CH 111

Dinosso and Butler placed an order for chairs with backrests.

The chairs in this world are mostly benches, or logs that had been cut to a suitable size. Folks in the royal capital and the wealthy guys do have chairs with backrests, but they aren’t widely distributed among the masses, yet. By the way, did you know that the backrest here is set at a 90 degree angle to the seat? Well, what can you expect when the bed here is…

Ah, I started smithing, so might as well make some coils for a spring bed. Yeah, I have to make lamps, too. It suddenly feels like I’m quite busy, huh.

They warned me I can eat the food I make with ingredients that I bought outside, but all other ingredients had to be kept inside the house. The same thing applies for furniture and whatnot, but the wooden chairs are safe even if they had that shape.

Since swords are used to protect oneself, I got the approval to make something good as my weapon. And so, it’s decided that I’m going to forge a new one.

Dinosso agreed to keep the first sword I made, and I’ll forge new swords for Ash and Shiva, too. Dinosso’s gonna pay for those. We decided to make a story about how Dinosso picked the sword somewhere and have that story circulated around. He’s a legend after all, so that’s one thing.

Dean didn’t have enough money so he refused, but it looked like he’s gonna cry a river of bloody tears with the expression he was making. He’s a member of a prestigious brothel, so he’s broke. Well, steadfast folks like Retze are pretty rare among the adventurers, apparently.

I’m going to ask Retze and Chris, too, but I have a feeling Retze will refuse. I asked Dinosso if there is anyone else he’s willing to give the sword to, but he told me it’s been a long time since he stopped from adventurer’s work, so he didn’t have anyone like that as of now.

Moreover, Butler’s sword is already a spirit sword, it seems. That pickle spirit is the type to bestow power, apparently. It’s a secret from Ash, so he doesn’t use it, though.

At any rate, Ash and Dinosso decided to gather magic ores for the meantime, so that it wouldn’t be odd if they were to have spirit swords all of a sudden. They’re planning to do that while doing commissions for the guild. I also plan to join them from time to time.

And so, I will make my own spirit sword once again. Which attribute shall I choose? Ah, I have to find a spirit I’m going to take with me before that, so that the attributes will match. And there’s also the problem of how I’m gonna raise it.

— Anyway, let’s go dragon sight-seeing, dragon it is. But work first before that, I guess.

***

「Is this…potato? 」

「Yes. 」

I’m in a bright room with a few glass windows installed in it. The wall was white with golden borders, and the curtains are made from some kind of bulky fabric, and there are also close-grained carpets.

It might have looked impressive with a sofa, but nope, they’re using cloth-covered wooden chairs. This cloth-covered chair might be a state-of-the-art thing here, but it’s just odd for me. They could’ve made the backrest a little more rounded! It’s not back-friendly at all.

A guy in the prime of his life was sitting across from me — he’s the head clerk of the large trading house that mainly deals with maritime food. We’re currently in the middle of a business negotiation in Nalluadhid. At first, they received me at a somewhat chaotic place and they just went through the motions like a robot, then I was taken to this room afterward.

This room was probably meant to showcase the wealth of the trading house, and to emphasize the difference in rank, but it was quite tacky in my opinion. It doesn’t look cheap, but it’s like a handmade item that uses very expensive materials. I’m not sure what kind of design this is, or something like that.

Well, handmade things are expensive by default! There aren’t machines for making finished products here, after all.

Anyway, leaving that aside, I came here to sell potatoes first. My premise is if I can’t bring out food made with rare ingredients that you can’t easily get your hands on, then why not make it widely available, instead.

These potatoes aren’t comparable to the ones grown in Japan, but they look close enough to a proper potato. They’re a bit reddish, kinda like sweet potatoes, but the spirits did their best. Frankly speaking, the taste is quite questionable, but they’re a lot bigger than the ones grown here for the enjoyment of their flowers.

When I showed these to them back when we were still in the first room, they immediately pounced on me and escorted me to this room. That’s how charming these potatoes are.

「Potatoes can be stored for a long time, and they are also hardy plants. Wheat is usually destroyed in war because it is trampled on, but since these grow underground, they aren’t susceptible to such destruction. We can start planting these as prized items. 」

The merchant assessed the potato on his hand while giving a lengthy explanation.

「Oh my, is that so? 」

I smiled as if I didn’t know all of that but ended up knowing because of him.

So, there’s already talks of growing potatoes as food, huh? It’s understandable if they are doing it because of the fickle weather, but I don’t like the thought of growing these because of the war. Well, at least fewer people will be starving.

「They will be very happy with this size — however, there is just one concern that we have. 」

「What might it be? 」

「Some people claim that it is poison. 」

The sprouts and the parts that turn green when exposed to sunlight are poisonous! I had a terrible experience back then, when Sis insisted that only the sprouts are poisonous.

「Food preparation…? Perhaps, Soleil-sama has an idea as to what the cause might be? 」

「Indeed. 」

You didn’t know!?

‘Soleil’ is my alias here at Nalluadhid. I also registered at the Commerce Guild here using that name. It’s easy preparing documents for that fake identity, since I’m the one issuing them!

Soleil is supposedly a free knight and what not, the lord of something-something, blah-blah. Well, that free knight is me, though.

Even though the country is recognized on paper, the territory is inaccessible without my permission — not unless you’re stronger than the deities-sama, at least. That’s why Mr. Free Knight’s protection is ironclad.

If they get their eyes on “Soleil”, I can just throw that name away, so it’s fine even if I do conspicuous stuff with this identity. I can also throw “Jean” away if needed, but I grew fond of this name so I want to protect it as much as I can.

“Jean” also has his own set of identification papers as a free knight, and the name on his ID card is an abbreviation of the name given by the deities, so “Jean” is just a plain ol’ name.

Actually, it has turned into a bizarre thing — I’m supposedly serving as a free knight under another free knight with a fief. That’s because I issued the documents while having no idea back then that I could just use something like crests in place of identification papers!

I did think it was weird that I was issuing documents for myself. The situation turned into something like, “I haven’t abandoned my status as free knight as of this moment, but I am still in the process of gauging whether this person is worthy of being my lord” in my identification papers, apparently. Well, it turned out fine eventually, but…

Knights are people who are basically servants of somebody else, and they have no choice but to obey orders issued by the king and nobles of the country they are living in.

Free knights are equal to kings in terms of status, but the actual treatment they receive depends on their strength and fame. That’s how it goes according to the system here.

It doesn’t matter to knights whether they have squires or fief lords or not. Free knights don’t even fuss over their status because they don’t have to serve in social hierarchies. No man above, and no man below — that’s what being a free knight means.

If they were to serve another, then that would mean they were abandoning their status as a free knight. ‘I finally found the lord that I have to serve!’ is usually what they say, but it’s mostly just that they can no longer feed themselves on their own.

‘I’m so captivating, enough that he even threw his identity away!’ is the usual response of royalty and nobility, flattering their vanity, so free knights are in great demand for employment.

Ah, but that’s beside the point, we’re here to discuss potatoes, potatoes, you know. So, potatoes are also eaten by the importers, right? I wonder if they do it like Peru, drying and dehydrating them first before eating? Toxins can be removed along with the water if they do that.

「If you know, then please tell us… 」

I was mulling over a lot of things, when my negotiation partner cut through my thoughts impatiently.

‘I can tell you, but it depends on the conditions!’ — let’s try saying that, then.