Bastard Swordsman

Lord Chaos, the Mysterious Inventor

「Heh, is this the new product? A new pen? Looks like just a ceramic stick to me.」

「It's the latest pen designed by Lord Chaos, or so they say. You write with it by filling the twisted grooves at the tip with ink. Well, even the ones here don't write badly, but that's about it. I've heard the high-end ones glide smoothly and are quite valued.」

「So, is this the best you can get at Eustace's store, where they only handle cheap stuff?」

「What a rude fellow you are, Mongrel! Call it a people's ally! Besides, even this low-priced glass pen isn't something to throw away. Nowadays, I'm wholesaling dozens of them to the guild, and the numbers are increasing day by day. Considering the price, it's sure to become more widespread.」

「A glass pen that's not glass, huh?」

I had stopped by a town's general store to buy oil for equipment maintenance. The store owner, Eustace himself, was manning the counter, which was rare, so while shopping, I was also casually browsing through various new products.

What caught my attention was this glass... glass? ceramic pen.

Its shape closely resembled a glass pen, but the material seemed to be some kind of ceramic. The pen tip retained the twisted grooves typical of glass pens, so I assumed it could probably write in a similar manner. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be skillfully carved to create grooves after firing. The thought process was remarkable. At this point, the manufacturing process made it an entirely different thing. It should be renamed from a glass pen to a ceramic pen.

「The only ones using colored glass are the high-end pens intended for the nobility, but the name came from the inventor, Lord Chaos. If you have complaints, go find Lord Chaos and take it up with him.」

「The mysterious inventor, Lord Chaos, huh.」

Lord Chaos was an anonymous inventor who had been active for many years. He had created several convenient tools, and the types were varied. Efficient farming tools, tools, office supplies, daily necessities. He even extended to designing furniture and furnishings—a wide-ranging inventor.

Many of his ideas were practical products intimately connected to daily life, and they seemed to be quite popular due to their relatable appeal to the common people.

Despite being an inventor, Lord Chaos was famous for not securing any patents or such deeds and simply tossing his inventions to workshops or trade associations.

Though he could have amassed a great fortune, he selflessly scattered these invention ideas anonymously across various places—such was the eccentric inventor known as Lord Chaos.

Actually, I am Lord Chaos.

「An inventor who sends ideas for new products via letters without any forewarning. It's not just one or two businesses that have climbed to success thanks to Lord Chaos. My store is the same. It used to be much smaller, but now I can employ several people. We owe a lot to Lord Chaos.」

「Yet you're minding your own store now.」

「I'm simply sending the staff on errands, leave it be... Five years ago, the Hagiali Trading Company was unrivaled in this town. No one would have imagined that merchant guild to decline back then.」

The Hagiali Trading Company was a large organization that had been deeply ingrained in the distribution of this town until a few years ago. But being the sole power had led to quite a few ugly monopolies, and there were no shortage of goods with absurdly inflated prices.

During such a time, when Lord Chaos appeared and scattered seeds of new products to other stores, it was quite a commotion. Items that competed directly with the major products of the Hagiali Trading Company were produced one after another, leading to their rapid decline.

Although it's spoken of like a lighthearted fairy tale, for those who knew the times, it's the truth that quite a few bloody incidents didn't cease.

The profit-makers and those who fell from grace. When big money is involved, in this world, people bleed easily and die quickly. Until the Hagiali Trading Company's decline, bloody conflicts resembling yakuza wars weren't uncommon.

Even now, Eustace, who is chatting with me in such a carefree manner, survived those bloody conflicts and came out as one of the sturdy merchants. The world of business sure is frightening.

Well, I'm just happy if convenient tools are widely circulated, so it's easy not being embroiled in conflicts! By anonymously sending out letters and then leaving it be. Even if there are no royalties, as long as useful tools are independently developed and circulated, all I have to do is buy them.

Many protagonists in otherworldly stories bust their behinds from development to mass production, but personally, that troublesome position is not for me. Negotiating with merchants, coordinating with craftsmen, handling troubles when profits arise... oh, just thinking about it makes me sick.

So from the start, I outsource everything. That's my justice. The development is quicker since I relinquish the profits. Once they're out in the world, all I need to do is buy them. The only downside is that the economy has boomed too much, leading to an overpopulation in town. Street litter has increased, becoming unsanitary. Now I've got more work to do. Good grief.

「Well, I'll buy one as a memento. Eustace, give me this one.」

「Got it. For all your complaints, you're a good customer in the end, Mongrel.」

「I've just got some money in, too. Oh, right. Also, add the maintenance oil for swords, since that's what I came to buy.」

「Sure, but the oil's gone up in price a bit.」

「Huh? Why?」

「It's because the demand for ink has increased thanks to the glass pens. Well, if you're going to blame someone, blame Lord Chaos.」

「That's a misdirected blame. Fine, I'll buy it even if it's overpriced.」

「Haha, much appreciated.」

The inventor, Lord Chaos. Everyone is in pursuit of his true identity, but it remains enshrouded in mystery.

Many suspect him to be a pleasure-seeking noble or something of the sort. They'd never guess he's just an ordinary guild member like me.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
That's one way to spread modern day products without getting embroiled in conflicts.
Also, the story is slow-paced, but I like it. Every episode shows the MC's daily life in a laid-back way.
It's nice. 【ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌ )】