Volume 3 - CH 8

Chapter 3-8 : Recovery And Request Ⅱ

「Alright. Now I understand that Baronet Kirk is a useless lord who doesn’t care about this village. So, what do you want us to do? Well, I already have a guess though.」(Sarasa)

「That means I don’t have to say this but… I want you to do the investigation.」(Erin)

「I knew it…」(Sarasa)

Erin-san looks troubled, but this is definitely not an alchemist job. At least, investigating monsters wasn’t included in the alchemy school’s curriculum, and Master never did that either.

Basically, alchemists in small villages like this have roles similar to doctors and pharmacists. I don’t want to end up becoming like a jack-of-all-trades or something, but…

When I was thinking, Erin-san turned her gaze to Iris-san.

「Iris-san, how about you?」(Erin)

「Hmm… I honestly want to help, but…」(Iris)

As she replied to Erin-san, Iris-san stared at Kate-san.

After noticing Iris-san’s gaze, Kate-san nodded and asked Erin-san the most important question.

「There will be a reward for this request, right?」(Kate)

「Yes, of course. It depends on how long you take to fulfill the request, but I will pay you daily, and it will be twice the amount you usually earn in a day.」(Erin)

At first, I thought the reward was quite appealing, but considering the risk, it might be a little cheap.

However, Iris-san, Kate-san, Andre-san’s and the others are the Collectors who earn the most money in this village, so you need a lot of money to pay them, and considering the economic situation of this village, I think there’s a limit on how much money the village mayor can pay them.

「But… Since we don’t have much money, I would appreciate it if you could finish it within a week.」(Erin)

I knew it…

「I see… I don’t mind taking the request. How about you, Kate?」(Iris)

「I don’t mind either. However, we will accept it if only Store Owner-san accepts it. Hellfire Grizzlies have left their territory after the incident, right? That means, there’s the possibility that their territory is occupied by stronger monsters. If we encounter them, let alone fighting, I don’t think you and I alone are strong enough to run away.」(Kate)

「Ah, you’re right. We may be able to run away if we encounter one, but we will definitely die if they attack in a group.」(Iris)

Saying that, Iris-san folded her arms and looked at Erin-san.

「We have no complaints about our reward, but Erin-san, how about Store Owner-dono’s reward? Have you thought about it? To put it bluntly, I don’t think you can pay her even with all the money the village mayor has right now.」(Iris)

When Erin-san glanced at me while listening to Iris-san, I smiled bitterly.

Honestly, money is not very attractive to me as a reward. Besides, I don’t think it will be much.

If she wants to persuade me to accept the job, she has to ask Lorea-chan to beg me in a cute manner with a cute gesture and a cute gaze instead of giving me money.

「Of course, I have thought about it. I won’t pay Sarasa-san with money but a herb field with the people who will take care of it.」(Erin)

「A herb field…?」(Sarasa)

Hee… I see… That was unexpected.

「Yes. It will be as large as vegetable fields the farmers in this village generally have, and it will be built next to your house.」(Erin)

「Hmm… Interesting…」(Sarasa)

My little herb field in the backyard has not been completely restored after the Hellfire Grizzly attack, so this offer is very appealing to me.

When Erin-san saw me thinking while smiling, she raised two fingers in front of me and saidー

「But there are two points you should pay attention to. Firstly, I would like you to teach the villagers who will take care of the field how to grow herbs since they don’t have knowledge about herbal plants. Secondly, I would like you to share twenty percent of the harvests with those people. So, what do you think?」(Erin)

Hee… Not only does she think about the benefits of the herb field to me but she also thinks about its benefits to the villagers.

She’s truly a strategist… I expect nothing less from her.

Kate-san was also a little surprised. She spoke with an impressed voice.

「Erin-san, you’re really smart.」(Kate)

「What do you mean?」(Erin)

「If Store Owner-san teaches the villagers how to grow herbs, they can make their own herb fields in the future.」(Kate)

Since the price of herbs is quite high, selling herbs from this village to other towns is highly profitable even though the transportation cost won’t be cheap.

However, there are several reasons why growing herbs is not common in the farmer community, and one of them is the environment and climatic issues, but fortunately, the environment of this village is fit to grow herbs because it’s surrounded by forests.

But of course, there are still a lot of other issues. Growing herbs is not easy after all.

「Erin-san, do you know that herbs normally cannot be stored for a long time without pretreatment? I can’t just devote myself to do that all day since I have a lot of work, and when I’m no longer in this village and there is no alchemist who wants to replace me, you will no longer be able to produce herbs in large quantities since only alchemists can do the pretreatment.」(Sarasa)

「Of course, I’ve thought about that as well. Therefore, I have no plans to make herbs the main crops of this village. We will sell herbs in the future but not in large quantities.」(Erin)

Hmm… If she says so, I don’t think there’s a problem then…

We’re going to start from my field anyway, so I can fully control the production.

Even if it’s not going well, I think I can still make more than enough money to pay the salary of the villagers who take care of the field.

Anyway, this is a very tempting offer, so I think I should take it for now.

「Umm… Sarasa-san, I know this is too much, but… Can you teach the villagers how to do the pretreatment?」(Erin)

「Well, I don’t think anyone can do it unless they are alchemists, but… Hmm… Perhaps I can teach the basics. However, I will only teach the people who seriously want to learn. I don’t want to teach unmotivated people.」(Sarasa)

「Ah, I can understand. I will make sure that the villagers who will help you with the herb field are motivated people. So… Are you going to accept this job?」(Erin)

「I guess… Yes…」(Sarasa)

「Really!? Thank you, Sarasa-san!」(Erin)

When I nodded, Erin-san held my hands and thanked me with a smile.

「But! Since Iris-san and Kate-san, also, Andre-san and his party members have not been fully recovered, I will be the one to decide when we will go.」(Sarasa)

「Yes, of course. Alright then, I’m counting on you!」(Erin)

Erin-san smiled and bowed deeply to me while saying that.

After that, we had lunch together and went home.