Chapter 13: Business meeting 

　

Let’s go back in time a little.

I was sitting on the sofa facing Edward-san, with my escort Vigna standing behind me, we just finished introducing ourselves again in the parlor of the business association.

One accident occurred when a young employee served tea to us. It was probably an unconscious comment.

“An abomination?! Why in such a place…?”

It was the moment I raised my eyebrows at the insolent comment.

“Chris! That’s rude! She’s an escort for my guest, Grace-sama. Vigna-san, sorry my employee was rude to you.”

“I’m very sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. It’s just that I’ve never seen one before.”

Edward warned the employee, who he called Chris, with great vigor. When she realized that she had misspoken, she bowed her head with tears in her eyes.

I know she really didn’t mean any harm either and it’s hard to be angry when someone apologizes with such a serious face. But it’s not up to me to decide.

“Don’t worry because I’m used to it. If you feel at all bad, I’d be happy if you listen to what Grace has to say.”

“Of course I intend to. I’ll make sure my subordinates are thoroughly trained from now on.”

“Then let’s start over. What I want you to buy are materials from monsters, such as fire dragon scales.”

“Well, this is from the ancient fire dragon. You have good subordinates. Even the knights and adventurers in the city were afraid to deal with it. Your escort seems to be really excellent. How about this?”

“Hmm…”

Even though it was a fire dragon, he immediately recognized it as the ancient fire dragon’s scale. His skill as a connoisseur (Specialist in the field) is quite good. In other words, the value recognized by him is the true market value.

The price he gave me was higher than what I had expected. Of course, it wasn’t just an apology for his subordinate’s rudeness earlier. It was a sign that he wanted to continue our relationship in the future.

He probably saw the value that Bowman and I possessed. He may have seen the potential for me to succeed in pioneering. I can’t say that I trust him, but I felt that I could do business with him. So I decided to talk to him about the next step.

“I also created these in my territory. I was wondering if I could sell this one to you.”

“Well, these are potatoes and some type of metal. Wheat doesn’t seem to grow well in that land. Excuse me, but may I use my appraisal skills?”

“Of course you can, I’m confident in the quality.”

After saying that, I took out a mithril alloy stick and a potato from my leather bag. I guess he was more interested in the metal wire that Bowman was probably involved with than the potatoes, which could be found anywhere. He furrowed his brow and said, “Excuse me,” before picking up the metal wire and looking at it with a smiling face.

But it was only for a moment. Gradually, his expression turned puzzled.

“What!? Is this a mixture of mithril? With this thinness! Impossible… No, is it possible with Bowman-san? But how can this be, Grace-sama, this is…”

He begins to mumble with a confused expression like a goblin seeing fire for the first time and stares at it with a cold sweat.

It’s more than I imagined. Now’s the time to go for it.

“This is what Bowman created. It’s a mixture of iron and mithril, a metal that, like mithril, has the ability to carry magic. Also, can you take a look at this potato?”

“Is there’s something in this potato as well… Excuse me?”

When he said that, he grabbed the potato as if to devour it and looks at it with his right eye. The response to the metal rod was quite good. Now it’s time to see how the potato will fare in his appraisal. 

His expression became more and more puzzled. 

“What the hell is this!?”

A scream echoed through the parlor. Watching his reaction, I smile happily. Even Edward, who would have seen all kinds of goods, had this reaction. This is going to sell!

“No, no, this isn’t right, why does eating potatoes restore magic power? Have my appraisal skills gone mad? No, but…”

“Your appraisal skills aren’t crazy, those potatoes were cultivated in a special way, so they restore magic power. And I want to sell these two exclusively to your store.”

Edward’s tone of voice seemed to be that of surprise. I’ve been waiting a long time to sell him this product. When he heard what I said, he regained his composure but smiled.

“This product will be monopolized by us? I’m happy about that, but I think Grace-sama has little to gain from this. If you sell this product to other chambers of commerce, the price will be auctioned to other large-scale companies.” 

It’s understandable that he was suspicious. It’s not free of charge, of course. I’m going to put a lot of conditions from here on. But I knew I could trust him when he said it himself.

“Of course, there are three conditions. The first is that you don’t ask me about the manufacturing method, the second is that you give me priority when Souzi’s relics come on the market and the third is that you advertise that I’m looking for residents for my territory. If you promise to do so, I’ll pledge to deliver this mithril alloy and potatoes only to Edward-san on a regular basis.”

“You’re looking for Souzi’s relics? Don’t tell me you’re familiar with the relics that no one but Souzi has been able to use? So these items…”

“Well about that, I’ll leave that to your imagination.”

I smile wryly at Edward’s astonished voice. Of course, I was bluffing. Normally you’d think that, but you’d be mistaken…

It’s Bowman who’s using the furnace that’s a Souzi relic, and I’m just using the World Library to get hints. If I could use Souzi’s relics, I’d be a warrior and conquer the world right now. I seriously have no idea how to make a lump of iron that explodes or anything like that. Well, I guess it’s expected of otherworldly knowledge. 

“I’m sorry. I promised not to ask about the manufacturing method, but I’d like to ask you one more thing, why did you choose us? If I may say so myself, our company’s been around since my father’s generation and has a short history. Even though you have an introduction from Bowman-san, that’s can’t be the only reason.”

“That’s not all. First of all, you went out of your way to make time for me, even though I’m known to be incompetent and came without an appointment. Also, when you saw my escort Vigna, you didn’t change your attitude, but instead, you scolded your subordinate for being rude. So I knew I could trust you.”

“Is that it?”

“Yes, but that’s what’s important to me. I’m only starting to do business now that I’ve become a Lord so it’ll be easy for a merchant to cheat me if he wants to. That’s why I thought that I couldn’t do business without someone I could trust. And you took care of my important escort, Vigna. I thought I could trust you.”

I answered Edward’s question honestly. In fact it might be better to play more games like I did with the Azure Chamber of Commerce. But I thought it wouldn’t be good to test someone you want to trust. If this ends up being used, so be it. I didn’t tell him about Souzi’s furnace or my “World Library”. I’ll take it as a learning experience.

And I was happy he made time to talk to me properly after my father and brothers had made fun of me for so long. The only people who’ve done this for me are my old friends Vigna and Bowman, and more recently Galatea.

“Hahaha… you seem to be a smart and interesting person.”

“…huh?”

Edward suddenly started laughing at my words. Did I say something strange? When I looked at Vigna while being confused put her hand on her sword, I stops her in a hurry.

This girl is dangerous… she’s a real fighting race… No, I’m glad she’s angry for me but…

“I’m sorry. The reason why you decided to trust me was so unexpected.”

“Is it so strange?”

“No, it’s just that Grace-sama is royalty and I was stupidly being wary thinking you would use us and then cut us off. Don’t worry about it. Since that’s not the case, I’ll trust you. You seem to be the kind of person who cares about your people and your… escort seems to care about you too.”

“No! no!” “ No way!”

Vigna and I screamed involuntarily at Edward’s words and he laughed again, making me wonder what was funny.

“If possible, I’ll do my best to treat you with the same care as that escort, Vigna-san. If there’s anything you need, I’ll be happy to provide it at a reasonable price. I’m sure you have a lot on your plate since you just became a lord.”

“Are you sure? Sorry, but I’m not going to hold back.”

“There’s no such thing as going back on a man’s word and I’m sure you’ll continue to bring me amazing products.”

 Edward grins when he says so. He has a strong business spirit and I thought I could work with him. 

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