"Allen also has~ Blue one~"
"Elena too~ Elena's is yellow~"
"Ah! Wait――"
I wasn't able to stop Allen and Elena who took out their pearls from their item bags. They were a golf ball sized pearls the two liked and picked when we were shown to the dumping place of the Mermaid Village by Mirena-san.
"""...!!"""
"Ah~..."
Seeing that, Matthias-san and others completely froze.
""Huhh~?""
"... Allen, Elena. Wooould you please put that in your bags at once?"
""This, no good~?""
"It's not bad, but everyone is startled. Therefore, let's hide it for a moment, okay?"
""Hm~? Got it~""
"Good children. Allen and Elena 'Don't have them' okay?"
""Don't have them!""
"""No, no, no!"""
"How about, you did not see any――"
"""That wouldn't be possible, right!!!"""
"That won't work, huh..."
While the Matthias-san and others were frozen, I told the children to hide the pearls in their bags and thought of making it seem as they saw an illusion… but, that wasn't possible, huh. Bad luck.
"Takumi-kun! What's with that out of the common sense sized pearl! Moreover, it's blue! And a yellow one too!? What's going on!?"
"It was a gift."
"A, a gift!? Such an outrageous article!?"
When I answered Matthias-san honestly, "I don't believe you" expression floated on his face.
I also thought so when I asked for these pearls, but they told me that they are worthless to the Merfolk after all~
"Excellent quality, different colors, and even the size, huh... ah~ I get it now. What Wald was talking about was this, I see~"
"Eh...?"
Wald-sama? Just what did Wald-sama tell Matthias-san?
"Well you see, I was cautioned by Wald that "Be careful of the more than unexpected mess that will go in unexpected direction". I couldn't imagine what he meant, but now... he meant something like this, I can now consent."
"..."
Ehhhhh—!
Wald-sama, what a mean thing to say~ Moreover, Matthias-san... he's consenting to it...
"I did not think such outrageous articles like that would come out. I can't precisely calculate the worth of those pearls."
Haa... as I thought, pearls of that size have such unthinkable value~
If he found out how many of them I have... that would be bad, right? I definitely won't let him find out how many of those pearls I have. But, you see~...――
"Pearls of this size should be occasionally dropped by Big Shells, but... are they that valuable?"
"Indeed, as Takumi-kun says, there are documents that state 'Huge pearls can be obtained from Big Shell'. However, I have never actually heard of someone obtaining a pearl from Big Shell. Big Shells are dwelling in the depths of the sea, so I have never seen Big Shell itself before!"
... Come to think of it, Big Shells dwell in the deep seas~ Since that's the case, humans generally can't visit those regions~
On the contrary, the chance to encounter Big Shells are pretty high for Merfolk who reside in the depths of the sea~
"And yet! How could the children be in a possession of pearls like that!?」
""Uniyu~?""
"... Is there a problem for them having it?"
"Problem... a problem, huh~ Let's se... if there's a problem then there "is" if there isn't, then there 'isn't'"
"..."
No, no, no, which is it in the end-!?
"It means that if this gets out in the public, it will become a problem."
"Ermm...?"
"I'm not going to let anything bad happen, so can you entrust this matter to me?"
"Y, yes, go ahead please."
Matthias-san who grinned seems to be thinking of something bad.
"Ahh, would you sell a few of these pearls to me?"
"Yes, of course."
"I see. Now then――"
Entrusting everything about the pearls to Matthias-san, he immediately strictly ordered the merchants not to disclose anything regarding the golf ball sized pearls. On the other hand, he requested to buy several of the thumb-sized pearls as a bait(?).
Since the merchants were able to receive good quality pearls, they immediately acknowledged. It appears they preferred certain profits rather than the information about the pearls that couldn't be properly valued.
The talks then progressed without a hitch. We sold the pearls, ordered a necklace for Rebecca-san, earrings for Grace-sama and a hair ornament for Aurora-sama. Finally, the merchants left with pleased expressions.
"Rebecca will surely be surprised by the completed necklace~ ahh! That reminds me, Takumi-san, you wanted to talk with me about something, right? I'm sorry, I have slowed you down because of my negotiations. So, what did you want to talk about?"
After the merchants left, Matthias-san remembered the reason I came to his office and inquired.
... I have completely forgotten about my original purpose too though.
"Ah~ that's right. Actually, I have a request for you, Matthias-san."
"Request? What is it?"
I decided to talk about the Pastel Rabbits which were my original purpose.
"Yes, it's about these children..."
Thinking that it would be faster to show him, I took off the lid of the basket and showed Matthias-san the Pastel Rabbits inside.
"N? Pastel Rabbits? You have quite a lot of them there~"
"Indeed. We came across them in the forest, but they wouldn't leave us alone... would it be possible to keep these children in the mansion until I find someone to keep them?"
"... This is something again. I don't have a problem with that."
When I explained that the wild Pastel Rabbits wouldn't separate from us, Matthias-san made an expression that wanted to say something but couldn't, but he permitted them to keep them in the mansion in the meantime.
That being the case, I have to quickly look for their new owners. Even though I got the permission, if I draw it out... I would probably get too attached after all~
"But... you are not keeping them but rather looking for keepers?"
"Yes, I have already contracted different children, so keeping even these guys would be a little bit..."
"Oh my, that so? So, have you decided whom to entrust them to?"
"No, I will look for them from now on."
"I see. In that case, I happen to know of a few people who would love to keep a Pastel Rabbit, would you mind if I talked to them?"
"Not at all, I would be very thankful for that!"
Even if I search, I don't have that many acquaintances. I thought I had no choice but to search blindly.
And, I thought of bringing them to the Adventurer's Guild and putting them up for the requests if I had no other choice in the end. But that... would feel as if I was disposing of them, so I wouldn't like to do that~ I wanted to avoid that.
Therefore, I'm really grateful to Matthias-san.
After that, thanks to Matthias-san's referral, all of the Pastel Rabbits were handed over.
Most of them were given to sons and daughters of the nobles Matthias-san was close with.
But before that, Rebecca-san who witnessed the children playing with the Pastel Rabbits decided to keep one in the Ruven House, and Grace-sama and Aurora-sama who got the word from who knows where, each decided to keep one.
By the way, I also brought the Ice Flower Grass to Felix-sama while delivering the Pastel Rabbits, but I was completely buried in Pastel Rabbits.