CH 170.2

That’s why, I wish you could lend me some money. I’ll properly share what I got from the profits so…」

Their son who stretches his arms and turns his palm. Seeing that, they think for a moment.

Savings that can be said as their trump card. It’s scary to give it out.

However, as expected of the two who are the parents of this young man. They’re sweet to people, and expect people to treat them the same.

(Whether it’s merchants or adventurers, they have a guild. I’m sure they will take a good care of young kids)

It’s much better than an adventurer because it’s less life-threatening. If he had said he would be an adventurer, they would have taken him home.

In this way, the young man used the money to buy a small golem carriage.

He paid the registration fee and became an F-rank merchant.

(Buying, carrying, and selling goods)

He knows what he should do and puts it into practice.

But it didn’t go so well.

His profit margin is thin and only his own expenses keep piling up.

(As I thought, selling the same things as the others are no good, huh)

There, he thought for a moment and came to an idea. There are products unique to the royal capital.

(Right, potions! There must have been a high-ranked one that can only be obtained here)

High-ranked potions usually have the creator’s name on the label of the bottle. The reason for that is to credit them.

D rank potion has a high value, and for some people, they can only buy it once in their lifetime. It’s obvious, but it isn’t something you can use willy-nilly.

Usually it was only used in case of emergency. It’s also no wonder the products from famous names are so demanded.

(But lately, there are some brandless ones sold on the market, aren’t there?)

But just because it was brandless, it was by no means any cheaper.

Those who can’t buy the potions with famous names reluctantly bought it.

(The quality doesn’t seem to be bad, and it seems there were quite a lot of it too)

However, the potion surprised the customers, in a good way.

The quality is the highest among D rank potions. Their only complaint is that it doesn’t say who made it.

『We can’t disclose the name of its creator, but instead, the guild will guarantee the quality of the item』

They can’t complain anymore than this when the staff have answered as such. They just shut their mouth and came to buy it again.

New customers that came after hearing its reputation. They were showing surprised expressions at the merchant guild counter.

「You still have it?」

Usually, products that became a hot topic are sold out quickly. Their feelings were 10% hopeful and 90% giving up, they never thought they could still buy it.

It made their eyes open wide when they listened to the explanation as to why this is possible.

「D rank potions came in regularly? And weekly at that?」

An item that has an unstable supply rate due to its high rank. And such item, although the number is few, were said to be delivered weekly.

『You can get D rank potions if you go to the Royal capital』

The information spread quickly and it became one of the royal capital’s specialties.

(If I buy D-rank potions at the royal capital, I feel like I could sell it for high price elsewhere)

The young man headed to the merchant guild while admiring his own ideas.

(Let’s have them told me which workshop produces it)

The possibility of being rejected never crossed in his mind.

Because he is also a member of the kingdom merchant guild. He can be said as their relative, in a way.

The “normal” in his mind, it’s a matter of course they will tell him the answer with a smile.

(This merchant guild is strange)

They lack kindness to their members. Although feeling such dissatisfaction, he has no choice but to go to the well-known pharmacist’s workshop.

However when he arrived there, he was driven away by the disciples in front of the gate.

(The owner must be away from home now. There’s no helping it then)

After giving up buying brand-name products, he eventually buys junk potions at a stall.

A stall is a place where the store could disappear the next day. Of course, there is no guarantee for the quality of the item.

That’s why the merchant guild strictly prohibited the sale to the general public.

(Wow, it’s so cheap. Merchant qualification sure is useful)

However, the young man was, although F-rank, still a merchant. He’s not just an ordinary person.

He’s considered to be responsible for himself and was able to buy it.

(Seems like I can finally catch a breath with this somehow)

He left the royal capital and headed north.

He then sells dozens of junk potions in every town and village he visits. And he’s managed to get some profits from it, making his face glow in joy.

He’s completely unaware about it, but the potions he sold are of the lowest or even lower than the lowest quality.

However, potions are items that are often kept in medicine boxes and used in emergency cases. It was only discovered later, long after he left the place.

(Hmm… I don’t have another good product to sell after selling all the potions)

A situation where he couldn’t buy things for cheap and sell them at high prices continues.

As a result, his funds kept decreasing, and recently, not only to buy products, it began affecting his daily lives.

Thus he advanced his carriage to purchase junk potions again in the Royal capital.

(Good grief, I’m finally back)

He made it back to the royal capital somehow, but now he’s completely penniless.

No matter how cheap the potion is, you can’t purchase it if you don’t have any money.

(Yosh, it’s time to put merchant guild to use)

Thinking so, he headed to the guild. There, he filed a plight of his distress and requested a loan.

「I apologize, but I’m afraid we can’t lend you a loan」

His eyes were wide open in shock as he was easily turned down.

A novice merchant like myself is in trouble. Despite that, they’re saying they can’t lend me a loan? Are they serious?

The merchant guild should’ve been an organization that benefits both parties.

If not at times like this, just when are they going to lend a helping hand?

He persisted by stating his arguments, but the clerk in charge of him just shook his head from side to side.

「If it’s like this, then there’s no point in paying the membership fee, isn’t there?. Fine, I will quit being a merchant」

He said and slammed his membership card on the counter.

The person in charge bows politely and takes the card. Then he put a few bronze coins on his desk. It was his account balance.

The scene where the clerk desperately stopped him from quitting didn’t play out as he imagined.

「If you abandon a novice like me, no one wants to become a merchant anymore, you know?」

He appealed for one last time but it was to no avail.

He picks up the bronze coins, and leaves the merchant guild after leaving those final words.

His shoulder is slumped and he crosses the town square, but he has nowhere else to go.

So he just sat in the shadow of the building.

(Haa….)

He let out a heavy sigh.

Then his eyes move to the letter he’s holding in his hand.

He doesn’t want to read it, but he can’t just leave it forever.

He opens the seal with a knife and starts reading. The content was as he expected.

His parents, like him, seem to have run out of money.

The words to send them money as soon as possible were spelled out in an urgent manner.

(Lately I haven’t been sending them anything after all)

At first, he sent them money as promised. However, that was only him returning some of the initial money he borrowed back to them.

Now he can’t send anything because he doesn’t have the money anymore.

He became even more gloomy after remembering the recent situation.

Both his father and mother went to work, but they stopped immediately.

(I wonder if there’s any job back at the countryside)

His thinking was incorrect. The cause is on his parents’ side.

The time spent on chatting is overwhelmingly longer than the time they’re actually working. She couldn’t seem to break the habit and was always turned down wherever she went.

That habit of hers couldn’t be cured and she was turned down wherever she went.

(And father rarely got the chance to built a house)

His father who was mainly in charge of carpentry.

The son didn’t know, but the father was only doing simple things like emergency repairs.

Extensions, renovations, large-scale repairs. All of them were handled by the craftsmen outside the mansion.

Therefore, his skill is about just a bit of a DIY carpenter. He can’t work in a full-scale construction site at all.

On the contrary, he picked up wrong habits from his mistakes and is often reprimanded by the younger ones.

And lastly, his father always started drinking in the morning.