262 - - Episode 260 Price of Spirit Stone

I discussed the village of the spirits with Sylphy. Although we had a rough idea of what to expect, we decided to make a day trip to the labyrinth city to check out the merchandise to earn money.

"Good morning, master.

"Good morning, Gina. I'm sorry it's so early.

The sun had not yet risen in the dim light of day. Before going down to the living room, I peeked into the children's room and saw Belle and her friends sleeping in a group on the big bed. I was tempted to take a picture with my phone, but I gave up crying because the flash and the sound of the shutter might wake them up.

"It's okay, it's okay. After all, it's our meal."

"I'm glad you said that. I'll give you enough for dinner for now, but please eat the fragile food in the morning and at lunch. Be especially careful with dairy products. If you are concerned, you can leave the fragile dishes in the ice compartment.

We transfer the food from my magic bag to Gina's magic bag one after another.

"Oh, okay. But you'll be back at night, right?"

If we leave now, we can be back by night, even if we spend enough time in the labyrinth city.

"Yes, that's the plan. Take care of Sarah and the others, will you?"

"Yeah, they're all solid, they'll be fine, but I'll be careful."

"Please, I'll be going. Sylphy, let's go.

I say goodbye to Gina and take off into the sky with Sylphy. It's about four hours one way, so we can relax and talk with Shilfi while we go.

I'm going to go there.

We land in an inconspicuous location near the labyrinth city. We arrive easily and without incident. But we had a good time talking about the sanctuary, the village of spirits, the spirit stones, and Belle and her friends.

Sylphy, thank you.

"Hmm, I'm not tired at all. Shall we go? First we'll go to Marie's grocery store, right?"

"Right. If we can meet Marie or Sonia, we can negotiate, so let's just go there.

Sylphy seems pretty enthusiastic too. She said it would be a hassle, but hearing the little spirits looking forward to the village of spirits, she might be motivated. It's hard to tell since their expressions don't change much, but it makes me smile. We pass through the gate of the labyrinth city and arrive at the general store.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Marie-san.

I call out to the clerk. I am a little glad that I was able to prevent Ms. Sonia from greeting me with a muffled appearance. Well, it's out of her usual pattern of behavior, and it's not surprising since she suddenly showed up alone.

"Oh, yes. One moment, please."

The waitress rushed into the back and Sonia came out instead. The look of regret on her face gives me a lingering taste of victory.

I didn't promise that Sonia-san and I would play each other, but I had felt the urge to outwit Sonia-san before I knew it. I'm sure she felt the same way.

"Mr. Yuta, welcome. I'll show you to the reception room.

"Oh, Sonia-san, I'm sorry to disturb you. Nice to meet you."

Did I pull back my grin and apologize with a straight face?　For a moment, I felt Sonia's mouth twitch, so I might have made a smug face.

I was shown to the reception room and was taking a break while sipping the tea offered to me, when I heard footsteps coming toward me. It seemed that Ms. Marie had arrived. As expected, the footsteps stopped in front of the reception room, and after knocking lightly, Ms. Marie came in.

"Mr. Yuta, I'm sorry I'm late.

No, I'm sorry to have come so suddenly.

Yuta-san is welcome to visit us at any time, any day. I can tell you where I live.

I don't understand why I have to apologize and you have to tell me where you live. All I know is that you can't run away once you've had your fill.

I'll leave that for another time.

Well, I'm always happy to teach you. So, Mr. Yuta, how can I help you?　Oh, I'm sorry, but Adamantite is still going to take some time. ......"

"I'll take care of the adamantite at your convenience, Marie, no problem. I came here today to discuss a few things, if you have a few minutes to spare.

"Yes, if it is Yuta-san's consultation, I will give him the highest priority!"

I appreciate your kind words very much, but is it profitable in Marie's eyes?　It's a profitable business, right?　I feel like he's trying to get me to say something like that.

"Thank you very much. First of all, could you take a look at this?

I take out a few broken pieces of the spirit stone from my magic bag and place them in front of Marie. It seems that Sylphy has mobilized the spirits who have come to the brewery, and there are many different colors of the broken stones.

Marie and Sonia, who was standing behind her, leaned forward and looked at the stones as if they were devouring them. It's quite a good feeling.

"Yuta-san, do you mind if I pick it up?

"Yes, feel free to look around."

Marie and Sonia put on gloves and touch the stone at my words. ......The reception rooms used for business meetings like this are well thought out. Sonia opens the door of the cabinet and finds several gloves.

"Yuta-san, are these stones jewelry?"

"No, it's not. It's a colored stone, a little harder than glass.

Huh?　Is a transparent colored stone already in the gemstone category?

"They are more brittle than ordinary gemstones. How were these spheres processed?　And there is no turbidity in any of the stones, and they are all of uniform size. Could it be that the stones themselves are man-made?"

Artifacts...... are things made by spirits called artifacts too?　He glances at Sylphy.

"Yuta, I think it should be artificial. It would be easier to distribute them on a regular basis.

That's good, too. It will be easier to adjust quantities.

"Yes, the process is a secret, but it's a made stone."

"Can you change the size or shape?"

The color of Marie's eyes changed from intense interest to a clouded look of greed. Perhaps she was on the verge of making a profit.

"I can change the size of the ball to one size smaller than the ball, but I can't make it bigger. The shape is ......"

If you make them bigger than the current size, they will become spirit stones, so you can't scatter them in large quantities, he said. I didn't ask about the shape. Pretending to think about it, I ask Sylphy what she thinks of it from her point of view.

"Well, it's easiest to make a ball because it's easier to put force into it. If you are an intermediate level spirit or above, you can change the shape to some extent, but it's difficult to make complicated ones.

"Jade is the easiest shape to make, and it's not impossible to make other shapes, but I don't think I'll be able to get the right quantity.

"I see. ......"

"What do you think?　Can these balls be made into a commodity?"

It depends on the wholesale price, but it is definitely a commodity. How much would you like to sell at wholesale?

I would like to discuss this with Mr. Marie. I would be more than happy to sell them in quantity at a certain low price rather than just treat them as valuables."

Spirits who want to shop will do their best to make it, and we would appreciate a trend that allows us to sell some quantity rather than raising the unit price and dumping the inventory.

"I see. ............ If that is the case, the unit price will be lower, but we can sell them as jewelry for the young and less affluent. It could also be used to decorate houses and furniture. How about 3,000 elt per piece at first?"

Hmm?　That's pretty expensive. Yes, it's beautiful, but it's just a stone, a little tougher than glass. I was thinking of eventually making it look like an ohajiki. ............ Oh, and by the way, glass itself is expensive.

"It's more expensive than I thought it would be, is that OK?　I can't confirm the number now, but we will continue to bring them in on a regular basis, okay?"

"With this much stuff, it would not do any good to lower the price any further. Even at this wholesale price, there is a possibility of resale in other countries and fraudulent pretending to be jewelry. If the price is too low, it will be bought up and the damage will increase.

Like reselling tickets to popular idol groups?　No, not exactly. In this world, if you think of a better product at a lower price, someone else will snatch your profit.

If that's the case, I'll leave it to your judgment, Marie.

"Thank you very much. When we sell the stone, we will notify the guild of commerce, and we will make information about the stone, such as the fact that it is somewhat fragile, known to the public. Please rest assured that we will do our best to prevent the stones from being used for fraud or resale.

That would be great. I'd hate it if some scammer takes advantage of me and I can't sell the missing piece of the Spirit Stone itself.

Please take care of it.

Yes, you can count on us. So, can you sell all the stones you brought to us wholesale?

"As for me, I'd appreciate it if you could buy it all, but it's quite a lot, isn't it?"

No problem.

Normally, you would take some of them as samples and examine them before deciding how much to purchase. This may be a sign that they are paying attention to us. But it helps us to get the money that can be used by the spirits earlier.

They are making 200 pieces for each attribute, enough for the spirits to hold with both hands. The spirits in Paradise now have eight attributes, so that's 1,600 pieces in total, which is 480,000,000 elts. ...... We got a lot of money all at once.

"Yuta, can I buy some sake to go home with the extra money?　I'm sure everyone at the brewery would love it."

I'm sure the people at the brewery would love to have a drink, and I'm all for buying souvenirs, but will there be enough money left over to buy food, groceries, and beds?

Well, the beds are not that expensive, and the meat is likely to be left over since it is over-caught in the labyrinth. I tell him that I will buy a bed if there is any left over, but I'm not sure if he understood me correctly.

"Well, please buy all of them.

I understand. Then, I'll have the money ready for you right away.

"Oh, wait a minute. I still have a few more things to ask you, so please wait until after you have paid me.

I have a lot more to ask of you. I'm sorry to take up so much of your time, but we need your help in many ways to build a village of spirits.