248-223 Sell milk...... preparation

After some discussion, it was decided that the armor to be given to Mary and Mitya would be standard soft leather armor.

We went to Mr. Gantz's store, took measurements for both of them, and ordered them for a total of 30 gold coins.

Even at that price, Mary and her friends were in a panic, but that was okay.

Even if it was beyond the reach of Mitya and the others' pocket money, it was enough for a novice adventurer to get by with a little hard work.

We can't just let them fight in plain clothes like we do.

After ordering the armor, we sent Mary and Mitya home and headed to the Adventurer's Guild to consult with Diora.

We went to the adventurer's guild to consult with Diora.

I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'm sure it'll help. Well, let's just go to the room over there.

It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for and how to get there.

Still, she didn't ignore us and led us to another room.

When we were all seated around the table there, I took out a gift from my magic bag, as well as a consultation fee.

Here is the consultation fee. Please pay it.

"Oh, are you sure?　This is a pear, isn't it?　They cost a lot, don't they?

I laid out three pears on the table, slid them toward Diora, and she took them happily.

By the way, "Siaspea" is a variety of pear, the same as "Kosui" or "Nijusseiki" in Japan.

According to my research, Siaspea is a delicious variety of pear, and as Diora said, it is quite expensive to buy.

The same goes for the other fruits we got in the dungeon. Since we find them tasty even though they haven't been bred, it's only natural that most of them are quite expensive, even if we don't know the exact price.

No, I didn't buy it. ...... How much is the market price?

You can buy it for around 100 rares in the production area, but in the pinning area, the cheapest you can get is 300 rares.　If you're a fan of Rafan, it's not usually in stock. In the first place, it's a little out of season right now.

By the way, in this world, there are magic bags, so if you pay enough money, you can get crops even when they are not in season.

In a sense, we can say that the preservation technology is more advanced than that of Japan, but the cost is not cheap.

Since the magic bag is occupied for storage, it cannot be used for other purposes such as transportation, and its rarity is quite different from that of a commercial refrigerated warehouse.

If you don't make more money than when you use it for other purposes, you won't be able to use it for storage, and the amount added to the stored items will be substantial.

The amount of money added to the preserved items is considerable.

I thought it was a souvenir from somewhere far away, so this is from a dungeon?

Yes.

You want to sell it?

I thought it was a souvenir from somewhere far away.

No, no. This is for our own use. We have no plans to sell it.

"Oh, no. Oh, really?　They sell for a lot of money.　If you can get it at any time of the year, ...... you can probably get close to a ding dong.

It's a bit tempting when you say it like that. ...... Oh, no, no, no, I won't sell it. I'll share it with you, Diora.

That's a bit tempting, but there's a reason why we decided not to sell it.

That's because once the fruit is harvested, it doesn't come back to life unnaturally, compared to strike ox, which can be squeezed again in a few days.

As Diora said, we can harvest the fruits one after another regardless of the time of the year, but unfortunately, there is a limit to how much we can harvest at a time.

We're the only ones in the area now, so there's no problem, but if there are a lot of adventurers in the area, it's likely to be harvested before it's ready to eat.

To put it simply, we don't want people to know about it.

"I see. I see. Leave it to me.

"Thank you. Here's a little something for you (・・・・).

Now, three apples were placed in a row.

They went straight to Mr. Diora.

"Thank you very much. You want to share?

"Yes.

Yes, this is a sharing, not a hush money or a bribe.

No problem at all.

This is the real deal. Would you like to try it?

Haruka took out the milk from the Strike Ox.

She put it in a cup and put it in front of Diora.

Diora looked at the milk, smiled vaguely, and pulled her body back a little.

I'm not a big fan of goat's milk. ......

Don't worry. I'm not a goat.

It's not a goat. ......?

I'm not a big fan of goat's milk.

I'm not sure if this is ......

Diora picked up the cup, took a sip, and shouted.

This is Strike Ox's milk, isn't it?　And it tastes really good. And it doesn't have a bad smell. ......

"Yes. How did you know that?

Yeah, yeah, well, ......

The milk from Strike Ox must be very expensive, but as expected from the vice-chief of the adventurer's guild. He seems to have a certain amount of money.

Well, he's the kind of guy who buys the high quality fruit dindol, even at a slight discount.

"What's the matter, sir? You didn't buy it somewhere, did you?

No. I found it in a dungeon. I'd like to sell it. What do you think?

"Strike Ox, they don't live around here, so I'll give you a good price for it.

That's great. But the container is .......

I see. A bottle. If you want, I can order them from the workshop.

That's Mr. Diora. You're very quick.

Are you sure?　It'll be a lot of work.

"It's not much trouble if you can get it. Most adventurers use leather bags for the convenience of transport, which can get smelly, but this has none of that. It is of high quality. Magic bags are great, after all.

Glass and ceramic bottles that don't smell like milk are easy to break, and it's a little impractical to take them with you on an adventure.

Besides, even if you successfully milked Strike Ox, you'd need time to bring it back.

A day or so at room temperature at the earliest, and several days if you're not very good.

This would be a very bad way to handle raw milk.

The Magic Bag solves both problems.

In other words, freshly squeezed, odorless, high quality milk.

It would be very valuable.

What's more, Hulka can cool and pasteurize it.

Non-homogenized pasteurized milk is nothing to sneeze at.

What should we do about ......?

Isn't that already decided?

There is a standard price, but applying it to this would be problematic. We'd like to decide the purchase price by comprehensively considering how much we'll sell and whether there will be supply in the future.

If the rules were followed, the guild would be able to make money by buying them cheaply at the standard price and selling them at a higher price, but I guess that would be unfair to Diora.

By the way, what would you sell it for?

I'd pay about 40 gold pieces for that bottle, if I were a nobleman.

Really?　That's a nobleman. He's not half bad.

A glass of milk ...... costs 20,000 to 30,000 yen, isn't that too expensive?

--But if you think about it, even the wine sold in stores can cost that much (over 100,000 yen per bottle).

It's not too expensive for a drink, though.

I couldn't drink it - I was underage, after all - but it is a very expensive drink.

An earl could easily afford it, and a slightly wealthy viscount would have no problem buying it, at least this much.

"What about Viscount Nenus?

Oh, ...... I don't think he'd buy that one, he can't afford it.

With a slightly annoyed smile on her face, Diora shook her head.

It's true, there's also the recent strife in Kerg. This is not the time to waste money on gastronomy.

However, there are some problems when selling at a high price.

There are some problems with selling at high prices.

First of all, the destination.

Even if you can sell it at a high price, there is a limit to where you can sell it.

This means that you cannot be sure that you will be able to buy the quantity you want.

The other possibility is that if they can be sold at a high price, more adventurers will enter the dungeons of summer retreat, dreaming of getting rich.

To reach those dungeons would require a certain level of skill, and the difficulty of milking strike ox and transporting and storing it without a magic bag would make it difficult to imitate.

But a lot of money has the power to make you reckless.

The adventurer's guild doesn't want more people to die needlessly, and for us, it would be sad if someone came into the dungeon and ruined the fruit business that we had just agreed with Diora.

"What if I sell it cheap?

"Well, at least five gold coins, I guess. I'd like to see at least five gold pieces, maybe ten if you're considering the impact on others.

That's the range of prices that guilds generally charge.

The upper limit is about five gold coins.

Our milk is obviously of a higher quality than that, so they'd have a lot of trouble paying the same level of price.

I guess it's natural.

If high quality meat and cheap meat are sold at the same price, the cheap meat will be left unsold or demanded to be reduced.

Since there are only a limited number of magic bags, the effect is basically limited to the neighborhood, but if the difference is too large, merchants with magic bags may come and buy up all the meat.

I see. Okay, let's say I have 10 gold coins, how much can I sell?

"Well, ......, up to 100 a month should be no problem. Depending on the situation, we may be able to sell more, but for now...

100 bottles. A little over 30 strike-oxes.

That's a lot to collect in a day.

A thousand gold pieces in a day if you ignore the time it takes to get there and back. 200 per person.

Even if you add in the time to get there and back, that's about 50 gold pieces?

Yeah, not bad.

Besides, it's more convenient for us to prevent other adventurers from coming to the dungeon, even if we don't go as far as .......

It's okay.　It's not that much of a burden, and it's enough to make a profit.

"Right. Okay, Diora, that's it.

"All right. I'll get you a bottle.

There's also a magic stone and ...... this.

Haruka took out the milk bottle again.

However, the contents were milk from Red Strike Ox.

The milk was not highly regarded by us, but according to Toya, it is highly valuable.

However, if you think about it, you're competing with regular Strike Ox milk for the pie, so I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble to collect this one. .......

What's this?　Is it different from the milk you just got?

I'm sure you'll be able to understand why Haruka took out the milk bottle again, Diora said.

If you compare them closely, you can probably tell the difference, but the bottles I'm making are pseudo-glass bottles, so they're not very transparent.

If I get better, I might be able to make beautiful quartz glass, but it's no problem for practical use, and if I aim for that, my magic power will be diminishing rapidly, so mass production is impossible.

When I tried it before, I got stuck for a while just making one glass.

Since I am an elf, it seems unrealistic for a wizard to take the place of a glass studio.

"It's hard to tell from the bottle, but this is Red Strike Ox's milk.

"What?　Wait a minute.

I'm sure you'll be happy to know that I'm not the only one who has a problem with this.

"I beg your pardon. --Are you sure?

Ms. Diora looks at the bottle with some suspicion.

Well, it's hard to tell without it.

"Would you like to try it?　If you put it in a glass, you can see the difference in color.

No, no, no!　No, thank you!　It's not that expensive!

...... Is it really expensive?

Yes, yes, yes, yes!　It's a lot more difficult to milk a cow than a normal cow.

In addition to its power, the biggest problem when milking Red Strike Ox is its breath.

Without the aid of magic, you can't stand in front of it and hold it down, and that alone raises the difficulty level.

Adventurers who are able to deal with this will naturally earn more money, which means a higher hourly wage.

We use magic to our advantage, but it's easy to forget that wizards are a rare breed. It's not that easy to find more than one.

That's why the cost of collecting milk from Red Strike Ox is quite high.

And then there's the effect. It's very popular with the nobility.

"The effects?

Oh, you don't know?　I see. ......

Ms. Diora's eyes flickered a bit in surprise, and then she slurred her words a bit.

"Well, what's the problem?

There's no problem, really.　It's just that ...... makes me feel better. When I drink it. It's like a raging bull.

............ Oh. I see. Does it really work?　We've tried it, but no.

You're young. Besides, Haruka-san is a woman.

Hmm?　"And you're a woman"?　So you're saying that it makes men feel better?

...... Oh, that's it. What do you mean "energize"? It's like an energy pill.

I understand why Ms. Diora has a hard time saying that.

"That's what sells, isn't it?

"Yes. After all, the aristocracy is always looking for ways to leave children.

Diora nodded with a wry smile at Toya, who said this with a slightly impressed expression.

I'm sure there's no such thing as fertility treatment in the scientific sense, and as a nobleman whose family's survival is at stake, he may be quite desperate in that direction as well.

So, how much does it cost?

There's only a limited number we can sell, but it's at least ten times as high.

That much?

From my point of view, I can't help but think that it's a mere energizer, but considering the popularity of Viagra, I guess it's necessary for those who need it.

But then again, infertility in this world of quick marriages is more of a problem than a problem of standing or not standing. ...... Could it be that it is more than just an energizer?

If so, I can understand a little.

There are people in Japan who spend a lot of money on fertility treatments.

My relatives also spent a lot of money on unknown supplements, health foods, and water in addition to regular treatment. ...... Does this work?

It's not like a placebo.

"Well, Diora, is this really going to work?

...... Nao, are you worried about its ...... function?

No, I'm not!　I mean, even if you can ...... do it, it doesn't mean you can do it.

Diora looked at me like, "...... at your age? So, I strongly denied it and asked her what she was wondering.

She nodded lightly and answered in a slightly blurred way, but Diora seemed to understand.

It's true that you can't get a hundred different results, but there seems to be enough of a difference that you can feel the effects.　But you have to keep taking it for a certain period of time, so it will cost you a lot of money.

Specifically, both the husband and wife must have at least one month.

For the aristocracy, it might be a small price to pay for an heir to ...... a house.

It's a little hard to milk Red Strike Ox, but it might be worth it.

I'm sure our guild would love to sell it. It's not something we can sell often, but it can be a handy, if not a trump card against the nobility.

As we are under the protection of the guild, it is important that the guild has a certain amount of power, and since it can be sold at a high price, there is no reason to refuse.

"Okay. Then I'll secure a certain amount.

"Yes, sir. I'll be counting on you.

As I nodded and promised to collect, Diora smiled and lowered her head.