By the Grace of the Gods: Volume 2

by Roy

  “I’d like to hear the details myself, if it’s that good of an idea.”

  Serge sent me a smiling look. It should be safe to tell these two, but I’ll leave it to Serge in case I say anything wrong. As the explanation continued, their reactions gradually changed from surprise to understanding, eventually turning into laughter.

  “Heehee! Living a long life sure brings about some interesting sights! Ryoma, you’ve come up with something great here. Who would have imagined a slime could have such use? And a new species of slime, at that. This is a good omen for sure.”

  “Damn straight. If ya could pull that off, ya’d be makin’ ’er rain. The guild would really start t’stir shit up if ya didn’t register. For such a ripe young lad as yerself, ya sure got some interestin’ plans fer business. Gods bless ya.”

  For some reason, Pioro started praying in my direction. What was this person doing?

  “You don’t have to pay Pioro any attention. He’s always doing that when he meets someone with a good plan for profits.”

  “Luck’s somethin’ only the gods can give ya. I see someone ’bout ta stir up some mad bank, I gotta show my gratitude, d’ya not agree?”

  I guess I could understand.

  “I figger I’ve got enough feelin’s of surprise fer th’next 8 years. But yeah, that sorta business’d be a long shot fer me. Puttin’ the idea aside, a laundry service ain’t gonna make no profits without that slime. Only you could git ’er done. So buck up, lad, I’m sure yer gonna do fine.”

  “I’ve taken a liking to you. Nothing usually shakes me anymore in my old age, but... You have promise, so come visit me every now and then. I’ll serve tea and snacks, and listen to anything you have to say.”

  “Thank you. I’ll do my best.”

  “Then next, let’s decide your store location. Guildmaster, if you would, please.”

  “Good grief, Serge, treat your elders more kindly. Pioro, bring me the documents on the left bookcase. Top shelf, second from the right.”

  “Treat kindly, me foot! Cain’t ya go get it yerself?!”

  “Just go and get it.”

  “All right, all right... What, ain’t this the document with all them defective buildings? Ryoma’s store’s got big potential, couldn’t ya put ’im somewhere slightly better? I’d be willin’ ta throw some funds in if he needs ’em too.”

  “You fool, Serge has already said the boy is oddly earnest. Even if you offer him money, he’d just turn it down.”

  I’ve been completely read through in such a short time, huh. I have been called overly serious and foolishly honest in the past, though. And I don’t want to start a store with other people’s money. Debts shouldn’t be made lightly, and I had no intention of going that far to start my store.

  The observation senses of a merchant were scary... There was something to fear in soft power.

  “Now, as Pioro said, this stack of documents is a collection of buildings that are defective in some way. But that makes them that much cheaper, and very strictly speaking, you only need a place for a reception and storage, right?”

  “Yes. The work will all be done by slimes, so I don’t need a water source either.”

  “Normally if you heard someone was doing a laundry service with no need for water you’d wonder if they were just messing about, but... How much coin have you got prepared?”

  “I have 700 small gold coins.”

  “That’s more than expected.”

  “There were bandits near my old residence, and I defeated them with poison. Apparently, they had high bounties on their heads.”

  “If you have that much, then... Guildmaster. There was an empty lot near my store; how about that?”

  “Let’s see... there certainly was one...”

  The guildmaster shuffled through the documents.

  “Ah, here it is. It’s in a spot facing the residential area. There was a large pub and inn, and a warehouse for storage, so the location’s good. However, the inn caught on fire and over half the building turned to ash. It’s overgrown and unusable right now. If you want to use it, you’d have to demolish the previous building and prepare the land for rebuilding. It’s leftover land no one wants to buy because of the time and money investment involved. There are no flaws other than the building and land preparation, but what do you think?”

  “I’ve heard that you are a very skilled earth magician. This spot is large and will allow you to build as you please.”

  There was a certain charm to being able to build how I liked.

  “If you can use earth magic, would you be able to fix something up with time?”

  “Let me think...”

  If I used earth magic like Create Block, then used the hardening solution of my sticky slimes... Yeah, it could work.

  “I can. Looking at this map, it really is a good location, so close to the residential area.”

  Gimul was a town that was surrounded by a sturdy wall elliptically long from north to south.

  A large road cut straight through the center of the town, connecting the north gate to the south gate. The east was the residential area, while the west was the industrial area for ironworks and things.

  There were many inns near the south gate, and the inn I was staying at was at the south too.

  Because the north gate led to the mines (the abandoned mine), it wasn’t really used by anyone other than mine workers. I had heard it hadn’t been used much since the mines were abandoned.

  There was a road to more mines from the east gate too, and these mines weren’t abandoned. The residential area had been prepared in the east to make it easier for the miners to travel to work.

  The building I had been introduced to just now was pretty much directly east of the center of town, right between the residential area and the main street. It was close to both the residential area and the Adventurer’s Guild, and while the industrial area to the west was slightly further, the path there was simple. It really was the best possible location.

  When I voiced my thoughts out loud, the guildmaster agreed.

  “That’s right. That’s why this used to be a popular pub too. Lots of people used to gather there, like adventurers and residents on their way home. Even now, it’ll attract people if you open it up there, but you’ll need the funds to do so.”

  “I see... then I’ll take that one.”

  Honestly, I didn’t know much about location, but I couldn’t imagine this was a bad one. It had the benefit of being close to the residential area and the Adventurer’s Guild, and the appeal of building it how I wished. I was here at Serge’s recommendation, and the guildmaster and Pioro seemed like nice people. I should be able to trust them.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. I have no complaints about the location, and I should be able to do something about the demolishing, preparation, and reconstruction of the building with my magic and slime familiars. More than anything, I’m interested in the idea of building my own store from scratch.”

  “Like I said before, this place will be fairly expensive. It costs 580 small gold coins. And because the area is so large, the land tax will cost 10 small golds, and 60 small golds for the business license and yearly fees. It’ll be a total of 650, are you sure?”

  “That’s no problem. I have some leeway in my living expenses.”

  “True, you’d be able to live like a noble or better for the rest of the year on 50 small golds alone... All right, this land is now yours, Ryoma. Also, I forgot to mention earlier, but the business license is only charged once at registration, while the land tax is doubled when buying. From next year onwards you’ll only need to pay 5 small golds in annual land tax. Make sure you get it right.”

  “I understand. Thank you very much.”

  They told me several things after that, but it didn’t seem like being a store owner in this world was that hard. All you have to do is buy land or a building from the guild and open a business there. The account book just needed to keep a record
of income and expenses, and a tax based on the profits had to be paid to the guild along with the annual land tax. As long as you did that, neither age nor gender mattered.

  The problem came down to whether I could earn anything and pay the money, I guess...

  Furthermore, it seemed like the double land tax I paid this time was comparable to a deposit and gratuity fee on Earth. The business license varied depending on the scale of the business, so a stall could pay 5 medium bronze coins while the size of land I purchased cost me 2 small golds.

  Finally, the yearly fees were kind of like a donation to the guild. Normally the yearly fee was a small sum, but there was no upper limit and the more you paid the more you were expressing your financial ability to do so, leading to preferential treatment from the guild and a higher evaluation. How business-like.

  Once I had finished all the procedures, I thanked the three of them and left the guild.

  Serge was due to appear at a guild gathering in the near future, which he had things to discuss with the guildmaster and Pioro about, so I said goodbye to him at the guild.

  It looks like I’d be working on construction after my current job at the guild was done... I hadn’t built a non-cavern residence since my previous life. Work was hard back then, but I also found it fun seeing the results happening right before my eyes.

  I was kind of looking forward to it.

  Chapter 2 Episode 22: Store Setup 1

  Monster Subjugation, Day 5 & Store Construction, Day 1.

  “Ryoma, a little help, nya...”

  During lunch break at the mines, Miya came over after I had received my meal and was resting. Behind her were Jeff, Asagi, Leipin and the others, and they were all covered in blood. I wonder what happened...

  “Could you get rid of this blood for me? It smells so bad, I can’t stand it.”

  “Is that goblin blood? Someone definitely went all-out again.”

  I swiftly gave my cleaner slime the order to clean the seven of them.

  “Ah, I’m finally clean... Ryoma’s cleaner slimes sure are useful.”

  “A relief it is. It would have been quite a horrendous ordeal to fetch lunch in my previous state.”

  “Honestly, Jeff’s work is so sloppy.”

  “I already apologized...”

  After the seven of them grabbed their lunches, we ate together and chatted. Apparently, they had eliminated a newly discovered goblin nest. They were survivors from last time, but the size of the nest was small enough for the seven of them and several others to deal with. The problem was after the subjugation. While they were cleaning up the corpses, Jeff had gone for the extravagant method of stabbing bodies with his spear, catching them on the tip and flinging them all to one spot.

  “Though it accelerated the clean up efforts, the resulting pile was unstable. It collapsed as we were on the brink of returning.”

  While they could evade the falling corpses, there was no evading the blood spray from them — Leipin even got hit directly by a falling body.

  “It was a mess...”

  “Damn right. If it weren’t for Ryoma, we’d have to eat our lunch and work the afternoon shift in that smelly state.”

  “It really is amazing how you can remove goblin filth so easily.”

  “Thank you very much.”

  That was when I remembered I had yet to tell the seven of them about my laundry business.

  “Speaking of which, do you recall how I mentioned doing a possible laundry service?”

  “I do. What about it?”

  “I’m going to be going ahead with that.”

  “Oh, really? From when?”

  “The store isn’t ready yet, so it’ll be some time in the future. The price will be as I mentioned the other day, 1 medium bronze coin.”

  “Store? You’re going to have a shopfront?”

  “I discussed it with a merchant acquaintance and decided on that. I’ve already registered with the Merchant’s Guild, and I was able to purchase land with some old bandit bounties. I’ll either hire employees from the guild or work with the merchant for some help, so I can continue as an adventurer too.”

  “I see. It’s a surprise to see someone so young owning a store, but that should have been a given. I, and all the adventurers who know of your slimes’ abilities, of course, will definitely be using your service. Such an odd business will also spread like wildfire on the grapevine. If it flourishes, you may have trouble running it alone.”

  “While it wouldn’t be impossible, he would lose time to work as an adventurer.”

  “Indeed. The scale of my idea turned out larger than I expected, but I can continue to work as an adventurer, so it’ll work out. I’ll inform you of the opening date, so please come use the service. There’s also a discount offer for people who come in large groups.”

  “Oh, really? Then I should invite someone along...”

  “Ryoma’s already like a merchant, nya.”

  “He had a polite manner of speaking to begin with, so it doesn’t feel out of place at all.”

  We finished our meals while discussing things, then worked diligently into the afternoon.

  ■　■　■

  “This here is your land, Master Ryoma.”

  “It really is big.”

  After work, I visited Serge’s place to check on the land I had purchased.

  Before me was a two-story building standing on the verge of collapse, located on a plot of land slightly smaller than a kiddy baseball field. Roughly 20 meters by 40 meters, perhaps? Area-wise, it was probably larger than Serge’s store.

  It looked smaller on the map, though...

  “The pub that used to be here was also an inn, after all. There were guest rooms and a warehouse.”

  “I see... and I can really do as I please with this?”

  “Yes. As long as it’s within the land, you may act freely. Will you be starting work today?”

  “Let’s see. I think I’ll weed the place and start on the demolition today.”

  I took the scavenger slimes out of my Dimension Home and ordered them to eat the grass away from the building. That should take care of the weeding.

  I kept an eye on the gradually dwindling overgrown grass as I put up a soundproof barrier around the building and demolished it bit-by-bit from the roof down. With all my caution for noise and safety, the neighbors shouldn’t be affected.

  Once I destroyed the entire ceiling, I changed the side walls to dirt with Break Rock. After checking the ceiling rubble, ruined furniture, and the dirt of walls to make sure they were safe, I shoved them all outside and cleaned up the inside.

  I dismantled the remaining framework and posts with Windcutter.

  All my limited construction knowledge came from the simple tasks I did at my part-time job... or so it should have been, but I was bestowed with knowledge for my skill level when I came to this world so I could plan a simple building if I tried now. I also knew how to demolish something so that a building would fall in the right spots, making this extremely easy.

  The architecture skill was amazing. Magic was so convenient.

  In roughly one hour, half the weeds in the plot had been removed and half the building demolished, but it was getting late so I decided to head back.

  For the record, Serge had been watching the entire time I was working, shocked at my number of slimes and tremendous amount of magic energy as I brute forced my way through the tasks.

  ■　■　■

  Monster Subjugation, Day 6 & Store Construction, Day 2.

  Today was the last day of the monster subjugation at the mines. So many things had happened along the way, but the guildmaster informed us all that the mission was complete with this.

  However, I was to be managing this place in the future. Even if I got busy, I had to do it properly. At the very least, I should patrol once a week until I lived elsewhere. As I was thinking that, the guildmaster summoned me.

  “Ryoma, come here for a minute.”

 
; “Okay.”

  “First up, good work today. Today’s pile of monster corpses is in the usual spot. With the completion of this job, you’ve been moved up to E rank. Also... I heard from the duke’s butler that you’re going to be managing this mine?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “I’m sure you’ll be fine, but be careful. If you’re short on hands, speak up anytime. Reporting that is your job too, got it?”

  “Got it.”

  “At any rate, I really am impressed by your determination for independence from the duke’s house.”

  “I realized I was being spoiled too much by them, so I thought I’d pull myself together.”

  “You’re still a kid, so don’t push yourself. Actually, about that... is it true you’re running a laundry service with your cleaner slimes for that purpose?”

  “It’s true. Did you hear about it already?”

  “It’s been spread quite a lot between the adventurers on this job, y’know? Seems like they’re all waiting for it to open. Most of them have piles of dirty clothes left lying around.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. I’ll move faster constructing the store, so please wait a little longer.”

  “Right. There’s one more thing I wanted to ask — could I use the service too? And how much does it cost?”

  “Of course, anyone is free to use it. The cost is 1 medium bronze coin per bag, which is provided by the store. There are also two options for groups, which involve a discounted service.”

  “Oh? Then I’ll gather the guild employees and ask if anyone else is interested. ...How much of a benefit will it be, speaking frankly?”

  “Comparing the cost of one week’s worth of clothes between the individual option and the largest group option, it’d be approximately 20% cheaper.”

  “By that much?”

  “It was originally a job I came up with to earn the minimum living costs I needed between adventurer jobs, so I intended on making it cheap. The discount isn’t limited to first time customers and will be applied every time for groups, so it’d be a benefit to use the service as a guild.”

  “In that case, I’ll have to talk to others even more.”