Chapter 9 – The Development of a Side Business also Matters

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Imperial Calendar, Year 260 – Moon of the Sapphire

Busy, so busy. This year I’ve been preoccupied with Hero’s Sword from the get-go, running around all over the place. The period for me to have outsourced all the governmental work to Irena and Milevis-kun has been long.

Because of that, the documents to be approved piled up and the wrinkles on Irena’s forehead became deeper.

“Albert-sama, please grant your permission for allocating a budget to this measure here.”

Yes, yes, on it. Umm, let’s see…the construction of a new road between the Goshoot village and Slat, huh? If I remember correctly, it was quite a straining mountain path, so yeah, considering the future, it’d be better the build a proper road over there.

I closely investigated the details for the budget and because I found no problems with the sum either, I stamped my approval on the document and put it in the Acknowledged box.

“Please have a look at the request over here next.”

“Rejected. We went to war just last month. Besides, it would cost a lot of money again.”

Outside the window I could see Brest and Lator, who had been waiting for the approval of their request, becoming alert as they sensed the smell of battle from my words.

“Albert, I’ll take the vanguard in that battle, okay!? During the fort battle, only Malida-nee-san and Dad got their fill of fighting.”

“You idiot of a son! Of course I’ll take the vanguard! You’re still too lacking in ability! Study military strategy first!”

I stamped a Rejected on the document handed in by Brest and Lator, then put it into the Rejected box.

Even though they’ve gone on such a rampage a little while ago, they still haven’t had enough…I really don’t get it.

Oh, right. I have to pass down a punishment for the dispatch of troops after I entrusted the castle’s defenses to Liese.

“Which reminds me…Brest-dono, Lator, I order you to spend five days writing our family rules at the Special Reflection Room.”

Once I snipped my fingers, young Goshoot clan members restricted the two from behind.

“W-Why!?!”

“Why must I go to the Special Reflection Room!?”

“It’s about the matter of you having fully pushed the defense of Castle Ashley on Liese. If either of you had taken care of the castle defense, even I wouldn’t have punished you. But, unfortunately that wasn’t the case.”

“I…I was just dragged into it! Albert!”

“I also told Malida that it’d be bad to leave it to Liese alone! I’m innocent here!”

As soon as I ordered the young clan members, they took the two away to the Special Reflection Room. I felt sorry for the two, but I had to punish those in charge in order to have an excuse for His Majesty.

“Malida-sama, I will later carry out a personal interrogation in regards to your involvement.”

Malida felt relieved when I made Brest and Lator take responsibility, so I gave her a warning.

“W-Why? Didn’t Uncle and Lator take responsibility for it? I simply judged Liese-tan to be the most suited for the job.”

“I’ll have you explain everything in full detail later on. For now, focus on handling the accumulated governmental work.”

Once I signaled Lichere with my eyes, she placed twice the usual amount of documents on the desk in front of Malida.

“Albert? Doesn’t the number of documents seem slightly too big? Or am I seeing things?”

“Since the governmental duties are falling behind overall, I’d like you to take care of this. Or are you telling me that you’d prefer to go to the Special Reflection Room instead?”

“Lichere, I’ve started to totally feel like burning through that workload!”

My teary-eyed wife started to stamp documents for dear life.

For the time being, I’ll take the liberty to slowly listen to her excuses after cleaning up various things first.

Perceiving that it was time for the governmental work to resume, Irena handed me the next document.

“Okay, please check this proposal next, Albert-sama.”

Hmm, a proposal by the military physician of the oni, huh? They’re asking for an increase in relief soldiers on the battlefield.

The oni regarded medical treatment on the battlefield as an essential battle skill. The Erwin family had several soldiers with exceedingly high skills in regards to treating soldiers on the battlefield. Thanks to those physicians and relief soldiers, wounded oni could quickly return to the battle, I believe.

If we increase their number, the rate of those having to withdraw from the battlefield will decrease, huh? I suppose I’ll recruit personnel from the Alkor family and proceed with the increase of relief soldiers.

It’d strain our budget a bit, but since it’d affect the life and death of our people, I stamped my approval on it and put it in the respective box.

“One more request connected to this matter has been handed in.”

This was another request from the same physician, huh? It calculated the costs for improving the artificial limbs loaned to those among the war wounded who had lost their limbs.

Oni were quite tough, but some of them would lose a limb or two during battle. I had no problem allocating a budget towards the improvement of prosthesis so that they could live their lives without too many impediments. Such tools are likely in high demand, so it might also lead to the creation of a new industry in our territory.

If it allows wounded oni to work as normal residents, even if they can’t go back on the battlefield anymore, I should invest into that.

I stamped my approval on the request and put it in the Acknowledged box.

“Those are all documents that had today to be reviewed for approval. Next up are the sales of the Malji Company…”

“The present situation is pretty dire, isn’t it? Well, the number of personnel has grown, so I understand that covering for that won’t be possible with ordinary effort.”

Irena was doing her best too, but the expenses went up with the inflow of the Goshoot clan members as well as all the schemes and operations we launched all in various places. Now it’s started to become somewhat difficult to cover for all the expenses with the miscellaneous goods sold by the Malji Company.

I must come up with a good side business to keep funding my own intelligence agency.

It’s time for business! Gotta make some good dough!

A lot more money will be necessary to not only maintain my intelligence agency, but to also expand and reinforce it.

Now the question would be how to earn money. One way would be to steal it from those who have a lot, but if we did this, it’d definitely lead to us making a lot of enemies. In short, robbery is a no no.

So, what would work?

Let’s do trade. Business trades are always good. The basics of good business is to try to sell things that might be in demand.

“With that said, I’ve brought all the things you can obtain or harvest in the mountain folk territory.”

Warid soundlessly appeared inside the office. As always he suddenly pops up like a phantom, but since he does the work I ask of him without any issues, he’s a reliable guy.

“Everything has been lined up on the courtyard. It’d be nice if some of them could become a new source of income for the mountain folk.”

“Well, we do want to prosper and work together with the mountain folk. I’d like to make use of anything that has potential.”

After finishing up the governmental work, I moved to the courtyard together with Irena. The Goshoot clan members had spread out various items. We looked for anything that could become a trade good.

Precious pelts and various effective medicinal plants were already being sold as merchandise by the mountain folk. Since those were limited in number, it’d be impossible for the Malji Company to deal in them.

It’d be great to find something that hasn’t been used for business at all, but…

Oh, what’s this? It looks like a liquid, but it’s black and gooey. And it smells.

“What’s in this jar?” I asked Warid.

“Ah, this you mean? It’s burnable water. It has a slightly peculiar smell, but it burns well, can also be used as fuel to save on firewood for the warming during winter, and is a good replacement for candles.”

This means it’s oil, huh? In other words, the mountain folk’s territory has places where oil naturally gushes out of the ground.

“Can you get a sizable amount of this burnable water?”

“Yeah. Enough of it that we mountain folk can’t use it all up by ourselves. But, its handling is difficult, so I doubt it’s suited for trading. If you ignite a large amount of burnable water, it’ll turn into a huge fire.”

“That’s true. It doesn’t seem very usable for trading, but the Erwin family will purchase a fixed amount of this from you. We will use it as a weapon. If I show it to the oni, they should come up with some great combat applications.”

“Weaponizing the burnable water, eh? That’s sounds very like the Erwin family. Very well. Let us negotiate the trade amount later.”

“Sure, we can do that.”

We don’t have the technology that would allow us to refine oil, but its utility as fuel and combustible weapon is pretty high. Since there’s nothing wrong with having it, I feel like it’d be fine to monopolize it.

As I was immersed in thoughts whether we couldn’t use the burnable water as a trade good in some way, Irena picked up another item.

“Wouldn’t something like this be good as a smell eraser? Many among the nobles are very conscious of smell.”

“You have a point there. There’s likely quite a few people who are looking for such items.”

Irena had picked up an aromatic plant. Many types of plants that wouldn’t grow in the Ashley and Slat fiefs could be harvested in the mountain folk’s territory.

Wild grasses like lavender, lemon grass, and mint as well as citrus fruits like lemons, limes, and bergamots were lined up in front of her.

Many people in this world stank quite profusely. People like Brest or Lator didn’t care much about their personal appearance, resulting in their body odor being quite offensive. Sometimes it was so bad that I felt like barfing.

Of course, some people also minded personal hygiene, but this world didn’t have many items with the task of deodorants. Hence, if we were to sell balm with a mixture of aromatic, essential oils, I feel like nobles and wealthy people would buy it up like crazy.

“Can you gather a lot of these nicely aromatic wild flowers and citrus fruits?”

“Yeah, we can. The flowers grow all over the place and the citrus fruits are wildly growing in our territory, too.”

Warid confirmed that we’d be able to procure a big stock. In this case, we can use the steam distillation method to extract the essential oils and perfume water through a metallic stove. We will build a distillation facility in the Goshoot village and produce the balm over there.

I jotted down an illustration of a distillation device, which I remembered from my previous world, in my notebook. If I get our local smiths to create a distillation stove, it sounds like we’ll be able to get things started right away.

It’s low on the budget and we can expect a huge profit from it.

“Let’s go with distilled perfume water and balm. I think those will become eye-catching goods for the Malji Company. It’d also be fine to sell cosmetics that use perfumed water to women.”

“Cosmetics are definitely desired by women. Besides, if we spread rumors among the nobles and wealthy that balm will add variation to their nightlife, it will sell well.”

That’s a nice catchphrase. It’ll probably sell like hotcakes to all the perverts.

“Though we will require your assistance in this, Albert-sama.”

Yes, of course. I will offer you my full assistance. My wife’s happiness is happiness for me as well, after all.

“We will proceed with the commercialization at once.”

“Very well. I will arrange everything as soon as possible.”

Just like this, the Malji Company completed a small distillation facility in the Goshoot clan’s village under Irena’s guidance and the first trial products reached Castle Ashley at the end of the month.

■

“It seems like we will be testing the new prototype right away.”

Once I went to our bedroom, Malida was lying on the bed in the newly delivered micro bikini. Currently she was in the middle of having Lichere and Luminas, who also wore micro bikinis, apply balm on her skin.

“Feel free to smell me.”

Noticing my arrival, Malida turned her head in my direction and beckoned me over.

“Please excuse me then.”

I stepped up next to the bed and smelled Malida’s body.

Lavender is one of those aromas that are generally accepted as nice by everyone, I think. The amount of lavender essence used for the balm can be kept moderate, too.

“It smells nice. I’m sure this will have a nice effect on men too.”

“It means men get excited by women who smell nice. Okay, turn around please,” Lichere urged Malida to turn around so that she’d face up. “Let’s have Albert-sama apply the balm on this side. You’re fine with that, aren’t you?”

“Sure, it will be a pleasure.”

“Albert is going to do it!?”

I took the jar with the balm out of Luminas’s hand and spread it across Malida’s body.

“Hyaau! Stop it. It’s pretty clear that Albert will do perverted stuff to me instead of applying the balm!”

“I won’t do anything like that. I’m simply doing this because I felt like allowing my wife, who has been working hard over the day, to relax a bit. Please don’t worry. I’ll just apply the balm.”

Knowing that I’d be the one to put on the balm, Malida started to tremble despite being such a stalwart warrior on the battlefield. With her being so scared, I feel like I’m somehow doing something bad and various desires are starting to well up in me…

Each time I dribbled some balm on her body and thoroughly rubbed it in, Malida reacted by twitching.

“Your way of applying the balm is lewd.”

“You think so? I’m doing it properly. Look.”

I fondled Malida’s big boobs upwards, allowing the balm to soak in.

“That’s what I mean! This is no good!”

The balm on her body reflected the candle light, making it all look very lewd.

Yep, yep. This is a sight for sore eyes indeed.

“It’s bad if I don’t apply it everywhere, right? I mean, here as well.”

I diligently smeared the balm on her nipples which were barely hidden by the micro bikini.

“A-As I thought, you’re doing lewd stuff to me. Haa haa. Uuh. Don’t touch them so much.”

Her nipples started to become hard.

“No way. I’m merely applying the balm in every nook and cranny.”

As I didn’t stop massaging the balm in, Malida’s cheeks started to flush and her breathing became rough.

“Are you possibly feeling good from this?”

Malida heard my question, but she simply covered her face with both hands, probably out of embarrassment.

Shit, she’s so adorable! My darling wifey! I fear seeing her being all bashful might be what I like the most. So I must work a lot harder to see her like that as often and long as possible.

“You haven’t answered, so I’ll smear it onto this place as well.”

I dribbled more balm on my hands and let them slide down to her abdomen.

“Hauuu! Uuugh!”

With the added stimulus, Malida hid her eyes with one hand so that I wouldn’t be able to see her expression while trying to stop my hand from sliding downwards with the other hand. But it was a vain attempt because her hand lacked power.

“So it feels nice after all, huh?”

“Wro-…Wrong! It doesn――hyaaaauuuuun!”

As I whispered my words into her ears while fiddling with her nipples, her body twitched and became stiff as if it lost all power.

“Haa, haa, haa.”

I couldn’t see her expression as she was hiding her face, but I could feel her body’s temperature increasing.

“Malida-sama’s lewd scent has blended into the balm’s aroma, hasn’t it?”

“You’re definitely right. It’s another type of scent.”

“Malida-ane-sama, did you possible cum just now?”

“I was taught that we have the rule to say it out loud when we cum.”

My wife’s lovers, all wearing micro bikinis, sniffed Malida’s body. My wife is a pervert, but her lovers are quite curious about lewd stuff as well.

“Malida-sama would never cum from just having balm smeared on her. Right, Malida-ane-sama?”

“T-That’s right. There’s no way I’d cum from somet――”

Seeing Malida trying to talk her way out of this, I resumed stimulating her nipple and nether region.

“――hiiiiing liiiiiiike thaaaaaat!”

As she appeared to still be sensitive, her body trembled a lot stronger this time, just to stiffen up.

“She came, didn’t she?”

“She did.”

“This is definitely her cumming.”

“But, she didn’t say so.”

Being watched by her lovers how she came hard, Malida’s body heated up even more out of embarrassment, another sultry scent joined the other two she had been emitting.

As I thought, it’s been a good idea to use balm. The catchphrase 『Adds variation to your nightlife』 should hit home here.

Being exposed to a scent different from usual, I got much hornier than usual, too.

“Malida-sama, I’m going to apologize in advance. Please do your best since I cannot hold back in various ways today.”

“W-What was that!? I still haven’t prepared as I just came! Wait! Wait a moment! You mustn’t enter me yet! Albert, calm down! Please calm down!”

“That’s impossible.”

I pinned down Malida’s hands and pushed my raging dick into her.

“Hakuuuuuun!! Just as I thought, in the end you’re doing lewd stuff to me anyway! You’ve been lying about just applying the oil! Ah, ah, nngh!”

As I stole my cute wife’s lips, I surrendered myself to my lust in order to relieve the horniness inside me.

■

The next morning I woke up feeling much more refreshed than usual. Apparently I’ve been able to get rid of my fatigue from the daily governmental duty quite a bit last night.

“I’m sure this balm will sell well in various countries.”

“Perverted men like Albert will have a blast with it. Uuuhh, Liese-tan, I was completely toyed with by a beast-like Albert.”

“I feel like you’ve assaulted me to your heart’s content, Malida-ane-sama. Even now you’re fondling my butt.”

“That’s because your nice scent invited me to do that.”

Lying next to me, Malida and Liese were making out.

“Luminas-chan, that is the power of Albert-sama’s knowledge, so we must accept him properly as well. Understood?”

“Yes. I have trained my body, so I was confident, but I must make sure that I can accept him fully while swinging my own waist, just like you, Irena-san.”

On my other side, the blond beauty Irena was teaching her junior while fiddling around with her tail.

“I will still give it my best. Nnhh,” Lichere snored lightly

She had been holding out to the very end and fell asleep on top of me after running out of strength.

The effect of the trial balm was outstanding.

Well, if the bodies of my wife and her lovers smell even nicer than they already do, I’ll naturally work harder, too. If my wife and her lovers are satisfied, I’ll be satisfied as well.

By the way, being engulfed by the soft bodies of my wife and her lovers and the nice scent of the balm has an incredible healing effect. Yeah, I can’t get enough of this. Is this actually paradise?

Afterwards, we commercialized balms and cosmetics, which used our distilled perfume water, and having the mountain folk, who traveled all over the place as peddlers, use those products as body oil and hairdressing products, we sold those items for a lot of money to merchants and nobles who took a liking to the scent.

Just as anticipated, many people seemed to be bad with the stinging body odor. The rumors about our products spread in no time and starting with noble ladies, rich people bought up the cosmetics sold by the mountain folk through the Malji Company like crazy.

Warid was surprised by the sales too. The Goshoot clan, which handled the production, was flooded by orders that easily surpassed the money they could make through hunting or gathering. Of course, the Malji Company expanded its profit by wholesaling the items to the mountain folk who would sell it further.

Moreover, I plan to expand the market within Elancia Empire by using the Erwin family as a connection.

What I’m going to do, you ask? That’s easy.

I’ll just need to put plenty of balm on Malida’s body and have her visit the demon king, who dotes on her as a milk sibling. I’m sure the demon king will immediately whine about getting the same, resulting in the nobles visiting him soon fighting over the right to buy up the balm from the Malji Company or the mountain folk.

There’s no doubt our sales will increase even further once cosmetics also become popular in the empire.

I’m hoping that the balm and cosmetics will produce huge profits as leading products of the Malji Company, not only covering for the intelligence expenses, but also adding to the funds of the Erwin family.

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