Chapter 7:
Successive Misfortune
THE NEXT DAY.
Ifriita, Ira, and I were on our way to the Merchant Union, riding in one of the kingdom’s luxurious box carriages, the kind I’d started using whenever I needed to travel within the city.
“This brings me back.”
“How so?” I asked, glancing at Ira. “Ah, right. It’s been twenty years since you’ve done this sort of thing.”
“Mm.” Ira nodded slowly, her tone thoughtful. “The carriages we used when we were fighting to reclaim Merinard weren’t this soft.”
“Man, yeah. Those old things really did a number on your butt.”
Back when we were still the Liberation Army, we traveled by carriage pretty often. Unfortunately, the roads were rough, and the suspension on those old wagons was basically non-existent. Every bump on the path rattled your bones. Compared to that, this carriage was a dream. It barely shook, and the seats were nice and soft. Talk about an upgrade.
We chatted idly until our sweet ride arrived at the Merchant Union. Since I’d sent word ahead this time around, we were ushered straight through to the back parlor without issue.
“I apologize for the wait,” came a familiar voice.
Floyd entered not long after we’d sat down and been served tea and snacks. With him stood an employee, a man around my age—or maybe a little older—holding a hefty stack of documents.
“There are new faces on both sides, I see,” I stated. “This is Ira, head mage of the Kingdom of Merinard and also the head of Merinard’s R&D.”
“My, my… We appreciate everything you’ve done for us,” Floyd said with a smile.
“Mm,” Ira replied with a curt nod.
“Oh? You two know each other?” I asked.
“No, this is our first time meeting face-to-face,” Floyd explained. “But R&D has often used the Merchant Union to source resources and materials.”
“Gotcha. That makes sense.”
I might’ve been providing R&D with plenty of materials myself, but they weren’t relying solely on me.
“In that case…”
Floyd turned his gaze to the male employee sitting next to him.
The stranger nodded before speaking.
“I am Wells, a member of the Merchant Union. Floyd has put me in charge of managing the funds provided by Lord Kousuke and strengthening the relationship we have with the Adventurers’ Guild. It is an honor to meet you,” he said before bowing his head.
Wells looked like the kind of man who lived and breathed work. Around my height, but broad shouldered, and clearly fit—he had the kind of sturdy build that came from years of labor, not the soft kind you saw in bureaucrats. If he’d been wearing armor instead of the fancy attire he wore now, he could’ve passed for a soldier or adventurer.
“Wells worked his way up from being a peddler,” Floyd explained. “He has connections all over the kingdom. In his days on the road, he often made requests to the Adventurers’ Guild for protection. He has exceptional field experience, so I decided he was the right man to lead this project.”
“I see. He sounds like a solid choice to me,” Ira said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I don’t know much about business, so it’s a relief to have a pro handling things. So, how are things actually going?”
“Please allow me to explain. Take a look at these materials,” Wells said, handing me a stack of papers.
Hm, paper, huh? The paper’s quality itself wasn’t the finest quality. It was probably paper made from plants, rather than parchment, but the actual characters looked handwritten, neat and meticulous. I’d only given them notice yesterday, so if he’d prepared all of this overnight, the guy must have worked himself to the bone.
“Your request was to stabilize public order by finding jobs for unemployed demi-humans while simultaneously giving the economy a boost, yes?” Wells said. “However, as an organization, the Merchant Union cannot publicly prioritize demi-humans. Doing so would risk alienating human merchants and damaging our credibility. Therefore, we used the funds you provided to establish a new loan service, one with far more lenient interest rates and qualification requirements than traditional loans.”
“Huh, well, that makes sense. If you openly favored demi-humans, humans would start resenting them. Worst-case, the Merchant Union itself might lose the people’s trust.”
“Precisely.” Wells nodded in agreement. “That is why I designed this new system to support both humans and demi-humans equally. Naturally it still benefits the latter the most in practice, since many of them are eager to start over.”
From there, he launched into an impressively detailed breakdown: the number of active loans, how the merchants who’d received them were using the money, and the expected long-term impact as those funds circulated.
As an outsider, most of what he said went over my head. But even without understanding every detail, I could tell things seemed to be going well. At least in terms of what he was talking about.
“Next I’d like to explain our cooperation with the Adventurers’ Guild,” Wells continued. “Like the loan system, this has seen success. With new businesses popping up thanks to the loans, demand for bodyguards has risen, which has revitalized the Adventurers’ Guild’s activity. Additionally, the equipment loan program you proposed has begun a trial phase, and it appears to be working well.”
“Good to hear. I planned to ask the Adventurers’ Guild about it myself later today, but I’m happy to hear that things are going well from your side too.”
Getting a third-party perspective was important. Still, I figured the Guild might have a few concerns once I checked in with them directly.
“Do you guys need additional funding or anything?” I asked.
“At present, no,” Wells replied. “We have more than enough capital to maintain operations. That said, it is a fact that greater funding would allow us to expand these initiatives more aggressively.”
“All right. Well, I can always supply you with more raw gems or mithril, but I gotta be careful not to flood the market and crash the value.”
“As far as mithril is concerned,” Floyd interjected, “supply hasn’t caught up to demand in the slightest. It will be some time before we have to worry about price drops. The same goes for gems. They may fluctuate slightly, but there’s no risk of collapse. However, if you’d prefer to diversify, perhaps you could supply us with other types of magic metals instead?”
“I can give you guys black steel, magic steel, and magic iron,” I offered.
“Black steel is somewhat unwieldy,” Wells said. “However, there is demand for the other two. Weapons made from them are selling well across the country.”
“Is that so? I’m not really sure if that’s a good thing or not.”
Weapons selling fast wasn’t exactly a comforting sign. It meant people needed protection or at least felt like they did. Either way, high demand for weapons usually meant anxiety was in the air.
“Large amounts of magic steel and iron are strategic resources,” Ira said suddenly. “You shouldn’t flood the market with them without first consulting Her Majesty and the Prime Minister.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” I said. “So before you move ahead with steel and iron, make sure to ask Queen Sylphy and the Lady Melty. For now, I’ll leave a handful of samples so you can check the quality.”
I pulled several ingots of magic steel and iron from my inventory and placed them on the table. Ten of each would suffice, I imagined. With this much, you could forge five to six swords, or twice that many short swords and spears. Nothing that would raise alarms about depleting strategic resources.
Wells froze, breath caught and eyes locked on the ingots I’d just pulled seemingly out of thin air. Floyd, on the other hand, only smiled wryly.
“I get how you feel,” Floyd said with amusement. “Now, then, pardon me…”
He grabbed one of the magic steel ingots and began inspecting it, tapping it gently with a small metal hammer he produced from somewhere and began observing the sounds it made. Was that really how he judged its quality?
“Hmm. Remarkable,” Floyd murmured. “The density is flawless with no inconsistencies. And this sound? You never hear such clarity from metal with impurities.” He examined the rest in turn, nodding deeply as he finished. “There is not a single discrepancy in quality between any of these ingots. I have been a merchant for quite some time, but I have never seen ingots of this purity.”
“Well, crafting is my specialty,” I said with a small grin.
“I can see that,” Floyd replied gravely. “Which is why you must be careful of your surroundings. The Holy Kingdom almost certainly knows about you by now, Lord Kousuke.”
“Appreciate the warning. I’ll keep that in mind,” I replied earnestly.
Truthfully, I wasn’t all that worried. Sylphy and Melty were already doing everything in their power to keep me safe, and with Ira along today, I was doubly covered. I hadn’t checked, but I’d bet there were harpies watching from the skies, and Shemel and the other ogre girls shadowing me nearby. Between all that and my own awareness, I doubted any enemy could slip through and come at me unnoticed.