In the basement filled with black mist, the golden beast-eye and the eerie blood-red eye were especially conspicuous, and a voice impossible to identify as male or female abruptly rang out.
"Interesting—there's actually someone who knows what I used to look like?"
"Other me, do we need to investigate this matter?"
"Keep an eye on it a little. It's better that traces of the past don't surface in this world."
"Understood. I'll arrange it."
"The fusion progress is still a bit slow..."
With a sigh, the mismatched eyes slowly closed, and the black mist was entirely drawn into a cocoon that throbbed ceaselessly like a heart, radiating a terrifying, uncanny aura that was utterly out of place in this world.
...
The promotion of the cola was a great success. Through "Wild Eats," it had already made a name for itself in Landosol—though opinions were somewhat polarized. Those who disliked it called it a strange beverage capable of stabbing through your tongue, while those who liked it considered it the most creative drink on the continent of Astraea.
"Wild Eats" turnover also soared because it was the only place selling cola. Under his friends' relentless pressing, the owner finally, reluctantly, gave up the lead on the cola supplier, and the owners of all the major shops and restaurants, like sharks that had smelled blood, surrounded Jhin—who had gone out to run errands—seeking cooperation.
Jhin had no choice but to put off the matter of picking up the letter at the Adventurers Guild for the time being, and discuss cooperation terms with these merchants, their eyes brimming with longing for fragments of a luxury villa. As the only supplier able to provide cola, he had plenty of confidence; no matter how pitifully those merchants played it up, he held firm to a ninety-ten profit split.
Every cup of cola was priced at 30 Eris, and the profit split would later be adjusted according to each merchant's sales performance. If a merchant was found to have raised prices without authorization, the cooperation would be cut off immediately, along with a penalty fee for breach of contract.
Cola, a beverage suited to small profits and high turnover, was not something Jhin would let go down a high-end route—that would undoubtedly be courting death. Only after they'd promised to come to the Adventurers Guild tomorrow to sign the contract did he manage to extricate himself from the encirclement.
Some merchants were unwilling to accept his terms and left cursing, but sooner or later they would come to regret it.
After picking up the letter sent from Crimson Demon Village, Jhin went straight home and handed it to Megumin. To his surprise, Megumin tore open the envelope, glanced at it for a moment, then pulled out a sheet of letter paper and handed it to him: "This one's written by Mom for you—it should be about the sanitary pads."
"Don't tell me it's already gone into production?"
"I don't know... my letter doesn't say."
"Let me see what your mom has to say."
In the letter, she first expressed her exclamations of how enormously sanitary pads helped women, followed by a string of magic-specific jargon that Jhin couldn't understand, though he still barely grasped the gist of it: roughly, that the production cost of the sanitary pads had been compressed to the minimum without affecting their quality.
This was actually a good thing. If the production cost were too high, it would instead be unfavorable for selling in bulk, and ordinary people wouldn't be able to afford the price—that would be putting the cart before the horse.
Jhin nodded with satisfaction and read on.
"My daughter tells me that Mr. Jhin is still single and unwed to this day. For such a dignified, talented, and brilliant man to remain single makes me wonder whether the women of Landosol have all gone blind.
I wonder what you think of my daughter Megumin. Don't let her devotion to [Explosion magic] fool you—she's actually very good at taking care of people, and quite skilled at housework too.
Although her chest is a bit of a disappointment and might leave the children hungry, that's all right—I also happen to know she has a friend who is ten! times! more suited to nursing children. If you're willing to take my little girl, I could even talk that friend into coming over to be the children's wet nurse.
That said, if it comes to that, the betrothal gift to the bride's family might have to be a touch larger—say, a few hundred million Eris or so. Rest assured, as long as there's a marriage, I will absolutely stop at nothing to make Yunyun agree to this."
Having finished the whole letter, Jhin had only one thought.
As expected of the brain-addled Crimson Demon Clan—in order to marry off her own daughter, she'd even scheme to drag someone else's daughter along as part of the dowry.
He felt it was probably better not to tell Megumin about the latter half of the contents, to keep her from going home and blowing up at her mother for calling her flat-chested.
"What did your letter say?"
"It talked about the production cost and production capacity of the sanitary pads. You should write a reply back home—say that I agree to proceed with the production and sales. And if your family is the one managing it, let's do a sixty-forty profit split."
Megumin's eyes lit up, her whole body giving off the stink of money: "My family gets sixty percent?"
"What are you thinking—of course I get sixty percent."
"Tch~ And here I thought you'd give the lion's share to my family."
"Just count yourself lucky. You get a forty-percent cut right at the start of the partnership. If it weren't for your sake, I'd have offered twenty at most."
"Ohh~ you really know your stuff." Poking Jhin gleefully with her finger, Megumin stuffed her own letter into her pocket: "Then I'll go back to my room to write the reply." "Mm."
What Jhin didn't know was that in her letter, her mother had likewise written a long passage urging her to absolutely secure the man—words like "a fine specimen of a man," "a wealthy catch," and "never wanting for food or drink" were all deployed, terrified her daughter would be too thick-headed to seize such a good man.
"Tch~ as if I even need you to tell me all this. I just gave my little—little foot the slightest wiggle and had him utterly bewitched, body and soul." As she wrote her reply, she smugly jiggled her leg.
But... do I maybe need to go look for the same outfit from that "Puberty Education" book, or something similar?
To keep her own feet from getting sore, Megumin felt it was quite necessary.
Looks like I'll have to cut back on buying so many cool little gadgets for a while.
The reply from Crimson Demon Village came very quickly. The letter wasn't even sent back through the Adventurers Guild—instead it was delivered via teleportation magic straight to the guild cabin at the Gourmet Edifice, which was also the first time Jhin realized just how terrifying a race composed entirely of archmages was.
Teleportation magic that only archmages could learn was being used to deliver letters—surely they didn't intend to use teleportation magic for the sanitary pads' sales and shipping later on too?
Jhin felt it was quite likely the Crimson Demon Clan would do exactly that. He tore open the incoming letter, its back inscribed "To be opened personally by Mr. Jhin," and examined its contents.
Megumin's mother had seen the enormous potential of the sanitary pads and decided to have the entire Crimson Demon Village get involved and take charge of all the affairs. At the same time she thanked him for the sixty-forty profit split. At present the sanitary pads were being sold within Crimson Demon Village, and the response had been quite good.
Since Crimson Demon Village was taking care of everything, all Jhin needed to do was play the hands-off boss and wait to collect the money. He put away the envelope and was just about to go find Megumin when, behind him, another magic fluctuation surged. "Thud."
A half-meter-tall brown cloth sack popped into existence in the air, packed full of Eris, and slammed heavily onto the floor—with a label reading "Crimson Demon Village Sales Revenue" stuck to it.
Teleportation magic is so convenient. I'll have to find an opportunity to study it.
Jhin marveled inwardly as he put away this sack of Eris, preparing to head to the Adventurers Guild to raise the quest reward.
____
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