CH 205

Episode 205 – Expensive Purchase

TL: Super sorry, I forgot to upload this chapter and accidentally skipped to Chapter 206 somehow… Please forgive me, life has been a bit crazy lately.

After our review meeting at the cafe, I went to visit the Green Formula. As for what I was doing… I was planning to buy a brewing stand, which I had hesitated to buy last time I went.

To be honest, that close fight against the Two-Headed Minotaur that I thought we would defeat rather easily made me realize just how important and useful potions were. I still had the potions that I had made back in Grezesta, but I was planning to reserve the high-quality potions from Elf’s Tears that I had on me for challenging the final stretch of the Dungeon.

Taking into account the amount of time and effort required to make potions, it would be fine to just buy them from Green Formula… But I still needed money to pay for the commission fee for Rosalie, the inn fees at Ponpokotei, and any necessary items to bring into the Dungeon.

In regards to any items that we found while clearing the Dungeon, while the amount we had found so far was still a negligible amount, it didn’t change the fact that I had to split it with Aruna. Under these circumstances, I couldn’t afford to spend money on items that I could synthesize myself without cost.

I had managed to find a place where I could put a brewing stand, so I figured it would be best to buy one even though it would mean a high initial cost. For now, my main objective at Green Formula was to sell the plants that I had been stockpiling and use those funds to buy a cheaper brewing stand.

The first step was to make some money on the main first floor. Just like Elf’s Tears, Green Formula also bought plants and potions. However, judging from the fact that the quality of the goods they sold were all over the place, I figured that their purchase prices wouldn’t be much different compared to if I just sold them at the Adventurer’s Guild. From that line of thought, I decided not to sell any high-quality plants, but I was curious to see just how much it would turn out to be in the end.

There was quite a bit of All-Herb and Angel Grass as well as several stalks of Glutamate Herb. Without factoring in the Glutamate Herb’s cost, I was expecting it to come out to around 7 platinum coins.

After handing over my sack of plants at the purchase desk so that they could assess the goods, I went up to the deserted 2nd floor in the meantime to closely examine the brewing stands and see which one I was going to buy. Making my way through the products strewn about here and there in apparent disorder, I made a beeline for the place where the brewing stands were located.

Hmm… As expected, the one that really catches my eye is Charlotte’s brewing stand…

I breathed a sigh of relief seeing that it hadn’t been sold yet. Even though it was no use, I pored over it, looking at every nook and cranny of it.

Its design was simple and made with a focus on functionality, which made it so good. It might have been imbued with some kind of magic, since I could feel a strong magical power coming from it upon closer scrutiny. When I was at Elf’s Tears, I wasn’t really aware of it at the time, but now that I could look at it closely alongside other brewing tables, there was really quite a difference. But I don’t think the other brewing stands are of poor quality, either.

Feeling a bit reluctant, I forced myself to give up on it after considering the amount of funds I had and to instead do what I had set out to do: closely examine the lower-priced brewing stands.

The cheapest brewing stand was the one placed furthest in the back of the room, but it seemed to be an older type of brewing stand that was different from the one that I used in the past. Despite being an older model, this particular one was new, so the quality of it wasn’t bad at all. But I was still rather uncertain whether or not I would be able to use this old model properly.

If I couldn’t figure out how to use it properly, then there was a chance that the sum of money spent on it would be entirely wasted… I can’t make a hasty decision with this purchase.

I moved on to examining the second cheapest one, which was about 50% more expensive than the first one. It was the new type of model, but it seemed to be a secondhand item that must have been used for a long time, judging by its apparent deterioration. The quality itself wasn’t as good as the old style one, so I couldn’t make a decision between these two either.

Well, cheap things are cheap for a reason, after all.

After continuing from the second stand onwards, I finally managed to find a comparatively clean-looking brewing stand on the fifth one. This one was also a secondhand item, but it didn’t seem to be heavily used. In fact, it was hard to tell that it wasn’t new.

The quality wasn’t bad, and if it had been the cheapest one here then I would have bought it on the spot. But the price for it was 10 platinum coins, which made it about 2.5x more expensive than the cheapest one here.

Hmm… This is really, really tough.

Internally, I had picked out three potential candidates. The old type which was 4 platinum coins, the well-worn new-type for 6 platinum coins, and the one that had passing marks for all aspects for 10 platinum coins. Anything more expensive than that would probably go beyond what I would be able to buy from selling today’s plants.

After much deliberation, I decided to go with the cheapest one, the old style brewing table, since it had the most favorable balance of pros and cons. It received passing grades for everything other than the fact that it was an older model, and the fact that it was new was good. And more than anything else, it was extraordinarily cheap compared to the others, which was the final nail in the coffin.

In the worst case scenario that I was unable to use it, I could just buy the next most expensive one for 6 platinum coins, which in total the final costs would be about equivalent to 10 platinum coins. It was often said that the more expensive or good something was, the cheaper it would become in the future, but considering my current situation, it was more important to find a way to get to that point.

…Hmm. I won’t regret this decision.

Having adequately convinced myself, I headed back down to the 1st floor to confirm the appraised sum and complete the purchase of the brewing stand.

“Excuse me. I asked for an assessment of some goods earlier. Is it finished?” (Lewin)

“Let’s see… for assessment ticket number 3, right? Yes, it’s finished. Here is the assessed value. If there are no problems with the sum, we would appreciate it if you could sell it to us.” (Green Formula Employee)

I looked over the assessment chart that the shop employee handed to me. Ooh! It’s more than I thought it would be! 9 platinum coins, 2 gold coins, and 1 silver coin.

However, it seemed that they didn’t know what Glutamate Herb was, since each one was only being assessed at 3 copper coins. I’ll sell everything but the Glutamate Herb and use the money to buy a brewing table.

“Could I sell everything other than this type of plant?” (Lewin)

“Yes, understood. Thank you very much for the large transaction. Here are those plants and the agreed sum of 9 platinum coins and 2 gold coins.” (Green Formula Employee)

I couldn’t hide a smile upon seeing the small pile of platinum coins. Sure enough, money is nice.

But now, I had pretty much used up all the plants I had been saving up, so now I would have to be careful about how I spent my money.

“Also, there’s one more thing… There’s something I would like to purchase on the second floor, is that alright?” (Lewin)

“A product on the second floor? Of course it’s alright. I’ll call over another shop employee, so please wait here for just a moment.” (Green Formula Employee)

After getting back the Glutamate Herb and receiving the money, I told the shop employee that I wanted to purchase a brewing stand and then returned to the second floor along with the other employee that had come out of the back room. After leading the way to the brewing stand that I had picked out earlier, I told the shop employee that I wanted to purchase it.

“This old style brewing stand, is it? Please wait just a moment while I confirm whether or not it’s still functioning properly.” (Green Formula Employee)

“Thank you.” (Lewin)

I watched the shop employee inspect its functionality in a well-practiced manner, and it eventually turned out that there was nothing wrong with it.

“It seems to be working properly. The amount will be 4 platinum coins. Also, for a fee, we offer a delivery service for the product within Landaust. How about it?” (Green Formula Employee)

“Ah, may I ask you to deliver it?” (Lewin)

“Understood. Then the new bill comes out to 4 platinum coins, plus 5 silver coins for the delivery fee.” (Green Formula Employee)

I immediately took out my bag and handed over 4 platinum coins and 5 silver coins.

“…Yes, I’ve confirmed this is the correct amount! Thank you for your purchase. Could you please provide me with the delivery address?” (Green Formula Employee)

After providing the shop employee with the delivery address, I left Green Formula.

Now, I didn’t have to worry about running out of potions in the Dungeon, and I could turn plants into potions and sell them. The only thing I wasn’t sure about was if I could use the old style of brewing stand properly, but I felt that I was able to make a good purchase in preparation for the 8th layer and beyond.