SWNOVELXO Chapter 49
The alternative registration of my name that I had requested from Sakakibara was completed just as the red potion was finished.
The thin, metallic card—about the size of a business card—had information engraved on it using a special technique. The emblem of the royal family of Kainriese was etched on the back.
“What the hell is this?”
“Well… I thought if you were going to use an alias, it should be under the name of ‘Issei.'”
I had returned to Enfibe Magic Academy to report on the progress of the red potion, and, just like last time, I was led to the Lion Dorm’s reception room.
Inside the reception room, Sakakibara was already waiting, standing regally as always. After giving a formal bow reserved for royalty, I found myself alone with her.
Lately, rumors had been spreading that the famous Princess Chris was secretly meeting with someone, but in reality, the truth was far from the gossip.
On the long table in the room sat a guild card different in hue from the dull-colored merchant guild card I owned. It was the new alias guild card that Sakakibara had prepared for me.
I picked it up, with her permission, to examine it.
“Well… I don’t mind the name, but what’s with this ‘Special 1’?”
The guild card under my Allen alias was the dull color assigned to merchants who had been registered for less than three years or lacked notable achievements.
Though it was a legitimate guild card, it marked me as a novice merchant, and securing contracts with large companies or for big deals was difficult.
Guild cards for merchants, just like adventurers, were upgraded based on achievements—killing strong monsters, clearing unexplored dungeons, or, in the case of merchants, expanding their business and paying a significant amount in taxes to the kingdom or guild. High-rank merchant cards were rarer than those for adventurers.
The typical ranks for guild cards are “Iron,” “Bronze,” “Silver,” “Gold,” and “Platinum.” Recently, the Copen Trading Company, with which our brigade contracted, had a Silver-class card, which is quite common in the capital. My acquaintance, Zen, who runs a bar in Elacton, is a Bronze-class merchant.
But the card that Sakakibara had handed me didn’t fall under any of these categories. It was a deep wine-red—a beautiful, uncommon color.
And written on it was “Hakuba Issei”, after a character from the game *One Step*, whom Sakakibara adored. Given her personality, I could understand this level of surprise.
Still, the wine-red guild card was puzzling. During my initial guild training, no one had mentioned any rank beyond Platinum. And the “Special 1” engraved next to the merchant’s mark intrigued me.
Sakakibara, noticing my confusion, gave me an apologetic smile.
“I asked my father for help, and he got a little too enthusiastic… I was originally going to prepare a Silver-rank guild card, but he ended up giving you a royal-certified special one…”
“A royal certification?”
“Yeah. ‘Special 1’ is the rank held by the heads of Markus Trading Company and the Zoa Traveling Merchants Union.”
“What!?”
Markus Trading Company is one of the largest in the Kainriese Kingdom. While it’s not on the same global scale as the Saioji Group, opening branches in multiple cities in the Athephal world, where transportation and communication are far more challenging than on Earth, is quite an accomplishment.
Though Markus doesn’t have a branch in small towns like Elacton, I’ve seen their trade caravans passing through multiple times.
In short, Markus Trading Company is a big name even for a country bumpkin like me.
As for the Zoa Traveling Merchants Union, it’s a bit smaller than Markus but well-known among rural villagers and frontier farmers. It’s more of a guild that supplies traveling merchants who roam the kingdom selling goods in areas that larger companies wouldn’t bother with.
Although the Markus Company is larger in scale, Zoa’s contribution to the kingdom, especially in remote regions, often exceeds that of Markus.
Both are integral to Kainriese’s economy.
And now Sakakibara’s father—the king of this country—had handed me a guild card equivalent to those two. Wasn’t that going overboard, even for a daughter’s request?
“Well, with this card, acquiring land will be easier, and you’ll be able to borrow unlimited funds from the guild without collateral, so it’s not all bad, right?”
“I suppose… but still…”
This card was meant to legitimize my purchase of an elf, a major event in itself. The red potion I had produced, a relic that had almost vanished from dungeons, would draw attention as well. But now, thanks to Sakakibara’s father’s involvement, the impact of the elf’s purchase would be completely overshadowed by this guild card.
“Well… in a way, maybe it’s for the best. With the merchandise I plan to sell, this level of visibility could work in my favor.”
Sakakibara had intended to prepare a simple Silver-class guild card, but her father had gone above and beyond. Even if it required me to adjust my plans slightly, this turn of events presented an opportunity—one that could push things further than I had initially envisioned.
Feeling guilty, Sakakibara tried to explain further. “It might be because I gave my dad some of that cream puff you brought last time…”
“The cream puff?! That’s why he gave me this card!?”
In my effort to secure support for the brigade, I had been gifting high-quality sweets as a token of thanks. The cream puff that Sakakibara mentioned was from the same bakery that made the fruit tart endorsed by Akira—a bakery that produced some of the finest sweets around.
These cream puffs were from a bakery so famous that there was a months-long waiting list. Through a series of connections, I had managed to secure them.
I never imagined that they would end up in the hands of the king himself.
In this world, offering fine sweets is seen as a display of one’s sophistication and abilities. Just like how historical figures like Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi placed great importance on tea ceremonies, the nobility of this world takes sweets very seriously, using them for political maneuvering.
“Well, no wonder… offering high-end sweets from Earth to a king would definitely give the wrong impression…”
In a world where baked goods like biscuits and cookies dominate, cream puffs must seem revolutionary.
While I wasn’t sure what the king thought of the cream puffs Sakakibara shared with him, judging by this whole affair, they must have left quite an impression.
On further inquiry, I found out that the cream puffs had also been shared with the queen and her younger sisters.
I couldn’t help but feel that the royal family might now have some… wildly inflated expectations of me.