Chapter 6

The day after I reluctantly received permission from Iiria to trade magic stones, a merchant ship arrived at the harbor from the provincial capital, a city called Roran.

“Well, Nodon, how’s business?”

“Quite well, thanks to your grace.”

The only person Nodon, arrogant and overbearing toward everyone, ever bowed his head to was this slender, well-dressed young man.

The man who had come from the merchant ship anchored offshore by small boat was an employee of the Bax Company, a major trading house that operated extensively in the provincial capital of Roran.

However, “employee” here meant something a little different from what it had in my old world; they were effectively capitalists who invested in the trading house and shared both the losses and the profits.

Most of them were nobles or members of families connected to nobility, true nobles who carried the smell of authority and money, unlike decorative lords like Iiria.

The Bax Company also conducted large-scale transactions with the Nodon Company in things like agricultural products, but for that kind of business, employees like this almost never showed up.

The magic stone trade was an important deal even for them.

“So, about this shipment of magic stones, what quantity are we looking at?”

“Yes, sir, three boxes of fifth-grade goods and one box of fourth-grade goods. The details are right here.”

Nodon respectfully presented the stack of papers that I had worked so hard to put together.

“Hm? No third-grade stones?”

“No, sir… the mine is finally starting to lose momentum… so, well, perhaps it may be time to discuss prospecting for a new vein with Araratom-sama…”

“Mm… hm. Prospecting, you say.”

The Bax Company employee closed his eyes and grumbled as if it were a bother.

Apparently, the magic stone mine in Jirenu was not a particularly high-quality one, and perhaps investing money to prospect further did not seem worth the risk.

“However… even if the Araratom family’s lord were to undertake prospecting, your company would be the one to receive the order for the actual work, would it not?”

“Yes, well, that is how it would likely turn out. After all, we are the only ones who can arrange mages to cut into the mountain and procure the magic stones needed for the work. Naturally, in that event, we would be certain to show our gratitude to Cole-sama as well.”

“Hm? Hm. Very well, I’ll think about it.”

So that was how it worked, I realized.

Nodon bought up magic stones from the mine, processed them, and then sold them to the Bax Company at prices above market rate.

That said, it was not due to Nodon’s skill; in exchange for selling them at inflated prices, he was kicking back no small portion of the payment he received to this employee named Cole. That was how Cole lined his own pockets, while Nodon monopolized the Bax Company’s purchase orders.

Because of this connection, the Nodon Company had become the only magic stone merchant in Jirenu Territory.

It seemed that the same applied to the prospecting work. Penniless Iiria would only give permission, while the actual operation would be carried out with the Bax Company’s money. By taking on that contract, Nodon would be able to split the incoming money with Cole. And if that also increased the mine’s output, then all the better.

Only Iiria, who was supposed to be the lord, was completely left out of the flow of money from the mine.

“By the way, where is this promising new recruit who put together these documents?”

“Ah, yes. Hey! Yorinobu!”

The reason I was present for the exchange between Cole and Nodon was that Cole had taken notice of the contract I had written.

At the company, every single person did business by intuition and experience, and even those who could read, write, and do arithmetic still produced ledgers and contracts that looked as though a drunken cow had written them with its tail.

The ledgers felt like little more than vague memoranda, and the contracts seemed to be regarded as mere props to lend authority.

Still, when it came to a large trading house like the Bax Company, which did business extensively in a city like Roran, the provincial capital of Azuria Province to which Jirenu Territory belonged, apparently they kept things in proper order in that regard.

So it seemed this had long irritated him, but then suddenly the numbers and wording had become accurate, and Cole had apparently been surprised.

“Oh? So it was you.”

“Uh… yes. My name is Yorinobu.”

For the moment, I acted meek and deferential like a proper underling. I did not give my family name because lower-class people who did not own land or buildings in town had no right to use a house name.

When I glanced sideways at Nodon, he had the expression of a farmer whose prized livestock had just been praised.

“This one is quite useful, you see. He calculates with numbers I’ve never even seen before, but they turn out to be perfectly accurate.”

“If I recall correctly, you were ‘from the mines,’ yes?”

There was the same sort of wariness in his narrowed eyes that Kururu had. He was probably younger than me, but perhaps because this world was so unforgiving, everyone seemed sturdy and imposing.

“Yes, well, that’s right…”

“But it seems you weren’t a mage after all. The look on that dog of Araratom’s face when she was disappointed…”

Nodon said that with a nasty, mean-spirited tone and let out a grubby chuckle, while Cole gave a bitter smile that suggested he did not entirely disagree.

“That young lady has her own hardships. It would be pitiful to speak too badly of her.”

“I know my place. As long as that figurehead remains seated there, we will be quite secure.”

“You’re a wicked one too.”

“Guffaw, guffaw.”

They were completely like a corrupt magistrate and Echigoya,* but without oversight from authority, perhaps everywhere was like this.

“Did you say your name was Yorinobu?”

Cole suddenly looked at me and patted me on the shoulder.

“Well then, do your best for Nodon. He occupies an important corner of my business. If people like you prove useful, then from here on, our business will only grow larger and larger.”

Rather than telling me to aid in wrongdoing, it was probably more that literacy was low and there were few people who could properly handle calculations, so I was considered a valuable asset.

Cole slipped a hand into his pocket and pressed several silver coins into my hand.

“This is to encourage you from here on out. Go and eat something good.”

The silver coins, stamped with the profile of the current emperor of the Empire, were small enough to be easily clenched in my palm. In this world too, just like in my old one, it seemed various powers all over the place issued currency however they pleased, but among them, this imperial currency was the strongest.

Since the final buyers of magic stones were mostly official institutions of the Empire, the fact that payment was made in this strongest currency was one reason Jirenu Territory was economically lively. Merchants from other lands came to sell all sorts of goods in search of imperial currency.

For the record, one silver coin was worth about twenty imperial copper coins. It was not just coincidence that the ratio was that way; it seemed the official exchange rate had been set at a number with comparatively many divisors.

Even in my old world, clocks used base sixty, and many old currencies used base twenty or base twelve. Some things were shared across worlds.

I had five imperial silver coins in my hand, worth one hundred imperial copper coins. That was five days’ wages.

“Nodon, don’t bully him too much.”

“Perish the thought.”

Nodon wore a sycophantic smile as he said that with shameless ease.

As expected, while escorting Cole to the VIP room on the second floor of the company building to thank him for his voyage, he smacked me on the head as he passed by, then forcibly pried open my hand, took three of the silver coins, and smacked me on the head once more.

“Don’t get carried away.”

I had somehow known it would come to that, and I was almost surprised he had left me two coins.

“No, am I just too thoroughly domesticated?”

Maybe I had been a corporate drone by nature from the start.

With a sigh, I tucked the silver coins inside my clothes.