He didn't agree right away, and instead asked Ichihime, "Miss Ichihime, do you have construction blueprints? I'd like to look at them first before making a decision."
He didn't let impulse carry him into giving a straightforward yes. He didn't know what level Ichihime's family held in the Land of Demons, but it was definitely high enough that someone like him—a small-time commoner—couldn't afford to offend them.
If he agreed now and ended up unable to fulfill her demands, he might very well bring ruin down on his own family.
This was something he needed to think through carefully before he could accept.
"Sure."
Ichihime took out a Scroll and spread it across the coffee table. Inside were a large number of finely detailed structural diagrams.
Once Tazuna finished reading the structural diagrams on the Scroll, Ichihime asked:
"Well? Mr. Tazuna, can you take on my commission?"
"The building's structure is a bit unusual, but for me it's not a big deal. I accept Miss Ichihime's commission."
Tazuna thought it over for a bit, then took on Ichihime's commission.
"Mr. Tazuna, you didn't disappoint me, just as I expected. That puts my mind at ease. So, how many workers can you mobilize?"
"Hmm… on my side, I can muster around five hundred workers. Will Miss Ichihime be able to make use of that many?"
Tazuna didn't think for too long before giving his answer, though he was a little nervous.
With a commission comes income. Tazuna wanted to help the workers who had followed him in the past; their families needed this money to put food on the table.
Ichihime didn't pay attention to Tazuna's little private calculations. She slowly shook her head and said, "No, that's too few."
Yeah, a riot of five hundred people was still too small. She needed more workers pulled in, tied together, so they could kick up a much bigger storm within the Land of Waves.
Tazuna was stunned. As far as he was concerned, a five-hundred-person construction crew was already not a small number. He hadn't expected Ichihime to reject it on the grounds that it wasn't enough.
"Then… one thousand?"
"You really can't go any higher?"
Ichihime frowned; she still wasn't very satisfied with that number.
"..."
Tazuna had the odd feeling that she wasn't really here to commission the construction of a factory.
Seeing Tazuna's troubled expression, Ichihime also understood that gathering a thousand workers was already Tazuna's limit.
"Then we'll fix it at one thousand. I'll also recruit some extra workers myself; when the time comes, they'll follow Mr. Tazuna's arrangements. Also, I want the factory built within one year—two years at the absolute latest."
"No problem."
Tazuna nodded.
"Good. The day after tomorrow I'll have someone bring the contract over. In that case, I won't keep bothering you, Mr. Tazuna."
To assemble a thousand workers, given Tazuna's communication capabilities, would probably take some time. Ichihime wanted Tazuna to gather those thousand workers as quickly as possible, so they could start building at maximum speed.
"Please take care on your way, Miss Ichihime."
Tazuna enthusiastically saw Ichihime to the door. For the foreseeable future, she would be his temporary boss, and he needed to maintain a good relationship.
...
With the matter of commissioning Tazuna to build the factory settled, all that remained was to sign the formal commercial contract.
Still, in Ichihime's view, one thousand workers was a bit on the low side.
The number she had in mind was two thousand.
But given the situation in the Land of Waves right now, one thousand was already the best Tazuna could put on the table.
She retraced her route back toward the cruise ship offshore. Ichihime had already memorized all the key conditions in the Land of Waves, so there was no need to take detours for further on-site inspection.
Building the factory could be called a goal, but it was also a cover to throw people off the scent.
As for how much money she might lose on this, Ichihime had never bothered to think about it—because as far as she was concerned, anything that could be solved with money wasn't truly difficult. What was difficult were those things that couldn't be solved with money.
If a little money could pry open a breach in the Land of Waves, that was a very profitable trade.
"Young Lady."
Walking through the forest, sensing something off in the air around them, one Ninja of the Land of Demons quietly warned Ichihime, then swept a cold gaze around them, searching for where the ambushers were hiding.
Whoosh!
Leaves whipped up as several black figures suddenly rushed in to attack. Judging from their agile movements and lithe bodies, they were clearly not ordinary people, but Ninja.
As these attackers closed in for the kill, the four Ninja of the Land of Demons also moved in to intercept, engaging the numerous assailants in battle.
One of the attackers had a strange purple-red gleam flare up in his eyes. His speed outstripped that of his companions; in the blink of an eye he was in front of Ichihime, that eerie glow in his eyes intensifying, as if his rationality had evaporated, leaving only a cruel thirst for torture and slaughter.
Boom!
Fire burst out.
The attacker whose eyes were filled with that sadistic light went tumbling away, his chest a bloody, mangled mess, grievously wounded and coughing up blood.
"Hah."
Holding a Short Flintlock Gun that had appeared from who-knows-where, Ichihime lightly blew the smoke from the barrel, then looked at the attacker blasted by the bullet and nodded in satisfaction.
It might be a toy, but used for a surprise strike, its effectiveness was better than she'd expected.
Over there, the four Ninja of the Land of Demons were also cutting down enemies left and right. The numerous attackers were no match for the four of them at all.
They were, after all, elite Ninja chosen one out of a hundred in the military. Dealing with these third-rate Ninja that had popped up from who knows where was no challenge.
Ichihime walked up to the attacker who had taken the bullet head-on. He lay sprawled on the ground, his face twisted with pain, his body writhing and convulsing, unable to put up any resistance.
"Looks like your patience is worse than I thought. Convenient, though—I needed a pretext to make a move anyway…"
As she spoke, her clear black-and-white pupils shifted into the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and she locked eyes with the attacker lying on the ground.
In an instant, the attacker's body went rigid, and his expression shifted from agony to blankness as he fell under the sway of the Sharingan's Illusion Technique.