Satou here. It’s fun to read tourist guides and decide where to visit, but it’s every bit as fun to just show up without a plan in mind. As long as you’re ready to deal with any resulting problems.
“This is the ratfolk country?” Arisa said, looking around at the brown brick buildings.
We’d left Arcatia behind and were making a circuit of the countries that bordered the jungle.
Currently we were in Latiluti, a ratfolk country to the southwest of Arcatia. It was close enough that we could dash back if anything happened to Roro.
“Larvae…”
“Adults.”
Nana had started to stagger off toward some white-haired ratfolk that bore a bit of resemblance to hamsters or mice, but Mia stopped her.
“We call them all ‘ratfolk,’ but there certainly are quite a few different types.”
“Yes, I never knew there were this many varieties.”
Lulu and Liza were looking at serene ratfolk, who looked more like capybara—some bushy-tailed squirrelfolk and some long-haired ratfolk—who had a rather literal name.
The natives here spoke the southwest common language and the southwestern ratfolk language, which resembled the gray ratfolk language. I picked up the skill for the latter, but since the former was more than enough, I didn’t activate it.
“Small dooooors?”
“The buildings are tiny and cute, sir!”
Except for those of the big merchants and the government offices, all the buildings had small doors—too small for grown humanfolk to enter. Even Pochi and Tama might well bang their heads on the lintel. Not that they had lintels.
Perhaps that’s why most shops were outdoors. Only the big trading companies had shops with an interior.
“Master, look there,” Lulu said, pointing at some Hero’s Rest merchandise being sold at one of these outdoor stalls.
“The advanced shipment we gave that merchant. Looks like it’s selling well.”
Based on the packaging, this was the stuff we’d traded to a merchant who’d brought me a scroll.
The import fees must have jacked the prices up, but the insect repellent and preserved food stocks were visibly declining as we watched. If they took off in all the neighboring countries, that export business would ramp up quick.
Ensuring the future of the Hero’s Rest.
“Sniff, sniff! I smell pancakes, sir!”
“Mrow? I dooon’t?”
Pochi seemed sure of herself, but Tama just looked baffled.
“Th-that’s—”
Pochi led us to a stall that made my jaw drop.
“Corn!”
“Corn? This is yellow grain. Not worth eating like this, but if you grind it up like wheat, it’s usable.”
There were big baskets of corn at the stall; heaps of kernels, already off the cob.
The smell of the corn must have reminded Pochi of pancakes—I guess I had made pancakes out of the corn flour we harvested from the walking corn in Celivera Labyrinth.
“Can I try a bite?”
“Go ahead.”
There were five varieties of “yellow grain” for sale, and I tried some of each. They were dried out and harder than I expected. Chewing them produced no sweetness. Not the sweet corn we often ate—more like the dent corn used to feed livestock.
But there were a lot of uses for that.
“I’ll buy all you have.”
“Well, those are some big pockets! Guess I’m closing up for the day!”
I said I’d like some on the cob if he had any, and since the big purchase had put him in a good mood, he went right to the fields and came back with two huge baskets. On the cob, with the husk still around it.
“What are you making with these?”
“Just wanna try a few things.”
After we left him, I moved to a deserted area. I held a husk-covered corncob in one hand and took a Treespirit Pearl out of Storage with the other.
“Oh, I get it!” Arisa said, brightening up.
I grinned at her and started channeling mana and wishes into the Treespirit Pearl.
“That should do it…”
I peeled back the husk and tried a kernel.
Sweet.
“Well?”
“Success. It turned into sweet corn.”
It was a long shot, but since I had a clear image in mind, it had worked out. If it hadn’t, I’d have spent some time doing selective breeding, but the Treespirit Pearl had let me do it in one try.
I’d send half this sweet corn to the elves in Bolenan Forest to cultivate, and I’d hand the rest over to the corn farmer the next time I went to buy some corn. More places growing it should increase the variations.
Fried corn, corn tempura, pizza, salads—there was no shortage of uses for sweet corn, and my cooking repertory would expand considerably.
But first—
“It’s delicious, sir!”
“Yum, yuum!”
“Nice.”
I made enough sweet corn for everyone and boiled up some corn on the cob.
That’s the best way to serve fresh harvested corn.
Once we’d had our fill of corn, we went back to perusing the market.
“This buckle is cool, I declare.”
“Unique craftsmanship.”
Ratfolk had tiny hands, and lots of them were good with them; they were crafting a lot of detailed accessories and textiles. Many extremely small, but they had a fair selection for larger races, and we bought a bunch.
I hadn’t had my eye on these countries; the next time I stopped by the Echigoya Company as Kuro, I’d have to show them some samples.
“Adventurer! High-ranking adventurer!”
“Me?”
A wealthy-looking long-haired ratfolk merchant had come up to Liza.
“I can tell by the way you carry yourself and the Magic Spear beneath that cloth! You’re an Arcatian adventurer, yes?”
“I am. And you are?”
“Forgive my lack of manners. I am Som of the Mizenu Company. Would you be willing to pay a visit to my shop?”
Liza and Nana both glanced at me.
He seemed to have business with us, so we accepted his invitation. A wealthy merchant would be well-versed in his country’s products and specialties.
“Bone weapons and Taurus materials?”
We were in a reception room at a large merchant’s, enjoying milk tea with a sweet scent reminiscent of chai. Som had broached the subject.
“Yes, Arcatian bone weapons are extremely popular in these parts.”
The jungle on their border hadn’t gone full labyrinth, but that troublesome rust ivy was all over the place.
“Then we’re happy to provide what we’ve got on hand.”
We’d left most of it in the warehouse at the Hero’s Rest, but I’d made a fair number of bone weapons for fun. Some of these were too goofy to hand over, but there should be no problems selling the stuff I’d made to test the different materials.
“Th-these are all masterpieces! I’ve got a good eye for weapons, I can tell. Clearly none of these come from the labyrinth directly—but identifying the maker may prove difficult. It’s not Morton…and Zanzasansa’s work is much more ominous. It most closely resembles Loppe’s work, only far better…hmm…”
Was he a bone weapon fanatic? He even dropped that necromancer’s name…
He was unlikely to get the right answer, so I found the right moment to move on to the price.
He also wanted untouched Taurus parts, so I provided those as well. We had far too many anyway.
“With swords and spears of this caliber, it’s hard to put a price to them. I elected to make a generous offer—what do you say to this?”
It was a generous offer. There were more than a hundred semi-Magic Sword and semi-magic weapons, but I hadn’t expected that to earn us a figure that would be over 20,000 if converted to Shiga gold. That was full-on Magic Sword pricing.
“That price doesn’t include the Red Ice Blade or the Blue Fire Blade. I’d recommend putting those up for auction or offering them to the king in return for a title.”
If two swords could buy a title, that was a bargain. I didn’t need one, nor did I plan to stick around until the auction ended, so I sold them at the price he named.
“Lord Satou, I hate to say this…”
But the price was too high, and it would take him approximately ten days to obtain the funds.
“Then let’s buy some of your wares to balance out the difference. Do you handle yellow grain?”
“That would help a lot. Of course we handle yellow grain. We have it ground or in kernels for livestock feed—enough to fill several wagons.”
This saved me time buying up the corn, so I borrowed an empty storehouse and had him deliver the purchase there. I tried asking about corn with the husk still on, and he agreed to provide a hundred baskets of it by noon tomorrow. Big merchants could make things happen.
Naturally, grain alone could not cover the full price, so my party and I pursued the Mizenu Company’s offerings from end to end. Some Blybrogha gems and a bunch of cinnamon helped, but in the end we had to resort to his stock of Earth Pearls and a whole lot of stones. I’d been running low on Earth Pearls, so that worked for me, and the stones came in handy for Tama’s ninjutsu.
“Do you have a lot of quarries here?”
“Yes—I can’t share specifics, but it is one of our few exports.”
The price had seemed rather low, and the answer certainly explained that.
There were farmlands on the side of the country opposite the jungle, but the soil there was poor—enough that they were grinding up the stones in lieu of fertilizer. I did a quick search on my map and located the quarries; I’d have to figure out where to get what with Clairvoyance later.
With our deal done, we changed into locally produced clothes we’d purchased and left the shop. Naturally, the girls were wearing local jewelry, too.
“Nothing like wearing local fashions!”
“Oui, ouiiiii?”
“I like how it’s all jingle jangle, sir!”
The kids spun, showing off their new duds.
Mia didn’t say anything, but from the look on her face, she was enjoying it, too.
“Lyuryu says it’s having fun, too!”
The Dragon Cradle on Pochi’s chest was flashing white.
The White Dragon within was quite a sleepyhead but could pick up on Pochi’s emotions in its slumber.