The Abandoned Duchess Seems to Want a Peaceful Life - Chapter 150

Chapter 150: A Romana Merchant and an Unexpected Encounter

“My Lady Melfina, a man calling himself a Romana merchant is at the castle gate. He was introduced by Mr. Antonio, and he calls himself Lorenzo. He’s staying in Enkar Village for four days starting today and wishes to meet you when you have time.”

“Oh, he’s already arrived. …Let’s do a little shopping as a break, shall we?”

“I think that would be good. You’ve been cooped up in the office all morning.”

Smiling at Marie’s words, Melfina stretched her arms. She had been sitting at her desk since breakfast, so the feeling of her stiff shoulders and back muscles stretching was pleasant.

“Anna, I’ll be going down soon, please tell her to arrange the luggage in the inner bailey.”

“Yes, immediately.”

After curtseying, Anna clenched her fist and quietly left the office.

“Anna has become quite adept at behaving properly.”

“It would have been perfect without the final pose.”

“Fufufu, that’s Anna’s charm. Still, it’s quite surprising that he came so quickly from Romana.”

The Romana Republic is located in the southern territories, opposite the north across the royal capital, and even further beyond.

The climate is warm throughout the year, facing the sea, abundant in seafood, and overflowing with various specialties.

Even in the game, the “Romana merchant” was a convenient existence, providing the heroine with whatever she desired.

—I believe there was a hidden character, the Prince of the Fallen Country, a predecessor of Romana, as additional content for Maria of the Kingdom of Hearts Country.

Before becoming Melfina, her life in her previous world was vague, but information about playing the additional content was not retained in her memory.

She only remembers seeing the advertisement for two conquerable characters, their silhouettes and characteristics, and that the setting was Romana, and she looked forward to it.

Since her past self was so passionate about conquering Maria of the Kingdom of Hearts, it’s unlikely she didn’t play the additional content. She must have died before its release.

—The conquerable targets were, if I remember correctly…

“My Lady Melfina?”

“Ah, sorry. I’m coming.”

“Are you perhaps tired?”

“I was just thinking for a bit. Let’s go, shall we?”

Accompanied by Marie and the guard knight Theodor, she went downstairs. Exiting the lord’s mansion gate, she saw goods that had been transported by carts were already lined up on tarpaulins in the inner bailey.

Before them, a male merchant and a younger man, presumably his subordinate, were kneeling and bowing their heads.

“I am Melfina von Oldrand. Please, rise and stand.”

“Thank you for accepting our sudden visit. I am Lorenzo, having come from Romana.”

Lorenzo, the merchant, greeted her with a friendly smile.

His gray hair was somewhat tangled, and his face was covered with a full beard from his chin to under his nose, making his age hard to determine. However, his voice was strong, giving off a youthful atmosphere.

“I heard you were recommended by Antonio. I didn’t expect you to bring the next shipment so quickly, it’s quite surprising.”

It should take a month to a month and a half to travel from the Romana Republic to the Enkar region, even without detours.

Usually, merchants stay in various places along the way to conduct business, so it would take even longer to arrive.

Departing from Romana, which is even further south, and reaching the Enkar region, which is on the opposite side of the country, they would repeatedly sell the goods loaded in the cart and load newly purchased goods into the empty space. By the time they reached the northern end, the cargo would have been replaced many times.

Since this wouldn’t allow Melfina to obtain what she needed, she had requested Antonio, the Romanamerchant she had dealt with previously, to transport the cargo directly to the Enkar region, despite the considerable extra cost.

It had not yet been a month since her last transaction with Antonio. Since he wouldn’t have had time to return to Romana, procure new cargo, and depart, he must have entrusted a letter to a fellow merchant returning to the country, instructing Lorenzo to make the shipment.

“Prompt delivery of what our valued customers need is the pride of Romana. We have also brought various other Romana goods, please have a look.”

“I shall.”

Seeing the goods piled on the matting, Melfina felt a natural excitement.

During her time as a countess’s daughter, shopping meant merchants coming to the townhouse and choosing from a pre-selected range of goods.

In this life, she hadn’t had much to do with shopping, but she recalled the feeling from her past life—shopping was enjoyable.

“By the way, when I heard from Antonio, I thought there was a very unusual lord here, but I am very honored to meet you. Both the lord and the secretary are so beautiful.”

“Oh, you’re quite skilled with words.”

“If I were the best merchant in the country, I would have brought the world’s largest jewel to woo you.”

The flattering words were more embarrassing than pleasing. Glancing sideways, she saw Marie completely ignoring him.

There’s a joke about Romana men believing that wooing women is a matter of etiquette, but since becoming involved with Romana merchants, Melfina had begun to think that it wasn’t entirely false.

For them, praising women is part of a greeting, and not to be taken seriously. However, their compatibility with the people of the north seemed poor.

Glancing sideways, she noticed Theodor frowning slightly, his expression irritated.

“I really wanted the plant paper and soft wheat, as Romana produces the best quality. I’m sorry for the trouble.”

“No, it’s more relaxing to only carry cargo that you know will definitely sell. Especially now, with the security not being very good, fewer places to stop along the way is safer.”

“Is the famine really that severe?”

“We entered the royal territory from the south and proceeded directly north, so we didn’t see anything too serious. However, I heard from fellow merchants that the east is quite severe.”

Merchants carry not only goods but also information, another important tool of their trade.

Especially in this world, information transmission is incomparably slower than in her past life. Even events in the neighboring town are probably better known to merchants from distant cities who move more actively than the local residents themselves.

Among the spread-out luggage were barrels of un-threshed soft wheat, piles of plant paper, rolled woolen rugs, dried dates, olive oil, soap, various spices, wine vinegar, tea, and, among the rarer items, pepper.

When Melfina showed interest in the pepper pot, Lorenzo immediately began his explanation.

“This is pepper. It’s used after crushing it with a special mill. It has a similar scent to moon rabbit leaves but with a more intense flavor and goes well with meat dishes.”

“How much does this one pot cost?”

“One silver coin.”

In her past life’s terms, it would be around ten thousand yen. The transportation cost from Romana to the Enkar region would have made it considerably more expensive, but even so, it felt much cheaper than she had expected.

“It’s cheaper than I thought.”

“It’s light, so it doesn’t take up much space, which is why we carry it, but moon rabbit leaves are more versatile and thus don’t sell well. Unsold ones are usually consumed on the way back with spoiled meat dishes.”

In her previous life, it was a famous story that pepper was once traded at the same weight as gold. However, in this world, the existence of moon rabbit leaves means that the demand is low, and it doesn’t fetch a high price.

Moon rabbit leaves are such an abundant resource that people say they “grow everywhere” if you go into the forest. Although she had thought the aroma was similar to pepper, in this world, it seems that pepper is an inferior substitute for moon rabbit leaves.

Since they had come all this way, she intended to buy everything. Although she could use Appraisal to determine the purpose of most items, Lorenzo’s explanations were witty and entertaining, and she slowly looked at each item in turn.

Peering into one of the stacked wooden boxes, she saw tightly packed yellowish-brown rods and her eyes widened.

“Is this… pasta, perhaps?”

“You know it well. I don’t think it’s very common in other countries.”

He said this in a puzzled tone before nodding in understanding.

“Come to think of it, I heard that your wife is from the south. Have you tasted it in your territory?”

“No, I’ve never actually eaten it. I’ve only heard of it.”

Even as she answered, her eyes were glued to it.

Carelessly packed inside the wooden box was something closer in shape to fettuccine, flatter than the typical pasta she remembered.

It was probably raw noodles dried hanging on a rod and cut to a uniform length.

“This keeps well unlike bread, so we carry a lot for the caravan’s meals, but we tend to eat the same flavors during the journey, making us a bit tired of it. We tend to stop at the restaurants in towns along the way and have leftovers, so if you would, please accept a box as a token of friendship.”

“No, I want a certain amount, so I’ll properly buy it. But, before that, may I have a taste?”

“Of course.”

“Marie, tell Ed to boil some water. A large potful.”

“Yes, right away.”

Watching Marie’s back as she smiled brightly and immediately turned to leave, the corners of Melfina’s mouth naturally curled into a smile.

It wasn’t that Melfina disliked bread, but since recovering her memories from her past life, she sometimes craved rice and udon noodles, influenced by those memories.

Pasta was one of them. Something she had given up on because it didn’t exist unexpectedly appeared before her, and she was quite elated.

“Excuse me, but does your wife make it?”

It’s not considered proper for noblewomen to work in the kitchen. Lorenzo, who travels through various countries to conduct business, probably knew that, and his voice was somewhat skeptical.

“Fufufu, Antonio must have told you that I’m an unusual noble, right?”

Elated, she spoke playfully.

“I’ve always wanted to try pasta. I thank you for this encounter, Lorenzo!”