Slave Harem in the Labyrinth of the Other World (LN)

Volume 5 - Ch 4.6

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist Editor: Weasalopes

Ohhh, I see. That way, we would only have to pay for the mirrors main body itself without having to pay exaggerated prices for the mirrors frame.

Uhm and do you have access to a good wood for a frame here in your Duchy?

Yes, there should be a wood of exceptional quality near the Tare village.

Good, so it looks like he is going to have access to good wood. I have only thought of this idea because while I was looking through the window I saw a thick forest outside of it so I thought I will ask him about it. If they have forests here, then of course there are going to be businesses such as forestry and wood processing.

Since it is supposed to be a gift, I was thinking you could remove this decoration, and add something from your own territories as a kind of a local flavor to spice things up a little bit.

Ah, I see.

The Duke nods, picks up a bell from his desk, and rings it.

You called, my Lord?

As soon as he rang the bell, the door opened at once and someone who looks like a servant immediately came in. Quick, these servants are all so very quick! How are they able to do that is beyond me though.

Yes, I called indeed. Please go and tell Gozer to come here as soon as he can.

Of course. It shall be done as you ask, my Lord.

He answered the Duke briefly and then promptly left. He must be one of the many servants who serve the Duke here, or perhaps some kind of personal guard, because throughout the short time that he was here in the room he was always bowed so that I could not even get a good look at how his face looked like.

If you were to ask me, then I would say that appearing immediately after the Duke rung that bell is both pretty impressive and extremely concerning, because such a feat would not have been possible without someone following him around quite literally all the time, because no matter how long and hard I think about it, it would be impossible for the servants to hear the bell all the way from the servants quarters and then appear here in the office moments later, and it is simply not possible for that person to be just on e of the many ordinary servants tasked with doing the chores around the castle, since they would never abandon their assigned duties just because they heard a bell ring.

That, and if that was really the case, then we would have many more people here instead of just this one. As I said, this is getting increasingly suspicious. Does the Duke really have people following him around literally all the time and wherever he goes?

From what I am seeing, he seems like someone who is incredibly free-spirited and always acts and carries himself in such a manner, so for such a man to have an escort lurking behind in his shadows? As much as I do not want to believe it, it is also something that might be quite possible, since it is always the free-spirited that need to be watched closely at all times so that the potential enemies would not take advantage of them and their free-spiritedness, be it by a kidnapping or a straight-up assassination attempt.

Anyway, for the time being, I simply leaned on the sofa as we waited for Gozer to arrive, while the Duke continued to scribble something with a quill on top of the pieces of parchment that were laying on top of his desk. Since he is the lord of the entire Duchy, then he must be a really busy person, so I actually started feeling kinda bad for intruding upon his work.

Eventually, Gozer finally came in after knocking at the door and politely asking for the permission to enter.

Excuse me for taking so long. Oh, if it is not Mr. Adventurer.

He seems to be called Michio. Kaga Michio.

Oh, so the Duke knows my name even if Gozer himself does not seem to remember it? That is what I initially thought, but then it dawned upon me that I have never introduced myself to him properly in person, but I gave my name to the receptionist in the lobby when I came here, so he probably must have heard that at that time. So maybe I should give him a little reminder by introducing myself again? Yeah, let me just do that.

Yes, I am Kaga Michio.

It would seem that he has gone to Palmasque at your request. As expected of an excellent Adventurer like him. He once again ended up exceeding my expectations.

All the way to Palmasque, you say?

Yes, so the way I see it, I am clearly the winner here.

The Duke was acting all proud in front of Gozer. What? What the heck is he talking about? He is the winner here? What kind of winner? Was there some kind of bet between the Duke and Gozer? Were they betting if I am going to turn out an excellent Adventurer or not?

Well, to be honest, I can totally see that it might have been possible that Gozer might have accused the Duke of getting too friendly with a weird Adventurer like myself who just came to the Hartz Duchy to help with the distribution of the disaster relief supplies because of the commission that he accepted, and the Duke argued back that I am not weird, but excellent for how well I performed the task that was given to me even though he did not think that of me at first, to which Gozer might have replied that he is just being stubborn, and that is how the bet between these two might have been made.

Of course, I have no guarantee that this is exactly how things went down between these two, but I also feel like my shot was pretty damn near the bullseye mark here.

Did you really travel to Palmasque all by yourself?

Well, it was certainly not an easy thing to do, but I said that I was going to see what I can do about your request, and so I did.

In tha case, I must truly commend you. No Adventurer or a member of the Knight Order of Hartz Duchy was ever able to travel from Bode to Palmasque.

To be honest, even I am not sure if I could go from Bode to Palmasque in one go, and I do not even want to think about testing that out, because thanks to my vivid imagination I can already see how that would have turned out. If my travels from Vale and Quratar to Palmasque and the cities and towns that are close to it are any indication, then I would have definitely ended up exhausting all of my MP.

I just hope that by admitting that I have gone to Palmasque personally I did not make any serious mistakes that would cause them to think of me even more highly than they are now, because that might bring with itself a whole new batch of unwanted trouble for me. For the time being, I think It would be best to correct the Duke assessment that I could travel to Palmasque without any inconvenience, just so that I can avoid his misunderstandings about myself and my capabilities getting so much out of hand that no amount of damage control could possibly be able to fix them later.

According to Mr. Michios words, since he can go to Palmasque, it would be possible for him to buy an undecorated Palmasque Mirror.

An undecorated Palmasque Mirror?

We already talked about this for a bit before you arrived, but I think that the materials for the frame could be made from the wood from the forest near Tare village.

I see. Wood from the Tare village, huh? That certainly sounds like a good idea.

The Duke and Gozer had a short conversation that I did not understand much of. However, now that the Duke explained pretty much everything to Gozer, he at least saved me the trouble of going through the explanations myself.

Personally, I also think that this might not be that bad of a business opportunity.

I think so too as well. How much would such a mirror cost?

Gozer looks back at me and asks about the price of the Palmasque Mirror. Now this might be a troublesome question. Since he is technically in charge of this particular business affair with me, he still cares so much about this detail?