.
.
.
In order to do our routine report, everyone gathered at the conference room.
Was Myourmiles the only one yet to arrive?
It was nine in the evening and the night feast had just ended…
You could still hear the sound of flutes and taiko from the on-going celebration.
I permitted people to party until ten in the evening, so it was totally legitimate to
continue their celebration now.
The building provided for the guests to stay overnight could be completely
sound proofed with the windows shut. There had been preparations done so that,
no matter how noisy the townsfolk were to get, no one would complain.
Although I wanted to visit the night market as well, I recalled keeping everyone
until late last night. So instead, I decided to hear the reports early today.
"Shuna, Shion, thank you both for the effort. The performance was fantastic,
it really surprised me."
"Heh heh, that's because we have been practicing in secret. I'm already good
at singing, and the instrument called piano also suited me. But in reality, I only
knew how to play those two songs," Shuna said happily.
I figured that if she could play that well having just learnt it, surely, she must
have some talent in music. But she was busy all the time and could only practice
during break times during work. So, it wasn't surprising that there were limits to
the songs she could perform. And given that to be the case, Shion was probably
the same.
"I have also been practicing in secret with Shuna-sama to give Rimuru-sama
a surprise. Looks like it worked!"
Shion's face was full of joy. She looked really beautiful while playing the violin,
giving off the aura of a cold beauty. She deserved genuine praise.
"You were super cool. Will you be performing in the future as well?"
"Of course! I will practice more diligently and recreate all the songs memorized
by Rimuru-sama!" exclaimed Shion.
"Um, um. I have a lot of songs that I want to hear, I'll be looking forward to
your performance!"
I had never realized just how competent Shion could be until today. She always
had some faults that made people second guess her achievements, but today,
Shion looked particularly dazzling.
Next, I spoke with Gabil.
"Gabil, your presentation was really well received—even Yuuki was amazed by
it. King Gazel was also very impressed by you. Although he mentioned that we've
given too much information, I felt it was just fine."
"Yes sir! Thank you for the compliment! Even though Vesta-san helped out a
lot, I worked really hard too. When I was experimenting, I fulfilled my desire to learn, so I wanted to relay the sentiment to everyone in the audience… But I may
have overdone it a little."
"No no no, I wasn't blaming you. I was very surprised that you were doing that
kind of experiment. The content was very intriguing, and also sparked the interest
of the guests. It was a very successful event."
Hearing my words, Gabil sighed with relief, erasing his previous nervousness.
"Send my regards to Vesta as well."
"Yes sir!"
Vesta was out drinking with Gazel at this moment. Perhaps he could even be
getting scolded, but that was probably a form of praise for Vesta. Since to Vesta,
Gazel had always been his idol.
After all, this was a celebration, it was fine to have fun no matter your status.
I also asked Diablo about the martial tournament.
"There have been six formal participants elected. If I were to participate, none
of them would be qualified enough. I've seen that chosen hero as well, kukuku, an
interesting talent indeed, should I take care of him first?"
"Didn't I strictly forbid that!?"
"Your wish is my command. I'll probably ruin Rimuru-sama's mood if I am to
continue the report."
From Diablo's point of view, none of them would raise a problem. With the
inclusion of Gobta and Geld, there were eight contestants in total.
Since there was no problem, I didn't want to hear the rest of it.
With the right pairing, I should be able to see some interesting battles. So, I
did as Diablo said, to keep the fun for tomorrow.
Souei also reported something to me. I heard that the children were having
fun at the ceremony. They'd gone to the selection match of the martial tournament
as well to cheer for Masayuki. They also seemed to have eaten a lot of food.
Hinata-san… What kind of a guardian were you?
I was worried that the children would get a bad stomach. Would the same
problem occur tomorrow? I couldn't help but worry. And so, I chatted with
everyone as we waited for Myourmiles. If there were no problems, we would be
done in thirty minutes.
As if jinxed, I saw Myourmiles entering the room shaking, his face looking blue.
I couldn't help but think "We have a problem."
"S-sorry to have kept you waiting."
By the looks of him, we may have run into some serious trouble. Normally he
always looked thick-skinned and fearless, yet today he couldn't help himself from
shaking.
"Did something happen?"
Shuna served some cool tea to Myourmiles. After Myourmiles had the time to
catch a breath, I asked him.
"I'm truly sorry, there has been a huge problem. Here's the deal—"
Myourmiles said that we didn't have enough money. The retailers had all come
to ask for payment for their goods and he'd been desperately trying to solve the
issue.
No no no, how can that be? There were a lot of decorative pieces of art at
Clayman's base. We had also recovered his treasury. Moreover, Diablo also claimed
1,500 star gold coins as part of the reparations paid by the Farmus Kingdom. Even
if we held this type of celebration one hundred times, there would still be surplus.
Upon thinking so, I turned to ask Myourmiles with doubts over my face.
"Regarding that, it is not a matter of budget, but that Demon Lord Clayman's
legacy cannot be used as currency. That's because they are not universal
currencies used by the world. The gold coins of the ancient kingdom may be highly
valuable from an artistic view and some even used as currency in the Eastern
Empire, however…"
Even though some countries may still have used them directly as currency,
they were not approved by the rest of the world, and thus not a universal currency.
It should have been resolved through exchanging the coins, but the merchants
seemed unable to accept them. They were demanding us to pay them with the
official currency—the gold coins issued by the Dwarven Kingdom.
"At first, I even made a promise to pay them with gold coins, but halfway
through I realized that something was odd. But it was already too late."
When the coins in the treasury had been exhausted, Myourmiles had started
paying the merchants from his own pocket. Yet there was a limit to his ability to
pay; that was why he had to explain the situation to the merchant that he had
been acquainted with. Myourmiles then discovered a shocking fact. He didn't know
that these shop owners had actually been doing business with these new retailers
and the retailers only took universal currencies.
If it were trade between nations, they could always use goods to afford the
debts. Or when cash was not used in a transaction, merchants instead utilized
certificate documents. Eventually the debt would be paid, but it would not be done
for the time being. There was no concept of interest in this world, so under these
circumstances, neither side would endure any losses. This was a common way of
trading in this world.
However, our nation had no credibility at our disposal.
Right now, we had no choice but to agree to others' demands of payment in
cash. Myourmiles was well aware of this too, which was why he'd managed the
budget discreetly and selected trading partners carefully. According to his
calculations, there should have been many large-scale transactions. In that way,
there would be change when using the star gold coin. The gold coins returned
could then be used to pay off everyone.
Even if that was not the case, he and the owners of the major shops had
developed deep ties over the years. And it wasn't a stretch for Myourmiles to think
that they would give him a pass one way or another. He thought that they might
acknowledge a certificate of proof, or even accept payment through the gold coins
of the ancient kingdom. Yet those retailers refused to accept, and even the
merchants with a good relationship with Myourmiles were troubled by it.
"I see. No matter how you look at it, it seems that someone has been pulling
the strings behind this."
Diablo, standing behind me, concluded without hesitation upon hearing
Myourmiles's words. Myourmiles nodded in agreement.
"I thought so as well, I just didn't expect them to draw us back in this way…"
So Myourmiles also believed that someone was trying to drag us down?
But, who could it be…?
"I'm really sorry, Myourmiles-san. This is all because I didn't notice your
concern earlier—" Rigurd sighed.
He was too busy receiving guests before, yet he still wanted to hold himself
responsible, believing that it was not just Myourmiles's problem. Indeed,
Myourmiles shouldn't be the only one to be held accountable.
"In other words, someone trying to cause us to lose credits?"
"That's more or less the case. According to the international charter settled by
the Western Nation Council, we must use gold coins produced by the Dwarven
Kingdom to pay for the goods. Even though each kingdom has their own
regulations, the retailers' demands stand in accordance with just the Western
Nations…"
If it were merchants from the Freedom Association, they'd probably take our
circumstances into consideration and reach an agreement with us due to the
discounts we'd given them in terms of tariffs among other things. We'd already
built a level of trust. But the people that were causing problems were formal
merchants under the Council State Allies. They were all citizens of these nations
and therefore could argue that they were acting according to international laws.
Even if we told them that it was the special regulation of our nation, surely,
they would not yield so easily. That aside—
These people possibly just all conspired to create problems on purpose. If so,
applying an uncompromising attitude could lead to adverse consequences. In that
sense, we had reasonable suspicion that this was exactly the outcome that our
adversary wanted.
"If we insist on them obeying the regulations of our nation, perhaps the council
will also oppose us."
"It would have been different if we were already part of the council, but since
we intend to join in the future, this may cause the situation to be tense."
Normally there wouldn't be any issue, paying with the ancient kingdom's gold
coins. But if their intention was to destroy our nation's integrity… Perhaps they
wanted to see if our kingdom would be willing to obey international regulations or
not.
"Could the council members be behind this?"
"The merchants came from all over the world. They must have done it by
arranging retailers into the mass of merchants in secret. Although I don't know
who our enemy is, this is not as simple as we thought. By plotting this way, it
shows that they were not afraid to take on some losses and have put their own
cost and benefits out of the picture. I believe that they only have one goal, that is
to destroy our nation's reputation."
Despite Myourmiles's appearance and the size of his past country of residence,
he was a respected individual in the underworld. If even Myourmiles believed that
our opponent was problematic, not to mention that we were unable to find any
details about them, this enemy must indeed be hard to deal with.
"Can't we just force them to comply with our kingdom's rules?"
I approved of Shion's words.
"Indeed, we can; you've become smart, Shion. But if we force people to obey
our country's regulation, the Western Nations may no longer wish to welcome us.
We want to be on friendly terms with humans, so we have to avoid such a thing
at all cost."
"But, according to Rimuru-sama's plan, there are already Sarion, Blumund,
Dwargon, Farmus—I meant Farmenas—as well as Demon Lord Milim-sama's
territory. Shouldn't these nations already coexist in prosperity? If we are to focus
on developing Tempest Federation, shouldn't our loss at hand be greater?"
Was this girl really Shion? Honestly, she surprised me.
She very accurately interpreted my thoughts. I almost suspected that she was
an imposter. The point she made was on the spot with our problem.
"Kufufufu, as expected from the first secretary, Shion-san. You are right."
"Right? Then why are they bothering us? If they can't ignore us, shouldn't they
just cooperate and work with us to promote our image anyway??" Shion continued.
How surprising, Shion's words were not just any lucky guess, but she seemed
to have genuinely understood to give the response. And the point she gave was
also the point of my doubt, to which Diablo then gave the answer.
"Creatures such as human beings are truly incredible. They cannot survive
without cooperation, yet they caste among themselves to determine each person's
status. Moreover, when two or more groups encounter each other, they also start
arguing again to see which one is more powerful. The weak and pathetic are always
afraid that their own rights and properties are damaged, and as for this time—"
"Hmm, perhaps our opponents are worried that Rimuru-sama will threaten the
circle of co-existence within the council?"
"Indeed."
Diablo's explanation was very straightforward. I also felt the same after
hearing Benimaru's comment. The lieutenants all began to realize the issue, some
even began to feel anger. Diablo, on the other hand, was smirking joyfully while
making some radical speech:
"How laughable. These ignorant rulers have no clue of restraints and do not
wish to accept the compassionate love of Rimuru-sama. It is best to kill them all."
And of course, Shion was the one to agree. The two seemed to be on the same
page on this.
"Hehe, I see that the second secretary shares the same view."
There went all my praise for her. Looks like Shion's nature was not altered that
much after all.
"I'm not permitting any of this."
The two seemed very regretful. You guys sure were tacit at the wrong time.
"Anyhow, we cannot leave this unattended. Shall I run an investigation on the
previous employers of these merchants in detail?" Souei asked for my order.
Perhaps we could get some dirt on them. This appeared necessary. But that
would have to wait until after the founding festival finished. As of yet, we were
unable to make a move without caution, just to deal with any emergency. After
resolving the problem at hand, we would expose the enemies in time.
"That's also important, but we should sit on it for now. By the way, Myourmiles,
what's the deadline of the payment? Have you come up with any good ideas?"
First, we needed to show everyone that we are willing to follow the regulations
of the Council. If we were still unable to break the stalemate, we would have to
see about it then. After all, I refused to let it come to war or affect people's lives.
I doubted the situation was that dire.
"Indeed. They seemed to also enjoy the celebration and said that they were
willing to wait until the next day after the end of the founding festival. My friends
also tried to help persuade them, but they said that it is as much time as they can
spare—"
The next day after the end of the celebration—it was the first day today, so
there were two more days at our disposal. We would have to pay up after three
days.
"Right now, my friends are gathering money for us. Although we will take more
or less some loss, they are taking the ancient kingdom's gold coins in exchange
for dwarven gold coins. But whether we can mobilize the cash in time is unknown…"
That was rough… But that was to be expected. Essentially, transportation alone
would be difficult.
The lieutenants could use "Dimension Transportation" to reduce time, but to
run around looking for gold coins that may not even be settled would be far too
inefficient. While unlikely, it was possible that the enemies might try to distract
and transfer my lieutenants out of town. It was best not to make a hasty move.
I got it! I recalled that the Beast Kingdom had given us some gold bars—so
why not just create some counterfeit coins with that? Through the replication
ability of my 'Analysis', I would be able to make counterfeit coins. It was impossible
for dwarven technologies to see the difference, right?
< enchanted with Engravement Magic. They are rigorously regulated with serial numbers, and the merchants would be able to instantly detect real coins from counterfeits.>> Ah, so that's how it is… I took out a coin from my 'Stomach' to observe. There really were numbers engraved on them. It definitely wasn't hard to create coins that looked like the real deal. But if there were two gold coins that looked exactly the same, it would be proof that one of them was fake. Surely there was no need for them to use such precise technology. To me, it felt like in the past, no matter which country it was, counterfeiting currencies would always result in punishment with the equivalent to death. In this world, people had even combined magic and technology to apply absolute regulation. Since if they wanted to unify the currency used, they naturally would not want people to be able to make counterfeits easily. "If we can't counterfeit, there's probably no way we can buy back…" The crowd agreed. "Then, even though we will be taking some losses, can't we use the massive amount of gold bars we have already to start off with?" Surely the merchants would accept these as payment? "Any smart merchant will likely agree to the proposal, but I'm totally against it!" While I thought it was a good idea, Myourmiles protested it fiercely. He then gave me the reason. "It will become our weakness. In future trading with other nations, they will use this as an example. They will think that 'Even if we intentionally make things difficult for this country, they are still willing to take losses just to keep a clean record'. By that point, they will just continuously trade unfairly and will never treat us as equal trade partners. Although they will probably cover it up on paper…" Myourmiles gave a wry smile and explained it in a way that we could understand. If the merchants were able to find any weakness in our nation, we would be devoured clean. Myourmiles, being the same kind of merchant, would totally do that himself, and so his conclusion was very likely to happen. At this point, I had no choice but to accept. "There are still two days left. We will use this time to gather the coins. The people who joined the celebration are not the type to be conservative with spending, let's all work hard to get their cash!" "Thanks for the effort." In conclusion, we couldn't find a solution. But I had decided to go all out: If we couldn't reach a compromise, we might as well just force them into obeying our nation's regulation. We didn't always have to obey others' rules. This is the Tempest Federation. We have our own rules. But of course, while it was best to stay in their lane, we insisted on making equal and just demands for both sides. Regardless of the outcome, they wouldn't be the only ones to suffer losses. Even if they were not happy with the ancient kingdom's gold coins, nor accept proof certificates or complain about using goods to trade goods, they didn't have enough to badmouth us. "Anyway, let's not worry about them too much. This is our kingdom, if we really are at a loss of way, we will just tell them to obey our kingdom's rule. Let's not worry too much and just do our best!" "Understood." Myourmiles seemed to have gotten a huge burden off his back, as his expression became much more joyful. The Council may have an impression on us, but we would be able to know who the foes were at least. I had to look at things optimistically. Perhaps they weren't even foes to begin with, just people trying to test us. It was too early to make that assumption. "That'll be all, let the meeting end today! Good work everyone!" After my exclamation, the routine report session of the night concluded. The issue had been put aside, though I expected that, "Things may turn out to be challenging..." But worrying too much was not good for your health. Myourmiles-kun seemed to have put down a lot of work for it, so now I decided to share it with him. "Let's go then, Myourmiles-kun. You are coming with us too." The male members did not object. Benimaru had already changed into his yukata, ready to party all night. "Eh, I thought I'm supposed to be gathering money now—" "There's no use worrying about that now! You can't come up with things that don't exist. If you fall ill from worrying too much, that will be a bigger problem." Myourmiles gave a wry smile hearing my words. "I'm totally defeated, young master. Then allow your humble servant Myourmiles to accompany you!" And so, I successfully invited (forced) Myourmiles to join the night celebration. This way he could turn his mood around. I vaguely heard something along the lines of "Rimuru-sama, don't play too hard now, that goes for you too, big brother—" We threw these words behind us and marched towards the vibrant city. —Something off-topic: Earlier today, when I mentioned to Hinata about the problematic Takoyaki stand, I saw a silver-haired girl arguing with the owner. "An intelligent man won't stand beside a collapsing wall"—It was not the first time I've said this, but by following such a principle, you wouldn't ever run into any fatal crisis. You instead get to avoid problems entirely. And as you can imagine, I fled from the meeting elegantly and had a fun night out with the boys.