by Roy
“May I appraise it?”
“Of course.”
Serge appraised it before turning to Reinhart with a slightly disappointed slump in his shoulders.
“It’s a fine item, but... to be honest, it looks like your average iron ingot to me.”
“Then take a look at this ingot instead.”
Sebas took out the other ingot (of the highest iron purity) and passed it to Serge.
“Is this aluminum? But this weight is... Allow me to inspect it.”
The moment he said that and used Appraisal, his jaw dropped at the results. He tried to pull himself together, but he was sweating profusely in clear discomposure.
“Lord Reinhart, this ingot is...”
“Amazing, right? Don’t you think riots would start if this was sold?”
“Naturally so. This sheen that could be mistaken for silver... It would be clear to anyone that it is unlike any pre-existing item. Some would even try to pry into its production.”
“And that’s what the ingot from earlier is for. That one had been modified from an ingot like the one in your hands to make it similar to existing ingots.”
Serge nodded in understanding.
“I understand the circumstances, but that would make it nothing more than regular iron. It won’t gather much attention; will that be okay?”
“That would be fine. We wish to sell this ingot lawfully but with secrecy. This ingot was sourced from the mines, but it isn’t as though new veins were discovered.”
“I see. So you wish to include that and keep its production a secret while selling the completed ingots, is that correct?”
“Exactly. To be more precise, I’d like it to be exported to other kingdoms. Selling it within the kingdom would require stating its place of origin, but exports only need to state the kingdom, yes?”
“Yes. That won’t be an issue.”
That was all that was needed for an all-clear?! Really?!
“Also, bringing the ingots here also serves to keep the creator’s identity a secret. I’m asking this of you because I trust you, Serge.”
“Thank you kindly.”
“Now, as for the creator... These three items were all developed by the same person.”
Oh, that’s not the point you should be surprised about. I was about to be introduced.
“These three wonderful items were all made by the same person?”
Reinhart grinned at Serge’s response and said, “That’s right. The one who created these was Ryoma over here.”
The moment those words left Reinhart’s lips, Serge was stunned into looking between Reinhart and I with wide eyes.
“What did you just say...?”
“Ryoma over here was the inventor of these items. It may be hard to believe, but it’s the truth.”
“Did you really make these things, Master Takebayashi?”
“Yes, I did.”
“It’s true. I’d like you to keep this a secret... But despite his young age, Ryoma is both an excellent researcher and alchemist.”
Serge’s expression seemed to look a little dubious the moment he heard the word alchemist... I guess alchemists were really untrustworthy...
“I understand your doubts, but he created this ingot before my very own eyes. He isn’t a scammer.”
“In front of Lord Reinhart’s very own eyes... Could I ask to witness the process as well?”
Oh, despite his suspicions, he was willing to confirm the truth before brushing me aside. Well, I was brought here by the duke himself... I didn’t have much magical energy left, but I’d have to do what I could.
“I’ve used a little too much magical energy today, so would something small suffice?”
“In that case, my store has magic replenishing potions in stock, so feel free to use them. Since this is at my request, it’s the least I can offer.”
Huh, really? I could have them? Then there shouldn’t be an issue.
“Then, could I have two sheets of paper and a writing utensil along with the potion? I need them for the magic circle.”
Serge called his servant once again to retrieve the potion, pen and paper.
“Will this do?”
“That’s perfect. Thank you.”
I thanked him and drew two simple magic circles on the papers before taking 5 bricks of red dirt out of my Item Box.
“This is dirt from the mines, hardened by earth magic. It will act as the base material, so please check for yourself.”
Serge immediately used Appraisal on it.
“Indeed, that is what it is.”
“Now, please make sure you don’t place any body parts into the magic circle while I work. It’s very dangerous. I shall begin now.”
I passed magic energy through the circles and watched them light up, quickly making an iron ingot before handing it over.
“Please inspect it.”
Serge, whose eyes had been as round as plates the whole time I worked, accepted the ingot and appraised it. The next moment, he leaped up from the sofa.
“Please accept my deepest apologies!”
He bowed deeply with respectful elegance.
“No, no, not at all! Please raise your head, there’s no need for this. I know people can be wary of alchemists, so your reaction was better than the average person already!”
Despite having the Jamil family’s support, I was still a child. Being apologized to so sincerely by someone above me just didn’t feel right.
If he had brushed me off or expressed his suspicions through negative words and actions, I would have been able to treat him like my previous boss in a business relationship...
“I’m grateful for your words. I didn’t expect a true alchemist to be here... May I ask if you’re actually an older age than you appear?”
...Huh? ...N-No way... How did he know?!
“Wh-What are you talking about?”
“I’ve heard that true alchemists can create elixirs of immortality and rejuvenation. I always believed they were lies to propel their scams, but if you’re a real alchemist, then...”
“I cannot.”
Oh, so that’s what he meant. Had me scared for a second there.
I displayed my age on my status board.
“I cannot make any elixirs of life or eternal youth. There may be people who can, but it’s impossible for me. The most I can do is gather the iron in dirt like this and turn it into ingots.”
“I see. I apologize for my assumptions.”
That was when Reinhart joined our conversation.
“Now that you believe Ryoma’s a real alchemist, let’s continue the discussion. As you can see, Ryoma is remarkably able and knowledgeable, and that allows him to make the ingots and waterproof fabric. However, if anyone finds out about his identity as an alchemist, he’d be lumped in with all the other scammers. Furthermore, even if he’s recognized for his abilities, his young age will just be looked down upon; there’ll be those who try to take advantage of that. That is where I’d like you to step in to buy Ryoma’s products at a fair price, Serge. Without publicizing Ryoma as the seller, that is.”
“Understood. That would be a piece of cake.”
“Ryoma, Serge is a merchant you can trust. If you ever want to sell anything, bring it to this store. It’ll be safe to do your shopping here too.”
“I understand, thank you very much. I look forward to working with you, Mr. Serge.”
“Same here. We will be waiting for Master Ryoma’s visits.”
“Also, Ryoma? You can use as much dirt from the mines as you wish. You can feed them to your slimes and make ingots for money.”
“Are you sure? The profits for you would not be...”
“It’s an abandoned mine to begin with, so we never expected any profits anyway. And if you sell your ingots to Serge, we’ll profit from the tax. Either way, it won’t be a loss to us. The waterproof fabric is predicted to sell well too. You can drop any fabric you make at this store, or any other Morgan Tradin
g Company branch store. Does that sound good, Serge?”
“Yes, that won’t be a problem. If Master Ryoma provides his address, I can also arrange for everything to be conducted under utmost secrecy from the closest branch store.”
While I was grateful for that, weren’t they being a little too nice?
After that, I told a surprised Serge about how I lived in a forest and we decided that I could inform him of my residence after I decided whether I would return there. For the time being, I would use this store while in town. If I was to return to the forest, I could drop the waterproof fabrics off at the branch store in the duke’s hometown of Gaunago.
I didn’t know how to thank them enough for their kindness... For now, I’d make as much string and ingots as possible while I was in town. If I spent two days crafting with the intent of emptying all my magical energy, I should be able to make a fair amount... Serge had given me a large number of magic replenishing potions as an apology for doubting me anyway.
At any rate, I was glad to have a safe place to sell things. Plus, Serge said I was welcome to drop by for anything. I doubted he would treat me as a fraud.
With everything wrapped up, Serge and his female servant saw us off and we returned to the inn.
Chapter 2 Episode 8: Large-Scale Extermination Request
The next day.
Eliaria was apparently heading back to the mines to practice over everything she learned yesterday.
As for me, Reinbach asked me to accept the monster subjugation request for the mines that was sent to the Adventurer’s Guild today. Eliaria wanted to go with me, but Reinbach and Elise were opposed to that.
What they learned for themselves yesterday was the difference in experience between Eliaria and myself. The large gap in our actual combat abilities, too. On top of it being inefficient in terms of subjugation, there was also the chance the young miss would rely on me too much.
I suppose I did have trouble saying no to her...
And so, I went to the guild, where I was promptly summoned to the guildmaster’s office.
“You’re here, Ryoma.”
“You called for me?”
“It’s nothing much. The duke’s butler came by just now and put in a monster subjugation request for tomorrow. I’d just like to confirm something about that. Did you go to the mines yesterday?”
“I did.”
“Tell me what monsters appeared there. And also the condition of the mines. I’ve asked the butler for this too, but I’d like to gather as much information as possible.”
“I see. I encountered cave mantis, cave bats, and small rats, while Lady Eliaria defeated a slime. There were also metal slimes inside the mines. The mines felt like they had been abandoned for a while; there were weeds everywhere. But the mineshaft I entered felt like it was built properly, and I didn’t hear about loose foundations or cave-ins anywhere else either.”
“Then it sounds like G ranks can take on the job without problem. So there were metal slimes too, huh?”
“Yes. I was acting separately at the time, but they captured it for me as a present. I formed a contract with it.”
“Oh yeah, I heard you collect all kinds of slimes. Something like over a thousand?”
“That is correct. I currently have 728 sticky slimes, 323 poison slimes, 211 acid slimes, 11 cleaner slimes, 3033 scavenger slimes, 2 healing slimes, 1 metal slime, and 1 regular slime for a total of 4310 slimes.”
“That’s way too many.”
The guildmaster must have expected a smaller number, as he had a rather strained smile on his face.
“The scavenger slimes increased to this number in the incident the other day. Because of that, they split several times in a short time and passed 3000. Slimes can practically survive off nothing but water so they’re easy to feed, but if they had been another monster I would have been desperate for food right about now.”
“I see... Oh, that’s right. There’s another request to clean the toilet pits. Please take it if you have the time.”
I didn’t mind that since I hadn’t decided on today’s work yet, but wasn’t it a bit early?
“It’s only been a few days since the last one, though?”
“The last request went unattended for so long, we don’t know when the next one will be fulfilled! ...is apparently what they’re thinking. It also came with a threat to send all the complaints our way if we left it sitting for too long. The public office couldn’t sway the guys in the slum in the end. Several employees were told ‘deal with it,’ but they’re the same guys that have been slacking until now. Their work just can’t live up to yours.”
“I see... Got it. How many are there?”
“Thirty cubicles in total. Can you do them all?”
“My slimes have sped up a lot since last time, so if I use the entire day... there should be less to clean than last time too.”
“Then I entrust them all to you. The guys from the town are a pain.”
“Understood. Oh, what about the procedures for the monster subjugation?”
“It’s fine. You can do the procedures for that after you come back today. There’s no limit to the number of participants, and I’ll put in a word for you.”
“All right, then. Ah, is it possible to buy the monsters from the subjugation tomorrow? I could use any kills that don’t have material use as food for my slimes.”
“If it doesn’t seem like it’s worth any other value or use, go ahead.”
“Thank you very much!”
I rejoiced at the ready agreement I received as I put the guildmaster’s office behind me and headed to the same receptionist lady as last time to go through the job procedures. I figured I shouldn’t call her the receptionist forever, so I asked for her name and found out it was Maylene.
Furthermore, I also found out that 20 completed jobs was the requirement to advance from G rank to F rank, so the 30 toilet pits I cleaned out last time meant I had fulfilled that. Which meant that from today onwards, I would be treated as an F-rank adventurer.
Incidentally, the advancement requirement to E rank was 30 jobs and 1 monster subjugation. The 10 extra jobs from the previous rank plus today’s share would mean I would be an E rank adventurer right after the monster subjugation.
When I asked Maylene whether moving one rank a day was too fast, she answered, “While it certainly seems faster than usual, the monster subjugations up to E rank are all weak monsters that most adults can handle with ease, and the job requests can be completed by anyone. That’s why these ranks are more of an observation period for the guild. We look at the jobs you take, your success rate, and the frequency that you accept them to see who’s more likely to abandon their job or who only takes a job every now and then but makes sure to do it properly. As long as you take it seriously, the requirements are barely an issue. In that regard, you’ve never failed a single job and have received nothing but praise so far, so there’s no issue here.”
So that was that. As I was relieved to hear that I was doing well, I heard a soft mumble just as I was leaving the reception desk.
“Honestly, if only more newcomers were like you... It would be so much more productive if they took on the easy jobs instead of pushing and failing at harder requests...”
Her mutters lingered in my ear.
So it seemed like newbie adventurers normally hated doing odd jobs... Which made sense if they were hot-headed youths. I should take on jobs every now and then to live up to their faith in me.
With that decided, I headed for today’s job.
■ ■ ■
The next day.
The second round of toilet pit cleaning ended without issue, after which I turned in early for the night and woke with time to spare today. The time was 5 in the morning.
After I finished all my morning routines, I still had time to spare. It didn’t take much time for a man to prepare in the morning anyway. I spent the time feeding my slimes before leisurely heading out of the inn to the Adventu
rer’s Guild. A huge crowd of adventurers were gathered in front of the guild, along with several horse carriages on the road.
“There’s a lot more than I expected...”
All the carriages in front of the guild were for transporting the adventurers to the subjugation request. I had heard I could get a free ride if I arrived at the guild before 8, but I hadn’t imagined there would be this many people.
If it was too crowded, perhaps I should run there as a morning jog instead? The official meetup time was in front of the mines at 11 or so...
Just as I was pondering what to do, a voice called from far away.
“Hey! Ryoma!”
“Huh? Ah, Jeff!”
The one who had called me was Jeff. Upon further inspection, Leipin and Sher were with him too.
“Good morning, Jeff, Leipin, Sher.”
“Yo, morning.”
“Good morning, Ryoma.”
“Greetings, Ryoma. So you took on this job too.”
“Yes, did everyone here take it too?”
“We were nominated by the old man. The request this time should be a safe G rank one, but we’re participating just in case some large monster appears. Miya and Asagi are coming too. Though they’ve gone ahead.”
“There’ve been large jobs like this before, but the participant numbers this time are especially great...”
“That can’t be helped. The monsters in the mines are all easy targets, even for G rankers. The job request came from the lord of the domain himself, so the reward is already decent to begin with, but there’s even a bonus reward for bringing the monster corpses back. For low ranked adventurers, there’s no better time to earn money than this.”
“But I wonder who would even want to pay for these monster corpses? From what I saw on the confirmed monster list, they’re all small fry with no harvestable parts.”
“The number of monsters from a subjugation like this is way more than you would need for research, too. It only seems to be beneficial for us, so I must admit I am most curious.”
“No, they’re not being used for anything impressive. They’re just to feed familiars.”
“Ryoma, do you know something?”
“Well yes, I’m the one buying the monster corpses.”