There were many ways to open a first deal.
First, lower the price to secure competitiveness.
But that was a long-term loss.
Second, secure exclusive goods.
It was not easy, but if it succeeded, stable income became possible.
Third, build trust.
It was the slowest method, but also the most certain.
—And this time, we had to use the second method.
…Not me, but my father.
“What? Alcohol?”
“Good day. I am this child's father. This was not on today's schedule, but I accompanied him because I wanted to open trade with this village.”
“Hmm. It is far more interesting than dried foreleg meat and the like. I will introduce you to the association head later. Follow along.”
The gatekeeper's tone was rough, but his attitude was strangely friendly.
Perhaps because of the dwarves' short stature, the buildings in the dwarven village were rather compact, and narrow stone paths stretched between flickering torches.
Our family's masterpiece of a cart already seemed to be nearing the end of its durability.
After we barely made it up together with the Arise Merchant Company, a sign came into view at the entrance halfway up the village.
[Dwarven Workshop Association]
Father stopped briefly in front of the door.
“Mikael.”
“Yes, Father.”
“The dwarves do not have a separate Merchant Guild. The Workshop Association or the Blacksmith Guild simply handles merchant work as well.”
“Ah, I see.”
Clack.
When the door opened, the smell of metal brushed the tip of my nose.
A dwarf with graying hair and a monocle with only one lens sat facing the head of the Arise Merchant Company. At a glance, he was clearly the association head.
A hundred or so crates of foodstuffs.
In exchange, three pouches of gold coins were placed on the table.
The merchant company head silently picked up the pouches and rolled them across his palm.
Then, after listening to the jingling sound for a long while, he nodded in satisfaction. With that, the deal was over.
“I would also like to buy some silver ingots. Where should I go?”
“Kha ha ha, just buy them here. The Workshop Association handles almost all the business in this village.”
“Is that so? Then I will trouble you.”
“The silver ingots are behind the counter. Choose the weight yourself.”
Just as the transaction between the Arise Merchant Company and the Workshop Association was coming to an end.
The association head exchanged a few words with the gatekeeper, then pushed up his monocle and slowly looked Father over.
“So, is it true you wish to open trade with us?”
“That is so. Wine from the Empire's south is rather fine. I will offer you a bottle, so would you like to taste it?”
The association head wrinkled the tip of his nose.
“Wine, you say. I have heard of it, but we do not put anything except beer to our lips.”
He thought for a moment, then smirked.
“Still, it might be worth drinking once. It may pair well with dried meat.”
Father replied with a smile.
“Then how about drinking it together this evening?”
“Good. Dried meat just happened to come in today. Follow me.”
When the association head rose from his seat, Father quietly stood and followed him.
“Mikael, let us go.”
“Yes, Father.”
Soon, the association head turned and stepped outside, and we followed him onto the narrow stone path.
The smell of iron from the workshop gradually faded. In its place, the scent of meat roasted over fire began to fill the air.
***
“After eating nothing but potatoes in the mountains, having meat makes me feel alive again!”
“Beer! Bring the beer!”
“No merchant company has come to this village for a while. This lets us breathe a little.”
A drinking party began naturally.
Several dwarves welcomed us.
The guests at today's gathering were Father and me, the association head, the merchant company head, and the escort captain.
The food served with drinks was dried meat, potato stew, potato porridge, roasted potatoes… potatoes everywhere.
It seemed there were few root crops that dwarves, who did not farm, could easily obtain.
Clack!
The sound of wooden cups striking one another rang out.
“Allow me to introduce myself formally. I am Raphael from Heindel Village.”
“Raphael, is it… Right, let us have a drink.”
The association head took a large bite of potato, raised his cup, and drank in great gulps.
Was that really the correct way to drink wine……?
“…….”
“How is it?”
“The aroma is fine, but… it is a little sweet.”
The dwarf in the next seat cackled and snatched the cup away.
“Sweet?”
“Hey, let me have a sip too.”
“Strange. It is alcohol, but my mouth does not dry out.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Hard to say… It goes down smoothly, but I do not know if it will get me drunk.”
“This is less like alcohol and more like… a beverage.”
“What is a beverage, you fool?”
“In any case, it has a taste elves would like.”
“What? Those long-ears?”
“It is peculiar, though. It is alcohol, but I keep reaching for it.”
In an instant, a tasting session began.
Dwarves really were mad for alcohol.
The situation was neither positive nor negative.
I hurriedly opened my mouth.
“Hello. I am Mikael! Try sprinkling just a little salt on the dried meat and eating it with the wine! It will be better than beer.”
For an instant, the drinking party went quiet.
The head of the Arise Merchant Company looked at me with interest, and Father smiled with an expression of disbelief.
“What? Better than beer?”
“Yes.”
I placed a bottle of wine on the table and spoke.
“Dried meat is good as it is, but it tastes even better if you salt-cure it… That is hard to do right now, so try sprinkling salt on it.”
Pop!
The cork stopper sprang up, and the aroma of grapes spread through the heavy air.
“Please try one more bottle.”
Smack. Smack.
Slurp— Gulp.
The dwarves silently set down their cups.
After a brief silence, someone muttered in a low voice.
“…The saltiness pairs well with the grape aroma.”
“Right? It is better than before.”
“With this flavor, we can drink it too, not just the long-ears.”
“Association Head. Merchant companies do not come often these days, so how about bringing in a cask or so?”
The association head adjusted his monocle.
“Good. But it seems there was an attack on the western grape farms a couple of days ago. So I imagine it will be too expensive?”
When talk of price came up, silence flowed for a moment.
Father waved a hand and opened his mouth. His expression was like that of an angler who had felt a bite on the line.
Is this really my father…?
“Ha ha ha ha, talking about money in front of drinks would be poor manners. It would be better to discuss the details tomorrow. In any case, since you like it, we will specially provide the wine you drink today for free.”
“Is that so?”
And so the drinking party continued.
Apparently, Father had not known the dwarves would drink this much.
They emptied five crates of wine.
How many silver coins is that…….
What I learned during the drinking party was that the Arise Merchant Company was heading to the imperial capital this time with another mercenary corps.
They bought up almost all the silver ingots at this gathering. They probably intended to hand them over to the Imperial Mint.
They brought foodstuffs from the Southern Kingdom and sold them here, then bought silver ingots here and sold them back in the Empire.
The flow of trade was fairly firmly established.
As the alcohol began to circulate, everyone's pronunciation slurred at the end of each sentence.
When I could no longer tell what anyone was saying—the dwarf gatekeeper I had seen on the stone wall earlier came over and tapped me on the shoulder.
Seeing him up close, he looked less like a simple gatekeeper and more like someone in charge of combat.
“Hey, little merchant. There is something I want to show you. Follow me.”
Father, who was sitting beside me, looked at me briefly, then quietly nodded.
***
The place he took me to was a weapon shop.
Before my eyes, daggers, longswords, spears, shields, hammers, armor, and maces were lined up.
The scale was small, but it had everything it needed.
Inside the glass case over there, I could see a mana-charged gun. It did not look cheap.
…But was there anyone in a countryside village like this who would buy weapons?
While I was lost in thought, he tapped me on the waist. Even though my body had not fully grown yet, he was still about two heads shorter than me.
“Even if you are a merchant, you should know how to protect yourself. Pick one. I will give it to you for free to commemorate your first visit to our village.”
“Oh! Really? Can I choose anything?”
“Kheh heh heh, I knew you would like it. Anything is fine except the gun over there.”
I equipped an innocent expression and immediately rushed into the shop.
‘Right now, my physical strength is too low. A lighter material than steel would probably be better….’
As my eyes moved around, a sword with a dull silver sheen in the distance caught my eye.
A sword aimed solely at practicality, without any decoration at all. It seemed to be whispering, “Choose me.”
‘An alloy of silver and steel…?’
Silver had fairly high mana conductivity. Moreover, looking at it up close, the handle proportions fit my current physique perfectly.
It had a double-edged structure, but even at a glance, its center of gravity was not toward the blade, but toward the hilt.
Its destructive power would be weak, but it would be good for agile use.
At this level, I should be able to swing it with my current strength.
It could not seem too professional, so….
“Wow, the blade is shiny. Can I choose this?”
“Hm? That sword looks brilliant to you? Are there not many swords that look cooler?”
“Hmm… I do not really like those. Things with a lot of decoration look more for display than fighting.”
The gatekeeper snorted.
“Huh, you have a good eye for a little kid.”
He worked over the blade once, and at his touch, the blade flashed orange.
Shhk. Shhhhk. CLANG! CLANG!
Then he lifted the sword, swung it once, and handed it to me.
“Good, this one is yours. It is Silver Steel, so it is light and sturdy. You can brag about it anywhere.”
“Really? Thank you!”
And that was how I obtained my first weapon.
***
The next morning.
Perhaps because I was his lifesaver, the head of the Arise Merchant Company came to see me before leaving the village.
“I hope we can meet again next time.”
“It would be an honor for me, ha ha. Please travel safely.”
“Heindel Village is still somewhere we visit from time to time, so let us meet again.”
After saying goodbye to the merchant company head, Father and I headed back to the Workshop Association.
“When we held a meeting yesterday, everyone agreed on buying the wine. I also feel a little sorry that we lost our heads and drank five crates…….”
The association head adjusted his glasses and smiled awkwardly.
His expression was full of embarrassment.
To think they would drink five crates… even I had not imagined that.
“Ha ha, thank you.”
“So, how much do you intend to sell it for?”
“Hmm… That is.”
Father hesitated briefly.
“…….”
To be honest, I had been thinking about it until yesterday too. About what price would be appropriate.
At the Southern Market, we could sell this for 18 silver coins per crate.
However, if we considered the risk cost of coming all the way to Oxhorn Pass, the story changed.
On top of that, with the western region's supply network completely collapsed, the price had doubled.
By my calculation, we had to sell it for no less than 40 silver coins per crate.
The problem was… whether they intended to pay that price.
“Hmm… I did the calculations.”
Father and the association head looked at me at the same time.
For a moment, my throat felt a little dry.
It was not exactly the proper place for me to cut in.
“Crossing Oxhorn Pass was very difficult…… and wine is hard to obtain right now, is it not?”
“So?”
“By my calculations, we should receive 45 silver coins per crate…….”
“Huh, you want to receive all that? In that case, this discussion is—”
“—Ah, no! Instead.”
“……?”
“Could we set it at 40 silver coins per crate, and in exchange, could you promise to buy wine only from us from now on?”
I called it a promise, but what I proposed was an exclusive contract.
A round trip to the Southern Market took 20 days.
A round trip to Oxhorn Pass took four days.
The efficiency could not even be compared, so it was an unconditional profit for us.
Beyond the monocle, the association head's eyes seemed to slowly measure me.
“A little brat proposing an exclusive contract. You have raised your son very well.”
Father looked at me with an unreadable expression.
“He is the child who will inherit our company once we become a formal merchant company. It is only natural that he is clever. What do you think? At 40 silver coins…….”
“Let us make it 35 silver coins.”
“Hmm… That is…….”
I had a hunch. This was the final line where we could negotiate.
Father probably thought the same, since he did not add anything more.
I decided to obtain something else instead.
“Then…… Could you fix our cart for us? Our family made it ourselves, so it is quite poor, and it is already falling apart…….”
“Mikael……!”
I was the one who said it, but Father's face burned red.
…After all, a vehicle represents a person's wealth.
As for the cart made by Raphael Family Handicrafts, which was worse than an ox cart… honestly, even I was embarrassed.
“Puhahahahaha! Bring it to the workshop. Then it is 35 silver coins per crate, and from now on, we will buy wine only through you!”
He went somewhere, came back with parchment, quickly wrote something down, stamped it with a seal, and handed it to us.
∿∿∿∿∿∿∿∿∿∿∿∿
「Wine Sale and Exclusive Purchase Contract」
▪ Sale Item : Wine from the Empire's south
▪ Sale Quantity : 95 crates
▪ Unit Price : 35 silver coins per crate
▪ Payment : Full cash payment
▪ Exclusive Condition :
For two years from the date of this contract, the Oxhorn Pass Workshop Association will purchase wine only from the Raphael Family.
The Raphael Family guarantees stable supply during that period.
▪ Other Clauses :
The unit price and quantity of subsequent harvests will be renegotiated each harvest season.
Seller : Raphael (Signature)
Buyer : Boldun, Representative of the Oxhorn Pass Workshop Association
< Workshop Association Seal ▩ >
∿∿∿∿∿∿∿∿∿∿∿∿
Father and I headed to the workshop carrying 33 gold coins.
Ah, right. We should have received 25 more silver coins, but the association head negotiated it down one more time…….
Step. Step.
As I walked down the narrow stone path, I drew the ledger in my head. It was a little more disappointing than expected, but….
‘Still, we made quite a bit.’
Moreover, since they had agreed to fix the cart, it was definitely a good thing.
The profit of trade was decided less by quality than by how often one traveled back and forth and how much one carried.
To put it simply, it was now time to increase our transport volume in earnest.
Of course, before that—
one more thing had come up.
“Hmm…… We have a tail.”
That presence I had felt in Oxhorn Pass.
It was faint, but I could still feel it.
I steadied my breathing and slowly waited for an opportunity.