Chapter 70: Local Specialties of the Territory

A week has passed since coming to the territorial capital. It’s been four days since Leon, who somehow ended up staying at our place, arrived. I tried to keep my distance from Leon as much as possible, throwing all responsibility of taking care of him to Elliott and Jean. It would be troublesome if weird flags were raised… Still, we have harmless conversations. Since Leon has a high thirst for knowledge, he was very interested in the Earth products summoned by my [Store Summoning]. He was especially excited about the tea utensils and incense burner from the pawn shop, and the digital kitchen scale.

“With this, I can determine precise amounts during compounding without mistakes! What a wonderful magic tool!”

Yeah, measuring in this world generally involves placing weights on a balance scale. It takes time and is troublesome, and if the weights or scale rust, accurate measurement becomes impossible. Well, digital scales also become useless when batteries run out, but sometimes ignorance is bliss. I sold the digital scale to the excited Leon, and also sold him batteries while at it. For some reason, batteries were sold at the Fashion Center, so there are plenty of spares. No button batteries though.

“Young Miss, the tailor master brought this.”

While the five of us—the Empress, Grandmother, Mother, Estelle, and I (Bianca is training with Jean)—were having tea at ‘La Vie en Rose’, the maid Arisa-san brought something wrapped in a large cloth into the store. Tailor? Ah, perhaps the order is finished? Faster than I thought. Maybe he pushed himself because it was a request from the Ducal House? I felt like it would be fine if finished during the vacation, though.

“Sakura-chan, did you make something?” “Yes, well. I thought if something from this territory could be sold in other territories…”

Answering Mother, I untie the thin hemp rope, spread the cloth, and take out the contents. Seeing that, the Empress tilts her head.

“This is… what is it? A cushion?” “No, it’s a futon. A down duvet. Bedding.”

Yes. What I asked the tailor for was a down duvet stuffed with goose feathers. Generally, down duvets come in duck and goose varieties, and goose feathers are larger and lighter individually. High heat retention, making for a high-quality down duvet. Seeing geese being sold at the market, I wondered if I could use their feathers somehow. The geese at the market were plucked naked. The feathers were discarded during the preparation stage. Or rather, burned after plucking. What a waste. The feathers called down obtained from each bird are few, but dust accumulates to become a mountain. Feathers accumulate to become a futon. Was it about 100 to 150 birds for one down duvet? I don’t know well, but I think it’s around there. The fabric is luxurious silk. The touch is also fine. Basically, futons in this world are wool futons. Though they say sheep, apparently they are magic beasts, so it’s not the wool I know. Seems to be lighter than normal wool. My senior said down duvets were made quite early in places like Northern Europe on Earth. I feel like I saw on TV that they were found in Viking graves from around the 9th century or something… This country isn’t that cold, so maybe wool futons were easier to make?

“My, it’s very light. And very warm.” “Because down holds air, it doesn’t let body heat escape.” “This would be appreciated in winter.”

Yeah, as Grandmother says, it would be warm and nice in winter. I can almost hear voices asking ‘Why make a down duvet in this hot summer?’, but making things that sell in winter in winter won’t be in time. If we don’t start mass production now in summer, we can’t earn in winter. There is one more thing I had made.

“Jan!” “Fluffy clothes? Ah, are there feathers inside this too?” “Yes! It’s called a down jacket.”

The Fashion Center ‘Imamura’ I summoned seemingly first appeared during the spring-summer transition, so there were no winter clothes. Mother takes the down jacket I took out and puts her arms through the sleeves. Using cheap magic beast leather with properties like nylon or polyester, it’s finished as lightly as possible.

“This is also light and warm. …Or rather hot…”

No well, it IS summer right now… Even though ‘La Vie en Rose’s’ air conditioner is blasting.

“I think it will sell when winter comes but…” “I think it will sell but…” “True, I think it will sell to some extent. But…”

Huh? Why are Mother and Grandmother reacting saltily? Even the Empress is smiling wryly. Is there some fatal flaw!?

“Is, is there some problem…?” “Not cute.” “For a noble to wear, it’s a bit…”

Eh?

“Being this fluffy makes you look fat…” “The color is also a bit…”

The two say such things looking troubled. Eh? The design and color are no good!? Certainly, the color is khaki, and the design ended up like something an old man would wear! Just so you know, I didn’t specify it, okay!? Though I’m also at fault for only giving a rough explanation to the tailor!

“Umm, we, well this is still a prototype, so I’m thinking of making fashionable ones from here…” “My, is that so? Then how about attaching fur to the collar?” “If we reduce the amount of down a little and taper the waist, it might look good.” “Brighter colors would be better too.”

Mother and the others started discussing excitedly what kind of down jacket would be good. I quietly take out the notebook and stationery sold at the pawn shop from my four-dimensional pochette and offer them to Mother and the others. Included colored pencils too. Leaving us behind, the three had already started designing what kind of down jacket to make. W-Well, fashion sense in this world is better left to the locals.

“Lady Sakuraile! This down duvet is fluffy and feels good!”

Saying that, Estelle shows a carefree smile. An angel, there is an angel here…

◇ ◇ ◇

In the end, it was decided that Mother would take the lead on the down jackets. If Mother, the fashion leader of the nobles, wears a fashionable down jacket, other noble ladies will definitely want one. The down duvet is Father’s responsibility. If embellished with gorgeous embroidery, it will undoubtedly become popular among nobles, he says. Feathers that were plucked and thrown away until now becoming a specialty of our Ducal territory… probably won’t go that far. Because it can be made in other territories too. At first, it might sell like hotcakes, but eventually, copycat products will appear. Definitely. When that happens, we have no choice but to compete with quality and branding. Unless it’s something only makeable in this territory or with secret techniques, monopoly is difficult… This world has no copyright or patents… In the first place, even if we make down jackets or down duvets, the question is whether customers will come to our Ducal territory. Something you can’t experience, see, taste, or enjoy unless you come here… that’s what’s needed. If there were hot springs, we could make a hot spring inn; if it snowed, a ski resort. From what Father says, there are no hot springs around here, and snow doesn’t pile up that much. Shall I make an amusement park? Something like Philharmonie Land… Mascot character is Kohaku-san. A dream land where mascots sing and dance… but how much would construction cost? Impossible to do overnight. Since it’s a territory I’ll eventually inherit, I feel like I should start on it now, but given the scale, I can’t build it arbitrarily. I think down duvets and down jackets alone will bring decent profit, but just that is… As a rule of business: ‘To whom’, ‘What’, ‘How to sell’. Without deciding these, it’s a non-starter. Furthermore, I hear ‘To whom to sell’ is more important than ‘What to sell’. In other words, you can’t just sell vaguely; you have to decide on a target. Target, huh… Between nobles and commoners, big earnings would come from nobles. For commoners, we’d have to make many cheap products. No, even for nobles, we probably have to mass-produce to some extent. Even among nobles, depending on which demographic we sell to, what to sell changes… Age group, gender, local or capital, high-ranking or low-ranking nobles… The roughest division would be gender, I guess. Male or female. Selling to noble men, or selling to noble women… What would sell? Depends on what they want. For example, purchasers of alcohol obtained from the liquor store via [Store Summoning] are almost all men. Apparently, it’s selling like crazy through Father. But according to Father, this money isn’t treated as the Ducal House’s, but as my personal savings. Personally, the purchase cost comes from the house, so I didn’t mind if they used it. But being admonished that purchase costs are deducted from profits and I’ll need it when making big purchases with [Store Summoning] eventually, I decided to accept it. If I want a luxury car worth 10 million yen, I’ll need ten times that, 100 million yen. Doesn’t hurt to have it. Well, never been to a luxury car dealership though… Off-topic. Well, honestly I don’t know what noble men want. Women are easier to understand. Fashionable clothes, delicious food. Beauty-related things seem viable too. Speaking of beauty… I learned how to make ointment good for rough skin from the apothecary grandmother, but noble women don’t do manual labor, so their skin isn’t that rough. Noble women in this world all wear makeup, but strictly light makeup level; heavy makeup apparently isn’t in fashion. Ah, my senior said skin lotion can be made from Philadelphia fleabane (Himejoon) or Daisy fleabane (Harujion). They have whitening components, and although effects vary by individual, they suppress melanin pigment and condition the skin. Making it is easy: just pickle flowers and roots in shochu. Ah, she also said manicure-like things can be made from Balsam (Housenka). If I recall correctly, mixing Wood Sorrel (Katabami) leaves makes the color vivid? Wood Sorrel grows normally around there. It also works as itch relief for insect bites. But do Philadelphia fleabane, Daisy fleabane, or Balsam exist in this world? Even if they do, names might be different… Should I ask someone knowledgeable in that field? Speaking of people knowledgeable about plants… I shake my head—iya iya—pushing aside the face of the glasses boy that flashed in my mind. Certainly, Leon would likely be knowledgeable about plant relations other than medicinal herbs… Or rather, undoubtedly knowledgeable. Even the scene of his meeting with the protagonist Estelle was such a scene. To Estelle, captivated by a flower she’d never seen in the flowerbed, Leon, passing by chance, teaches her the name of the flower. Well, not just the name, he rattles on about the scent’s efficacy and slightly puts Estelle off. So probably, he should know the flowers I’m thinking of, or similar ones.

“Gumuu… No choice. I’ll ask just in case…”

Needs must. I wish a cosmetics shop would be summoned by [Store Summoning]…