After breakfast, the village chief came to Marthaâs house.
ăYes?ă
ăOh, Jin, do you have a moment?ă
ăYes, what do you need?ă
The village chief wryly smiled.
ăHaha, itâs nothing much. Roland, the pedlar staying here wanted to have a little talk with youă
ăOh, so thatâs it. Itâs fine with meă
ăI see, then is alright if we go immediately?ă
Thus Jin headed to the village chiefâs house.
ăNice to meet you, Iâm the pedlar Roland. Thank you for accepting my invitationă
ăIâm his son Eric, it is an honour to meet youă
Roland and Eric who were waiting at the village chiefâs house politely greeted Jin when he came. They were definitely merchants.
ăYes, nice to meet you. Iâm called Jin Nidohă
The three men then sat around the table. The village chief was also there. Right after that, a young girl came along carrying tea.
ăHere you goă
ăOh, thank you Barbaraă
Jin remembered in the corner of his mind that she was the village chiefâs niece, but then immediately shifted his attention back to the others.
ăSo, what was it you wanted to talk about?ă
Jin was the first to talk. Then Roland answered him.
ăWell itâs nothing much⊠the things that werenât here two months ago when I last visited have me curiousă
ăAhhh, the hot spring you meană
ăYes. Thereâs also the pump, that water drawing tool. Are you really the one who made those?ă
ăThatâs right, is there something about it?ă
With a face that held some suspicion, he asked Jin.
ăUhh no, umm, Jin-san was it? Youâre quite a young lad. Where did such a young ăMagic Craftsmană learn from?ă
ăăMagic Craftsmană?ă
It was the first time he heard of that term. He knew of the title ăMagi Craft Meisteră that he succeeded, but he had not heard of the title ăMagic Craftsmană.
ăOh? Have you not heard of it? That is unexpected. ăMagic Craftsmană is the general term for people who make tools using magică
ăI seeâŠă
Indifferent to his reply, Roland changes the topic.
ăCome to think of it, where did you come from?ă
Jin used this opportunity to confirm his thoughts.
ăUmm, well you see⊠I found a ăWarp Gateă by chance, and as a result I was transferred here. Because of that, I do not know where I was sent and neither do I know where my home is exactlyă
ăăWarp Gateă? I feel like I may have heard of it before⊠Eric, do you know about it?ă
ăIf I remember correctly, I think that was a name of an ăArtifactă I learnt about. It allows you to transfer between two pointsă
That was the first time Eric opened his mouth since his greeting.
ăThis guy attended Cecilio Magic School until just last year so he knows a little bit about magic.ă
The father, Roland seem to be proud of it.
ăWell, putting aside the ăArtifactă, it malfunctioned and before I knew it, I lost consciousness near the village. Since then, Iâve been indebted to Martha-san who picked me up, and this village for taking care of meă
One part was a lie but it was not completely a lie. Eric then spoke,
ăThat is unfortunate. There are many things that we donât know about ăArtifactsă so such a situation is possibleă
Roland then took over speaking,
ăSo is what youâre saying that you donât know where your hometown is?ă
ăThatâs right. You probably donât know Japan do you?ă
ăJapan is it? It is certainly not a name of a place I have heard of before. Is that yourâŠă
ăYes, it is my hometownă
Roland began to ponder. In the meantime, Eric wanted to listen to more.
ăIâm guessing that the magic Jin-san uses to make tools is from
Jin-sanâs town, am I right?ă
ăThat is rightă
When Jin nods in assent, Eric excitedly,
ăMagnificent! By all means, please teach me how to make that pump!ă
To that, Roland reproved.
ăHey hey, donât get too excited. Jin-san, Iâd like to pay for the information, please also teach me how to make a ăPumpăă
Jin thought about what to do. There was no problem in teaching them, but he would like for the village to profit from this if possible.
ăLetâs see⊠how much would you pay for the information? Oh, and I donât know about the currency around here so please teach me about it.ă
ăI see. I guess thatâd be the case. How about 100,000 torr for the information? That is the common currency in this kingdom. 1 copper coin is 1 torr, 1 silver coin is 100 torr, and 1 gold coin is 10000 torr. You can get 10 kilos of wheat for about 300 torr, that is 3 silver coins. ă
Jin began to calculate. Although it may fluctuate, based on the wheat, 1 torr is probably about 10 yen. That is to say, the pay for the information is a million yen.
ăI have one more question before I answer. In this country is there something called a ăPatentă, have you heard of it before?ă
ăăPatentă? What is that?ă
From that reply, there probably wasnât.
ăA patent is the first thing that comes to mind to protect the rights of a person. The patent is valid for a fixed period and the person who uses the patent must pay a ăroyaltyă, that is the kind of system it isă
Hearing that, Roland thinks for a little bit.
ăI see, that is a good system. It is designed to protect the profit of the person who invents something new while allowing it to be widely available. Because of that, the opportunity to make the new thing will not riseă
As expected from a merchant, he understood quickly. But,
ăHowever, unfortunately there is no such systemă
ăIs that so⊠thatâs is regrettable ă
ăWell thenâŠă
Although Roland had a disappointed face on,
ăHmm, letâs sell that information with a certain condition. However, there will only be one condition.ă
ăTh- that is!?ă
Roland was eager to gain the information for selling the pump.
ăIâd like for the pump and other things like it be in your name. If possible, please make it hard to imitateă
ăIndeed, differentiate from similar productsă
Roland quickly understood.
ăThatâs right. Sooner or later counterfeits and imitations will appear on the market, it will be good if people understood the original is from Rolandâs placeă
ăHehehe, but the true original is by you Jin-sană
ăIf that was said, people will know that the original is from my countryă
With that kind of understanding, a contract was made. In charge of it is Eric. Jin immediately made a pump for them to see, he then handed it over as a sample.
That afternoon, Jin made a demonstration using the little remaining bronze.