Chereads / The Merchant / Chapter 17 - Salt İssue and Taxes.

Chapter 17 - Salt İssue and Taxes.

The locals of Gliese, who had never tasted such a delicacy before, were enchanted by the taste of the hamburger and wanted more.

Just one bite of hamburger was not enough for anyone! The taste on their palates was heavenly!

"I've been invited to nobles' parties before, but I've never tasted food like this!"

"The meat I ate in those expensive restaurants is garbage compared to this!"

Luck was overwhelmed by the reactions of the people around him, he was especially surprised by what the man had just said. Meat with mana in it was much tastier than the best meat in the world.

'The meat in the restaurants here is so delicious, how can an ordinary hamburger taste so much better?' was the thought going through his head.

But what Luck didn't realize was that the food culture in this world was not very developed, food was usually cooked and eaten only over a fire. 

Since spices like salt and pepper were rare resources, there was no other way to flavor the food. 

So the old hamburger with gravy, flavored with a variety of spices, was much tastier than anything they had ever eaten before.

Elsa approached Luck with fiery eyes "You will bring more of this food tomorrow, won't you?"

Senna was shocked to see Elsa in this state. Her sister had always been like an ice queen to others, she never showed her emotions outwardly, the only time she acted like herself was when the two of them were alone.

Luck locked eyes with the blue-haired woman who was staring piercingly at him, their lips almost touching.

'Damn, does anyone in this world know the concept of personal distance!

Senna noticed her brother's closeness to Luck and pulled him back by the arm.

"You don't need to get that close to someone to ask a question..." Even though his voice was neutral, inside he was having a lot of fun. She had found something to make fun of her brother for.

"Huh?" Confused for a moment, Elsa's cheeks flushed a little in embarrassment as she realized how close she had just been to Luck.

Another shock!

The ice queen's face was flushed because of a man! 

Senna's mouth dropped open when she saw her sister's face.

Realizing her faux pas, Elsa reverted to her old ice queen demeanor and said coldly, "I liked the food, bring more tomorrow." And without waiting for a response from Luck, she turned and left.

...

Breathing a sigh of relief after convincing the crowd around his stall that he would bring more burgers tomorrow, Luck noticed Horace coming towards him.

"Busy day, huh?" Horace sounded amused.

"Yeah, don't ask, I thought they were going to eat me." 

"Hahaha, it depends on your taste Luck, if you taste as good as the food you brought I suggest you be careful." He said playfully.

Luck opened his eyes as if scared "I can't let that happen!"

The two were silent for a moment and then burst out laughing.

"You upset me, Luck..." Horace spoke with his head bowed.

Wondering why he might have upset Horace, Luck asked, "Did I upset you, why?"

Nodding his head in agreement, Luck said, "Yes, from what I've seen from people's reactions, that food you brought is delicious, but you didn't even share it with me..."

"ha ha," scratching the back of his head, "I didn't actually plan to show the burger to people. I brought it to eat it myself."

"I understand. I'll forgive you if you bring me a piece next time."

"Haha, I promise I'll bring you a hamburger next time."

Looking at Luck's empty bag, Horace said, "Then you don't have anything to eat, do you?"

"Oh yeah. I think I'll eat at a restaurant." Luck felt sad knowing that he was going to pay tens of thousands of dollars worth of gold to eat in a restaurant.

"Then let me buy you dinner. Besides, I need to talk to you."

Luck smiled brightly when he heard that Horace was going to buy him dinner.

"Sure, let's go to dinner!"

"Hooray! I'm not paying for dinner!' That was his thought.

...

Inside a Restaurant.

Luck looked at the menu of the restaurant they came to and was surprised to realize that the prices were much cheaper than the restaurant he had been to before.

"Aren't the prices of the food here much cheaper?" he asked curiously.

Even though the names of the food were the same, the prices were much cheaper.

Horace understood the real intention of Luck's question and said, "Yes, even though the food is the same, the ingredients have much less meaning, so the prices are lower. Besides, it wasn't convenient for us to go to the other restaurant for now." 

Understanding why the food prices were lower, Luck said, "Huh? Why?" He did not understand why it was not appropriate to go to the restaurant.

"Let's say your salt sales made the owner of that restaurant a little angry, that's one of the reasons why I wanted to talk to you."

"How could my salt sales have angered the owner of a restaurant?" Luck couldn't make a connection between the salt he sold and the owner of the restaurant.

"When the customers who went to that restaurant realized that what you were selling was much cheaper, they started grumbling, they felt like they were being ripped off. So the salt sales in that restaurant came to a standstill."

"But why? There's a big difference between the salt I sell and their salt, isn't there? My salt is poor in mana!"

"You're right, Luck, but it seems that they mixed their salt with the salt you sold them, but they didn't change the price, so the quality of the salt has gone down, but the price is the same."

Realizing the situation, Luck said, "They must have thought that I didn't have any more Salt to sell... But as I was selling salt every day, their calculations didn't work out."

"Bingo! That's right!"

Horace suddenly became serious "Luck, that's why you need to stop selling salt or at least reduce it, the nobleman who owns that restaurant might take action against you."

Luck, realizing the seriousness of the situation from Horace's expression, said, "Okay then, I'll stop selling salt for now."

Horace breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm relieved, I was afraid you would be stubborn and keep selling salt."

"Am I crazy, in a world where people have superpowers, I'm not stupid enough to offend a nobleman, I just won't sell salt!" Luck thought.

But he didn't realize that he had already offended the nobleman and that in the future he would inadvertently offend him even more.

"So what did you want to talk to me about besides salt?" Luck asked curiously.

"Aren't you tired of opening stalls? How about I open a shop for you?" 

"Huh?" Luck was surprised as he had never thought of such a thing before.

"A shop? Why, I think my stall will do just fine."

Horace shook his head no "Luck, your clientele is growing and your little stall is not enough, if you want to increase your sales we should open a shop and expand your business."

Luck was torn, he didn't know how in the world he was going to launder the money he was making now. If he opened a shop and made more money, he wouldn't know what to do with it.

Horace, noticing Luck's indecision, said, "Besides, at this rate, the tax collectors of the bright moon kingdom will notice you. If you don't start an official business and pay taxes on the money you earn, they might send an executioner after you!"

Luck shuddered at the word "executioner" "Is the penalty for not paying taxes that big?"

Surprised by Luck's ignorance, Horace said, "Yes, taxes are a very serious matter. The royal family once sent an executioner after a noble family for tax evasion and that noble family disappeared overnight and all their assets were transferred to the royal family."

"Wow! I thought America was strict on taxes!