CH 221.1

“Now then, to Chatra and Maya, cheers!~”

“”“Cheers!~ New employee!~ Welcome!~”””

Since there was no concept of a ‘company’ here, I couldn’t really use the term ‘welcoming new employee to the company’. But since they had small to large scale organizations like guilds and stores, I explained to everyone that this kind of party was a means to celebrate the starting of working in an organization like that. 

“MUOOOOOO!!”

“NUGOOOOOOOOO!!!”

“IYAAAAAAAA!!”

While I was thinking to myself, I heard the ever instrumental trio’s voice (Bavarian-sama, Margo and Sarasa). Apparently they were reacting to drinking sparkling wine for the first time. 

Well, it’s only natural for them to be surprised. 

Tanya and Ash also looked so happy as they drank the bubbly rumi soda juice. I was watching the adorable pair with a lukewarm heart when….

“Keigo!!〇×△、◇〇×？××〇〇!!”

“×〇、〇〇◇、△!!Accept mine!××! 20 gold coins!!”

“××Keigo!! ×〇△◇ !!×◇〇, 30 gold coins!!!”

Bavarian-sama, Margo and Sarasa approached me with a very menacing look on their faces. 

“Ah… Sorry. I don’t know what you guys are talking about.”

I said so while making gestures for not understanding. I had already predicted the price of sparkling wine would hyperinflate. It seemed they were about to start the bidding war for sparkling wine through written communication. 

Yeah but… Today is a welcome party for Maya and Chatra so…

Or so I thought but I saw Maya and Chatra’s eyes were practically glowing at the new business opportunity so I guess…

This is what it is…

“Maya, how about if you try negotiating the price for one bottle of sparkling wine and rumi soda juice?”

“Certainly, Master!”

I decided to try to give Maya an on the job training by teaching her the art of business negotiation. I watched her negotiating with those instrumental trio from behind. She was putting her best effort in negotiating, she was doing pretty good. On this occasion, since we had Bavarian-sama (who was basically our sole connection with the noble) involved in the negotiations, the price negotiation was done by putting the price used by nobles in mind. 

In the end, it looked like Maya was about to get pushed down by Margo and Sarasa’s negotiation skill. They were both professionals in their field after all. If I let this be, it seemed we would end up agreeing on selling it in mass to them so I had to intervene after all. 

“Sorry but these things require magic power to make so I can’t mass produce it yet. For now, I’m going to feature these products as limited items exclusive to our shop.”

“””!!!!!!!”””

When I said that, the hyperinflation of sparkling wine resumed. 

Yeah. As I thought, the value of a commodity in this world is also determined by the rule of supply and demand too, huh?

The sparkling wine I had in stock suddenly looked like something from DRC (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti).

After that, I left the rest of negotiation in Maya’s hands and nonchalantly watched the four of them engaging in a fierce war of words. Their eyes even become bloodshot from the intensity of their war. 

“Hmm…? I think I’m forgetting something….? ……..Oh well. It should be fine I guess.”

I thought I was forgetting something for a moment but since I couldn’t remember what it was, I assumed it was just my imagination so I stopped trying to remember.

The sparkling wine that had turned into DRC wine had hyperinflated up to 300 gold coins per bottle. 

Well, if we can produce more bottles of sparkling wine, the price will go down anyway. 

In this way, Maya and Chatra’s welcome party was forgotten in exchange for the extremely passionate and chaotic wine auction. The excitement of the party increased considerably. 

By the way, the feeling of forgetting something wasn’t just my imagination. It turned out later on, Alan-san and Volga-san came to protest vehemently with the commercial guild’s dignity on the line. But, this is a story for another time. 

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T/N: A mere sparkling wine from freezing carbon turned into vintage wine from DRC… Well both wines have exclusivity as their main selling point after all.