MTLNOVEL Chapter 475
On the way back to Astram.
Mari suddenly spoke up as if she had just remembered something.
“The villagers… I hope they’re doing well.”
“I agree. The villagers were overjoyed when we defeated the zombie bear, weren’t they?”
“Well, they had no choice. They were originally planning to abandon the village and give up on defeating the zombie bear, but since we took care of it, they must be thrilled.”
“Even though we had our own reasons for doing it, seeing the villagers happy makes me feel good too.”
The three of them smiled proudly, thinking about the grateful faces of the villagers.
Then, Serena muttered worriedly.
“But you know… Right now, everyone’s happy because the zombie bear is gone… But even though the village has escaped the brink of destruction, can it really recover?”
“Hmm. Recovery… It’s true that even though we defeated the zombie bear, the damage done so far won’t just disappear.”
“Still, we worked hard to complete the request, so I hope things turn out well…”
It would leave a bad taste in our mouths if, after all the effort to defeat the zombie bear, we heard that the village had fallen apart again.
…Ah!
“That’s it. I just thought of something that might help…”
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The mountain village where Kurt and his party had left.
Some time had passed since they departed.
Although they had managed to defeat the zombie bear and avoid losing the village, the people who had been sacrificed did not return, and rebuilding the village was no easy task.
Still, they did not lose hope and continued to work hard every day to rebuild the village.
Dagdag dagdag
Then, one day…
A carriage belonging to a merchant group arrived at the small, insignificant mountain village that had barely escaped becoming a ghost town.
With no more requests like defeating a zombie bear and nothing to boast about, the sudden appearance of the carriage in this quiet village made the villagers wary.
“Hehe. So this is the village… Just by selling high-quality goods at reasonable prices, maintaining credibility, obeying the law, and periodically donating a certain percentage of net profits to society, they managed to get such good information so easily. With this, taking over Astram’s commerce will be as easy as eating soup. Hehehe.”
What stepped out of the carriage was a suspicious-looking goblin.
“Greetings, everyone. I am Tirmel, in charge of the Coconut Company in Astram.”
He introduced himself with an evil smile as the branch manager of the Coconut Company in Astram.
“While running the company, I heard an interesting story. Let me make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
Tirmel smiled with a devilish grin, and the villagers’ faces showed fear and tension at his sinister expression.
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Originally, cocoa powder was just an exotic medicinal ingredient imported from the western continent.
As such, while some people were interested in it as an exotic remedy, its sales were mediocre, and Tirmel didn’t have high hopes for cocoa as a product.
After all, the Kingdom of Eustia already had common medicinal ingredients, and from the perspective of the people there, there was no reason to pay a high price for an unproven foreign ingredient when they already had their own.
However, the story changed when Kurt reinvented cocoa powder as a dessert called chocolate.
While being an unfamiliar foreign ingredient was a downside for medicinal purposes, as a dessert, it was different.
In fact, the brand of being an exotic dessert made from exotic ingredients attracted people’s attention and curiosity.
And it tasted great too.
Tirmel saw potential in this and immediately bought the recipe from Kurt, diving into the chocolate business.
It was almost baffling why the western continent, the birthplace of cocoa, hadn’t thought of this sooner.
The only downside was that the production process required an insane amount of sugar, making the cost high. But Tirmel turned this around by branding chocolate as a premium product.
After all, desserts are a kind of luxury.
And the fact that it was a strange dessert from a distant land made it hard to gauge its exact market value.
As a result, the Coconut Company’s chocolate became a huge hit among the nobility of the Kingdom of Eustia.
It even spread beyond Eustia to other countries.
As Tirmel rode the wave of chocolate’s success, one day Kurt approached him again.
And the moment Tirmel heard about cola, he sensed the same potential he had seen in chocolate.
Using coca leaves and coca fruit, which were used medicinally, along with carbonated water, to create a delicious drink?
Just like with chocolate, turning an unpopular medicinal ingredient into a dessert.
This was bound to sell.
Tirmel’s merchant instincts were screaming at him.
What followed was a smooth process.
Tirmel immediately bought the cola recipe from Kurt.
And he set off for the mountain village he had heard about.
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“That’s why I want to set up a cola production facility in this village. Hehe…”
“Y-you’re not planning to threaten us and forcibly take over the village’s operations, are you!?”
At Tirmel’s utterly sinister appearance, the villagers trembled, imagining the evil and underhanded schemes of the foreign merchant group.
“No. I plan to draft a fair contract and invest in the village from a long-term, macro perspective, ensuring mutual benefits. Here, I’ve prepared a draft of the investment plan. Feel free to take a look.”
“You think we’ll fall for sweet talk? I may look like this, but I was a seasoned merchant before settling in this village! I can spot traps in contracts in no time… Huh? Why are the terms so good?”
The man, who had claimed to be a former merchant, scrutinized the contract repeatedly, checking for any hidden clauses, invisible ink, or vertical text. But no matter how many times he read it, the contract seemed more reasonable and fair than any he had seen in his merchant days.
In fact, for a village that had barely escaped becoming a ghost town, such a fair contract was almost too generous.
“Are you seriously planning to make a fair deal with a backwater village that has no power, even sacrificing your own profits!? You’re not charging for the use of the production facility, forcing us into high-interest loans, or exploiting the villagers with unfair labor contracts!?”
“Hehe. What scary things you’re saying.”
Seeing that the villagers had finished reviewing the contract, Tirmel continued.
“Hehehe. More importantly, I’d like to meet the caretaker of the village’s mineral spring. Her name was… Pepper, right? I heard she’s a very young girl. She recently lost her mother to a monster and currently has no guardian, correct? Hehehe.”
“…What!? Are you planning to use little Pepper as a puppet to steal control of the mineral spring!? No wonder the contract terms were so good! You want us to sacrifice Pepper for the village’s prosperity!? We can’t do that! She’s like a daughter to all of us!”
Finally showing his true colors!
The villagers’ anger was palpable, ready to fight to the death if necessary.
“That’s not it. As a token of gratitude for allowing us to use the mineral spring, the Coconut Company will act as Pepper’s guardian until she comes of age, taking responsibility for her living and education. If needed, I will even become her godfather.”
“Who do you think you’re fooling!? People like you always talk sweet, but eventually show your true colors…! Huh? What’s this? An admission letter to an academy only the wealthy can attend? And a recommendation letter from the Black Tentacle Cult!?”
“Hehehe. Since the girl dreams of becoming a doctor, I used my connections with Count Astram to secure her admission. With the recommendation letter from the Black Tentacle Cult, my sincerity should be clear.”
“Ugh…! I can’t believe you went this far for Pepper, whom you’ve never even met!! To think I doubted you based on appearances…! I’m such a scumbag!”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. That suspicion came from your care for Pepper, didn’t it? Hehehe…”
“Ugh…! How can you be so generous!?”
And so, the greedy Tirmel, through his sinister and cunning rhetoric, as well as a fair and legal symbiotic relationship, won over the villagers and established a cola production workshop in the mountain village.
Later, cola became the Coconut Company’s second hit product after chocolate, turning into a local specialty and bringing unprecedented prosperity to the mountain village.
Meanwhile, Pepper, the caretaker of the mineral spring, studied under Tirmel’s sponsorship and decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps to become a doctor.
And when Pepper became a doctor, she improved the village’s specialty cola and developed a new carbonated drink named after herself, but that is a story for another time.
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Reincarnated Lizardman Wants to Drink Cola – The End.