"Are you the orphans who have taken up residence in the ruins of the orphanage?! I'll talk you into letting you live here, so do as I say!"
Here it comes!
A few days after we were harassed by some thugs on the street, something strange came to my house.
Well, there was nothing unusual about the appearance. There was only one man who looked like a merchant and didn't look very wealthy.
Apparently, it wasn't a rough thing.
However, the first thing that was said to me when I answered the door was, "That's weird"...
"Umm, who is this...?" (Kaoru)
"I'm Darlish, the manager of the Gonoshell Company."
Ah, maybe he's a small- or medium-sized business owner who isn't well-informed...
"Was this your personal action? Or was it under the instructions of the chairman of the board of directors?" (Kaoru)
"The chairman of the board of directors has no business getting involved in such trivial matters. I'll be the one to look after you guys." (Darlish)
Okay, okay, so is he just trying to earn some pocket money as a clerk, or is he planning to report it once he has made a certain amount of money and take credit for it, or something like that...
I wonder if the chairman of the board of directors and the head clerk know about us? Or is he the only one who doesn't know anything and just does what he wants?
Well, either way, it doesn't make much difference.
"No." (Kaoru)
"Hmmm..." (Darlish)
The manager, Darrish, didn't seem particularly surprised or angry at what I said, and just looked at me with a disdainful expression.
...Well, it's crazy to think that I'd just follow him silently after saying something like that. He was probably just trying to take control of the conversation. ...Or maybe he was really underestimating me.
He's not the head clerk or the company president, but just one of several managers, so he probably didn't have much authority or information. If that wasn't the case, he would know that we had officially purchased the property and that we had reached an agreement with the lord.
In other words…….
That means they were weaklings.
"Just teach me how to make the dried and smoked fish you sell, and I'll let you work for us." (Darlish)
We were already earning our own money, so why should we have to let this guy take a cut... Moreover, we were probably only going to be treated like apprentices, with no salary and only two meals a day to eat.
No, the dream of an apprentice is to learn the job, and then become a clerk or a store manager before finally becoming independent....
But, I had better skills and knowledge about the job, and I was already independent and earning a living, so why should I have to start working as an apprentice now, in a place where I'd almost certainly be thrown out the moment my recipes had been completely stolen, and be told, "If you try to copy our recipes, we'll take you to the security station!"...
It's a complete reversal of his rise to success.
"If you want to learn the recipe, I'll charge you 500 gold coins as a contract fee. I'll also take 10% of the sales. Of course, you'll need to have the commerce guild act as a guarantor and make a formal contract with us..." (Kaoru)
500 gold coins might seem like a large sum of money, but in Japanese yen it was only worth 50 million yen.
If they could use this technology to open branches in the royal capital and other major cities around the country, as well as in major cities in other countries, they would be able to significantly increase their market share in dried and smoked fish. And if they had a famous flagship product, they would have an advantage in selling other products. If you think about it like that, it's not such a high price.
After all, if they bought the fish they use as ingredients at the fishing port, the cost rate wouldn't be that high. Also, they didn't have to buy them from this city, they could buy them cheaply from other port towns and small fishing villages.
Then, they could set up a processing facility near these purchasing points.
...But to this man, he saw us as just orphans and had no intention of paying that much money.
"Ha, what nonsense are you talking about... If you don't listen to me quietly, I'll throw you out of here and sell you to a human trafficker!" (Darlish)
...Yeah, I knew it.
"We have no intention of complying with your unreasonable demands… That means that you have automatically declared that you will ‘Sell us off to human traffickers’. So, in self-defense…" (Kaoru)
I snapped my fingers and Reiko, Mine, and Aral appeared. Each of them was holding the wooden sword I had made.
"Eh……" (Darlish)
Then we beat up the storekeeper and tied him up.
No, there's no way there's any chance of a fight between a bare-handed man with a big belly, two girls with the physical age of 15, and two ruthless children. Moreover, everyone on our side was equipped with a wooden sword. ...Reiko handed me my share as well.
"Well, I'd like Reiko to keep watch. Mine and Aral, go to the guard post and report that a man has come and threatened the people, saying, 'If you don't do as you're told, I'll sell you to a human trafficker.' Mention our names and have an officer listen to your report.
I will go to the commerce guild and report the same thing, then I'll go to the Gonoshell Company to confirm whether this is according to instructions from the company." (Kaoru)
"Yeah, roger!" (Mine)
"Okay! I'll be off then!" (Aral)
"Eh... Wait! Stop it, don't go! Waittttttttt!!" (Darlish)
However, Mine and Aral had already jumped out.
"H-Hmph! Who would believe what an orphan says?! I could just say that you guys attacked me, demanded money and valuables, and when I refused, you made up stories to frame me. Then you'd end up being the ones arrested as criminals..." (Darlish)
Yes, it's a familiar pattern. But...
"No, that’s why we’re not orphans illegally occupying this place. We paid a large sum of money to buy this place, registered it with the lord, and are now operating as normal business owners. We’re also properly affiliated with the trade guild… And about us, Reiko and I are 15 years old and adults. In other words, you are a criminal who barged into a legitimate store, made unreasonable and unilateral demands, was rejected, and then, in anger, declared that he was 'capturing two adult women and two children for the purpose of human trafficking.' And then, we will have the people at the guard post thoroughly investigate whether this was an action taken by the Gonoshell Company and whether it was ordered by the company's owner." (Kaoru)
"Eh……"
This guy's lines have been full of 'Eh...' so far...
"S-Stop it, stop it! If you do that, then I'll tell my master..." (Darlish)
I don't know.
His face looked pale, but it's not like some unexpected trouble had occurred...
Yes, it was just the result of his own decision and his own actions. So, he should not be upset or regretful.
If we were really a group of orphans, he was planning to use force to take advantage of us, wasn't he? There's no point in complaining just because his plans didn't go as planned. He lost the game because of his own lack of knowledge and ability, so no one would take him seriously if he yelled, "No, that's it!" after he had already lost.
In this world, information was transmitted and spread slowly, and the content could change dramatically along the way, so you had to deal with that as well. This was what happened when you didn't gather enough information and acted foolishly based on your own assumptions.
It was not like everyone had to know everything. Even if you were not well-informed, as long as you did your job diligently and no one complained, you could make a steady income without any problems.
In other words, if you wanted to take a risk rather than play it safe, you needed information and analytical skills. This was what happens when you were greedy without having the proper skills.
"Well, I'm off now!" (Kaoru)
Leaving the merchant (old man) who continued to yell behind, I headed to the commerce guild and Gonoshell Company.
Then I tried shouting loudly at both counters and sales floors.
"Excuse me! I'm from Little Silver, and the head clerk of the Gonoshell Company came to my house and demanded unreasonable things from me, threatening me by saying that he would sell me off to a human trafficker if I didn't do as he said. Is that normal for a store affiliated with the commercial guild in this city? I've sent a message to the security force to ask for help!" (Kaoru)
Yeah, either way it was a big deal.
So, since it would be troublesome if I were caught and questioned, I quickly left. It would be bad to leave the guards' duties to Reiko alone, so I had to go home quickly.
After that, something similar came twice more, once from a merchant's house and once from a local thug, but of course they stopped coming after that.
I thought the information was leaked through some kind of network among the merchants. Maybe the commercial guild played a part. Even if it was just an organization like the town's shopping district, they couldn't have overlooked something like that...
I was also impressed that information seemed to be properly transmitted among the thugs.
Well, there were probably some thugs and criminals who were orphans or were taken care of here when it was an orphanage. So there were probably some who didn't approve of meddling in the business that was being run for orphans.
Anyway, that's it.
The Little Silver had established a foothold in this town, among other shops, among ordinary people, and among the thug industry.
Now, unless one was extremely stupid or extremely self-confident, no one would dare lay a hand on us. ...openly.
Right now, there's nothing attractive about it that made me want to take a risk to get it.
Not yet, though.