"...P-Please wait a moment!"
Ah, he ran away! ...No, he went to call someone higher up. Well, this was probably a matter that should be decided by someone higher up, not a clerk or a young manager, so that was to be expected. Who should he call, the chief steward or the head of the trading company?
...They both came. After exchanging templates, we discussed the price. The amount sold would be within the limit we set, and only the amount the store wanted to buy. Of course. We could only sell what we could, and the stores could only buy what they wanted. As a store, they'd probably want to buy as much as possible, but we had our own circumstances to consider. The total amount of products being distributed must be controlled, and limiting the approach to making connections to higher positions to just this store was inappropriate in terms of risk, efficiency, and other factors. We had to approach multiple routes simultaneously, which was something that shouldn't be possible.
Of course, the merchants would know that we were planning to do business with multiple stores, as long as they didn't think we were stupid enough to limit ourselves to one business partner in a seller's market, diversifying our risk and giving up room for negotiation. Normally, they would have tried to somehow corner us, but they had likely already known about Little Silver (our place) and that stupid low-level clerk, and my recent statement that was so typical of a noble's daughter, too, must have been conveyed to them. So, although they strongly requested that I tell them as many things as possible, this was within the bounds of common sense, in the battle for power in a normal transaction. The "common sense" of a desperate merchant was pretty scary though...
...This way, we visited about three stores. No, doing business with too many stores in the same town was weird, and it was a hassle anyway. Three stores should be enough to keep them in check and prevent them from underestimating each other. And then...
"I want a boat..." (Kaoru)
I muttered.
"A luxury cruise liner? Or maybe a battleship, an aircraft carrier, or a battle submarine..." (Reiko)
"Why?! It's a fishing boat! A fishing boat!!" (Kaoru)
Yes, compared to fishing on land, fishing from a boat can promise incomparable results! When fishing from the shore, the spots you can target are limited and are greatly affected by the tides. On the other hand, if you can use a boat, you can target the routes of migratory fish...
And if you prepare multiple setups and bait, you can immediately switch targets if the intended catch isn't working out. For example, if you're using a sabiki rig with the anchor down but not catching any horse mackerel, you can move to a sandy area, leave the anchor up, let the boat drift, and switch the bait to worms for catching whiting. Depending on the season, you might want to go out on a boat and try some swordfish fishing. Trolling at a slow speed, without a rod, you use a big spool of line to catch an artificial bait. It's a rubber squid-like thing with a fishing hook attached. ...However, I spent much more time on the boat removing my catch from the hook and fixing my messy fishing tackle than I did fishing! And when I ate it as sashimi, it was really delicious...
"You want a ship?" (Reiko)
This Reiko guy……。
"I told you I want it! Besides, when you say something like, 'Do you want power...'" (Kaoru)
Hmm, it would be hard to row by yourself, and it would make the boat really small, so you wouldn't be able to troll... But using a motorized boat is too conspicuous. If a fisherman, merchant, person in authority, or person related to the military sees you, you're out. You have to avoid them at all costs. But if I'm going to be far from the shore, I'll want at least a small cabin in case of a sudden rain shower. And a toilet. So I'll have to choose a cruiser or a mega yacht...
...Who would be able to operate something like that?! I'm not even qualified to operate a small boat... No, you don't need a license here, but you do need the skills to operate it. Damn it...
"I have a boat license. I also have a radio license and a weather forecaster license." (Reiko)
"You've got it?!" (Kaoru)
"I thought something like this might happen... Well, I had over 70 years of preparation time..." (Reiko)
"Grrr... But what's the point of a radio license when there's no one to communicate with, and a weather forecaster license in a world without atmospheric pressure charts or anything?" (Kaoru)
"Grrrrr..." (Reiko)
Yes, I won!
...But I didn't think I needed such a big ship. If we were just fishing nearby, a swan boat might be fine. You know, the one shaped like a swan and pedaled! Even if someone in the military saw it, there was no way they would consider adopting it in the military. If something like that were to form a fleet and attack, the enemy soldiers would probably burst out laughing... But that boat had a shallow bottom and weak propulsion, so I felt it might be dangerous in places with fast currents or high waves and swells—So, is that something meant to be used in ponds or lakes after all...?—Besides as a girl, I couldn't leave out the toilet and I didn't like being completely exposed, so inevitably the cabin...
"A small, safe and stable fishing boat with a cabin and a toilet, where you won't have to worry about attracting attention for being weird... but there's no such thing, is there...?" (Kaoru)
When I muttered this regretfully, Reiko replied immediately.
"Yes, there is." (Reiko)
"There is?!" (Kaoru)
Is there really such a thing?
"Why not just have a small, high-sided boat above the water, with a larger underwater area underneath?" (Reiko)
"Apollo Norm, huh!" (Kaoru)
"Is that three giant aircraft carriers joined together, with six nuclear submarines attached underneath? No, that's not it. It's an underwater fortress called Salud... A hatch in the bottom of the ship will allow you to descend into the sea, and in case of emergency, you can continue submerging..." (Reiko)
"I don't know! If you don't search for Apollo Norm along with 'Ozawa Satoru', the only thing that comes up is the third ship of the Andromeda class..." (Kaoru)
"That's too old..." (Reiko)
"You even know that? Reiko!" (Kaoru)
Who is this guy...?
"Well, it took me more than 70 years to investigate everything..." (Reiko)
So I built a fishing boat—Ah, well, a "potion container that looks like a fishing boat"—The boarding site was built as a normal location from behind a rock, separate from the emergency escape route which could only be reached by diving into the ocean in a micro-specialized submarine. It was L-shaped and looked like just a shallow depression from the outside, but at the end of building there was a waterway that curved at a right angle to the right, and it was moored there. Well, there were probably not many people who would see this cliff from the seaside, and even if they looked down from the top of the cliff, they couldn't see the hollow part. To reach it from the shore, you would need to either rappel down from above with a rope or have rock climbing or bouldering skills. ...We'd use the inner passage though.
When we got Mine and Aral on board, we decided to take them to the floating dock I made on the rocks a little distance away—three logs joined together with a thick plank on top—and wait for Reiko to bring the boat over. Of course, the bottom of the boat had been excavated using an item box, so the bottom of the boat wouldn't run aground. ...The water was clear so you could see the bottom, but... don't worry about the small details! I told Mine and Aral not to tell anyone about this ship because it was a new type of ship under development, so it was no problem. I didn't think the two of them would go out of their way to try to get rid of their place in the world.
We only went fishing on the boat when all four of us were fishing as a leisure activity, and if we want to catch fish for dinner, we usually fish from the nearby shore. The depression in the cliff that was created for fishing had stone steps cut into it so that people could go around it from the outside, so it was not impossible for children to go there alone, but this was prohibited. Because it was dangerous to let the kids go there by themselves. The reason we built the stone steps was as a safety measure, so that people wouldn't think it was strange that we were fishing there when we went there through the underground passage. The kids only fish there when I or Reiko were with them. Well, it was a good place to fish on rainy days. The whole area around here was a good place to fish, so there was no reason to fish in such a cramped place.
Alright, now we have a farm, we can fish, we keep horses, hunt animals in the forest, and live a DIY lifestyle where we make and build things ourselves. It's the dream slow life that tired city men long for! The Green Acres is heaven!
"I wonder..." (Reiko)
Shut up!!