To Solve The Problem! (4)

“My worth, first of all, lies in the fact that there was no one in my year who could match me in business administration, and that by serving you, my lord, I can propose corrections for the areas I believe have been lacking up to now and help you set them right. Furthermore, I—I can repay you, my lord, with more than just loyalty! Lastly, I am stating my worth at a figure far below what I truly believe it to be. So please, I ask you to seize this opportunity and accept me as a retainer of your domain!”

Because she spoke in such a loud voice, a few people passing by showed interest. And seeing a man who looked like a noble accompanied by beastkin, along with hearing what Linda had just shouted, a few quick-witted onlookers began murmuring among themselves that I might be a certain individual.

But regardless of what others did, I first found myself liking Linda’s boldness.

Setting aside her looks or abilities, she clearly had a strong sense of self. I did not know what her true value would turn out to be, but she had apparently done her homework in advance to come to me and had thought hard about the shortcomings and weak points in how I handled medicines, trade, and other matters.

‘Her effort is admirable. Linda definitely has value above a single high-denomination gold note, and from the way she says she’s lowballing herself, she must think she’s worth far more. Rather than hoping I’ll evaluate her a certain way, maybe she’s trying to provoke my curiosity…?’

Well, maybe not. But if the goal was to pique my curiosity, it was quite a plausible answer. Perhaps that was why.

“For now, why don’t we move somewhere else? It feels like trouble is about to start.”

Saying that, I walked into an alleyway, and Hare and Demina followed after me. When I confirmed that Linda, who had been hovering awkwardly behind us, was also coming along, I glanced back at the people watching us with interest and immediately raised a wall with Construction to block the path.

If it really bothered them, someone could just tear the wall down—that was the kind of outrageous act I had just committed.

After that, I asked Linda for directions and we headed toward her house. Since I still had not given any clear answer, her nerves seemed to be tightening.

She gripped her hands so tightly that the phrase “sitting on pins and needles” fit her perfectly, and compared to how confidently she had spoken earlier, she now seemed, how should I put it?

She gave off the feeling of having a rather weak heart.

‘Well… back in the army, my heart would pound just from meeting the battalion commander, so…’

Was this something similar to that?

Thinking along those lines, I soon arrived at Linda’s house and took in the sight of a rather shabby-looking home. If it had just been properly maintained, it would have been a neat, cozy little place, but perhaps after her father died it had been hard to keep up with the upkeep with only women in the household, and leaving it alone had led to its present condition.

“Um… it’s humble, but please… come inside…”

With that, Linda opened the door for us after passing through a small vegetable patch, and I spoke as I watched her.

“Wouldn’t it be better for you to go in first and explain the situation? Rather than having a stranger walk in ahead of you.”

“…I can’t possibly leave a noble, and the lord of the domain I so admire, waiting outside…”

“Don’t dress it up on purpose. Just go in and let them know. I can wait that long.”

Saying she understood, Linda hurried into the house.

I had no idea why she was in such a rush, but Hare picked just that timing to ask me a question.

“What do you plan to do?”

“Mm… For now, I plan to hire her.”

“I see. Because she’s pretty?”

“Well, that’s a bonus, I suppose. And I should say, I liked how confident she was.”

“Fufu, you really are a man, my lord.”

“Would you rather I were a woman? But it seems neither of you is bothered at all?”

“About what?”

“About what Linda said.”

“Ah, it’s fine. I don’t think anything will change just because a woman or two more gets added to our womanizing lord.”

“Ha…?”

So I looked at Demina, and she nodded and smiled. I wondered what kind of women these even were, and in the end I could only shake my head and sigh—when it happened.

Linda and her mother came rushing out, and by some blessing of this world, her mother was every bit as graceful as Linda.

Not that I had any particular designs because of it, but it did make me think this really was a blessed world.

“Y–You are the lord… Th-This is… such an honor!”

Unable to figure out how to act, her mother ended up blurting out something strange, and Linda, flustered, grabbed her and pulled her back as she spoke awkwardly.

“My mother doesn’t really know the proper etiquette for dealing with nobles. I’m sorry.”

“If anything, we’re the uninvited guests here, so we’re the ones who should apologize. Then, excuse us.”

When I stepped into the house, it felt so old that I got the sense it was only barely holding together as a house at all.

On top of that, even a casual look around gave off a bleak impression, and I could see traces of things that had probably been sold off one by one to support their daughter.

There were spots where furniture had obviously once stood, and traces where something had been hanging on the wall. Linda noticed my gaze and tried to explain this and that in her defense, but I raised a hand to stop her and spoke.

“There’s no need to speak so apologetically. I’m not here to pry into your circumstances; I’m just here to tell you my decision. And besides, there were eyes following us.”

When I had been cloistered away in the Ingrad Domain, there had been fewer annoying incidents, but now, walking around the capital, there was always the risk of getting swept up in some absurd business, so I needed to be careful.

And I still had a lot to do today.

Then one thought suddenly occurred to me.

“By any chance, if I were to test you, Linda, would you be willing to try?”

“A test… you mean?”

When I nodded, Linda said she would try anything, full of confidence. Her mother, on the other hand, looked nervous about her daughter’s behavior, but since it was not a particularly difficult request, I spoke right away.

“There are a few pressing problems in our domain right now. One of them is a ‘waste’ problem, which is why I came to the capital hoping to solve it. So then, what would be the appropriate item to bring in to deal with that?”

I had already been planning to purchase a magical device known as a Disintegrator. So I waited to hear an answer along those lines, but something unexpected came out.

“I think the tools you should bring in would differ depending on the type of waste. For food waste, it would be best to purchase a ‘worm-breeding unit’ and assign one to each designated section, having people dispose of their food scraps there. For ordinary household trash, I think you could either use a ‘Disintegrator’ to annihilate it completely, or bring in a pulverizer and look for ways to further process it.”

I had thought there was only one “right” answer, but now there were two more added. Maybe that was why.

I asked Linda.

“If it were up to you, Linda, which of the three would you use?”

“If it were me… I would use all three. They are all things you will need in each designated section anyway, but their uses are very different. First of all, if you leave food waste as it is, pests and vermin will swarm. It’s winter now, so that is less of an issue, but once the weather warms up, the situation will change. So I think it would be safe to say that a worm-breeding unit to handle food waste is essential. As for the Disintegrator, I believe it should be used on items that would actually cause a loss if you tried to reuse them.”

“Then what do you think should be processed with the pulverizer?”

“Most commoners use wooden items as tableware. Merchants produce those as disposable goods, meant to be used up and thrown away, so I think the first step would be to grind the ones with food stuck to them or those that have become filthy into a sawdust-like, fine form with the pulverizer.”

“And after that?”

“If you go to the Alchemists’ Guild, they have reagents that can turn sawdust and other small-particle remnants into fertilizer. I thought it would be good to designate a fixed area, use those reagents to make fertilizer, and apply it to fields or tree plantings for agriculture.”

It was an interesting idea. I wondered if I should pay a visit to the Alchemists’ Guild as well, when Linda spoke to me again.

“I heard that the Ingrad Domain has chronic trouble with food shortages. So I was thinking, why not use all that to plant fields and orchards, and grow food and other agricultural products?”

“Well, I’ve heard your opinion.”

It was a satisfying answer. Of course, not everything would go perfectly or as smoothly as in words.

But the fact that she could come up with such a variety of ideas alone convinced me I could keep her by my side, ask for her advice, and entrust her with work.

“Very well. I’ll hire you, both to see how efficient the methods you proposed prove to be and to put them into practice. If your worth is proven, you’ll receive treatment appropriate to it, and if not, you’ll have to accept a pay cut. And could you introduce that friend of yours as well?”

At my words, Linda nodded so vigorously it was almost fierce, and her mother began wiping away sudden tears, making my chest tighten a little.

After that, the woman Linda introduced was also quite bold. Even knowing it was the Ingrad Domain, she begged to be hired and to be allowed to prove herself, so I said I would test her as well and asked her the same questions I had asked Linda. When the two of them gave practically identical answers, like something stamped from a mold, I found it amusing.

“Matilda, let’s do our best together from here on out.”

“Thank you!!”

Matilda’s grin stretched all the way to her ears, and we would have to see from now on just what sort of gains these two would bring me.

After that, I went to the Mages’ Guild and placed a large order for Disintegrators, worm-breeding units, and pulverizers, then stopped by the Alchemists’ Guild and bought a large quantity of fertilizer reagents as well.

Those were technically a type of reagent I could have made myself, but I had no desire to increase my workload any further, so I let the idea go.

Later, I finally sat down to a meal I had not had time for all day, together with Linda and Matilda, and an amusing point was that both women were very frugal eaters.

‘Is this just an act?’

It was entirely possible they were just eating lightly in front of me and would go home and stuff themselves, but in any case, that was how we finished our meal.

“Phew, I could really go for some coffee…”

Hearing my muttered comment, Hare laughed.

“You like that bitter stuff that much?”

“Hare, you just don’t understand the taste. Why do you say it’s only bitter? It has flavor. Flavor!”

“I actually think people who say they like drinking that are the strange ones.”

“Ha, maybe for now. But the world is going to change soon. I’m going to make it change.”

When I roughly explained the situation to the two women who watched my conversation with Hare with curious expressions, they looked fascinated and asked.

“Is it really that delicious?”

“I’ll let you taste it once we’re back in the domain. Oh, by the way, do you happen to know the Dust of Sands Trading Company?”

At my question, the two women answered at the same time.

“Of course!”

“That’s a trading company you have to know, isn’t it?”

“Is it really that famous?”

Well, thinking about it, just from the scale of the funds they were moving, it was clearly no small trading company.

“There are the Seven Great Merchant Companies of the Continent. Dust of Sands is one of them.”

“The Seven Great Merchant Companies of the Continent?”

I had never imagined it would be such a large trading house, and Linda said.

“When you study economics, the Seven Great Merchant Companies of the Continent are groups you absolutely have to learn about. In the case of Dust of Sands, you can think of them as a giant organization vying for the very top seat. They amassed their wealth by selling the South’s abundant textiles throughout the continent. They achieved exceptionally rapid growth and expansion, and on top of that, they actively entered not only inland trade, but intercontinental trade as well, earning results there too.”

“To think they’re that impressive—it’s unexpected. Then, do you know the surname Tichel?”

“…That’s the surname of the family that owns Dust of Sands.”

So Idlen turned out to be someone connected to the owners of Dust of Sands. Well, that explained how she could throw around such vast sums of money without hesitation…

After hearing that I was trading with Dust of Sands, the two women were shocked at first, but what followed was curiosity.

They were very eager—curious to meet them and saying they wanted to try selling the Ingrad Domain’s products to them and making a profit.

I thought I had picked up a pretty good connection, and I spent some time indulging their excitement, and that day ended without any particular incidents.