Volume 2 - CH 27.1

Chapter 2-27 : Business Competition Ⅳ (part 1)

By the time we left the cave, the sun had completely set.

「Suuuー Haaaahh~~~ Finally…」(Sarasa)

I took a deep breath as soon as I came out of the cave. It felt like it was my first time breathing clean air today.

「We used your potion to minimize our sense of smell, but still, the smell was tough…」(Iris)

「Well, we were at the deepest part of the cave after all. Anyway, let me put some deodorant on you. Stay still.」(Sarasa)

I took out a bottle of deodorant from my bag and sprinkled it on all the members to remove the remaining smell on their body. After that, I sprinkled it on myself and put it back in my bag.

「Thank you. By the way, I noticed the same thing had been placed at the entrance of the cafeteria the other day. As I thought, that was yours.」(Andre)

「Yep. You said Diral-san hated that her cafeteria was full of stinky people lately, so I offered her deodorant. After I showed her how effective it was, she immediately put it at the entrance and said, “I’ll ban anyone who comes in without using it first!”」(Sarasa)

At first, Diral-san wanted to pay me for the deodorant, but I refused because the Collectors in this village started going to the cave to collect Ice Fang Bats’ fangs because of me.

I lent her the deodorant for free, but the Collectors who use it have to put the usage fee in the coin box that I’ve prepared. I will then collect the box after a while.

「Haha! I see. Well, that’s very helpful for us but will you even make money from it?」(Andre)

「No, I don’t think so. I’ll be in the red for sure.」(Sarasa)

「I see…」(Andre)

The usage fee is 3 reas. It’s pretty cheap.

Diral-san said that she would keep an eye on the coin box so I’m sure there will be no one who uses it without paying, but people sometimes use it too much.

Well, I don’t mind. I don’t think I will lose much money. Besides, it’s basically a free service I’m providing to the Collectors and Diral-san. After all, keeping a good relationship with neighbors is important in a small village like this.

「Shall we go home? Oh right, before that, Andre-san, you want to bring some of these fruits home, right?」(Sarasa)

「Well, we’d like to try some, but…」(Andre)

「Hey, Andre, are you still worried about getting a stomach ache? We will eat them at the inn anyway. We’re gonna be fine as long as there’s a toilet.」(Gil)

「If the pain is unbearable, you can come to my store.」(Sarasa)

「Don’t worry. Our stomachs aren’t that weak. Still, I hope we won’t eat the rotten ones…」(Gray)

As they said so, the three men each took two frozen fruits from the bag on my back and put them in their own leather bags.

「They will thaw in no time, so you should eat them while they’re still fresh. I’ll keep the rest of these fruits in my freezer for now, so please tell me later after you decide if you want to sell them or eat them.」(Sarasa)

「Okay, thanks…. Oh, right! We haven’t decided how we will divide these fruits. I feel bad because you’re the one who will store them but do you mind if we divide them equally?」(Andre)

「I don’t mind. You guys helped me today, so you can take it as my gratitude.」(Sarasa)

「Thank you.」(Andre)

The magical power required to keep these fruits cold until I get home is not that much, and my freezer is empty anyway, so I don’t really mind dividing them equally.

「Andre-san, since Iris and I didn’t help you collect the fruits, you can take some of ours.」(Kate)

「No, no. What are you talking about? Just take what’s yours.」(Andre)

「But…」(Iris)

「Consider it as our gratitude for getting along with this vulgar man.」(Andre)

「Hey, are you talking about me!? I won’t deny that I’m a bit vulgar, butー!」(Gil)

Gil-san pointed to himself and responded to Andre-san with a dissatisfied voice.

「Fufu. Alright then.」(Kate)

「Thanks. We can sell them to pay our debt down a little.」(Iris)

Kate-san and Iris-san smiled and nodded to Andre-san for his consideration.

「Alright, let’s go home! Andre-san, Gil-san, Gray-san, thank you for today and I’ll see you again tomorrow!」(Sarasa)

「Ou!」(Andre)

◇　　　　◇　　　　◇

Starting the next day, the Collectors that Andre-san trusts joined us into the cave.

On the first day, the Collectors helped us by carrying the thousands of bats’ corpses we hunted yesterday to the entrance while we were hunting more Ice Fang Bats.

After they moved all the corpses to the entrance, I asked them to dig a big hole in the forest and throw all the corpses in there. If we don’t bury the corpses, I’m afraid the forest will become smelly and end up annoying other people.

By the end of each day, I asked them to go to the merchant to sell the tremendous amount of fangs we had collected.

Everyday, I paid them as much as they usually earn a day, plus I gave them 10% of money earned from selling the fangs for the day.

At first, I was worried if they would steal some of the revenue, but none of them did that. I could understand why Andre-san trusts these people. They really did a good job. My worries were all for nothing.

After a week, the number of Ice Fang Bats in the cave had significantly decreased, so I decided to stop the hunting for a while.

◇　　　　◇　　　　◇

「So, how’s that merchant doing?」(Sarasa)

I couldn’t go to the merchant’s place so I sent Iris-san and Kate-san, the people I could trust, to spy on that merchant.

「He seemed a bit impatient, but… I’m not so sure…」(Kate)

「I heard him mutter, “They are unexpectedly persistent”.」(Iris)

As Kate-san tilted her head, thinking for a moment, Iris-san gave me more information.

「Hmm… He was talking about me, right? Did he think that I would cry because I couldn’t get any Ice Fang Bats fangs anymore? I think the one who is “unexpectedly persistent” is him though.」(Sarasa)

Looks like he doesn’t realize that the money he has been paying to the Collectors for the fangs is now in my pocket. Khu khu khu~

I once showed the money to Lorea-chan and she almost fainted seeing such a large amount of money.

I haven’t counted it so I don’t know how much, but I’m sure I can buy several sets of the Encyclopedia of Alchemy with this money.

I don’t think that merchant can collect all this money to buy fangs unless he is very wealthy.

I wonder how long he can continue spending money to buy fangs…

Really… He is so persistent…