Translator Corner
This is Yukkuri demasu!
Hello this is Yukkuri… I thought February will be the month where I will have
more leisure to do things… Ho boy, how wrong I was……
I have a bit announcement below (no, it’s not a resignation rant). So here the
chapter. Also, let's warmly welcome a new member!
DISCLAIMER: There is no guarantee that my translation is 100%
correct. Please correct me if I was wrong.
Author:
すずの木くろ (Susunokikuro)
Translator:
Yukkuri Oniisan
Editor, Proofreader:
TheDefend
Quality Checker:
Chase
Chapter 74: Showing One’s Real Ability
At night, 3 days later.
Inside the office at Nelson’s estate, with a map of the
agriculture fields area unfolded in front of him, Kazura explained the progress
of the work with Nelson and others.
There were labels pasted at several places in the unfolded
map, like 『Waterwheel (good)』 and 『Waterwheel (defective)』, accompanied with a comment about
the installed waterwheel in this world language.
Since Kazura practically still couldn’t write or read
this country’s script[1],
the labels were written by asking Zirconia to do so not long ago.
Inside the room, there was Nelson and Zirconia, also
Isaac and Havel.
As always, Zirconia sat beside Kazura, while Nelson
sat opposite to him and listened to his explanation with a serious expression.
Isaac and Havel stood beside the table and viewed the
map from above.
Lieze wasn’t in this place since she was in the middle
of bathing right now.
At the first day when Lieze was accompanying Kazura,
she asked him to teach her the criteria to decide the location for installing
the waterwheel and the points to note of its construction. On the next day, she
volunteered to do some of the workloads and commanded the servants and the
guards by herself.
Thanks to this, the progress of the waterwheel installation
work was doubled and today they were joyously able to finish the waterwheel for
the main waterway of the northern and western grain fields.
However, as expected since she was doing a work she was
not accustomed to for a long period of time, when the first day was over Lieze seemed
as if she was going to collapse from all the heat and fatigue.
Perhaps because she was trying not to make Kazura
worried, in front of Kazura she made a lively expression and behaved cheerfully,
however, there were slight shadows of fatigue that appeared and disappeared, which
could be seen on her face.
After seeing her praiseworthy deed of frantically doing
her best for the territory, Kazura’s heart was moved a bit.[2]
By the way, the things about showing a fleeting
tiredness while forcibly acted lively, all were behaviors that Lieze had
calculated.
It wasn’t wrong that she wanted to give her best in dealing
with the work, it wasn’t wrong that she was considerably fatigued than the
usual, either. But the expression she made was something that she had properly thought
about where and how much these could be displayed in the most effective way.
In front of someone like Lieze, who held an excellent ability
to fabricate her expression and ambiance, furthermore, the expression that she
showed was as if it was completely not artificial, Kazura shouldn’t be able to
see through her true intention.
「Thanks to Lieze-san, the waterwheel installation is able to be finished much
earlier. After this, it will be about the waterway in the south and the east,
but this is not that seriously urgent, right?」(Kazura)
「It is relatively in a better situation compared to the north and west, but
there are damages from the drought. The crops still have not withered yet, so I
believe we still have some margin in time, but thinking about the next planting
situation, it will be better if we installed waterwheel ahead of time.」(Nelson)
Nelson picked up the document placed at the table’s
side where the grain fields current condition was jotted down and pointed the
regions at risk of their crops withering on the map.
Kazura then pasted a label at that place to mark the priority
place to install the waterwheel in the future.
「Then, let’s install the remaining waterwheel at that place tomorrow. Will
it be a problem for Lieze-san to lend her hand tomorrow too?」(Kazura)
「Of course not. Zil, what about you?」(Nelson)
「I’m fine with it since I will finish all of the other arrangements in one
way or another, let’s have Lieze help in this case as well. I am glad that my
daughter was helpful for you.」(Zirconia)
Zirconia nodded at Nelson’s question and smiled delightedly
with a proud expression for her daughter.
「Since Lieze-san will come to help, not only the waterwheel installation
work but in the fertilizer scattering as well, the work efficiency would
remarkably increase. This is just something that I heard, but Lieze-san
popularity with the citizen is amazing.」(Kazura)
After Lieze was working together with him, the fields
fertilizer scattering from that day on progressed with an incomparable speed
than before.
To have such blatant difference, when Kazura heard the
report from the work supervisor Isaac and Havel, he was astonished.
This phenomenon might happen because of Lieze who had deep
interaction with the citizen and always gently came in contact with them, thought
Kazura as he felt admiration for her.
「I am also surprised. I am truly not aware that she has this much popularity
with the citizen.」(Zirconia)
「Hm, while this is embarrassing, I also am surprised by this. It seems that
I have been taking light of my daughter a bit. If she has this much, then it
will be necessary to ask Lieze to cooperate in the territorial governance
earlier.」(Nelson)
If Lieze would help with Kazura’s work in the future,
then all of the work would progress at a faster rate than the initial estimate.
Though this was something that will not happen anytime
soon, in several months, they planned to begin the flood control work inside
the city.
If the work plan that he had requested to the construction
company in Japan was finished, perhaps it would be a work that needs
mobilization of a considerable number of people in its execution.
If Lieze were to participate as the supervisor for
that work, them surely the construction work would progress with an amazing
speed.
「Then from tomorrow Lieze-san and me will continue the waterwheel
installation work. I will entrust the next fertilizer scattering to Isaac-san
and Havel-san.」(Kazura)
「Certainly. Please leave it to us.」(Isaac)
During the last several days, it had been the job of Isaac
and Havel to become the supervisor of the fertilizer scattering work. After
reporting the progress of the work, they will gather materials about the
sanitation situation inside the territory to show it to Kazura.
Sometimes they will be helping Nelson or Zirconia’s
office work, but compared to their work before, their body was lighter and their
countenance was much better.
Above all, this might be the effect of the Lipo-D that
they drunk several days ago.
「What about Zirconia-san’s condition? Have you rested properly?」(Kazura)
「Yes, I am sorry to make you worried. Since I have also taken a proper sleep
in the night, my health is already alright.」(Zirconia)
Zirconia made a sweet smile at Kazura’s worries.
The bags under her eyes also had disappeared, her
expression was better and her health was good.
Mostly since the work at the grain fields that should
have been done by Zirconia had been entrusted to Lieze, she was able to concentrate
on dealing with the works that had been piled up until now.
Although sometimes Kazura met with Zirconia and talked
with her when he was going to the kitchen for hot water in the middle of the
night, it seems that Zirconia didn’t stay up late every day.
Perhaps if Zirconia was hopelessly worked
exhaustingly, and her physical condition deteriorated more than this, then
Kazura thought about giving her a Lipo-D, too. However, it seems that there was
no need to do so.
Kazura personally boils the hot water to brew the tea
by himself; this was because he deliberately didn’t call the maid to bring it
to him.
Since he likes to walk inside the mansion by himself,
which count as strolling for him, he will refuse to bring the guard in front of
his room and walk towards the kitchen to boil the hot water himself.
It felt like the time when he was working late-night
at the company he worked before and walked inside the pitch dark building to
buy the coffee from the vending machine at the break room.
「I’m glad to hear it. But, from now on please don’t force yourself too much.
If there is something that I can help, then I will gladly offer my cooperation.」(Kazura)
When Kazura smiled while offering that suggestion, Zirconia
made a slightly surprised expression, but she quickly smiled and offered her
thanks.
For the last few days, Kazura had seen how Zirconia frantically
working her fingers to the bone for the territory sake, so his impression of
her had become greatly favorable.
Since Kazura himself was also worked frantically, he
began to have a feeling of fellowship with her as if they were comrades working
at the same workplace.
Such feeling of solidarity could be said as one of the
few good things that can be obtained in a workplace with exhausting workloads.
「Then, with this the matter of the grain fields area could be assumed to be
finished, so today I wanted to hear about the territory financial situation a bit.
Since I had made you finance the cost of the personnel and the materials for
many things, which can be said as something unreasonable during these short
time, how is the money situation right now?」(Kazura)
When he asked about the financial situation, Nelson
made a slight bitter expression.
「We had economized many things, so we somehow shift them to others, but it
had become quite strained. The budget framework that had been decided before
was temporarily thrown off balance and since it was shifted into the budget for
the current work operations, if this keep going then we must squeeze out the
remaining budget and temporarily cease some of the project.」(Nelson)
「I see…… Could it still manage somehow if the food situation in the territory
improved?」(Kazura)
「It will be improved to an extent, but it will be hard just by it alone. Waiting
for the crops to ripen will take too much time, and it will take even more time
for the damage of the current drought to recover. Originally, it was a
situation where we economize the budget and shift it to essential parts, and
then if we don’t somehow have way to raise the money then we couldn’t greatly improve
the current situation.」(Nelson)
About the harvest time for the crops, Kazura had learned
it by asking Lieze the other day.
Therefore, he knew well what Nelson wanted to say.
It will be a different story if he makes the crops in
Isteria fields grew at an abnormal rate like in Grisea Village, but the
currently scattered fertilizer won’t cause the crops to grow at an abnormal
rate.
Then, Lieze had said that the bean and the winter
tuber couldn’t be harvested before the winter arrives, and they couldn’t plant
Rata wheat or bread wheat to be used for bread or porridge if the early autumn
hadn’t arrived.
If the harvest time was the same with Japan’s wheat,
then the harvest will perhaps be no less than the spring next year.
Even if the winter tuber and beans could somehow improve
the current food situation as a stopgap measure, waiting until the staple grain
harvest would take too much time.
「Hmm, that’s true…… Do you have any idea for this situation?」(Kazura)
「It will be either requesting more aid money obtained from the Capital or cutting
down the surrounding forest to produce lumber in large number. The mine in the
northern mountains could produce silver and copper also tin and lead, so we can
also greatly increase the spare budget for the mining operations. However
unless we find a new ore vein, with only the present already dug ore vein, then
the productivity will not increase too much.」(Nelson)
Though all options seem to be a bit effective, but it
would take time until the result came out.
Lumber production could be immediately put into
operation, but if one put the flood control into consideration, then
deforestation was something that couldn’t be promoted.
「Is there no gold at the northern mountains?」(Kazura)
Although he didn’t know what to do if there was a gold
mine, since he was interested in it, he tried to ask it.
Since even on Earth, gold is a scarce metal, so in
this world too, the value might be high.
「There is no gold mine in Istelle Province. In our country, only the Capital
province that can produce gold.」(Nelson)
「Hmm, I see. Well then, what should we do……」(Kazura)
Kazura folded his hand and looked down, pondering
what’s to be done with the current situation.
What currently troubled Kazura was whether there is
some good way to raise money quickly.
After the grain fields area had been restored and the
food situation inside the territory become stable, then they could produce oil from
beans or exported the surplus food and generate some money.
Furthermore, since the province’s citizens had been
exhausted, even if he developed a new stopgap project, there is a possibility
that the stamina of the Istelle province wouldn’t last long.
「(If this place is close to the sea then we can mass produce salt. Isteria
Province is inland, so the only thing that can be produced quickly is only
mortar, right…… Since mortar could be sold as it is since it would harden, but
on the other hand we also can’t let the other territory or country to know the
manufacturing method……)」(Kazura)
Salt seems to be relatively expensive in this world,
so if Isteria was close to the sea then he could borrow Japanese salt
production method and mass produced the salt, but unfortunately Isteria
Province was located inland.
It will be impossible in the first place to ask other
provinces to help in making salt, as it was currently difficult to make a move
outside of Isteria Province.
Since it was only used as an insect repellent in this
world, by procuring a large amount of lime that was considered as not having
much value, they could also produce mortar by using the lime.
However, it was necessary to start a specialized
mortar manufacture industry to obtain the profit.
In short, it could be done by asking Isteria’s
craftsmen as new plaster worker. However, currently, not only the citizen but the
feudal lord too had no money. In this barely scraping by situation, if they suddenly
were told to make mortar, an invention that wasn’t related to the current food condition
problem, he felt that he would receive a harsh stare.
In a way it should happen as naturally as possible, he
wanted to improve the feudal lord’s power one way or another, but if it was
done in this way then the means that he could choose was limited.
「Oh well, as expected this way is the fastest.」(Kazura)
The other people in the room hold their breath and
attentively watch Kazura who made a groaning sound before he raised his face
and spoke up with a similar nervous expression.
Kazura noticed that he had become the center of the
attention, even though it felt a bit uncomfortable, he took a small cloth bag
from his handbag.
「Nelson-san, how much can this be sold?」(Kazura)
When he asked this, Kazura opened the cloth bag and
retrieved several gems from it.
When Kazura returned to Japan he bought power stones[3]
for 250 yen a piece from the power stone corner in a stone dealer shop.
The ones he took from the bag were lapis lazuli and turquoise
that had been cut into a perfect circle of 2 centimeters diameter and then the rose
quartz like the one he had previously sold at the general store in Isteria.
The rose quartz that he brought this time had a deeper
pink color, the color was darker but in exchange, it wasn’t transparent.
The lapis lazuli and the turquoise were the same, it
wasn’t transparent and had a deep color.
Nelson looked amazed at the gems that Kazura retrieved
and hummed in wonder.
Zirconia and the others too had their breath taken
away by this sight.
「I don’t really know the value of the gems, but I believe these can be sold for
quite a large sum of money. Gems that is in a perfect circle like this,
furthermore, to have such beautiful luster without a single chip, I had never
seen something like this before. Perhaps one of these could be sold for no less
than 10000 Ar.」(Nelson)
「Eh? Really?」(Kazura)
Kazura couldn’t believe his ear at the astounding amount
of money that Nelson had uttered.
When Kazura sold the rose quartz at a general store in
Isteria before, it was only for 2500 Ar.
He had thought that it was sold for quite a large sum
of money, but it seems that he had actually been ripped off.
「I don’t know, I don’t really know how much the value will be. Perhaps it
can even be sold for a higher price; conversely, it can also be cheaper than
the value that I have said before. However, it won’t change that these have
quite a considerable value. May I see it closely?」(Nelson)
「Yes, feel free to do so.」(Kazura)
Nelson took a gem into his hand, then he looked it and
after that stroked it with his hand.
It was as if he was ascertaining that there was really
no chip on it.
「If we talk about gems, which characteristic that is more valuable, the
deepness of the color or the transparency of the gem?」(Kazura)
「Generally, transparent gems are more popular. Especially, the beautiful transparent
obsidian that rarely appeared on the market, this kind of gem have a tremendous
value. After seeing its beauty, there might be no one who doesn’t desire for
it.」(Nelson)
「Obsidian? Obsidian is that black stone used for arrowhead?」(Kazura)
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed
from the cooled volcanic rocks.
Because it has an extremely sharp edge when it’s
fractured, in ancient times it was used as arrowhead or knife, and in some area
fragments of obsidian were inserted into a wooden board and used like a sword.[4]
「Yes, that’s the one. It’s mostly only colored pitch black, but rarely there
are translucent black obsidian, or beautiful green or blue colored transparent obsidian
from mining that appear on the market.[5]
The green or blue colored gem especially have tremendous value, so it was not
something that can be obtained easily. Only an influential great noble or
royalty that able to obtain it.」(Nelson)
「Eh? Is it really that expensive? That obsidian thing?」(Kazura)
When he heard Nelson’s explanation, Kazura nodded in
admiration and then put his hand into his handbag.
「Then, how much will these be?」(Kazura)
When Kazura spoke this words, he took out one more
small cloth bag from the handbag and placed it in front of Nelson. He opened
the small cloth bag.
「It’s obsidian bargain sale.」(Kazura)
When ten marbles like bead appeared from the cloth
bag, the atmosphere of the room immediately froze.
☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽
The meaning if the
title: “I, your father, will show you the degree of my wealth, let’s corner the
gems market!”
Just kidding……
Chapter 75 will be
due by tomorrow… Honest….
ANNOUNCEMENT:
The current status and future plan (MARCH):
Takarakuji : 74,75,76 done. This month will also see 77,78,79,80 and 81
hopefully… *wish me luck*
Tensei-cheat : LN2C3 done translating, LNC4 will be this month. *wish me
luck*
HikiNEET: I promise you rest of Chapter6 and the intermissions by this
month. I swear my yukkuriness on this.
Black Healer: LN1C2part4 from January had already finished, the editor is
kinda busy and so it missed by one month… LN1C3part1 from last month
unfinished. Hence I will join it with LN1C3part2 for this month (I kinda like
Chapter 3 so I might finish it faster)
Realist: Arc3 Epilogue A done translating. Editor is kinda busy. Perhaps I
will release an unedited version, so you guys won’t wait too long. Please take
my dogeza………
About RV and Princess Knight: I am open for collaboration. The current me
have an upper limit of 5 project only due to the Hospital taking much of my
time……
Also, I might take a short hiatus on the middle of March due to my hospital
duties.
I tell you kids: Working-san is like a legal wife, Translating-chan is like
a mistress. I can only have affair with Translating-chan only if Working-san isn’t
looking, and she had been watching me for too close during the last 5 month……
When my current work contract terminated in June… Perhaps… I can return to a
NEET? (Not likely… I might need to find a new workplace, hopefully a not so
busy place, I still need to pay my house mortgage and man can’t live off
instant noodles alone)
[3] See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_healing
The gemstone will be cut into certain geometric shape and then sold to fix your
chakra etc.
∧_∧
ReplyDelete(='.'=) Thanks!!
("")_("") Nepu!!!
First for Thanks Nefu
ReplyDeleteKazura has no sense of wariness at all
ReplyDelete「........ It seems that I have been taking light of my daughter a bit.........」(Kazura) is it really kazura who said that or some one else since i quite sure that kazura didn't have any daughter
ReplyDeleteAh sorry... I got the conversation identifier wrong... It's supposed to be Zirconia and Nelson.
DeleteThanks!
ReplyDeleteFortunately Lieze wasn't there or she might've blown her cover. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteYay for the New chapter!! \o/
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chapter!
ReplyDeleteI would have been quite interested to see Lieze's reaction when Kazura just took out the gem XD
「Hm, while this is embarrassing, I also am surprised by this. It seems that I have been taking light of my daughter a bit. If she has this much, then it will be necessary to ask Lieze to cooperate in the territorial governance earlier.」(Kazura)
I'm pretty sure that it's not Kazura speaking
Oh, someone already pointed that, my bad
Deletethank you :)
ReplyDelete"Man can't live off instant noodles alone"
ReplyDeleteHa! Before becoming an IM and only doing moonlights, instant noodles were my best friends.
Well.... Now I can't though, since knowing about its disadvantages.
In our world, Lieze would be the perfect Idol star.
ReplyDeleteSo much for keeping a low profile. If they sell those, all eyes will be on Isteria, which makes concealing the waterwheels, fertilizer and Greysior himself that much more difficult.
ReplyDeletethanks for the chapter :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the chapter~
ReplyDeleteLol, "man can’t live off instant noodles alone" you said? I've tasted how a person survive a month with Indomie alone XD
"Next chapter" link is broken, should be http://yukkuri-literature-service.blogspot.com/2017/03/Takarakuji-75.html instead of http://yukkuri-literature-service.blogspot.com/2017/02/Takarakuji-75.html
ReplyDeleteMO MONEY MO MONEY MO MONEY!
ReplyDeleteSo unintentionally smooth even zorconia was made skip a beat
ReplyDeletejadi tukang batu akik...
ReplyDelete