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Chapter 302 – At Dinner
“I see… So while we were busy dealing with the treacherous bastards of the Holy Kingdom, Kosuke-san was enjoying a private date with Iphrita-sama, is that right?”
“No. That’s not it, but yeah.”
That night when I visited the merchants’ guild and the adventurers’ guild with Iphrita, I was sitting down for dinner. I was entangled with Melty to the hilt at the after-dinner drinks table. Literally and physically, too. I’m not a stuffed animal or anything, so don’t just casually snuggle my neck. My face and head are happy, being buried in Melty’s breasts and all, but the force is so strong that I feel more threatened than happy.
“Melty, you have to be gentler with me.”
“I’m being gentle.”
“Gueee!”
You’re lying! You just squeezed my neck!
Sylphy is being Sylphy, her face flushed with alcohol, and she’s resting her upper body on my lap. It seems that today’s discussion with the Holy Kingdom was very stressful for both of them.
“This is serious business. You have to listen to me.”
“Hmm, I’m listening.”
“Isla is unfair in that way.”
“That’s right, always showing her good side.”
“You two are just messing around. So, have you had a chance to look at the merchant’s guild and the adventurer’s guild, and what do you think?”
I shoo away Sylphy and Isla, who is complaining, and Isla takes a position to listen to me. I knew I could count on Isla.
“Well, in other words. It’s good to be freed from slavery, but it’s hard for people who can’t find decent jobs. I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon, but if we don’t do something about it now, it’s going to have an impact later on.”
“We know that. We are working through the Adventurers’ Guild to maintain the roads and security, and we are also working with the merchants’ guild to increase domestic and international trade.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true, but it didn’t seem like it was really producing many results. So I’ve been doing a lot of on-the-ground research.”
Sylphy and Melty were still hugging me and occupying my lap, but they seemed to be in a position to listen.
“To sum it up, there are a lot of people who have a job but aren’t even prepared to do it.”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“Those who can barely make a living in the Adventurers’ Guild are so busy living that they cannot even prepare the minimum equipment to maintain the roads, guard the roads, or escort the merchants who trade with them. It would be like having no clothes to go shopping when you get out of the house to go shopping. Or rather, they don’t have the money to buy clothes.”
“You mean they can’t afford weapons or armor?”
“It’s a problem before that. It is difficult to prepare even a water bag for a short expedition, a bag of provisions, and a bag to carry supplies in.”
In fact, most of the people who spent the daytime at the Adventurers’ Guild were like that. They barely eat every day. If they are not good, they cannot find work, and they will be homeless. In fact, there were many of them who couldn’t even eat.
“Then they could only get jobs in the city that were quick and easy.”
“That’s right. Many of them couldn’t afford the equipment, so they could only do light work in the city, such as carrying loads.”
“…That’s more serious than I thought. But we can’t just give charity to those people.”
“I agree. If we were to give them a small amount of money that would allow them to get some equipment if they registered with the Adventurers’ Guild, people who don’t intend to be adventurers might rush to the Adventurers’ Guild and try to snatch that small amount of money.”
“Well, it’s not quite the same as giving preferential treatment, is it? So I have a suggestion. Why don’t we give some money to the Adventurers’ Guild and set up a support system?”
“A support system. Loaning money to those people? I don’t think they’ll come back.”
Yeah, Isla is right; I totally agree with her. Even if we were to give a small amount of money to people who are trapped without food or shelter, saying, “Go get your equipment ready with this,” there is a very high possibility that they would spend it on something else.
“We don’t give them the money directly; we provide them with the equipment. We give them a set of equipment with the Adventurers’ Guild logo engraved on it, and then we take some of the money out of the reward they receive for completing the job.”
“If they don’t eat or drink, won’t some of them sell the equipment they receive and turn it into money?”
“I think it’s okay as long as the equipment is stamped with the Adventurers’ Guild’s logo indicating that it was provided by the guild. We will also distribute food tickets at the same time.”
“Food tickets?”
“Food tickets are issued by the Adventurers’ Guild and are given to diners and inns that have signed up as food ticket dealers, allowing them to eat without paying. The restaurant or inn that receives the food ticket can then take the food ticket to the Adventurers’ Guild or the government office and receive money for it. The advantage for the restaurant would be the possibility of gaining future customers and the name value of being a trusted restaurant recognized by the Adventurers’ Guild or the government.”
“Well… That’s interesting, but it’s a lot of work. There are criteria that must be established, and there is also the question of whether the national government or the Adventurers’ Guild will be responsible for this. It seems like a matter of interest.”
It would certainly be a bit of a concession. Food ticket stores will be flooded with adventurers who are desperate for food, and the more such adventurers come, the more money the Adventurers’ Guild or government office will receive. Being certified as a dealer itself will be a kind of concession, and the organization that does the certification―in this case, the Adventurers’ Guild or the relevant department of the government office―will receive a concession.
If a new department is created in the government office, the number of posts will increase, and this will be another concession.
“Just throw in all the details.”
“Are you angry?”
“No, no, I think it’s a good idea to throw it all to the Adventurers’ Guild. In a sense, it would expand the authority of the Adventurers’ Guild, and there would be more positions available within the guild. The government would provide some subsidy, and we could work out the details and make it better. I think it could be a bitch to approve the proposal and pay for it once it’s been boiled down to a certain level.”
“Hmm…”
Melty pondered my proposal. Perhaps Melty’s position is that it would be fine if the tax revenue from the Adventurers’ Guild increased more than the subsidy paid, with the state having the final authority.
The question is how to allocate the manpower.
“I’ll be the liaison to the Adventurers’ Guild. I’m the one who suggested it, and more importantly, I’m not involved in any meetings related to the Holy Kingdom, so I have time to spare.”
“It’s not that I have any ill intentions to keep Kosuke away from the people of the Holy Kingdom, you know?”
“I know, but it’s not in my nature for me to just sit around and do nothing while Sylphy and the others are working. I want you to understand that I want to do something for the kingdom of Merinard.”
“Nnn… if you say so.”
“It’s good that Kosuke-san is making a move, but the financial resources are…”
Melty’s question is answered with a gem source stone between the fingers of my left hand and a mithril ingot in my right hand.
“Well, if they are scattered around too much, it will cause a collapse in value, so I’d like you to moderate the amount.”
“Then there is a way of making and supplying the actual goods supplied by the Adventurers’ Guild.”
“That would damage the industry in Merinesburg and the surrounding area, so please don’t do that. I understand, the financial resources will come from――”
“Oh, and I’ve deposited a good number with the Merchant’s Guild for investment.”
I will have to go to the merchants’ association and talk to them about that as well. Well, there is a lot of work to be done.
“Kosuke-san? I’m really troubled when you do things like that without my permission.”
“Please forgive me.”
Melty pinches both of my cheeks with a powerful full-blown smile. I apologize; please forgive me! When Melty pinches and pulls on my cheeks, it seriously shreds my cheek flesh, no joke!
“Hah… it’s already done, so I won’t say any more, but I’m really asking you for it, okay?”
“It’s because I didn’t have any money at my disposal…”
“That’s a problem. Melty?”
“Yes, I don’t know if I’ll be able to come up with enough to be worthy of a royal handout, but I’ll take some out of the treasury… or rather, almost all of it was earned by Kosuke-san in the first place.”
“After all, we owe everything to Kosuke… It’s not our place to tell you not to do this or that, not to spend money without permission, or not to use your abilities without permission.”
Sylphy’s tension started to drop suddenly for some reason, so I ruffled her head on my lap. Hmm, I never get tired of this silky touch, no matter how many times I touch it. I should do it in moderation because if I ruffle my hair too much, it will get messed up.
“Let’s not talk about that. We’re both in this together, and that’s fine.”
“Yeah.”
“Isn’t it strange that Isla is the one to answer that?”
“First come, first served. More importantly, Kosuke…”
“Yeah?”
When I looked at Isla, her eye was very fixed. What’s the matter?
“If you want to study magic, you have me here.”
“Well, Isla seems busy――”
“I’m here.”
“No――”
“I’m here.”
Isla’s big eye becomes cloudy. To be honest, I’m quite scared.
“Yes, I’d like to have Isla-Sensei teach me too.”
“That’s good.”
I was defeated, and when I asked her for help, Isla nodded her head in satisfaction. I’m going to be learning about magic from both of them. I guess I won’t be bored for a while. Hahaha.
Thanks for the chapter
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I think this is the second time Kosuke has spent gems and metal as money, only for them to warn him off of doing so.
Only this time they actually acknowledged that for all that Kosuke does to finance the kingdom. Not once did they give him any kind of monetary payment, leaving him the only option of something as good as money.
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to be completely fair, he earned the money via his abilities, and from a marketing and financial standpoint, they’re kinda right for warning Kosuke. Like mans still has to learn the culture there and it shows in the chapters. His ideologies from Japan specifically make it hard for him to do certain actions which would be normal on Earth in Japan. Not to mention while they are an advance society, technologically they’re far lacking in terms of mass production. Lastly the fact they recently liberated the Merinsberg kingdom also puts strain on their domestic affairs and the people don’t have a lot of savings to begin with.
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Part of the issue is probably the issue of scarcity or rather the lack thereof. Given that their country’s funds are mainly from the MC, it’s fair to assume that it’s mostly in the form of gems and metals as well. If he starts dumping lots of gems and metals into the market and floods it, that causes the price of gems and metals to drop which means the country’s finances will also take a hit since most of their funds are in the form of the now depreciating gems and metals.
Also, it’s not like the liquidity of gems and metals are that great either since if you sell off too much at once, you’re flooding the market as well which means you’re losing money so you have to release the gems and metals at a slow rate to make sure the markets aren’t flooded.
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The answer is not to sell them domestically but to the foreign merchants instead. I bet my beard that these Dragonis Mountain Kingdom guys would be happy to get a justified cut from distributing them to the surrounding parts of that continent. My guess is that Melty has severe lack of trusted personnel available to her and still tries to do everything personally like in earlier days, which is no longer viable due to the growing scale of affairs. In other words it’s no longer a financial issue, it’s a bureaucratic issue.
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It’s like what Exfernal wrote: The key is to sell the gems, metals and such is to sell them to foreigners. That way the impact of “flooding the market” and decrease in value is mostly contained in other countries or at least much more distributed.
That said, I’m disappointed that MC has not yet suggested the idea of Merinard minting their own currency. He has the precious metals to do that in spades. This could solve some of this issue and, potentially, help their economy.
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Thanks for the chapters
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I wonder why the three big girls who are his previous escort didn’t mention anything or why didn’t Kosuke consult them as well
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Quote, “Then there is a way of making and supplying the actual goods supplied by the Adventurers’ Guild.”
While I understand why this suggestion was shot down immediately, I don’t believe the counter-argument was thought through thoroughly. Yes, the counter-argument does have merit. But the point is that – in the short term – there exists a HUGE need for waterskins and other adventurer equipment that, in all likelihood, local craftsmen would be unable to supply for a long time (probably a backlog of months). We’re talking enough equipment to outfit hundreds or thousands of new adventurers… right? How many waterskins can a typical leatherworks shop create in a day? (And that’s assuming they don’t already have orders to fill for other customers.)
I think it’d be best if something like half of the needed equipment was created by MC, himself, as an absolute bare minimum for the immediate need, while the remaining half would be supplied by orders sent to local craftsmen to be filled in the coming weeks and months. I bet MC could even provide SOME of the raw materials needed for the adventurer’s equipment directly to said craftsmen – such as a certain amount of thread, leather and steel – without breaking the economy. That should speed up the production speed.
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