zChapter 47 - Arc 2, Crescent Moon (1/2)
The next one to make a move was Yakiya Village.
“To our bees, the Kalia tree is indispensable. Although the fact that this tree blooms in winter makes it precious, the fragrance is what really makes it so important.”
As he spoke, he looked at the head of Maine Village. For a moment, his gaze faltered as if he was unsure of what to do, but then, he grew more resolved and spoke.
“I understand that you’re suffering a difficult situation… so how about this? For each Kalia tree you don’t cut down, we’ll pay you 50 aquia.”
“But if we do that, then our loan…”
“Right now, how much do you have left?”
One of the merchants of Saiquani Town asked.
“1,017 sitts.”
The merchants of Saiquani crossed their arms and pondered for a while, then suddenly came up with a proposal.
“In that case, Saiquani will buy that credit.”
Not understanding what he was saying, the people of Maine Village looked at the merchant.
“What that means is, I’m saying we will take over your loans.”
Even though what he just said was unbelievable, the faces of Maine Village’s people lit up with great joy.
“However, there are conditions. First, you have to plant more Kalia trees. You have as many trees as you once had before everything happened, right? Increase the numbers of your trees to how many you had 20, 30 years from then. Once you’ve increased them to that point, you should have enough to harvest.”
“But if they cut them down, then we’ll be the ones in trouble.”
“I understand. Because of that, there should always be a number of trees left behind for Yakiya Village. Maine Village has probably also learned from their experience. You should know what happens if you cut down too many of your trees. As such, about how many trees would be feasible to cut down every year?”
“Yes, you’re right… about 100 trees should be alright.”
“In that case, sell 100 of your trees to Saiquani. We’ll buy the wood of one Kalia tree for 1 sitt.”
“…Really? Before, you bought them for 500 aquia, didn’t you?”
“I apologize for that. This time, we’ll buy them for 1 sitt. I ask that you put your faith in the merchants of Saiquani.”
A doubt-filled expression appeared on the head of Maine’s face, but a woman of Latelle Village spoke up just in time to help Saiquani.
“You ought to try believing in them just once, don’t you think? However way it works out, since they said they’ll take over your loans for you, I don’t think this is such a bad deal for your end.”
“Well… I suppose you have a point…”
“Very well, then. We’ve completed our negotiations.”
The merchants of Saiquani forcibly wrung out a promise from them.
As Ernst carefully watched over them, he smiled wryly at how flustered Maine Village looked.
“Next, Yakiya Village.”
“…What is it?”
“I would like to ask you to sell your honey to Saiquani.”
As soon as he said that, the head of Yakiya Village scowled.
“Why should we sell it to you? We can go to sell it by ourselves.”
As a stormy atmosphere crackled between the two of them, Ernst cut into the conversation.
“Humm… As far as that goes.”
He continued to look between Yakiya and Maine Villages.
“On the matter of your two villages holding the merchant rank, I believe you might be mistaking something.”
Confusion overcame both of the village heads as they studied Ernst.
“On this occasion, I had asked for both of your villages to bring with you the documents for your change in rank. When I looked at them, however, both of your documents contained some deficiencies.”
“Eh…? W, what sort of…?”
“Humm. First, I would like to ask, to where did your two villages submit your applications?”
“Eh… a, application…?”
“Correct; that is, where did you report this to? In other words, after preparing your documents, to whom did you hand them over?”
“That’d be the noble Lord.”
“The Lord of where?”
“Caprix fief’s…”
All of the other people in the room were shocked by Yakiya Village’s words.
“Caprix fief? Isn’t that a territory of Lux Kingdom? Why would you hand it to Caprix fief’s lord?”
“Eh…? Caprix fief might be part of Lux Kingdom, but I had been told that since we were doing business in Caprix fief, we should get our position approved by Caprix’s lord…”
After being told by the people around him that something was off, the voice of Yakiya Village’s head wilted.
“Who was the one who told you of this? What I would like to know is, when Yakiya Village first tried to change rank, who provided you your instructions?”
Ernst asked in a gentle and quiet tone of voice, so as to not make it seem as if he was pressing for answers.
“That is… we asked the Lux merchants we usually made deals with…”
The merchants of Saiquani looked with pitying eyes at Yakiya Village.
“They had cheated you.”
“Eh… no way…”
“Well, you should be glad, right? Even though you weren’t able to change your rank, you were always selling your wares over in Caprix fief, right? As such, you should be happy for your luck. No one caught you even once.”
The woman of Kata Village said this consolingly.
It was strictly forbidden for someone who wasn’t a merchant to do business. If you were found out, you would be forced to do hard labor for over ten years. Lux Kingdom had similar punishments.
Seeing that the two villages looked as if they still couldn’t believe this situation, Ernst explained definitively what had gone wrong.
“In the applications you submitted to request the change in rank, there are clear defects. In both of them, the name of the village was wrong. There were also mistakes in the body of the text. Moreover, the paper is crude and would never be used for an official document, and on the surface of this paper, there are no engraved ornamentations which serve as the critical watermarks proving the authenticity of the application.”
The lord’s seal of certification was also completely wrong. Though it likely attempted to mimic the seal of the lord of Caprix, it ended up as something which didn’t bear even the slightest resemblance.
“It is understandable that both of your villages believed this. You were lured with deceitful words, and official documents and the like are things which you usually would not have seen. Moreover, when they changed the lettering, they employed a trick which made the document unreadable unless looked at carefully.”
In truth, the contents of the text and the handwriting were very childish, but Ernst didn’t want to invite the rest of Meissen to mock them by saying that they hadn’t noticed the name of their own village was written wrongly.