Chapter 10: The Completion of the Company’s New Building

Chapter 10: The Completion of the Company’s New Building

Ive heard the rumor about the increase of monsters near the royal capital.

With Louise being absent as my front guard, is it finally my turn to become the target?

Ive secretly been practicing my swordsmanship, so that I will be able to fight one day, but I had no chance to show off my skill while we were traveling to Est.

I saw other merchants going back and forth on their carts, so rather than Est, it was more likely the royal capital had been thriving more in trade.(1)

Master, welcome back.

Sharon, who had been fulfilling her role as a shop assistant in the Sawatari Trading Company (temporary store), greeted me with a smile.

Are, Sharon, havent you grown a bit taller?

Yes. Ive been eating lots of food, just as master told me. Thats why.

Sharon was quite smart, which runs contrary to the common image of a rough beastman from a fantasy world.

At first she was reserved to do so, but she ended up eating lots upon realizing the meaning behind my words. I told her that her quick growth was part of our initial investment, no matter how much her food expenditure would cost.

Sharon was also familiar with accounting, so when we checked on our earnings, it turned out we were in the black, as the monster soaps sold out completely as soon they had been made.

It looks like the more soap we make, the faster they sell.

We can sell plenty, based on the citys demand.

Umm, Master, could it be that our soaps have been resold?

We cant deny such a possibility, I guess.

Most likely, the soaps had been resold, as a result of their pricing being too cheap, which is 1 silver coin.

I too, had noticed it.

However, I thought I couldnt care less about that, as my newly-established company had yet to find a new market in other cities.

Thats because, I was grateful to the other trading companies for helping me spread my goods in other places.

Soap is a consumable good.

If the other companies decide to resell it at a higher price, then Ill surely be able to win in terms of price competition.

With my company selling the soap for 1 silver coin for now and other companies reselling it, I can reclaim the demand that has been dug up by others.

What I fear is that sooner or later some company might be able to copy my goods in this period, where product patents dont exist.

I also wondered if I would make this period regress, were I to let other companies benefit from reselling.

As expected of Master-sama, I didnt know you could anticipate this far into the future.

Sharon, youre smart too. After all, you were able to notice our goods being resold and point that out to me.

Good girl, good girl I gently brushed Sharons light orange hair while praising her.

On the outside, Sharons hair looks no different from that of a human, but, whenever I try to brush her hair like this, I can sense a smooth feel, similar to that of touching a long haired dogs back.

As I got carried away while stroking her hair, Sharons dog ears slipped out with a bounce, probably from her feeling good.

This is some interesting stuff.

Louise and her disciples seemed to still be out on the hunt.

I checked on the soaps that were being made inside our temporary tent shop.

At first, I thought that the soaps would be hard to produce, using these local monsters fat, but surprisingly their success rate turned out to be high.

The remaining thing would be to think of a way to utilize these skins, but I couldnt come up with an idea.

It looks like I can only sell them like this to some leatherworker.

I parted myself with Lyle-sensei, who was confirming the content of Violas collected herbs, and went to check on Roll who was silently producing niter outside the city.

Master-sama, Ive only managed to make this much for today.

Yes, thank you for your hard work.

When you boil soil mixed with animal dung inside a large pot, quite an odor can be smelled coming from it.

Thats why this isnt the type of a labor youd do inside a shop.

The inside of the cloth bag, which Roll had presented to me, was fully crammed with long and narrow, crystallized, white niter.

Ohhh, youve done a great job. Do you want a reward from me?

Ummm, thats. Im fine as long Master-sama praises me.

Roll was saying some laudable things there.

I stroked her head and gave her some salty kitsu nuts mixed together with high-grade sugar, which I had previously pilfered from the Earl, Donovan. Roll seemed to be eating them quite eagerly.

Being able to replenish ones lost nutrients after a demanding labor is probably good for ones body.

However, it was different in the case of Roll, who was in charge of collecting one of the raw materials for gunpowder.

In addition to me being her breadwinner, I had to treat her appropriately.

These are delicious.

Is that so? Well, I think the taste is fair.

Roll was pleased with the food, however, the excess of sweetness and saltiness didnt look quite appetizing for me.

I myself wondered if I could make some delicious sweets using this fantasy worlds poor ingredients.

On my way back to the company with Roll, we encountered Louise and her disciples, who had just finished their hunt.

If I remember correctly, were they Suzanne & Claudia? Suzanne was holding an iron spear, whereas, Claudia was equipped a shortsword and shortbow.

The reason why Louise had been in the vanguard was probably so as to separate the girls from being targeted and allow them to launch a range attack, as both were still lacking in experience.

Magic jewels are items with crystalized mana (Also known as source of magic used by magic beings to cast spiritual, holy, the four elemental spells, and various ones like these.) that dates back long ago when Ye mountains were still sacred. Theyre usually transparent red or blue, depending on its nature of power.

I wasnt very knowledgeable on jewels, but, they looked like sapphires and rubies.

Even though jewels are just items for practical use, theyre actually highly valuable if you regard them as jewels. Together with the silver mine, this one too was heavily guarded against illegal digging.

With this magic jewel, will I also become able to use spells?

I would doubt that, as Takeru-dono has no foundation in magic. However, its still possible for you to use them if you choose the right jewel and magic tool.

Inside the village nearby the magic jewel mine, there was a magic jewel shop.

This convenient wand of the flame orbs, which I could use instead of a lighter, had its mana about to run out, so I had to recharge it using one of the magic jewels from the shop.

With this wand of flaming orb being fully charged, I can shoot approximately 5 fireballs at the maximum power output, and as many as 10 times, with a normal power output.

The cheapest price for an average magic jewel is 5 silver coins.

That is to say, Ive spent 1 silver coin each time I cast a spell?

I havent thought about that before, but, now that I think about it, its quite an expense, isnt it?

Lyle-sensei, who is a middle-class mage, showed me previously how he could cast a spell really fast. Since he can replenish all his mana within a single night, it would be equivalent to a few gold coins.

I could understand why mages are treated as special beings, even if they can only use simple elementary spells.

I decided I would buy a bunch of ring of water currents later, which allows you to cast basic water spells.

The ring is a magic tool that creates water currents by absorbing molecules of water from the atmosphere, but, even if I were to buy wholesale and beat down the price, I could only purchase it for as little as 5 silver coins per item.

Buying that many items, what do you intend to use them for?

I thought about using them for our companys toilet.

Is that so.?

Perhaps, Lyle-sensei wasnt aware about that, but for me, the lack of a washlet(2) was a real pain in ass.

Together with the soap that can be used for hand washing, the washlet will most likely greatly improve this worlds sanitation levels.

Right now, I have an abundance of money, thanks to my bombs selling favorably.

Sensei too, is there anything youd like to have?

Then, can I have some of these magic jewels in case of an emergency?

What Sensei asked for were fine quality items, high grade magic jewels which housed an amount of mana more remarkable than those standards ones.

Even a novice, like me, could notice the difference from their aura.

Far from it being 3 times the normal amount, the jewels stored 5, perhaps 6 times as much mana as a standard jewel. In addition to them being used when running short of energy, they also acted as charms, which apparently many mages would carry with.

The price for a single item was quite high in comparison with normal jewels, ranging from 3 to 5 gold coins.

However, it wasnt that much if it was meant to be used during an emergency case.

Lets take this opportunity and purchase several sets of this and standard jewels.

Umm, I know Im the one who asked for this, but, at this rate, wont you use up all the money from our sale which we earned this time?

I dont mind. After all, the production area is located here, so theres no way anyone could sell our goods at a cheaper price.

I too, have made dealings upon checking market price from other places.

Our goods are ones that can be sold in Est with no loss, even if somebody was to buy plenty of them.

Well, I dont plan to sell out my items, so as to avoid money shortage, but

Speaking of which, I was wondering if theres no tool that casts recovery magic.

Its not like there isnt, but holy magic is under the complete jurisdiction of the church. You may be able to find some low class recovery magic tools, however, they wont be different from drinking a potion.

I see, so this is the reason why I couldnt spot any recovery spell casting tools in the shops.

Not even Lyle-sensei, whos close to being omnipotent in the magic field, can use recovery magic.

Just having picked herbs wasnt reassuring, so I decided to make additional purchases and save up recovery potions when the market prices fall down.

Just do whatever you can. Theres never enough money, so I can only encourage myself to do more business.

Scene Change

Once we finished peddling around the territory near the Ye mountain range, we returned back to the city of Est.

Finally, we have returned, right?

..I think, the city feels somewhat different.

As we were about to enter in, the city became noisy, just like Lyle-sensei said.

The guards, who were at the entrance, had stern expressions and gave out an impression of as if being in a hurry.

We should head to the company post haste.

You bet.

The Sawatari Trading Company is located near the citys plaza, that is to say, in the heart of this citys trade district. I would usually come here astonished at the sight of this bustling plaza.

However, despite this marketplace normally bustling with activity, today, it wasnt crawling with many people.

And neither, did it feel like there was any festival going on.

What we saw in front of us was a plaza full of set up tents and injured crowds of people huddling together.

Notes and References:

1.were not 100% sure about this sentence. Our translation is what the raw says, but the sentence doesnt make sense in context.

2.also know as a bidet toilet