“Yes, village chief, it’s been a long time. Regarding the slave issue, I will start preparations while coordinating with Haruka-san.”

“Ah. Haruka, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“I understand, leave this to me!”

Leaving the slaves to Haruka, i head home with Merinard. I had Urgan and Uruk stand guard outside the barrier just in case.

“Chief, may I pray at the church first?”

“Of course. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but are Merrimus and the others all right with you.”

“I am sorry, but on behalf of all of us, I would like to thank the Goddess.”

After praying at the church, we headed to my living room at home and I asked them to check their status on the PC monitor. In case of emergency, I am copying my swordsmanship skills today. I cannot appraise it.

“No matter how many times I look at it, the otherworldly items here are full of rare and unusual things.”

I had him look around the home when he first came, and I also had him check the status via monitor, but he is a merchant there, and I guess he finds it fascinating.

“Oh, the level of space storage has gone up. Loyalty is also 88. ……”

“Thanks to you, the storage capacity has increased considerably. My loyalty is 88, huh… it’s a pity that I haven’t exceeded 90, but I’ll definitely achieve it in the near future.”

“Yes, I’m looking forward to it.”

Merinard nodded with a serious face. With such a high level of loyalty, it is unlikely that he would betray us.

“I will now explain our negotiations with the council. If you have any questions, please let me know.”

“I understand.”

“First of all, all of the conditions that were presented to us last time have been met. The sale and purchase must go through the Merry trading company , and we are also allowed to recruit immigrants and purchase slaves in the city. However, it has been requested that all foodstuffs be wholesaled to the army.”

Good. It seems that our requirements have been met for the time being. However, I was concerned about his comment about the “preliminaries,” so I asked him for more details.

“What I said as a public statement is that the parliamentary side will probably do something to the level of surveillance behind the scenes.

“There will be a degree of that. It’s a suspicious village from the other side.”

“I have reported to the council the size and number of villages, the existence of the village chief and transferees. I also explained the barrier and farming skills. yeah”

Hiding everything from the public would be even more suspicious. we had decided to tell them everything except about the goddess to some extent.

“Was there any talk of the council taking a hard-line approach?”

“There was naturally a proposal to make the village a territory. However, with the current state of war, the stable procurement of food is the most important issue for the council. And out of consideration for the Japanese trading company , which is also Japanese, the proposal was rejected.”

“It’s more like a wait-and-see hold. As long as we don’t make too much of a profit, I think we’ll be okay for a while.”

“That’s exactly the kind of atmosphere we’re in now.”

As long as we are quiet, there is no problem. The place of the village will be identified, and if it’s ……, then it’s better to just go ahead and do it.

“That’s right. I think it would be better to call the council members to the village sooner or later. I have to examine how much of the story to reveal.”

“Yes, I was hoping to discuss that as well.”

“I understand about the council. What about the big trading firms and the Japanese trading company?”

“The major chambers of commerce will naturally want to have a connection, but it was decided by the council, they will have to wait and see what the Merry trading company does.”

“We told them that if they try to interfere, we will stop the deal, didn’t we?”

“I’ve told them enough that they’ll be warned to be careful.”

“Well, that’s a lot of work. ……”

“Of course. So, about the Japan trading company…”

According to Merinard, the Japanese trading company has been positive about this matter from start to finish and has not raised any objections. However, when they found out that rice was among the items we were dealing with, they were insistent on that one item. I do not know if this is a uniquely Japanese thing or if they have other agendas.

The Japanese trading company has a very close relationship with the Council. Merinard says that they might be able to divert food from the military and establish their own agricultural system.

“Well, they can do whatever they want there. I don’t think it’s going to work that well, though, without the benefit of ‘rich soil.”

“Whatever the case may be, I assume that Japanese trading company is aware that the Council has taken control of the situation.”

“Yeah, I’ll have to think about making an inspection tour of the village to include that.”

Now that we were satisfied with the negotiations with the council, we moved on to talk about the supplies and slaves were brought this time.

“This time, we brought mainly ingots of iron, copper, and other metals, magical tools for indoor lamps and street lamps, spices, and daily necessities. We have also prepared as many of the items requested by the villagers as possible.”

“Oh, that will please everyone in the village. As for the ingots, they will be very helpful since we can’t touch the mines yet.”

“–Also, I brought about 10 Crook birds. Tsubaki-san requested eggs.”

Crookbirds are similar to chickens in Japan, and are not uncommon in the city. He told me that they are not monsters, but ordinary animals.

“I’ll have to build a breeding hut for them. I’ll talk to Rudolph about it.”

“Now about the slaves, all the ones I brought this time are debt slaves. Most of them lost their jobs because of the Japanese trading company .”

“What kind of work did they do?”

“This time we carefully selected those related to the mining industry. I thought that if we were going to work on the mines in the village, we would need people with experience and knowledge.”

“That’s very kind of you, but isn’t mining work done by …… criminal slaves?”

I’ve heard before that the people working in the mines are criminal slaves.

“–As far as mining is concerned, yes. The people I brought here this time are those who worked in the smelting industry and their families.”

“Oh, I see. By the way, is bringing their family with you aiming to increase their loyalty?”

“Yes, I think that is the most important point. I have also bought back children and wives who had been bought by others.”

“That sounds very effective.”

“I have also explained about loyalty along the way. It was only a short time since they fell into slavery, so they seemed to be relatively motivated, so I wonder if it’s okay.”

The slaves brought to us this time consisted of three adult men who worked in the smelting industry and their families, all of whom apparently had wives and children.

After hearing the general outline of the report, Tsubaki came to ask me what I wanted for lunch.

“Keisuke-san, if you still want to continue the conversation, I can bring it over here.”

“Thank you. I’m going to eat with everyone now that I have a break.”

After saying this to Tsubaki, I headed to the meeting place, and Haruka immediately came running up to me.

“Oh, Keisuke-san!”

“Why are you in such a hurry?”

“I want to see how loyal they are, so can you give me permission to reside there? From the atmosphere of the conversation, I have a feeling we can go there.”

Haruka urged me to do so, and together with Merinard, we headed for the tenement outside the boundary.

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