25. Limits of a Town Merchant House

When I brought the truckload of harvested Orikudite ore to the Andreu Trading Company, they were completely flabbergasted.

「This much?!」

Since I had joined in on the mining alongside the girls partway through, the volume was massive—easily amounting to a full truck’s worth of material.

「Was that too much?」

「It’s not that a large amount is unwelcome—after all, Orikudite is scarce, and once it’s refined and processed, it sells like hotcakes. But……」

Andreu looked over at me, and then past me toward Helene and Io.

「Just like with the mountain oxen, the sheer volume you bring in vastly exceeds what any normal team of that size should ever be capable of hauling.」

「With a standard crew, what’s the usual ballpark yield?」

「Hmm, let’s see……」

Andreu picked up a single chunk of Orikudite ore from the table.

「Getting two or three pieces like this is pretty much the limit. Of course, if a team could keep an Orikuto locked down in place for an extended period, they could theoretically gather more, but there’s a hard limit on how many spells a standard party’s mages can cast and how long they can sustain the paralysis.」

I understood his point immediately. When Salamus Trading Company had evaluated my specs earlier, they noted that my magical capacity was a hundred times greater than that of an average adult male.

「Furthermore, you need the physical manpower just to haul it back,」 Andreu added. 「Most spellcasters are physically weak, and once they burn through their mana reserves, they barely have enough stamina left to walk themselves home, let alone carry heavy cargo.」

That was precisely where the Warp Feather came in handy. We were only able to haul back massive quantities because we farmed as much as we wanted and teleported straight back to base.

「Well, you truly never cease to amaze me, Yuuki-sama.」

「Can your company buy all of this upfront, though?」

「Yes, though unlike mountain oxen, Orikudite requires professional appraisal, so the final purchase price will be determined at a later date……」

「That’s fine by me. Besides, I’ve still got another trip or two left in me, so I’ll leave the processing to you.」

「Eeeeh?!」

「Eh?」

What was with that exaggerated reaction?

「What do you mean by that, Yuuki-sama?」

「I mean I’m just going to head back out there right now and fetch more, is there a problem?」

「Again…… you’re planning to come back with another load like this?」

「Now that we’ve got the routine down, harvesting more should be a breeze. Right, Helene? Io?」

「Yes! I’ve finally gotten the hang of the extraction technique!」

「I think I can chip it out a bit faster and cleaner now, too,」 Helene and Io chimed in one after the other, both looking highly motivated.

「So, if you can buy more from us—」

「Wait, wait, wait a minute!」

Andreu looked thoroughly flustered, waving his hands frantically to stop me. For whatever reason, he seemed to be in a state of serious distress.

「Is buying it a problem? Didn’t you just say there’s no issue with having a lot of it?」

「Yes, I did say that. And truly, no matter how much you bring, we can eventually sell it all.」

「Then what’s the problem?」

「Well, it becomes logistically difficult to provide the upfront cash for such astronomical values all at once. Even though it’s guaranteed to sell, turning it into liquid cash takes time, and processing requires labor. Our primary business is still mountain oxen, and we cannot afford to drain all our operating cash reserves dry on a single material.」

So the bottom line was simple: he didn’t have enough cash reserves on hand. He knew he could eventually flip the ore for a profit, but he couldn’t purchase more inventory than his current liquid capital allowed.

「Ah, I see……」

「You understand my plight.」

「I suppose I went a bit overboard again. Your operating capital simply can’t keep pace with my output, Andreu-san.」

Whether it was scaring off all the mountain oxen by hunting too efficiently or mining more Orikudite than a regional trading company could physically afford to buy, I had managed to break the local supply chain through sheer over-efficiency.

「Alright, I’ll stop bringing in massive bulk loads for now, then.」

Andreu let out an intensely visible sigh of relief. I instructed him to deliver the final payment directly to the mansion once the appraisal was finished, and wrapped up our meeting.

⸻

Later that evening, as Io and I walked together through the city streets after wrapping up our party-leisure hunting session, she brought up the financial bottleneck.

「That’s quite a dilemma, Kakeru-san.」

Sure, it was a “good problem to have” from a certain perspective, but it was genuinely inconvenient for my gacha-ticket grind. If this had happened a few days ago, I wouldn’t have minded earning money slowly. But now that I knew large lump-sum purchases were required to secure lottery tickets—spending three hundred (or effectively one hundred and fifty with the coupon) silver coins per ticket—I needed high-volume spending power. Being unable to liquidate my high-value drops quickly was a major roadblock.

「Kakeru-sama,」 Helene spoke up softly.

「Hm? What is it, Helene?」

「If you require massive financial liquidity, would you like me to introduce you to a merchant who directly serves the royal family?」

「A royal merchant?」 I stopped in my tracks and looked at her.

「Yes. She is one of the wealthiest magnates in our entire kingdom, and her personal fortune is said to rival the treasury of a small nation. Given your current situation, I believe she could easily handle your transactions.」

「Rich enough to rival a country? That sounds promising.」

「I can arrange an introduction whenever you wish, Kakeru-sama.」

I thought about it for a brief moment and nodded. Regardless of the circumstances, having connections to top-tier financial powerhouses could only help.

「Alright, please set it up.」

「Yes!」 Helene nodded, flashing a brilliant, dazzling smile.

She looked radiant, clearly happy that she could finally be of direct, practical use to me. I couldn’t help but adore her even more.

⸻

The very next evening, when I broke off my day with Io and returned to the mansion, I noticed several heavy cargo wagons and a luxurious, ornately decorated carriage parked right out front on the estate grounds—the kind typically reserved for high-ranking nobility.

「Welcome home, Master.」

「I’m home, Miu. What’s all that parked outside?」

「Um… we have a guest.」 Miu looked intensely bewildered.

「You don’t recognize them?」

「No, it’s my first time seeing her. I told her the Master wasn’t home yet, but she insisted on waiting inside the parlor.」

「Huh.」

「Umm, Master?」 Miu called out hesitantly.

「Yeah?」

I looked back down toward Miu. For a moment, she gave me a deeply troubled, apologetic look as she stood nervously by the hallway. In her hands, she held a grooming brush. Even at a glance, it was clearly a well-crafted, luxury item perfect for brushing her tail.

However, it was forged almost entirely out of solid gold. It was a literal golden brush.

「Is this thing real?」

「It’s… it’s really heavy……」 Miu whimpered, looking like she was about to burst into tears.

「So it’s genuine gold… Why on earth did a guest give this to you?」

「I don’t know! She just handed it to me and said it was a gift for the Master……」

(Don’t touch it. She’s definitely up to something, Eleanor warned in my mind.)

「Eh? What do you mean by that?」 I asked the sword.

(If this were just a pouch of standard silver or gold coins, it would merely be a routine bribe to grease the wheels and get an audience with you. Gatekeepers of noble estates take them all the time just to let visitors through.)

「Ah.」

(But a custom-crafted luxury item made of solid gold? That’s a completely different level. They’re laying siege to the outer moats before the negotiation even begins.)

I wonder who on earth is waiting in my parlor?

I mentally prepared myself and headed straight for the drawing room. I slid the door open and stepped inside, immediately spotting the visitor waiting for me.

It was a meticulously dressed woman—dressed far more lavishly and impeccably than either Helene or Princess Iris. The moment she caught sight of me, she gracefully stood up from the sofa and dipped into a polite, flawless bow.

「It is an absolute honor to finally make your acquaintance.」

「And you are?」 I asked, studying her.

「I have come at the direct recommendation of Her Highness Princess Helene. My name is Delfina Homer Ramanli. Please, call me Delfina.」

「Helene’s recommendation?」

Ah, so this was the ultra-wealthy merchant Helene had mentioned. She looked remarkably young. While she was clearly an adult woman, at a casual glance, she didn’t immediately scream “wealthy merchant with the net worth of a nation.”

(That’s precisely what makes her dangerous,) Eleanor murmured in my head. What do you mean?

(The exact microsecond I heard her mention Helene, her facial expression didn’t shift by a single muscle, but her spiritual aura vibrated ever so slightly. I suspect she already fully understands your intimate relationship with the Princess.)

She managed to keep her expression completely stone-cold despite knowing about my connection to royalty.

I see. Whether she was the head honcho or a high-ranking executive, it was painfully obvious she was no ordinary merchant.

I squared my shoulders, walked over, and sat down directly across from Delfina.