The Lazy Grand Strategy of Asora: Lord Mito and His Retainers' Guild Boom
Misumi Makoto just wanted a quiet life. Instead, he got summoned to another world, called ugly to his face, and thrown into a wasteland by a goddess who decided he wasn't hero material. Rude, honestly.
But Makoto isn't the type to grovel. Armed with five mysterious rings, a pocket dimension called Asora, and a crew of loyal (if eccentric) retainers who insist on calling him "Lord Mito," he's decided to do the one thing no one expects from a discarded hero candidate: open a shop.
Between sellin
The Lazy Grand Strategy of Asora: Lord Mito and His Retainers' Guild Boom - Kuzunoha Guild, Established—Bandages and the Goddess's Threat Letter
"You're nothing but a bug. How dare you get so full of yourself."
That voice was still stuck in the back of his ears.
Misumi Makoto opened his eyes, still sprawled on the gray earth. The sky was a washed-out white in every direction, flecks of light drifting lazily through it. He couldn't tell right away where he was.
He pushed himself up. His clothes were caked with mud and sand, and a cold wind bit at his cheek. Before him stretched nothing but wasteland—rock and withered grass. He could see the shadow of mountains far off, but there wasn't a sign of anyone anywhere.
"...Heh."
A dry laugh escaped him.
That's right. I was thrown away.
He remembered what had happened a few days ago. Wrapped in a pillar of light, summoned by some goddess named Aurelia. The moment that woman laid eyes on his face, she'd said it.
*"How ugly. You don't have what it takes to be a hero."*
That was all. He'd been dragged here without a clue, given no explanation, and cast out because she didn't like his face.
"So a hero's only allowed to be good-looking, huh."
Saying it out loud only made it feel emptier. Makoto stood and looked at his hands. At some point, five rings had appeared on his fingers. Strange rings set with red stones. Draupnir. Some part of his mind understood—they were tools for storing magical power inside his body.
And he could feel something even bigger.
Deep in his gut. In the center of his chest. Inside him stretched a vast, hollow space. Asora. Another world, born from a contract between Makoto and a certain dragon.
And that place had residents.
Makoto quietly closed his eyes and turned his awareness toward that space. A sensation came over him, as if his body were floating gently upward.
Inside Asora was a world apart from the outside. The sky was blue, green grassland rolled on endlessly, and forests and mountains rose in the distance. He could even see a small settlement. Kazan Deep. A place where dwarves lived.
The moment Makoto set foot inside, a dwarf came running. Short, with a stocky build. An older man with his hair and beard dyed red.
"Young master! Thank the heavens you're safe!"
"Yeah, I managed somehow."
Makoto gave a light wave. The dwarves called him "young master." Apparently they looked up to him as the lord of Asora.
"More importantly, there's something I want to talk about. You've been making something, right? Show me."
The dwarf foreman led him to the workshop. Inside the stone building, the air was thick with heat and the smell of metal. On a table lay rows of something like small white cloths.
"This is the bandage you asked about."
Makoto picked one up. It felt soft to the touch, with a faintly glowing pattern in the center.
"It seals any wound shut, clean as can be. A revolutionary product, I tell you."
"Huh. That's impressive."
But the foreman's expression quickly clouded over.
"...There's just one problem."
The foreman brought a small box from the corner of the workshop. Inside were several translucent red fragments.
"These are shards of red draupnir. They got mixed into the materials, and they're what's draining the magic from the bandages."
"It absorbs magic?"
"Yes. It slowly saps the magic of whoever wears it. Use it long enough and you'll feel sluggish—in the worst cases, you'll collapse."
Makoto crossed his arms.
"Can't you remove it completely?"
"Not entirely, not at present... But in small amounts, the danger should be minimal."
Makoto thought for a while, then nodded.
"All right. We'll start with a trial sale. Keep the numbers limited and see how it goes."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. We can improve it as we sell. I'm going to be a merchant."
And with that, Makoto smiled.
He couldn't afford to sit around moping. Just because a goddess had thrown him away didn't mean he was going to grovel on the ground and die.
He'd survive. And he'd carve out a place of his own.
That was Makoto's goal now.
After leaving Asora, Makoto headed straight for the town of Tsige. With the power of Asora, he could travel anywhere in the world in an instant, even from the far edge of it. Handy thing.
Tsige was known as the Mirage City, a hub of commerce. Its population was around forty thousand. At its center lay a great market called Mirage Plaza, bustling every day with merchants and adventurers.
First, Makoto visited the adventurer's guild, the Silver Compass. It was an impressive stone building, with reception counters lined up inside. Makoto put on a mask and registered as a merchant under the name "Kuzunoha Raidou."
"Now I can do business in this town."
Next, he rented a small shop about two hundred meters east of Mirage Plaza. It was an old wooden building, its door slightly crooked. But it faced the street, and the foot traffic wasn't bad.
Makoto hung the sign himself.
The Kuzunoha Company.
That was the name of the shop.
As he stood admiring the sign, a voice came from behind him.
"Lord Mito! I've been waiting for you!"
He turned to find a woman with long silver hair tied back. Her golden eyes had vertical slit pupils, reminiscent of a dragon's. She was tall, with a slender figure. A Japanese sword hung at her hip.
Misumi Tomoe. Makoto's first retainer.
"Don't call me Lord Mito. I'm Raidou."
"My apologies. But your inro seal will soon be the talk of this town, I'm sure of it."
Tomoe loved period dramas, and she insisted on casting Makoto as Lord Mito and herself as his loyal retainer Kaku-san. Makoto had corrected her countless times, but it never stuck.
"And so, I, Tomoe, shall serve as this shop's bodyguard!"
"Don't just decide that on your own. ...Well, I won't say no to having you around."
Tomoe smiled brightly.
Just then, a sweet aroma drifted from the back of the shop.
"Lord Makoto, lunch is ready."
A woman appeared, her long jet-black hair swaying softly. Her deep crimson eyes gazed steadily at Makoto. Misumi Mio. Makoto's second retainer, and a skilled cook.
In her hands she held a steaming bento box.
"Oh, Mio. Thanks—did you clean the shop too?"
He looked around the interior. The floor was polished to a shine, and the shelves were neatly stocked with goods.
"Yes. I wanted you to be able to do business in comfort, Lord Makoto."
Mio smiled happily. In that smile was a deep affection for Makoto.
"Now, please eat. Today it's grilled fish and rolled omelet. Oh, and miso soup too."
"Amazing. This is another world, and yet it's completely Japanese cuisine."
Makoto accepted the bento with a wry smile. Just the smell was enough to make his stomach growl.
"Then allow me to offer some advice on product management."
At some point, a man with long silvery-white hair flowing down his back had appeared. His eyes held a pale blue light. Misumi Shiki. Makoto's third retainer, an undead sorcerer known as a lich.
"Shiki. You came too."
"Yes. It's a new beginning for you, Lord Makoto."
Shiki smiled calmly. His voice was quiet, and listening to it put the heart at ease.
"The bandages may absorb magic. When you sell them, I suggest including a warning. Also, store the products somewhere with low humidity."
"As expected. Thanks."
And then there was a girl in the corner of the shop, timidly raising her hand.
"Um... may I help with the cleaning too?"
Soft, fluffy light-blue hair, its tips dyed a pale pink. Heterochromatic eyes, one gold and one purple. Misumi Tamaki. Makoto's fourth retainer.
"Tamaki. You're not supposed to leave Asora."
Because Makoto's trust in her was still uncertain, Tamaki was forbidden from going outside Asora.
"...I'm sorry. But I ended up coming all the way here."
Tamaki's shoulders drooped. Makoto sighed.
"...Fine. Just for today. Stay out of trouble."
"Yes! Thank you!"
Tamaki's face lit up, and she grabbed a broom.
And so the Kuzunoha Company opened its doors, surrounded by its lively retainers.
But that night.
After closing up, Makoto was alone doing the books when he noticed something had been slipped into the mailbox.
He picked it up. A white envelope. No sender written. But a golden feather pattern was embossed on it.
He had a bad feeling.
Makoto broke the seal and unfolded the letter inside.
It held a single line.
*"You're nothing but a bug. How dare you get so full of yourself. I'll destroy everything you hold dear."*
Makoto stared at the letter.
This handwriting. This phrasing. No mistake.
The goddess Aurelia.
That woman.
Makoto's fingers tightened. The letter crumpled with a sound as he crushed it in his grip.
"...So you still remember me."
His voice was colder than even he expected.
Just then, Tomoe poked her head out from the back of the shop.
"Lord Mito. That letter just now—"
Tomoe's golden eyes pierced through to Makoto's hands. It seemed she'd sensed it.
"Yeah. It's from the goddess."
"What?"
The smile vanished from Tomoe's face.
Mio, Shiki, and Tamaki all gathered around Makoto.
"Lord Makoto... are you all right?"
Mio peered anxiously at his face.
"I'm fine. If anything, this makes things clear."
Makoto set the letter on the desk.
"I'm going to do business. I'll make the Kuzunoha Company the best shop in this town."
The retainers listened silently to his words.
"And I'll make it clear to her that we'll never see eye to eye."
A cold light settled in Makoto's deep brown eyes.
That night, Makoto couldn't sleep.
Outside the window, the lights of Mirage Plaza had gone dark, and the town was wrapped in a quiet gloom. In the distance, he could hear the night watch's footsteps striking the cobblestones.
Staring at the ceiling, Makoto thought.
The goddess called me a bug.
She stripped me of the right to be a hero and dumped me at the edge of the world.
And that wasn't enough—now she's declared she'll destroy everything I hold dear.
But Makoto was no longer the man who'd sunk into despair in that wasteland.
He had Asora. He had his retainers. He had a goal now—business.
He had things worth protecting.
The next morning.
As Makoto was getting ready to open the shop, the dwarf foreman came bursting out of Asora.
"Young master! We have trouble!"
"What is it? You're awfully noisy this early."
"The red draupnir shards—we couldn't remove them completely! There's a tiny amount mixed into the batch I gave you yesterday too!"
Makoto's hands stopped.
"...How much?"
"An extremely small amount. But if someone frail uses them, they might feel sluggish."
Makoto was silent for a moment.
The danger wasn't zero.
But he couldn't back out now.
"Understood. Cut the number for sale to half of what we planned. Hurry with the improvements."
"Right away!"
The foreman bowed deeply and hurried back into Asora.
Makoto stared at the boxes of bandages lined up at the front of the shop.
Small, white, magical items that sealed wounds.
Would these become a product that saved people?
Or a weapon that hurt them?
Makoto didn't know yet.
But that this danger would eventually lead to a great incident that shook the whole town—that, Makoto had no way of knowing yet.
Outside the shop, the morning sun was beginning to gild the cobblestones of Mirage Plaza.
The sign of the Kuzunoha Company caught that light and shone quietly.
Makoto looked up at the sign.
"...Let's do this."
It was a small voice.
But in it was a firm resolve.
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