by Kumanano
“What’s wrong?”
“I want to meet with the village chief, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Yes, I believe that should be fine.”
The villager politely guided me to the village chief’s home.
“Oh, if it isn’t Yuna. What brings you here?” the village chief said, greeting me with a smile.
“Good morning. I just need a small favor…”
“I’ll hear out any favor you have to ask.”
“So about the kokekko you were kind enough to give me the other day…is it possible to catch living ones?”
“You want them alive? If we set a trap, I believe it should be relatively easy to catch one.”
“In that case, could you please catch some for me? I want the eggs, so I’d really like hens, if you can get them.”
“What is a favor to the one who saved our village? How many would you like?”
“The more the better, but I don’t want to cut down on the village’s food supply, so if you could just get as many as wouldn’t affect the village.”
“Understood. Well then, we’ll get anyone free in the village to go out to capture them immediately.”
“Thanks.”
If I could get ahold of a live kokekko, then I’d have fresh-laid eggs.
“So then, what would you like to do in the meantime?”
“How long do you think it’ll take?”
“Let’s see, I think we should be able to capture a few by the afternoon.”
“In that case, I’ll be back this afternoon. I have some other errands to run in the mountains.”
With another step crossed from my to-do list, I headed back to the cave where the transport gate was.
When I got back to the cave, I erased the gate on that end temporarily. With some liberally applied earth magic, I made the cave even wider and set up a single-story house in the shape of a cub with a kitchen, a restroom, a bathing room, and a personal room, and lit the whole thing with mana gems. To finish things off, I stood up a bear transport gate right next to the entrance of the cub house. Base numero uno complete.
When I came back to the village, they had about twenty kokekkos tied up for me. It was more than I’d hoped for.
“Are you sure I can have this many?”
“The next round of chicks’ll grow up quick, and we don’t really get monsters out here, so it’s an ideal environment for them. Please take them and don’t worry about it.”
I guess the black viper came all the way to a human settlement because it couldn’t find monsters to eat? I thought.
I had the villagers tie the kokekkos to Kumayuru and Kumakyu so the birds wouldn’t fall off. It would’ve been nice if I could carry live cargo in bear storage, but I just had to bear with it.
“Are you really heading back right now?”
“I’d rather get home earlier than later.”
“I see. We were hoping to entertain you some…”
“You’ve done more than enough.”
I tried to pay for the kokekkos when I left, but the village chief wouldn’t take it.
“No, no, we couldn’t accept anything from the savior of our village.”
I couldn’t let that happen, so I forced the money on him, then I made Kumayuru and Kumakyu run for it. I went straight back to the cave and took the gate to my house in Crimonia. I would have headed straight to the orphanage, but I couldn’t have the bears running around town. I’d cause an uproar. I decided to wait until evening. I left the kokekkos tied to the bears, figuring it probably wouldn’t kill them.
When night fell, the bears stirred. They ran through the streets in the cover of dark. Wouldn’t it be better to use a transport gate, you say? Cards on the table, I just really wanted to run through town on a bear.
We cut past the orphanage and arrived on the land I’d bought. I got down from Kumayuru and checked out the plot. I guessed the spot would work just fine. I called up a henhouse out of the earth and surrounded it with a three-meter wall. They probably won’t be able to run away if it’s this tall, right? I thought.
I led the bears into the henhouse and untied the ropes binding the kokekko. Once they were free, the birds wandered around the house. I felt a whole lot better seeing that they really were still alive.
The next morning, I visited the orphanage after finishing breakfast. I found the kids gathered outside the wall of the henhouse.
“Bear girl?!”
They swarmed me on sight.
“Bear girl, a wall appeared overnight.”
One of them gestured around, trying to give me an emphatic explanation about the wall in question. I put a hand on the kid’s head.
“That’s because I made it.”
“You did that?”
The orphans looked at me with slackjawed amazement.
“Anyway, I’ve got something I need to tell all of you and your headmistress about, so let’s go inside.”
When we got there, the headmistress was with a woman who looked like she was about twenty. I had a pretty good idea who she was.
“Liz,” said the headmistress, “this is Yuna from the other day—thank you again, by the way.”
“Thank you so much for the food,” Liz said, bowing her head.
“What brings you here today?”
“I was wondering if it would be okay to give the kids some work. I’d pay them a fair wage, of course.”
“You’re giving jobs to the children?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not anything dangerous.”
“What kind of work is it?”
“Have you seen the wall outside?”
“I have. The children have been making a fuss about the wall since it appeared when we woke up this morning.”
“I made it last night. I’d like the children to look after the birds inside the wall.”
“Umm, you made it in a single night?”
“You want them to look after birds?”
I told them how I’d made the walls and explained what kind of work I needed done: I needed the kids to gather the eggs in the mornings, clean the hut, and take care of the kokekkos. I made sure to emphasize that the kokekko weren’t to be eaten.
“In other words, you’re starting a business selling eggs?”
“Well, considering how much eggs seem to go for in this town, yeah.”
“Are you sure you want to pay us for just doing that?”
The headmistress looked at me in disbelief.
“I have other stuff in mind for you later, but that’s it for now. What do you think?”
The headmistress looked over at the children.
“Well, everyone? It looks like Yuna has a job for you. If you work, you’ll be able to eat. If you don’t, we’ll end up back to the situation we were in just a few days ago. Yuna can’t keep bringing food,” the headmistress told the kids.
The kids listened to the both of us, then looked at each other and shared a collective nod.
“I’ll do it.”
“Please let me do it.”
“I’ll do it too.”
“Me three.”
“Me four.”
I appreciated the energy behind their reply.
“In that case, can I assume everyone is in?”
The reply was unanimous.
“Yuna, I’ll leave the kids in your care,” the headmistress said, bowing deeply.
“Sure. Also, could I borrow Liz?”
“Me?”
“Yeah, I want you to manage the kids.”
“That’s no trouble, if that’s what you need from her. Liz, make sure you listen to everything Yuna says.”
“Yes, headmistress.”
I made a beeline for the henhouse, trailing kids. Inside, we found the kokekkos napping.
“Here are your jobs: First, when it’s nice out, let the birds out first thing in the morning. Second, collect any eggs in the henhouse. Third, clean the henhouse. Fourth, give the birds food and water. Fifth, get the birds back into the
henhouse once everything’s done.
“Can you do that?” I asked.
They agreed without hesitation.
“Alright, let the birds out. The eggs that they lay are going to become your food money, so make sure you’re gentle.”
The kids confirmed they’d understood me.
“Put the eggs in these containers.”
I conjured up ten egg cartons with an earth spell, each with ten holes. That first day, the kids gathered enough to fill one pack. I guess that was pretty good for twenty kokekkos.
“Liz, have you got any vegetable scraps?”
“Yes, we do…”
“Is it okay if I feed them to the birds?”
“Well…”
Even though they were just scraps, Liz had still gone out and begged for them. It was no wonder she’d feel weird feeding them to the birds.
“I’m not going to ask you to put your faith in me yet, but the vegetables you got are going to nourish the birds so they’ll produce eggs.”
“I see…”
I wasn’t sure if she believed me, but she gave me her permission.
“Alright, Liz, can I leave the rest up to you?”
“Are you going somewhere?”
“Well, we’ve finally gotten eggs, so we’ve got to go sell them.”
I took the full carton and set off for the next stop on my list.
Chapter 45:
The Bear Becomes an F-rank Merchant
THE MERCHANT GUILD was just as jam-packed as it was yesterday. I didn’t want to think that all this was because of me.
Wading into the crowd, I noticed Tiermina was there too. Our eyes met.
“Yuna?”
“Hello, Tiermina. What’s going on? What’re you doing here?”
“I came by to see whether they had jobs at the merchant guild.”
“You’re looking for a job?”
“Yeah, I was actually hoping to be reinstated as an adventurer, but the family vetoed that. Since I can read and write and do math, I thought maybe I could find a job that skews more towards that, so I came to check out the merchant guild.”
More mumbles in the crowd: “She could read and write…”
“And do math…”
“Tiermina, would you actually be interested in working for me?”
“For you, Yuna?”
“I kinda started a new business. You’d be a lifesaver if you could help me out.”
I needed someone to manage the eggs and be an intermediary with the merchant guild.
“So, what kind of work is it?”
“I’m not sure about explaining it here…”
There were a lot of merchants around. It was a pain going out of our way to do it, but I had us go back to the bear house so no one would overhear about my egg scheme.
“So what’s your business?”
I got Tiermina something to drink, and then got to explaining what the work would be. I told her how the orphanage was keeping the kokekkos and how they’d lay the eggs. I told her I wanted to sell the eggs to the merchant guild.
“When you say you want me managing things, do you mean you want me to manage the kokekkos? I haven’t really raised birds before.”
“The orphans will manage the birds. I was thinking you’d manage the sales at the merchant guild.”
“And by sales you mean?”
“I was just about to go to the merchant guild to line up a sales contract for the eggs with them. I was thinking you could do the management, finances, inventory, and cost checks. I’d want you to make sure our books are straight and stuff.”
Even talking about it was such a pain. If Tiermina didn’t accept my offer, I’d have to do everything myself.
“I understand what you’re saying, but this seems like a big deal. Are you sure you want to leave all that up to me?”
“I don’t know that many people in this town anyway, and I at least know what kind of person you are.” When I explained my reasoning, Tiermina smiled.
“Okay, I get it. I’ll accept the job. You’ve been looking out for my daughters and I as it is, and I was already thinking of working, so I’m grateful for the opportunity.”
Business manager acquired! My job was getting smaller and smaller.
Since I was done talking with Tiermina, I headed back to the merchant guild to get the egg business going. It was still overflowing with people. Waiting at the entrance of the merchant guild like I had the other day, it was the same old story. I caught them muttering about “the bear,” and they made a hole at the sight of me.
“Yuna, you’re amazing.”
Tiermina seemed stunned at the sight of it. Maybe she didn’t know what happened with the black viper?
I went into the guild and took a look over at the reception desk. There were several people there. I tried looking for Milaine, but it looked like she wasn’t around. Maybe it was her day off? I was actually hoping to get somebody I knew. When I reluctantly lined up at the desks, someone called out to me from behind.
“Oh, Yuna. What brings you here today? And who is this?”
I wheeled around; Milaine was behind me.
“Why did you sneak up on me?”
“I was outside on my break. What did you come by to the merchant guild for?”
“I had something I wanted to sell, so I wanted to talk to you about it.”
“And that something is?”
Milaine’s eyes glinted. Excuse you, I thought, that’s terrifying.
“In that case, let’s talk in another room.”
Milaine latched onto me and dragged me away. Tiermina followed behind us.
“So what was it you wanted to talk about?”
We were in a small, private room. There was a big desk surrounded with chairs. We sat down across from Milaine, and I pulled the eggs from my bear storage.
“Are these kokekko eggs?”
“I’d like to start selling these eggs. Can you help me with that?”
“How many would you be looking to move, on average?”
“For now, between ten and twenty a day, but later on I’m hoping to aim for a thousand in a day if I can get a lot.”
“A thousand? How can you collect that many?”
“By raising kokekkos.”
“You’re raising birds…is this connected to the land around the orphanage?”
I explained my business plan.
“So then, do you think it’d be possible to sell the eggs regularly?”
“Let’s see. It would depend on the price, but it is possible.”
“I’ll leave the pricing up to you.”
Letting the specialist do what they do best was the right thing to do. I didn’t know how much eggs were worth anyway.
“Are you sure that’s what you would like?”
“What’s there to be worried about?”
“You’ll force the price down if you flood the market with eggs. There isn’t any need to go out of your way to increase the number in circulation…”
“I have a couple of reasons for doing this, but I want regular people to be able to eat eggs. Plus, I think that people will eventually figure out the orphanage is providing the eggs. People would be less likely to try stealing lots of cheap eggs than a few expensive ones. That’d be safer for the orphans, too.
“Plus, if they’re cheaper, then we’ll get to have a lot more egg-based meals.”
Milaine and Tiermina seemed surprised by my explanation. Apparently, no matter which world you’re in, operating a business without thinking much about your profit margin puts you in the minority.
The three of us talked over things and drew up a contract. Every day, someone would come by the henhouse near the orphanage to get the eggs. We’d leave pricing to the guild. It’d be a problem if they were too expensive and didn’t sell, after all. The guild would provide vegetable scraps for feed. That’d take the burden off of Liz. Tiermina would basically be in charge of delivery. We’d keep how the eggs were obtained and who was
producing them a secret. In addition, we wrote a certain “something” in for the last clause.
“Is this contract agreeable?”
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
“Well then, I’ll register you at the merchant guild, so if you would be so kind as to allow me to see your guild card.”
“You want me to register?”
“Generally you need to be registered with the guild if you want to do legitimate business.”
I wish she wouldn’t look at me like she was saying “even little kids knew that.”
“So do you only need me to register?”
“I’m afraid I’ll need Tiermina to register as well. When doing any transactions with the eggs, they’ll need to check your guild cards.”
“In that case, can I use the card the adventurers’ guild made me?”
“Yes, all guild cards are fundamentally the same. All we’re doing is adding information to the card, so you can use the same one you created at the adventurers’ guild.”
Tiermina and I handed over our guild cards to Milaine. After taking them, Milaine headed over to a crystal panel in the corner of the room, placed the cards there, and processed them. It took a couple of minutes.
“I should explain how the merchant guild and these cards work.”
I checked the card.
Name: Yuna
Age: 15 Years Old
Class: Bear
Adventurer Rank: D
Merchant Rank: F
As usual, my class was still bear.
“Just like the adventurer rank, the merchant rank indicates your merchant level. The higher you increase in rank, the more your credibility increases. As a result, when doing business in a new town, a higher rank gets you more preferential treatment.”
“Preferential how?”
“For example, those towns might allow you to rent better plots of land, give you introductions to people you need, or let you have better materials, since you look like a good investment.”
I see, I thought. So my reputation goes up along with my rank. That’s basically the same for adventurers.
“By the way, how do I increase my rank?”
“That would be through contributing to the guild. To put it simply, it’s based on how much you collect in taxes.”