Chapter 351: Place of Announcemen (1/2)

At the time when I finished the distribution of the karaage to the people around, just at the time when I was thinking about returning to Asora before dinner, I received an urgent call from the Merchant Guild.

Fortunately, I was in the company, so I could immediately respond to it, and after I finished dressing, I headed to the guild, and arrived at the meeting room that I was pointed out to.

“This place is…” (Makoto)

For a moment, I thought that I got the wrong room.

Rembrandt-san is at the deepest part of the room.

He is already the merchant that I have been the most acquainted with, so there’s no problem in the difference in standing, but the other ones are all big names even I know of, and there’s also a number of them I am not familiar with.

This clearly is a gathering of merchants that are at the top of Tsige.

The merchants that I am acquainted with on the side had a completely different expression on their face.

“Heya. We have been waiting for you, the representative of the Kuzunoha Company, Raidou-kun. Your seat is over here.” (Rembrandt)

Rembrandt-san beckons me over with his usual demeanor, and I find the seat designated to me.

…Okay?

It is at the side of Rembrandt-san.

There certainly is an empty seat there.

But in front of Rembrandt-.san, at both sides of the big table, there’s 2 seats each side for a total of 4 that are completely full.

Representatives of companies that are prominent in Tsige are sitting there.

And you are telling me to go there in this setup?

Seriously, what business is there today?

But standing here won’t change anything.

Without much choice, I lowered my head to the representative of the Muzo Company that is the top in the material related businesses, and the representative of the Couple Company, that revolutionized the circulation of goods, as I passed by.

And arrive at the side of Rembrandt-san.

I don’t have a good feeling about this situation.

“Now then, illustrious dignitaries, the one here is the eye of the storm, the representative of the Kuzunoha Company, the sensation of the time, Raidou-kun.” (Rembrandt)

What an introduction.

“Nice to meet you, I am the representative of the Kuzunoha Company. My name is Raidou. I have come here after being told it was an urgent matter.” (Makoto)

“As I told everyone the other day, he has returned from Dusk Street with all limbs attached. Regarding his connection with the Mist Town, it was apparently the scheme of the kidnapper elf of that same street, right?” (Rembrandt)

“Ah, yes. It was a rumor with no base or backing at all, but I apologize for the disturbance it may have caused.” (Makoto)

With Rio now gone, that place is in slight chaos.

Unfortunately for them, there’s no one there who has the influential power to take his place.

For good or for worse, they do as they please. It was a den of peculiar people.

It seems like they are backstabbing each other as well, so if you want to destroy the very form of the Dusk Street, this is the time to do it.

Rembrandt-san seems to be aiming for something like that, and I have heard that he has placed a number of requests in the Adventurer Guild.

“And that’s how it is. How about it, everyone? As you can see, he can take care of his own problems, and is a person that has the minimum required abilities. At least, that’s how I evaluate him.” (Rembrandt)

““……””

Minimum required abilities, you say. I simply went and came back from the Dusk Street.

This is most likely a joke from Rembrandt-san.

3 out of 4 were chuckling.

The odd one out, if I remember correctly, is the owner of restaurants -or was it food carts?-…Batoma!

Right, the Batoma Company.

The representative of that place was looking at me with a slightly bitter gaze.

…The food industry is currently in an outstandingly fierce battle after all. He must be having it rough.

There’s parts of the Kuzunoha Company that are a target of antipathy from merchants.

This is something that can’t be helped.

Rather, it is miraculous that ¾ of the people here are decently accepting of me.

“He said he put an end to it, but his relationship with the Mist Town still hasn’t been made clear.” (Batoma)

“It is true that a number of my employees have formed a connection where they can come and go from the Mist Town, but there’s also adventurers that have been able to do that recently. It is a simple matter of me having a relationship sooner than everyone else with the aforementioned place since the time I opened my store.” (Makoto)

This should be a good time.

I explain the setting that I have read and trained thoroughly over and over to the Batoma Company-san.

“Don’t you think that this is too big of an advantage that you are monopolizing?” (Batoma)

“I am not monopolizing it in the first place. If the Batoma Company wishes to have concrete trades with that place, you can form fixed term contracts with the skilled adventurers, and have them act as agents for your trades. You will most likely obtain products without any issues.” (Makoto)

I have received reports that there’s a decent amount of adventurers coming and going from the Mist Town.

They have been doing trades in their own ways as well, and we haven’t been obstructing them from doing so by using the name of the Kuzunoha Company.

There’s no need to.

“What I am asking here is why didn’t you strengthen the route between the Mist Town and Tsige to make it a certain thing, so that all the merchants in the Merchant Guild as a whole could benefit from it.” (Batoma)

“It was a path that we pioneered at that time and we treated it like a trait of ours… I apologize. I thought that all companies did the same.” (Makoto)

One of the traits of the Kuzunoha Company that others don’t have, the Mist Town.

It is true that if the city were to have a stronger connection, it would increase the trades as a whole.

But if we were to do that from the beginning, I would have had to act as the head of the Mist Town.

I can declare with certainty that that would have been impossible.

No matter how I think about it, being a rookie merchant who had a personal route was the best option.

But it seems like the Batoma Company-san isn’t convinced by this, or he wants to spite me, he was still strangely irritated.

“Yeah, obtaining personal routes is something that everyone desperately does. Also, the Kuzunoha Company is a brave fighter that chose a miscellaneous store when registering. Without their particular trait of having a connection with the Mist Town as their pulling point, it would have been reckless.” (Rembrandt)

Rembrandt-san’s lifeboat came.

Yeah, as a result, that is. But I can also explain my actions of that time.

“Also, as I have said before, we have no intentions of monopolizing it. And so, there’s no problem at all if any other company were to try and create a trading relationship with the Mist Town.” (Makoto)

“! Hoh, then you are saying you are going to give us information about that Mist Town if asked?” (Batoma)

Is the place of Batoma-san struggling quite a lot?

Even if he made a connection with the Mist Town, the only good thing coming out from it for the Batoma Company would be the ingredients.

“Actually, the rumors this time around have reached that place as well, and they are terribly bewildered by the rumors of the town’s lord and the Dusk Street, and so, they are also feeling resentment for it. They currently have no intentions of having a relationship between Mist Town and Tsige, but the disclosure of a certain degree of information has been allowed from me in order to undo the misunderstanding, and I have also been provided with armed forces from them.” (Makoto)

““!!””

“Ah, I say armed forces, but they only acted in my investigation in the Dusk Street, and they have already returned. And so, instead of providing that information to individuals, I am thinking about giving that information to the Merchant Guild.” (Makoto)

“This is the first time I hear of this, Raidou-kun.” (Rembrandt)

“It is something recent. The report for that didn’t make it in time.” (Makoto)