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Volume 2 Chapter 11-1: Lucy and Kuu

 

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Once I returned to Erucy I headed to the storehouse by the former-chief’s house.

The storehouse only contained food and valuables so I would place the money inside there as well. This was a location that only I had the key to.

I went to grab the bag full of money from the top of the carriage, but it was quite heavy.

After all despite the money being in small coinage, the coins themselves were fairly heavy. The money in the Empire was made of considerably pure metal, so just one of them weighed 40 grams. Carrying a bag of 2,000 of them would make the weight reach 80kg.

After struggling and storing it away in the warehouse I also stored the jute bag inside there as well.

I opened the jute bag and checked it to see that it contained several smaller bags of around 500g capacity.

Inside of them was brown sugar.

「I didn’t think I’d be able to obtain this stuff in my lifetime here.」

Sugar was extremely precious. The sugarcane needed to manufacture it could only be grown in warm climates. The continent where Erucy and the Empire were located could not produce it. To obtain it we had to cross the sea and import it.

However, because of the lack of shipbuilding techniques and the relative inexperience of sailing techniques, coupled with the complex terrain beneath the sea caused the stormy waters to be hard to navigate. Furthermore along the coastline the water spirit race would attack ships that passed through their territories and sink them. This caused the price of imported goods to skyrocket.

Even worse was that the Empire was quite far inland, so the goods would have to pass through numerous checkpoints and official roads before reaching us. This added a large amount of taxes to the price as well.

Even so, the demand for sugar was abnormally high. It was nearly seen as a symbol of status for rich Nobles to buy sweets to eat. Sugar was so expensive that you would be lucky to buy a single kilogram for a gold coin (60,000 yen). It was nearly to the point that you couldn’t buy it even if you had money.

This 10kg bag of sugar was worth upwards of 10 gold.

「If I spread around the method to make sugar from sugar beets then this should change quite a bit…but it seems pretty difficult.」

I grumbled to myself. Sugarcane was not the only way to obtain sugar.

For example you could use sugar beets that could grow in cold climates.

If you took the roots, cut them up, boiled them, and crystallized the juice you would obtain sugar.

Because of both quality and how easy it was to make, this method of manufacturing sugar surpassed that of sugarcane on Earth.

Even if we couldn’t find sugar beets I’m sure there was some kind of substitute that could be found.

Furthermore there was one more method I could think of…

「If I think solely from the perspective of Erucy then it’d be best if the sugar beet method is never discovered. It would make this method we could only use during the winter much more valuable.」

If these sweets were to become widespread then demand would increase exponentially and our business would boom.

It was nigh impossible for Erucy to become completely self-sufficient, plus chances to earn free money like this were rare. It was indispensable that we stabilized our income by using outside currency.

After around two months things should take shape.

Now that I’d finished my tasks in here…I had some more private business to take care of.
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I returned to Lucy and my home.

「Cyril welcome back. Where’d you go today?」

Lucy returned home before me and greeted me with a smile.

The preparations for winter were mostly complete, so most of the elves had free time. In contrast the Fire Foxes were still getting ready to raise the goats I would bring as well as readying themselves to produce the specialty products I had thought of. They were quite busy.

I had thought that shifting some of the work to the elves would be good, but without the fire foxes’ command of fire magic their efficiency fell straight to the bottom. Plus this was another way for the Fire Foxes to show off their usefulness so I allowed them to take on the burden.

The Fire Foxes trusted me and Kuu was there with them too. They were able to accept things as they were.

It was better than letting rumors spread that I was babying the Fire Foxes and favoring them over the Elves.

I hoped that most of these issues had been resolved by the party yesterday, but it was better to put preventative measures in place.

「Today I met with a bigshot from the Empire and exchanged the hostages for ransom. We shouldn’t have any more money issues for a while.」

Once she heard that, Lucy shook a bit as she struggled to find words to say before crying out…

「Why did you do something like that alone! Tell us before you do things like that!」
「If I’d told you guys about it then you’d just worry about me. Plus there’d be at least one or two who ask to follow along right? It would’ve taken a while to convince you and I didn’t have the time.」

The situation today was one where I had no leeway to protect someone else while fighting. Because I was alone I could act freely.

「I know that but…I understand what you’re saying Cyril but…it still makes me feel lonely.」

Lucy said in a whisper.

She probably felt sad that I hadn’t needed her.

「Lucy, there are many situations where being alone is more advantageous…however there are plenty of times when it’s impossible for me alone. At those times I will properly ask for your help. Leaving that aside…I have something to ask.」

In a sense this was the true issue.

「I was thinking to go to the Choline Kingdom in a day to shop in the city of Erin…I wanted to know if you’d come with me. I need your help Lucy.」

I had thought of various things and realized this shopping trip would be a huge hassle to handle on my own. At the very least I would need to bring Lucy and Kuu.

「….you need me?」
「Of course, if it isn’t Lucy it’s no good.」
「Got it! Then I’ll come with.」

Lucy said with a happy smile.

I looked at her with a wry smile.

I’m sure she wanted me to rely on her more. I truly believe she didn’t need to worry about things like that.

I wish I could convey how much she had already helped and saved me.

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