Dessert Research Society, First Sale Launch! (3)
Dessert Research Society, First Sale Launch! (3)
Elena lay sprawled on the floor, both hands planted at the edges of the tomato wreckage.
I hastily grabbed her by the scruff of the neck.
She had been about to lower her mouth onto the ruined tomato.
"Three seconds... three seconds!"
"Say something that makes sense."
"Nooooo."
Seized by the scruff, Elena flailed her arms.
Then, realizing she couldn't overpower me, her arms and legs went limp.
She turned back to face me with an aggrieved look.
"Why, why are you doing this, Brother? It wasn't even three seconds yet! You made it run out by pulling me away!"
"Get a grip, Elena. There are too many eyes watching."
"I, Sister Elena, am a priestess who serves only Deus and spreads the teachings of Numina. I feel no shame before the gaze of anyone other than those two."
"Wouldn't Deus be watching from the heavens?"
Following my pointing finger, Elena stared blankly up at the sky.
Then she sighed softly.
"Ah."
Thankfully, this approach works.
"Right?"
"Of all days, it had to be so sunny. If only it weren't... tch."
I can only imagine what the doctrines of your order must be like.
Anyway.
'Thank you, Deus.'
After silently thanking Deus and the sunny weather for calming Elena down, I surveyed the situation.
The toppled stall and the noisy interior of the shop.
Given the shiny bald head and brawny build of the owner of 'Uncle's Fruit Shop,' whoever did this was clearly no ordinary civilian.
At the same time, the windows weren't even shattered.
Contrary to appearances, this hadn't been an all-out brawl.
"Stop right there. You cannot enter this place."
As we approached the shop, a man stepped out and blocked our path.
He wore a black suit, but he gave off a menacing air. The gold tooth that gleamed with every word only heightened his vicious look.
"We have business with the owner here."
At my words, the corner of his mouth crept up.
"Owner? There's no such thing here, kid. We're in the middle of collecting a debt, so take my advice and get lost while I'm asking nicely. Come back when a new shop opens later."
Collecting a debt?
That means he borrowed money and couldn't repay it?
My eyes narrowed instinctively.
'The shop certainly wasn't in great shape. Even with high-quality goods, the sales weren't there.'
Borrowing money wasn't strange in itself.
The problem was, the shop didn't look so bankrupt that it was about to collapse immediately.
I had even pumped up their sales once before.
It didn't look like they'd spent a huge amount of money changing anything special, either.
Sure enough.
— What kind of law says you can move up the due date for the interest and principal?!
The fruit uncle's booming voice echoed from inside.
When we stepped inside, the fruit uncle's face, brimming with rage, had literally turned red all the way to the top of his head.
"... He looks like a giant cherry tomato."
"Shh."
I covered Elena's mouth and asked.
"What's going on here?"
"Ah, the cadet from the prestigious Lichten Academy, the hope of our fruit shop, our most valued customer—Cadet Ian has arrived! I should be giving you something, I'm so sorry! The state of my shop is so poor right now!"
"That's quite alright. But what is the situation?"
"I borrowed money from the Raymond Trading Company. Now they're suddenly demanding I cough up the interest and principal! The repayment date hasn't even been reached! These thieves! I just settled the payment for a bulk order of imported fruit, so I have no cash on hand at all. They definitely targeted this exact moment!"
The fruit uncle, uncharacteristically, spilled his words in a rush.
He seemed deeply wronged.
And frankly, the story itself checked out.
Elena carefully tugged at my sleeve.
"... What's going on, Brother?"
"In short, they took advantage of the uncle being short on cash to demand the principal and interest in violation of the contract. Now, because he can't pay, the shop is about to be seized."
"How can they just do that...! People who toy with money must be purified in the name of God!"
... Are the tenets of your faith really okay?
My skepticism was brief.
"'Just doing that,' you say."
A man stepped out from a shadowy corner of the shop—a scrawny man with a thin wisp of a handlebar mustache, looking exactly like a rat.
He stroked his mustache, holding a piece of paper that looked like a contract.
"If you look right here, it clearly states: 'In the event that the Raymond Trading Company's Lichten branch experiences difficulties in cash flow, the due date for the principal and interest, up to half the principal amount, may be arbitrarily brought forward, and any debt collection arising therefrom shall be recognized.' It is strictly written here."
"Didn't you bastards say it yourselves? That there was no way the Raymond Trading Company would ever face such troubles! Does that make any sense according to common sense? The Raymond Trading Company collapsing?!"
"Heheh... What can we do, sir? Such an event has occurred. Our Lichten branch recently invested heavily here and there, and alas... it's truly a tragedy."
Heh heh heh.
The rat-like man rubbed his palms together and laughed darkly.
'He was set up. Totally set up.'
This—this was a pattern I'd seen plenty of times before the possession.
The pattern of lending money kindly at seemingly low interest to a struggling country—or, in this case, a shop—and then swallowing it whole when they inevitably couldn't pay.
'The country next to mine used this pattern a lot.'
To think I'd see it in a fantasy world.
Seeing how cunningly the scheme was laid out, it was undoubtedly Emilia Raymond's strategy.
Because when it comes to this particular kind of strategy, she's a heroine with a sharper mind than anyone.
'So this is how the Raymond Trading Company expands its influence.'
I also understood now why Sylvia had such a hard time dealing with the Raymond Trading Company.
While she painstakingly built cooperative relationships with small shops one by one, Emilia Raymond was devouring them wholesale in this manner.
There was no competing with that, starting with the cost of labor alone.
"Anyway, since you have no cash on hand, we will continue the collection process. Kh-khe. Please take good care of the appraisal. Lord Appraiser."
The rat-like man bowed his head to the man standing next to him.
A man with a thick belly and glasses.
He pushed up his glasses and began to look around at the fruit and the interior of the shop.
I quietly asked the fruit uncle.
"How much are you short?"
"The borrowed money was 2 Gold... so I'm short about 1 Gold."
"Isn't all this fruit enough to cover that amount?"
At my words, the fruit uncle's face flared red again.
He started pointing an accusing finger at the appraiser.
"That bastard is the problem! How can this fruit be worth only that much?! All of it together is only 10 Silver? These goddamn thieving sons of bitches!"
Thud.
The fruit uncle slammed the table, and the impact sent a piece of fruit flying off the top.
So that's how the tomato from before had flown out here.
The appraiser frowned and opened his mouth.
"It's not 10 Silver, it's 100 Mana Krone. How long has it been since the currency names were unified... Barbaric, truly."
"What?!"
"And fruit, by its nature, cannot receive a proper appraisal. Even if we seized and sold it, the value of the goods would deteriorate in the meantime."
The rat bastard chimed in.
"If you have complaints, you're free to sell it all yourself, hrrk hrrk."
"..."
"It's not like you can sell it all by the end of today, can you? Khee hee hee. Lord Appraiser. How much would this shop go for? I wonder if it might just perfectly match the principal and interest. Hrrk hrrk."
At the rat bastard's words, the fruit uncle clutched the back of his head and collapsed into a chair.
"My... my shop! To such a dirty trick! Aaah!"
Goodness.
So this is why it's so tough being a small business owner.
This was truly the worst kind of mess.
And the story behind it was far too crafty.
They precisely targeted the moment the shop had no cash?
There was no way that was a coincidence.
In the end, it meant the Raymond Trading Company had been tracking all the money flowing in and out of this shop.
And this likely wasn't the only shop.
'That's incredible. Really.'
I found myself newly impressed by the scale of this world.
And it also meant I had to start dipping my toes into this kind of world eventually.
"Now... if you would vacate the premises, hrrk hrrk. This place now belongs to the Raymond Trading Company. Since it looks like you can't repay the money anyway... wouldn't signing quickly be better for your mental health?"
"You sons... sons of bitches."
"Oh my. If you hit me, a separate claim for damages will be filed, you know? Hrrk hrrk."
"..."
"Anyway, it seems there's a lot to clean up here. I'm worried about this fruit—do we have to dispose of it if it doesn't sell..."
... Be that as it may.
I could solve the immediate problem right here and now.
"You don't need to worry about that."
The rat-like man turned to look at me.
Not just him, but the attention of everyone in the shop focused on me.
... I wasn't about to do anything that grand. This is embarrassing.
I called out to the fruit uncle, who was half out of his mind.
"Fruit Uncle. No, Mister Owner."
"... Huh?"
I raised my finger and swept it across the shelf full of fruit.
"I'll take everything from here to here."
The fruit uncle's eyes went perfectly round.
I raised the corner of my mouth toward him.
"This should make me a VIP, so you'll at least provide delivery, right? From now on, for good."
Now *this* is what you call flexing.
◆
That day, lunch.
To be precise, thirty minutes before lunchtime.
The Central Garden of Lichten Academy.
Cadets with black, pink, red, and beige hair were bustling about.
Among them, the leader seemed to be the lone male student, and his voice rang the loudest.
"Okay. Move quickly, quickly! We have to finish preparations before lunchtime!"
.
"Danya! Your face is all red—are you alright? If you're sick, you could've rested. Yeah? Of course I need you."
.
"Elena! If you keep staring at the tomatoes, I'm taking them off the menu entirely! Then you won't be able to eat them anymore, right? Let's do this right!"
.
"Rina, did you spread the word on Kirtalk to your friends? Yeah, keep promoting it. You can call all your friends! The ones who actually have money to buy some, of course!"
.
"Danya, hit me with a Snow Greeting Flower. My mana is already running low. Thanks. How many did you make? I think I've made like a thousand?"
"Elena. I told you to stop licking the sugar off your fingers, didn't I? Swap places with Danya. Go put up the sign."
— Crash!
"Elena, are you hurt? No, it's okay. We can just put the sign back up. Useless, huh? You skewered all the fruit skewers. Don't cry. Thanks to you, we finished all the preparations. That's right. Good girl. I'll give you two tomatoes today. No, not right now. Let's put the sign up together, okay? Ready. One, two, three!"
[ First Sale Starts! ]
"Ah! One piece is missing. Rina, Danya, can you bring that over here for a sec? Yeah, that one. Put it right on top!"
[ Dessert Research Society ]
[ First Sale Starts! ]