Chapter 37

It had been ten minutes since I started accepting exchanges of tobacco leaves for copper coins, and not a single person had come.

I had advertised that I would accept exchanges at a much lower rate than what Nozwel was selling, setting the standard at two Benor coppers, but perhaps the price was so low that it seemed suspicious.

Benor copper is one of the magical ores used as a substitute for currency, which the chieftain encourages. In this village, a handful is generally treated as equivalent to 200 yen in Japanese currency. In other words, Nozwel's tobacco leaves are priced at 5000 yen, while mine are at 400 yen.

I didn't think that pushing with a low price would fail. If the price wasn't the issue, then giving out free samples would have the same effect. I needed to somehow break the atmosphere of "We can't move because the Kalko family is scary."

A man approached my stall. I thought he might be a loafer or a troublemaker, but he didn't seem to have that kind of vibe.

The man looked at the line and sighed. It seemed that Nozwel's stall was taking a long time to negotiate, and he had grown impatient and come to me.

"Can I get four bundles for two Benor coppers?"

The man showed me a piece of dried meat tied with a string. Got it. This might change the flow.

"Sure, no problem. I'll even throw in an extra bundle, making it five..."

"Hey! You! I remember your face! You know what's going to happen, right!"

Nozwel stood up and barked. The man, seeing Nozwel, snatched the bundle of tobacco leaves from me, placed the piece of dried meat, and ran away.

"I said I remember your face! Bastard! You'll regret this!"

Nozwel shouted, clicked his tongue, and sat back down roughly.

I was in trouble. Nozwel had warned that buying tobacco leaves from me would be seen as opposing the Kalko family. This significantly reduced the chances of people coming from the line.

"Abel! It's no use! Let's move to a different spot!"

Maybe Sibyl was right. Should we move now?

No, but to really damage the Kalko family, we needed to directly compete for the same customers. We had to stick it out and wait for a turning point.

"...It's okay, Zisel will bring back two secret weapons."

But Zisel was taking a bit longer to return. Had something happened?

"What are those Otems? I haven't heard anything about them?"

"One is an Otem for business prosperity."

To be honest, there's no magical basis for the Otem of business prosperity. The back of this Otem has a specific magic array carved into it, and I've tried to analyze it before.

The symbols and partial encryption were so meaningless that the analysis was extremely difficult. I managed to investigate the movement and function of the magic, but a terrifying fact emerged: about 80% of the array couldn't interact with magic at all. The remaining 20% was a magic array that just wasted magic power by circulating it pointlessly.

This is bad. How bad? Imagine if you opened a refrigerator and found it was just a cabinet with a light bulb inside. What are you going to do with a light bulb? Cool it down. This kind of pseudo-magical thing is quite common in this world.

But I love such suspicious things. Maybe they have some incredible power that current magic studies can't understand. Thinking about it, it's quite romantic.

"...Does it have any meaning?"

"Well, it's better than nothing, right? I believe it has meaning. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Brother! I've brought them!"

At that moment, Zisel returned, carrying two Otems.

"Zisel, well done! It took you a while, did something happen?"

"I'm sorry... I was caught by Father, who wanted me to help clean up after the coming-of-age ceremony... But with Philo's help, we managed to finish quickly, so don't worry!"

...Oh. So that's it. It seems I left the cleanup to my sister and the chieftain's granddaughter and ran away. I can imagine my father's tired face. I need to apologize to Philo too.

"...Sorry. Um... put those Otems at the ends of the carpet."

Zisel placed the red Otem on the left end and the blue Otem on the right end. The red one is the Otem for business prosperity.

The blue Otem has the power to attract animals. It's usually used as a trap or decoy in hunting. The problem isn't that it's not attracting attention; it's that it's attracting too much negative attention, so it probably won't have much effect.

"...How's it going..."

Zisel looked around the carpet and trailed off. She must have realized the situation wasn't good.

"...As you can see."

Maybe I underestimated the Kalko family's influence.

"But, when I was cleaning up earlier, Garia was advertising for us! I also distributed the trial samples that were left out, and they were well-received! People might start coming soon!"

Zisel spoke rapidly, trying to encourage me. Indeed, if people from the area start coming, the atmosphere might change.

"Hey, can I get a bundle?"

Here comes the second customer.

"Sure, sure... what..."

A young man with a bowl cut and a creepy smile. It's definitely Nozwel. Thanks a lot.

He finally came to harass me after abandoning his own stall.

"Wow... I didn't know you had succeeded in mass production. I'll have to check who helped you later. But, at this rate, there was no need to be cautious. So, how do you feel, Abel? You set up a stall right next to mine, but it's empty..."

Nozwel bent down and got close to my face.

Shit, this is really annoying. I didn't expect to feel this miserable. I want to turn this bowl-cut into a cigarette butt.

"You don't need to come and mock me just because I'm not doing well at my stall. Couldn't you do a simple job like barking like a dog, like you did earlier? Have you finally been laid off?"

I leaned in close as well. Nozwel pulled back and rubbed his eye with his sleeve. My hair must have gotten in his eye. Sorry, but I don't have a well-maintained hairstyle like you.

"Hah! Don't get so worked up. The tobacco leaves I handle are the result of my father inheriting the Kalko family's tradition and techniques, which he refined over a long time. A kid who can't even properly smoke tobacco leaves is just being cocky. It was obvious from the start. What, is this a joke? Huh?"

What the hell, you bastard! You're the one who made it hard to do exchanges! Besides, you've only made one successful exchange, so the quality of the tobacco leaves isn't the issue. I won't forgive you for insulting the tobacco leaves I made with sleepless nights and blood.

"Tradition? Techniques? To be honest, I can't see the concept in your tobacco leaves! You're just waiting for something decent to come out by making minor adjustments to a safe design. You barely touch the details. No, the individual differences in the Otems are too large, so you can't manipulate them. If you touch them carelessly, the differences become too pronounced! That's how rough your methods are!

The magic supply is clearly done reluctantly. Tobacco leaves become living Otems. If they keep absorbing magic tainted by negative emotions and stress, they'll taste bad. Overwriting them with a different approach to cover it up is your tradition? You should tell your father to start over from the basics..."

"Abel! Hold it! Hold it! Everyone's watching! It's embarrassing!"

Sibyl tackled me in a bear hug.

"Let go, Sibyl! I'll smash that smug bastard's plate!"

"Calm down! Calm down! I understand how you feel!"

I met Zisel's eyes, who was panicking.

"Zisel! Get Sibyl off me!"

"Wh-What? O-Okay!"

"Zisel! Don't comply! Help me stop Abel! Hey, stop touching my sides! It's a bit nice, but not now! Please!"

No matter how much I struggled, Sibyl didn't budge. I was gradually calming down.

No, I can't lose my cool. It will