Chapter 91: Chapter 91: Negotiation with Sandal Village

The Village Chief has a house near the village square. Upon entering, one would be greeted by a large living room, with a kitchen off to one side. A rickety old table and several chairs occupied the center of the room.

Hiro surveys the interior from where he is seated on one of the chairs. Ivanna and Sylvia sit on his left and right. The other girls are strolling around Sandal Village.

The sunlight which shines through the windows illuminated every corner of the room, so he could see clearly inside even without crystal lighting.

He takes a look at the woman in the corner of the kitchen, and the farming tools inside the house.

There is no manufactured products to be seen anywhere.

Just as Hiro thought that there would not be much in the way of technology here, he realises that his thinking might be naive. Still, he is curious about what sort of technology that this medieval world  would develop. As far as he observes until now, the technology of this medieval world is weirdly superior to the medieval world in his previous world.

Ivanna shifts her hand across the old table to avoid the sunlight. Her gauntlets are not heavy, but the shabbily-made table shake under its weight. The chair also creaks from Hiro sitting on it.

This was a textbook definition of the word “poverty.”

Ivanna purposely leans her unsheathed rapier on the table to keep it out of people’s way. The way the rapier reflects the sunlight in a brilliant display makes the run-down old house appear to be some sort of fairytale wonderland. Hiro recalls the surprised expressions on the villager’s faces, the way their eyes went wide and how they were lost for words after the nine girls came out of the wagon.

A surge of pride comes over Hiro as the villagers ask about the girls. His explanation was the girls work for him.

Frankly speaking, Hiro dislikes bluff but that words were mostly truth. That said, it is also true that most of the girls are his lovers but that's hard to explain. With that in mind, he prepares himself for his upcoming task.

He has to negotiate for permanent establishment for his business with the Chief.

Of course, Hiro’s real objective is to obtain information, and not really properties. However, directly asking for information would be strange.

While it would be fine in a  poor village like this, once the local lords find out, they would begin making their way to him. When they discover that he knows nothing about this world, there is a high chance that they would try to use him.

Is he being too cautious about this?

Hiro feels that this is like running across a busy road — a fatal accident could happen at any time. The fatal accident in this case means encountering the influential beings of this world.

Strength and weakness are two sides of the same coin.

For now, Hiro's party are stronger than everyone he has encountered in Sandal village. However, that does not guarantee that his party is stronger than everyone in Abram region. In addition, Hiro looks very different from men in this universe, and from the initial reaction of the girls who are now his companions, he could imagine that his physical look is not usual in this world. Thus, he has to tread very carefully.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

—The Chief sits opposite Ainz. His wife stands behind him.

His skin is dark and covered in wrinkles.

His body is very muscular, and it is obvious that those muscles has been honed through heavy labor. More than half of his hair is white.

Though his crudely made cotton shirt is stained by dirt, it does not stink.

The tired look on his face makes Hiro think he is over forty five years old, but it is hard to tell, because he seems to have grown older in the past half hour or so.

The Chief’s wife is roughly the same age as her husband.

She has been slim and beautiful once, but after long years of working on the farm, that beauty is nowhere to be seen. All that is left are the wrinkles that covered her face.

Her shoulder-length black hair is mussed up, and she looks gloomy even under the direct sunlight.

“Please, help yourself.”

The Village Chief places a crude-looking cup on the table. 

He feels that he should have refused earlier, given that she had gone to so much trouble for him.

The trouble in question concerned the boiled water.

First, there was the matter of creating sparks with a flint. Then, she had to light wood shavings — or tinder — with those sparks. Then, she had to fan the sparks into flames, and when they were big enough, she had to transfer them to the stove. Then, she had to boil the water, and by the time that was finished, a long time had passed.

This was the first time Hiro has seen water boiled by a hand-started fire, rather than through the use of an electric kettle. He find it quite interesting. Even in this world, although he had boiled water on burning woods, he burn them using electric lighter so it was hardly as time-consuming as this.

This was also a good opportunity to gather some information on the technological level of this world. With that in mind, Hiro speaks to the Chief again:

“I do apologize, especially since you went to all this trouble to prepare water for me.”

“You are too kind. There is no need to apologize.”

The fact that Hiro lowers his head to them shocks Village Chief and his wife. This couple must have never meet persons  bowing their head to them.

However, it is hardly strange to Hiro. Itias always a good idea to have a friendly attitude when negotiating with someone else. Hiro was a man of business in his original world, after all.

“Then, let us cut to the chase and begin the negotiations.” Hiro begins.

His goal here is to obtain information through conversation, rather than through intimidation.

—What a pain.

He still remembered the tricks he had used as an office worker. How effective would they be here? Hopefully, at least half of them would be useful. After steeling himself against the possibility of failure, Hiro asks:

“…Let us get to the point. How much to start business in Lothering?"

“We would not dare deceive you. You must register with a Ferelden merchant guild. The problem is the guild's office is in Abram City."

"Why is it a problem?" Ivanna interjects.

"I can introduce you to enter Lothering Town and you can only open shop in Lothering Town but I have no way of getting you into Abram City. You need different connection."

"Do you know how much the cost of setting up shop in Lothering?" I change my question.

"It just 10 copper coins to join the guild. But to buy a ready made building will cost you 300 silver coins."

I have no idea what that means, Hiro thinks.

Asking them directly was a mistake. He should have tried a different approach. Besides, he was a lousy worker to begin with, and his job skills were pretty bad.

It sounds like a small amount, but without knowing the value of money, he could not tell if it is an appropriate sum or not. He has to avoid accepting too high or too low a sum, lest he reveal his ignorance.

No, he should have been relieved that they don't  offer him “four heads of cattle” or something.

Just as he is about to sink into depression, his mental state immediately settles down. Hiro silently praises his working experience, and then he realizes one more thing.

First, copper and silver pieces are the basic units of currency in Ferelden. Second, there should be other forms of currency which are more or less valuable, but he is not confident that he could draw this information out of them.

He needs to learn the monetary value of these copper and silver pieces. Without that knowledge, things would be troublesome in the future. However, not knowing the value of money is quite suspicious, and he wants to keep a low profile while he learns more about this world.

That is why he is thinking as hard as he could to avoid making a bigger mistake.

“These small coins are hard to carry in large amounts. I’d like something in a bigger denomination, do you know how to do it.”

“Our sincerest apologies. If you could pay in gold pieces, it is better. However… the fact is that our village does not use gold pieces…”

Hiro fights back the urge to sigh in relief.

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The Chief’s answer goes in the direction that he was hoping for. Therefore, Hiro considers heavily about how he would continue steering the conversation, until it seems like smoke would start coming out of his head.

“How about this: I plan to buy the produce of this village for a reasonable price, so all you need to do is pay me in currency used for trading.”

Kurotsuchi has the ability to store limited amount of items in different dimension. She simply open a window and put things in there. To retrieve the things, she reopen the window and insert her hands.

For completing the orc mission, the old man Sarutobi has given us 1,000 gold coins which Kurotsuchi keeps in that dimension. When I ask her to store more items, she says the storage is small.

Meanwhile, Ivanna brings with her two bags of coins which is stored in Kurotsuchi's storage.

But Hiro waves that topic aside and signals to Ivanna with his eyes.

She put 10 gold coins on the table, 5 coins are Sooka's with blank surfaces while another 5 coins are Ivanna's which have Federation logo on it.

“…If I used this gold pieces to buy something, what could I get for it?”

He places the gold coins on the table. As one, the Village Chief and his wife stare, their eyes wide.

“This, this is!”

“This is currency used in a land far, far away. Can it be used here?”

“I should think so… please wait a little.”

Relief came over Hiro as he hears that the coin could be used. Then, he watches as the Chief leaves his seat, goes to his room, and comes back with something he had once seen during his history lessons in previous world.

That object was called a balance scale.

After that, it is his wife’s turn. She takes the gold coins and put them next to a circular object, as though she are comparing their sizes. After she is satisfied, she places the gold coins on one pan of the balance, and on the other pan goes a counterweight.

Hiro seems to recall that this sort of thing is called a “standardized mass.”

As Hiro goes through his memories, he compares them to the wife’s actions and tries to figure out what she is trying to do. The first part should have been comparing his coins to the gold pieces of this country, and next she is trying to confirm its gold content.

It would seem the gold coins are heavier, and the standardized mass rises up. The Chief’s wife put another mass on it, and both sides balances out.

“The blank coins seems to be about twice as heavy as a regular gold pieces… the federation coins are valued the same as Ferelden's, perhaps, perhaps if we could scratch the surface…”

“O-Oi! You’re being rude! Please accept my sincerest apologies on behalf of my wife, for saying such foolish things…”

No wonder. She must have thought it is gold-plated. Hiro is not completely not offended, but he wlis not angry.

“It’s fine… although, if you scratch it and find that it’s pure gold, you’ll take it, no?”

“Ah, no… we are truly sorry for this.”

The Chief’s wife bows in apology, and returns the gold coin.

“Think nothing of it. After all, it’s only sensible to verify the bona fides of any money you’re given. Still, what do you think of this gold pieces? Don’t you think it is valuable?”

“Indeed, it is valuable. May I ask the name of the country from which it came?”

“The one with symbol that equivalent to Ferelden's coins are from Federation. The blank coins that double the value of Ferelden's...It’s no longer — yes, that country no longer exists.”

“I see…”

"So, if I were to use this to buy something, it would be worth two normal gold pieces?”

“Of, of course.”

“Actually, I have a few more gold pieces like this. What can you sell me for them? Of course, I wish to pay the usual market rate for them. I don’t mind if it’s the same as what a street vendor would charge. By all means, go ahead and inspect these coins. Please—”

“Master merchant!”

The Village Chief’s sudden shout made Hiro’s heart lurch. The Chief’s determined expression seems harder and more forceful than before.

“…Hiro will do.”

“Mr Hiro, then?” The Chief seems a little surprised at this, but he soon nods and continues speaking:

“I fully understand what you want to say, Mr Hiro.”

“I am very aware that you do not wish to be seen as cheap, and I understand that you could afford to pay any amount  in keeping with the public view of yourself, Mr Hiro. Certainly, it would require a great deal of money to dominate business here. Therefore, what else do you desire besides our produce?”

Hiro has no idea what the Chief was talking about and his mind is a whirl of confusion. He just pretends to understand. The reason Hiro brought out the gold coin was because he wanted to know what it could buy, and thus gain a rough grasp of market values. How had things ended up like this?

The Chief does not give Hiro any opportunity to cut in and continues:

“However, as I said earlier, this village can only produce one  hundred bags of wheat and twenty cows every month. Although you must be suspicious of us, we would not dare hide the truth from you, Mr Hiro.”

The Chief’s expression seems honest and determined. He does not seem to be lying. If it turns out to be a deception, then Hiro could only curse his inability to read people.

“No, I am certain that a great man like yourself could not possibly be content with that number. Perhaps if everyone in the village gathered their produce, we might be able to produce sufficient goods to satisfy Mr Hiro. However… our village has lost a lot of manpower due to conscription and if we give more than that, we would not be able to survive the coming winter. The same applies with our fruits. Many fields will have to be abandoned because we lack the people to work them. If we give you our supplies, our lives would be very difficult. Although it pains me to have to ask a favour of you, perhaps… could you… could you pay in advance?” He vows earnestly.

Ivanna is about to stand up in anger but I hold her hand, and pull her to the chair.

Hm? Isn’t this a good chance?

It feels like he has been lost in a dense forest, and then his field of view suddenly expanded before him. Hiro pretends to think about it, and then all he could do is pray it all worked out. After a few seconds, Hiro finally gives his reply.

“I understand. We will pay in advance.”

The Village Chief and his wife stares at the three, their eyes wide and their tongues tied. Hiro raises his hand, indicating that he still has something to say. He has to consider what he could and could not reveal, and it is quite troublesome. He does not know if he could guide them into telling him what he wanted, but he has no choice but to try.

“…I just become a merchant. I am researching how things work Ferelden, and I have only stepped in here recently.”

“I see, so that is why you did like this.”

"a merchant uses many tools to achieve his aims, including deception and knowledge. These things are all tools for generating profit, but like I said earlier, I was focused on research on Ferelden, so my knowledge of local matters is somewhat lacking. Therefore, I would like to learn about the surroundings from the two of you. In addition, I hope you will not tell anyone about this sale of information. I will accept that in lieu of a reward.”

Nobody would be so nice as to say “I don’t want anything.” One could say that nothing wlis more expensive than being free of charge.

Someone who help others is entitled to a reward for their hard work. Yet, if the helper says they don't want anything in return, anyone would find that strange.

Then, the next best thing wlis to make the other side feel that they have paid in some way, even if it is in an intangible form.

In other words, the best solution to the present situation is to allay their suspicions by having them trade information to Hiro. That would put them at ease.

The Chief and his wife nod, steadfast looks on their faces.

“I understand. We will not let anyone know about this.”

Hiro secretly clenches his fist in approval. It would seem the skills he had picked up through working in the previous world could still be put to use here.

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