The World Has Kansai Dialect Too?
The work that had been put on hold while we prepared to welcome the bandits resumed.
Over the next three days, we repaired the roofs of all the existing homes, then began constructing houses for the knights' families to live in. At the same time, we continued expanding the dwarves' dwellings.
The hole originally dug to quarry stone had become the dwarves' residence. They planned to branch off additional tunnels from it and carve out rooms for each family.
When quarrying stone, you had to dig carefully so nothing collapsed, but with my Alchemy Magic, it didn't matter even if everything had been shattered to pieces.
As long as I reformed it with magic, even sand could become stone.
Well, that also meant higher mana consumption for me.
To give a concrete example, if simply cutting rock consumed 1 unit of mana, then shaping an object of the same final size from sand consumed 2.
Which meant that in a single day, I couldn't even produce enough bricks for one house.
There were plenty of other things that needed doing too, so I couldn't devote myself solely to this work. It took about three days just to alchemize enough stone materials for a single house.
And then, on a certain day when I was about to begin preparing materials for the third house…
"Dermont-sama. A messenger from the royal capital has arrived."
"Eh, already!?"
A knight came to fetch me, so I headed back to the mansion.
The fate of Boromioshi, his soldiers, and the bandits had been left for the kingdom to decide. Chichiue had already sent a report to the royal capital, but I didn't think anyone could reach Zenas in only ten days or so.
Did they ride their horses that hard? There were three carriages and several horses parked in front of the mansion.
Actually, with those, they probably couldn't have rushed here.
When I entered the office on the first floor, a man in his mid-twenties was in the middle of speaking with Chichiue.
"My apologies. I'll come back later."
"My, my, please wait, Dermont-sama. By all means, come in."
The one who said that was the guest.
No, this isn't your office.
"Come in, Dermont. You remember him, don't you?"
"Eh? ...Ah, the merchant who serves the royal household?"
He was the merchant who had bought the furnishings from the old baron's estate. Narrow eyes behind glasses… right, right, this was what he looked like.
If I remembered correctly, his name was Fitcher.
"Excuse me."
"Yes, yes. Well now, things sure have gotten mighty interesting here. It hasn't even been a month since you took up your post."
"Hahaha. So that means you're not the official who came to take those people away?"
"Terribly sorry ‘bout that. I'm actually here on a different matter."
He sounded exactly like fake Kansai dialect.
The world had Kansai dialect too?
"A different matter?"
"Indeed. First, let me hand this over. You can take your time reading it later."
A letter... huh? Just for me?
The sender was...
"Evangeline von Halterius... Is she from the same family as the Chancellor?"
"Oh? Don't you remember? She said she'd met you at the tea party hosted by the Hohenberg Marquisate."
"The marquis's tea party... Ah. That young lady."
The girl who had helped Tiffany up after she fell.
Then she'd tripped herself, and I'd offered her my handkerchief.
"A relative of the Chancellor?"
"Yes, indeed. She's his granddaughter."
Seriously? I had no idea there was a connection like that.
The world really was smaller than you'd think.
"And while I'm at it, even though you said it wasn't necessary, I'll give you a report. The furniture we bought from you sold quite well. Completely sold out, in fact."
"Eh, already!?"
"Indeed. Everything was in excellent condition."
That was good to hear.
To be honest, I'd secretly repaired some of the damaged furniture with Alchemy Magic.
After reforming it, the scratches disappeared nicely and it looked practically brand-new, so I'd been hoping for good results.
Though for furniture with really severe damage, reforming it couldn't restore it perfectly. There would still be oddly missing sections here and there.
"And as requested, we distributed the proceeds among the former residents. Quietly, of course."
Good. Even under that trash uncle's management, they should be able to survive for another two or three years now.
What they did after that, move elsewhere or stay put, would be up to them.
I'd honestly like to take them in here in Zenas, but we didn't have enough housing, and food was already tight.
"More importantly, Fitcher-dono. Did you really come all the way to Zenas just to deliver a letter and that report?"
"No, no, Baron-sama. Certainly not. I have another objective."
"An objective? And what might that be?"
Fitcher removed his glasses, breathed on them with a long sigh, and wiped them clean with a cloth.
Then he put them back on, and the lenses flashed.
At least, that's how it looked.
"I'll get straight to the point. Baron-sama, please allow this Fitcher to serve as the official merchant of the Spanberg Barony!"
"The official merchant of the barony? But aren't you with the royal household…"
"Ah, that's my family's trading company. The boss is my father. And I'm the second son. You see, when the royal household's request regarding the barony came in, both my father and older brother were bedridden with colds."
He explained that, as a result, second son Fitcher had come to the old baron's estate as their representative.
"I can't inherit the trading company. Sooner or later, I have to become independent."
"Wouldn't you just open your own shop or something?"
When I asked, he shook his head.
"That was my plan until recently. But then I found a very interesting investment."
Fitcher looked at me.
Oi, oi. By "interesting investment," does he mean me?
"I don't think you'll lose anything. After all, I'm the son of a royal supplier. I've got some very thick connections."
"That's true enough. If anything, it sounds like you're the one who's likely to lose out, Fitcher-dono."
"Kukukuku. No need to worry. I pride meself on being a good judge of character."
Even if he became the barony's official merchant, we weren't exactly running any businesses here.
What was he planning to do?
When I looked toward Father, he was watching us with an unmistakably amused expression.
"Very well. For the time being, you're free to stay in Zenas as long as you'd like. It's rather cramped, so I can't offer a guest room. You'll have to share quarters with the knights."
"Ah, that's no problem. I had a feeling that might happen, so I brought my own tent."
So he'd come fully prepared.
"Oh, and the cargo in those wagons is a token of goodwill."
Eh, those three wagons!?
When we went outside so he could show me, they were loaded with wheat, long-lasting vegetables, cloth, and all sorts of miscellaneous supplies.
Th-This was… a complete tribute offering!?
What do you think about this chapter?
