Volume 8.5 – Ch 12
Roads of Delicacy
Garde Myourmiles is a famous merchant.
Not only that, he also happens to be the head of the Brumund Kingdom’s underworld. He’s an arrogant man, strict with his money, and refuses to stoop to flattery, even with the most prominent nobles—these kinds of comments about him are common across Brumund Kingdom, and are even known to the people of Ingracia.
However, in reality, Myourmiles is hardly a cruel and ruthless man. He has a surprisingly loyal and caring personality. He offers work to orphans and those in poverty to ensure their basic welfare. To allow debtors to work for what they cannot pay back—as Myourmiles puts it. Speaking of which, it is Myourmiles who’s been organizing extra work for those who can’t work for the Freedom Association.
It is Myourmiles’s true character that puts him on good terms with many influential people, including the nobles of Brumund Kingdom.
To facilitate his future business deals, he has made favors and indebted others on many occasions. By leveraging his relationships skillfully, it’s a piece of cake for him to earn favors from the nobles through debt collecting. Because of this, Myourmiles has been able to firmly accumulate power and strengthen his territory. Through this, he was able to earn his place and voice in Brumund Kingdom.
I’ve come to Brumund Kingdom to meet this prominent businessman Myourmiles. I’ve got two goals in mind this time:
To get more manpower in order to officially set off the hotel operation, and additionally, letting him help me collect food ingredients. In terms of manpower, the goblins under my rule are well trained in customer service due to Vesta’s guidance. The quality of their service could probably satisfy high-class visitors such as Duke Elalude or King Gazel.
However, the money-managing staff fall short due to their lack of talent. It will take at least a couple of months to even teach them elementary arithmetic. It’s a time-consuming process for these guys, so they can’t just pick up skills by studying in their free time during work. But it’s only natural, considering that these monsters have never needed to study before in their life. They’re a bunch who have good muscle memory but are lacking in brainpower. The capable ones can simply obtain skills by feeling like doing so. Those who aren’t as capable have to learn through doing hard work themselves, and gaining experience manually. As the latter method would undoubtedly be met with failure, we realized we would need to find backup personnel.
And so I decided to pay a visit to Myourmiles since he’s well-known among merchants to be good at accounting.
However, the real goal of my visit is to get him to help me gather new ingredients in order to develop new meals that we can bring to the market. For instance, the ramen from our last meeting. Not the instant noodle type—but the real deal.
Cake exists in this world as well. If I’m thorough enough, I can find it somewhere. I’m hoping Myourmiles can find out about this type of stuff for me. If all attempts fail, then it would be time for Raphael-sensei to do her thing.
<
Fufufufu, that’s what I’m talking about,
INCREDIBLE JOB RAPHAEL-SAN.
The ingredients needed for ramen started to show up in my head non-stop. They have all been marked with their places of origin with perfect accuracy. The only thing left to do is collecting them.
But that’s the problem. Residents in my country do not have permits to enter other countries. Although I’m fine, being an adventurer, no one else can go and import foods to my country.
This is another significant challenge. So I’ve come to discuss with Myourmiles about it. I quickly headed to his shop in Brumund.
“Myourmiles-kun, I’ve come to play~!” I greeted rather casually, lifting the curtain and entering the rather luxurious entrance. But at that instant—
“Oi brat, where do ya think you’re running into?” My greeting only attracted a yakuza looking clerk. A few others like him showed up from the back of the shop after hearing noises up front.
“Ehh, isn’t this strange? I came in casually because Myourmiles said, ‘You can drop by anytime you want, Rimuru-sama!’”
“Myourmiles—kun??? My ass! You goddamn brat, how dare you address Myourmiles-san in that manner!”
“Oi, don’t you know you’ll get your ass kicked with that kind of attitude?”
“We won’t let it slide even if ya start to cry, ya bastard!”
They all shared the same mean expression and hollered rude things at me. Are they all some kind of street thugs? I kind of want to complain.
“Aiya, I’m truly sorry. I was told to drop by anytime so—”
“You piece of shit! Myourmiles-san won’t ever give a brat like you a second look!!”
“Hehehe, mah, she looks pretty cute though; are you planning on tricking Myourmiles-san?”
“Sorry kid, that guy likes women who are busty and tight in the right places! He won’t ever take you with just a pretty face.”
“You really shouldn’t go tricking people. But, we wouldn’t mind having some fun with you.”
My words were being drowned out by the clerks’ jeering, and I’m getting angry, not to mention some of the thugs giving me disturbing looks at the wrong places.
“Fellows, I’m Myourmiles-kun’s friend, you know?! Also, I’m a man, not a woman. And I’m not planning to trick him in the first place!” I straightened my chest and announced this to stand my ground. Mah, though I was going to borrow some money from him this time…
However, this would be a great deal for him as well. Myourmiles seems to have earned great profits through the healing potion trades, which was an idea I came up with, for him to make money. Through the sale of healing potions in the country he got to develop new industry in the local area. And through these new industries he came up with new merchandise.
To put it nicely, I’m here to persuade him into financing me, in other words, to try and trick his funds. I’d be happy, Myourmiles’d be happy. And so we may make a lot of money with this idea and keep a win-win relationship in mind. Normally, “chance to make some money” would probably make one suspicious. I would definitely say no to that. “Absolute money maker!”, If anyone ever says that, they are 100% instantly considered con-artists.
HOW-EVER!
This time, it’s truly profitable. It will definitely make money since even Raphael-sensei agrees it will be lucrative. This time, I will definitely convince Myourmiles and make him accept it. This is absolutely not fraud, my conscious does not hurt one bit. Therefore I was about to respond with righteous indignation—
“Zip it! Who are you trying to fool here?”
“Talking apparently won’t work, ya want me to use my buddy here to sort things out for you?”
These people won’t even listen at all, and there stands a guy trying to intimidate me with a sword sheathed around his belt.
Ah ah, this is really… I sigh internally.
It really can’t be helped since I’m not familiar with Myourmiles’s underlings. It would seem that I’ll only be able to get through to them using brute force—right as I was about to give up, someone familiar entered from the back of the shop.
“Oi, what the hell are you all fighting over in the front of the shop?!”
I turned to the direction of the voice, there stood a man I missed—it was Bydd. The man Cabal met in Blumund, the man who once was a conman. After he was hired as Myourmiles’s bodyguard, I met him again in Ingracia Kingdom… Looks like our fates intertwine once again, it would seem he has been formally employed by Myourmiles after that.
“Yo, isn’t this Bydd, how are you doing lately?”
“Ah? I-Isn’t this Rimuru-sama! Yes! Thanks to you I, no, I 3 have been doing great! It only matters that Rimuru-sama looks so energetic!!”
Bydd straightened himself upon seeing me and saluted with a 90-degree bow, demonstrating great respect.
What a dramatic guy.
“That’s great to know. Speaking of which, these guys won’t let me into the shop and it’s been a pain. Can you convince them that I’m actually Myourmiles’s friend?”
Bydd should’ve been a D+ adventurer, I heard afterwards that he got leveled up to Rank C. So I suppose he’s more sensible than these guys here. I was asking him to help with that in mind and it went even smoother than I had imagined.
“Y-you guys, do you wish to ruin this store!? That is THE Rimuru-sama!!”
These fellows who were upset with me a moment ago all started to tremble on the spot after hearing Bydd’s shout. Everyone began to line up, imitating Bydd, and apologised profusely to me.
“ “ “We are t-truly sorry!! Please forgive us—” ” ”
As they shouted out the line, they all bowed deeply to me. There were tears in everyone’s eyes. A bunch of grown ass men all trembling out of fear. I initially thought they were just afraid of Bydd, but it would seem they have realized who I am. I didn’t expect to scare them like that but after all, I am a demon lord these days. Myourmiles must have learnt that and told these guys. Then it wouldn’t be strange to tremble upon hearing my name alone. If I had known that, I should have just told them my name. With this crowd, they would’ve probably just let me pass after hearing it.
“I’ll give these assholes a good lesson afterward but please do forgive them this time.”
They lowered their heads as he said it, so I had to agree with him immediately. Yet still, with my pardon, those guys looked as if their heads were about to be served on a plate as they were taken away.
“Th-that person is the demon lord—”
“That’s completely different from Myourmiles-san’s drawing, no?!”
“You’re kidding, right? Tell me it’s all a lie…”
“A-are we getting killed……?”
— etc.
I seem to have overheard some bizarre things from their crying, but I would ignore it for now.
***
“Hey, hey! Rimuru-sama! It’s an honor that you have visited us!”
“Don’t be so formal with me, Myourmiles-kun! We go way back after all!”
Myourmiles happily laughed along hearing that. His enormous, obese body, a symbol of his wealth, jiggled with his laughter. But, he is truly an ace merchant.
“Hahaha, it truly makes me happy to have you say such a thing. So what has Rimuru-sama come for this time?” he asked and immediately switched to a more nervous look. So I also entered negotiation mode with a grin.
“As a matter of fact, I’ve brought something highly profitable for you this time.”
“Oh? And what could that be?”
“So basically—”
I explained to him in detail while sipping the red tea served by the female clerk from his shop. Myourmiles showed an awkward expression and fell silent after hearing about the development of new merchandise.
“Given it is orders from Rimuru-sama, who’s taken good care of me in the past, whether it’s selecting credible talents or purchasing food materials I would happily take the jobs. However, to find personnel for R&D of new merchandise, that would be…”
Myourmiles is a merchant so having him innovate on new food ideas would probably be hard. Even if he’s good at transforming the new products into commercial merchandise, to develop new merchandise seems far beyond his abilities. However, my goal is only to get the ingredients for the food. After which, we will be taking over.
“No, no. We’ll cover that part, Myourmiles-kun. I only hope you can transport the ingredients to my town. After the new products are complete, I’m planning to supply them to hotels along the road to Brumund. So I’ll have to rely on you again for the supply of the ingredients by that time.”
“I see… In other words, if Rimuru-sama’s plan works out, I would get to add new merchandise in my trade. Is that so?”
“That is exactly the case. If the new merchandise gets popularized, you can also sell them in other stores you own.”
“What! But, wouldn’t that cut Rimuru-sama from the monopoly…”
“About that, didn’t I just mention getting financing? Since you’ve contributed monetarily already, it is only reasonable to share the profits in return.”
I’m not done as soon as I return the money once the business becomes successful. I made sure to elaborate on that point. Myourmiles also seemed to gradually gain more interest, listening and nodding as I go.
“I understand now. Very interesting! Then allow me to assist you!!”
Myourmiles then promised me a plan of financing. He’s easier than I imagined.
Kukuku~ Myourmiles-kun, you are too easy.
Now that the important business is done, I have to ask about something else: “Speaking of which, I’ve been curious for a little while…”
Myourmiles stopped and turned as he was handing over the contract to confirm with me.
“Is there something wrong?”
“Yeah, about that. There’s a painting over there on the wall, is that a painting of me?”
In that reception room filled with expensive yet tasteless furniture just to show off his wealth, only that painting adorning the wall seemed unique and out of place. The painting depicts a beautiful female confronting a dragon, whose appearance seems way too mature and doesn’t match me at all.
“Kufufufu, it’s exactly that! It was painted by a famous artist according to the scene where you saved me in Ingracia.”
I seem to have flipped a switch on Myourmiles, who started to prattle on and on. It would seem he has utilized magic to extract his genuine feeling during that time in order to never forget the gripping sensation. But seriously, this exaggeration is a bit over the top.
Ehh, but my appearance originally belonged to Shizu-san. So I can’t really deny when being called a beauty, but being drawn like this—it makes me look like a goddess glowing with holiness.
“Oh well, isn’t this a little too exaggerated?”
“Not at all! I think this is hardly sufficient yet!”
So I got in a bad spot upon pointing it out, having been refuted by Myourmiles and had him recalling details of his situation at the time enthusiastically. The female clerk seemed rather accustomed to the situation as she came to refill the red tea, it would seem this type of activity is rather mundane.
On second thought, even if I gave my name to those thugs looking after the shop, they probably wouldn’t have been able to tell I was Rimuru from the painting. After all, if they are used to looking at the adult version of me in the painting, they probably can’t imagine the real Rimuru being someone who looks like a kid. Never mind, there’s no use concerning myself with that. I should try to show others my current appearance more from now on so they won’t mistaken me again.
Myourmiles fulfilled the contract and purchased massive amounts of food ingredients from different countries. I can’t say it didn’t expect this, but I couldn’t find cuisine resembling ramen anywhere.
So let’s proceed as our deal states and develop some new recipes. More and more precious and unique ingredients are being imported. My most loyal and proficient chefs will be expecting them at the brand new kitchen.
Among them is Gobchi, who’s been training under Shuna from the start. He was extremely upset when his kitchen was wrecked by Shion, and I was able to bait him into my scheme under the condition of building him a new one. These recipes could easily be recreated if I asked Shuna for help. But that’s if we choose to rely on Shuna’s cooking, there will be too much of a burden on her at the end of the day. So this time I decided to bring in my own research and development team. Definitely not hoping to earn some extra cash for myself.
“So, what type of cuisine are we making, Rimuru-sama?”
I grinned and handed the product to Gobchi after he asked.
It was a bowl of Ramen completed within my ‘Stomach’.
“I-is this !?” Gobchi swallowed his saliva as he stared at the ramen.
“Try it out.”
“Yes sir, here I go then…” Gobchi started to taste the ramen upon finishing the sentence. He’s rather handy with chopsticks, likely due to observation of my usage. Gobchi nodded strongly to me as he took each bite of the ramen and let its taste sink in.
“This is amazing, Rimuru-sama! This thing will definitely win everyone’s heart!” He exclaimed with joy on his face.
“Right? Isn’t it delicious?”
“This is beyond delicious! So, how in the world do you make this?”
“Ha~Ha~Ha, that would be your job to find that out!”
“—Aiii?” Gobchi’s face froze with confusion hearing my laughing answer. He doesn’t seem to catch what I mean and kept on blinking as he thought. That was precisely my intent after thinking it through. It would be meaningless to just produce it with my ability. We have to find out the recipe step-by-step. This is precisely why I’ve summoned you. But your surprised look is really giving me a headache now.
“Listen Gobchi, you can use this kitchen to your heart’s content. You get to use everyone of the ten disciples here. And so I hope you are able to find out a recipe of ramen available for everyone with this bowl as reference,” I told him while teaching him all I knew about making ramen. How to make the noodles, how to cook the broth as well as other general information regarding making ramen. Sadly I’m completely ignorant on the details of this process, so I’ll have to rely on Gobchi and his crews’ efforts.
“… In other words, there are things that even Rimuru-sama doesn’t know—no… I get to do whatever I want, right?”
“That’s right. I’ve given you a completed version, you just go ahead and research it as a reference to whatever end you wish.”
Although I feel conflicted in my heart, given how reckless this is, I still felt justified saying so. After all, this is the most crucial part of the plan, I’d have to go through with it regardless of how much of a mess it may lead to. I plan to recreate even more cuisines from my original world. I’ve merely chosen ramen as step one of my grand scheme 4 . I can’t just give up now!
Gobchi seemed to have read the air and answered as I’d hoped.
“I understand. If it’s Rimuru-sama’s request, I shall attempt it with all my efforts!”
“Oh oh, you are truly reliable. Good luck, I have faith in you!”
And so Gobchi readily agreed. He obtained a new kitchen built by Geld and helped facilitate both my interests and business—no, new commercial endeavour, he seemed rather overjoyed by it. Thank you Gobchi. From now on he will probably work very hard as well, and I only need to wait for results.
After which, things went smoother than I had imagined. I was able to push the responsibilities entirely onto other people—ingredient purchasing to Myourmiles and the specific culinary details to Gobchi. Myourmiles didn’t seem to care about the budget while Gobchi didn’t seem to care for sleeping.
What about me?
My job is to be everyone’s back-up (cheerleader). Play cute and poke at Myourmiles’s fat tummy for more money, singing a song to support an exhausted Gobchi. As soon as the two showed a smile, one would spit out the money while the other would jump up and continue working.
At last, the three flavours of ramen including soy sauce, miso and pork bone were successfully recreated, alongside the choice of thick or light broth. Other merchandise such as dry-fish broth and white chicken broth were also successfully developed.
“Amazing! As expected from Gobchi!”
“Hmm, this is indeed delicious. As expected of Rimuru-sama’s food suggestion.”
I was highly satisfied and gave out the passing comment. Now this will definitely work well as a merchandise for trading. Myourmiles who’d been called to taste-test the food also seemed satisfied, commemorating its deliciousness.
“Thank you gentlemen! I’m now very confident in making ramen.”
“Hmmhmm, with that spirit I’ll rely on you with the remainder of the plan.”
“Yes si—ah, HUH? Hasn’t the development of ramen ended already?”
“That’s true, Rimuru-sama. We already have so many varieties, it would be more than sufficient to open shops with these, right?”
The two express doubts as they both thought the plan was over.
Too naïve~ How could my ambition be ended with just ramen?
“Ku~ku~ku, you guys are way too naïve. Who ever said that this was the end of my plan?”
“AH?”
“But—”
I interrupted the two with my next ambitious product. The king of home-cooking restaurants, cuisine well known around the world—Hamburgers!
“Th-This is!” Gobchi seemed highly motivated once again upon seeing the new dish.
“Huhuhu, Gobchi, the recipe for this food is not challenging at all. However, it is extremely difficult if you want everyone to make the same flavor of it.”
“And what do you mean by that?”
“For now, figure out some way to train your men in making it with the same flavor! From there, let them develop hamburger meat unique to their own shops.”
“I see! You wish to have my disciples run their own shops and allow them to compete among each other, right?”
I give him a smile after hearing Gobchi’s response. “It would seem that you have noticed, Gobchi. The more people capable of making the dish, the further the relevant food chain would spread across the world.”
“I understand! Allow me, Gobchi, to do it—!!”
Very well, I nodded in response. With Gobchi’s correct interpretation, he may have also sparked ambition in creating his own shop. However, Myourmiles who overheard our conversation…
“Does this mean I have to invest more money…”
His face turned pale as he realized he was going to increase his budget again.
But, you don’t need to worry: “Kukuku, Myourmiles-kun, please be reassured! Those fully-developed ramen have already been on sale! Not only within my nation, it has been gaining popularity across the travelling hotels along the roads. I think it’s also about time to promote it in Brumund Kingdom.”
“S-So!?”
“That’s right, it means it’s about payback time.”
“Ohohohoh, truly, as expected, Rimuru-sama!”
“Indeed, indeed!”
“Kufufufu, so it will all be fine under Rimuru-sama’s care? I understand, please allow me, Myourmiles, to handle the preparation for the next round of opening the Hamburger shops.”
I was able to sweep away his concerns with one smooth talk. In this way, I was able to seal the next deal with Myourmiles as I returned the initial fundings. After which, we generously poured in Myourmiles’s funds like flowing water and developed new products one by one.
We’ve also encountered a crisis mid-way—our information was leaked to Veldora and we were forced to teach him how to make teppanyaki. But that’s an interesting story to tell another time.
Even if there were losses, they were expenditure on Myourmiles’s tab.
And I still continued pushing forward plans without any fear of failure…
At long last, we were able to develop a diverse menu of dishes. With different hotels adding to the competitions, the sales kept on growing higher and higher. The initial losses sustained by Myourmiles were also compensated with these numbers.
“Kufufufu, I can’t seem to stop. The money we can make just never seems to go away!”
“Am I right, Myourmiles? Everything is according to plan!”
“Please allow me to remain in your care in the future as well, Rimuru-sama!”
“Most certainly. But in return… I hope you would understand, right?”
“Of course, of course. I won’t slip a word out, whatever you wish just come and ask me.”
“Hmm, aren’t you the obedient type? I’ll take good care of you in the future.”
“Yes! Yes! Do come to me if you ever need to discuss any more deals!”
I tucked the little bag handed over by Myourmiles into my pocket with a nod. There’s no need to confirm the content, it was definitely the usual stuff.
“Ha! Ha! Ha!”
“Ku! Ku! Ku!”
I laughed along with Myourmiles, and Gobchi on the other side was happily examining the cooking machines he received. It was a reward I told Myourmiles to prepare for him. Not only did I eat delicious food, but it also got my wallet full. Myourmiles was able to take over these new rising trades and profit through the prospering business. Even Gobchi seemed overjoyed, surrounded by all the precious food ingredients and cooking machines collected from around the world. As planned, everyone got joy out of it.
All the new cuisines born from the incident were all supplied to the hotels along the roads to the Brumund and Ingracia Kingdoms. Apart from that, the road to Dwargon also experienced a similar development. From some point in time and onward, travelers started showing up in the hotels just to taste the food. Then on these roads, chefs and food-enthusiasts from different nations gathered due to their reputation, causing the streets to be occupied fully by different food vendors.
— In the future, these roads were named “Roads of Delicacy”.
Such is the origin of the naming, but I, at the time, would have no idea about that.
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