Now, on to the Kaede Trading Company.
　I've taken the liberty of ordering a ship, but it's not just for me to get sugar, it's for the business of the Chamber of Commerce.
　If they rely on me for their infrastructure, I won't be able to move freely.

　That's why I came to the Kaede Chamber of Commerce.
　Unlike the Catherine's Shop, this one looks like a normal store in town.
　The store seems to have been completed, and there are regular customers.
　Well, they probably haven't finished making the dried meat with the ingredients I brought yet, so the taste is probably irrelevant.

"Is Mercia there?

　It's faster to ask than to observe, so I quickly talk to the waiter.
　The waitress looks familiar, and it's not surprising that she remembers my face.
　He is the owner.

He's the owner. 　I think the manager is in the warehouse.

Yeah, I'll go there then.

　I remember where the warehouse is.
　I followed the same route as the other day and got there without getting lost.
　I showed my directionlessness in Ayn, but I'm not so directionless that I can't find my way to a place I've already been.
　In the warehouse, the employees (two men and a woman) are dismantling Galden, and Mercia is watching them.
　I wonder if he is supervising.

"Hey, Mercia, how's the store doing?

Yes, it's not too bad, about where we expected it to be.

　Mercia turns around and replies.
　I wonder if she actually knew I was here, that she could respond correctly to someone who was suddenly speaking to her out of the corner of her eye.

Not so good, huh?

"I think the store is slightly in the red at the moment. 　We just buy and sell things that can be bought at other stores at normal prices, so there's no way we can compete with the stores that have been doing business here for a long time.

　Well, you can't win.

I'll have to start selling the meat I bring in.

"Yes. 　The profit from sales is small now, but it's a waste to let the employees I've prepared be idle, so I'm selling what I've purchased to train them as shopkeepers.

　Yeah, I'd say that's a very sensible way to run a store.
　Since we have an advantage in terms of purchasing, there is no need to play strange games in other areas.
　Everyone is trying to make a living in business, so there is nothing that can be done by playing a strange game.
　There have been successful tactics such as selling at a huge discount, destroying other stores, and then raising the price to make a profit, but that was only possible with cheap procurement routes and tremendous scale.
　It might be possible to do it in my place, but it would be resented, so it's best to do it the normal way.
　It's unlikely to succeed, though, since the meat is being force-fed from the demon realm.

The plan is going well, I guess. 　By the way, I found some sugar cane on an island I stopped by the other day, and I'm thinking of growing it.

"Growing sugar cane?　I don't think you can get permission to grow sugar cane, do you have permission?

　No permit?
　Is it possible that the reason we haven't found any sugar so far is not because we don't have any farmland, but because it's forbidden?

"You need a permit to grow sugar cane?　What do you mean?

Sugar cane does not cause demons, but it does increase the number of demons from nearby demon territories, so it is generally not allowed to be grown.

I'm thinking of growing it on an island. Can you manage that?

On an island?　That's a possibility, but there are no islands with good farmland, you know?

That's what we're going to build. 　If we use magic to wipe out all the trees on the flat, forested islands in the demon realm, we'll have fertile, demon-free islands.

　I've heard that flying demons are rare even in Decibatore, so building a shelter would be safer.

What about ships and ports that can reach the island in the demon realm?

"I've already ordered a ship to carry people to the shipyard. 　We don't have a port, but we'll use small flying ships instead. 　And I'll carry the supplies.

　Mercia gave a little thought to my words, then gave a small nod.

It might be possible to get by with that. 　But that would require a lot of initial cost, and if it fails, you'll be in the red.　Didn't you want to keep the business small to reduce the risk?

It's about meat, which has always been an important industry here. 　I have the money, and I'll take the responsibility once the permit is granted.

"Okay!　Shall we go apply now?

　You're so quick, I can't help but notice a twinkle in your eye.
　By the way, I remembered that Mercia came to my house because she wanted to do business.
　If a big and interesting deal suddenly came to her, she might react like this.

"Can I have the dried meat?

It's a job I can handle without me, but I just thought you should know about it. 　I have experienced people I can leave it to.
"Is the manager not as busy as you think?

"In a normal store, the manager would also be the clerk, so I don't have much to do. 　However, considering the future, I would like to keep a certain number of well-trained employees, so I hire as many as I can.

　In other words, you're not working.
　It's not like you're slacking off.

Are you going to apply?

"Yes.

　Well, that's why I went to the commercial guild to apply.
　Apparently, it's not something that can be decided only by the members of the commercial guild, and it will take some time to ask the mayor of Decibatore.
　To be precise, they said that the commercial guild could give permission, but to avoid problems, they would ask other places, but the result was the same.

Will the permit be granted?

　Mercia murmured in a worried voice.



I'll go directly to the mayor and see if he's okay with it. Assuming the application goes through, go ahead and get the people and other things you need.

What if it doesn't?

What if it doesn't?" "Well, we'll probably lose some money, but there's a lot of money in logging. 　I'll give you about 100 million through the commercial guild, so keep it within that amount.

"Understood. 　The workers will be slaves?

That's the best way. Regular workers are a pain in the ass.

　Sugar cane is a slave.
　I don't want to turn it into a black company, but I don't want them to want to go home after I brought them to the island.
　I feel that the permit has already been approved, but I can't help it because I feel it will be approved.

"Now for the last task of the day, making sugar from sugar cane.

　He pulls out a piece of sugar cane.

"That's important, because it's not good to prepare sugar when you don't know if it can be produced.

You're right. 　Do you have any tools for sugar production?

I don't know. 　I don't know. I'm not an expert in that area, and it's probably been about a hundred years since most sugar production stopped. ......

"If there was, does it still exist? 　...... Hmm?　Almost?

Yes. 　It's a very small amount, and it's in a distant country, but in Mecklenburg, sugar is produced for the nobility.

　A faraway country. ......
　You can't go to a distant country at this time when you are preparing to attack Brokens.
　Considering the construction of the outer wall, it will be necessary to stay close to here for a while.

It's enough that we know that we can make sugar. 　Let's try some other things. 　Got a big pot?

There's one in the warehouse that we use to boil the dried meat.

Let's go back to the warehouse.

　Back to the warehouse to start the sugar production.
　The first step is to crush the sugar cane and extract the juice.
　Under Mercia's watchful eye, we covered a 60cm-diameter skillet with a cloth she had brought from somewhere, and put about five cane stalks into it.
　Then, water is magically added to the pot so that the cane is properly soaked, and the pot is heated.
　The cloth will be used later to remove the cane.

Will it work? ......

"Well, if it doesn't, we'll try something else.

　"Well, if it doesn't work, we'll try another method." While talking like this, we wait for the temperature to rise.
　The heat was not low, but it took a long time to heat up because of the large amount of water.
　After about 20 minutes, the water was finally hot.
　The next step is to squeeze the juice by magic.

Okay, here we go.

"Yes.

　Two pressure spells are generated inside the pot, facing each other, and the cane is sandwiched between them.
　The pot is fixed rather firmly, so it won't fall over if the water inside moves due to the pressure magic.
　When I looked inside, I found that the cane had been crushed perfectly.

I looked inside and found that the cane had been crushed perfectly, "Okay, now we can probably get the juice out, including the sugar. 　Let's pull it out.

Yes!

　Hold the edge of the cloth and squeeze it to remove the sugar cane.
　I held it with my bare hands, but I didn't get burned, so I went on.
　The squeezed cane was placed on the lid of the pot, and all that was left was to boil it down.
　But.

It's a long story: ......

　Yes, it is.
　It's too long to evaporate all the water in a pot that is 60cm in diameter and taller than that.
　Should I just use magic to heat it all at once?
　But that might burn the sugar, and if you're not careful, you might break the pot.
　No, there's another way to make water evaporate faster.

Okay, let's lower the pressure.

　We can lower the boiling point.

Kiatsu......, what's that?

It's the pressure of the atmosphere. 　You'll see.

　Then I cast a warding spell on the inside of the pot, and use the spell as if I were pulling the air out of the pot.
　Then, the water will decrease in no time.

It's amazing!　This is the power of Kiatsu?

Well, that's about it. Let's finish up. Turn off the fire.

Yes!

　After confirming that the fire had stopped and reducing the pressure further, the liquid finally disappeared from the pot, leaving behind a black lump.
　I took it out, crushed it into small pieces, and put it in my mouth.

Oh!　It's sweet, try it.

"...... Yes!　It's so sweet!

　The sugar seems to have been successfully refined.
　The amount of sugar we had boiled down was less than 300 grams, and it was not white, but it was a success.
　Now that we've got the sugar out of the way, let's go finish blowing up the rest of the decibatore.