Great Sage 15 – A Castle of Cardboard

March 13, 2022Zathael

After showing her the shrine maiden outfit and the extracted self destruct spell, I manage to clear things up with Maya-chan.

“So a guest did come but it seems they’re looking for you”

“What are they like?”
“A boing-boing blondie”1

I don’t understand what Maya-chan is saying at all but after moving to the reception I see a familiar looking blond man in a black suit accompanying Boing-boing Blondie-san who is sitting across the counter.

I walk up to the counter and smile.

With a high class business suit and bold blonde hair, she looks over me with her large blue eyes.

“I understand why Yuikuu would compare you to Taishakuten. I won’t waste your time so could we talk for a bit”

She pulls a business card out of her pocket.

In response, search magic once again activates unintentionally,
“Height 172 centimeters, hip 84, waist 58, bust 98, D cup”
The strange report is displayed.

It seems my skills are rampaging on their own.

“Fine by me”

Blondie-san speaks to the man standing behind her in a small voice, causing my translation magic to trigger.

It seems this one is functioning normally,

[I don’t think the silver bullets from the church will work on this man, have our comrades step down]
So it was translated.

Based off the pronunciation she’s not speaking english but russian or something similar.

[What business do you have with me at this time of night]
I match my words to theirs,

[My, It’s the first I’ve met someone in Japan that can speak our mother tongue]
She laughs heartily.

However,
[It’s also the first time I’ve met a faerie in japan]
At my words, Blondie-san’s beautiful blue eyes narrow.


Written on her business card is [Lithomanmari Republic, National Trade Association, Japanese Branch Head, Alona Rubart].

Without being noticed by Blondie-san I open a window to search the net and find that they’re registered as a proper national corporation but there’s rumours of links to the russian mafia.

According to the net, after the dissolution of the soviet union, it seems the number of small countries running crime syndicates increased. Not to mention the mana she possesses has the same characteristics as elves and dwarves from the previous world.

“…..only half. I was shunned by the pure faeries and living in the human world is tough. Need to do work like this after all”

“So what does a difficult person like that want?”

“Don’t make fun of me, I’m not as complicated as you it seems. Besides my business is simple, I came to ask what it would take for us to withdraw from this issue”

I don’t understand her circumstances but I can tell what her organisation wants.
It’s the same as a deal with a bandit guild or assassin’s guild.

The Kashizu sect, that warrants their operation in Japan, suddenly wants to back out of this matter. According to Kanako-chan it seems that they’ve seized a number of properties already, and the gray development company that my brother works for has already been provided funding.

And that’s after picking a fight with the Shimogami School.
I’m not sure how much combat strength this corporation has but I don’t think things would end easily.

It’s a matter of how to settle this dispute.

“Is your business still able to make a profit at this rate”
“There’s a lot of developers that want to be involved with the onsen so it should work out fine, besides the acquisition is more or less complete”

“And the shopping disctrict?”
“Those Kashizu guys only wanted to drive your princess here away, buying this withered shopping district won’t make any money”

If it’s like that then this will be simple.

“Then, if the Shimogami School attacks I’ll deal with it. If in exchange you turn a blind eye to this store, then I’ll leave the rest to you”
“Oh, isn’t a ally of justice supposed to save everybody?”

“Unfortunately I’m not an ally of justice”

It’s somewhat sad to see the town change but that’s just the way of things with the economy. I don’t have any reason to complain.
If anything the onsen town being revitalised it might profit the city as well.

However, I’m responsible for the matters regarding this store.
It’s a matter of conviction.

Blondie-san makes a somewhat troubled face,
“Then can I have a guarantee you’ll protect this place from those Shimogami guys”

She brushes her gorgeous blond hair and looks at me with a amorous expression.

Asking about a guarantee her must mean she’s talking about money.
People like them use various titles like [Trust] or [Guarantee] or [Favour] to refer to money, and make deals with ambiguous language.

Looking at the net once again, the Lithomanmari Republic is supported by the export of rare metals.

Plus the wavelength of her mana is close to a dwarf.
Even though her appearance is like an elf…..

“Would you be able to liquidate this”

I bring out pieces of metal from the other world similar to scrap iron from my storage magic.
It’s one of the things I gathered when I decided to return to Japan.

Blondie-san takes it in her hand and focuses on her mana,

“We can, your conditions?”

She stares back at me without smiling.
As expected she has the ability to analyse minerals like a dwarf.

According to my inspection, although there’s a lot of impurities, there’s platinum in there.
On the net a gram will go for over four thousand yen so even after a handling fee it should be three thousand yen.

The platinum content is about half so one kilo is around 1.5 million yen.

I line up 5 kilos onto the table.

“Can you give me fifty for this”
Like this I’ll sell 7.5 million worth for 500 thousand.2

“Fifty?”

Blondie-san stares at the mountain of minerals with wide eyes.

“Certainly the estimated value of the things here should be able to offset the difference”
It seems Kanako-chan was going to be evicted for 7 million yen by the land shark.

They haven’t been paid yet but that contract is imposed on them. That much money should be plenty as a nuisance fee to have them leave the store alone.

Blondie-san checks the mineral on the table once more with mana before calling over Black Suit-san behind her and confirming something on her phone.

“Y-You’re fairly generous”

She replies with a slight stutter for some reason.
For a mafia of this scale, a few million yen should be nothing.

But with a deal like this you need to know when to push.

“Something of this level is just small change to me. Besides I don’t want to cause any problems with you lot like last night, we’re comrades from now on after all”

To press them….. I smile with my true face and she swallows her spit.
Her slightly erotic frightened expression was quite something.

“I-I understand, t-then I will prepare the documentation and money. Then where should we deposit the fifty”

“Could I take cash”
“No as expected that’s….. besides it takes time to launder”

Launder money?

I tilt my head and Blondie-san trembles like a small animal.
“It seems I’ve been disrespectful. I see, you’re testing our organisational capability is it, then do not worry. I’ll immediately gather what we have on hand and bring the documents. The remaining money will be gathered in the next few days”

Scaring her too much will have the opposite effect but you can’t change what’s done.
So I put on my usual expression and smile.

“Of course that’s fine by me”

Blondie-san nods at my words and grabs the minerals off the table carefully and runs out in a hurry.

While wondering if there was a problem with my translation magic, I notice Maya-chan and the cat in a maid outfit peeking nervously.

“Come again”

“Master, you we’re so cool”
“What are you talking about, I don’t understand at all”

Since the two came to the counter let’s discuss what to do with the cat.

“I’d feel bad if you we’re stuck in storage magic all the time so maybe I should make a door for you to go in and out freely”

“To where? If mom finds out it’ll be hard to explain, and you can’t have a cat at the storefront”

“Then in the room I’m borrowing…..”
“I’m concerned about that too, I don’t want something like before happening”

It seems Maya-chan is still mad.

It can’t be helped then, I’ll make a small shed with a roof and entrance from this spare cardboard and link my storage magic to it.

“Then let’s leave this outside. I’ve set up magic to protect it against wind and rain”

“Master I’m not a dog you know, entering and exiting from there is…..”

My idea was shot down by the cat.
I was imagining a castle not a doghouse though.

“It can’t be helped, you can leave that shed in my room”
“Eh, when did we decide on that cardboard shed”

While we are talking a sudden brake can be heard and a blacked out car stops before the store.
Looking at the clock, only 30 minutes has passed,

“Please accept this”

Black Suit-san carries over a large suitcase and bows his head deeply.

Inside the suitcase is tightly packed 10,000 yen bills along with the deeds to the land and buildings of the onsen inn and shopping district.

“Huh”

As I tilt my head, I notice a hastily handwritten document,
“100 million yen as an advance payment for the 5 billion yen, in addition to the deeds to the purchased onsen inn and shopping district, the remaining documents and balance will be provided as soon as it is ready”

“Aaaah, what did you do this time!”

Looking at Maya-chan’s panicked face, I realise when I said fifty I didn’t specify whether the unit was [Ten Thousand] or [Hundred Million].
Now I’m concerned about what the imperfections in those minerals were but…..


First what should I do with the money and documents, my heads starting to hurt.

Translator’s Notes:
1: Maya says patsukin which is kinpatsu(blond hair) backwards. I love having to translate slang
2: Japanese count large numbers in units of ten thousand(10,000 then 100,000,000 etc) so he’s asking for 50(10,000).