on Thursday, October 3, 2019 zweindrei
Chapter 84 General Merchant Dornuko - Later Part Later on.
I paid a visit to [Cat"s Eyes]. I was going to bring Mitama and the girls along initially, but due to a certain circ.u.mstance, I decided to go alone.
The inside of [Cat"s Eyes] store was relatively bustling. Many adventurers and neighboring housewives are gazing at narrow aisles. Narrow as they are, the shelves are neatly put together, and the clerks are interacting with the customers cheerfully, leaving a good impression. Now then, Dornuko-san... doesn"t seem to be in the store. Guess I"ll check on the clerk.
According to Clerk-san, he"s just gone to the workroom in the back to check on the craftsman. I got the permission and was led into the workroom, so I ended up meeting him and the craftsman there.
"If it isn"t n.o.busadsan. Thank you for coming. This here is the craftsman who holds this store together, also my best friend, Nene. Nene, let me introduce you to the adventurer who provided us with that bowstring, n.o.busadsan."
"Oh, yer" the one who brought that thing eh. Oh man, can"t thank you enough for it. I"m Nene. A craftsman that mainly handles woodworking, I work stuff like bows and such."
"Nice to meet you, as you have heard from Dornuko-san, my name is n.o.busada. I"ve been wanting to have an audience with you Nene-san since a party member of mine is an archer, do excuse me for imposing on you and Dornuko-san."
"Ah, no need to get so formal with me. Look, even Dornuko"s like that, see?"
"Well, in my case this is just how I am."
"Oh am I being formal? This is how I usually talk, I think."
"Eh, you guys no fun. Well whatever. So? You need me for something?"
"Right. If you mainly deal with wood, does that mean you can make spears if I provide the tip or wands for mages? And also, do you happen to know best materials for bows and such that can be gotten in dungeons around here?"
"Hou", said Nene-san as she gazes at me like she"s appraising me.
After ruminating for a little while, she opens her mouth as she smiles.
"Okay right. Those Evil Tadpole"s tendons are probably the best bowstring material you can get "round here. For spear shafts and bows, it"d be Old Wisdom Timber dropped by Old Treants that rarely sp.a.w.n on 8F, and for wands the Old Spirit Timber dropped by Elder Treants that apparently sp.a.w.n on 13F. Elder Treants sp.a.w.ning there is nothing but a hearsay tho"."
"I see, I see. Thank you for the reference. I would like to ask for your help if we did get our hands on the materials."
"Sure thing. But wow, yer" pretty protective of your companions, sure belies the rumors."
Rumors? what kind?
"Rumors... Is it?""My, weren"t you aware? Like how you flaunt off your dressed-up girls at the Adventurer Guild, how your hobby is wooing the receptionist there, or how you"re keeping an elven mother and daughter pair, aggravating your rep as a philanderer. You"ve been called n.o.busada the 『Libertine』 or 『Carnal』 right?"
What the heck"s up with those lower-half focused nicknames!? Ain"t that just too cruel!? I could just feel the malice from the not necessarily wrong part.
But to think there were such rumors... I don"t want to believe it, but when I look at Dornuko-san, he lightly nods with slightly cast down eyes.
"Err, I don"t know how to say this, but I have heard of such rumors myself. This may sound impolite, but preemptively investigating your negotiation partner is an extremely common thing to do for us merchants. Despite the results of my investigation, I could only think those as baseless accusations after actually meeting the person in question however."
Well, of course he would investigate. I did the same thing to this store before coming here. Rather, that much prudence makes him all the more trustworthy instead.
"Please pardon me for being a bit shaken, that was the first I heard of those rumors. I suppose it"s unavoidable since my party consists of ladies excepting me. They"re all important persons to me."
"Is that so. How very enviable. I myself have been desensitized of such due to the failure of my first marriage."
Apparently, Dornuko-san originally ran a store at the Royal Capital, but then his wife had an affair with his employee. Eventually, the name on his store"s deed got replaced to his wife"s before he knew it, and he was ousted of his own store with only the clothes he had on him. It was Nene-san who encouraged Dornuko-san when he had hit rock bottom, then with no lingering emotion left there, they left the capital and moved here to Gramada.
"That was about a year ago. Afterward, we took a loan to rent this store, and finally got back on track recently. Best friends really all you have to have in life. I would have dropped dead somewhere in the capital by now if not for Nene."
Hmm, if I had to say, Nene-san probably has a thing on Dornuko-san, but I shouldn"t b.u.t.t in here. I"d feel bad getting in the way of someone else romance.
Well then, now that I get Dornuko-san"s character, guess it"s time for business talk.
"So you see. I"d like to discuss, no, negotiate something with Dornuko-san."
"Hohou."
Oh, his eyes changed. As expected of a bona fide merchant.
"The nutritional drink you had the other day. We are done making that. And one more thing. This here is a skin lotion. We have two types of these, a high quality one for n.o.bles and the wealthy, and the lower quality one for the ma.s.ses, but just manufacturing these items already took everything out of us. We"re thinking of asking a trustworthy person to take charge of their sales."
"You mean that drink!? Fumu fumu, we"ve got to put clearly defined lines on price ranges. If it"s still within reach, people will surely consider getting one as commemorative gifts or the likes. This is nice, I"m sure it"ll sell well."
Dornuko-san getting excited while breathing roughly. Close, you"re too close. He must be already simulating it on his head.
After some consulting, I decided to let his store handle the goods. Wholesale price for Lipovitama Deluxe is 15 mani each, Lipovitama Agent went for 200 mani, Tamchan Approved Skin Beauty Water for 150 mani, and Tamchan Approved Skin Very Beauty Water for amazing 10,000 mani. Since the ingredient for it, the Super Dense Magic Water is very hard to come by unless you"ve got a stupidly excessive amount of mana like me. As such, with compet.i.tors being unlikely, we"re planning to make it known as a high cla.s.s item. Producing them costs virtually zero to me since they come from the same material and things like its containers and stuff are all self-made, it would be pretty great if they sell.
"Ah, please take these as a sample. I believe you will see the effects if you let Nene-san and this store"s employees try them. Of course, it"s this one for Nene-san."
I hand over the Very Beauty Water one. He might fall for your charm once your skin gets all l.u.s.trous. This much help should be fine, right.
"Ooh, much appreciated. I"m curious about the more expensive one"s effectiveness indeed. I shall pa.s.s it over to everyone later."
"And, this is a personal request of mine, Dornuko-san, from your perspective, how much are these worth?"
I put five kinds of jewels on top of the table. Indeed, they"re the replacement reparation I got from Jamit. Their values are still unknown to me even now, checking it up should prove useful for the future.
"Fumu fumu. These are all very valuable. This diamond in particular. One of these worths 100,000 mani. The other jewels are no less valuable as well."
"Is that so. Their values had been stumping me since I got them from someone you see. This is very helpful."
"Oh our store also accepts orders for turning jewels into adornments. You can even choose materials for the base yourself as well."
W-what. What a completely thorough store this is. Fumu, I"ve still got lots in stock anyway, might as well turn these into pendants for everyone. Those things I custom ordered should be ready next week or the week after too, I"ll present them as a set.
"By all mean please."
"Well then, let"s discuss about materials and delivery date..."
I had a long talk with Dornuko-san afterward.