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Volume 9 Chapter 225

H&T Trading Company

「Eh?」
I didn’t understand what Tina was saying.
「This five hundred billion Spina is the money I’ve saved for Haruto-sama」
As I stood there in stunned silence, Tina patiently repeated her explanation.
It seems I hadn’t misheard.
Tina had saved this enormous sum of money, five hundred billion, for my sake.
「If Haruto-sama ever needs it, I’ll give it all to you」
「N-No, it’s okay. I don’t need it! T-that’s a lot of money」
Even though I’m now part of a noble family, I lived in an ordinary household for seventeen years in my original world.
My sense of money is that of a commoner.
If I were suddenly given five hundred billion, I feel like I would go crazy in a manner of speaking.
That’s why I refused—-
「I see……」
Tina looked a bit dejected.
「Ah, s-sorry, Tina. I’m really happy that you earned so much for my sake. Thank you so much」
I hurriedly apologised to Tina, gently patting her head as I thanked her.
Though it might have been excessive, it was an act done out of concern for me.
It wouldn’t be right to disregard it.
I thought the correct response was to appreciate her efforts as much as possible.
「Y-yes! I did my best for Haruto-sama’s sake」
Tina smiled.
That’s a relief. It seems my response wasn’t wrong.
「In that case, I’ll keep the money with me for now. If Haruto-sama ever needs it, just let me know. I can prepare it immediately if it’s less than the amount you saw」
「A-A-Alright, got it. Thank you」
If I were to withdraw all of Tina’s deposit, would it somehow affect the economy of this world?
While prices in this world are roughly the same as my original world, the population here is only about one percent of that world’s.
As a result, the amount of currency in circulation is small.
Even though Tina’s five hundred billion Spina holds the same value as five hundred billion yen in my original world, it would constitute a larger portion of this world’s economy, so it somehow feels wrong to casually move her deposit.
I haven’t studied much about economics, so I can’t explain in more detail why it would be bad.
However, my intuition is telling me it’ll be『catastrophic』.
「By the way, how did you earn this huge sum of money, Tina?」
「How do you think I earned it?」
Tina smiled mischievously.
She probably has something she wants to boast about.
Whenever Tina accomplishes something in secret, she responds to my question of『how did you do it?』with a question of her own.
Then, she gradually drops hints, leading me to the answer.
She always enjoys the process until I arrive at the answer.
「……By hunting high-level monsters and selling their materials?」
「I did that too. However, even if I hunted the highest-ranked monster in this world, like a dragon, it would only amount to about fifty million Spina. Making money by hunting monsters is inefficient」
Well, even so, fifty million from just one dragon sounds pretty efficient to me……
「Oh, let me explain one thing first. S-rank guild cards have slightly different functions than lower-ranked guild cards」
「There is a difference?」
「Yes. S-rank guild cards allow deposits and withdrawals from any type of guild, unlike lower-ranked cards」
Huh?
I’m even more confused now.
Tina’s saying that her guild card, being S-rank, can deposit and withdraw Spina from adventurer, merchant, and artisan guilds.
But I can’t see how that’s related to Tina earning a large sum of money.
「Now, here’s another hint. Who do you think has the most money in this world?」
「I’d say people like…… royalty or nobles, maybe」
「Certainly. Individuals with large sums of money would be royalty or nobles in each country. But looking at the world as a whole, most of the currency is held by merchants. Even kings and nobles buy goods from merchants」
Oh, I see.
……So?
「Does that have to do with anything?」
「Yes. Let me give you another hint. Kana-sama, the Sage, came to this world around the same time, Haruto-sama, the Guardian Hero did, she had a cheat skill that could summon items from Haruto-sama’s world」
Oh, I know about that skill. I relied on it several times.
Kana had the 『Amazonist』 cheat skill, which allowed her to freely summon items like food and weapons from my original world. By the way, summoning requires Spina.
After living in another world for several months, I occasionally longed for food from my original world.
At such times, I gave Spina to Kana and asked her to summon cup ramen, for example.
Summoning weapons from my original world wouldn’t be very useful against monsters and would be cost-ineffective, so Kana’s skill was mostly used to summon food.
「In this world, many foods imitating those summoned by Kana-sama a hundred years ago are widely circulated」
「Ah, so meaning the overall cuisine here has become tastier than a hundred years ago?」
Since regaining memories as the Guardian Hero, I also remember the state of this world a hundred years ago.
Back then, it was quite rare to find food that you could declare as delicious.
However, now there are plenty of delicacies in this world.
「That’s correct. Among them, the best-selling item is mayonnaise」
That is true, currently, mayonnaise is a popular condiment, second only to pepper, for the people in this world.
Its sales are also quite substantial.
「Is that so……」
Ah!
Could it be—
「Was it you who popularised mayonnaise in this world?」
「Hehe, that’s correct, Haruto-sama」
Tina patted my head.
Lately, I’ve been the one doing the patting more often, but in the past, it was Tina who often patted me like this.
It’s been a while, but it still makes me happy.
Returning to the conversation, it was Tina who spread mayonnaise.
—Which means, Tina had already done what I planned to do when I was reincarnated, building wealth with mayonnaise.
It’s a little frustrating, but if it’s Tina, then it’s okay.
「So, you obtained the money you showed me earlier through the sales of mayonnaise?」
「That’s correct, but that’s not all」
「What do you mean?」
「Do you know about the H&T Trading Company?」
「Of course」
Naturally, I know.
It’s the largest trading company in the world.
It’s said that about forty percent of the goods circulating in this world are distributed by the H&T Trading Company.
「And what about it? Are you selling mayonnaise through that company?」
「……It’s the Haruto & Tina Trading Company」
「Huh?」
「So, the initials H&T stand for Haruto & Tina」
「—Huh?」
「I-I created it」