Chapter 293 His Chocolate Deal (2)
And my starting demand of this deal...
"Forty kilogram-"
"Don\'t be absurd and speak realistically."
"Thirty-nine."
"Young boy. You know we aren\'t talking about something that is mass-produced, right?"
"Thirty-eight. I have a rough idea of how much you might have in that big of storage. My demand is naturally reasonable."
"And you think you can have something that even your household can\'t easily get in that big of a quantity?"
"I know I can and I will get the amount I want. You have no say in it, sir Lucius. You see these things right?
I am the only person who knows the creator and the only one who actually has a pretty good quantity of all four of those.
What I can give you isn\'t comparable to the amount of chocolate I am asking, you know?
You already know just how precious these potions and enchantments could be and I can give you fifty of each of those potions and twenty of those enchantments for thirty-seven kilograms."
"Well, it is tempting to see something of this quality and something with these effects that only a dungeon item could give as a selling product.
I can understand just how precious they are and I know you know just how precious my chocolates are too, right?
You are asking for thirty-seven kilograms and that is more than the amount that is sold in this place in three months.
And you are only offering fifty bottles of these potions that have no actual practical data.
I can\'t just give these things to my employees without testing, much less to the adventurers.
Young boy... make it a hundred potion bottles each with fifty of those enchantments and I can give out twenty-five kilograms while still having a rock on my poor old heart-"
"Let\'s not go into the sweet talk, old man. You won\'t be able to handle my honey words.
And what did you just say? Twenty-five for a hundred potion bottles and fifty enchantments?
Do you know just how much loss I would be facing with that?
Do you think you can make these things after a simple analysis with just a hundred samples?
It\'s practically useless even if someone gets the recipe for this absurdly difficult potion.
The ingredients used to make these things are something even I have barely any idea of.
I am naturally restricted to tell the maker\'s identity and I don\'t think you would try to harm me, much less leak the information about me when you are the first ever person to get these things.
I have yet to discuss things with mom but you are getting these things even before her, so why be so stingy?
Though I can provide a hundred potions each, there\'s no way for me to even have fifty of the enchantments.
And twenty-five? Really old man?
Do you think I\'m some naïve kid that would be conned on this gorgeous evening?
I was right when I said forty, but I\'m still taking a loss here, so at least let go of thirty-five kilograms."
\'Stingy old man...\'
"I at least know you aren\'t some regular kid from how naturally you aren\'t affected by this pressure that would make even a <D> rank adventurer faint.
Yes, I know I am stingy and there\'s no helping that fact, so just tell me how many of these little enchantment things do you have?"
"Thirty. And I can only give out twenty-five, so just give me thirty-five-"
"Well, you having only thirty of these seems statistically a load of crap so-"
"You don\'t believe me, hm? We can go lower and you won\'t even have the chance to get thirsty-"
"Don\'t get angry at me for that one, Lucifer. Let\'s do this. Just give me those thirty and I will give you twenty-eight kilograms.
Even the emperor might not be able to get this great amount from me, you know-"
"You know I know that\'s a lie, right?
The second princess loves your chocolates and that\'s a publically well-known fact.
Adventurer\'s association\'s capital city office alone gets an absurd amount of funds and you, especially, have a good relationship with the emperor, don\'t you?
Most of your chocolate reserve is for the imperial family, from my understanding. And twenty-eight kilogram would be nothing for the great royal family.
That\'s not even their full month\'s quota and just the parties that take place in any wing of the palace use your chocolates for certain special things.
It\'s just my deduction though, no one could know if this thing is true or not.
And that thing again. Twenty-eight? Why be so stingy over some chocolates that you can make yourself whenever you want?
The finest cocoa beans come from her and my house\'s lands anyway, no?
Forty kilograms was small in the first place. And you even played small talk with me.
Haaa... just give me thirty-three kilograms old man..."
And, after this nonstop heated conversation that had just gone on with the pressure just kept increasing with each passing moment, it finally came to a brief stop after I said that last line in an exhausted manner.
Handling this pressure was no small thing, even with my Solnova.
I was fine this whole time because I could protect my whole body with Solnova and cover my Mana at the same time all this time and I knew I would be alright for a while like this but... this was the best moment for me.
After this minute-long conversation, he had finally fallen into this thought process, and even though I wanted to smirk happily right now, I needed to hold back for a bit.
He was good; I had to say but, not even close to my mom or that damn headmaster.
He would barely come close to my own skills, but he was still soft and, more than that, he had underestimated me at the start.
He would have gone as low as thirty kilograms if he had started seriously but, at this point, he had no choice but to part ways with thirty-three kilograms of his dear chocolates.
The imperial family thing was a heavy blow to his concentration and... it was a lie from my side.
I had just heard from someone that the second princess likes his chocolates with one of Celes\'s clones on the street, and it was purely by chance.
All the other things were made up and an arrow in the dark from my side.
I didn\'t even know if there was a target there or not but, I just said all that stuff and from the serious expression and the very small hesitation deep down in him, I now knew something new.
The branch manager of the adventurer\'s association having a good connection with the ruler of a country would be a pretty controversial thing if even a small rumor comes out so, there was no way he would let go of me just like that.
He wouldn\'t confirm these too, though. That would be even more disastrous than just me \'speculating\' about some weird things.
He knew I was smart enough to not say these things outside of these walls and he was right.
Who would even want to make enemies with this person?
He was a grand master chef, a branch manager of the capital city of the great empire, and also a (tier-8) mage of destructive power.
He was amazing, but I was better at these negotiations than him.
And the way all the previous pressure just vanished with his deep sigh proved that I was the victor of this small thing.