by Funa
That’s why I decided to go visit my supplier, taking Layette and Francette with me.
Roland said he was writing a letter to let his family know that he’d stayed safe during his travels... Wait, he was writing to the king! He was telling him about me, wasn’t he?!
It wasn’t like I was using my powers to make all of my wares. In fact, I had limited myself to using my powers exclusively for products I really wanted but was unable to get through normal means. Yes, I was buying most of my standard wares at other stores.
I still had plenty of money from what I had earned in Balmore, and I didn’t want to disrupt the laws of the universe here... Though, I guess it was a bit too late for that. Anyway, this store was one of the places where I stocked up on general goods. It was a wholesale store, and it stocked a few interesting items once in a while, so I had to check in from time to time.
“How about this one? It’s a specialty item from the faraway land of Aligot: a doll of the angel with scary-looking eyes.”
“No, I don’t want that!”
“If you collect all six, you’ll be blessed by the angel with scary eyes...”
“Shut iiit!!!”
“Have you heard any other interesting things?”
My next stop was the Commerce Guild. As a merchant, I had to keep an ear open for news at all times.
“You were just here yesterday, Miss Kaoru... It’s unusual to come by every day, you know. If we get any urgent news or information that could greatly affect business, we’ll send a runner to alert the guild members.”
But I was bored! So bored! I needed to do something to keep me occupied! It seemed that having a lot of free time had its disadvantages. It’d been nearly five years and my corporate slave mentality still hadn’t left me! Damn it...
I was lying around at home a lot back in Balmore when I lived with the Eyes of the Goddess, but with all the potion stuff, development of new products with the Abili Trade Company, providing sailing technology to the Aligot Empire, and dealing with other countries, I had kept pretty busy...
Anyway, it was time for my evening shift.
Finding myself bored each day, I was beginning to wonder if I had made a mistake. I had done all that yearning for a safe and peaceful life, sure, but once it became a reality, it was just so unexciting. And to be honest, I wasn’t in that big of a rush to get married either. If I wasn’t going to get any older, maybe I could travel the world and enjoy myself for a while. At least for a little while longer, I could live how I pleased... I could always settle down somewhere and have kids later...
I was daydreaming thoughts like those, when...
“Excuse me, do you have any hemort seeds?”
Hemort? I’d never heard of it, but it must come from a plant, considering that it’s a seed. The girl was around 16-17 years old, with a look of half-desperation and half-resignation. She was considered an adult by this world’s standards, but seeing the young girl’s face, a thought crossed my still-hazy mind.
How can I call this a “convenience store” if I can’t provide a customer with something they really need?
My mind had been up in the clouds for so long, it took awhile for the cogs in my head to start turning. So, I decided to just hurry up and give her what she wanted.
...A double-layered container with a potion in the bottom half and hemort seeds in the top half!
I made a container appear in my hand under the counter, then I placed it on the counter.
“Here you go, hemort seeds.”
I didn’t know what kind of plant a hemort was, but this would probably do. I had to believe in the Goddess’s factory. The seed looked like a soybean, but I figured it was completely different. There were about 20 of them.
I couldn’t give her the healing potion, so I only gave her the contents of the top half of the container.
How much should I charge her...
“Wh-Whaaat? T-They really are hemort seeds...”
She was flabbergasted. I thought that’s what she wanted?
“I-I didn’t think you’d actually have them...”
It seemed she wasn’t expecting much in the first place. Don’t take the “convenience store” lightly.
It’s just a vegetable seed...
Though, to be fair, I didn’t actually have it in stock.
Well, it was almost time for the first night bell, so the other stores had been closed for a while already. Maybe she was a farmer’s daughter, and she was going back to the country tonight or first thing in the morning.
“Th-Then, do you have a mortgul fruit or a kurcul leaf?
Hmm, maybe pulling everything out from under the counter would be a bit suspicious.
“One moment, please.”
With that, I went into the storage room, which was about the size of a closet...
“Double-layered containers with healing potions in the bottom compartment, with a mortgul fruit in the top layer of one container and a kurcul leaf in the other!”
It struck me that the mortgul fruit thing could’ve been the size of a watermelon, coconut, or durian...but it was only the size of a piece of gum.
Whew!
I removed the upper compartment of each container and brought them over to the counter.
“Here you go, a mortgul fruit and a kurcul leaf.”
Huh? She’s not moving...
“Wh-Wh-Wha...”
The girl was stricken with even greater shock than earlier, before finally coming back to reality.
“Wh-Why is this heeere?!”
What kind of question was that...?
“Because we’re a convenience store!”
Yes, this was the only answer I could give in this situation. This shop is convenient, hence the name.
Even if the other shops were closed, and regardless of the fact that we weren’t a specialty seed store... We sell that stuff here, and that’s why we’re so convenient! Muahahaha!
“So, h-how much will it be...?”
Oh. This was bad. I didn’t know the market price. But it was just a vegetable seed, a small fruit, and a leaf. How pricey could it possibly be?
If a customer thought I was trying to rip them off, it could destroy my business. So...
“That will be six small silver coins.”
Yeah, that should do it.
Two small silver coins each, equivalent to about 600 Japanese yen. That shouldn’t be too much.
Why did she look like it was the end of the world? Was six small silver coins really so much? Did she actually come shopping without 600 yen worth of money?!
“I-I’m sorry, I don’t have quite enough on me right now, but I’ll definitely be back tomorrow! So please, accept this as payment for now!”
With that, the girl removed the pendant around her neck and gently placed it on the counter.
...Wait, this was definitely worth more than six small silver coins. In fact, its value was probably off by two, no, maybe even three digits...
But seriously, why was she running around town trying to do emergency shopping without even six small silver coins on her?
Oh, while I was standing there in shock, the girl had shoved the three containers into her pocket and ran off.
This wasn’t theft... was it? Maybe she took my silence as acceptance. Like that saying, “If you have no objections, answer with silence.” Or maybe she was in such a hurry that she couldn’t even wait for an answer...
Oh well, it wasn’t a big deal. She would likely be back tomorrow to retrieve the pendant, hopefully with six small silver coins this time...
＊ ＊
“Excuse me!”
“You are not excused!”
“Wha...?” a girl and an old man said as they stood in the entrance, mouths agape.
“Oh, uh, never mind! Welcome!”
The pendant girl from yesterday and an elderly man with a white beard entered the shop.
“I am Oredeim, an apothecary. I understand this girl visited your establishmen
t yesterday. I would like to purchase her pendant back from you. That was her late mother’s keepsake...”
What the heck, why was he looking at me like I was the bad guy?! She was the one who left it because she couldn’t pay six measly small silver coins...
In any case, I took the pendant from under the counter and placed it on the counter. Seeing this, the old man produced a pouch from his chest pocket and reached into it for some coins.
“I understand this is business, but to take advantage of her like this...” he said, placing the six coins on the counter.
Huh? Did he really go that far over six small silver coins? The glass containers that held the seeds and leaves cost more than that... Wait, hold up!
“What is this?! You’ve got some nerve trying to pawn off counterfeit money, geezer!”
“Huh?”
“Whaa?”
A guy like this deserved to be called a geezer... The girl was brazenly acting as if she was surprised, but even I knew the currency of this country, foreigner or not. It wasn’t as if I had just opened up yesterday.
So, it was glaringly obvious that the objects on the table weren’t small silver coins... And it goes without saying that they weren’t silver coins, gold coins, or small gold coins either.
“If you can’t even pay six small silver coins, fine. Just take that and go. I don’t want you stepping foot in this shop again. You’re banned!”
With that, I pushed the pendant and counterfeit coins on the table toward them.
“Whaaaaaat?!” they yelled in unison.
What were they so surprised about? They couldn’t have expected to fool me with those fake coins...
Then, looking a bit shaken, the geezer said, “Umm... Those are mithril coins, not counterfeit small silver coins...”
Wha?
He explained that the 6 coins here were “mithril coins,” and as the name implied, they were coins mainly made of mithril, with each one being worth 10 gold coins.
...Which made each one equivalent to about a million Japanese yen.
I mean, I knew of the existence of mithril coins. But I’d never actually seen one in person. It wasn’t used by the commoners, and I heard that they were only really used among the nobility, or in religious ceremonies.
It wasn’t that they were particularly hard to acquire, but most people only needed to use gold coins. Mithril coins were hard to use because of their high value, and since they weren’t commonly seen, most people didn’t have the ability to discern between real ones and fakes. So, you’d normally use 60 gold coins rather than 6 mithril coins.
60 gold coins wouldn’t even weigh 500 grams, and they weren’t particularly cumbersome to carry around. They assumed I had asked for 6 mithril coins, so they went through the trouble of exchanging 60 gold coins for 6 mithril ones.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, waaait! How the heck did 600 yen turn into 6,000,000 yen?!
Th-This was bad... My hands were shaking... Oh no, I accidentally hit the hand bell for calling Francette and Emile, and it fell to the floor...
“You will pay for your crimes with your blood, scoundrel!”
Francette and Emile’s blades were pressed against the old man’s neck. At the same time, Roland’s sword and Belle’s knife were held to the girl’s neck. They were completely frozen in place, faces pale and sweat erupting from their faces.
＊ ＊
“...So, when I said ‘six small silver coins,’ you thought I meant ‘six mithril coins,’ and tried to pay that amount.”
“Th-That’s right!”
Afterwards, I hurriedly got everyone to put their weapons away, switched the “Open” sign to “Be Back Soon,” then took everyone upstairs. I gave the pendant and mithril coins back to the little girl and the old man, respectively, for now. And after I had questioned them, the girl began to explain her situation, with desperation in her expression.
“But there’s no way hemort seeds, mortgul fruits, and kurcul leaves could be bought for six small silver coins! This time of year, even low-quality varieties would cost twenty gold coins, and could be up to forty gold coins if they were of high quality! How could I not think you meant mithril coins when you mumbled six silver coins?!”
“Indeed, I would have assumed that she was a crooked merchant, and was trying to take advantage of you, if that was the case. That is a million times more likely than believing some mad merchant put an absurd price like six small silver coins on such rare items!”
The girl and old man took turns making their point.
Hearing this, Roland and Francette held their heads in their hands.
Then, staying in that position, Francette let out a groan and asked, “Umm... Kaoru, do you know what hemort seeds, mortgul fruits, and kurcul leaves are used for, where and when they’re produced, or their market prices?”
“... No...”
The old man immediately took out his pouch, pulled out six small silver coins, then placed them on the table.
“Well, we’ll be heading out now!”
With that, he took the bewildered girl by her arm and rose, preparing to leave.
“Now hold on just a minute!” Francette, Roland, and I cried out, raising our voices all at once.
They were used to this reaction by now...
And so we stopped the old man and the girl from leaving the six silver coins and taking off.
“I paid the price you asked for. I see no problem here!”
I couldn’t argue with that...
“I asked for your price, and paid appropriately. Are you telling me this shop is in the habit of raising its prices after selling its products and then charging additional fees to its customers?”
“Uuu...” we all moaned, quietly.
A valid point. I just needed some tea to calm myself down. It would have to be ceylon tea, of course... Wait, shut up!
“But that’s a bit too...”
“It’s fine, Fran,” I stopped Francette as she began to retort.
Then...
“You’re absolutely right. This was a business transaction, after all.”
“Y-Yes, exactly. I’m glad you seem to understand...”
The old man seemed to calm down a bit upon seeing my smiling face. Oredeim the apothecary, was it?
“So, I’ll just take the six small silver coins, as per the price I quoted originally. But since I won’t be able to explain the sale at such a price to my supplier, and because I want to avoid a situation in which you ask for the same price again, or even others who have heard about this incident requesting the same thing, I will have to return all of my remaining plant-based ingredients and stop carrying them altogether. Therefore, if anyone comes in requesting such products from here on, I will have to refuse the sale, after explaining what transpired here in great detail.”
“What?!”
Yes, this was convenient for me too. This way, I could avoid this place being known as a shop that carries valuable ingredients and sells them for dirt cheap. I was glad the old man decided to take up the attitude he did. My overhead cost for those items was zero anyway, so it wasn’t like my wallet was going to suffer.
“You still have remaining stock?!”
...Huh? That’s what he was concerned about? I thought he would change his mind and want to pay the six mithril coins instead. Don’t tell me he planned on buying up the rest for cheap, too... What if he started claiming, ‘You said they were six silver coins!’?
Oh man... No way would I put up with that. But saying there was still remaining stock was my critical mistake. How could I get through this...
Then, all at once, I had it.
“Of course, it’s not here, at this particular moment. The stock is stored in a different building, one that has the appropriate humidity and temperature. The seeds may be fine for dry storage, but fruits and leaves are delicate, after all. Normal vegetables, seeds, and fruits are also stored there, so when I ordered products in bulk, some expensive ones must have been mixed in with
my order. The person I put in charge of ordering and separating the products must have made a mistake, and since I don’t have in-depth knowledge of such goods, well... Assuming they were common products, I priced them on a whim, which was my mistake... Anyway, I’ll be returning everything in the storage area too, so those items won’t be stocked here in the future.”
There, that just explained why I don’t have stock here, and why the price ended up being so ridiculous the last time. Peace at my shop had been preserved!
“Wha... Th-Then, you won’t be restocking...?”
“I will not. Besides, I wouldn’t want to continue selling high-priced items to a customer who demands to buy those goods at an absurdly cheap price, fully aware that it was the result of a pricing error. It’s far too risky for me, considering that you could use some careless mistake or comment as a lever to make another such purchase, losing us dozens of gold coins in the process. Honestly, it’s hard to believe that you’ve taken up such an exploitative attitude with us if you intended on doing business with us in the future. What, did you think I’m an idiot?”
Well... I mean, I was pretty aloof and stupid that first time...
“What?! But I didn’t think you had more stock...”
“So you took advantage of my mistake and tried to buy it for one-ten-thousandth of the market price, right? You got it for the price you wanted. Congratulations. While you only had to give up a small amount of money for this sale, you also lost the most crucial element for anyone who deals with other people on a regular basis: confidence and trust. But I’m sure you’re well aware of that.”
The old man seemed quite flustered.
For me, though, I had to avoid people thinking that this shop had valuable goods for sale at all costs, so I had to make it clear that those items would never be available here again. It wasn’t as if the old man was losing access to something he had been getting here regularly, anyway. He just so happened to acquire something that was already hard to get. I’m sure it wasn’t a big deal if he continued to have trouble finding it, and even if it was an issue, it wasn’t one that concerned me.