Paradigm Parasite - Chapter 168: "Business Negotiation"

“Phew.”

I – Fatima – let out a small breath and handed the tidy papers to the maid elf who was standing by.

She is a servant given to me by Mr Rothfeldt, but she is clever and to the point, so I find her very useful.

The elf with the papers leaves the room and is replaced by another elf who enters the room with a knock.

“Miss. You have a visitor.”

“Yes, I understand. Show him to the courtyard.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I stretched lightly and checked my schedule in my head.

There are two visitors today.

A powerful man in the fruit trade should arrive before noon, and a merchant in the armour trade after noon.

I look out the window to see where the sun is.

I look at it, which has not yet climbed up, and give a small tilt of my head.

…Isn’t it a little early?

You are an impatient person, aren’t you?

After I had made these comments, I left the room and headed for the courtyard.

“Oh, Lady Fatima. Beautiful as ever.”

“Thank you. I’m glad to see you looking so well, Marcus-sama.”

I sit down opposite the man in front of me, exchanging insincere compliments as a greeting.

The place is set up in the courtyard of the mansion, with a simple desk and chair, and visitors are basically allowed to pass through here.

I don’t want any unrelated people to enter the love nest of me and Mr Rothfeldt with their feet on the ground.

“But this garden is still wonderful. I’ve never seen so many flowers before, how did you get them?”

“That’s a secret.”

Many of the flowers in the garden are made in the same way as fruit, with a pleasant fragrance, and are a delight to look at as well as to smell.

“I see. Is this to say that these are the same as the fruits you’ve been distributing to Patrick’s Trading Company recently?”

“I’ll leave that to your imagination.”

The man continues talking without breaking into a smile.

This man, Marcus, is a leading figure in Medrim.

He is a man of good physique and toned body, as if he has been through a lot of hardships.

He is a man of reasonable physique and appearance who could be described as an adventurer, but he is also a successful businessman with a number of trading houses.

“Well, I’m on a bit of a tight schedule. The first thing to do is to get to the point. I would like you to make a deal with me alone for the fruit.”

I nod my head.

“I know what you mean. You’re worried about that Patrick fellow, aren’t you? I would have a better arrangement with you than with that man.”

“Better?”

“Let’s talk about some concrete practical benefits. First, I’ll buy your fruit and vegetables for twice the price of Patrick’s.”

This is a proposal that doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest, but I blatantly show my surprise by saying, ‘Well’.

Perhaps flattered by this reaction, Marcus continues.

“But I need you to accept certain conditions. Because a relationship of equals requires equal terms.”

Marcus snaps his fingers in a distracted motion, and one of the men behind him, who appears to be a guard, brings a large bag.

He takes it and places it on the desk with its mouth open.

Peeping out of the open mouth is a large quantity of gold coins.

“This is a handout. And the terms on which I want you to drink it are information on the source of the fruit, or a portion of the seedlings.”

Oh, dear.

That’s a blunt statement.

I put my hand on my cheek and make a confused expression.

“I’m afraid I can’t help you with that. This fruit is the lifeline of our territory, so to speak. It would be very, very difficult to simply leak it elsewhere…”

But even if I knew, it would be impossible to reproduce it.

“Well… but I’d appreciate it if you’d understand that it’s painful for us too. I know exactly what you mean. …… Yes, you do. So here’s what we’re going to do: can we play a part in the production of the fruit? We will bear some of the labor-intensive work, such as harvesting. How about this? I think it would be mutually beneficial. ……”

I laugh coldly inwardly.

The man in front of me says that it is a business, and that he is trying to obtain the method of producing the fruit somehow.

The man in front of me is trying to prey on us, saying it’s for our mutual benefit.

How shallow.

I politely declined the offer, saying that I had thought it over.

“We are grateful for your offer, but…. I am sorry, but I have to decline.”

Marcus’s face is smiling, but his eyes are not smiling at all.

“…… inevitably…?”

“I am sorry, sir. That is the life of my territory, I still cannot reveal it to others.”

In the meantime, I will make an expression of apology.

“I understand. By the way, let me tell you a story. My men are very loyal to me.”

Marcus suddenly started to change the subject.

Well, well, well.

You’ve changed your approach.

A few of the guys in the back, the ones who were supposed to be the strong ones, came forward.

“They’re strong, they’re the top blue adventurers… or maybe they’re comparable to the red adventurers. They do a lot of good things for me. Isn’t that encouraging?”

Is that a roundabout threat?

“Of course, it would be very, very difficult to stop them from doing what they do for me…”

Marcus covers his face with his hands in grief.

I snigger at him, as I feel like a fool.

“Nonsense. If you don’t want to negotiate properly, why don’t you just say so from the start?”

I include in my words, ‘I don’t have time for this, so don’t ask me for trivial things’.

Instantly, the air changes.

The smile on Marcus’s face disappears and the men behind him put their hands on their weapons.

“If you’re bad, they’ll take advantage of you. Do you think they’ll go easy on you just because you’re a woman?”

Oh, well.

How can you even think of antagonising me here?

“I’m still acting lord here, remember?”

“Do you think that title will help you here? I thought about going easy on you, but I’ve changed my mind. I’m interested in you myself, and shall we continue our negotiations on the bunk?”

Marcus took a bottle from his pocket.

“Do you know what this is? It’s a magic potion. It’s not a restorative potion, of course. It’s an aphrodisiac, though it’s forbidden. I’m told that when you take this stuff, you literally feel heavenly.”

Marcus and the other men around me giggle at me with a sneering smile.

I couldn’t help but lose it.

There are no guards around me, only a few maids.

In a way, it’s only natural that this should happen.

The revenue the Oratorium is currently earning must be enormous, even from the side.

It is obvious that the bugs are swarming for it.

In addition, it is obvious from research that the lord is lying on a sick bed.

And the deputy is a little girl like me.

To a fool, I must look like a pile of gold coins.

…Or do you think one little girl can do anything she wants?

It is true that this is my Oratorium mansion.

It is cut off from the outside world by a wall, and no notable forces can be seen.

From the outside, she must be a good duck.

“Empusa.”

I mutter the child’s name in a small voice.

“Ga…”

“Go… ah…”

The bodies of all of Marcus’s men rise to the air.

“What… what…”

All of them are frantically clutching at their necks.

It was as if they were trying to rip something out of their bodies that they couldn’t see.

The space behind them shimmers and the child appears.

The upper half of her body is a maiden with black hair.

The lower half of her body is a giant snake.

Originally she was Lamia the Snake Woman, but thanks to Master Rothfeldt’s treatment, in addition to her camouflage ability to hide her appearance, she has grown a large number of snakes on her back, which she can manipulate at will.

He also gave it a name.

Empusa. It has a nice ring to it.

She manipulated a snake that sprouted from her back and wrapped it around the necks of Marcus’s men, hanging them in mid-air.

“Oh, a monster! How did it get here…”

I give the order, ignoring Marcus’ astonishment.

“You may eat those people. However, I will not permit you to kill the man there.”

“I understand. Miss.”

Empusa nods and manipulates the snakes around her neck.

Each head thrusts its fangs into Marcus’s men.

A muddy sound, as if something is being sucked up, echoes around them – and then.

“Aa… but…”

“S… suck…”

–In no time at all, they were dried up.

Marcus, stunned by the loss of his men, looks at me and tries to say something, but a maid sneaks up and clubs him from behind, and the words he’s about to spit out melt into the air.

“Then show him to the drawing room.”

“Certainly, my lady.”

“Thank you for your efforts, Empusa. You may rest for a while.”

“Yes, I understand. My Lady.”

The maid dragged Marcus away and Empusa disappeared as if melting away with the corpse in her arms.

After being forced to become smarter by Mr Rothfeldt playing with her head, Empusa has become a very good girl who listens to my instructions and is very useful as an escort.

We’ve been talking for quite some time now.

I have to prepare for the next visitor.

The second visitor came to negotiate legitimately, so I told him that I would deal with him through Patrick, which he agreed to, and I wrote him a letter of introduction.

The arms dealer leaves the house in a good mood.

…It would be easier if it was always like this…

Well, fools have their uses in their own way.

Having cleared my schedule, I turned my attention to the small mansion built separately from the prison – the drawing room.

I let the gatekeeper open the door and go inside.

Inside, Mothman and Shrigala are patrolling, so there is no escape in all likelihood.

…Well… which room was it?

I call out to Mothman, who is attached to the ceiling.

“Where was the room of our longest-staying guest?”

“Shoo-shoo.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

They do not speak the language, but we can communicate with them.

After all, we are all of the same race, with Mr Rothfeldt as our head.

I walk down a well-cleaned corridor and stop in front of a room in a secluded corner.

Shrigala, who was patrolling nearby, comes up behind me.

I give him a small nod and he nods back.

We open the door and go inside.

Inside is a clean bunk and one man.

When the man sees me, he jumps at me, drooling and bloodshot-eyed, but Shrigala interrupts and seizes him.

“Good day to you. How are you feeling?”

The man breathes roughly and frantically reaches for me.

“Oh, give me that thing! Oh, please, I can’t take it! I can’t take it anymore! Please! Please!”

“Then will you do as I say?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ll do anything! I’ll do anything, please! I beg you!”

“Good. Give him that thing.”

Shrigala takes out a piece of fruit from his waist pouch and offers it to the man.

The man accepts it and eats the fruit hungrily.

“Now that you seem to have calmed down, would you be willing to sign a written pledge stating that you will give me everything?”

The man looks at me with an exhausted face, looks at the pieces of fruit scattered on the floor and hangs up.

“…… I understand. I will … No, I’ll… sign… it.”

“I see. Then you may leave as soon as the formalities are finished. Thank you.”

The man was about to say something to me, but shook his head, filled in the necessary information on the form, signed it, stamped it and submitted it to me.

I checked the contents and confirmed that there were no deficiencies.

No problem.

With this, the man’s business association is mine.

This is a guest room.

This is a guest room for rude guests to stay.

It is somewhat inconvenient, but we also guarantee them food.

Yes, the most dependent of the fruits they want, which is not unlike a drug, and a drink concentrated with its juice.

If you feed them properly and make them dependent, and then switch them to a normal diet for a while, they will surprisingly become more obedient and will do whatever you tell them to do.

In fact, they are even willing to give up the trading company they have grown up in.

As a result, our trading company is growing well.

…Hmm. Also, our earnings are growing.

Returning to my private room, I am lost in contemplation.

But there is still a lot to do.

We need to work on the forest as well as the teardrops, so we will need more money for that.

I have to branch out more and more.

Progress is slow but steady. It’s going well all round.

…but…

There is one thing that just doesn’t work.

Mr Rothfeldt.

You came back to me and then you had to leave again.

I think we have provided you with a comfortable life, but it is still not enough to hold you back ……?

Then I will make this oratorium even bigger and create an even more comfortable living space!

You said you were going back once you had seen the beastman’s domain, didn’t you?

This time, I will make you so boned up that you won’t even think about going on a trip!

In the meantime, I have to improve my womanliness myself.

But how can I get that person to fall in love with me?

I dig up the fragments of his memories.

Many of them were incomprehensible, but I interpreted them in my own way.

I will extract one of them.

………… How about this.

“Welcome back! Big brother! Fatima has been waiting for you to come home for a long time! Make me your wife as you promised!”

….

For some reason, the Lord Rothfeldt in my imagination is giving me a look of contempt!

This, let’s not do this.

There is more to do.

There is no time to play! Let’s work hard today.

tl note: shame