CH 83

“The first part of Greg's struggle to make a living as a humble peddler.”

Translated by Dawn

“The first part of Greg’s struggle to make a living as a humble peddler.”

~Side Greg~

My name is Greg. I’m a humble peddler and a 32-year-old unmarried man. I’d like to get myself a wife by now, but I can’t seem to find any opportunities to do so.

I’m not saying that I’m not popular, you know. Even though I look like this, my prostitutes, Finne and Suzanne, tell me that they miss me when their master doesn’t visit them. What? That’s just lip service? Shut up.

And so now I’ve come from the city of Rendark to the Labyrinth City of Orargrand. The purpose of my visit was, needless to say, to do business.

In the city of Rendark, I earned a lot of money thanks to a certain young adventurer. The materials he delivers are of very good quality, and it was only by chance that I first found him.

When I first found the boy’s materials, I was skeptical about the high price of them, but I now believe that it was a reasonable price. If I remember correctly, the boy’s name was… yes, it should have been Rolando.

From there, information spread little by little, and eventually, it developed into a war between merchants, which is now just a good memory. And then, when I had enough money, I was able to move my base of operations from Rendark to Orargrand.

After a long time, Orargrand is as lively as ever. That is how many opportunities for merchants to earn money are lying around.

I went to the guild in high spirits and looked through the catalog to see what I could start with, but I couldn’t find anything of interest.

(Well, there are some safe products, but nothing special.)

I had come all the way here to try to gain some momentum at my new base, but it seems that not so many good opportunities lie around the corner. As I turned on my heel to take a walk around town, something bumped into my hip and I almost stumbled.

“Oops.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry too…wait, aren’t you that boy, Rolando?”

“Yes, but who are you?”

Perhaps it was a trick of the gods, but the person who bumped into me was the boy adventurer Rolando, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude, and it was no exaggeration to say. I had heard that he had moved his base of operations somewhere else, but I had no idea that he had come to Orargrand.

“It’s nice to meet you. My name is Greg. I’m a thirty-two-year-old single guy who works as a humble peddler.”

“I’m Rolando. I’m an adventurer.”

Once we had introduced ourselves to each other, I decided to ask something that had been on my mind.

“So what brings you to the Commercial Guild, boy?”

“I had some stuff I wanted to sell, so I came to sign up and do some business in the Commercial Guild……”

“You sound like you’ve got something on your mind. If you don’t mind, why don’t you tell me?”

I was concerned about the boy’s behavior, so I asked him what was going on. The answer I got was astonishing. It seems that a commercial guild, which is in a neutral position, tried to buy the property at a price that was lower than the appropriate price.

I wondered for a moment if a commercial guild would do such a thing, but since I could think of no reason for the boy to lie to me here, I concluded that what he was saying was true.

“That’s terrible. I never thought a commercial guild would do that.”

“…..”

I showed a little exaggerated surprise. I was curious to know what kind of goods he was trying to sell, but it is against the law for a merchant to ask about the details of a transaction, so even though he was not a merchant, I could not break that rule as a merchant.

While I was struggling with my desire and pride as a merchant, he unexpectedly opened his mouth.

“Greg-san, what are your plans for the day?”

“Just Greg. It’s kind of embarrassing to be treated this way by the hero who saved the city of Rendark. Also, I was thinking of taking a walk around town today, so I don’t have any plans.”

“Alright. Greg, come with me for a minute.”

I nodded to the boy who told me so, and we both left the commercial guild together. He took me straight to an unpopular place, and when he confirmed that no one was there, the boy turned around to look at me.

“Do you know what I’m about to do to you?”

“Boy …… no matter how good-looking you are, I don’t have that kind of taste.”

“You’ve got it all wrong! I’m just as normal as you are!”

Oops, apparently that’s not what he wanted to do. Well, I knew that. The boy protested in a way that was appropriate for his age, but he suddenly turned serious, so I straightened up my back as well.

Then, he suddenly took something out of the bag on his waist and held it out to me.

“This is?”

“It’s an item I was going to sell at the Commercial Guild. How much would Greg pay for it?”

That one word says it all. The boy – no, the adventurer in front of me went without saying, “I’m going to see how good a merchant you are…”

In my hand were two bracelets. One was made of beautiful white stones, all of the same size and shape. The other bracelet had black stones spaced at equal intervals around the white stones, and these stones were also of the same size and shape.

Most notably, there’s a small hole the size of a needle drilled in the center of the stone. Normally, it’s difficult to drill a hole in a stone of this shape, and in most cases, the hole is usually misaligned. However, the stone used in this bracelet has a hole in the exact center of the stone.

The string used to hold the stones together also seems to be special and is probably made of poison mine spider thread, which has been processed into a thin string.

Poison Mine Spider thread is a precious item that is difficult to obtain and hard to find, and is a luxury item used as a material for clothing by aristocrats and other wealthy people. It’s surprising that it’s used as a mere string to hold together the stones of a bracelet, and anyone who knows the value of this string would object to its use.

The two bracelets have one thing in common: they use a fairly sophisticated processing method, which suggests the skill of the craftsman who processed them. In addition, the sense of luxury was kept to a minimum, and the bracelets seemed to have a function not for dressing up but for everyday use to add a little accent to one’s daily life.

The all-white bracelet is probably of the amulet type, as it conveys a mysterious atmosphere. The other one is probably really for daily use, as there is nothing special about it.

“I think they are both wonderful. There are too many details to go into, but I can tell that the person who made them has considerable skill. So, the most important thing is the price. This white bracelet is probably an amulet, so if it were me, I would pay two medium gold coins……no, I think five coins would be fine if you take into account the appearance of this item and its effectiveness as an item.”

“What about the other one?”

“It’s only a bracelet, but the materials and technology used in it would be worth a pretty penny, but it’s more for everyday use, so I’d say it’s a little less expensive, maybe three or four small silver coins……. “

“….”

Using everything I had accumulated so far, I told them about my assessment of these two bracelets. Silence reigned for a while. After such a long silence that it seemed as if several minutes had passed, the boy smiled and said a single word.

“Perfect, Walter.”

“Um. My name is Greg, though?”

“…I know that. Read the air, the air.”

“Sigh”

He seemed to be tugging at the heartstrings in the boy’s mind and seemed to be saying his lines in some kind of acting manner. Was he imitating the hero of some story?

Perhaps he felt uncomfortable with this current situation, the boy told me, coughing a little to cover it up.

“Greg. As a merchant, I have a job for you.”

“A job? What kind of job?”

“I’m selling these bracelets on consignment.”

“What!?”

I couldn’t help but let out a cry of surprise at the suddenness of the situation. That was because his proposal was so sudden. It was true that I would be more than happy as a merchant to be allowed to handle such a great product, but I also wondered if I was really the right person for the job.

When I asked him about it, he responded as if it were nothing.

“If you know the value of this bracelet, there is no problem. But let me put a few conditions on my asking you to do this job.”

“What are those conditions?”

“That’s…”

I listened to the boy’s condition and again asked him to let me do this job. Then he took out four bracelets with an additional price of three or four small silver coins and handed them to me. Apparently, the job was to sell these six bracelets on consignment.

I suggested that we draw up a contract at the guild, but he refused, saying that it would be too much trouble and that a verbal agreement would be fine.

I was motivated inside to do this small but rewarding job, which was a good start for me since I came to Orargrand.