Just A Reincarnation Story (Summoning Japan Edition)

Chapter 11: Building Connections

Wyvernmaan (Month 10) 5, 379 Imperial Year (Tem. 5, 1614 CC), 14:00

Esthirant, Parpaldia Empire

On his monthly routine, the Imperial Advisor Ruperther will go to the city to see what happened in Esthirant himself. The general idea is to familiarize himself with the activities of the general public in the capital city, including economic transactions in the market. Some said that he did this to improve his image, and on the other hand, not a few said that his routine is reasonable and appropriate for a government official to be in touch with the people.

Recently, Ruperther has gained an idea for reform in his tenure after doing an inquiry to the merchant district of Esthirant and becoming an acquaintance with Kaios, a son of a trader who is fascinated with the Holy Milishial Empire after visiting Runepolis and acquainted with someone there. Through the establishment of a common standard, commerce activities became even more active as merchants and artisans can better manage their products.

As he walked along the street, nodding slightly in acknowledgment to the people who greeted him respectfully along the way, Ruperther headed for a certain direction. He walked for a while before spotting a medium-sized storefront at the end of the backstreet, with a plaque that reads 'Handelsonderneming Meyer', the Meyer Trading Company.

There, among the working employees in and around the store, a blonde teenager wearing simple clothes is cleaning one of its windows. After wiping the window with a wet cloth, he squeezed the water, dipped the cloth into the bucket beside him, and wiped the window again. While he's at it, the teenager occasionally chatted with the employees that passed by him in a friendly manner.

"Excuse me."

The teenager, Kaios, perked up at the calm voice and turned to see Ruperther.

"Ah! Good afternoon, Lord Ruperther," he greeted with a smile while using a dry cloth from his back pocket to wipe his hands.

"Yes. Good afternoon to you as well. I see you are as diligent as usual."

The blonde smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head. When he ushered the older man to come in, Ruperther politely declined, preferring to talk outside. The other employees of the store greeted Ruperther at the sight of him.

"Well... it's nothing, really... Do you come to meet my father?"

"I'm just doing my usual routine. Speaking of which, do you have something interesting to show me today?"

Despite being the son of the company's owner, Kaios did chores in his free time. One thing that Ruperther learned after meeting Kaios is other than being diligent, he also does not cut corners in achieving what he wanted. This includes the wristwatch he keeps talking about for the last few months. Since building a machine like that requires advanced knowledge, the teenager began gathering sources of knowledge from where he first saw the wristwatch, the Holy Milishial Empire, so that he will be able to have one someday.

"I'm sorry, Lord Ruperther. My father's next voyage is two months later. So, I'm just here helping around."

"I see. That's fine. By the way, I heard that your father's company is building a new ship, how is it going?"

"Father says they are still planning, but they say they don't have experience building a new ship like this, so they are stuck."

Ruperther pondered.

The new ship for the Meyer Trading Company is going to implement the underwater pressure propulsion system that was tried on one of its ships a month ago, which is decided to be an iron-hulled ship. Having such a fast ship will surely attract more customers for the trading company, and in the future, it is possible to build a larger ship while maintaining the speed advantage. The widespread usage of this new technology will also greatly increase maritime trade, as more trade goods have been produced than before. That's not even mentioning the military use of iron-hulled ships.