Negotiations: The Human Arc

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/26/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

Having finished the talks and arrangements with Nora, I was scooped up by Gerda again and we went in one hop.
…Yes, I mean we literally flew!?
At any rate, this time to the opposite end of town.

We came down at a place where a large brick building stood, and beyond it a vast vineyard spread.
A wonderful smell had been coming even before we landed, so I understood very well.
This was a wine brewery.
By the season they should not be making wine now, but they apparently distilled liquor regularly, and it might have been that scent.

“…I rather feel like buying a souvenir.”
“I won’t deny that. Let’s finish what we came to do first.”
“Yes. If we don’t… I’ll want a drink even more.”
“Say, Asha. You really do make a lot of drinker’s remarks.”

I answered Gerda’s pointing-out with a smile and silence.
That she let it go with only a shrug made me think she was truly an adult.
Well, I’m the childish one!

At any rate, Gerda showed me toward the brewery.
After walking a while we soon reached a smaller house that seemed to be used as a residence.

“Miranda, are you in?”
“Yes, I’ve been waiting, Gerda.”

When Gerda called, a woman of around thirty came out at once.
A face tanned from field work, darkish brown hair, a face with many freckles.
But it was a face full of vitality, and very charming.

“Sorry to take your time.
And this is the apothecary Asha I spoke of earlier.”
“A pleasure, Miranda.
The wine here was really delicious.
Elma said it was wine she was proud of, too.”
“Yes, a pleasure. I’m Miranda.
…My, my, Elma said a thing like that?”

When I greeted her Miranda returned it, but at the Elma line her smile went up by fifty percent or more.
Her cheeks a little red, smiling, smiling… huh, could this be… yuri incoming?

No, idle suspicion is no good. I would observe the course carefully from here on.
I thought that inwardly.

“And the truth is, there’s something I’d like made, so I came.”
“Yes, if it’s something we can be of use with, gladly.
Perhaps distilled liquor?”
“That’s it. Distilled liquor with as little scent or taste as possible, if I may ask.”

As expected of a town that understood disinfection by alcohol. Miranda was very perceptive as well.
In other words I had come here to ask her to make the base for rubbing alcohol.
We would need to adjust the concentration, so in the end I would have Kira drive the water out with ‘Desiccate,’ but the less sugar and scent the better.

“Yes, that’s easier if anything, so as long as we get what we’re due, I’ll do it properly?”
“Thank you. I don’t think money will be a problem… incidentally, about how much?”
“Let me see, roughly…”

And from there Miranda and I began to negotiate the price.
I will only say we arrived at an amount we were both satisfied with.

 

After the negotiation I had her let me buy a bottle of distilled liquor as a souvenir, and then we walked a while from there.
We came to a lively street, clack and thump.

“Whoa, it’s really lively!”

I was impressed from the bottom of my heart, and let it slip.
Probably, I thought, they had something like a factory-handicraft, a manufactory-style system of production.

It was still small to call a factory, but the idea was probably close.

The one who ran this area was apparently an older person named Stella…
Was that it? Was Stella a cheat as well, like Dia?

There was a vigor I had not even seen in the royal capital of the country I had lived in, and cloth and clothes were being produced at a considerable clip.
Well, in a country of mostly women the demand for clothes would be high, but to build a production system this far… what in the world…?

I felt my eyes going distant, but in this situation it was rather welcome, so I would say nothing.

“This area is the next liveliest after the dwarf settlement, I should think.
Over there the metal sounds are strong, so they can hardly match that.
But in vigor, I don’t think they fall behind.”

Gerda explained so.
Indeed, the people of this district were all full of vigor.
As if every one of them were Elma.

“Come to think of it, Chris, who came with us, should have been assigned here… I wonder if she’s well.”

Only a day had passed, and yet it felt oddly as if a long time had.
That energetic Chris would have settled in, I thought.

“Stella will have a grasp of that as well, so you should ask.”

Perhaps she had read my feelings; Gerda said that.
With a very kind smile.
Very hard on the heart.

At any rate.

“Yes. Thanks to you, Gerda, we have time to spare as well.”

I thought so without sarcasm.
The talks with Nora and the dwarves and with Miranda were done, and it was probably still about four o’clock.
There were their circumstances as well, but with this we could talk at leisure, I thought.

“All I can do is lay the table. The rest is up to you, Asha.”
“Well, I’ll… do my best.”

So saying, I clenched both hands.

According to Gerda’s advance information, she was a calm, kind person.
But, running a group this large, she was not only kind, either.
She would probably appraise me as well, and the proposal itself would be evaluated severely.

That was what I wanted, though.

“…You really are tough, Asha.”
“I couldn’t have lived if I weren’t.
But on this island… I think I have to be kind, as well.”

If you are not kind you have no right to live. Or so the joke goes.
To be honest, in this world neither men nor women could live if they were not tough.
I thought there had hardly been room to be kind.
But on this island… I could think of trying to be kind, of being the self I wanted to be.
Surely that was because of the people I had met, Gerda first among them.

“Yes… I hope you will be able to be kind.”

So saying, Gerda showed a kind smile I could not quite name.

Dammit, what is this pretty-boy aura! Even though she’s a woman!
No, but I will not misunderstand, I know about this!

Well, the fact that I was thinking such things probably meant I had already lost.

Now then, thinking that, we went into the building where we were to meet.

“My, my. So such a cute one is the apothecary, Doctor.”

Stella came to meet us with a pleasant smile.
…Yes. Probably someone you must not let your guard down around.
I smelled the same thing as Nasti.

That said, I could not decide that from the start, and I would be in considerable trouble without her cooperation.

“A pleasure. My name is Asha.
Thank you for giving us your valuable time.”

I bobbed my head, and Stella narrowed her eyes.
…I feel like I’m being appraised?
Well, appraise all you like, I could even take it that way, which was a strange thing.

…I had a feeling Gerda beside me had a great deal to do with it.

“Yes. I hear we may be of use in treatment, or something?
If that’s true, I wouldn’t begrudge our cooperation.”

…For an instant, a shadow fell on that face.
Yes. Stella was of a fair age as well.
She had… seen people off, I thought, in various ways.

“Yes. The power of cloth is truly great.
Bandages are the easy example, but besides that, all sorts of things.
And there are things that would be even more welcome if they could be made.”

What I wanted was cloth woven densely of still finer thread.
Then cloth woven loosely of fine thread, like gauze.
And one more.
Pile fabric.
The fabric often used in towels, with loops of thread standing out in curls.
I wanted this no matter what.
For now we had only thin things like tenugui (decorative towels), and the absorbency was very poor.
So if pile fabric could be made, I would be very grateful.

Stella, who had been listening to my explanation, thought a while, then nodded.

“Hah, I see… indeed, I don’t think it’s impossible.”
“Thank you. Would you try making them once?
Whether we have these or not will make a great difference from here on.”

At my words, Stella’s eyes sharpened.

Yes, as I thought.
Even in this ringleader-like position, at her root this person was an artisan.
Asked can you do it?, she was the type to think of course I can, are you making fun of me?
I personally found that sort of person very appealing.
Which was exactly why using that character like this pained me.

“I understand.
Naturally, we’ll receive payment to match, I assume?”

This time I was the one being tested.
And I nodded without hesitation.

“Of course. I swear it on my name, and above all on the Demon King.”

I said it cleanly, with a smile.

And even as I did, I thought inwardly.
…Right, I’ll have to lay the groundwork with the Demon King and get a budget…