"Well, we're going~!" (Mine)
"Yeah, be careful, okay?" (Kaoru)
Mine and Aral headed towards the town carrying various kinds of dried fish. There probably wouldn't be any thugs bothering the two of them anymore. ...Even if there were, the townsfolk would surely support them. Those guys were people who didn't know the situation. In other words, they were outsiders who just arrived in town. Since they wouldn't antagonize the locals, the townsfolk could feel safe beating them up or turning them over to the security forces. In the first place, the local people would be the ones to beat them up, either for territorial reasons or because they were afraid that we would think they were the locals and take revenge... Besides, the security gadgets I had given to the two of them would likely be neutralized by a few thugs, so those also had some secret features that I hadn't told them about. …Yeah, no problem!
And so, after we sent them off...
"For now, to the underground headquarters!" (Kaoru)
"Roger!" (Reiko)
Yes, if we went underground, there were cold drinks and "food with the taste and texture of strawberry cake, containing potions." Items that could be shown to the people of this world, including Mine and Aral—mainly because we could not show them such self-indulgent behavior ...a maiden's secret, in a sense.
"Kaoru What are your future plans for spices?" (Reiko)
Reiko asked me this while slumped in her gaming chair, hot cocoa in her left hand and cold ice cream in her right, and in a position that looked as if she was about to unleash a Medroa[1].
"I plan to wholesale equal quantities to three stores, with two-thirds of the goods being of lower quality than what's on the market around here, and one-third of the goods being of slightly higher quality. I'll be wholesale once a month, and I'll change the amount of each item each time, to create the impression of an unstable supply. ...If we sell the exact same amount every time, they will think that we can provide a stable supply and ask us to increase the amount, or they will think that it is natural to receive the minimum amount every time and negotiate based on that, which would be a problem. After all, we want to be able to freely decide the sales volume at our own discretion." (Kaoru)
Yes, and the reason we didn't improve the quality too much was, of course, to save the good stuff for later. The higher quality items were reserved for presentation to feudal lords, high-ranking nobles, and the royal palace. Releasing high-quality items from the start would do more harm than good. It would also attract strange people. There was probably no superhero who could use special moves or secret weapons from the start. Furthermore, if low-quality products were made available at low prices, they might be used in ordinary restaurants as well. In order to improve dietary life, delicious food should not be monopolized only by the nobility and the wealthy. If we did that, food culture would not develop. ...Being a chef wasn't a profession for nobles, the rich, or those in power. Delicious food had to be popularized among the common people.
"Yes, I think that’s fine. It's not like they're amazing products that you can't get anywhere else, nor is it sold exclusively by a single trading company, and even if someone tries to take over the import route, they’re 'products from our family home that they can only send to us,' so no matter how hard they try to take over the sales channel, there's no way they’d be sent to anyone other than us. In other words, it's absolutely impossible to take over the import route. If anyone were to harm us, the import of all our products would stop, and they would have to bear all responsibility. Moreover, if they were to lay hands on us, who appear to be the children of nobles or influential people from another country, it could become an international issue. This will likely have a significant deterrent effect, right?" (Reiko)
Such a bad and dangerous case, not to mention the lower-ranking nobles in the area, even the feudal lord would never dare touch it. …Yup, perfect!
The rest were all items for the common people, such as dried fish and raw dried fish, so they were of no concern to the higher-ups. ...Well, I suppose there are some nobles who like dried fish. Ours is delicious. And we kept the fact that we dealt in spices and other high-value items a secret from retailers, restaurants, bars, and other ordinary people. We also included this information in our contracts with the three wholesale companies. Of course, we kept it a secret from Mine and Aral too. We continued to live as children who liked to make a decent living by dealing with commoners, and who were relatively capable and had a strong, but scary backing, so no one should mess with us. Since we had received consent from Reiko, we decided to continue with the status quo for the time being. And then, after that...
"What about the second stage?" (Reiko)
"Hmm... I guess it's fine if we just work our way up bit by bit. Time doesn't really matter to us..." (Kaoru)
Yeah, that's right... The only problem is some vampire-esque stuff like, Hey, don't those sisters look like they've aged at all? That would be better if it was just to expel monsters. If the "hunt" for immortality began, there would be nothing we could do. Well, we don't have silver hair or silver roses!
"In the end, I wonder where we'll settle this..."
"Well, if we're talking about a place that's easy to defend, where secrets won't be easily revealed, where it's hard for those in power to force their way in, and where spies and assassins can't easily infiltrate..."
"An island, right?" (Both)
Yes, once we had a decent sized island, defense would be a breeze. We probably didn't need to worry about the sky or underwater for a while, so we only needed to be careful about what was on the water, meaning, ships. Detecting and intercepting those was easy. The most important thing on an island was to secure water, but if the island was of a decent size, water shouldn't be a problem. If necessary, there were various methods, such as water magic, "water-like potions", water makers—seawater desalinators, filter-type water makers, and various other—potion containers.
Well, I didn't particularly want to live on a remote island, hundreds of miles from land. We could set up our base on an island just a few minutes away by boat from the shore, usually living on the shore side, and barricade themselves on the island only when something bad happens. We would have no shortage of water, food, or medicine and we could harvest as much seafood as they wanted. Furthermore, we could sink any ships that approached. ...We could hold out in the wall for years, even decades.
"No, we don't have to do that. We can just move to a faraway country..."
"Well, that's only natural..."
Yes, the world was large, information traveled slowly, and it was never transmitted accurately. The further away we were... If this was the case even on this continent, then when it came to other continents, it would be impossible to communicate, let alone whether they speak the same language. Language wasn't an issue for us, though, thanks to Celes.
"Well then, that's it!" (Reiko)
"Yeah, that's it!" (Kaoru)
I don't know what that "that's it" means, but that's it. I made sure to establish a basic living base so as not to arouse suspicion. We had built a good relationship with the feudal lord and were friends with the authorities. Well, it wasn't just that they were subordinates of the lord, but we had also subtly let them know that we were the ones who delivered gifts to the guard station and provided the dried snacks and various items they enjoyed at the tavern.
...Thus, we had been doing a lot of groundwork to get the townspeople on our side, and the guards and hunters were also part of the townspeople. They also had wives and children. And the wives and children would share the town's gossip with them. Yes, the story of the two girls, who were probably of high social standing, who used their own money to buy a former orphanage and work hard to look after the orphans. Of course, if they saw someone being harassed by thugs, the would rush over and help them... Yep, we're invincible! Hahahaha...
"Well, we’ll just maintain the status quo for a while and wait for our reputation to spread to the big shops and nobles in this city and for our business partners to expand to those areas. And once that layer of people becomes our patrons, then we can take it easy as just a small manufacturer in a local town, without letting our name get spread in the royal capital or somewhere else." (Kaoru)
"Yeah, that's right. I want to enjoy the slow life I've always wanted and take it easy for a while too." (Reiko)
That Reiko guy lived to be over 90 years old, but she wasn't taking it easy! Moreover, come to think of it, we were quite busy working on making dried and smoked fish, procuring fish, farming, and crafting various items. Indeed, we weren't using large farming equipment, but rather, we were doing things the traditional way... I wonder if this can be called the slow life...
Translation Note
[1] Medroa is an extremely powerful spell from the "Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai" series. It is a combination of fire and ice magic, created by the character Matoriv. The spell is known for its ability to annihilate even the toughest enemies, including those made of orichalcum. Medroa requires the caster to use an equal amount of energy in both hands to cast fire and ice simultaneously.