Volume 6 - CH 17

Chapter 17 – Girasole Low-Cost Employment and the Remaining 312 Platinum Coins

The day after, we enjoyed the big crab. Except for me, Carla-san, and Claretta-san, there was a good amount of alcohol left, and we decided to go straight to the Hideaway to rest.

After eating lunch, I discussed future plans with Ines and Felicia, who were feeling a little better.

“Master, if we withdraw the money from the merchant guild and combine it with the pepper money, it will be more than 400 platinum coins, right? If you combine that with your savings, you could buy a luxury liner, but are you going to buy a luxury liner right away?”

“Well, for my part, there is a luxury liner that I want, and it’s expensive. But I’m thinking of buying the luxury liner I want anyway.”

“What kind of luxury liner?”

“It’s a secret. But depending on the results in the merchant guild, I think I’m about 300 platinum coins short. I’m thinking of holding out since I’ve been able to wholesale some pepper to the merchant guild, and it’s going to accumulate over the next few months.”

“A luxury liner that Master wants even if he has to endure Ines for a few months? I’m interested.”

“Yes, I’m a little shocked. I thought you would buy a luxury liner as soon as you could afford one and demand it, but now you are satisfied with just Felicia?”

Ines, even though you say it like it’s funny, you don’t seem shocked in the slightest.

“I hate having to endure Ines so much. If it hadn’t been for Felicia, I would have bought a luxury liner the day I received the platinum coin. But I want to hold out for a few more months, buy the ship I want most, and then live a life of debauchery with Ines and Felicia.”

I want to be holed up on a luxury liner for at least a month and live a life of entertainment and carnal indulgence. …Now I wonder, do you call not going out from the luxury liner “shutting yourself in”?

“Fufu, yes, I would expect as much.”

I’ll have to live up to that expectation. If I don’t meet expectations…

“Yeah, leave it to me.”

“So I’m going to leave the pepper wholesale open for about two months, and in the meantime, we’re going to try to find the dark elves. I don’t know where they are, so I was wondering if we could take a ship around the continent, find some forests and search for them?”

“I thank you, Master. But if we enter the forest we found from the ship; it would be dangerous for Ines and me to go alone in case there are dangerous monsters.”

“I agree with you. There is no way a dark elf would hide in a place where people can easily enter…”

“Huh? But the monsters around Felicia’s village weren’t that strong, were they? It was also close to the sea. Why is that?”

“There were only weak monsters around our village as well, but that’s because we reduced the number of dangerous monsters through years of hunting. If you enter from the forest side, you have to pass through a zone where there are dangerous monsters to get there. On the sea side, there were more people there before the attack, so guards were assigned. If a ship came from the sea, we would evacuate depending on the size of the ship. After the attack, we had to take care of the area around the village. Still, the Kingdom of Latina is a safe country, so I think we were in a safer place than other dark elf villages.”

“I see, then, Ines; it’s going to be tough with just Felicia. What shall we do?”

“Why don’t we ask the people of Girasole to help us? I’m sure they’d be willing to help us out for a certain amount of money, right?”

“Hmm, but since we’re not telling anyone about the dark elves on the island, won’t that pose a problem? When I try to convince them, I’ll have to tell them about the island, and since I can’t take them to the dark elves’ island, it’ll add to the hassle, won’t it?”

“Why don’t you just sign a contract there? I’m sure they’ll help you if you tell them the reason.”

“Hmm, I don’t know. What do you think, Felicia?”

“I think it would be very helpful if the Girasole would sign a contract with you to help us. If there are competent people, we can protect the people of the village when we move to another place.”

I see, so we need more people to move from the village… It was originally too difficult for us to move them on our own.

“Okay, I’ll ask Girasole after dinner.”

“Thank you very much.”

………………

After dinner, we went straight to the dining room to talk over a cup of tea.

“Alessia-san, have you decided what Girasole is going to do in the future?”

“Eh? …No. I don’t think there were any. Dorothea, we don’t have any plans, do we?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

Good. It’s hard to ask if they have plans.

“In that case, I’d like to ask you to do something for me. I’ll tell you the details when you sign the contract. The general idea is that we’re going to explore some forests, so you’ll be my escort while I’m on land. There is one more job, but that will also be done after you sign the contract. The contract is not a criminal act, and the agreement is that you will not divulge anything you learn from this request.”

“We owe Wataru-san a debt of gratitude, and as long as it’s not a criminal act, we’ll be fine. But what if, when we sign the contract, you ask us what the job entails, and we find it unacceptable?”

“I think it’s okay because it’s not a terrible request. But even if it is impossible, you can refuse it as long as you sign a contract not to mention anything about the contents of the contract. We will decide the fee at that time.”

“If we can repay you in any way, we would be happy to do so, so we don’t mind if the fee is free.”

Even if they say they want to repay us, they are paying us a lot of money, and it would be awkward for us if it were free of charge.

“It’s hard to ask for a free request, so we’ll pay you the market rate.”

“Well, we also have been taken to Palermo almost for free, so I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to get a request fee. It’s not easy to hire an A-rank adventurer as an escort, and I wonder what the going rate is.”

The other ladies don’t seem to know either. Don’t they hire A-rank adventurers as escorts? Is it because it’s not profitable? If you are a high rank, you have your own escort. If it’s a merchant escort going down the street, don’t they need a high rank like A rank as an escort?

If you’re a very wealthy person and you’re in danger, then a high-ranking escort would be in demand, but it’s not a common request? So it seems to me that adventurers of A rank and above are mainly engaged in exploration.

“That’s a problem. It pains me to hear that it’s free, too. It’s a two-month contract, so I’ll have the adventurers’ guild calculate it out.”

“It’s better not to do that. The adventurers’ guild is also interested in Mage-sama. It would only attract unwanted attention.”

Alessia-san was right. It would be a disaster if Paris-san and the others got interested and started chasing us. He was obsessed with the ship’s barrier, and I’d pretty much hate to see where the possibility lies. Let’s not go to the adventurers’ guild.

“Ah, yes. I’ll stop.”

“…Well, then, let’s go to the merchant guild tomorrow. I’ll hear the terms of the contract and decide on the fee. Is that all right with you?”

“Yes, please.”

The next day, surrounded by Girasole, Ines, and Felicia, I headed for the merchant guild. Normally I would get jealous glances, but Girasole’s tense atmosphere made people think they were at work or something, so I went through with it.

I told him about the dark elves in the contract room. They signed the contract saying they would be happy to help. Alessia-san and the others seemed to think there was something going on since I have a dark elf as a slave. They were surprised that I was even relocating them.

The contract is for confidentiality regarding all dark elves related to me. And when I told them how I was going to find the dark elves, they said it was too inefficient.

According to the people of Girasole, simply exploring the forests we found would be uninformative and dangerous. They said that we should gather information before setting out.

When I told them that we did not want anyone to know that we were looking for dark elves, they told me that they would not know because we would only be investigating a forest that was highly dangerous and would not attract adventurers and that it would be a little easier if we went to a village or town near the forest to gather information before entering the forest.

I have a feeling that’s true, considering what I’ve been told. There are no dark elves in the forests that can be entered easily, and it would definitely save time compared to searching from one side to the other.

Somehow, I’m ashamed of myself for simply thinking that since they were hiding in the forest, I should just search the forest from one end to the other. Thinking is important, isn’t it?

After that, Girasole took the lead in gathering information, securing food, locating the dark elves, and purchasing the supplies we would need if they decided to move to the new location.

Incidentally, the fee for the request amounted to ten gold coins. I told them I would pay more, but they wouldn’t accept any more.

I had to keep an A-rank party with me for two months for 10 million yen, and Girasole could easily earn that much just by going to the southeastern island once. Is it really okay to get such a low price?

A first-class person can be hired for less than 30,000 yen for a whole day or a little more than 1,000 yen an hour, even if they are only escorts when we are on land. It’s too good a deal; I’m sorry to say.

And so, after a few days of preparation for departure. I received a call from the merchant guild saying that the platinum coins were ready. I headed for the guild with Girasole, who was escorting us.

“Wataru-san, are you going to leave as soon as you get the money?”

Alessia-san, who was in a good mood, asked me a question. She is an adventurer, and she can’t stop being excited before setting out on a trip. Her smiling face is dazzling.

“We haven’t decided on our destination yet. If it is decided soon, I think we will leave today. Is everything ready?”

“Yes, we are ready. We’ll decide on a destination soon and leave. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Really? I don’t mind going to the forest, but I don’t like insects. It makes me anxious.”

“Speaking of which, you didn’t like them in the cave either. But in the forest, there will be insects for sure. Are you okay?”

“Haha… I’ll put up with it somehow.”

I wonder if I can put up with it… I’m not good with normal insects, but it is something I can put up with. But in this world, there are also insect monsters, which are a nuisance. I will never forget the sickening feeling of a giant centipede…

I guess I’ll have more bug-related trauma when I go into the forest… I’m starting to feel like stopping. Let’s switch moods and enter the merchant guild. There should be a lot of platinum coins waiting for me. I look for Camille-san and call out to her.

Then, I was taken to a back room as usual. I’m no longer treated as an F-rank merchant. There’s no point in raising it, but I wonder if I should add an annual fee to raise my merchant rank.

But the merit is only as good as the fact that I won’t be bullied at the first merchant guild or trading company I go to. Oh, but if the receptionist lady becomes kinder, would it be worthwhile to raise it? …I’ll consider it.

“Thank you for waiting, Wataru-san.”

Camille-san, who hands out the tea saying so, has the air of a capable woman.

“Thank you very much.”

I thank her and sip the tea. It is delicious.

“Then, Wataru-san, here are the 242 platinum coins that you withdrew. This one is the payment for the pepper of the highest quality, although, for some reason, it must have been a long time ago. With the extra added, the whole thing will be purchased for 225 platinum coins.”

…I received a total of 467 platinum coins while being slightly questioned. Let’s see, that’s 945 platinum coins in all, or 310 platinum coins until my goal of a luxury liner… And considering the money I have to spend on things, I’d like to save up 312 platinum coins.

“Thank you very much.”

“No, a large quantity of top-quality pepper; we are very grateful. By the way, could you supply us with pepper wholesale again?”

Camille-san smiles at me. Is it my imagination, or am I seeing a fox in the background, on the verge of biting its prey?

“Y-yes, but won’t the price collapse if we sell so many peppers wholesale?”

“No problem. Certainly, this country alone cannot handle it, but there are many other countries that want pepper. If you leave it to us, we can handle several times the amount of pepper that you have supplied us this time.”

…That’s a nail in the coffin that says we should not sell to other places, right? I understand. Well, wholesaling to the trading company is by far more profitable, but it is better to wholesale in bulk because it is less troublesome. I’ll come here regularly until I can buy a luxury liner, anyway.

“Haha, I understand. It’s my time to earn money, too, so I’ll go stock up again. I’ll ask you for your help then.”

“Yes, we’ll have some platinum coins prepared and waiting for you.”

It wasn’t the usual gentle Camille-san, but rather Camille-san, the merchant. I leave the merchant guild and return to the Lutto.

We quickly decide on our destination and set sail. A beautiful dark elf woman I haven’t seen yet is waiting for me… It should be.

Funds on hand: 50 gold coins, 21 silver coins, 38 copper coins.

Guild account: 0 platinum coins, 70 gold coins.

Savings ship: 945 platinum coins.

Pepper ship: 425 ships.