“Yes, I am. The wine in this village is very delicious. Just think of it as my way of thanking you for introducing it to me.”
Mr. Hannes was hesitant, but I could see that he also wanted to agree to it.
Obviously, the village would suffer if they had to dispose of all of it, and so if someone wanted to buy it from them, it would be a great help.
He had to think about the good of his people, which meant that he could not be too reluctant.
“…Thank you. I would be glad to sell you the wine. However, I think the price should be lowered even more…”
“No, it’s fine. I don’t want to buy it at a discount. It’s not like I’m entering the wine business with this…”
“But you’ve already done so much for our village… I don’t know how we can repay you… But now, we will have enough money to buy grapes from the merchant who is visiting tomorrow.”
Mr. Hannes agreed, and so it was decided that I would buy the wine.
He was so grateful towards me, that he seemed like he was about to burst into tears. However, what he said immediately after caught my attention.
“…Tommorow? The merchant is coming?”
“Yes, according to the schedule. He visits once every few months to sell us grapes. But without your help, Mr. Takumi, we would not have been able to buy much.”
So if things went according to schedule, the merchant would come to the village to sell them grapes.
The merchant from the count’s territory…
“Will it be the merchant who gave you the glass sphere?”
“If it is the usual merchant, it will be a different person.”
Had it been the same merchant, we could capture him… I had thought. But apparently, it wasn’t the same person.
Perhaps that merchant would never return. After all, he had already accomplished his goal.
And the other merchant probably had nothing to do with the matter of the glass sphere… Well, I should still have a talk with him anyway.
“Would you mind if I spoke with this merchant tomorrow?”
“It is possible, but… Is there something you are worried about?”
“No, but I do have some questions, like how involved he is with the merchant who brought the sphere.”
“I see… As this person comes regularly, I do hope he had nothing to do with it…”
For Mr. Hannes, this person was someone they did business with regularly.
And so they were well acquainted. He would not want to think that the person had wanted to hurt the village.
I didn’t know what the truth was, but surely he could tell me something about the merchant who brought the sphere.
After all, that merchant had visited as a replacement.
“Alright, I’ll start making the herbs then.”
After the late lunch, I went to the back of Mr. Hannes’s house and got to work.
Mr. Hannes had gone off to check the barrels and calculate the price.
He also gave me cloth to wrap up the herbs, so I was fully prepared.
“…That’s good…but now that I think about it, I have to do it all by myself now….”
Obviously, as I wasn’t in the mansion, there was no one to help me.
I had to pick all of the herbs and wrap them up after dividing them.
It was simple enough if I was only making Ramogi, but if there was a wide variety of herbs, it could take quite some time.
…Well, it’s not like I lacked that at all, so I would do it at a leisurely pace.
“…Still, while I thought that I was used to working quietly alone…it does feel a little sad.”
Back at the mansion, Ms. Claire, Ms. Lyra, Tilura and Milina were often there as well.
Sebastian as well… I then realized that I was rarely alone since coming to this world.
It wasn’t just the people here, but Leo was always there.
And since I took Leo’s presence for granted, her absence was felt even stronger. Like something important was missing.
And so I was reminded to be grateful to have people close by as I continued on with my work.
…I told myself that this wasn’t to distract me or escape reality.
“There you are, Mr. Takumi.”
“…Ha…phew…Mr. Hannes?”
After making some herbs, I started to jog around the village to keep my body from getting sluggish. That was when Mr. Hannes called out to me.
I caught my breath and then answered.
“What are you doing here?”
“…Ha…hah… Oh, I was just running for a bit of exercise.”
We were currently on the side of the village that was opposite of Mr. Hannes’s house.
Close to where the barrels of bad wine were being kept.
I hadn’t been thinking of which direction I was headed in, and had just ended up here by accident.
Perhaps Mr. Hannes had been looking for me… I felt a little bad about it.
“Mr. Takumi, I have finished making the calculations for the barrels.”
“How much will it cost me?”
“…So you haven’t changed your mind?”
Mr. Hannes seemed like he still didn’t quite believe me.
“It’s fine. I just want to help so you can continue to make your delicious wine.”
“Very well. Thank you so much. As for the price…”
And so Mr. Hannes told me the wholesale price of the wine.
As there were a lot of barrels, I expected the price to be quite high. But it was less than I thought.
But then again, it was also possible that Mr. Hannes had added a discount and not said anything…
Regardless, I was just relieved that I had brought enough money with me.
To think that I was carrying enough money to buy half of a village’s wine… It was hard to imagine, and so different to how things used to be for me.
It was because the duke’s family paid me well, unlike the company I used to work at.
And I was also grateful for Weed Cultivation, which allowed me to easily prepare herbs that had such high value.