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Chapter 56: Saioji's Thoughts
“...You knew?”
It wasn't that I had been deliberately hiding it, but because of the guilty feeling that came with purchasing a slave, I had never told Saioji the details of what happened. Her words were phrased like a question, yet the look on her face suggested certainty.
“The fact that an elf was being sold at the black market is something every adventurer active in the royal capital knows... Are you following so far?”
“Yeah.”
“Normally, if an elf were put up for sale in the capital, someone would buy her within a day—even if the price was an absurd fortune or some incredibly rare item that only appears once every few years. But that elf slave remained unsold for an entire month. The reason was...”
W е̊ b̊ n̈о̌v́ ѐl̈ Ӗ.n u m̊ ā
“...The requirement to trade a Red Potion.”
“Exactly. Red Potions are so rare that even merchants with shops in the royal capital can't obtain them. And even if they could, whether they could provide something of equal value is another matter entirely.”
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As Banc had said before, Eula possessed one of the highest values imaginable for a slave because of her rarity. Her beautiful appearance would captivate countless men, and many would want to take her as a mistress or wife.
On top of that, elves naturally possessed large reserves of mana and excellent aptitude for magic. Eula was also highly skilled with a bow, making her valuable as an adventurer as well.
Even so, if one asked whether Eula's value exceeded that of a Red Potion, every adventurer and merchant in the capital would answer no.
“For the past month, you've been exhausting your mana almost every day, haven't you? As a reincarnated person, you have an enormous amount of mana. I couldn't imagine you burning through it all outside of fighting monsters. That's when I started thinking you were doing something behind the scenes.”
Ѐn ǔ mа̌.і̃ d̆
Thanks to my reincarnation bonus, I possessed far more mana than ordinary people. I couldn't compare to someone like Sakakibara, who belonged to royalty, or Rey, heir to a great noble family. But among commoner mages, I was probably near the top.
If mana quantity alone were considered, I was confident I surpassed brigade mages like Camille. Though compared to Saioji, who had a similar background, I was probably slightly behind.
“There hasn't been any information over the past several years about Red Potions being brought into the capital. Of course, it's possible it was done secretly, but completely suppressing that kind of information would require involvement at the national level.”
“...So you concluded the Red Potion wasn't brought in from outside, but created within the capital itself?”
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“That's right. Recently, I learned of someone who succeeded in artificially cultivating the herbs used for Purple Potions, something considered impossible throughout history. In that case, would it really be so surprising if that same person also succeeded in producing Red Potions?”
If there was no record of one being imported, then either a Red Potion had been hidden somewhere in the city all along, or someone had created a new one.
W̃е̌ b n̄ оv̌ е̌.l Еǹu mӑ
Normally, no one would jump to the conclusion that someone had actually manufactured a Red Potion. But Saioji had recently learned about a person who accomplished the supposedly impossible feat of artificially cultivating rare medicinal herbs used for Purple Potions.
“Half the value of a Red Potion lies in how difficult it is to obtain. And the primary source, such as ancient dungeons, has practically been exhausted because of the dungeon conquest boom in recent years. In fact, looking at history, you could say people found too many of them until recently.”
Around the time I was born in Asphial, up until roughly twenty years ago, adventurers experienced what many called a golden age. Many high-level dungeons that had long been known but remained unconquered due to their danger were cleared one after another. The result was a flood of relics recovered from those dungeons—items known as Sacred Relics, possessing extraordinary powers beyond modern understanding, including Red Potions.
In a sense, it was the fantasy world's equivalent of an economic bubble. Merchants flocked to dungeons in search of wealth, entire towns sprang up around them, and fortunes were made. Most of those towns eventually declined, but several still survive today as dungeon cities.
“So because it was a bubble economy, my generation ended up suffering the backlash?”
“Exactly. Since most dungeon profits came from Sacred Relics, it's reasonable to assume the treasure reserves were exhausted within just a few years. As a consequence, the prices of the relics that remain have skyrocketed in recent times.”
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One of those relics was, of course, the Red Potion.
“If someone can prepare a Red Potion on their own, then its value decreases dramatically to that person. To the point where exchanging one for an elf slave would seem reasonable.”
“...Yeah.”
It seemed that the reason she had spent so long talking about the recent history of the world of Asphial was to explain the biggest mystery behind this transaction—the disparity in value between the elf slave and the Red Potion. After hearing all that, I gave up trying to hide it.
“I don't really care that you bought an elf slave. I believe I understand your personality well enough. If anything, I'm frustrated by how little influence I have, and by the trouble that's caused you.”
“Frustrated?”
Ѐ n̈ u mа́ .і.d̄
As a woman, I had assumed Saioji would be displeased that I had enslaved a beautiful female elf like Eula. Apparently, that concern had been unnecessary. If anything, her perspective felt almost coldly practical. More than that, I got the feeling that Saioji trusted me far more than I had realized.
And what she meant by “frustrated” left me puzzled.
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“That's right. If I possessed enough power and fame that no one would dare oppose me, then you wouldn't have needed to handle this in secret. At the very least, if I had more power, I think you would have consulted me privately even if you didn't tell the other members.” [miotomobil...epoint.com]
Watching the frustration flicker across her face, I found myself wondering whether she was really the same age as a high school girl. I didn't know the exact chronology, but Saioji was almost certainly still a minor. In this world, fifteen was considered adulthood, but in Japan, she would still be too young to drink alcohol or smoke.
“...I'm sorry. To put it simply, I don't care that you kept this matter secret from me. I just want you to rely on me if something happens. The other party is a woman, and complications can arise. That's all.”
Then, as if a movie scene had abruptly changed frames, I blinked. The frustration that had been visible a moment earlier vanished completely, replaced by the same composed and dignified expression she always wore.
Ѐ n̊ um̆â
