Volume 2 - Chapter 23

After coming back from the store, I met up with Caulkins-san and the others who have already changed their clothes.

“Then, I’ll be going now.” [Jeff]

“Thank you very much, Jeff-san!” [Ryouma]

“I told you, don’t mind it. I’ll see you around!” [Jeff]

Seeing that I’d arrived, Jeff-san left since his job was already completed.

I give my thanks to Jeff-san and bow my head.

Then I take Caulkins-san and the others with me to the merchant guild.

When we got there, as expected, we were brought to the reception room where the guild master received us.

“These guys are your new hires?”[Grisela]

“Yes, they were introduced to me by an acquaintance of mine.” [Ryouma]

“As usual, you really work fast. Didn’t you only discuss this with me yesterday? Well, that kind of thing is good for a merchant. So, you guys are planning to work at this kid’s store, right?” [Grisela]

“Yes!” [Caulkins, Robelia, Tony]

The guild master looked at the three of them when she heard their reply. I have a feeling she was somewhat taken aback.

“Ho ho…….. Ryouma, what trick did you pull? I can feel some kind of strange ambition from them. With that, I don’t think they’ll be turning on you. Rather, they’re more likely to work hard for you. In any case, it doesn’t feel like you’d just met today.” [Grisela]

Well, yeah…

After all, all three of them were former slime researchers. And with them understanding the value of the cleaner slimes, they value me quite highly despite my age.

At the same time, they also have their grudge. So not only are they happy because of having the possibility of clearing that grudge, but the salary they will be receiving will allow them to live a stable life. So although we haven’t known each for long, it would appear that they’ve already taken quite a liking to me. Especially Tony, who like me, is being watched by Matthew.

The reasons aside, since there’s no problem, I was able to receive the guild master’s permission, and was able to register the three.

Afterwards, I properly made a contract that left the cleaner slimes in their care, but prohibited them from handing it over to others. They used a special kind of paper, normally only used for big deals, to create the contract.

While it isn't not something special that uses magic, it is strictly monitored by the guild, so it’s not possible to make forgeries or to transfer ownership. In cases where someone is found guilty, the punishment is harsher than normal.

An exception to this is in the instance where I have a new store. As long as they have my permission, then they will be able to assign another to be in charge of that store as a slave magic user. After all, if I don’t do this, then I won’t be able to increase my branch stores.

I finish the rest of the legal process, then I leave the guild with the three as I give my thanks to the guild master.

When we got to the store, I introduced them to Carm-san and the others. And then, I immediately had them start working a little.

According to what I’ve heard along the way, apparently Caulkins-san is a former noble. Because of that he had a somewhat arrogant tone when speaking. I decided to have him carry the laundries.

I had Tony do the same, since he had a strong physique from his work as a day laborer in the mine.

Robelia-san has experience interacting with people directly because of her job, so I had her work as a receptionist just like she did in her previous job. It was quite sudden, but she seemed to do just fine. Or rather, aren’t the adventurers that’re coming being bewitched? Her attire isn’t particularly revealing, so… I guess it’s not related to that. But then, I guess what you see isn’t everything.

Anyway, from the looks of things, those bewitched adventurers will probably become regulars soon.

Which reminds me, the girls I’ve hired are all pretty… then again the level of the people in this world might just generally be higher when it comes to appearance. After all, I haven’t met someone ugly yet, and even the older ones have aged well.

While I was thinking that, I suddenly heard a loud voice. This voice, Raypin-san?

“Isn’t it Caulkins!? Why are you here, de aru!?” [Raypin]

“That manner of talking, Raypin!?” [Caulkins]

Eh? Raypin-san and Caulkins-san were acquaintances?

“You two are acquaintances?” [Ryouma]

I was in the process of carrying some laundry, so I asked that question while carrying some with me.

“Y–yes. Raypin-san was a former colleague of mine.” [Caulkins]

“We’re coworkers who joined our magical beast research lab on the same year. I stopped working after a few years, but who would have thought that we’d end up meeting here. Caulkins, when did you come to this town?” [Raypin]

“That’s…”

It looked like it’s going to be a bit complicated, so I took them to the store’s reception room.

After Caulkins-san explained the situation, Raypin-san sighed deeply.

“I didn’t expect that you’d actually been living in this town before me, de aru. I thought for sure that you’d just arrived.” [Raypin]

“… I also didn’t think that you’d be in this town. I thought that you’d be bustling about different towns now, chasing after all kinds of magical beasts.” [Caulkins]

“Even if I did go around towns, I’d still need to have a town I could consider my base. Still, to meet like this, this is really an amazing coincidence.” [Raypin]

“I also thought that we’d never meet again. I’ve always thought that it would’ve been better if I accepted your proposition to leave the research lab.” [Caulkins]

“I did tell you, de aru. That even if the two of us can do research, we don’t suit research labs.” [Raypin]

“I’m different from you, I don’t have any talent for magic. Moreover, I also don’t have any talent in taming magical beasts. So I thought that it’d be too dangerous for me to take adventurer jobs, and so I refused you. Even until now, I don’t think that was the wrong choice.

But I think it would have been better if I gave up research earlier. That way I wouldn’t have ended bankrupt.

But in the end, I did end up finding a job here today, so it may not have been all that bad. We decided that if it’s here, we’d be able to make those guys who laughed at us, take back their words. And while it’s only been a few hours, after finding out about the cleaner slimes, I realized that there’s some benefit in continuing slime research after all. I’m really grateful to the Boss.” [Caulkins]

“I’ll rely on you from now on, so please do your best.” [Ryouma]

“Of course.” [Caulkins]

“It seems a lot has happened, but in any case, I’m glad that you’ll be able to live safely, de aru. And with Ryouma’s store, you’ll definitely have a peace of mind when it comes to your livelihood.” [Raypin]

Looks like they’re done talking. Oh, come to think of it, didn’t Raypin come for something? It doesn’t look like it’s for laundry… or did he put the laundry inside his ‘Item Box’?

“By the way, Raypin-san. Did you come here today to have your laundries washed?” [Ryouma]

“Oh right! I didn’t come here today for a laundry request. I already had a lot of clothes washed yesterday, so I’m fine on that front, de aru.” [Raypin]

I see. So he came when I wasn’t around.

“Today, I came here to inform you about something that I think you should know, de aru. Do you know about Grell Frogs?” [Raypin]

“Grell Frogs? Those are the magical beasts that will have an outbreak in a swamp near this town, right? Its hide is used to make armor, and its internal organs are used to make medicines.” [Ryouma]

“Since you know about them, then this’ll be quick. The outbreak is starting, de aru.” [Raypin]

“Really!?” [Ryouma]

“The signs have just come out, so the peak will be after 3 or 4 days. The request regarding the grell frogs will be posted in the guild, starting tomorrow, de aru. The grell frogs sell for a high price as an ingredient for medicine, so it’s a good time to make money. Moreover, they can also be used as feed for the rimel birds, so they’re quite popular amongst slave magic users and nobles.

It’s quite prestigious for a slave magic user to be able to tame a rimel bird, so if you were to catch that, then the guild’s view of you will change. But from what I’ve heard from Caulkins regarding the details of his employment, it probably wouldn’t have any effect, de aru.” [Raypin]

True, in fact it would probably have the opposite effect, and Matthew would become even more hostile. Speaking of which, I heard that rimel birds are able to fly fast, and so they’re probably useful for communicating.

‘Thank you for the information. I think I’ll give taming the rimel birds a shot, since It’ll be good to have a way to quickly communicate with the other branch stores once I set them up.” [Ryouma]

All of the sudden, someone knocked at the door. I think it might be Carm-san from the voice. But because his voice is similar to Karla-san’s, it’s quite hard to tell which.

“Boss, the adventurer, Asagi-sama, and four others are here. They said they had something they wanted to talk to you about.” [Carm]

What? For the meantime, Raypin-san and Caulkins-san gave me an understanding glance, and then I replied.

“Please have them come here.” [Ryouma]

“I understand.” [Carm]

As he said that, Carm-san took his leave. After that, Caulkins-san also left the room. It seems that because he can meet Raypin-san from now on, he went back to his work.

And then, coming from a different entrance from Caulkins-san, Asagi-san, Miya-san, Wereanna-san, Mizelia-san, and Syria-san came.

“Welcome, everyone. What’s the matter?” [Ryouma]

“Sorry for the sudden visit, nya. Raypin-san is also here, nya?” [Miya]

“I came here to tell Ryouma about the grell frog outbreak, de aru.” [Raypin]

“Oh, so you too? We came here to talk about something related to that, de gozaru.” [Asagi]

“It’s quite sudden, but Ryouma, can you tell us where you bought those work clothes you used before?” [Wereanna]

“While we can leave our laundry here, going back is quite hard. Especially to us, beastmen and dragon newts. That’s why we want to get some clothes that won’t get dirty easily. [Mizelia]

Ahh, I see, so that’s why… then in that case, they have good timing. I’ll introduce them to Serge-san’s store. I’ve already been delivering the water proof cloths, so I guess I should get started with making them.

“You can get them from the Morgan Firm of this town. It’s not yet popular, so the demand is still quite low. Because of that, I don’t know how many they have in stock. There might be the possibility of running out of stock, but since you have already met him in my store’s opening party, and with my introduction, I think you should be able to get some advice.” [Ryouma]

At the very least you won’t be turned down.

“Really!? Thank you very much!” [Syria]

“Please don’t mind it.” [Ryouma]

“No, really. You’ve really saved us, since our nose work way better than humans.” [Mizelia]

“Even with just fragrances, it’s quite tough.” [Wereanna]

Is it really that tough?

“Thank you. Then, we’ll be taking our leave. When we go to the Morgan Firm, we’ll be troubling you.” [Asagi]

As he said that, Asagi-san hurriedly went back.

What? That’s kinda strange.” [Wereanna]

“True, I thought Asagi would apologize a bit more for suddenly intruding.” [Mizelia]

“Aah!?” [Syria]

“What, nya!?”

“What’s the matter, Syria-san?” [Ryouma]

“The work clothes Ryouma-san had with him might be running out of stock!” [Syria]

“!!” [Miya, Mizelia, Wereanna]

“So that’s it!” [Wereanna]

“Asagi, so you made sure to quickly buy one for yourself!” [Mizelia]

“We have to hurry, nya! Ryouma-kun, thank you, nya!” [Miya]

As they said that, Miya-san and the others also quickly left. Is it that bad? I wonder exactly how effective their noses are.

“What a noisy bunch, huh?” [Raypin]

“Raypin-san, you’re not going?” [Ryouma]

“I’m already used to foul odors and dirty thing things. It’s an indispensable part of being a researcher, de aru. Moreover, I’m going to be catching grell frogs with my magic, so I won’t be getting that dirty, de aru.” [Raypin]

“I see.” [Ryouma]

After that, I talked a little bit more with Raypin-san about magical beasts.

While talking, I learned that when the guild buys grell frogs, they pay a medium silver coin for each. This is apparently because of the many effects that the medicines made from grell frogs’ inner organs have.

When I heard that, I thought about the medical knowledge that I received when I came into this world, and there were over 50 kinds that used grell frog as an ingredient. Moreover, there were a lot of analeptics and vitality boosters amongst those medicines, making them popular amongst nobles and men.

But the most important part is the processing. If it’s done by someone unskilled, then the quality will immediately drop. If one still attempts it, then not only is there a possibility of the medicine being of poor quality, it’s also possible that the medicine won’t be created. That’s why the guild warns against making the medicine by one’s self when they post the request.

The most important part of the process is draining the blood. As much as possible one needs to drain the blood thoroughly. If this isn’t done properly, then the quality will become bad… eh? Wait a moment. Couldn’t I pull this off perfectly with the bloody slime?

They mentioned internal organs, so I thought it’d be necessary to deal with them and use them quickly, but apparently that’s not the case. As you could just dry them and then preserve it. Normally, during this process, you’d have to nimbly use wind magic. Moreover, the quality will change depending on the speed of drying… So I guess I could just use alchemy for this part, right?

With alchemy, not only is the process simple, but there’re a lot of benefits, and it’s even possible to preserve it.

And regarding the request, if I don’t take it, the only thing that will happen is that I won’t be able to find a place to sell it, and the price will be easy to drive down. Getting the ingredients without taking the request is apparently fine, so I guess I could work this like an herb collection request, and just go grab some ingredients without taking the request.

As we talked like that, quite a bit of time had passed, and now it was about time for Raypin-san to go home. I sent him off, and then I went to check the store’s income for the day before closing. Afterwards, I left.