Changes in Seat Village

The Commerce Guild’s on-site survey was a success. The result was, of course, a resounding success, although the Commerce Guild investigator’s business spirit was burning up, but it was energy in the right direction.

After the meeting and future business discussion, the next day, after showing them around Seat Village again and surprising them by showing them the lake where Apkallu lives, Apollo and his group left the village and headed home.

They really wanted to see the dungeon, but they left in a big hurry, saying they could not miss the big business opportunity.

Personally, I wanted to surprise them by showing them the resting place I had built for adventurers in front of the dungeon, but that will have to wait for next time.

At any rate, it was a good accomplishment to be qualified to do business with the Commerce Guild, which affects many countries. I was afraid that the Belrango Chamber of Commerce would be treated unfairly and that the other chambers of commerce and other countries would stop doing business with us, but it was an upsetting homerun.

If the Commerce Guild’s investigators are paying attention, the other nobles won’t be able to harass them so easily.

“Well, good, good, good. It’s not what I expected, but it turned out okay.”

Bell and Rango, who were attending the launch, nodded in agreement.

“It’s true. Now our Belrango Chamber of Commerce will be treated on the same level as the Mary Chamber of Commerce. After all, we now have the highest level of trading privileges with the Commerce Guild.”

“But it’s a new society that has just been established. I’m sure the other chambers of commerce will not be so quick to ignore it in the future.”

Rango adds in agreement with Bell. After yesterday’s meeting, the two men suddenly felt more relaxed.

Even now, they come to the office of the lord’s mansion in the morning and talk happily about their future prospects.

“…Are you two okay coming to my place together?”

“It’s fine. We’re partially restricted now. The employees are now at least apprentices. I can manage to keep the store running…”

Bell was smiling and laughing as he replied, but he stopped talking when I heard a knock at the door.

I looked at him, and Camsin nodded silently and opened the door. There stood a young man from the Belrango Chamber of Commerce, accompanied by Till. As I recall, he was one of the young men with valuable peddling experience.

The young man bowed his head in front of the room without hiding his disapproval. Then he glanced at Bell and Rango.

“Mr. Chairman.”

Bell and Rango’s faces scrunched up as he spoke up.

“Well, did you have a work stoppage after all?”

“I guess not.”

When they both opened their mouths at the same time, the young man raised his eyebrows and reported that a problem had occurred.

The young man raised his eyebrows and reported a problem: “Adventurers have been demonstrating, and other villagers have complained.

“What?”

“Yes, just because we restricted them for one day?”

They blinked at the report and asked back. Exhaling a sigh, the young man put his hands on his hips and shook his head from side to side.

“Every month, Seat Village receives new adventurers who have heard the rumors. Because of the restrictions we place on them, they sell out early in the morning, and the purchase of materials and ores for magical beasts ends before noon. The newly arrived adventurers probably don’t know that, so they are all complaining.”

“What? New adventurers again?”

You were here the day before yesterday.

“We’ve been getting more and more every month. It’s not strange. In fact, I think it’s to be expected.”

The three of them exchanged something like that and fell silent for a moment. The composition of the scene was completely composed of Bell and Rango being pissed off by their subordinates.

I knew I was on a roll and optimistic.

I waved one hand in the air with a laugh at that thought.

“Forget about me, you two should get back to the store. Good luck.”

As I said this, for some reason the young man looked at me.

“We are also short of the armors and other items that Van-sama is going to make…when will they be delivered? By the way, we are already sold out of the great sword, straight sword, sword, spear, etc.”

“What?”

The young man’s words, polite but with a hint of dissatisfaction in them, made me reply in a brusque manner. I had already delivered more than a hundred swords and spears last month.

My weapons are priced simply by size: 10 to 20 gold coins for large weapons, 5 to 10 gold coins for medium-sized weapons, and 1 to 5 gold coins for small weapons. For small weapons, the price is from one to five gold coins.

However, the price of an iron weapon should be quite expensive. Incidentally, weapons such as Mithril can also be made, but they are completely made to order, so the price is set at market value.

The weapons are selling out. The company makes each and every one of these weapons without cutting any corners, so there should be no broken pieces.

How many new customers do you get each month?

“Last month we had about two hundred visitors and less than a hundred left the village. In contrast, this month we have already had over three hundred visitors, and about one hundred people have left the village to escort peddlers and mercenaries heading to neighboring countries.”

“Fifty percent more!”

The young man’s answer caught me by surprise. Most of the new customers were probably people who had come to the village because they had heard rumors. Fifty percent more in one month…how many people are talking about Seat Village in other areas?

The report did mention that the number of villagers in Seat Village is steadily increasing, but if this trend continues, the adventurers’ town will also become overpopulated.

The Knights are adding more people every month, and if the population increases, it will be that much more difficult to manage.

“Oh no. We need to get a lot of things in place before the residents explode in discontent…!”

He mutters and rushes to his feet.

“I’ll have the armaments ready by tomorrow, so for now, you guys take care of the business of the Chamber of Commerce!”

I tell Bell and the others, then look at Till and Camsin.

“You two hurry up and get Espada and Dee! Emergency meeting!”

“Yes, yes!”

I instructed, and they both responded with straightened backs and ran out of the office.

I had neglected my work as a lord a little too much because of my vigilance toward the Commerce Guild. Normally, Espada would have sent me a few words of advice, but this time, he probably decided that I was too busy and only sent me the usual reports.

After waiting for a while, Dee immediately came over.

“I heard there was an emergency!”

“An emergency meeting, a meeting.”

“Mm-hmm, emergency meeting.”

Dee muttered with some amusement and sat down on a chair.

Espada arrived a little late, as he had been entrusted with the management of the newly built adventurer town, but he arrived again a short while later.

“…I heard there was an emergency meeting.”

Bowing reverently, Espada also showed up.

It seemed like it had been a long time since we had met again, but when I thought about it, we had been meeting every week for swordsmanship and study before the Commerce Guild came up, so there wasn’t much time between us to reminisce.

“You two have done a great job getting together.”

With that, he motioned for Espada to sit down in his chair. With a light tug on it’s chin, Espada was seated without making a sound. Meanwhile, Till and Camsin have closed the door and moved to my side.

Making sure everyone was looking at me, I opened my mouth.

“As you know, thanks to everyone’s cooperation, the Commerce Guild case turned out for the best. There may be some aristocrats who may not like my presence, but I don’t think you need to worry too much about that.”

Dee and Espada nodded their heads in agreement.

“Right now, the biggest problem is population growth. We were thinking of it as an adventurer’s town, but we’re thinking of expanding it.”

I mentioned the policy as I raised the issue.

Dee and Espada exchanged glances. After a second’s pause, Dee’s mouth turned up at the corners as if triumphant, and Espada nodded silently.

“What? What? What a strange reaction.”

I tilted my head, unsure of their reactions, and Dee laughed as if to blow it out of the water.

“Well, last week I was consulted by a concerned gentleman who said that since Van-sama is short-handed, we should at least do what we can to help. But I told him, “You know what? How could Master Van not understand the situation in his own territory?”

Espada’s brow wrinkled as Dee said this in an implied tone.

“I am not asking for such advice. I just said that until Van-sama’s policy is decided, we should use the knighthoods of both sides to gather materials.”

“You seemed to be anxious about when we would hear from him.”

“You must be mistaken.”

Dee replied in an unusually mangled tone, and Espada cowered his shoulders.

Apparently, the two of them had been discussing this issue before I became aware of it.

I can’t say I’m just now noticing, so I keep a smile on my face as I look at them both.

“You didn’t say a lot of things because you think I’m on my own. Thank you.”

When I told them this, they both blinked at me and then relaxed their air.

“You’re still a long way from being the best swordsman in the kingdom.”

“Your knowledge as a lord and your far-sightedness as a nobleman, both of which are far from enough.”