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Chapter 70: A Hint of Gunpowder

We spent the night in the newly named Barbar port town of Orve, and the next morning, I decided to head for the trade city of Livonia.

I was going to pick up the Kiritei tribe.

「Uuuuncle Atos. I’m counting on you.」

「Mm! Leave it to me! Gaia, watch yourself so those Livonia merchants don’t fleece you.」

「Understood. I’ll be careful.」

Leaving Uncle Atos in charge during my absence, I set off for the trade city of Livonia, bringing along my wife, the elf Jessica, and Rosso of the Giant Lizard tribe.

We led three Viking ships.
Each carried timber.

Rosso eyed the timber curiously.

「Hey, Gaia. Why are we carrying wood?」

「It’s a sample.」

「A sample?」

「Yeah. To show to the Livonia merchants.」

We were headed for the trade city of Livonia, but it was more like a quick turn back from Orve to fetch the Kiritei tribe.

If we kept them waiting too long, they might get anxious, or worse, get into trouble with the locals.

Ideally, I’d have gathered trade goods from within Barbar first before heading to Livonia. But we just didn’t have the time.

So I decided to load the Viking ships with what was readily available near Orve, timber cut from the nearby area.

We couldn’t load massive logs onto Viking ships, so we brought along planks and cross-sections of tree trunks.
Just by looking at them, they’d get an idea of the type, quality, and girth of the wood.

Barbar has all sorts of natural resources.
Timber is plentiful.
I want to sell anything that can be sold, including wood.

As I explained, Rosso tilted his head.

「Hmm… Can we really sell wood? Trees grow everywhere, don’t they?」

「True… I think so too. But hey, it’s worth a shot. Better than running empty.」

Running a ship takes a crew.
You’ve got to pay them.
And the ship itself wears down.

Maintenance costs are a thing.

Expenses, doing anything costs money. It was true back in modern Japan before I was reincarnated, and it’s just as true in this world.

So, if we’re going somewhere, we should avoid going empty-handed as much as possible.
Better to travel with goods to trade.

Catching on to my thinking, Jessica chimed in.

「Gaia. You won’t know until you show it to the merchants. It might sell, it might not. But the worst thing is doing nothing.」

「Right!」

「Rosso’s an idiot.」

「Why!?」

The three of us, me, Jessica, and Rosso, continued our lively banter as we sailed on.

, Three days later, just past noon. The trade city of Livonia came into view.

「Whoa! Lots of ships!」

Countless vessels were docked along Livonia’s piers.
They were all stout merchant ships.

Gauche barked out orders while scurrying about the deck like a hyperactive monkey.

「Drop the sails! Grab the oars!」

We furled the sails, slowed the ships, and rowed carefully toward the port.
With this many ships around, blind spots were everywhere.
We could easily collide with a barge or something, an accident waiting to happen.

Gauche stood at the bow, shouting instructions, and we slowly brought the ship to the pier.

As soon as we stepped onto the pier, a Livonia official hurried over.

「Ah! Folks from Barbar! We’ve been waiting for you!」

The official looked relieved.
I got a bit worried, had something happened?

「I’m Gaia, chieftain of Barbar. Is there a problem? The Kiritei tribe isn’t causing any trouble, are they?」

「The Kiritei folks have been well-behaved. The issue is with the ships. We’ve managed to arrange the vessels you requested, but the port’s extremely congested. At this rate, we’ll run out of space to dock them.」

So it was the port congestion he was concerned about.
Still, it struck me as odd. The trade city of Livonia, true to its name, has a pretty large port.

The Kiritei tribe that submitted to Barbar numbered a hundred and ten.

Barta went ahead of us, so only a hundred and nine would be traveling by ship.
That’s a lot, sure, but enough to overwhelm the port?

I voiced my doubt to the official.

「Gaia-san, don’t forget about the horses. Over a hundred of them. And we need to load feed and water for them too.」

「Ah, right! Of course!」

Right, the horses!
The Kiritei tribe are nomads. Their horses are like family, precious assets.

We returned each Kiritei their horse after taking them as prisoners.
So yeah, with close to a hundred horses, transporting them would be no small feat.

I slipped the official a few silver coins.

「We set sail tomorrow morning, back to Barbar’s port town of Orve. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I’m counting on you.」

The official quickly pocketed the coins and offered a bright smile.

「Leave it to me!」

What a shameless guy.

「Gaia-san. The Chief of Commerce wanted to see you.」

「Chief of Commerce? Who’s that?」

「He oversees the merchants. You should probably meet with him.」

Here we go.
Not long ago, the merchants of this town gave us Barbar folks the cold shoulder.

But the moment they found out we had the Argeas Kingdom’s endorsement, they did a complete 180.

So shamelessly pragmatic, I don’t even know what to say…

(Still, better they change their tune than not. I’ll just appreciate the cooperation for what it is.)

I decided to accept it and move on.

「Take me to this Chief of Commerce.」

I decided to meet with him.

We met the Chief of Commerce at a trade guild hall near the port.
He was an older, lean man, clearly a retired big-shot merchant.
He welcomed us into a tidy room and offered us seats.

「Hm… So the Chief of Commerce wishes for matters in Livonia to be left to Livonians?」

「That is correct, Gaia-sama.」

The Chief of Commerce smiled pleasantly.
He even addressed me with ‘-sama’.
I had to keep my guard up, this man wasn’t to be underestimated.

「You’re a warrior, Gaia-sama. I’ve heard that the people of Barbar make their living as mercenaries. Best to leave commerce to merchants, wouldn’t you agree?」

「Hrm…」

In short, the Chief was saying, 「It’s fine if Barbar opens a shop here in Livonia, but let local Livonians handle its operation.」

I was torn.
To be honest, I’d prefer to monopolize trade myself, but Livonia is notorious for being closed off to outsiders.
It might actually be smoother to let Livonians run things if I want deals to go well.

So I turned to Rosso and Jessica, who had accompanied me as guards, to hear their thoughts.

「Isn’t it fine? I’m great at tearing things up on the battlefield, but I’ve got nothing to offer when it comes to business. Might as well leave it to someone who knows the ropes.」

Rosso was in favor of leaving things to the locals.

「What do you think, Jessica?」

「I think letting Livonians handle it is a good idea too. After all, you’re the only one here who understands the local language, right? Even if we set up a shop, no one from Barbar could manage it without being able to communicate.」

「True. And I can’t stay in Livonia forever either.」

Switching to Argeas Kingdom’s language, I responded to the Chief of Commerce.

「I’ll accept your proposal, Chief. But tell me, do you have someone trustworthy to run the shop?」

「Of course! I’ll introduce you to someone reliable.」

「Reliable from my perspective? Or someone who’s just convenient for you, Chief?」

I tossed that out as a light jab, just to make my position clear.
But the Chief didn’t flinch in the slightest and answered with an unshakable smile.

「Of course, I mean someone who is trustworthy to both of us. Someone who has your confidence and the confidence of Livonia’s merchants.」

He’s clearly a seasoned player.
I decided to just leave it in his hands.

「Fine. Then I’ll leave both the personnel and the storefront arrangement to you.」

「Understood. I’ll find a location in a prime spot.」

With that, the matter was settled.

While I had him, I asked about the timber.
The Chief of Commerce looked at the wood Rosso had brought in and shook his head.

「Timber probably won’t sell well. We have plenty of wood around here. It’s not a rare variety, so I doubt it’ll fetch a price.」

「I see. Hmm…」

「Do the people of Barbar do charcoal burning? Good quality charcoal has a market here.」

「Just a modest one?」

「Modest, yes. There are local producers here too, after all.」

「Doesn’t sound very profitable then.」

「Well, better than running empty ships, at least.」

So, wood was out, and even if we processed it into charcoal, we wouldn’t make much.
But then, as we talked, something started to tug at the back of my mind.

(Charcoal…? Charcoal burning…? Charcoal… wait!)

That tug was a memory from my previous life.
I put a hand to my forehead and bowed it, lost in thought.

(I’m pretty sure… you use charcoal to make gunpowder, right? The components were charcoal… sulfur… and saltpeter…)

The moment I thought about wanting to know how to make gunpowder, the download began.
A flood of information poured into my head.

This forced download still made my head throb no matter how many times it happened.

While I was wincing from the headache, the Chief of Commerce looked at me with concern.

「Gaia-sama? Are you alright?」

「Sorry. Guess I’m more tired than I thought. Please go ahead and prepare the personnel and the store.」

After exchanging farewells, I left the guild hall and returned to the port.
The Barbar folks were camped out in tents on the pier, keeping watch over the ships.

I waved Jessica and Rosso off and slipped into one of the tents.

—If I could produce gunpowder, couldn’t Barbar gain a huge advantage over other nations?

The thought fired me up.
Though, with our current metallurgy, we probably couldn’t produce guns or cannons.

(Then maybe breaching castle gates and walls? That alone would give us a massive edge… or we could use it for mining…)

I focused on gathering my thoughts regarding gunpowder’s uses, then set out to locate the necessary ingredients.

「Sma-Ho!」

I activated my skill.

(Charcoal can be made in Barbar. That leaves sulfur and saltpeter.)

I checked for surrounding resources using the map mode, but found no sulfur or saltpeter near Livonia.
I expanded the search to Barbar’s domain and the surrounding areas.

(Nothing, huh!)

Frustrated, I slapped my knee.
I searched places I’d been to in the Argeas Kingdom and the Vaffancrow Empire using the Sma-Ho’s map mode.

Found some sulfur in parts of Argeas and Vaffancrow…
But still no saltpeter.

(Hmm… no saltpeter, huh…)

I crossed my arms in thought.

To make gunpowder, I’d need a location where saltpeter occurs naturally.
Or I’d have to produce it myself.

From the earlier data download, I now had information on how to make saltpeter.
And it included methods to produce it manually.

But making it from scratch could take years.

Which meant,

(Time to figure out a way to get my hands on saltpeter quickly!)

And with that, I started drafting a plan to acquire it.

The next day, we set out from the trading city of Livonia, leading a convoy of merchant ships carrying the Kiritai tribe, heading for Barbar’s port town, Orb.

Once we arrive in Barbar, it’s time to begin gunpowder production!