[V4C11] An Artisan’s Fight, A Merchant’s Fight
Translated by Jodas 4: Flying Through the SkyAs Wren and Gerald hesitated over whether to enter the Management Office, a voice interrupted them from behind.
“Excuse me, we’d like to get inside…”
Standing behind Wren were a pair of men: one around forty with black hair, the other a blond man in his twenties. The one who spoke to them was the older of the two.
That older man wore a suit instead of a robe, matched with a pair of colored glasses.
The younger man wore a garish ensemble involving a robe draped over a showy checkered shirt.
Wren and Gerald cleared the way, and the man in the suit knocked on the door to the Management Office. Then, without waiting for an answer, he entered.
Inside, a number of craftsmen, including the Director, Old Man Kappel, worked on various tasks. Among them, he spotted Rukiye with her blonde hair wrapped in a turban.
Both the young man in the checkered shirt and the older man in the suit spoke up in synchronization.
“‘Sup dudes! Nice to meetcha! I’m Herr, from the Finance Office!”
“Likewise, I am Kaufmann, also of the Finance Office. We have come to audit the progress you have made in creating marketable products.”
“Geh!”
None other than Management Office Director Kappel himself made that awfully displeased noise.
Director Kappel pushed aside the blueprints he’d had laid out on the desk in front of him. Taking a peek at those blueprints, the young man in the checkered shirt, Herr, raised his voice.
“Hey Kaufmann, these guys are real pieces of work, huh? Looks like they’re making a whole bunch’a stuff we didn’t ask for!”
The suited man who called himself Kaufmann frowned as well.
“It seems you’ve been enjoying yourselves here… Director Kappel, I wonder if the products we requested will be complete by the deadline?”
“Oh, shut up, you nag! I’ll get them done whether you tell me or not!”
Director Kappel responded to Kaufmann’s nagging by waving his hand like he was shooing away a bug.
Kaufmann straightened his colored glasses with his fingertips and spoke slowly and deliberately.
“Last time you missed the deadline by three days. The time before that it was two days. Three times ago, four days. Over the past year, you’ve averaged three days past due.”
“Kaufmann’s memorized every missed deadline over the past decade, and remembers every single time I’ve shown up late for work. This guy’s not kidding around!”
Behind Kaufmann, Herr’s face brimmed with confidence. That’s what you call acting tough? Wren silently quipped.
Before that pair from the Finance Office, Director Kappel of the Maintenance Office snorted “Hmph!”
A tremendously shameless grin appeared on his face.
“After all, you guys’ deadlines always have some padding built in anyways! That means I’ll be fine even if I’m a whole week behind!”
(Sheesh….)
Wren was the son of a prominent merchant. Perhaps as a result, he thought more like a merchant than an artisan.
So his reaction was ‘What in the world is this grandpa saying?’ Talented craftsmen who don’t follow their deadlines make a merchant cry, you know?
Kappel showed no hint of remorse, to which Kaufmann issued his warning in a low voice.
“The next time you’re late, we’ll have to put a restriction on your materials.”
“Eugh.”
“And if this situation continues, we’ll have to reconsider the funds we allocate to the Management Office from here on out.”
“This guy’s not kidding, you know? Director Eigen said the same thing!”
As Kaufmann laid out his ultimatum, Herr in his checkered shirt stood behind him, repeating “That’s bad news, he’s not kidding!”
Director Kappel furrowed his thick eyebrows and grumbled, but soon pasted over that expression with a forced smile.
Then, like an elder lecturing a petulant child, he spoke.
“Look, Kaufmann. Making things is our job at the Management Office. Making money is your job at the Finance Office.”
“Money doesn’t grow on trees. We need you to show us a product in order for us to make any money.”
The Wedge Tower, located as it was in the Empire’s Autonomous Region, wasn’t receiving any support from the Emperor.
Its primary sources of income were either support from powerful individuals in the Autonomous Region, rewards for completing requests from the Mage Association, and selling magical devices made by the Management Office.
Apparently, the Finance Office had taken on the role of going to market with magical devices made by the Management Office as their products.
Director Kappel clicked his tongue and shouted at the craftsmen present in the room.
“Oi, someone bring me something that looks like it’ll sell!”
The artisans of the Management Office must have been used to this sort of exchange, as each one of them stepped forward with their workpieces… Their faces said ‘whatever you say boss, let’s get this over with.’
Most of the items they brought up were accessories, although there were some weapons and articles of clothing among them as well. Clothes could apparently be imbued with magic through the use of silver or gold threads for embroidery that could accomplish similar effects to magical devices.
Watching from the shadow of the doorframe without stepping into the room, Wren couldn’t help himself from commenting.
“Wow… If all of those are magical devices, they’d fetch a pretty price, huh?”
“… Would they? Um… would it be enough to buy a horse?”
Gerald’s face had a look of surprise. Seemed like he wasn’t very familiar with magical devices.
Wren responded knowledgeably.
“Not just a horse — depending on what it is, a magical device is enough to buy a house! I don’t have enough experience to appraise the exact value of these, though.”
“T- That much….”
Beneath his long bangs, Gerald gazed at a magical device sitting on a nearby table.
He only noticed this recently, but Gerald gave the impression of having grown up in an environment that was far from comfortable. He had a habit of eating ravenously whenever he had the chance, and would always step away in shock whenever he saw something expensive.
At that moment, Kaufmann picked up a bracelet from the table. That was the one Rukiye brought over.
“You made this?”
“Yes.”
Rukiye nodded, and Kaufmann looked between the bracelet in his hand and her face.
Then he whispered to himself.
“Hm… Not bad.”
The corners of Rukiye’s lips rose slightly when she heard his muttering.
He just complimented something that she made. Of course she’d be happy.
(This might be the first time I’ve seen Rukiye smile…)
While Rukiye had an unapproachable personality, she was nevertheless beautiful. Just by smiling a little bit, it gave her an adorable look that caught your eye and made you gasp.
With the bracelet in his hand, Kaufmann spoke to Director Kappel.
“Director Kappel. Let me borrow her for a week. I want to use her to attract customers. If we imply that these things were made by such a gorgeous artisan, I’m sure we’ll get a higher price for all these products.”
The smile vanished from Rukiye’s face.
Her thin eyebrows twitched under her turban, and she glared at Kaufmann.
“I refuse. I have no intentions of using such means to sell…”
“You don’t get it, do you?”
Kaufmann brushed off Rukiye’s objections with a cold expression and lifted the bracelet in his hand up to eye level.
“This product is worth no more than the cost of the materials you used to make it. That’s precisely why we have to use any means possible to increase the sale price of such a lackluster work.”
His cruel words caused the blood to drain from Rukiye’s face.
Kaufmann lifted his tinted glasses with his fingertips, and declared sharply.
“I am the one who decides how we sell our products. An amateur has no place in this discussion. If you don’t like it, then make something that’ll sell!”
(Geez, that’s harsh…)
Even though he thought the man’s tone was too harsh, Kaufmann’s line of thinking was correct from a merchant’s point of view.
‘It’s one of a kind,’ ‘It’s one of the Emperor’s favorites,’ ‘It was the last work of a tragic genius craftsman.’ — Dressing up one’s products with tall tales to raise their price was common sense among merchants.
Or rather, not doing so would be considered failure to do one’s job.
(… But I also get what Rukiye is feeling.)
Of course she’d get angry when the piece she put her heart and soul into making was brushed away as lackluster and told to sell it using her appearance alone.
That man didn’t respect her talents as an artisan at all, and instead essentially told her that her appearance was her only redeeming trait.
Rukiye did not shout in indignation, but she bit her lip, and disdain showed across her face.
Standing before Rukiye, Kaufmann removed the brooch pinning his scarf up and raised it for everyone to see.
“I bought this a few years ago in the Central Empire. It was made by a nameless girl who was fifteen or so at the time. However, I emptied my pockets to buy it. That’s how much value I thought it had.”
It was a simple metal brooch that didn’t have any jewels inlaid, yet it was decorated with extremely delicate adornments.
Wren couldn’t help himself from sneaking up behind Kaufmann’s back to get a glimpse of the brooch.
(Wow… What is that thing!? It’s even got crazy detailed designs on the back, too!)
At first glance, it didn’t look terribly special, but the more he looked at it, the more he was surprised by the craftsmanship involved.
It was a first-class item that stood on par with the fanciest things his illustrious merchant father would wear.
Rukiye must also have realized how amazing the brooch was. Her eyes fixated on the brooch’s details.
“Later, that girl would end up working as a personal artisan for the Emperor himself. That only confirmed that my assessment was correct.”
Kaufmann carefully reattached the brooch to his scarf and looked down on Rukiye.
“This brooch had the power to shake a buyer’s heart without any additional appeal. Your piece has no such power. That’s the simple reality. If you understand that, then be a good girl and come do some sales.”
“You’d better listen to what Kaufmann says, Apprentice. This guy’s not kidding!”
Rukiye’s hands balled into fists at her side. Her hands were visibly shaking.
Wren gathered his courage and jumped out in front of Rukiye.
“Hold on just a second! We’d be in big trouble if you took Rukiye away!”
Piercing eyes glared at Wren through tinted glasses. Those were the eyes of a man accustomed to appraising the value of everything he saw.
Wren put his all into displaying the most harmless smile he could muster.
Appraise this: the Pretty Boy Smile!
“We’re preparing for a magic battle with the Extermination Office, you know? And Rukiye is going to make a secret weapon that’s gonna lead us Apprentices to victory!”
“Oh… And just what is this secret weapon?”
Wren put his index finger over his lips and winked.
Take that! How do you like the Pretty Boy Wink?!
“I ca~n’t tell you! It wouldn’t be a secret weapon if it wasn’t secret, would it? Doesn’t the secret give it added value?”
If the secret stopped being secret, it would lose its added value.
Kaufmann must surely be aware of that fact.
(Well, we haven’t thought of a secret weapon at all, though!)
Kaufmann questioned him pointedly.
“And you couldn’t entrust anyone else to create this secret weapon in her place?”
“No, no, no, this is something only Rukiye can do!”
So give up already! He tried to communicate between his words.
Kaufmann raised one hand and placed it over his mouth. The lips beneath his fingers began to smile.
“…You’d make a good sales boy yourself.”
“Really? Feel free to let me know the next time I have time! I’ll help you sell whatever! I wanted to see what work was like in the Finance Office anyways. But right now I’m busy preparing for the magic battle, so it’ll have to be later, okay!?”
As he said that last ‘okay,’ he finished him off with a Pretty-Boy-Respecting-Elders-Smile.
“Very well.” Kaufmann dropped the hand from his lips and responded curtly.
His eyes no longer paid Rukiye any attention.
Kaufmann ordered Herr to pack the magical devices on the table into a bag, then marched out of the room.
Herr, in his checkered shirt, left them with a confusing parting of “A’ight, later dudes!” Then followed after Kaufmann.
The door slammed closed, and in the silence that followed, Gerald asked Wren:
“I didn’t hear anything about the secret weapon. What kind of thing…?”
“Yep. I’ve got no clue…… What do you think we should do, Rukiye?”
Wren laughed awkwardly and turned towards Rukiye.
Rukiye crossed her arms and glared intensely at the door through which Kaufmann had just left. Eventually, she ripped her turban off and screamed.
“That damn piece of shit evil four-eyed bastard!!”
Everyone present in the Management Office turned their heads at the booming sound of her voice. It would be safe to bet that Kaufmann could hear her as he walked in the hallway as well.
Wren was stunned by what Rukiye had said.
“Geez, you scared me… I didn’t know you used dirty words like that.”
“I tried to use all the dirtiest words I know to curse him. If there’s any dirtier words out there, please let me know.”
“I’ll make sure to use them next time,” Rukiye added in a growl. Kappel then spoke to her while absentmindedly cleaning the wax out of his ear with his finger.
“Don’t worry. If you work here as an artisan, you’re going to learn some foul words whether you want to or not.”
Post Script
The People of the Finance Office
Director Eigen: A middle-aged man who formed the ‘hemorrhoids alliance’ with the Smoke Fox. Has a wife and kid.
Kaufmann: Cool and uncaring man who wears a suit. Has good eyes.
Herr (Checkered shirt): The guy who goes ‘He’s bad news,’ ‘He’s not kidding!’ Was a classmate of Frederik’s.