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Volume 2 Chapter 2-4: Base Company

「Fujinomiya-sama, this is the main office of the Base Company.」

「Ohhh…!」

「How big! Sis’ have you seen anything like this?」

「As for me the temple was around this large but…this is the first time I’ve seen a 5 story building this large.」

Since I had come to this world most of the buildings I had seen were one story. It may have been due to the space limitations, but it was more likely due to lacking the technology to mass produce multi-story buildings.

At this point I had only seen a two story building used for a large store and a three story building in the case of the Lord’s Mansion.

However, this Base Company was the first building that reminded me of a department store in my previous world.

「Because Fresberg has the Zachil Tower there’s some fuss about having tall buildings…the height of the building can indicate your reputation as well.」

I see…having such an amazing Tower that pierces through the clouds  might make you want to compete.

「For that reason the Base Company exclusively hired highly skilled carpenters and devoted them to creating a taller building. What resulted was the completion of this company after 300 days. It was the first 5 floor building in town. After that, several other 5 story buildings popped up around 200 days later, but so far there hasn’t been a 6 story building.」

Mmmmm. Good keep competing like that, hopefully you’ll accelerate technological progress.

Well then let’s leave aside the prideful Will-san and get inside!

「Greetings and welcome to the Base Company! We sell all kinds of products at our shop. Out-of-stock items can be ordered from various Base Companies, and we will also mediate selling for those who wish to do business.

We also purchase magic stones and materials, and if you have any problems, we also dispatch personnel who are suitable for the case from among those who are friendly to us.

For those who are looking for a place to live, we also arrange real estate sales.

Any request you have, we will meet!」

Woah! Another smiling beauty appeared…I couldn’t help but flinch. I’m scared of those unbreakable smiles. Is that the default look of this company…

「Fujinomiya-sama! Why did you leave me behind!?」

「Well…you were acting kind of annoying so…」

「Ugh…I should have expected it…you wouldn’t be timid when faced by a 5 floor building…」

Well obviously, I was from a world where an average building could be 60 stories tall.

「Well, fine. For now we should handle the business we came here for. First we shall meet with the President of the company, my father Anoke Base. I passed on our discussions from yesterday to him so please come this way.」

Will-san took us to the back of the shop and up the employee stairs to the top floor. As expected of a world without elevators it must be irritating to climb up these stairs every time.

As we crested the fifth floor I saw another smiling receptionist at the counter and a big door beside her. It looks like all that was on the fifth floor was the President’s office. It was more likely that this smiling Onee-san was a secretary rather than a receptionist.

「Please inform the President that Willmark has arrived.」

「Certainly」

The smiling secretary nodded with a smile and knocked on the door before entering. Soon afterwards she exited and held the door open while bowing.

「Please enter, President Anoke is waiting for you.」

「Thank you.」

We followed Will-san inside and the first thing that struck me was how wide the room was. As expected of a President’s room that took up a full floor.

Even just covering the floor of this office with a single carpet would cost a significant amount of money. There weren’t any customs in this world in regards to taking off shoes when entering, so any carpet would be stepped on by shoes and end up dirty. I suppose it just showed off their wealth since you could have an expensive carpet even with that.

There is a large window in the back, and there is also a large office desk in front of the window. In front of it is a reception set that seems to be much more expensive than the one in the Lord of Reitoku’s mansion. In addition, there seems to be a private room in the back as there is a door on the right wall along with a bookshelf.

From how the building was constructed I could tell there was some space even further in. It was only a guess but I thought there might a bedroom and bathroom back there.

To the left there was something that looked like a bar counter and smiling secretary #2 stood there. There seems to be various things prepared for receiving guests here.

「Excuse me President, Willmark Base has just now returned.」

Will-san called out in the direction of the desk. More accurately he called out to the man seated there looking through documents.

「Umu, I heard about things. Thank you for visiting Fujinomiya-dono. And welcome to your companions Acolyte Sistina-dono, Hotaru-dono, and Sakura-dono. Please take a seat.」

The man stood up from the chair and offered us a seat. At a glance I saw he was a well-dressed middle-aged man who appeared quite gentle. I had imagined he would be obese like my image of a wealthy merchant, but he was quite slender and well-proportioned.

He should be at least 50 years of age, and his hair was peppered with white, but it was clear he was still in his prime.

『Anoke Base                 Karma: 11               Age: 54           Job: Wealthy Merchant』

Anoke watched as we sat on the soft seats and ordered smiling secretary #2 to prepare drinks.

Then he sat across from us.

「I’m sorry for the delay in introductions, I am the President of this Base Company, my name is Anoke Base. I have invited you to hear about the large business opportunity you spoke to Willmark about. Please treat me well.」

「I am the Explorer Fujinomiya Soujirou. It is great pleasure, and though we may present some unreasonable requests, I hope that both sides can come to a reasonable compromise.」

Ahhh what a pain! This irritating probing and excessive politeness are too much for a high schooler like me, there’s no way I can match up to the business savvy of a successful merchant like him. The burden is too much. Well, after the introductions I can hand off the negotiations to Sistina so it should be fine.

「Well then, please allow us to get to business. Is there anything you would like to buy from our company? I was a bit surprised when I heard from Willmark that it was a transaction that could not be handled by one of our branch offices.」

I could understand why he was a bit suspect about the transaction. And the other party was aware that we knew they were a bit suspect. As such they would use the atmosphere to downplay our transaction and try to lower our bargaining power.

However, in this situation his efforts would end up useless. The price was already decided and we would end it in an instant.

「Yes, then it would be better to show you rather than tell you. Sistina?」

In response to my call, Sistina took out one thing from her backpack, which she had taken care of, and just like the other day gently placed it on the reception table.

*Thump*

Even so 『it』 still made a heavy sound, and Anoke-san made a very similar expression to the one Will-san had made yesterday. It made me think ‘They really are father and son’. But today I waited for Anoke-san to recover from his shock  a little.

Then as the light returned to his eyes and I saw him start calculating profits I spoke up quickly.

「How much would you buy this for?」

「Eh…? Ah, ahh, well…for something like this 5 million….no」

Now Sistina!

At my quick signal Sistina activated her 『Negotiation Arts』.

「I would pay 15 million mars.」

「Understood, then we’ll accept that offer.」

The price negotiations ended as quickly as I thought. This time we were dealing with huge amounts of money so I had decided to use Sistina’s abilities early on.

All that was left was to decide on the timing. It would be best to do so while he was still in shock and not thinking straight. If I let him calm down and calculate properly then he would slowly reduce the purchase price.

That’s why I waited until he was barely recovered from the shock. At the same moment he came to the conclusion on the value of the item I would utilize negotiation arts.

This was similar to when Will-san assessed it yesterday….

『T-this is….at least 5 or 7….but for something this impressive it could go for 14 or 15 million….but because it has specialized uses it would probably settle for around 10 million at the end.』

Or so he had said.

From this, we determined that Will-san will first judge the lowest value, determine the highest value, and then consider how much it could be lowered to through negotiation.

Then considering that Anoke-san was Will-san’s father and mentor they should have similar thought processes when it comes to business. So that is why we interrupted Anoke-san while he was still in the middle of his thought process.

The result was we were able to get the maximum value by drawing him out psychologically and it succeeded. It would be around 150 million yen so I think we did a good job obtaining ourselves a nice price.

With this my beautiful home was much closer at hand.