I guess it"s about time I get started with these~ Since I was busy Sun/Mon and didn"t get the last two out I wanted starting a bit early this weekend. Next chapter in 2 minutes or so.
Year 7445, Month 4, Day 19
"We talked quite a bit."
Miduchi and I were taking as we walked towards Boil Manor. Up until just now the seven of us were talking for about an hour. Though I say that, the ones doing most of the talking me, old man Viruhaima, and sis Anderson, just the three of us.
Partway through it ended up like them interviewing us {Slaughterers} but looking from their end, since we"ve long since exceeded both their hunting ground on the 5th floor and are exploring the 6th and 7th floors so they probably wanted to pull out as much information as they could.
Of course, we defended our information without leaking any of it and I was offered the words, "Che...What an uncute brat." What should I do something so sad as exposing information for not even a single Z. It"s on a different level from removing the curse from the cursed sword.
Something like removing a curse is all over when finished and offered thanks but information on the dungeon continues further, if they were to get ahead of themselves and overtake us into the 8th floor then my treasure might end up disappearing. You can"t let your guard down when it comes to the top teams.
But, after all it seems both {Verdure.Brotherhood} and {Black.Topaz} were starting to look into the 6th floor...On the contrary there"s some meaning that I was able to obtain that information. It means at the very least they chose to earn on the 5th floor rather than unreasonably trying to enter the 6th floor.
Though I say that, the veteran party in Baldukk that {Verdure.Brotherhood} is has an average age in their mid-30s or beyond, so they might just not intend to overdo things in order to earn more.
In any case, I was able to prevent the cooperating top teams {Verdure.Brotherhood} and {Black.Topaz} from prying(There wasn"t any sort of prying so far but that"s nothing more than non-intervention without any sort of promise. I was able to get a promise that they"d maintain that non-intervention from here on out. Though it"s just a verbal promise) too far into our matters so I definitely gained something from it.
...............
We returned to Boil Manor and I decided to have a cup of tea in my own room and take a short break before showing my face in Zenom"s room. Soon after we returned to the inn Miduchi returned to Zenom"s room. Rather than me suddenly appearing, I thought it would be easier for them to have a bit of time to organize things.
I spend a bit of time thinking about and organizing things from here on out as I drink my tea as well.
One, in two weeks I"ll go to teacher Mila"s place and have her teach me the spell {Remove.Curse}. However, it"s a.s.suming there actually is such a spell. In the case there isn"t..there"s no other choice than do something that seems appropriately similar and say it was impossible. Though it"s uncool.
Two, I"ll remove the curse from the sword on Barukemi of {Black.Topaz}. What happens to the sword after that isn"t my problem. Otherwise there"s the possibility that {Remove.Curse} could fail as well. In that case it"s uncool as well but there"s no helping it.
Three, if both one and two go well then at the very least I can create a favor with {Black.Topaz}. It won"t count as a favor with {Verdure.Brotherhood} but at the very least I can just get them to keep an eye on things. After all, my only requests were a vague promise and some useless information on {Sun.Ray}.
Four, if one and two both end up unsightly then..that itself isn"t a problem either. In reality things will be no different from up until now. I might be looked at lightly by {Black.Topaz} and {Verdure.Brotherhood} but that can"t be helped and in the first place they knew from the start they were asking for something unreasonable. It should at best end as "So they aren"t any different than us."
It should be fine to think that the matter involving the cursed sword this time won"t end up as a minus to the {Slaughterers} no matter how things fall into place.
Now then, the problem is {Sun.Ray} and Faruergaz and the others. I wonder what everyone will decide to do about it? If it"s not anything too unreasonable then fundamentally I"d like to just {GO} with it right like that. Even in the case things don"t go well as long as Faruergeaz and Hirosukol don"t die as a result of our actions, I"m sure there will be countless chances to recover from it.
What I need to be careful of is wracking my brains over not making a definitive gutter between our potential combat candidates from here on out. And then, making sure that their lives aren"t put at risk as a result of our actions, just these two things.
It was then that I heard a knock on the door. When I opened the door the brat of the inn was there and he came to relay a message to me. It"s from owner of "Slave Store, Ronslail", Madam.Ronslail. It seems they were successfully able to secure Basutoral"s woman. However, the person herself seems uneasy about it. Fu~mu. It seems like there could be some problems just ignoring as well. Even after the brat returned downstairs after giving me the message I stood for a bit holding the door handle while thinking.
Just like that I left the room, went to Zenom"s room and knocked on the door before opening it. Including Miduchi, the seven of them all looked at me.
"Ah, everyone, we"ll be entering the dungeon in three days but.. We"re going to stay inside for 8 days instead of 6. We"ll earn from the 22nd until the 29th. Well, a big week of earning before Golden Week. Is there any problem with that?"
"Yeah, no problem."
Zenom acted as the representative of everyone and responded.
"Got it, then, after that is seven days off. It"s a holiday until May 6th. Starting from the 7th we"ll go back to usual."
"I see. Understood. Is everyone else fine with that?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"I"m heading out for a bit. Also, let me hear what you guys came up with over dinner."
I said that and closed the door.
...............
On my way to "Slave Store, Ronslail" I tried running some calculations. Since we"re exploring the dungeon for 8 days this time, we should be able to earn on the 7th floor for 5 of those days. Recently we"ve been able to defeat an average of about 20 ogres per day. The sale price of an ogres magic stone is roughly just over 800,000 Z (80 silver coins). Well it comes out to earning around 15,000,000 Z (15 gold coins) per day.
And, Basutoral"s remaining debt is 600,000 Z. In four days if there weren"t many ogres then it would be vague but if it"s five days then it should definitely leave some change remaining. The 1st day of next month is pay day but since I"m going to teacher Mila"s place that day I"ll hand them their wages of 200,000 Z the day before.
It seems he"ll be able to pay back his debt to me before Golden Week. Since I"m properly paying him his wages and portion, he was able to earn over 6,000,000 Z in last then half a year, well, I guess I"m willing to give him a pa.s.sing grade.
I opened the door to "Slave Store, Ronslail" and when I called out to the madam who seemed bored as she talked to the head clerk and suddenly the madam changed her expression and offered me a seat.
"Ronslail-san, thank you for contacting me."
"No not at all, since it was a request from our patron Greed-sama after all, we"ll take care of it without missing a thing."
The s.e.xy elf manager is acting as courteously as she can. The more the name of the {Slaughterers} increases the better the reputation of her store gets and it"s not like it costs money so I"m sure she doesn"t regret it no matter how courteous she has to act. I"ve heard that even Rozewela has been using this store since about a year ago. In my case there"s no way I would take being treated courteously badly either.
"It seems that the woman I requested has arrived. However, she"s uneasy or something? I came to talk with her for a bit."
"Thank you very much for coming so quickly. I"ll call her into the back room so please wait for a moment."
The madam said that before ordering the head clerk to prepare the woman in the back.
"Putting that aside, what"s going on with the combat slaves I requested the other day?"
"Yeah, in regards to that but Greed-sama did you know that right now there"s another conflict going on at the Dirt Plains? Yesterday, I was contacted by Benisshu Company in the capital. Currently, though I say that it seems to be from the start of last month but it seems the war prisoners exceeded 30 people. Around summer their transportation and sorting should be finished so they should make it around to us as well. On that occasion I"ll get into contact with you first."
Benisshu company is the name of the largest slave trader that manages the sale of people in Rombert Kingdom. The owner is a person called Count Bennishu and their family has run this Benisshu company through the generations. This Benisshu company exclusively does wholesale and also organizes the slave market but excluding some special exceptions they fundamentally only sell wholesale to other slave merchants. It seems they also stock up outside of the country, they"re a company that deals solely in slaves, and they"re said to be the only company that is in possession of a Type-1 First Variety license which only a few have been issued in the first place.
Or rather, if we were going off of my knowledge their company would be easier to call a semi-government one. Most likely, they"re tied to the government. All of the prisoners that were captured in external conflicts, excluding those of a high social standing where a ransom can be made, pa.s.s through Benisshu company once as combat slaves. After that, they buy only the combat slaves necessary for slave merchants and then resell them. The resale is limited to just slave merchants. Even when it comes to the King"s direct fourth knight group, or the various knight groups of n.o.ble territories and official organizations if they need combat slaves it"s necessary for them to get them through these slave merchants after they"ve been resold.
Also, it"s only natural but they also buy from the slave merchants inside of the country. During that process it"s only obvious they buy other types of slaves then just combat slaves. After all, it"s not saying too much to say they deal in the largest number of slaves in the country. The image might be closest to a wholesale store that always has a huge stock. Naturally, combat slaves should only make up around 10% of their total. The profit margin of each individual slave probably isn"t a lot but since the quant.i.ty they deal in is different, I"m sure they"re profiting.
The combat slave specialty company "Tani Slave Company"..is said to be the only company in Rombert Kingdom that deals exclusively in combat slaves. Though I"ll never go back there again..and then Ronslail Company that runs "Slave Store, Ronslail", and Riggusu Company that runs "Synthesized Slave Shop" the companies that deal in slaves of Baldukk all fundamentally stock up on their combat slaves from this Bennishu Company. Ronslail Company and Riggusu Company deal in slaves other than just combat slaves but even so the rate to stock up from Benisshu Company should be quite high.
In the capital there"s several large companies that deal in wholesale of a single specialty good like this Benisshu Company. I myself want to raise Greed Company into a large whole seller that specializes in rubber products as well. Even if I make my own country it"s still necessary to earn foreign currency and I think it"s important to grasp the circulation of the various products that will be produced in Bakuddo and my territory in the future not just for the sake of taxes but to gain some stable profits as well.
Currently Rozural.Ryogu is registered as the head clerk of Greed Company but this will probably be inherited as an honorable occupation for the squire families that come on business trips from Bakuddo. For convenience sake, Rozural"s wife Wendy.Ryogu is registered as a sales clerk but I intend to exchange her with Yotlen pretty soon. I think around the time the next squire family comes to change shifts with the Ryogu family should be just right? Well, it"s fine even if there"s several head and sales clerks though.
"Well then, shall we go?"
I follow after the madam into the back room and there was a Cat-people wearing some plain clothes standing against the wall. She seems nervous and a bit exhausted.
"She is Catherine.Enforu from Rockfall village."
I nod once to the madam and stood in front of Cathy. So this is Basutoral"s woman huh? Certainly she"s not at the level of an elf but she"s pretty good looking.
"It"s nice to meet you, Enforu-san. My name is Alan.Greed. Bastural..I"m Sajesu.Basutoral"s employer."
"Umm, Sajesu, is Saji safe? Was he really able to become a Free Person?"
She asked me with a face on the verge of crying. I guess it hasn"t been that long since she was purchased. She doesn"t seem have been educated because she"s not offering her hand. Slaves that are used to being sold will hold out their hand for using {Status Open}.
"Yeah, he"s a Free Person. The debt of 5,000,000 Z he owed for that sake as well, he should have it completely paid off by the end of this month."
While Cathy was at a lost for words hearing that I turned around to face the madam and asked.
"Ronslail-san. What"s her current price?"
"..Since we promised to try and get it as cheap as possible, 1,600,000 Z is fine."
Ho~ That"s a good number. Certainly if it"s that price then they probably only made back the expenses on her.
"I think that he"ll only be able to come and buy her after we enter June at the fastest. No matter what please don"t sell her to anyone other than Sajesu.Basutoral."
"Yes, that only natural."
I nod and then turned around to Cathy again.
"Your hand."
"Eh?"
"Please let me confirm your status. I"ll confirm if you"re really Catherine.Enforu."
"Ah, yes. I"m sorry."
Just in case I used Identify to check it. Her age is 17 and there"s no mistake on the name either. Since there"s no reason for Ronslail to deceive me over something like this it"s only proper to think she"s the actual person.
"Enforu-san. I really want to let you meet Basutoral but please endure for another 1-2 months. Right now he"s risking his life daily as an adventurer in Baldukk to earn money. However, the fact that he"s still a newcomer is undeniable. The monsters in the dungeon are frightening and even just a bit of negligence or impatience could cost him his life. Right now, if I were to let Basutoral meet you, since he"s still inexperienced he"ll definitely try to hurry and earn money faster."
".."
Cathy had tears building up in her eyes as she glared at me.
"If he hurries he might get seriously injured. If he"s careless then it"s possible he might even lose his life. That"s why, unfortunately I can"t let you meet him yet. At the very least, until he"s earned enough money to buy you I don"t want him to get impatient. I"m very sorry but please endure for another 1-2 months."
".."
In some ways it"s a cruel declaration. However, I have no relation or connection with this Cathy. Rather than her feelings, Basutoral"s life and growth are important.
"However, if you see his face and energetic appearance then I"m sure you would be able to relax a bit as well. Tomorrow morning, around dawn, he"ll be running in front of this store together with us. If you don"t call out to him and remain hidden then I"ll let you see his appearance."
When I said that I shifted my glance from Cathy to Ronslail.
"Ronslail-san. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow in the morning, if she wishes, could you please let her watch the road in front of the store from the second floor. However, make sure it"s from further inside so she can"t be seen from the window."
"I understand, Greed-sama."
I nodded at Ronslail and finally called out to Cathy.
"Well then, Enforu-san. Please stay healthy. Make sure you properly eat what you can. If you were to get sick then it would cost money for you to recover. Obviously that portion would be added to your price. If you don"t want to increase the burden on Basutoral anymore than this then please be careful to stay as healthy as possible."
I excused myself from Ronslail"s store.
After all money is definitely necessary but if they want it then it"s necessary to give them women as well.
Ah, it"s not like I"m granting her to him or anything like that so the meaning is completely different.
..............
We decided to eat dinner at the usual "Murowa". We occupied some tables in the back of the store and each enjoyed our own food and drink and when everyone had arrived I decided to ask about Faruergaz and the others, no, how they plan to deal with {Sun.Ray}.
"Al-san, we"ve decided on the rough plan so please listen."
Toris started speaking.
"Yeah, I guess so. Let me hear it."
...
.....
...........
"Got it. Then, I"ll leave this matter to you Toris. But, it"s not like it"s necessary to hurry with it so don"t go too far with it and do anything too severe."
"Of course."
I"m a bit curious about how Ralpha and Bel are saying something but well it"s fine. If it"s Bel then I"m sure she can make good use of Ralpha and she"ll make sure it doesn"t cause any problems to fall on me as well.
In the first place, since even Miduchi is helping them, and there"s Zenom as well. Thinks shouldn"t get too crazy.
Even if things do end up crazy then I"ll just have to reflect on and make use of that from here on out I guess?