Chapter 72
Another visitor had come to my house.
Marrow-san and the old man were there, along with the viscountess and a slightly stout man who had stepped out of a fine white carriage.
Since he was with the viscountess, this man was presumably Viscount Eupatorium.
The viscount's guards included the female mage and the young knight who had come here before. Apparently, the blond brat who had been bitten by the Black Wolf wasn't with them—had he been fired?
Since our guest was a noble, I couldn't very well fail to greet him. I went over to him.
"Thank you for coming all the way out to a place like this. My name is Kenichi, a merchant who runs this place."
"Do you still insist on calling yourself a merchant?"
The viscountess had objected to that before, but I really was, technically speaking, a merchant.
"I truly am a merchant."
"I am Viscount Garam de Eupatorium."
The slightly stout man, dressed in blue and sporting short brown hair, puffed out his chest.
"It is an honor to meet you."
"Hmm."
He was wearing fine clothes befitting a noble, but he seemed incredibly ordinary.
He was probably a little older than me... If he changed his clothes, I might not even realize he was a noble.
I explained the situation to the viscount and brought a table outside. But what should I do about chairs? It would be improper to make the viscount sit on one of our usual stools.
I searched Shangri-La and found a set of two wooden dining chairs for sale, so I bought them. They cost 7,800 yen.
The viscount and viscountess, along with Marrow-san and the old man, sat at the table, while Primula stood behind me.
A knight and a mage stood beside the viscount as guards, while a man carrying some sort of luggage stood behind them.
"What brings everyone here today?"
"Kenichi-dono! I would like to have that soft, sweet thing I ate before!"
"Yes, yes. Pudding."
"Do you like sweets, Your Lordship?"
"No, I am... not particularly fond of sweets."
Really? He looked like the sort of person who would like them... In that case, I would serve His Lordship chawanmushi.
There had been a lot of requests lately, so I had made a large batch. If I was going to use the steamer anyway, I might as well make a lot at once.
I could increase the amount I steamed by stacking the steamers vertically, too.
I served everyone custard pudding and fruit milk.
"Oh! This is it! This is the flavor!"
"Kenichi-san, what is this? I have never experienced such a texture before. It is almost sensual."
"Father-in-law, I'm your son-in-law, so you can just call me Kenichi. This is made by mixing eggs with milk, then steaming and setting them."
"Oh, I see. It is like sweetened boiled eggs or an omelet that has been set. It seems like something anyone could have thought of, yet no one had ever made it."
The old man had lived a long time and had connections everywhere, so if even he had never eaten anything like pudding, there probably wasn't any pudding-like food around here.
"Th-this! It certainly isn't sweet, and it is a dish I have never eaten before. It is exquisite, too..."
The viscount had frozen in place while eating his chawanmushi.
"Your Lordship's was made with soup rather than milk, then steamed and set."
"And it seems to contain all sorts of ingredients."
"There is chicken, processed fish paste, nuts, and mushrooms inside."
"How did you manage to fit so many things into this little bowl...? It is as though you compressed the entire world..."
"My wife said something similar."
"So Kanan was not entirely wrong to call you a sage."
"A sage?"
After hearing the viscount's words, the old man looked at me with his spoon in his mouth.
"Ha-ha, old man. Everyone calls me a sage."
"I certainly am amazed by the breadth of your knowledge, but..."
"Not at all. There are plenty of things I don't know. I grew up in the countryside, so I know absolutely nothing about the various cities in this kingdom."
"Kanan told me that Kenichi-dono also knew how to make cheese."
"What? Cheese?!"
The old man nearly spat out his pudding.
"We confirmed that cheese can be made using Kenichi-dono's method, so we are discussing turning it into a major industry in Astrantia in partnership with the Marrow Trading Company."
"That is correct."
"Good heavens. I can hardly believe it."
It seemed the viscount and Marrow-san had already decided all of that.
Well, I was Marrow-san's son-in-law, so perhaps he felt free to use anything his son had invented.
Maybe this was what had led to the argument between Marrow-san and Primula.
"Bring that luggage over here."
"Yes, sir."
At the viscount's command, the luggage his attendant had been carrying was opened.
What the viscount was handed looked like a book—but wasn't that paper like straw paper?
"We traced this book's distribution and discovered that it came from Miss Primula's shop. Was it made by you, Kenichi-dono?"
The book he showed me was The Forest Elf, which I had made and Primula had sold in the city.
"Yes, more or less."
"Neither the writing nor the illustrations were made with a pen, and it is not a woodblock print. How in the world did you make something like this?"
As I talked with the viscount, I learned that he liked writing stories and drawing pictures—in other words, he was one of my kind.
Apparently, he had neglected the administration of his territory to pursue such hobbies. Since he had left everything to others, his finances had fallen into disarray.
I thought about it for a while, but since it wasn't all that much of an advanced technology, I took a mimeograph printing set out of my Item Box.
"This is wax-coated paper, and the black substance is ink. Naturally, ink cannot soak through paper coated with wax, but if you scratch the paper and make a cut in it with something hard..."
"Oh! Then the ink passes through only where it has been scratched and sticks to the paper, is that it?"
Thanks to his years of experience, the old man was the first to figure out how the mimeograph worked.
I took out the original of The Forest Elf that I had drawn and demonstrated printing it onto paper.
"This is incredible! With this, it would be possible to produce identical books cheaply..."
The viscount held the printed sheet of straw paper in his hands, clearly excited.
"Of course, it cannot match handwritten work in beauty."
"Even so, plenty of people who aren't wealthy nobles would be happy with something cheap as long as it's readable, wouldn't you say?"
"Old man, I heard there was a lot of demand for erotic books when you sold this."
"Heh-heh, naturally. Even royalty and nobles want them."
The old man stroked his beard with an exasperated look.
"Is that so, Viscountess?"
"What? Why are you asking me?"
The viscountess was being unusually subdued today. Naturally, she couldn't let herself loose in front of her husband, the viscount.
"I want the works I have written to be read by as many people as possible!"
The viscount was speaking passionately, but no matter how many novels he wrote, if no one read them, his motivation would naturally suffer.
It seemed this world had reasonably advanced paper-making technology, so producing books shouldn't be a problem.
"Besides, if books could be made cheaply, other people might start writing them too."
"Exactly! That is my wish. I want to change the perception that books are nothing but obscene material."
"That would be wonderful."
"You understand?"
"Of course I do."
The viscount seemed delighted to have someone agree with him.
"Hmm, Kenichi. This is a revolutionary invention."
"Of course, Father-in-law, the Marrow Trading Company may handle it. If so... the Marrow Trading Company's reputation will rise even further."
"Heh-heh-heh. Indeed."
"At this rate, perhaps expanding into the royal capital will be possible too?"
"Hmm... That would be counting our chickens before they hatch."
Apparently, there were no tanuki in this world. Marrow-san was surprisingly cautious, though he must have been looking that far ahead.
For the time being, they planned to buy samples of the mimeograph equipment from me and study them in the viscount's territory and at the Marrow Trading Company.
They would have to reproduce it using materials available in this world. Since I hadn't used anything particularly unusual, I thought it should be possible.
"Um... Kenichi. A troublesome problem has come up."
Primula spoke to me from behind.
"A troublesome problem?"
According to her, the local trading companies were opposing the Marrow Trading Company's expansion into Astrantia.
That was only natural, but if the viscount had made the decision, shouldn't they have no choice but to obey?
"The viscount intends to cut off the merchants who have been exploiting his territory through fraud and deception, doesn't he? Can't we just forcibly remove them?"
"Unfortunately, my territory has no military force..."
According to the viscount, budget difficulties had led them to cut military spending—the largest expense. Apparently, the territory did not even have a knight corps.
Still, that decision had apparently helped them somehow manage to keep the territory running.
They had somehow made it through without raids by bandits or attacks by large monsters—but one could also say they had simply been lucky.
Well, luck counted as skill, too. But when everyone looked at me all at once, I had a pretty good idea what they were thinking.
"Ah, all right, all right. You want me to handle it, don't you? In short, I just need to crush the ringleader of those merchants who are resisting, right? What's the merchant's name?"
"His name is Sogaram..."
What? Wasn't he the merchant who had been harassing Primula's shop?
Apparently, he employed a lot of thugs, so he must have had a fairly substantial force.
Since the viscount's territory had no military force, they had apparently often relied on those men.
I had been dissatisfied that the people who harassed Primula's shop had gotten off so lightly—but so that was the reason.
In other words, the viscount had been unable to punish them even if he wanted to.
It seemed they had enjoyed a genuinely symbiotic honeymoon, but the honeymoon was over.
An actor whose role was finished couldn't stay onstage forever. It was time for him to leave.
And that time had come.
"All right—I understand. I'll take care of it."
I had been angry at Sogaram, but causing a commotion would be troublesome in all sorts of ways. I had been considering various options, including taking advantage of the confusion to strike him from the shadows, but with the viscount's permission, I no longer needed to hold back.
I decided to return the favor in full and got information from Nyamena, who knew the city's circumstances well.
"Heh-heh—Boss, you're really going to do it?"
"The viscount gave me permission."
"We're coming too, nya!"
"Me too!"
"Hey, hey, magic won't be needed. If you use magic in the city, it could turn into a major disaster."
"Mmm..."
Anemone looked dissatisfied, but Fireball would set the place on fire, while Explosion would damage everyone nearby.
Unlike Edo-period Japan, these weren't all wooden buildings, so it wouldn't become a massive conflagration, but firefighting technology was underdeveloped.
It was obvious that the damage would become severe. That would only cause the viscount to come under criticism.
"Um, please go easy on them..."
The viscount himself had asked me that.
Well, there was no need to deliberately cause any deaths. I would let them off with reducing their shop to a vacant lot using Ko○tsu-san.
However, the viscount, Marrow-san, and the old man all wanted to see my Ko○tsu-san.
The viscountess and Primula had each told them about it, so they presumably wanted to see the real thing.
"Ko○tsu-san, summon!"
The enormous yellow machine came crashing down with a rumble that shook the earth.
"Whoa!"
"So this is it?! The machine that finished the irrigation canal construction in no time!"
The viscount was amazed, but he approached and patted the steel body. He was quite a curious man.
"That is correct."
I climbed into Ko○tsu-san's driver's seat and started the engine. The vehicle shuddered, roaring as it belched black smoke.
When I operated the lever, it scooped up some nearby earth. Demonstrating it meant digging a hole every time, which made things troublesome because I had to fill them in later.
"Whoa!"
"It truly is powerful, just as Kanan told me. Amazing!"
"It is more than twice the size of the summoned beast you used against Shaga, isn't it?"
I turned off the engine and climbed down.
"With this, couldn't you even scatter monsters or the Imperial Army?"
The viscount had begun saying something rather dangerous.
"That would be a reasonable assumption, but..."
"Old man, this thing consumes four times as much fuel as the summoned beast I used at Shaga's place."
"What? You said the same thing about that horseless carriage."
"Yes. If I run this for a day, it consumes about as much fuel as would fill that hut."
I pointed at the hut where Nyamena lived.
"As I thought..."
"Then you would go bankrupt from fuel costs alone."
"Your Lordship—for example, suppose I, a Tamer, tamed a dragon. It would certainly become an incredible military asset. No matter how large the army, it could burn them all to a crisp with its fiery breath."
"Well, yes, but..."
The old man looked up at Ko○tsu-san while stroking his white beard.
"But how would you pay for feeding the dragon? It might eat a hundred head of livestock a day."
"So this iron summoned beast is the same?"
"Exactly, Your Lordship."
"Everything comes at a price. Nothing so convenient could possibly exist."
If I wanted to, I could pour the national budget into Shangri-La, bring out countless trucks, and create a mechanized infantry division in this world. I could line up heavy machinery and create an armored division too.
Anyone could probably learn to drive trucks and heavy machinery if they were taught. If I did that, I might even be able to unify the world.
But if I put that many gold coins into Shangri-La, this country would run out of gold coins.
That would likely affect economic activity after unification.
We could consider introducing paper money like domain notes or substitute coins, but that would only accelerate inflation.
What would happen to a country its citizens turned their backs on then? It wasn't difficult to imagine.
But enough of the complicated stuff. For now, I would have Sogaram, the merchant in the city, pay for what he had done to Primula and the girls at her shop.
------◇◇◇------
Like his wife, the viscount climbed the scaffolding on the cliff and enjoyed the view of the lake from above before deciding to return to Astrantia.
I took the La○d Cruiser P○ado out of my Item Box and loaded everyone into it. Naturally, the Forest Cat came too.
Since we were going to the city, I put her silver license tag on her. The viscount rode in the front passenger seat beside me.
Primula usually sat in the back seat behind me, but today the viscountess climbed in instead.
She had insisted that she absolutely wanted to ride in the car, so I had no choice but to let her. Besides, if we were going to Sogaram's place, it would be better to have both husband and wife there as witnesses.
For that reason, Primula switched places with her and headed to Astrantia in a carriage with Marrow-san and the old man.
I started the car and crossed the river.
The water was about fifty centimeters deep, but this vehicle had a snorkel, so it could handle water about a meter deep without trouble.
"Oh! It really is moving without a horse!"
The viscount was thrilled by the car, while the viscountess in the back seat muttered something under her breath.
"We need to build a bridge here."
"Kanan-sama, please give it a rest. I really don't want too many people visiting me."
"What possible problem could there be with my visiting a friend? If a bridge is impossible, we can clear a path through the forest with that monster."
"You heard what we discussed today, didn't you? That summoned beast consumes an enormous amount of fuel. Besides, I get absolutely no benefit from this..."
"Then a bridge it is!"
She hadn't listened to a word I said.
"More importantly, you have a huge amount of work to do to rebuild the finances."
"That is true, but... We can simply leave that to Marrow-dono, can't we?"
"My father-in-law is a trustworthy man, but if no one on the viscount's side checks things as well, someone blinded by greed may appear."
"No, you are right, Kenichi-dono. I intend to change my ways and rebuild this territory that I inherited from my father."
The viscountess was as she always was, but the viscount showed firm resolve.
Until now, he had been trapped in a vicious cycle: escaping from unpleasant realities, then fleeing reality even further when his territory began to decline.
And the merchant Sogaram, the headache hanging over him, was about to be eliminated as well.
Perhaps he had finally found the motivation to start over. But in the end, it seemed he was still leaving everything to other people... Would he really be all right?
Even so, thanks to Marrow-san bringing capable people from Dalia, I thought the finances would at least become sound.
"Your Lordship, may I ask you something?"
"Yes, what is it?"
"The grimoire I received as payment—how did it come to be in the viscount's territory?"
"Ah, my predecessor—in other words, my late father—apparently acquired it from a traveling mage, but I do not know the details. No one could use it, so it had been left in storage. But it proved useful in helping the viscount's territory. My father must be pleased in heaven."
I see. Could that traveling mage have been Anemone's mother?
While we were discussing this, the city drew near.