VIO Ch 40 – A Stroll Around the Royal Capital (IV)

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Translator: mii

editors: sleepchaser, Fire

 

The carriage stopped on the main street of 3rd Avenue, shops lining each side. Leaving only Hauser in the carriage, Vio and the others took a stroll on the street.

Perhaps because they were close to 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue, which were filled with the townhouses of the nobility, Vio caught glimpses of not only commoners, but also some people in noble attire.

His main purpose in visiting the stores was to find out how much Leca’s local specialty products cost in the royal capital. After looking around for an hour, Vio felt that he had a general idea and decided to take a break at the public square.

“They’re selling the ink and candies at quite a high price here. It might be fine to raise the prices a bit when we sell the products in Leca town,” Vio murmured, sitting on a bench beneath the shade of a tree.

It surprised him that most of the stores here tripled the price. He had worked with the merchants that frequented Leca town for a good while. But it seemed they had been cheating him for profit; he could not continue working with the merchants the way he had in the past.

“At most, we should raise the price by around ten percent. I believe the price is high here due to the toll for leaving the Lesserhains’ territory, not because merchants are trying to gain more profit,” Jill said in a reserved manner.

Vio nodded. “Toll, huh… Is the toll that expensive?”

“The toll isn’t much when merchants are coming in, but the cost skyrockets when they leave. However, since the wool in the Lesserhains’ territory is of high quality, merchants will still come even if the toll is expensive.”

“Hmm, so that’s how it is. Then our current price is already appropriate, right? Looking at it in the long term, we can gain more profit even with cheap prices if we brand our products. We need to popularize the name. But now, there’s this inferior knock off product. The way it’s made, the colors won’t mix well and the ink will be hard to write with.”

Vio dipped his fingers into the bottle he had purchased from the market. “If they’re going to sell something like this, they should just use the sap of Leca flowers. It will rot, though.”

Leca ink was made by mixing the dye made from Leca flowers, iron oxide powder, oil, and antiseptic liquid extracted from herbs.

Vio had experimented to find the appropriate proportions of each ingredient. Once he had the correct formula, he tried to sell the ink in Nada town. And the product was well-received. After which, he started to market it as Leca town’s local specialty.

The reason he had started the business: he thought it’d be better to make a bit of profit than just sit around doing nothing. In any case, before these Leca flower products, Leca town had had nothing to boast of. Vio’s good luck helped him hit the jackpot.

“It’s just as you said, Young Master. The dye and oil don’t mix well. This quality is just as expected from someone who wants to copy us. However, this is still too much.” Jill held out another bottle. “This one is slightly better.”

Vio glanced at the other bottle, and he could see that despite Jill’s words, the ink on the top still didn’t mix well.

He sighed. “We should formulate a counterplan as soon as possible. The composition is not particularly hard, so I already expected that similar products would appear on the market… But this is a problem. This will hurt Leca town’s name.”

“Master, how about adding the crest of the Lesserhain family on the products?”

Vio shook his head at Rille’s proposal. “That’s certainly the best choice, but for that I’d have to ask for Father’s permission. If so, we’ll be taxed again. Too troublesome.”

“Then how about making a symbol like that store?” Legion pointed at the signboard of a store nearby. Its name was written on a symbol that resembled a bird.

Vio nodded. “Good idea. If we register the design and associate the product with it, it will prevent people from fabricating our products. We should think of a complicated pattern that can’t be replicated easily.”

“Young Master, how about commissioning a suitable artist while we’re in the royal capital? We can also check the registered designs to make sure we don’t use one that’s too similar to past designs. Then we can go back to Leca town to make the stamp. It’ll be faster that way.”

“You’re right, Jill. I’ll entrust this task to you.”

“Understood.” Jill bowed before taking the inferior goods from Vio’s hand and placing them into a paper bag.

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“Do you have anything else you want to buy?” Legion said.

Vio’s troubled face expression regained its calm as he answered, “We’re going to visit the weapon shop, eat some seafood dishes, and then greet Rille’s parents. Let’s continue going over this issue tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

Vio stood from the bench. He then recalled the items he had seen in the shops they had happened to pass by before. It may be a good idea to produce other magical items. How about yarn dyed with pigments made from Leca flowers?

By embroidering magic circles with such yarn, the clothing would then have protective effects. Making beads with spirit stone was popular, considering the fact that spirit stones held magic essence. However, if he could make yarn, then he didn’t have to go through the troublesome process of producing beads. And since it would be made with Leca flower dye, Vio could sell it at a lower price. It was likely to get popular.

Even so, if Vio was too aggressive in pursuing profits, he would make things difficult for merchants and other people dealing with spirit stones. As such, he should advance slowly but steadily.

Since he was satisfied with making Leca town easier to live in, he didn’t want to monopolize the market. Besides, if his name grew too renowned, his brother would keep an eye on him again.

As Vio had pondered this while walking, Jill cleared his throat. “Young Master, please indulge in your thoughts later. You’ll trip.”

“Ah, sorry. I came up with a good idea.” In a flash, Vio cleared his mind. He didn’t wish to anger Jill again.

Following that, he noticed Cheval and Lantz staring at him with puzzled expressions. Confused, he returned their stares with a questioning gaze.

“Pardon our rudeness. We’re just impressed by how knowledgeable Lord Violant is about Leca ink.”

Before Vio could answer, Rille puffed out her chest proudly and said, “That’s only natural. Master came up with it himself!”

“It was by chance, though. I only threw myself into work because I wanted to have some money to buy tea,” Vio said, a tint of embarrassment apparent in his tone. It was a bit hard to admit that he found the use of Leca flowers while playing with them.

His reply shocked both knights.

“Some money… to buy tea?”

Vio nodded at Lantz. “That’s right. Leca town is a poor rural town, so we can’t afford to spend much money. But things have gotten a little better now. Thanks to the income from Leca ink, we managed to roughly halve the number of deaths during winter. It’s really a relief.”

Although Vio was happy he could afford to drink tea now, he was even happier about Leca town’s increased standard of living. “Ah, right! Let’s look for preserved foods at the marketplace later. Jill, be sure to remind me at that time.”

“Understood.”

“We need to buy some seeds too. There are only turnips and buckwheat in Leca town. I want to bring back some good vegetable seeds.”

“We should look for apples as well.”

“Right,” said Vio, unaware of Cheval and Lantz looking at each other as he made his way toward the carriage.

His next goal was to eat cakes with powdered sugar at least once a year. Sugar was expensive, so they had to be very conservative in how they used it, with the exception being for jams and syrups.

Author’s note:

※ Regarding the ink

I wasn’t very sure how ink is produced, so please don’t take what I wrote too seriously.

Apparently, ink is made by mixing oil or resin. Japanese paints are made by mixing glue and pigments from natural minerals.

If there’s anyone who is familiar with this process, please let me know if what I wrote is accurate…

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