Chapter 130 – New Year Abroad

“Auguri Buon Anno!”

“Auguri Buon Anno!”

I was able to welcome the New Year of 1930 (Showa 5) in Venice.
On top of that, after wrapping up the Persian Gulf oilfield search with only the bare minimum, we pushed through a forced march to build up an alibi by visiting Egypt’s pyramids and the Sphinx for sightseeing, then arrived in Rome on Christmas Eve. 

Just as “planned,” we succeeded in spending Christmas in Europe.

Then in Rome—now newly established as Vatican City—we attended the Christmas Mass. Well, technically we participated. After that, we spent about two days touring the city.
We visited as many of the standard tourist spots as possible, spent a day enjoying Florence, and then returned to Venice.

This season, even though Italy at the time was under the rule of the Duce, his totalitarian party, and the Blackshirts, they all seemed to blend in with the crowds celebrating Christmas, so it wasn’t something that weighed on my mind.

I had thought that if I pushed myself, I might even be able to return to Germany and celebrate New Year’s with my onii-sama. I sent him a telegram just in case, but instead, he arranged to join me in Venice.

In Europe and America, both in the present and in the future, Christmas is the most important winter event, doubling as a celebration of the winter solstice and the turning of the year. Because of that, the actual New Year’s Day is relatively quiet.

Thanks to that, I was able to spend New Year’s Eve and New Year together with my onii-sama.

The place to welcome the New Year was Piazza San Marco. Both the citizens of Venice and travelers spending the New Year abroad gathered here to enjoy the countdown and the sunrise.
And in Italy on New Year’s Eve, people eat lentil dishes.

Since I was able to meet up with my onii-sama by noon on New Year’s Eve, we checked into the hotel I had already secured and, of course, went to the restaurant that had been reserved.
At times like this, it’s a blessing to be a super-celebrity—or rather, an ultra-bourgeois.

“Still, why lentils?”

“They say it’s because they resemble coins.”

“If I recall, it’s an old belief—wishing for abundance and wealth in the coming year, right?”

“As expected, Reiko, you’re well-informed.”

“So it’s basically a charm. Well, since the Ootori family are merchants, it’s fitting.”

“There aren’t any merchants here though.”

“There is—right there. The greatest merchant in the world.”

As Kouryuu-sensei said that, he popped one of the large sausages from the bean dish into his mouth.
Apparently, “the greatest merchant in the world” was referring to me.

Well, honestly, I didn’t care. Italian cuisine has many other delights, but this was good too. Since I was in a fine mood, I didn’t feel like snapping back at his sarcasm.

At a nearby table, Shizu, old man Yagami, Mr. Wan, and a dozen or so servants and guards who had joined the trip were also seated, each enjoying their meal.
From New Year’s Eve through the first three days of the year, they were given shifts of vacation, and this feast was presented as part of the Ootori family’s New Year’s gift.

For me, the bigger reason was simply that it’s more enjoyable to share a meal with familiar faces. But if I put it that way, the servants, unlike the guards, would absolutely refuse to sit at the same table, so I passed it off as a New Year’s gift instead.

Even so, Shizu refused to sit with us and instead dined at the same table as the other servants.

This lentil dish was served last, after the entire dinner was finished. In other words, it’s like New Year’s soba in Japan.
Apparently, Italians feel they can’t properly cross into the New Year without eating this.

But in order to eat it, I had to hold back during the extravagant dinner and even the dolce, since my small stomach couldn’t handle it otherwise. It was that filling.

Naturally, more of my focus went to eating than to talking.

“Still, the world’s greatest merchant, huh. You went all the way to Persia, didn’t you? Did you see any camels?”

“Yes. I rode a camel in Egypt when we went to see the pyramids. Around the Persian Gulf, though, it was nothing but traveling by car.”

“They made us run hundreds of kilometers in that damn hot desert.”

“That’s why I told you it would have been fine to just wait on the ship.”

“No way. Besides, what was with that fat guy? Polite enough, but he was awfully familiar with you, wasn’t he?”

“Fat guy?”

My onii-sama tilted his head with an intrigued smile.
Most likely, he found Kouryuu-sensei’s reaction to that “fat guy” more amusing than the subject itself.

“He’s the butler candidate I hired in America. His name is Sebastian Stewart. He’s American.”

“Stewart, huh. Same name as an old English dynasty.”

“He says he has no connection to those ancestors. At the very least, he’s half Jewish.”

“Oh. Seems like a man with an interesting lineage.”

His curiosity seemed to deepen, though calling it “interesting” was very much like my onii-sama.

“What do you think? Well, he’s sharp, competent, and has guts. A little creepy, though.”

“You shouldn’t speak ill of him like that. So, where is he now?”

“He’s waiting over there with Idemitsu Sazo of Ootori Oil. We’re supposed to meet up again around India when we return.”

“Even so, to be hired in America and then sent straight to the Persian Gulf, that must be rough on him.”

“It’s fine. He said his goal was to serve at my side, so I’m just using him exactly as he wished.”

At my words, Kouryuu-sensei shrugged as if to say there was nothing to be done. Then, with the fork he had been poking at the bean dish, he pointed at me.

“By the way, that desert oil field you found, Reiko—how much are we talking about? I kept sensing a gap between the way you spoke and acted with those people out there. When you say ‘the world’s greatest,’ what era of the world’s greatest are you talking about?”

Since Kouryuu-sensei often tags along with me, he observes me closely. And here, the restaurant was practically reserved for us, with no staff in the hall, and we were seated at a table between the guards and the servants, so there was no chance of anyone overhearing us.

Even so, he probably waited until things reached this stage before asking. On a chartered yacht, I too had been concerned about where the crew might be eavesdropping.

This was still an era without bugs, and we were far from the windows, so there was no chance of someone lip-reading us.

Even so, I partly covered my mouth as I spoke.

“World’s greatest in all of history. The two big ones alone hold 140 billion, and the other altogether it should be around 150 to 200 billion barrels. But I don’t really know about the ultimate recoverable reserves.”

“Hm? I don’t get it at all. What’s this ultimate recoverable reserves you’re talking about?”

“Ultimate recoverable reserves means the amount that can be counted once crude oil prices rise enough to make it profitable to dig up the parts that are otherwise difficult to extract. The depth of the oil layer, terrain, geology, whether it gushes naturally, and the quality of the oil itself—all of these factors change the cost of extraction and the selling price.”

“So petroleum is more troublesome than I thought. In other words, the Texas oil fields are cheap, while the Liaohe oil fields are expensive?”

“That’s right. The two giant oil fields we just found are easy to dig, and more than anything, the amount is extraordinary, so the cost is low. Low enough that this water feels ridiculously expensive in comparison.”

Saying that, I lightly raised my glass of mineral water.

Italy really does have expensive drinking water. It’s so pricey that it makes sense that even children drink weak wine. It hasn’t changed even in the 21st century—I remembered that the gelato sold at street stalls was actually cheaper.

“You mentioned that even back there. What’s the matter, Ryuuya?”

“No, it’s just that the number you gave was so unimaginably huge, I was a little shocked.”

Maybe it was because he had been left out of the conversation, but seeing my onii-sama surprised like this was unusual, and for me, that was perfectly fine.

“Is that so? By the way, Reiko, just how much oil is currently being consumed in the world?”

“Uh, worldwide it was about 150 million tons, I think? Around 60% of that comes from America. Then there’s Venezuela in South America and Baku in Russia. As for the Persian Gulf oil fields, they’re basically untouched.
And Japan consumes about 3 million tons a year. Thanks to what we struck, it’s been growing rapidly these past few years. That said, our Liaohe oil field is still just a drop in the bucket compared to the world. Calling it Ootori Petroleum is practically a joke.”

“So what you’ve got there is an oil field cluster of up to nearly 30 billion tons. No wonder you have to keep it hidden.”

“Right? I think sealing the truth for at least 10 years, maybe even a quarter century, is the best move. Kuwait and Bahrain will probably start drilling right away though.”

“But even if they drill, they can’t sell it, right?”

“They’ll drill a little and keep the truth hidden, but if they don’t sell, they’ll have nothing else to export, and then they’d face a food crisis. Being desert countries, they can’t be self-sufficient in food.”

“What were they selling until now?”

“Natural pearls.”

“Pearls? Were they really worth that much? Oh—before I went to Germany, I gave Sachiko a pearl necklace, but it was priced reasonably enough that I didn’t feel guilty buying it.”

“Ah, that’s Mikimoto’s cultured pearls. Up until just before Mikimoto invented cultured pearls, natural pearls had been one of the greatest gemstones in recorded history, and one of the suppliers to Europe was Kuwait and Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.”

“I see. So with the arrival of cheap cultured pearls, not only the market but their value collapsed as well. They had no choice. But it’s amazing—something Japan created can change the world. I had no idea.”

My onii-sama was genuinely impressed.
And it was a bit of a relief to me that there were things even he didn’t know. He’s such a genius and so ridiculously knowledgeable and quick-witted that I can’t even come close to him, so it was nice to think he isn’t completely omnipotent.

We talked about that while savoring the money-attracting lentil dish.
It was all talk without a shred of romance, but that’s probably just like me. Thinking back on those hours, I waited for the Venetian sunrise.

“Onii-sama, once the New Year’s holidays end, I’ll go back to Japan first.”

“Yeah. Travel safely. Kouryuu, take good care of my Reiko.”

“Your Reiko, huh. Well, we’ve got those guys for protection along the way, and I’m only really here to listen to her complaints anyway.”

“Huh? Isn’t it you, Kouryu-sensei, who complains more often?”

“Was that so?”

“Ahahaha, you two really get along.”

Maybe there’s some kind of fate in the turbulent 1930s outside Japan, but Europe’s turmoil hasn’t even started yet, and taking it easy to celebrate the New Year like this shouldn’t bring any punishment.

――――――――――――――――――
Oil Consumption:
Japan’s actual oil consumption in 1930 was about 1.3 million tons.
As for the world’s oil-producing regions, more or less as written in the text.
That means the protagonist is stirring all of this up.
Perhaps this will end up influencing world history more than her quick profits with the Dow Index.