by Mamare Touno
Clothes in Elder Tales—which, up until a short while ago, had been “equipment”—boasted a great deal of flexibility.
When exploring or hunting, equipment had to be chosen with an emphasis on practicality. In Elder Tales, unless the clothes were very unique, the basic design concept was medieval European fantasy costumes. In other words, vanguard warriors wore plate armor. The attackers, in the middle, wore chain mail or leather armor.
Healers differed widely from each other, but Clerics like Marielle could wear comparatively heavy equipment, meaning that a lightweight breastplate and leather armor, a tunic, and mantle were probably appropriate. Although it was possible to customize it by adding one’s guild’s crest or dyeing it a little, it wasn’t easy to change the appearance of equipment that had been chosen to be functional.
However, spending time in town brought increased flexibility.
Elder Tales might have been a medieval European fantasy RPG, but its designs weren’t strictly traditional. The artwork had been tailored to suit modern tastes. While medieval European-style fashions were the rule, it had a rather varied fashion culture that included Japanese and ethnic costumes, and even uniforms, maid outfits, and other otaku-esque designs.
Since the subcontracting developers and the operating companies for each of the regional servers had a lot of power regarding model and item data, this was probably only to be expected.
Apparently, the area that mapped to Japan in this world wasn’t as hot and humid as real-world Japan. At this time of year, heading into summer, there was a wide range of fashion options and a huge variety of wearable outfits: casual options like capris and cotton tunic shirts; players in fantasy-style robes, ancient Grecian togas, and even casual Japanese dress; armor and haute couture suits.
Today, Marielle wore a white silk blouse and a long mermaid skirt. She had no jacket, but she’d tossed a cape loosely around her shoulders. The guild’s Tailors had flashed her a V for victory, but she wasn’t sure whether she’d worn the right thing.
“You mustn’t act so nervous.”
Henrietta spoke at her side, still looking straight ahead.
Henrietta wore a black ribbon in her honey-colored hair, which, as always, had a gentle wave to it. Her monotone dress was quite young and girlish.
Looking at her, Marielle thought, It takes guts to have your own style.
“Is this gonna be okay?”
“You mustn’t be uneasy. You have to be aggressive when you go into negotiations. In any case, of all the needles’ eyes that we need to get through, this is the easiest. Even if we fail, we can recover. These aren’t last-ditch negotiations.”
Marielle nodded, agreeing with Henrietta.
The first deal they had to negotiate today was for material procurement. Their material items had nearly run out already. Although they might be all right for tomorrow, the shortage would start to interfere with business by the next day unless they managed to replenish their stock.
Conversely, if these material procurement negotiations succeeded, the Crescent Moon League would be able to concentrate exclusively on cooking and retail sales.
And after that—
We’ll think about that when we get there. Henrietta and Shiro are here, too. If I just stick to my post, he’s bound to do something about it for me. I’ll just give these negotiations everything I’ve got.
“That said… If we manage to make these negotiations a huge success, my next mission will be significantly easier. We’ll have to stay focused going in.”
“Yeeeeek… Quit puttin’ more pressure on me…”
Just as Marielle had almost managed to become defiant, Henrietta’s cool retort brought back all her timidity. There were certain things people were good at and certain things they weren’t. She revised her self-assessment: She would never learn how to keep a poker face.
“Hi! Sorry to have kept you waiting.”
The player who’d appeared was a human with hazel hair and keen hazel eyes. His name was Calasin. He was the guild master for Shopping District 8, the third-largest production guild in Akiba.
Calasin greeted them candidly as he closed the door, then took a seat.
They were in a private room in a tavern near Akiba’s central plaza. These rooms could be rented for two hours for a few gold coins, and they were suited to confidential talks.
Marielle and Calasin knew each other.
There’d been a time when they’d gone out hunting together, back when they were both fledgling players.
Since both Marielle and Calasin had started their own guilds, they almost never went anywhere together anymore, but horizontal connections between guilds were surprisingly strong.
When, as with Calasin’s Shopping District 8 and the Crescent Moon League, the guilds’ fields were different, it was particularly convenient for them to cooperate and share information. As a result, Calasin and Marielle were still in contact.
“Wow, Miss Mari, that’s a pretty scary face. What did you need today?”
Calasin spoke casually in a voice grounded in their relationship.
Although they were old friends, Calasin’s Shopping District 8 was on a completely different level from Marielle’s Crescent Moon League.
The Crescent Moon League had about thirty members, and while “mutual aid guild” sounded impressive, it really just meant that the guild was a jack-of-all-trades. It was a guild that midlevel Adventurers joined so they could train in their own ways and adventure with their friends.
Calasin’s guild, Shopping District 8, was an artisan guild, a guild completely specialized to the production classes. It didn’t provide support for combat or exploration. Its members traded materials with one another and exchanged finished items at wholesale prices, and commerce was at the center of its activities. Its enormous membership of seven hundred made it the third-largest commerce guild in Akiba, second only to the Marine Organization and the Roderick Trading Company in size.
Following the Catastrophe, battles had changed dramatically.
Players as experienced as Shiroe and Naotsugu could pick out all sorts of specific ways in which battles had changed, from the performance of individual special skills to the ecology of enemy monsters, but for the vast majority of players, the big change was probably the terror of having to fight for real.
Once a player fought them in person, even monsters of a level they could beat easily were terrifying. Swords, axes, fangs, claws, flames, and curses came at you. Even if they knew logically that they could handle it if their level was high enough, the terror and the smell of blood on the battlefield made more than a few players weak at the knees.
Even if they’d been locked into this other world and fighting monsters was the most efficient way to make a living, more players than one might imagine didn’t want to fight any more than they absolutely had to.
Although she didn’t know the exact number, Marielle estimated that, after the Catastrophe, nearly half of all players had become the type that wanted to avoid battles. With the winds of the era at their backs, the production guilds were seeing explosive expansion.
The Marine Organization, currently the largest production guild in Akiba, had 2,500 members. The second largest, the Roderick Trading Company, had 1,800.
When the seven hundred members of Calasin’s Shopping District 8 were added in, those three alone had a total of five thousand players, and no doubt there were many other small production guilds. This was yet another change the Catastrophe had brought about: There hadn’t been that many players who specialized in production before.
“Well, we’ve got a favor to ask of Shoppin’ District Eight.”
“And what could that be?”
Even though Marielle’s expression was more serious than usual, Calasin responded easily. He’d probably already given thought to what it meant for Marielle to call him at a time like this.
Marielle had made Snack Shop Crescent Moon a success.
To the production guilds, she was o
ne step away from completely owning the food in this world. Just as people who’d grown used to full color couldn’t go back to black and white, players who’d eaten richly flavored food would probably be unable to return to the former, flavorless food items.
As a matter of fact, Marielle had received reports that sales of food items on the market had experienced an abrupt slowdown over the past few days.
Elder Tales was no longer a game.
Whether or not there was a way to return to their former world, until that way was found, this other world was a second reality. They could avoid dying here, but no one could avoid living.
The approximately thirty thousand players on the Japanese server were unable to escape the curse of having to live there.
To exaggerate slightly, at the very least in this far eastern area, Marielle and the Crescent Moon League held the initiative in food provision. At any rate, it must have seemed that way to Calasin.
Wow… Calasin’s got his merchant face on. I guess if you’re runnin’ a big outfit like that, you can’t do things halfway…
That was the impression Calasin’s determined face gave Marielle, even as she herself exuded tension. If Henrietta hadn’t told her that they had the initiative in these negotiations, and to be aggressive, his expression would have given her cold feet.
“It’s about procurin’ supplies. Our guild is goin’ through material items like nobody’s business, and we’re thinkin’ about outsourcin’ the procurement to somebody else. Specifically, we need young venison, lettuce, tomatoes, wheat flour, and potatoes. …Also haru-haru fish and ptarmigan meat. We’ll have to discuss amount and pricin’ details, but assume we’re gonna need a lot.”
“Procurement, hm?”
There was no hesitation in Calasin’s response.
He’d probably seen this coming. To a certain extent, that was only to be expected.
The Crescent Moon League was small. Anybody could foresee that if they continued large-scale sales, they’d run through their stores in no time. If that happened, they’d be forced to stop supplying merchandise.
Both Marielle, who’d asked the favor, and Calasin, who’d just heard it, understood at once that the request took into account the number of members, the amount of materials they could acquire by hunting on their own, and the stores in their storeroom.
“…Amount and price, then. How much?”
In response to Calasin’s question, Marielle took out a note and gave him several figures.
“I see…”
Calasin drew a slow breath; from his expression, he was considering something. He probably wasn’t sure whether or not to accept the request.
Considered normally, this wasn’t a bad deal. A major production guild like Shopping District 8 had vast stores of material items in huge warehouses. Recently, they’d been caught up in the price-cutting wars, and even if they prepared and sold their food items, they wouldn’t bring in much. Selling these items off to someone else at a fair price would be a good way to adjust inventory.
If necessary, they could keep an eye on the market and buy the ingredients Marielle had requested at low prices, then resell them to the Crescent Moon League.
From a business perspective, there was no reason to say no.
That was the conclusion Marielle and Henrietta had reached.
However, that didn’t mean he’d accept it easily. Marielle remembered what Henrietta had told her. “We’ve got everyone’s attention now. Even if it’s a marvelous procurement contract, the other party won’t jump at it. They’ll try to find a way to get a bigger piece of the pie.”
After a short silence, Calasin broke into a sociable smile.
“These would be ingredients for use at Snack Shop Crescent Moon, correct?” he asked.
Marielle smiled. “That’s right.”
“I hear Snack Shop Crescent Moon is doing great business.”
“It is, and thanks for sayin’ so. Our Chefs are pleased as punch that it’s goin’ over so well.”
“…You’re using new recipes, then?”
“Our Chefs are real good.”
Marielle fielded Calasin’s probe with a smile.
Marielle had been beaming her sunflower smile since the very beginning, and to a bystander, it might have looked as if she understood all and was secure in her advantage. However, at this point, Marielle herself was pushed to the limit.
She’d broken out in a cold sweat at Calasin’s question; she was worried she might have let something slip.
However, Shiroe had told her, “No matter what happens, Mari, keep smiling. That’s the most important thing. If you just keep smiling, the other person in charge will help with everything else.”
And so, feeling just a little desperate, Marielle kept right on smiling. It was a bargain sale on smiles. Her green eyes, which tilted down slightly at the corners, softened, and her smile seemed rapturous. Marielle wasn’t aware that her generous bosom and maternal atmosphere worked together to create a natural barrier that allowed no further pursuit.
“We’ll give careful consideration to the procurement proposal, but listen… In order to expand your chain rapidly, Shopping District Eight and the Crescent Moon League could work together to—”
“Excuse me. Calasin, I’m afraid it’s nearly time.”
Henrietta interrupted Calasin, addressing him in a clear voice.
“Time?”
“Yes. Our next contacts are here.”
At Henrietta’s calm voice, Marielle looked a bit guilty; she put her hands together in an apology.
“Sorry ’bout this, Calasin. You and I go way back, so I squeezed you in a bit early, but Henrietta says we really can’t play favorites.”
“Erm… What do you mean, Mari?”
“Uuuu…”
Marielle shot a sidelong glance at Henrietta. At this point, she wasn’t acting. Marielle was never able to match Henrietta, particularly where financial outlay was concerned.
“We’ve set up negotiations with the Marine Organization and the Roderick Trading Company as well, with regard to a different matter…”
“A different matter?”
“Right. Y’see, it’s… About fundin’, I guess you’d say. About Crescent Moon sales.”
“—!”
Shopping District 8 might have been the third-largest production guild in Akiba, but the Marine Organization and the Roderick Trading Company were even larger. The membership of the Marine Organization alone was triple that of Shopping District 8; it was an enormous guild. If big money like that was about to join the negotiations, Calasin and his guild would be left without a leg to stand on.
“We don’t want to leave anybody out in the cold, and we owe Shoppin’ District Eight, y’know? Like I said, we go way back. I’d love to have Shoppin’ District Eight join the talks, too. …But Henrietta says we have to get the procurement business settled first or no can do.”
“‘Settled’…? Mari, you know we can’t even advance to the next step unless we get our current supply environment in order.”
Henrietta frowned at Marielle’s words a moment prior, admonishing her as though she were a young child.
“Wait, Mari, Miss Henrietta. What is the Crescent Moon League planning? What do you mean, ‘funding’?”
At Calasin’s question, Marielle’s lips parted slightly. Henrietta put a slender finger to those lips, then turned back to Calasin.
“How much is Shopping District Eight willing to pay for that information?”
Henrietta’s enigmatic gaze pierced Calasin. The procurement deal wouldn’t be a bad one for Shopping District 8 either way. He narrowed his eyes slightly, then made up his mind and spoke.
“Shopping District Eight will accept your request and the corresponding responsibility. We’ll provide you with 3,200 each of young venison, lettuce, tomatoes, wheat flour, potatoes, haru-haru fish, and ptarmigan meat. The first delivery will be made early in the morning of the day after tomorrow. …Your cost will be fifty th
ousand gold coins.”
“Forty thousand.”
“…All right. I, Calasin of Shopping District Eight, accept this contract.”
“Oh, good. It’s better for you this way, too, right, Calasin?! C’mon, let’s let him sit in on the next set of negotiations so he can hear what’s goin’ on.”
“Yes, let’s.”
As Henrietta agreed, a bell-like tone sounded in Marielle’s ear, signaling the arrival of their next visitors.
4
“Well, well! If it isn’t two lovely ladies and the young gent from Shopping District Eight.”
“……Hm.”
As announced, the two who’d opened the door and entered were Michitaka, the general manager of the Marine Organization, and Roderick of the Roderick Trading Company.
“Pleased to meetcha! I’m Marielle, guild master of the Crescent Moon League. This is Henrietta, my head clerk.”
“Would you refrain from using antiquated terms like head clerk, please? …As she says, I’m Henrietta. I’m in charge of the accounts.”
The two delivered their greetings in turn. In the old world, Marielle had been nothing more than someone who took it easy at home and helped out with the chores, and Henrietta was a white-collar worker who’d graduated from the department of economics. Although she handled accounting duties and had learned a lot from her father, Henrietta was still just a rank-and-file office worker, and she didn’t really know what sort of expression she should wear at large-scale negotiations like these. Still, both gave introductions that, while awkward, were impressive in their own right.
“Michitaka of the Marine Organization here. General manager.”
The big man who greeted them jovially was built more like a warrior than a merchant. The arm he put out for a handshake was thick and had noticeable burn scars, probably because he was a Blacksmith.
“I’m Roderick, guild master of the Roderick Trading Company. It’s a production guild.”