Arrival at a satellite village

Hello?　My child has fallen and I'm looking for someplace to rest!　And I'll thank you! 　Please, please!

　When I got off the bike and went around the village, an old man came out of the biggest house. He didn't bother to say hello and held out a silver coin to me and asked me for a favor.

I'm sorry to disturb you all of a sudden," he said. My name is Ryota and I'm an exterminator of demons in the Alps. I need to find a place to rest because one of my children has a fever. Would you please lend me this?

　But the old man did not accept the silver coin.

'Please come up, sir. An Alpine exterminator is a safe bet, and if a child falls on the road, it is only natural that he would help. There's no need for money in this famine.

　Then he showed me to the room of his daughter who had recently married. The old man is the village chief of this village. He told me that most of the villagers were away at this time due to farm work.

The bed is really soft. I wonder if the earth antipyretic would work.　Also, something nutritious and easily digestible and...

　I had Pina, who took care of her, train her until she collapsed...
　Goddess, I hope she gets better soon.

'Sir!　I fetched water. I asked the chief for some milk and flour for you.
'Ryota, if you panic, Pina will get worried, right?　Don't worry, you'll be better after you rest.
Anya, thank God. Midia, I'll settle down for now.

　Pina wakes up and I'm a little more relaxed, but I realize what I need to do and take Window Flowers out into the hallway.

'Window flower, sit down there for a minute!　How did Pina do something so reckless that she collapsed?　I hope you didn't expect too much!

　It's a rare situation where I'm preaching to the window flowers.

　Pina hasn't been traveling and living with us for a short time, and she's still a child. She was probably trying too hard not to be abandoned. But it's the window flower's role to prevent that from happening. It's also my misconduct report, but that's why I need to be very careful.　

　You'll need to be very careful. But now that I'm the one who gets angry, I know it's hard to do. Still, I have to be angry with you for forcing Pina to collapse.

　Window flower is blaming herself for the blunder. So he replies but doesn't argue, he sits upright, head down and listens carefully.

　 I can't say that it didn't affect me at all, but I can judge that Pina manipulated the wind on her own to show a good point.

　Oh boy, I don't want to be angry anymore.

　I used to get angry at Window Flower, but I didn't realize it was such a difficult thing to do... but since I called him out on a problem, there has to be some kind of drop-off.

The only thing you need to know is that you're not going to be able to get your hands on any more. The only thing left to do is to make sure that Pina is well taken care of, and to educate her so that she won't overdo it in the future.

　If the window flowers are that loose, I blame me...
　What I've given him is that he deserves to be free of blunders.
　He wants us to be able to show people how to take responsibility for their actions.

　The fact that taking responsibility is not a punishment such as resignation, pay cut or demotion is something that Madoha understands. This is a punishment for those who cannot take responsibility for their own actions.

　What Madoha is demanding is to punish them. It's a wrong way to take responsibility, but responsibility is difficult to convey and understand. But with punishment, only the weight is easy to understand.

　You want to punish someone who can be held accountable just to show them how much they weigh?　Please don't be reckless. I hid Window Flowers in my breast pocket and continued to reprimand him loudly and without specifics, where I had no choice.

　Windowflower is not happy with me trying to get away with acting, and I'm punching and kicking her from inside my pocket. It doesn't hurt or itch with Windowflower's size, but my heart hurts with every smack.

　I'm a sweetheart to myself, and I can't be horrible to my fellow man. Please give me a break with this. I'm at my limit with my acting alone.

　I finished scolding him like that for now, and when I returned to my room, I was mentally limp. I lay down on the floor without a second thought....

It's been empty for a while. Let's get some air. Is this a big pile of........?　This cotton dust ... could it be real cotton?!

　I don't have an armored car so I can't do a thorough inspection, but I'm pretty sure it's cotton first. Excuse me, but why would there be expensive cotton in a village like this?

'Ryota-sama!　The bed cushions are untreated cotton!　Why are you here?

"Midia, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to get back on the bike and bring an armored car with you. I'll ask the village chief. The rest of you take care of Pina.

　To my surprise, cotton was growing wild. The villagers didn't know what it was and were using it as a convenient stuffing material. We were taken to the place where the cotton was growing wild.

　There is a land where there used to be a pond and a river. It dried up a long time ago, and now it's a wasteland with a lot of sand and pebbles. There were plants that grow wildly, but in heavy rains this area could easily be flooded, so it had been left uncultivated.

"Village chief, are these all the plants you used to stuff with stuffing earlier?
Yes, the seeds yield oil, so we harvest them occasionally and stuff the rest of them.

　But it's a hassle to harvest, so it's very wasteful, only when oil prices rise. There are about two football fields' worth of colonies.　

　The cotton plants have adapted to the environment of the Ares continent and have even gone wild. I don't know the exact cultivation method, but it seems that the flowers bloom in summer and the cotton can be harvested in autumn.

　When I went back and rifled through the archives, I found a story that seemed to relate to the library data I had scanned.

　It is written that long ago, a famous explorer found a tree that grew wool and tried to grow it in this area, saying it would make him a lot of money. He failed to sprout, and the story ends with him setting out on another expedition in search of the treasure.

　I don't have any proof, but this may have been a true story in this world. On ancient Earth, Alexander the Great told the story in Arabia and Egypt because of the tropical vegetation, but some believe it was based in southern Greece.

　The Seven Lucky Gods and the Brownies have a great deal of luck.

　It's a battle of wills between the Seven Lucky Gods and the Brownies. It's also a serious matter for the goddess to intercede in. But personally, I wanted to postpone it and let the opening battle continue.

　I negotiated with the village chief to buy some cotton. We succeeded in buying up to three years' worth of cotton from the village's stock, which is a considerable amount, but the money is there. And I also got priority for the cotton trade.

'Ryota-dono, are you willing to buy this strange ball of wool for such a high price?　Maybe it's a thank you for renting me a room, but...

No, chief, it's not expensive.　Have you ever heard of cotton fabric?　...then we'll talk about it. It is the raw material for cotton yarn. It's not as good as the stuff from Perlonia or Riento, but it's a lot cheaper than imported. If we do it right, it will enrich the village.

　It's good enough as an explosive material, but as a fiber, it still needs to be bred. But we can increase it because we have the seeds, and if we can grow it in Ares, we can negotiate a better price. Maybe we can settle for almost half the price.

'My God!　Was it such a valuable thing? If we were ignorant, we would have been able to bargain for it at any price....

"I can't deceive the people who have been so kind to me. But I don't want to pay too much for it.　It's just a little cheaper. But I don't have the power to turn it into a product myself. So I'm going to sell it to a trade association that can turn it into a product, so let me buy it a little cheaper.

　The village chief said he would take care of everything. Priorities are going to be important from now on, and someone will definitely bite the profit if they figure out that cotton. If that's the case, you might as well just bite Robert's company in the ass. They're a big company, and Pepeuro owes them a lot of money.

　The rest is up to Mr. Dionne to bite a piece. I don't think he's going to miss the money tree in the satellite villages of Kishina. I think they will come to take the cotton rights if they hack it. So it is safe to divide the concessions among these people as well.

　Besides, I'm afraid cotton farming and slaves and colonies go too well together.

　It's the Roberto Chamber of Commerce and the Kishina executive branch that sells, and the villages hold the land where the cotton grows wild. I'm the priority for seeds, inventory and trade priority for the next three years. With all these cards, I think I can pull off conditions that won't be slave-grown or exploited.

　I have a good story to tell.
　I'll have Roberto's company and Kishina's company as my watchdogs.

　When I returned to my room after signing the contract with the village chief, I was relieved to see that Pina was feeling much better. I will exchange as much money as possible for bronze, and I will also give her a cotton bow and a spinning wheel later.

　It's better to tell them about the yarn making and to increase their voice in the village.

''Ryota-sama, you can't play in the city if you spend most of your money, right?

'I've got some left, I can visit the stalls. Besides, window flowers, you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't buy this cheap cotton.　Part of the rights will be sold to Roberto and Company. On condition that they keep the cotton in their designated branch office. No more worries about projectiles.

　Window Flower smiled a satisfied smile, then turned into a ferocious smile. Probably, the upcoming business meeting with the Roberto Chamber of Commerce. He's probably making the math to win over it.

''But should I say that this kind of thing is a merit of injury?　More cotton will be available after the harvest.

Yes, I know. But that doesn't change the fact that I made a mistake. The credit goes to Miss Pina.

　He's so stubborn. It's all settled, right?　Window Flower is too stubborn but if Window Flower gets lax, the group will be bankrupt for sure. I'm sorry, but we must rely on you.

　Now that Pina is feeling a little better, shall we go back to the guesthouse in the armored car?



One day, we have a call on the Alliance.

"Ryou!　Listen to me. The next time the dragons get together, we'll hold a planting course at my house!　But we have no pots and flowers to fill them.

"That's the time for the dragon ambassador!　If you tell Lady Sailor, she'll get it for you right away, okay?'