Volume 1 - CH 11.1

Chapter 1-11 : Selling The Materials Ⅰ (part 1)

First, I used a weak『Frozen』spell to cool the corpse of the bear.

If I froze it completely, the materials would be ruined, so it was important to adjust the power to the minimum.

After it got cold to some extent, I dragged it to the back of my house.

Of course, not to the backyard, but to the outside of the wall because I didn’t want to pollute the beautifully maintained backyard with blood.

I could have just butchered it at the front of the store without dragging it to the back, but it would be too grotesque for people to see.

If Lorea-chan came to play and saw me butchering a bear corpse with blood all over the place, she might cry and run home.

Using a tool I brought from my workshop, I cut open the corpse and carefully took the necessary parts out.

I can’t make a mistake here or else it will become a piece of junk.

Cut it slowly…. And carefully….

I took the heart, liver, and eyeball first because these things must be processed immediately.

Other than those, the stomach, intestines, and nails could also be used as materials, so I also took them and stored them.

The fur and meat are the same as other beasts’, so maybe I can sell them to Ells-san.

After I stored the materials I needed in my workshop, I dragged the excess part to Ells-san’s house.

「Excuse meー Ells-san, are you homeー?」(Sarasa)

「Yes, yesー Ara, Sarasa-chan. What a huge prey you got there.」(Ells)

After I called out from the outside, Ells-san came out immediately and made a surprised look.

「Ells-san, would you like to buy this?」(Sarasa)

「Hm…? Aah, is it the remaining meat and fur after you took the materials for alchemy?」(Ells)

Ells-san didn’t get my intention for a moment, but then she got it.

Maybe the former owner of my store usually sold excess materials to Ells-san a long time ago before I’m here.

「Yup. I thought it would be better to leave it to an expert. Besides… I’m kind of too lazy to butcher the whole thing, haha.」(Sarasa)

「Ahahaha! I know what you feel! Don’t worry, leave it to me! So… how about 8,000 reas?」(Ells)

「Eh? Are you sure? I’m okay even if you make it cheaper, you know?」(Sarasa)

To be honest the fur and the meat are useless things for me, so actually, I don’t mind even if Ells-san wanted it free.

「No problem. Smoked meat is popular among the Collectors these days, so it sells pretty well. If we processed the meat properly, it’s quite delicious, you know?」(Ells)

「Heeー I see. Well then, do you want me to bring it to the hut now?」(Sarasa)

「Yes, please.」(Ells)

Ells-san’s husband, Jasper-san, is a hunter, so they had a small hut for doing butchering work behind their house.

Basically, Jasper-san seemed to hunt alone, so he rarely brought big prey home.

That’s why the hut was small, but it looked like I could still put the giant bear’s corpse inside.

I moved the corpse and pushed it into the hut.

Although I had removed some parts of the body, this chunk of meat still weighed more than 100 kg.

Even Ells-san, who had the body of a sumo wrestler, would have trouble moving it to the hut, so I couldn’t just say, “Ells-san, thanks for the money! Adios!” and then leave.

Hm? How can a fragile girl like me move a 100 kg corpse, you ask?

Of course, with body strengthening magic!

◇　　　　◇　　　　◇

After I returned from Ells-san’s house, I hung the『Please ring the bell if you have business』sign on the door, got inside the store, and locked the door.

I installed the bell about a week ago so that I could work in the workshop even during business hours.

Waiting for customers at the back of the counter was just wasting time after all.

Well, I can do simple work while waiting for customers at the counter, but for making potions, processing materials, and forging stuff, I have to use the workshop.

Besides, I also have to maintain the herb field because I can only do that during the day.

If the number of customers increases in the future, hiring someone to manage the store might be a good idea.

「Alright, let’s process it quickly!」

For the nails, washing them is enough, but for the other parts, I have to process them carefully, otherwise their value would drop.

Especially the heart, liver, and eyes were difficult to process.

「But I’m surprised at myself. I can’t believe a girl like me can be used to this grotesque work…」

When I was at school, many students felt sick when we were doing this ‘processing organs of a corpse’ kinda job.

In my case, I didn’t feel sick, but I remember that I was trembling in fear when I was processing the corpse.

However, that was only at the beginning.

After a while, all of us got used to it, and we were able to take out internal organs from the corpses without changing our expression.

No, wait… I think ‘all of us’ is a bit too exaggerated.

If I’m not mistaken, there were some students who dropped out because they were not able to get used to it.

The school wasn’t soft enough to let people who said, “I’m scared” or “that’s disgusting” to graduate.

Well, there were girls who said, “I’m sca~red” cutely, tho.

But they were just trying to be cute in front of the boys.

What I meant by students who dropped out were the ones who didn’t even touch the corpse and who passed out after seeing the corpse.

Ahh, I remember there was a very smart girl in my class who dropped out just because she couldn’t stand grotesque things.

I feel sorry for her…

But, she seemed to be from a wealthy family, so she should be okay even though she couldn’t become an alchemist.

For orphan students like me, we must graduate no matter what, or else, it would be difficult for us to make a living.

「ーーUn! The process is now complete!」

The heart and the eyeball were stored in a bottle, and the rest of the materials were dried.

Now they would last for quite a long time and I don’t have to be worried the quality will drop.

Actually, I’m good at processing materials like this because Master often ordered me to do this kind of job when I worked part-time at her store.

「Wait…… Could it be… Master made me open this store because…..」

Master said, “If you get some rare materials, send them to me”, but if I couldn’t process materials this well, there’s no way she would ask me to do that.

So… since I was working at her store, Master planned to send me to this village…?

She often ordered me to process materials at her store… Maybe it was to train me so that I could do it really well… and then she sent me to this village so that I could send her rare materials…?

「…….Nah… Maybe I’m just thinking too much.」

Purchasing materials is important.

If you don’t know how to process them, you can’t purchase materials that can deteriorate.

That’s why Master taught me how to do it.

Un. I’m sure that’s the case.

There’s no ulterior motive behind that. Un. I’m sure of it.

「Alright. Now, what should I do with these materials? Hmm…」

I can make a potion using them, but it’s not the most needed type of potion, so most likely no one will buy it.

In the first place, its price is not on the level that ordinary villagers can afford.

「Well, I can make it just for getting experience, but… if I’m not selling stuff soon, my financial situation will get worse.」

I couldn’t use all the materials that were stored in my workshop because I could only sell a few items at my store for now.

My store’s current situation is likeー materials keep increasing while cash keeps decreasing.

If I don’t sell some of them to a retailer soon, I’ll be running out of money.

The first candidate for a retailer was in the town called “South Strugg”, which was the closest town to this village.

When I came to this village, I walked from there because the last destination of the carriage I rode was that town.

Therefore, I know what kind of town it is.

Compared to the royal capital, it was just a small town.

However, it was quite large compared to other places in this remote area.

Ah, by the way, it’s too late for me to tell you this, but the village where I live now is called “Yok Village”.

However, people rarely use that name.

That’s why I didn’t know about this village at all when I saw the information about my store from the catalogue at the school. (chapter 1-4 part 3)

Most people didn’t know if you asked them, “Do you know where Yok Village is?”, but if you asked them, “Do you know the small village near the Great Sea of Trees?” they would definitely answer, “Ahh! That village, huh?”

Even the villagers themselves rarely use its name.

However, I don’t think there’s a villager who doesn’t know the name of the village they live in.

…..There’s no one like that, right?

Well, because it’s a little-known village, I think I should go to the alchemy store in South Strugg and talk to the owner so that they know there’s also an alchemy store in Yok Village.

If I showed up at their store once, I might be able to ask another person to transport my goods later on without worries.

For example… Hmm… Lorea-chan’s dad, Daruna-san, the general store owner.

He usually went to South Strugg to purchase goods, so I could just ask him to transport my goods to the alchemy store in that town every time he went there.

However, he knows nothing about alchemy, so the alchemist who owned the store in that town might take advantage of it and manipulate the price.

But if I, an alchemist, visit their store first and tell them that Daruna-san will be my representative, they’d have to think twice before they cheat.

Because I’m still young, they might underestimate me, tho.

But if that happens, I won’t hesitate to borrow Master’s power!

Yes, I’ll tell them that I’m a student of a master-class alchemist named Ophelia!

「Alright! Let’s do it!」

After I decided to do so, I took the backpack I got from Master, and started packing the materials I would sell to that store.

South Strugg Town, here I go!