Let's See What a Real Merchant Can Do

A girl named Iris, an apprentice from Primula's shop, came to my house.

Apparently, Primula planned to have her come here for a while and teach her how to run a business.

I decided to try making okonomiyaki for dinner.

I placed a griddle over each of two cassette stoves and heated them up.

Incidentally, connecting two stoves and placing one long griddle over them can cause an explosion, so you need to be careful.

I shredded the cabbage, added eggs and flour, then mixed in the dashi. Some people add grated Japanese yam too, but I suppose that depends on one's preference.

I spread small pieces of pork across the griddle, then poured the batter over them. There are probably all sorts of schools of thought when it comes to making it, but this is how I do it.

Primula was making okonomiyaki on the neighboring cassette stove by copying me, but was she planning to learn the recipe and sell it too?

Once it was cooked, I went to flip it over—but I was missing one crucial item.

I hurriedly bought spatulas from Shangri-La. Two for 1,000 yen.

"Here we go!"

"Whoa!"

"Nice one, nya!"

Once it was cooked, I finished it by drizzling O○fuku sauce and mayonnaise over it. What about bonito flakes? They might be wary of them.

"Want to try putting some of this on, depending on your taste?"

Everyone reacted to the bonito flakes I had sprinkled on.

"What are you doing putting wood shavings on it, nya?"

"They're dried fish that has been shaved into flakes."

"The boss is telling the truth. It smells like fish."

While I watched the wary beastfolk, Anemone was the first to dig in.

"It's delicious! This is really good!"

"I'm glad it suits your taste."

"Fmyu? Munch, munch—delicious, nya~!"

"Whoa! This is delicious!"

"Oh, right. I need to get some alcohol ready for Nyamena."

I took red wine and cups out of my Item Box.

"Ahh, delicious food and delicious alcohol. I don't need money anymore."

"Really?"

"We're only making money so we can eat, but if delicious food is already waiting for us, why would we need money?"

Nyamena stuffed her mouth with okonomiyaki, then washed it down with wine.

"Isn't there anything you want?"

"Sure, I'd like some weapons and things."

"I'll lend you those too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. The bow and sword Myaree has are things I've lent her too."

Myaree had made a fortune from subjugating the Shaga, so she was actually quite rich.

She could afford to buy good equipment if she wanted to.

But she showed no sign of spending any money at all. I provided all her food and equipment, after all.

"—So that means these are things you sell, right? Is that okay?"

"If Myaree and Nyamena work hard, I'll make my money back easily enough."

"If that's the case, I guess I don't need to hold back."

"Show some restraint, at least."

"Hahaha! I know, I know."

Nyamena roared with laughter and raised her wine-filled cup toward the night sky.

"This is incredibly delicious, but…the sauce is what makes it, isn't it?"

Iris, who had been eating the okonomiyaki, had made a sharp observation.

That's right—the sauce and mayonnaise. Either one by itself is only so-so.

Combining them creates a unified depth of flavor. Though mixing sauce and mayonnaise into other dishes doesn't make them taste nearly as good.

She seemed surprisingly sharp. According to Primula, she was the daughter of a civil servant. As a result, she could read, write, and do arithmetic.

Apparently, she had been looking for work because otherwise she would immediately be told to get married.

It seemed she had spotted Primula, a woman running a business alone, in the market and fallen in love at first sight.

"You used it in that gyoza dish before too—but what is this?"

Primula seemed interested in the mayonnaise too.

"This is mayonnaise."

"Ah! So that's what it is? I heard it's incredibly popular in the Empire—a yellow, squiggly sauce that goes with anything."

Incidentally, something resembling the black sauce also existed in this world. Apparently, mayonnaise was the only thing they hadn't had.

Whatever was popular in the Empire was probably being spread by someone who had been transported here from my original world.

"What is it made from?"

"Well, Primula, it's vinegar, eggs, and oil. Vegetable oil, that is. Sea-beast oil won't do."

"By vegetable oil, do you mean oil from beans or flowers?"

"That's right—but the ingredients are expensive, so I wonder whether it would be worth selling. The person spreading it in the Empire seems to be making it with magic."

Primula appeared to be calculating the production cost, but it would be an expensive sauce, so I wondered whether it would really work as a business.

I could wholesale mayonnaise to her, but—

If I supplied her with products and she based her business on them, it would collapse as soon as I was gone.

With soup and stews, other ingredients could be substituted if I wasn't around. Even dashi stock could be replaced with dried ingredients.

To my surprise, everyone liked the okonomiyaki.

------◇◇◇------

After dinner, it was time to take a bath—but—

"Huh? A-a bath? But I can't get naked in front of a man…"

Well, that was only natural for a girl Iris's age.

"In that case, I'll go inside the house."

"I'll go inside too and study!"

"Anemone, aren't you going to take a bath today?"

"Nope!"

"Then just heat the bathwater with magic for us."

"Got it!"

After the bath was heated, Anemone and I studied inside the house. From outside, the women's giggling and squealing could be heard all the way indoors.

The jet heater for after the bath was already set up. Primula had learned how to use it, so I left it to her.

After bathing, Primula and Iris wore fluffy pajamas with aprons and prepared the ingredients for the next day's meals.

They said they planned to study bookkeeping once that was finished. It was a fairly demanding schedule, but Iris would be coming here for a while.

Did Iris really dislike the idea of getting married that much?

"Because the men I'd be matched with are old guys! Who would want that?"

Well, that was the normal reaction.

"And what does Miss Primula, who likes older men, think of that opinion?"

"A man needs sincerity and the ability to provide. Caring about looks and falling in love are things you only worry about when you're young. Age doesn't matter."

She was remarkably worldly. It was probably because she had met all sorts of people through her business.

"But you're still plenty young yourself…"

"I choose substance."

That was certainly merchant-like, in one way or another.

I didn't want to interfere with their preparations for tomorrow or their studies, so I went to visit Nyamena's room outside.

"So, what do you think? This is the sort of room it is."

"It's the best! It even has a lamp. I won't have to be gnawed on by attic rats anymore."

What kind of life had she been living? Had she turned pale whenever the rats nibbled her ears?

"And on sunny days, it's scorching hot during the day."

An attic room did sound hot. The roof of my house got pretty hot too.

"You managed to light the lamp?"

The kerosene lamps sold in this world were lit with firestones. They even had a fairly high-tech mechanism that vaporized the fuel using the heat from the firestone before burning it.

The one I bought, however, was a simple kerosene lamp like an old-fashioned paper lantern.

"Because I have this."

Nyamena took out a stick with a red stone attached to its tip.

Twisting the end of it lit the firestone at the tip—in other words, it was a match.

Kerosene lamps were expensive, so paper lanterns with wicks dipped in oil were also widespread in this world.

Candles existed too, of course, but since they were made from animal fat, they were expensive as well.

"I'll give you three sheets, so wash them yourself."

"Sure thing~"

"Do you have an insect-repelling magic stone?"

"I'm good."

"All right, then."

"Oh my, you came into a woman's room, but you're leaving without doing anything?"

As I tried to leave the shed, Nyamena rose from the bed and hugged me.

But at that exact moment, the shed's door flew open.

"Fgyah! I thought you were taking a long time to come back—what are you doing?! If you want to do that so badly, you can do it with me, nya!"

"What the heck? You could at least share a little with me."

"No way, nya!"

"Come on, I'm better at it than you. And I'm tighter too."

Nyamena turned her rear toward me and beckoned with her tail, inviting me over.

"I'm not losing to her, nya!"

Myaree turned her rear toward me too, refusing to lose—but these two…

"I'm good with my mouth too~ Want to try?"

"We have fangs! There's no way we can do that with our mouths, nya!"

What the heck kind of conversation were they having? I absolutely couldn't let Anemone hear this.

"Oh, you don't know? There's a technique like that. Want to try it?"

Nyamena wrapped her long, muscular arms around my neck. Since she was taller than me, if she were serious about this, I wouldn't be able to escape.

"Get away from him, nya!"

"All right, all right, you two, stop making such a fuss. Go to sleep for tonight."

I removed Nyamena's arms and stepped away from her.

"Come on, you're no fun."

She seemed dissatisfied that I hadn't taken the bait. I couldn't quite tell whether she was serious or joking, though.

"Kenichi isn't like the men around here, nya."

"I'll give you that."

After saying good night to Nyamena, I returned to the house.

------◇◇◇------

――The next day.

Primula and Iris had been making soup to sell since morning. One pot hadn't been enough, so they had prepared two.

I put the luggage in my Item Box and took Primula to the city as usual. Just outside the city, I took a four-wheeled cart out of storage.

"We have a lot of cargo today. Should I bring out another cart…?"

"I was thinking of having Nyamena carry whatever didn't fit in the cart."

"I have another one just like it, so Iris can pull it."

After teaching Iris double-entry bookkeeping, Primula apparently planned to have her prepare ingredients at home.

That way, they wouldn't have to transport everything from my house.

After seeing them off, I returned home and continued building the shed with Myaree.

By late morning, the framework was complete.

I installed a small window, then attached a waterproof sheet and galvanized steel panels. This was my second time making one, so I knew almost all the steps and everything proceeded smoothly.

For several days, I picked up Primula and the others in the evening, returned home, and ate dinner, occasionally fitting in some farm work—but eventually, the shed was finished.

"The second time really is faster."

"Nyaa!"

Myaree grabbed the edge of the roof and leaped onto it.

Her physical abilities were incredible—but when Myaree placed her hand on the roof, she cried out.

"Ouch!"

She hurriedly jumped down from the roof. The direct sunlight had heated it up.

The house's roof was made of wooden boards, but this shed had galvanized steel panels.

Could it be—? I opened the door and went inside, and—the shed was filled with a wave of hot air.

I hurriedly opened the window and decided to conduct an experiment here while I was at it.

I was going to use the liquid-separating magic tool to remove the two-stroke oil from mixed fuel.

At present, I needed to use a large gasoline generator to mine the orange ore. This large generator had a four-stroke engine.

However, the gasoline available from Shangri-La was mixed fuel for two-stroke engines used in brush cutters and chainsaws.

It already had two-stroke oil mixed into it.

It could still be used as generator fuel as is, but the excess two-stroke oil made it emit white smoke.

I planned to remove that oil and refine ordinary gasoline.

I opened the shed's window, placed the magic tool on the floor, and began preparing it, pouring mixed fuel into the upper container.

Then I poured two-stroke oil into the middle container. The substance put in here would be drawn out of the upper container.

The liquid immediately began flowing through the passages on the left and right.

"This can process about one liter every ten minutes, so…let's see, this can hold four liters… That makes about forty minutes."

――Forty minutes later, the separation seemed to be complete, but how should I verify it?

I couldn't put it straight into the generator. I might damage the expensive machine.

"Now, what should I do…?"

I searched Shangri-La for an inexpensive four-stroke engine.

If it ran properly in a test, I should be able to use the fuel in a gasoline generator too.

After searching for a while, I found a four-stroke brush cutter for a little over 10,000 yen.

At that price, it was probably made in that country, but all I needed was to check whether it could run on the gasoline.

"Click."

The brush cutter that dropped down was a simple semi-assembled kit, so I put it together. It was simple enough that I didn't need the assembly instructions.

The included manual was mostly kanji and wasn't in Japanese anyway. I used the included chip saw blade as it was.

The gauge showed that it had oil in it, but I didn't trust it at all, so I drained it completely and replaced it with oil from a top-tier manufacturer.

If I were going to use it seriously, I'd want to completely disassemble it and inspect everything.

I once bought a knockoff engine made in that country for a Super Cub on an online auction, and it was terrible.

There was metal powder everywhere inside the engine, the bearings were grinding badly, and it would have broken down almost immediately if I had used it as it was.

With those bitter memories in mind, I poured the gasoline I had refined for the experiment into the tank and pressed the button to send fuel to the carburetor.

I pulled the choke and the recoil starter, and it started on the first pull.

Compared with the usual two-stroke engine model, it was considerably quieter, but it was running smoothly.

"Seems fine."

I decided to mow the grass around the area with it.

I swung the brush cutter back and forth, cutting down the green grass. The sharp, grassy smell spread all around and stung my nose.

"Eek!"

"Ah!"

――But by then it was too late. I had cut a mouse-like creature hiding in the grass clean in half.

Ugh—I'd have to wash this later and oil it… If blood remained, it would rust.

This happened fairly often when using a brush cutter. Snakes, mice, and sometimes even raccoon dogs.

Accidents involving people being cut happened frequently too. There was no question that it was an extremely dangerous tool.

However, the engine using the test gasoline continued to run smoothly, and after I mowed for about an hour, there seemed to be no problems.

That solved the gasoline problem. Mixed gasoline cost about 1,000 yen for four liters, or 250 yen per liter.

That was a little expensive by the standards of my original world, but it couldn't be helped.

Besides, I didn't use much gasoline. Heavy machinery and trucks ran on diesel.

Even if I bought a passenger vehicle, a diesel SUV could use biodiesel fuel, so I wouldn't have any trouble.

With this fuel, I could use the gasoline generator to grind away at the rhodonite.

------◇◇◇------

Over the next month, after taking Primula and the others to and from the city, I continued grinding away at the rock. The total appraised value of the orange stones I mined came to a little over 15 million yen.

There was still more stone, but it extended into the cliff, so mining any further would require bringing down a large section of the cliff.

I would need heavy machinery, explosives, or something of that sort.

The forest atop the cliff proved useful for Anemone's mushroom and medicinal-herb gathering, as well as an ideal hunting ground for Myaree and Nyamena.

As for Primula's shop—

She involved Iris's parents and had them act as guarantors, then rented a small warehouse and began preparing the merchandise there.

Her parents were civil servants—the words "guaranteed profits" were irresistible to them.

In fact, Primula's shop was making money. It was selling 150,000 to 200,000 yen worth of goods every day and was on track to exceed 70 million yen in annual sales.

It had easily surpassed in one year the reward money I had risked my life to earn through subjugation.

What's more, she had made Iris the general manager of the branches and put her in charge of training, gathered employees, and already opened two branches. The group's annual sales were approaching 200 million yen.

Iris's parents were delighted that their daughter was bringing home so much money.

So this was the power of a real merchant. It was on a completely different level from my amateurish efforts.

There was one limitation, though. The dishes sold by the shops used dashi stock that I bought from Shangri-La and supplied to them.

Without it, they couldn't reproduce the flavor of their popular dishes. Flavor enhancers were truly magnificent.

Even if one of the employees betrayed her and opened a similar shop, they couldn't easily reproduce this flavor.

"Miss can do everything by herself. I can't even do arithmetic, so the shop just keeps getting bigger while I have no idea what's going on."

In the darkness and the light of an LED lantern, Nyamena murmured as she ate dinner spread across a table in front of the house.

"That's not true. It's all thanks to the knowledge and magic Kenichi taught me, as well as his Item Box."

"No, your business skills are incredible. You're certainly the daughter of the great merchant Marlowe-san."

"I could only do it because Kenichi laid the groundwork. Starting this from zero would be extraordinarily difficult."

It was true that she would have had a lot more trouble without my cheats, but she would have managed it anyway.

The money Primula earned was deposited with the Merchant's Guild, and the records were stored inside the guild certificate she carried—

The money she used normally, along with the surplus, went into my Item Box.

If she deposited it in her guild account, she could withdraw it from a guild in another city too, but unlike in my original world, it didn't earn interest.

It wasn't a bank to begin with, so that couldn't be helped. In fact, instead of interest, they charged a small account-storage fee.

Even so, many people deposited their money with the guild because they didn't have to worry about it being stolen.

"But, Miss, even if you expand the shop, you're not planning to put down roots in Astrantia, are you?"

"No. I've arranged everything so I can separate the branches and set out on a journey at any time—so I can immediately chase after someone if they run away."

"Primula, I know I was at fault there. But I thought the Marlowe Trading Company would be inconvenienced in that situation…"

"I don't want to hear it."

"Haha! Don't worry, Miss. Even if the boss runs away, I'll catch up with my nose. Especially that strange magic-tool smell he has—it's distinctive. He can't get away."

"Nyaa! I won't ever let him escape either, nya!"

Damn it. Traveling with modern conveniences was fast, but it was a double-edged sword that left an obvious trail.

"I'm counting on you."

This was bad. Apparently, Primula's trust in me had plummeted.

Well, that couldn't be helped, either…

Dinner continued in the darkness, but Primula seemed lost in thought.

"Primula, what's wrong?"

"…Um, I have a favor to ask."

"If it's something you want, I'll do my best to grant it, but…"

According to her, she wanted a gemstone suitable for a noble.

Had she already established connections with nobles?

I disliked troublesome things, so I avoided nobles, but Primula and Marlowe-san were real merchants who made full use of nobles.

In any case, I decided to hear her out.