Unavoidable, Alcohol (4)
“So yeah, I figured Panis Village ought to gather both power and influence, you know? What do you think, Edele-san?”
“My, my… that’s quite a large-scale idea you’ve come up with.”
Strike while the iron’s hot, right? Let’s call today an auspicious day! So I went straight to consult with Edele-san, and—well, yeah, she looked a bit taken aback.
… Well, it’s already starting to outgrow being a ‘village,’ after all. For Edele-san, who’s been managing things in her late husband’s stead as acting village chief, all these changes might be a bit too much, maybe even unsettling—but still…
“Still, you’re right. If other nobles besides Princess Laperesiana also came to favor this place, it’d make me feel a lot more secure. Let’s make it so the Church can’t even lay a finger on us!”
… Surprisingly, Edele-san was all in on the idea.
“As for the Church… well, I have my own thoughts about them.”
Ah, right. Of course. Edele-san was also one of those people “abandoned by the Church when things were at their worst.” Yeah, no wonder she feels that way.
“So, what you’re saying, Asuma-sama, is… by turning this place into a noble’s favorite destination—a sort of tourist attraction—we can get them to put political pressure on the Church, right? And at the same time, keep attracting adventurers, so that we’re strong enough not to lose in terms of force either.”
“Yup, that’s the plan!”
Alright then. Let’s start the strategy meeting.
If we’re gonna go up against the Church, there are two things to think about first: the noble countermeasures and the adventurer countermeasures.
And as for that… I already have one great idea up my sleeve, Edele-san!
“So, I was thinking—we should invite some jewelers to settle here.”
“Jewelers?”
“Yup, jewelers!”
It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while now.
See, Panis Village’s dungeon is basically a peaceful but profitable dungeon where high-quality gemstones just pop out one after another!
If we’ve got something valuable being produced, the next thing we need is the skill to process it! And after that, we’ll need—distribution! Meaning, connections with wealthy buyers!
“If we have artisans who can process the gems into jewelry, we could sell them much more easily, right? That way, adventurers could make a better living off this dungeon.”
“I see… that makes perfect sense.”
Not to mention, it’d make the adventurers’ lives a lot more stable.
I mean, there are tons of people who’d love to settle down into steady work, but we still don’t have the stability to give everyone who drifts in a regular job. Plus, there are plenty who still want to keep working as adventurers—so making that lifestyle itself more stable is a good thing for everyone.
“And then, once we’ve got high-quality jewelry made from high-quality gems… we turn it into a brand.”
“A brand… what exactly do you mean by that?”
“Um, not just selling nice jewelry or gemstones, but like… selling them as ‘Panis Village jewelry,’ you know? And buyers would buy them because they’re ‘Panis Village jewelry.’”
“You mean, to make it fashionable?”
… Man, explaining “brand” is harder than I thought. Hmm.
Ah! Wait, I got it! The perfect example!
“How about getting the royal warrant of appointment? You know—‘By Appointment to the Royal Family’ kind of mark! We’ll ask Princess Laperesiana for it!”
“O-oh my, that’s quite bold…”
Well hey, that’s a kid’s privilege! Let’s call it the privilege of being a kid! … I mean, sure, Princess Laperesiana already knows who I really am, but still! I know my odds are way better asking in a kid’s body than in my nineteen-year-old one! So of course I’m gonna use this elementary schooler body to my advantage!
“So yeah, we need jewelers. Like, really need them.”
Alright then.
So far, so good—but this next part is where it gets tricky.
“I can use the dungeon’s power to produce pre-polished gemstones, but if I do that, there’s nothing sustainable about it, you know?”
Right. I want to move things forward under the assumption that someday I’ll return to my original world. That means I don’t want to rely too much on the dungeon’s magic power.
… Which brings me to: we need to recruit artisans! Jewelers who can cut and shape gems!
“Still… if we’re talking skilled craftsmen, even if we offer a huge amount of money, they probably won’t come so easily…”
“It’s fine, Lisas-san. I’ve got a good plan.”
And see, when it comes to recruiting jewelers, we’ve got a serious advantage over other places.
“We’ll target jewelers who retired because of poor eyesight. Then—we’ll heal their eyes with the World Tree Eye Drops!”
“You can heal that!?”
“If not, we’ll just make glasses out of crystal glass!”
Exactly! For a fine craftsman, eyesight is everything!
And since this world doesn’t really have the tech to make clear glass yet, glasses don’t exist. Which means—
When it comes to treating vision problems, we’ve got a massive competitive edge!
“Even putting that aside, come on! Who wouldn’t want to move to a village with unlimited fresh vegetables, natural hot springs, treatment for small wounds and chronic pain, and probably some really good booze on the way!?”
“Just hearing the offer, it doesn’t sound half bad, honestly…”
“Hmm… though we don’t have any real connections. Maybe we can ask the adventurers? They sell gemstones all over the place, right? They might know something.”
And so, we decided to put out a recruitment notice for jewelers.
We listed all those conditions, made a bunch of flyers, left them in the dining hall, and asked adventurers and travelers to help spread the word and look for jewelers.
I hope it works out. If not… well, I am considering branding the village’s alcohol next, but since I’ve got no idea how that’ll taste yet, I’d rather not go that route if I can help it.
Man, I really hope we find a jeweler soon…
And then, a few days later—
During that time, the Church’s people tried to destroy the dungeon’s shrine, got glared down by adventurers, tried preaching and got ignored… basically being stubborn in all the wrong ways. Aren’t they working hard in the wrong direction!?
Anyway, forget them—because!
“Asuma-samaaa! A jeweler’s here to see you!”
“Wha—seriously!?”
Yup. Someone actually came! Heck yes!
So, together with Edele-san, Lisas-san, and the jeweler who’d arrived for the interview, Mishisia and I headed for the meeting room.
“I wonder what kind of person they are! What do you think, Asuma-sama?”
“Well, since we advertised that we could heal eyesight, I’m guessing they’re elderly… maybe an old man—or a long shot, maybe an old lady?”
It’d be pretty hard for an already-employed jeweler to just up and move here, so yeah, I figured it’d be someone retired.
“Excuse us~!”
“Edele-san! We brought today’s veggies!”
So, under the pretense of “We’re not here to peek at the interview! We’re just delivering veggies, that’s all!”—we slipped into the room behind the reception desk near the dungeon entrance.
… and then.
“Haha! They said if I came here, I’d get good food, the best hot springs, and even booze! Back at my old job, it was bland food, cold water baths even in winter, and no alcohol allowed! What a crap place that was, hahahaha!”
The one laughing heartily in the middle of the interview was—
“Not an old man or old lady—it’s an uncle!”
“Yup, an uncle, Asuma-sama…”
… Yup. An uncle.
So it turns out we didn’t lure him in with eye treatment, but with food, hot springs, and booze!
Did not see that coming!
Anyway, it was unexpected, but still—a jeweler had come. That alone was great news.
Edele-san quickly started discussing things like “Here’s your lodging,” “Here’s your pay,” and “Here’s your working conditions,” and before long, everything was agreed upon.
He could start working right away, which was even better.
That said, according to the jeweler uncle, “I’m good at gem-cutting, but not so great with metalwork, so if you want to make fine jewelry, you should look for a metalworker too.”
But hey—there was a silver lining there too.
“Well, I might’ve been the first to quit my old workplace, but plenty of others there feel the same way I did. If you reach out, I bet a few more’ll leave and come here too. Give it a try if you like.”
Oh-ho. So that’s how it is, huh? Meaning—his old workplace sucked, so we might be able to poach a whole bunch of jewelers from there!
Well then—we definitely should! Edele-san and I exchanged a glance and nodded. That’s the “let’s do it!” signal.
“In that case, we’ll absolutely reach out. By the way, where was your old workplace?”
Edele-san leaned forward eagerly, and the jeweler uncle grinned and said—
“Huh? Where else could it be? That crappy place could only be one thing—the Grand Cathedral!”
The Grand Cathedral, huh—oh boy. So we just poached a jeweler straight out of the Church’s headquarters.
…Is this really gonna be okay!?
What do you think about this chapter?
