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Chapter 83- Frog vs Cow

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The “Frog Pouch” I made is more popular than I expected.

But that doesn’t mean I’m going to give them away for free to everyone. I have no intention of charging Iris or Natalie, but I do intend to get materials from Mifa of the royal family and Emilia of the duke’s family, who have more funds and materials to spare.

“I was going to give it to all the members of the group, but since I don’t have the materials, I can’t produce it at the present time. Mother-in-law, would the dukes who manage the commercial city have any extra mithril or something like that?”

I know from Navi’s information that the dukes keep a good amount of it.

I gave it to Lara as a gift, but it was a “show-off” operation in front of everyone with the intention of getting the material in double payback, but I wonder how Sasha would react?

There was a high possibility that I would need permission from Duke Guile, but my uncle had told me that it was efficient to drop the wife first in the door-to-door sales, and then persuade the reluctant husband with his wife.

“Mithril steel? It is needed in case of emergency, so the duke’s family must have a good amount of it in storage. If I prepare the materials, will you make one for Emilia and Anna as well?”

The “emergency” would mean a war, including a civil war.

In the case of a battle with the same number of people, the side with better weapons and armor will have an overwhelming advantage. Once things happen, the price of materials will skyrocket and it will be difficult to even obtain them, so it would be a wise decision to stockpile even a little at a time while things are peaceful.

“I would like to develop the next product, so I’ll take materials commensurate with the price. The materials will be mithril, adamantite, orichalcum, and black metal. I want as much as possible.”

The mithril I gave Lara-chan was made by minting 20 mithril coins. Twenty mithril coins are worth about 20 million Japanese yen. It’s not cheap, but the finished product is sold at auctions for hundreds of millions of yen.

The mithril knives collected from the Assassins were also available as materials, but I had no intention of using the knives of criminals who may have killed many people to make something for Lara to wear.

“Pamela, please arrange for Orc to get the materials Luke-san mentioned earlier out of storage and prepare them.”

“Yes, ma’am. How much of each type of material do you need?”

It’s too late to hide it now, the head maid’s name is Pamela.

『♪ Master, She was properly introduced by Guile at your first meeting. By the way, “Orc” is the name of the family order. The only person other than Sasha who can enter the treasure room without Guile’s permission are Orcs, who are in charge of the keys. 』

I remembered that the steward and chief butler and the chief maid were a married couple, but I ignored their names.

Without Guile’s permission, no one other than Orc, not even the head maid or Emilia, can enter the treasury without permission, he said.

“Please leave only the minimum amount necessary and give the rest to Luke-san.”

“Please wait! Ma’am, that is not an amount to be given to an individual. Please consult with the master first.”

“There is no problem with informing my husband after the fact. As I said before, this is a national treasure. It’s not something that can be obtained with money just because you want it. There is a possibility that we can receive two more of those. He’s not a foolish man who would be offended if I opened the treasury for his child.”

“But….”

Pamela, the head maid, is quite reluctant.

『♪The reason for Pamela’s reluctance is that it is not the kind of quantity you give to an individual. They have about 640 kg of mithril alone in their holdings. That’s enough to make about 800 long swords for the master. 』

“Eight hundred! That’s a lot of mithril.”

Mithril is used not only for weapons but also for shields and armor, so it seems that Duke Guile plans to accumulate a lot more.

『♪The ores he is collecting are not personal assets, but are stockpiled from the duke’s annual mining as a public expense of the duke’s family. Â It seems that Sasha is willing to sell her personal wealth, including jewelry, to raise the money if Guile is reluctant to do so. 』

“Sasha selling her private property is not something I’m going to let her go that far with.”

『♪Since you can’t spend that much if you get it now, why don’t you declare what you need? 』

“That seems to be better. If I run out, I can make a [poison-resistant ring] and barter it with the king.”

“Pamela, don’t miss the opportunity. You can get ores in our territory as much as you want, as long as you have money. The pouches that you make are not something that money can buy. There is a possibility that you will not be able to make them for your own reasons, since you say that you have many things you want to do. The best solution is to have it made while he is still willing to do so. If we give him a lot, he might even give us some of his newly developed items.”

“Mother-in-law, should you say that in front of me? Well, I heard that Duke Guile is resented by some nobles because of all the purges he did when he acquired this territory, so I think I can make him at least a [poison-proof ring]. Also, it would be no good to receive such a large amount, so I would be fine if you could give me about 20 kg of mithril.”

Hearing 20 kg of mithril, Pamela-san looked relieved.

The rest of the ore was to be decided after Guile-sama returned.

“By the way, I’m thinking of making everyone’s stuff in these stylish leather pouches instead of the ‘frog-san pouches’ for kids.”

It is a fashionable item made of cowhide leather that Diana and I hunted. I had a few prototypes made by the avatars at the Nabi workshop. Since I didn’t incorporate mithril, there’s only one empty slot. So, of course, it’s not granted.

The colors are light brown, dark brown, and black. It is a simple design, and can be worn over the shoulder or as a waist pouch by removing the leather strap on the side and putting it through a belt.

“Huh? Unexpected things are happening…. Mifa, Emilia, Anna and Iris seem to prefer the frog pouch. Erica wants the dark brown leather pouch, and Natalie wants the brown one.”

The leather pouch that I had so confidently presented is losing out to the frog pouch!

“The frog pouch is a bit childish, don’t you think? It’s a little embarrassing for a 19-year-old Iris.”

『♪Is it?　In this world, such cute and deformed products are not yet available, and there seems to be no sense of childishness. On the contrary, they are seen as novel and extremely cute. Iris thinks frogs themselves are creepy, but she sees these deformed frogs as cute. Erika and Natalie, as guards, see no arms, legs, or other parts attached to them, and seem to judge them based on their ease of movement. 』

“So different worlds have different values…”

『♪Imagine Iris wearing a frog pouch, is there something wrong with that? 』

Navi told me to imagine…. it’s not weird! It’s so cute!

I also let them choose the color they wanted for the back of the frog pouch, which is surprisingly popular, by adding three more colors: green, yellow, and blue.

“I’ll ask Navi’s workshop to make it.”

『♪Understood”

If I had to make everything by hand myself, I wouldn’t be so generous. The Navi workshop is the reason I am able to take on this task. I made Lara’s, but left the others’ to the Navi Workshop.

“Pamela. Can you arrange for someone to cut and trim hair?”

I learned the head maid’s name, so I quickly called her by name.

“Yes, I can. Would it be all right if I cut your hair, Your Highness Luke?”

“No, it’s my mother-in-law’s hair. She had her bangs cut just enough to keep them out of her eyes, but the hair on the back and sides is a little long and damaged, probably because she was bedridden. She seems to be able to move around a lot now, so I would like her to take a bath after getting her hair done.”

“Oh, dear! May I take a bath?”

“Yes, I thought it would be nice if I could get your hair done.”

“I can cut your hair right away. I can arrange for you to have a bath as well.”

“Please do. Natalie and Erica, can you help Sasha with the bath?”

“Your Highness Luke, if you would like to help the mistress bathe, our family will be happy.”

I am going to have her hair washed with a special hair shampoo, and the servants here won’t know how to use it. I’ll ask Nathalie and the others who know the procedure.”

“Oh, the shampoo! Luke-sama, I’ll take care of it.”

“May I enter in with my mother, Luke-sama?”

Emilia asked for permission, but it was no problem.

“Of course it’s fine, but be careful not to give her a long bath, it would tire her out.”

“Yes, I understand. I’d like to have a little time with Luke after that.”

“Me? I’m going to take your mother to her room for a meal break. Pamela, please arrange for a bath in about two hours and arrange for someone to cut her hair.”

“It’ll be ready in two hours.”.

I put [clean] on the cooking utensils that I used and throw them into the [inventory].

“Then, mother-in-law, let’s take a rest in the room.”

“Yes, please. Luke, Lara, thank you for the delicious lunch… I didn’t know frog food could be so delicious. I want to eat Lara’s cooking again.”

“Yes, Mother, I’ve grown to love cooking…”

How funny.

The daughter of a duke doesn’t usually cook. The most common is to make and serve baked goods as a hobby at tea ceremonies and other occasions. Cooking is a good hobby, so I’ll support Lara if she decides to make it her hobby.

“After I drop you off, I have some work to do, so Iris, please follow me.”

“Yes.”

********

After dropping my mother off at her room, we head for the caregivers’ hut in the outhouse.

“How’s it going? How far have you gotten with the dismantling of the frogs?”

“”All done.””

I looked at them and saw that they had been put into several wooden buckets that I had given them in advance, separated by their parts.

“You work fast. I’ll give you this as a reward.”

I handed over the fried chicken that I had put aside earlier.

“There are 21 pieces of fried chicken, so each of you will get 7 pieces. It tastes better if you eat them while they are hot. And I’ll give you three thighs again for tonight’s dinner. I’ll put them on ice so they don’t get sour.”

Fill a wooden bucket with lots of ice, put the frog meat in a bowl, and place it in the ice bucket. If you ice the meat directly, the ice will melt and soak up the water, and the meat won’t taste as good.

They looked at the meat and then at the lady-in-waiting behind me.

This lady-in-waiting has been following me around ever since I arrived at the duke’s house this time. She was there at lunch earlier, too.

The lady-in-waiting nodded her head as a sign of approval that they could have it.

“”Thank you, Your Highness Luke…””

They looked so happy, as if the herb roast they had last time was really delicious.

And what was their reaction when they put the fried frog in their mouth?

““What is this? It’s delicious! Is this really frog meat?””

“It’s frog meat. You see the one that was in the sauce? It’s the kind that you put flour on and deep fry in oil.”

“It’s really delicious!”

“It’s a reward for all your hard work in dismantling the frogs.”

“”Thank you very much!””

”Luke-sama sometimes I saw you put fried food in the [subspace warehouse], so I was going to warn you if you were going to sneak and eat it later, but you kept it for these girls… Luke-sama is kind to everyone, isn’t he?”

I was secretly keeping the fried food and Iris saw me!

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