The Special Affairs Officer Begins Negotiations

Saaaaaa......

From the window of the meeting room in the provisional Zamago Forest Adventurers' Guild branch office, Taiche watched the cool autumn wind sway the leaves of the crops inside the base.

They were crops that Taiche, for one, had never seen before.

Vines as tall as a grown-up grew up wooden poles driven into the fields.

Small pod-like things could be seen mixed in with purple flowers, so they were likely a type of bean.

And further back, toward the defensive wall, stretched fields thick with other kinds of vines, and with plants whose thick, perfectly round leaves crept along the ground.

“Wow, it's peaceful here, an ordinarily nice place!”

Yuju, who was standing behind Taiche with her sword still at her hip as a bodyguard, said something carefree and ordinary.

“Well, perhaps so......”

Even as she said it, Taiche hunched over and scratched her elbow.

......She was feeling a little stressed.

Taiche just could not get comfortable in this base.

As mentioned before, she had an abnormally good memory.

By now she could recite the names of most plants and animals by heart, and had memorized their value and uses as materials.

But inside this base, that memory wasn't much use.

The place was filled to the brim with mysterious crops.

She wasn't used to that kind of situation, so Taiche just couldn't shake an uneasy feeling.

Incidentally, since they weren't in Taiche's memory, the crops being cultivated outside were likely new species of plants discovered in this demon realm forest.

After all, Zamago Forest was a demon realm almost no one had entered...... it would be no surprise if it had its own ecosystem.

But even so, to select edible ones from among those new species and begin cultivating them on a fair scale.

And within a few months, at that.

However you looked at it, that was just plain strange.

If there were a poison-proof human who could taste-test the forest's plants one after another and pick out the tasty ones, and a farming genius who could think up how to grow them in a flash, it would indeed be possible.

As if such people exist!

......It makes you want to retort in spite of yourself, but this base really does have people that abnormal.

Taiche already knew that from Earthcell's report.

“............”

Come to think of it, what was this water in the cup they had served her when she was shown into this meeting room......

Looking closely, there seemed to be bits of vine floating in it, and it was sour.

It tasted like memon water, but with less aroma and more sourness.

But it wasn't an unpleasant sourness.

It was a mystery, and creepy once she started wondering about it, but it was delicious.

In spite of herself, she was gulping it down eagerly.

Dr, drat it!

“Wow, it's ordinarily nice weather!”

Beside Taiche, who was writhing in a strange conflict, Yuju gazed out the window and said something sort of ordinary.

And just then.

“Foooh~~~! Sorry to keep you waiting, Taiche! It's been a whiile~~~!”

Opening the meeting room door with a boisterous racket, New Branch Establishment Official Earthcell came in, all smiles.

For now, Taiche pulled herself together and looked at the top of Earthcell's head.

Once she had confirmed there were no panties on it, she relaxed, then stood and bowed.

“It has been a while, Earthcell. First, allow me to offer my heartfelt praise. To think you built a facility like this in a mere few months. In all honesty, I am impressed.”

“Fuwahahaha! That's it, that's it! Respect your grandpa more, just like that!”

“Hahaha, I've always respected you, you know? Only as far as your work goes.”

With a bright smile, the Special Affairs Officer and the New Branch Establishment Official shook hands across the table.

“So, now...... before we talk work in detail, there's someone I'd like to introduce......”

With that, Earthcell glanced behind him.

Standing there were a fairly good-looking blond man and a villain-faced man who had entered the room following Earthcell.

At Earthcell's glance, the blond man stepped forward with a fairly friendly smile, put a hand to his chest and bowed.

“Pleased to meet you, Special Affairs Officer-dono! My name is......”

“Ah, I know. Patchino-san, yes?”

But before the blond man, his company smile perfectly in place, could introduce himself, Taiche stopped him by naming him first.

“Adventurer rank 7. Magic swordsman. Leader of a party whose other three members are Niese, Modokin and Darmacy. The party name is ‘Brown Dragon's Heel’, and its origin, I believe, was ‘the result of avoiding overlap with other parties’. You originally wanted something like ‘Red Dragon's Fang’ or ‘Blue Dragon's Wing’, but you disliked those cool but rather common names and went for something quirky, or so I hear. And your request completion rate as adventurers is 90%. Taken on its own, one could call you quite excellent adventurers. Setting aside the fact that you committed ‘hero fraud’, that is.”

Patchino's personal information was laid bare in a fluent stream.

In spite of himself, Patchino froze, his smile twitching.

Seeing this, Taiche grinned.

“......Patchino, I told you before, didn't I? Taiche is a ‘walking adventurer encyclopedia’! I bet this girl could tell you every request you ever took, not just the completion rate but right down to what they were, if she felt like it!”

“Whoa, scary. So amazing it's scary.”

Earthcell patted the frozen Patchino on the shoulder.

“Wow, Taiche-san. Isn't that ordinarily rude?”

Yuju, the bodyguard, ordinarily rebuked Taiche for cutting off his introduction and launching into her speech.

“Er...... ahem.”

Taiche stopped grinning and cleared her throat to get things back on track.

In truth, she was well aware that it was a rude thing to do.

Knowing that full well, she had done it on purpose, so that she could deliver her next line without it seeming out of place.

“And...... ‘John’-san. From Earthcell's report, I understand you gave us tremendous help in building this planned branch office site. On behalf of the Adventurers' Guild, I thank you.”

With that, Taiche bowed her head to the villain-faced man...... Giovanno.

“Hmm......”

Giovanno gazed at Taiche.

Raising her head, Taiche gave him a silent smile.

“No thanks are needed. My companions and I were building a base on this land. Earthcell-dono came along and helped us build it. As for building the branch office, I merely lent the land. It is we who should be grateful.”

Giovanno, too, twisted his villain's face as hard as he could into a smile.

It was probably an evil smile that would make a child cry, but that was simply his face; it couldn't be helped.

Now, about the flow of that exchange.

Not following at all, Earthcell and Patchino tilted their heads in spite of themselves and looked at each other.

“Foh? What are you saying, Taiche? This man's name isn't ‘John’, it's Gio......”

“Ah! There are panties dancing outside the window!”

“Eh! Really, really!? Where!?”

Earthcell had been about to say something he shouldn't, so Taiche pointed out the window and fibbed to cover it.

In an instant he leapt to the window, searching desperately for panties.

From his back came the greatest fighting spirit of the day!

“Wow......”

Yuju was ordinarily put off by that bizarre behavior.

......Let's sort out the information a little here.

Taiche was already certain that the identity of the villain-faced man before her was the former noble banished from the Pokkeroce Kingdom, Giovanno Ack Toh.

But Earthcell was not.

He had originally worked at a branch in another country, so he knew nothing about the people involved in the incident in the Pokkeroce Kingdom.

The same applied to the “Brown Dragon's Heel” party, as they were drifting outlaws.

Giovanno himself had often hinted that he was a great sinner, but he had never stated the hard facts.

He was afraid his companions would despise him.

And the companions, too, were people with pasts of their own to hide.

No one dared to expose a comrade's past.

And so, here and now, a strange situation had arisen: the only one who knew Giovanno's past was Taiche, the outsider.

And because Taiche, who must have had Earthcell's report, had called him “John,” Giovanno understood: this Special Affairs Officer knew exactly who he was, and even so, there was room for some kind of negotiation, dealing not with Giovanno the great sinner but with John the pioneer.

“Now, New Branch Establishment Official Earthcell. Without further ado, let us discuss this site's certification as a branch office.”

“Foh!? O, ohh! Right, right! What do you think of this place, Taiche! I'd say it already more than meets the conditions to begin full operation, no?”

Earthcell, who had been leaning out the window searching for panties, regained his reason at Taiche's word and hurriedly sat in his chair.

Seeing this, everyone except Yuju sat down with wry smiles.

“I will confirm the details again from here on...... but to give you my conclusion first, it passes.”

“Foooh~~~!!!”

“To begin with, the surroundings are rich in materials; the living conditions are in place, with a defensive wall, water and houses; access is easy thanks to the road; and if you can even feed yourselves, the Adventurers' Guild can already send clerical staff as things stand. What's more, since trade with merchants has already begun, I would like to move quickly so that this place can begin full operation as an official Adventurers' Guild branch office.”

“Ohhh...... how happy, this makes me! To see effort bear fruit like this, and turn into results!”

“Haha! Good for you, perverted old geezer!”

Earthcell sniffled, pulled out a handkerchief and began rubbing his eyes, and Patchino gently patted him on the back.

“Good for you, Earthcell-dono.”

Giovanno, too, clapped, pachi pachi.

But...... for all his congratulations, his eyes were not smiling.

“But you see, ‘we’ did indeed lend Earthcell-dono the land, verbally. But still, I don't recall agreeing to the opening of an Adventurers' Guild branch office, you know?”

That was what he came out with.

““Eh?””

Earthcell and Patchino froze, not understanding the intent of the statement.

But Special Affairs Officer Taiche was used to this.

She put on a bright smile.

“Oh my, is that so? It seems there was some discrepancy in understanding between John-san and ourselves?”

“It's a fine opportunity. I'd like to settle a number of things right here, if we might?”

“Yes, very well. I'm certain we can come to an arrangement that satisfies us both.”

“Hm. Glad to hear it. Can we put an agreement in writing here?”

“Of course. Special Affairs Officers are delegated a great deal of authority.”

Leaving the perverted old geezer and Fairly Blond with question marks floating over their heads, the negotiation between Giovanno and Taiche began.

When this old man gets even a little motivated, he's a huge pain, huh!