Takarakuji de 40-oku Atattandakedo Isekai ni Ijuu Suru - Chapter 74
Translator Corner
This is Yukkuri demasu!
Hello this is Yukkuri… I thought February will be the month where I will havemore leisure to do things… Ho boy, how wrong I was……
I have a bit announcement below (no, it’s not a resignation rant). So here thechapter. Also, let's warmly welcome a new member!
DISCLAIMER: There is no guarantee that my translation is 100%correct. Please correct me if I was wrong.
Author:
すずの木くろ (Susunokikuro)
Translator:
Yukkuri Oniisan
Editor, Proofreader:
TheDefend
Quality Checker:
Chase
Chapter 74: Showing One’s Real Ability
At night, 3 days later.
Inside the office at Nelson’s estate, with a map of theagriculture fields area unfolded in front of him, Kazura explained the progressof the work with Nelson and others.
There were labels pasted at several places in the unfoldedmap, like 『Waterwheel (good)』 and 『Waterwheel (defective)』, accompanied with a comment aboutthe installed waterwheel in this world language.
Since Kazura practically still couldn’t write or readthis country’s script[1],the labels were written by asking Zirconia to do so not long ago.
Inside the room, there was Nelson and Zirconia, alsoIsaac and Havel.
As always, Zirconia sat beside Kazura, while Nelsonsat opposite to him and listened to his explanation with a serious expression.
Isaac and Havel stood beside the table and viewed themap from above.
Lieze wasn’t in this place since she was in the middleof bathing right now.
At the first day when Lieze was accompanying Kazura,she asked him to teach her the criteria to decide the location for installingthe waterwheel and the points to note of its construction. On the next day, shevolunteered to do some of the workloads and commanded the servants and theguards by herself.
Thanks to this, the progress of the waterwheel installationwork was doubled and today they were joyously able to finish the waterwheel forthe main waterway of the northern and western grain fields.
However, as expected since she was doing a work she wasnot accustomed to for a long period of time, when the first day was over Lieze seemedas if she was going to collapse from all the heat and fatigue.
Perhaps because she was trying not to make Kazuraworried, in front of Kazura she made a lively expression and behaved cheerfully,however, there were slight shadows of fatigue that appeared and disappeared, whichcould be seen on her face.
After seeing her praiseworthy deed of frantically doingher best for the territory, Kazura’s heart was moved a bit.[2]
By the way, the things about showing a fleetingtiredness while forcibly acted lively, all were behaviors that Lieze hadcalculated.
It wasn’t wrong that she wanted to give her best in dealingwith the work, it wasn’t wrong that she was considerably fatigued than theusual, either. But the expression she made was something that she had properly thoughtabout where and how much these could be displayed in the most effective way.
In front of someone like Lieze, who held an excellent abilityto fabricate her expression and ambiance, furthermore, the expression that sheshowed was as if it was completely not artificial, Kazura shouldn’t be able tosee through her true intention.
「Thanks to Lieze-san, the waterwheel installation is able to be finished muchearlier. After this, it will be about the waterway in the south and the east,but this is not that seriously urgent, right?」(Kazura)
「It is relatively in a better situation compared to the north and west, butthere are damages from the drought. The crops still have not withered yet, so Ibelieve we still have some margin in time, but thinking about the next plantingsituation, it will be better if we installed waterwheel ahead of time.」(Nelson)
Nelson picked up the document placed at the table’sside where the grain fields current condition was jotted down and pointed theregions at risk of their crops withering on the map.
Kazura then pasted a label at that place to mark the priorityplace to install the waterwheel in the future.
「Then, let’s install the remaining waterwheel at that place tomorrow. Willit be a problem for Lieze-san to lend her hand tomorrow too?」(Kazura)
「Of course not. Zil, what about you?」(Nelson)
「I’m fine with it since I will finish all of the other arrangements in oneway or another, let’s have Lieze help in this case as well. I am glad that mydaughter was helpful for you.」(Zirconia)
Zirconia nodded at Nelson’s question and smiled delightedlywith a proud expression for her daughter.
「Since Lieze-san will come to help, not only the waterwheel installationwork but in the fertilizer scattering as well, the work efficiency wouldremarkably increase. This is just something that I heard, but Lieze-sanpopularity with the citizen is amazing.」(Kazura)
After Lieze was working together with him, the fieldsfertilizer scattering from that day on progressed with an incomparable speedthan before.
To have such blatant difference, when Kazura heard thereport from the work supervisor Isaac and Havel, he was astonished.
This phenomenon might happen because of Lieze who had deepinteraction with the citizen and always gently came in contact with them, thoughtKazura as he felt admiration for her.
「I am also surprised. I am truly not aware that she has this much popularitywith the citizen.」(Zirconia)
「Hm, while this is embarrassing, I also am surprised by this. It seems thatI have been taking light of my daughter a bit. If she has this much, then itwill be necessary to ask Lieze to cooperate in the territorial governanceearlier.」(Nelson)
If Lieze would help with Kazura’s work in the future,then all of the work would progress at a faster rate than the initial estimate.
Though this was something that will not happen anytimesoon, in several months, they planned to begin the flood control work insidethe city.
If the work plan that he had requested to the constructioncompany in Japan was finished, perhaps it would be a work that needsmobilization of a considerable number of people in its execution.
If Lieze were to participate as the supervisor forthat work, them surely the construction work would progress with an amazingspeed.
「Then from tomorrow Lieze-san and me will continue the waterwheelinstallation work. I will entrust the next fertilizer scattering to Isaac-sanand Havel-san.」(Kazura)
「Certainly. Please leave it to us.」(Isaac)
During the last several days, it had been the job of Isaacand Havel to become the supervisor of the fertilizer scattering work. Afterreporting the progress of the work, they will gather materials about thesanitation situation inside the territory to show it to Kazura.
Sometimes they will be helping Nelson or Zirconia’soffice work, but compared to their work before, their body was lighter and theircountenance was much better.
Above all, this might be the effect of the Lipo-D thatthey drunk several days ago.
「What about Zirconia-san’s condition? Have you rested properly?」(Kazura)
「Yes, I am sorry to make you worried. Since I have also taken a proper sleepin the night, my health is already alright.」(Zirconia)
Zirconia made a sweet smile at Kazura’s worries.
The bags under her eyes also had disappeared, herexpression was better and her health was good.
Mostly since the work at the grain fields that shouldhave been done by Zirconia had been entrusted to Lieze, she was able to concentrateon dealing with the works that had been piled up until now.
Although sometimes Kazura met with Zirconia and talkedwith her when he was going to the kitchen for hot water in the middle of thenight, it seems that Zirconia didn’t stay up late every day.
Perhaps if Zirconia was hopelessly workedexhaustingly, and her physical condition deteriorated more than this, thenKazura thought about giving her a Lipo-D, too. However, it seems that there wasno need to do so.
Kazura personally boils the hot water to brew the teaby himself; this was because he deliberately didn’t call the maid to bring itto him.
Since he likes to walk inside the mansion by himself,which count as strolling for him, he will refuse to bring the guard in front ofhis room and walk towards the kitchen to boil the hot water himself.
It felt like the time when he was working late-nightat the company he worked before and walked inside the pitch dark building tobuy the coffee from the vending machine at the break room.
「I’m glad to hear it. But, from now on please don’t force yourself too much.If there is something that I can help, then I will gladly offer my cooperation.」(Kazura)
When Kazura smiled while offering that suggestion, Zirconiamade a slightly surprised expression, but she quickly smiled and offered herthanks.
For the last few days, Kazura had seen how Zirconia franticallyworking her fingers to the bone for the territory sake, so his impression ofher had become greatly favorable.
Since Kazura himself was also worked frantically, hebegan to have a feeling of fellowship with her as if they were comrades workingat the same workplace.
Such feeling of solidarity could be said as one of thefew good things that can be obtained in a workplace with exhausting workloads.
「Then, with this the matter of the grain fields area could be assumed to befinished, so today I wanted to hear about the territory financial situation a bit.Since I had made you finance the cost of the personnel and the materials formany things, which can be said as something unreasonable during these shorttime, how is the money situation right now?」(Kazura)
When he asked about the financial situation, Nelsonmade a slight bitter expression.
「We had economized many things, so we somehow shift them to others, but ithad become quite strained. The budget framework that had been decided beforewas temporarily thrown off balance and since it was shifted into the budget forthe current work operations, if this keep going then we must squeeze out theremaining budget and temporarily cease some of the project.」(Nelson)
「I see…… Could it still manage somehow if the food situation in the territoryimproved?」(Kazura)
「It will be improved to an extent, but it will be hard just by it alone. Waitingfor the crops to ripen will take too much time, and it will take even more timefor the damage of the current drought to recover. Originally, it was asituation where we economize the budget and shift it to essential parts, andthen if we don’t somehow have way to raise the money then we couldn’t greatly improvethe current situation.」(Nelson)
About the harvest time for the crops, Kazura had learnedit by asking Lieze the other day.
Therefore, he knew well what Nelson wanted to say.
It will be a different story if he makes the crops inIsteria fields grew at an abnormal rate like in Grisea Village, but thecurrently scattered fertilizer won’t cause the crops to grow at an abnormalrate.
Then, Lieze had said that the bean and the wintertuber couldn’t be harvested before the winter arrives, and they couldn’t plantRata wheat or bread wheat to be used for bread or porridge if the early autumnhadn’t arrived.
If the harvest time was the same with Japan’s wheat,then the harvest will perhaps be no less than the spring next year.
Even if the winter tuber and beans could somehow improvethe current food situation as a stopgap measure, waiting until the staple grainharvest would take too much time.
「Hmm, that’s true…… Do you have any idea for this situation?」(Kazura)
「It will be either requesting more aid money obtained from the Capital or cuttingdown the surrounding forest to produce lumber in large number. The mine in thenorthern mountains could produce silver and copper also tin and lead, so we canalso greatly increase the spare budget for the mining operations. Howeverunless we find a new ore vein, with only the present already dug ore vein, thenthe productivity will not increase too much.」(Nelson)
Though all options seem to be a bit effective, but itwould take time until the result came out.
Lumber production could be immediately put intooperation, but if one put the flood control into consideration, thendeforestation was something that couldn’t be promoted.
「Is there no gold at the northern mountains?」(Kazura)
Although he didn’t know what to do if there was a goldmine, since he was interested in it, he tried to ask it.
Since even on Earth, gold is a scarce metal, so inthis world too, the value might be high.
「There is no gold mine in Istelle Province. In our country, only the Capitalprovince that can produce gold.」(Nelson)
「Hmm, I see. Well then, what should we do……」(Kazura)
Kazura folded his hand and looked down, ponderingwhat’s to be done with the current situation.
What currently troubled Kazura was whether there issome good way to raise money quickly.
After the grain fields area had been restored and thefood situation inside the territory become stable, then they could produce oil frombeans or exported the surplus food and generate some money.
Furthermore, since the province’s citizens had beenexhausted, even if he developed a new stopgap project, there is a possibilitythat the stamina of the Istelle province wouldn’t last long.
「(If this place is close to the sea then we can mass produce salt. IsteriaProvince is inland, so the only thing that can be produced quickly is onlymortar, right…… Since mortar could be sold as it is since it would harden, buton the other hand we also can’t let the other territory or country to know themanufacturing method……)」(Kazura)
Salt seems to be relatively expensive in this world,so if Isteria was close to the sea then he could borrow Japanese saltproduction method and mass produced the salt, but unfortunately IsteriaProvince was located inland.
It will be impossible in the first place to ask otherprovinces to help in making salt, as it was currently difficult to make a moveoutside of Isteria Province.
Since it was only used as an insect repellent in thisworld, by procuring a large amount of lime that was considered as not havingmuch value, they could also produce mortar by using the lime.
However, it was necessary to start a specializedmortar manufacture industry to obtain the profit.
In short, it could be done by asking Isteria’scraftsmen as new plaster worker. However, currently, not only the citizen but thefeudal lord too had no money. In this barely scraping by situation, if they suddenlywere told to make mortar, an invention that wasn’t related to the current food conditionproblem, he felt that he would receive a harsh stare.
In a way it should happen as naturally as possible, hewanted to improve the feudal lord’s power one way or another, but if it wasdone in this way then the means that he could choose was limited.
「Oh well, as expected this way is the fastest.」(Kazura)
The other people in the room hold their breath andattentively watch Kazura who made a groaning sound before he raised his faceand spoke up with a similar nervous expression.
Kazura noticed that he had become the center of theattention, even though it felt a bit uncomfortable, he took a small cloth bagfrom his handbag.
「Nelson-san, how much can this be sold?」(Kazura)
When he asked this, Kazura opened the cloth bag andretrieved several gems from it.
When Kazura returned to Japan he bought power stones[3]for 250 yen a piece from the power stone corner in a stone dealer shop.
The ones he took from the bag were lapis lazuli and turquoisethat had been cut into a perfect circle of 2 centimeters diameter and then the rosequartz like the one he had previously sold at the general store in Isteria.
The rose quartz that he brought this time had a deeperpink color, the color was darker but in exchange, it wasn’t transparent.
The lapis lazuli and the turquoise were the same, itwasn’t transparent and had a deep color.
Nelson looked amazed at the gems that Kazura retrievedand hummed in wonder.
Zirconia and the others too had their breath takenaway by this sight.
「I don’t really know the value of the gems, but I believe these can be sold forquite a large sum of money. Gems that is in a perfect circle like this,furthermore, to have such beautiful luster without a single chip, I had neverseen something like this before. Perhaps one of these could be sold for no lessthan 10000 Ar.」(Nelson)
「Eh? Really?」(Kazura)
Kazura couldn’t believe his ear at the astounding amountof money that Nelson had uttered.
When Kazura sold the rose quartz at a general store inIsteria before, it was only for 2500 Ar.
He had thought that it was sold for quite a large sumof money, but it seems that he had actually been ripped off.
「I don’t know, I don’t really know how much the value will be. Perhaps itcan even be sold for a higher price; conversely, it can also be cheaper thanthe value that I have said before. However, it won’t change that these havequite a considerable value. May I see it closely?」(Nelson)
「Yes, feel free to do so.」(Kazura)
Nelson took a gem into his hand, then he looked it andafter that stroked it with his hand.
It was as if he was ascertaining that there was reallyno chip on it.
「If we talk about gems, which characteristic that is more valuable, thedeepness of the color or the transparency of the gem?」(Kazura)
「Generally, transparent gems are more popular. Especially, the beautiful transparentobsidian that rarely appeared on the market, this kind of gem have a tremendousvalue. After seeing its beauty, there might be no one who doesn’t desire forit.」(Nelson)
「Obsidian? Obsidian is that black stone used for arrowhead?」(Kazura)
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formedfrom the cooled volcanic rocks.
Because it has an extremely sharp edge when it’sfractured, in ancient times it was used as arrowhead or knife, and in some areafragments of obsidian were inserted into a wooden board and used like a sword.[4]
「Yes, that’s the one. It’s mostly only colored pitch black, but rarely thereare translucent black obsidian, or beautiful green or blue colored transparent obsidianfrom mining that appear on the market.[5]The green or blue colored gem especially have tremendous value, so it was notsomething that can be obtained easily. Only an influential great noble orroyalty that able to obtain it.」(Nelson)
「Eh? Is it really that expensive? That obsidian thing?」(Kazura)
When he heard Nelson’s explanation, Kazura nodded inadmiration and then put his hand into his handbag.
「Then, how much will these be?」(Kazura)
When Kazura spoke this words, he took out one moresmall cloth bag from the handbag and placed it in front of Nelson. He openedthe small cloth bag.
「It’s obsidian bargain sale.」(Kazura)
When ten marbles like bead appeared from the clothbag, the atmosphere of the room immediately froze.
☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽
The meaning if thetitle: “I, your father, will show you the degree of my wealth, let’s corner thegems market!”
Just kidding……
Chapter 75 will bedue by tomorrow… Honest….
ANNOUNCEMENT:
The current status and future plan (MARCH):
Takarakuji : 74,75,76 done. This month will also see 77,78,79,80 and 81hopefully… *wish me luck*
Tensei-cheat : LN2C3 done translating, LNC4 will be this month. *wish meluck*
HikiNEET: I promise you rest of Chapter6 and the intermissions by thismonth. I swear my yukkuriness on this.
Black Healer: LN1C2part4 from January had already finished, the editor iskinda busy and so it missed by one month… LN1C3part1 from last monthunfinished. Hence I will join it with LN1C3part2 for this month (I kinda likeChapter 3 so I might finish it faster)
Realist: Arc3 Epilogue A done translating. Editor is kinda busy. Perhaps Iwill release an unedited version, so you guys won’t wait too long. Please takemy dogeza………
About RV and Princess Knight: I am open for collaboration. The current mehave an upper limit of 5 project only due to the Hospital taking much of mytime……
Also, I might take a short hiatus on the middle of March due to my hospitalduties.
I tell you kids: Working-san is like a legal wife, Translating-chan is likea mistress. I can only have affair with Translating-chan only if Working-san isn’tlooking, and she had been watching me for too close during the last 5 month……
When my current work contract terminated in June… Perhaps… I can return to aNEET? (Not likely… I might need to find a new workplace, hopefully a not sobusy place, I still need to pay my house mortgage and man can’t live offinstant noodles alone)
[1]Script, in the meaning of letters/alphabet,ABCDs.
[2]Actually,his chest goes kyun.
[3]See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_healingThe gemstone will be cut into certain geometric shape and then sold to fix yourchakra etc.
[4]See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macuahuitl
[5]The greenor blue colored transparent obsidian is also known as Helenite since the firstartificial produced obsidian came from Mt. Helen’s ash when some worker accidentallyburn the ash when they cutting metal with a torch. So go get some volcanic ashand acetylene torch.