episode_0023

When I was young, I thought that way when I looked at textbooks.

Don’t you need some spices or something?

Wouldn’t it be much more profitable to buy and stock up on food with the money to buy spices? Even so, since the production itself isn’t enough, you have to buy a lot from the beginning and store it in the warehouse. If you store things like potatoes like that, they’ll rot, but things like wheat, rice, and barley don’t do that. Doesn’t it last a long time if I store it?

To show off his wealth, he sprinkled a lot of pepper on the meat dish, ruining the taste, and used a lot of gold coins that could be used at any time if stored up… …

But after experiencing it myself, I know.

Before that, I only ate poorly seasoned food, but when I ate it with pepper or something like that, my eyes probably went back.

The difference between a food with or without spices was greater than the difference between it being seasoned and not seasoned.

“Wow… … !”

When I saw the bag Amelia had brought out in front of me, my eyes sparkled.

As soon as you got close to it, you could smell the pungent aroma of red pepper powder. It was a really good product. Even the color was red due to how it was processed.

I reached out my hand without realizing it, but then stopped.

“What’s wrong?”

Amelia asked if she had any doubts when she saw me acting like that while I was craving that red pepper powder.

“… … This is quite expensive, right?”

“Ah.”

Yes, it is an expensive product. No matter how much it is grown for trade, it takes a long time for it to be transported by ship to another continent.

There wouldn’t be a big problem if it only took a long time, but we live in an era where ships are not transported by modern container ships, GPS, and propellers, but are sailed with large sails that are influenced by the wind, with charts drawn on parchment and compasses that are extremely crude compared to modern GPS.

There were probably more than one ship that sank in the process of crossing the sea. And that is why the prices of items from far away were truly jaw-droppingly high, considering modern standards.

“Because I couldn’t prepare the deer… … .”

“Deer?”

Amelia tilted her head at my muttering,

“Oh, by any chance, it was Lady Elsey who paid three deer in exchange for sugar at the trade?”

He said that with an expression that he finally understood.

“Yes.”

My answer was concise. It’s true, so I can only answer that way.

The biggest city you can stop by to go to another area from here is the village near Grand Duke Castle. I haven’t been there yet, but it seems to be so big and crowded that it can’t be compared to Delki City.

I would like to go there later if I get a chance.

“Were those deer sold properly?”

To be honest, I was a little worried when I handed it over.

When the merchant said that it was not an item that sold as well as cows, I slaughtered three cows and sold them at three times the price. The man looked surprised, wondering if I had paid too much, but the merchant was a merchant, so he made such a profit. I couldn’t have refused.

The moose that lives near Delqisi is larger than most cows. It would certainly have been sold for a good price in the big city.

“… … eight… … Yes, I heard it sold well.”

Amelia nodded slowly and said. Of course, Amelia can’t know everything that the merchant buys and sells, so she will have to remember it through what she heard.

“ That’s good. Then, next time I buy sugar, I can pay a similar price. ”

“… … At that time, make sure to serve it not alive, but dead and processed.”

He says the same thing as the merchant.

Isn’t it much fresher and better to buy live food and process it rather than dead food? No matter how cold the northern region is, transporting it that way can cause many problems.

Well, the merchant is an expert, so he probably knows a lot better than me. There must be a reason. If you ask me to prepare that way, I guess I can prepare it that way. Even Amelia said that.

“Then this is… … ”

“Think of this as a gift. There is no need to consider the price. Originally, nobles exchanged various gifts, and those often included valuable items.”

“But… … I heard that if you receive a gift like that, it is customary to give something similar.”

“That’s true, but… … .”

After hearing my answer, Amelia thought for a moment and then shrugged her shoulders.

“Then, put it on credit for now.”

“Trauma?”

“Yes. I won’t bother charging interest, so just put it on credit… … Oh, no.”

Amelia said, smiling at me.

“Instead of paying it back with money, how about paying it back with help later when you need help? Then, not just this once, but next time too, you can get amazing spices and food ingredients like this.”

“… … .”

“… … Why did you suddenly become silent?”

When I narrowed my eyes and looked at Amelia, she asked, looking a little embarrassed.

“Human resources are not as expensive as you might think.”

I know the prices of the people of Delkisi.

Oh, of course, that doesn’t mean we’re being sold like slaves. That’s not what it means, it’s just that we know the price offered by those who hire people from Delkisi because they need them.

The price was by no means cheap, but it wasn’t ridiculously expensive either. In the first place, the only people who could hire people from Del Kishi were people who knew the people of Del Kishi, and that’s why the people of Del Kishi didn’t bother charging high prices.

Above all, if it is too expensive, it becomes impossible to make money from outside in that way. It may be different if there is a war, but in these peaceful times, if you ask for a lot of money simply because you are powerful, it is impossible to get hired.

So, it would take me, who is the weakest among the members of the Delki clan and with poor swordsmanship skills, an incredibly long time to repay such an expensive item with labor. Of course, it might not take much to buy a sack of pepper powder. ‘The price of a cow’, no. If it’s not just one animal, you only need to do the work of several animals.

But if we continue to receive materials in the future, the story will be different.

“No, I didn’t mean it that way… … .”

And Amelia was a little embarrassed by my reaction and said that.

Of course, Amelia is not a villain, so she probably didn’t really trap me when she said that. Amelia had a personality that didn’t care much about the gender of others, to the point where she ended up dating women in the future, but it took her a while to accept that.

therefore… … Well, I knew that he didn’t really say that to put a leash on me.

“If possible, I would like you to tell me the price. If you have a debt, you have to repay it clearly. Not with something vague like labor, but with the right product.”

“… … .”

When I spoke clearly, Amelia thought for a moment and then nodded.

“Okay, then we will do that. We will set a clear price and charge you properly.”

Although it sounds a little scary when you say it that way.

Still, the price would not be high enough to require killing and handing over all the animals found in the forest.

“So, what are you going to make with this? Do you have any recipes in mind?”

“Oh, that is.”

Actually, I don’t have anything in mind. I wasn’t originally a chef or anything.

But, it’s red pepper powder.

You can eat it anywhere and it will be delicious.

The fact that I could taste something spicy for the first time in a long time made me feel excited from the depths of my heart.

*

The reason Elsie said those things to me was probably because she thought I was still a villain.

Although I haven’t shown my evil side openly yet, I guess they believe that I will fall someday. If I truly become a ‘villain girl’, the promise I made to Elsie will literally become a shackle.

It doesn’t look like a child.

However, this does not mean that the identity can be revealed right away.

In the first place, a person who is possessed by a novel they like cannot help but be hostile to other possessors. Usually, in a novel with two possessors, the other one is a villain.

Having experienced many aspects of social life, I don’t think so, but if the other person is really young, they may judge it that way based on the novels they have read.

Let’s take a little more time and let the other person naturally realize that there is no hostility.

“What should I eat? Should I just season the vegetables first? If you put anything in the noodle dish carelessly, you might end up ruining it, so let’s choose a method that won’t fail first!”

Seeing Elsie making a choice that befits a Korean, I smiled bitterly.

After all, I’m too young to think.

If you say it like that, it’s too obvious.

Well, I guess I’ll do that because I don’t know that I’m possessed.