Chapter 122 – Paper Money (1/2)

I don't quite understand. How is this flat thing money?”

Despite my dramatic announcement, Hilde, Alicia's mother, asked with a confused look on her face. It looked like everyone else thought the same.

”Ah, umm, I guess it's not so obvious.”

If I was talking to a proper merchant or someone from high society, even an official from the Adventurers' Guild or someone from a management position would understand, but to a group of ordinary villagers it probably looked like nothing more than a waste of time and effort.

But that wasn't an issue for me. It meant that it would be much easier to get an exclusivity contract, one of which I desperately needed until the Hourai Commonwealth's needs were filled. But considering the population difference, it was possible with only this technology that I wouldn't be able to fill the nation's needs once it got popularized.

Whether it would or not, that wasn't even a question. I'd force it to become popular if I had to. All I had to do was show the council how useful having documentation was, and I had plenty of evidence of that thanks to the Hunter's Guild.

”Well, how about this? I'll talk to Mint about the details, but the settlement I'm from has a real need for paper. I'm willing to buy it in bulk. I should be able to buy all of it even if the entire village is producing paper. On top of that, I'll guarantee that it'll be for a higher price than whatever you guys are selling the milkweed fibres for right now. Considering the technology and materials, I can probably buy it for double how much you're getting for the bags. Maybe a copper coin for every few sheets?”

The labour required for the paper was quite a bit less than making a bag, but in turn the limiting factor became the stock material. To maintain the incentive, the price needed to be higher than before, and at a point that the attractive force was greater than the resistance towards a new idea.

That said, wealth wasn't exactly something which our country lacked. The issue was finished products, not raw materials.

”You'll pay that much for this thing?!”

”I will, as long as the quality stays above a certain point at least. Or rather, the settlement I'm from will pay, so it won't be just me.”

Maybe in the beginning it'll be just me. But more likely I'll just be using the power of the Hunters' Guild to pay for it, so in a sense it wouldn't really be me even from the beginning.

”I'll make sure even in the worst case you'll be paid enough that you won't go hungry ever again. But then again, if that's the case, then maybe paying for it in goods like food would be better than though other means?”

Getting our hands on a good amount of cash on a regular basis would be quite annoying. Trading the paper directly for goods we can collect from the dungeon would make things better for both of our sides. But then again, that also depended on how much they needed. It was doubtful that the value of the paper would equal the value of the goods we could deliver.

Hell, if this village's production was even half decent when it came to paper, we'd be looking at having to export other materials as well. Hopefully we could find alternatives if it came to that.

But before any of that, it was important to actually have some talks.

”Anyways, I'll have a talk with Mint first and we can get things set up, alright?”

And after that, once a round of thanks as well as some invitations for dinner and drink, I headed out.

I actually had more business at Alicia's old home, but for now this was enough. Especially since letting them know what my other business was would just creep them out.

Getting back on the packed dirt road, I made my way towards the store where I had bought some things in this village originally. Supposedly the only store in this entire village was owned by Mint, and it was usually operated by his son since Mint himself spent most of his time going around trading the things his son buys from the villagers so he can buy food in places where it was cheaper.

[Thanks Scarlet.]

[Huh? What for?]

[For that. The paper thing. When you make this work, nobody else would have to go through what I did.]

[So...you think it's better we never met?]

[No! No never! But...]

[I know, I'm just joking. But frankly, things just worked out this way. I need paper, and a lot of it. And once I get a lot, I'm betting Hourai is going to need even more paper. It just so happened that the people of your old village was growing a plant which could be used to make some decent paper.]

[Even still, thanks.]

[...No problem.]

While it was true that things just happened to work out like this, it was also true that I'd have gone for some sort of deal one way or another here. Things were really bad here, and I didn't like it at all. Before, I was only one person, so supporting this village wasn't possible aside from the occasional donation. But now, I had the power of an organization behind me, and an entire nation behind that. Even if for a while I'd have to do a lot of work on my own to make this work out, I had the power to make a real difference here.

To make things even better, this was an authentic transaction as well. This was no longer simple charity, but an investment towards a business which will allow this village to thrive even if I was forced to cut off all connections with in the future.

I was sure that Mint would understand that when he saw the product itself, so I brought the finished sample with me.

As for everything else, there was no point in denying what Alicia had to say, so I obediently received her thanks.

”Excuse me?”

”Welcome to...oh man! My beauty! You've come back!”

”Erk!”

I had forgotten about this guy. The man sitting bored looking behind the counter at Mint's store. Mint had mentioned that the only people who worked there was him and his son, which meant that this annoying guy was his son.

”To think you had decided to polish yourself before returning! It makes my heart pound with a fury that...!”

”Okay, enough! Is Mint here?”

”The old man? No, he left three weeks ago. He won't be back for a while.”

Surprisingly, the mere mention of his father had made the young man slump down into his seat.

But the news that he wasn't around wasn't very helpful for me. If it was him, I'd be able to settle a deal pretty quickly and get production running quickly. I could only hope that his son would still be helpful enough that I could get things started and we can finish the deal when Mint has come back.

”How long do you think it'll take him to get back?”

”Ah, about two more months I guess? That's how long he usually takes.”

”In that case, when he does return, can you ask him to stay for a little bit? There's some things I want to discuss with him.”

”Yea, that's fine. He doesn't go out during the winter anyways, so he'll be here until next spring once he gets back.”

”Ah, alright.”

This complete lack of energy when talking about his father was quite an amazing thing. From all the attention I suffered the last time I came, it made me wish that I had mentioned his father at some point rather than suffer through it, but it wasn't like I knew anything about Mint at the time in the first place.

”Well, for now, I need to get a preliminary deal set up. I was thinking of getting a manufacturing facility set up in this village and have most of the villagers help out working in it. In turn, the settlement I come from will buy all the products from it.”

”What kind of facility? What are you planning of having everyone make there?”

Now that the topic had moved from Mint, the young man perked up a bit.

While I thought of him as a young man, compared to my current body, he was more than a decade older than me, while over two decades younger than my mental self, so it did create a bit of a dysphoric situation in my mind.

”It's nothing dangerous. The work itself will be easier than what they're currently doing as well. I want them to make this.”

I showed him the sheet of paper I had made as a trial.

”This?! It...it isn't parchment...what is it?”

”It's called paper, and it can be made here in this village for a fraction the price of parchment.”

”This?! Really?!”

”Yup.”

His surprise really wasn't very unreasonable. Parchment was expensive precisely because it was made from animal hides. While in this world it seemed like hides were incomparably easier to come by than on Earth's middle ages, it was still an expensive material, making parchment only suitable for the most important things.

But literacy was 100% in this world, so nobody had any issues with having things written down. It was easy and convenient, so it was prevalent. But the tools hadn't caught up with the usage, so people were limited to writing most things on wooden boards or bark. At best maybe some people did it on leaves where it was applicable, but I hadn't seen that for myself.

The greatest problem as things stood, was that both bark and wooden planks weren't suitable for mass storage of information. If you wanted a book, you had to use parchment as bark curled and wood was too thick. Even if bark could be fixed to always be flat or you shaved wooden planks to be reasonably thin, both would be too fragile to be made into effective books. It was a lot of work to create something which would be out lasted by something which probably resulted in only being a little bit more expensive but was significantly nicer to use.

There just wasn't any point.

But what I had brought changed things on a foundational level.

It was cheap, and had all the most important properties of parchment. At least, it was cheap compared to parchment. Compared to Earth's paper, it was going to be as expensive as artisan paper, if not more expensive.

But I was fine with that. I'd find a way to make the most of it.

”What I want is for everyone in the village currently making products to sell from milkweed to start making this once I finish building the facility. I'll buy all the sheets. I can even put in a down payment for the first batch.”