Chapter 6 Dealings with the Serra Trading Company (2)
From a distance, the object I took out looked like a stone, or perhaps a huge fossilized egg.
It looked like nothing more than a stone, but I did not miss the change in Minebeau’s complexion the moment he saw it.
“Oh, wow. This is…”
Minebeau took the gray lump and nodded, looking at it sullenly.
“It’s an ore. No, this is a rare one. I know a good man who collects unusual ores, and I’ll take it for him for two gold coins.”
“What, two gold coins for this?”
The old woman was surprised, but I sighed and took the lump from his hands.
“It looks like you’re too young to handle this.
I may not look like it, but I am a good connoisseur. Not so much as compared to real professional merchants, but I have some knowledge of the authenticity of things, prices, and goods.
I learned these things from the merchants I met during my travels.
We often worked with merchants. They formed trading parties and moved from city to city. The merchants needed an escort, and it was convenient for us to earn some street money as we traveled.
I would often talk with them while we were encamped. Many of them were talkative and often boasted about how good their products were. There was no shortage of stories about other big business deals they had handled to pass the time.
Thanks to these stories, I developed a discerning eye, and learned from them about market prices, tips on how to avoid getting inferior goods, and how to negotiate.
“This is not an ore. The Serra Trading Company has truly fallen from grace.”
“What?”
Minebeau is blatantly upset. He lacked courage. The merchants I had met in the past, who could not have their own stores and had to travel between cities, at least were more business acumen than him.
“What is that, Rome-sama?”
“This is dragon drool incense. It’s a stone that forms in a dragon’s throat. It is highly prized as a fragrance, and even small amounts of it are traded for the same amount of gold.”
Hearing that it was worth as much as gold, the old woman looked at the lump in my hand with astonishment.
A mass so huge that it barely fits in one hand, and if exchanged for pure gold, it would be too heavy to even hold.
When I say what it is, Minebeau’s complexion worsens, passing blue and turning black. It’s an amazing complexion.
“It can be obtained from dragons, which are considered as demons, but they are rarely found, and there are no large dragons on this continent, so even if you found one, you’ll only get one the size of a small pebble. There are probably no two on this continent as big as this.”
The reason why I have such a thing is that this is actually the loot from when we defeated the Demon King. At that time, anyway, I just packed whatever was on his desk into a bag and it must’ve got mixed in with the other stuff. When I looked it up later, I was surprised to death. It was an item unique to the Demon Continent, where dragons are said to abound.
I alone have the treasure all to myself, since we didn’t share the honor of defeating the Demon King, it has now been divided equally.
But, when I looked at it again, I realized how large it was. And since there’s a little bit of it shaved off, the Demon King may have been soothed by this fragrance when he was caught up. That makes me think a little bit about the fact that even the hated Demon King had a life and a time to relax.
“How much does it cost?”
The old woman asked, but I only laughed.
“You can’t put a price on it. I’ll present it to the royal family. It’s the only one of its kind on the continent, and its possession would certainly enhance their prestige.”
The royal family stores its treasures and invites representatives from various countries to show off to each other their national treasures. This dragon drool incense would be a source of pride for them.
The fact that they have so many rare and valuable items in their collection is proof of their wealth, culture, history, and credibility.
“With such an offering, I’m sure the royal family will do anything I ask.”
What to ask for is a matter of skill as a merchant. You send expensive and rare goods to extract more profit. If there is a merchant who is not excited by this, he is not a merchant.
On the other hand, I looked at Minebeau with clear eyes. Grandma Cairo looked at him with a look of dismay. He was the man who had tried to buy a priceless item for two gold coins, calling it a mere ore.
“Well, you see, miss…”
He tried to say something, but I didn’t feel like listening.
“Minebeau-san. I don’t want to continue this conversation. Let’s call it a day.”
I cut him off.
The golden rule of business is to buy low and sell high, I don’t deny that, but for him, business was now a scam.
He has been able to do so successfully because of his good fortune and, above all, because of the Serra Trading Company name. However, that didn’t mean he had the talent to deceive people.
People who try to deceive others often think they are better than others and look down on those they’ve deceived. However, a person who underestimates others will never achieve great success.
This was the case with many of the merchants I met during my travels. In the beginning, I was fooled by them, but after meeting them several times, I soon became able to recognize them. When I saw Minebeau, I recognized him at a glance.
“Well, you see, this is…”
“I told you I don’t want to talk about it. Please leave.”
I cut him off, and Minebeau fled.
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“Is that all right with you?”
“It doesn’t matter, but tell father about this as soon as he gets back. I’m sure he’ll be back tomorrow.”
I had taken the issue lightly, but as expected of the Serra Trading Company, they exceeded my expectations. Minebeau’s father, the chairman of the Company himself, came that evening.
He pulled father, who was tired from the banquet, out to meet him in the parlor.
“So, Serra-san. What can I do for you this night?”
Father, who was sitting on the couch, could not hide his fatigue from being forced to attend banquets he did not want to go to day after day and answered in a rather blunt voice.
“That said, my son was very rude to your daughter today.”
“Rude, what on earth? Romelia. What’s the matter?”
Father, who did not know what was going on, looked at me.
“The problem is this dragon drool incense.”
I took out the lump that had belonged to the demon king and told him everything that had happened.
While listening to the conversation, Serra-san had a pained expression on his face. This would be a disownable blunder. But I did something similar to father, so I can’t laugh at someone else’s lack of filial piety.
I will make it up to him.
“Oh, by the way, I forgot to give you a souvenir from my trip, father. Please take this.”
I present the dragon drool incense to him.
It was now worth more than gold. After having tried to buy it once, the Serra Trading Company could not afford to pay half price for it. They have no choice but to offer a high price and take the name of the company even if it meant forfeiting their actual profit.
Father couldn’t believe that he had been given such an item as a souvenir, and blinked his small eyes several times. I shifted my gaze from my unusually confused father, to Serra -san.
“So, this is now father’s property, and you can talk to him about the rest. Well, I’ll leave you to it.”
I bowed and left the parlor.
I had really wanted to keep the dragon drool incense for myself, but the cost was too great. It was too expensive. If I alone monopolized it, I would be subject to unwarranted criticism from others. Rather than that, I should be more concerned about pleasing my father. To be honest, I had caused him a lot of trouble.
He could get a lot of money with that one thing, and more importantly, for the first time in a long time, he had an advantage over others, so hopefully he’d be able to relieve himself from the sorrows of the past few days.
After a short business meeting, Serra-san finished discussing the matter with Father and finally, he asked to see me again. When we met, the first thing he did was apologize.
“I am terribly sorry for what my son has done. I heard that he not only did wrong in the purchase of the dragon drool, but also did a deplorable job in the purchase of the goods, and I would very much appreciate it if you’d allow me to quote again.”
He also mentioned that the trade-in price was unfair and tried to make it right.
But I declined the offer.
“I can’t do that. Once you receive it, you can’t just take it out or retract it.”
I knew that it was looking at my feet, but I had signed the letter of intent. I can’t take it back.
“But even with us, we can’t allow that kind of business to go on as it is.”
Serra-san probably couldn’t let his son’s mismanagement go unchecked. Above all, lending and borrowing from aristocrats is often expensive. He wanted to end it tonight at any cost.
“All right, then, could you please prepare a few things for me?”
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I mentioned several items. They were not only expensive, but also rare and hard to find. But the Serra Trading Company could provide them.
“Whenever they’re ready, could you send them to me?”
If I considered it as a business transaction, it would be equivalent to the amount I had been bargained for, so there shouldn’t be any significant loss to the Company. The problem was that it would be difficult to arrange.
“I understand. They will be delivered tomorrow.”
As expected of the biggest store in the kingdom. He said he would deliver the items tomorrow, which would’ve been difficult for an ordinary trading company to handle.
In fact, the goods actually arrived the next day. As a merchant, Serra-san is definitely first-rate.
I later learned that Serra -san offered twice as much as I had imagined. Father was so pleased that he restored the management of the domain, which had been on the verge of collapse. The dragon drool incense was presented to Prince Henri and Saint Elisabeth as an engagement gift, and they were delighted to see the one-of-a-kind item.
It was a little funny to see the two people who had laughed at what they saw as a dirty little stone when I held it during the trip, now looking at it gratefully displayed.
Finally, after the banquets in the Royal Capital were over, we fled back to our domain.