“It seems that trade negotiations themselves are possible. With the collected language information, minimal communication is possible.”
She listened to the report while sitting on the sofa next to ＜Ringo＞’s terminal. ＜Ringo＞ had made the sofa before she knew it. She must have picked up the information from some entertainment work. ＜Ringo＞ had asked her hesitantly if it was okay to put the sofa there, and of course she readily agreed. She welcomed this kind of cute request.
“Why wasn’t language analysis prioritized?”
“As a precaution, I judged that it would be better to be clearly identified as a foreigner. I will correct and adapt the language while conversing.”
It seemed that it would be more foreign-like to have them learn the language from broken communication. It was also thought that they would be more forgiving even if she did something that differed from their common sense.
“From now on, we will present samples of trade goods and negotiate. Frankly, I don’t know how well business will work with an unknown civilization.”
“Well, yeah, that’s true… We don’t know anything about business customs, and I’ve never negotiated before…”
Of course, ＜Ringo＞ had never spoken to anyone other than her. In the real world, Ada (she) had taken care of all the basic chores, and she had never done any work or played any games that required negotiation. She had absolutely no experience in negotiating with others. Fortunately, ＜Ringo＞ had read a lot of subculture works and guidebooks, so it seemed like they could somehow manage.
“Well, what will be, will be. I’m counting on you, ＜Ringo＞.”
“Yes, leave it to me.”
So, she decided to leave external affairs to ＜Ringo＞ for a while. Just staring at the monitor, she was just endlessly communicating in a foreign language that she couldn’t understand. It wasn’t interesting at all.
“So… what should I do?”
That being said, she basically had no work to do. If she had to say, her immediate task would be to have adequate skinship with ＜Ringo＞ and keep him (her) in a good mood.
“Ma’am. The extraction of dashi (broth) using various seaweeds has been completed, so please taste it.”
“Oh, that sounds good. Will ＜Ringo＞ join me?”
“Yes, Ma’am. I will accompany you.”
However.
It seemed that ＜Ringo＞ was happy to take care of her, and recently she didn’t need to worry too much. Especially since she started using the Communicator Doll. She wondered if it was okay for her to follow her everywhere, but now she was used to it. She had asked her to refrain from accompanying her to the bathroom, though.
They continued negotiations in Telek Port City for several days, and finalized several trade goods and their exchange rates. They also established simple rules, such as the possibility of deciding the rate for the next trade this time. They could negotiate each time they came to port, but since it was basically a barter system, they thought it would be better to have some preparation time in advance.
The trade goods were weapons such as Cutlasses, metal accessories such as designed barrettes and buttons, thread, and cloth. Salt was also appreciated for its refining technology, and high-purity salt was welcomed. As for marine products, dried fish that could not be caught in the waters around Telek Port City could be exchanged.
What they offered were necessities such as fresh food and water, and various handicrafts. The handicrafts were not particularly attractive, but she planned to select a few, as it would be unnatural to refuse. She also somehow conveyed that the amount of iron mined was small, and requested that they obtain iron ingots. It didn’t have to be ingots, scrap iron would be fine, but she didn’t bring it up at this point because it might be unnatural to ask for such things.
She decided to ask for a certain amount of gold, silver, and jewels, as they might be useful as a reference for the geological distribution. The amount and purity of precious metals could also be used to estimate refining technology.
This Telek Port City seemed to be a typical trading city, with few production facilities, but a large volume of trade. They seemed to be proud of the fact that they could obtain products from various cities, and the products brought by the trading ship ＜Paraiso＞ seemed to be quite attractive. According to information collected by the Insect Bots that had infiltrated, the port city’s desire to start trading at all costs was confirmed.
Weapons and metal accessories can be mass-produced to the extent of trade. Also, the raw materials for thread and cloth are Cellulose that can be extracted from Seaweed. The Seaweed farm is expanding smoothly, so we can prepare a large amount of this as well.
As for dried fish, we will basically prepare enough to exchange for food to enrich her diet. The exchange rate seems to be a little bad, but not so bad that they are taking advantage of us. The reason is probably that there are few consumers and it is difficult to sell. Although Telek Port City itself is thriving, the surrounding city-states are too suspicious. If things go wrong, they will be entirely focused on military expansion, and the consumption of luxury goods will decline sharply. On the other hand, weapons seem to be traded at a very high price.
And on the fourth day of docking.
An incident occurred.
“Emergency, Ma’am.”
She was shaken awake by ＜Ringo＞’s terminal and jumped up.
“What is it?”
“Hostile Natives are approaching ＜Paraiso＞.”
“What did you say!”
She tried to leave the bedroom in a hurry at the report, but ＜Ringo＞ hugged her from behind.
“There is still time, Ma’am. Please change first.”
“Change… Yes, you’re right. I need to calm down.”
Entering the Command Room in her nightgown (made by ＜Ringo＞) seemed incompatible with ＜Ringo＞’s values. Believing that there was time, she changed her clothes as quickly as possible.
The clothes she was wearing now were also formal wear sewn by ＜Ringo＞ using Cellulose as a raw material. Recently, in addition to meals, she has also started producing clothes.
“They are approaching ＜Paraiso＞ in four small boats. There are 20 enemies. They were arguing about whether or not to carry out the attack until just before, but in the end, they seem to be coming to attack.”
“…Were you monitoring them from the beginning?”
“Yes, Ma’am. I’m sorry, I couldn’t judge whether it was just idle talk or serious. Frankly, I thought it was just drunken nonsense.”
“Hmm… Well, it can’t be helped… We don’t have enough eyes and ears, and I don’t think I could have made that judgment… However, I’d be in trouble if I was only informed right before, so please tell me sooner next time, okay?”
When she pointed out that she hadn’t been informed, ＜Ringo＞’s terminal visibly wilted. She felt guilty, but she had to make these kinds of points.
If left unchecked, ＜Ringo＞ would start acting freely in the true sense of the word, without her.
At least for now, she thought that someone needed to hold the reins.
“I’m sorry…”
“Honestly… There, it’s okay. If it hasn’t started yet, it means we made it in time.”
She hugged ＜Ringo＞’s terminal and patted her head.
She didn’t want to give her too much stress, so she spoiled her appropriately.
She sincerely praised her past self for having played a nurturing simulation game in the past.
◇◇◇◇
＜Ringo＞ awakened six Communicator Dolls that had been put into a state of reduced consciousness and hibernation. The remaining three were staying at the port’s VIP hall. She couldn’t move these.
However, even one Doll Machine would be enough to suppress Natives who only had pre-modern weapons. She could also obtain clear night vision images from the Solar-Powered Reconnaissance Aircraft (Swift) hovering in the sky. In this situation, even if they brought in those fantasy-like attack methods, she could deal with them. Assuming that the magical techniques (fantasy) were called magic, observation had progressed considerably as far as she could observe from the outside. Various types of magic were used on various battlefields. ＜Ringo＞ judged that although there were differences in power and ease of use, none of them exceeded existing infantry portable weapons. On the battlefield, she could observe two types of people: those who used magic and those who fought with weapons. From this, she could infer that it was not a convenient power that anyone could use, but that it required talent to the extent that at least the military branches had to be divided.
In any case.
They were enemies the moment they entered ＜Paraiso＞ without permission.
There was no need to abide by the laws (rules) of the port city. ＜Ringo＞ decided to take several of them alive and placed the Communicator Dolls in position.