“Here’s your share for today, Karina,” said Blade.
“All right!”
And so the next day, I earned more money logging with my buddies. After three round trips, we delivered seventy-two logs in total, and my share came out to six large silvers.
“At this rate, I’ll have enough for that slave by tomorrow!” I cheered.
“Ah, about that, Karina—the guild says we gotta wait. We won’t be able to do any more logging for a while.”
“Huh?” I tilted my head in confusion. You mean logging jobs aren’t something you can do every day? Wait—now that I look at it, they took the request off the bulletin board!
“Why?! What gives?!”
“Probably because we did way too much.”
“What?! You mean my greed eventually became my undoing?! No way! Is this some kind of intervention from the logging companies so they can stay in business?”
“No, it’s simply that the clients have all the wood they need. Logs can’t be used as building material if they’re not dried out first, after all.”
“Oh, I see.” Come to think of it, the client we’d delivered the third batch to did have a bit of a strained smile... Yeah, I guess I overdid it. Sorry.
“Though the logging companies have also apparently been raising a stink over our efforts. They’re worried they’ll be out of a job if we do any more. At any rate, if you want to continue adventuring in this town without everyone hating you, you might want to find another way to earn money.”
“Mrgh.” Right, I should’ve known. Even lumber can potentially induce an economic collapse. I really had gone overboard. After discussing it with Blade, we agreed to leave the logging to the professionals for a while.
“I think it’d probably be best to abstain from logging for at least a month. Preferably, half a year.”
“Uoohh...” I let out a cry of despair. It took around a whole year for logs to dry out on Earth, but apparently in this world it took half that time thanks to the application of magic. However, even magic couldn’t dry logs out overnight. In other words, we weren’t to do any more logging until then. Makes sense to me.
I decided there was no helping it, then. I had to find another avenue of work.
Right now I had a total of seventy-five silvers on me. After subtracting my living expenses, I would need another thirty silvers to purchase the girl—three large silvers, in other words. Hm. What should I do, then? I could always duplicate one of my large silvers until I had enough... No! Bad Karina! You told yourself you’d only use duplication as a last resort!
“Do you know of any work I could do to get rich quick, Blade?”
“I don’t think any job will get you rich ‘quick,’ Karina. Plus,” he muttered, “I think you’ll be hard-pressed to find a job matching the level of income we made today. Times like these, it’s best to ask the guild’s reception desk for advice. Hey, Sophie, know of any high-paying jobs we could take on?”
“Let’s see,” the receptionist said, leafing through some documents before shaking her head. “It doesn’t look like we have any where you’ll make the same amount you did today—at least not any suitable for Karina’s current rank. Having said that, it’s not like I could let an F rank adventurer take on an A rank quest anyway.”
“Yeah, I figured as much.”
“Oh—but if you’re looking to make money, why not check with the Trader’s Guild? If you register as a merchant, you’ll save a bit on groceries and the like. That’s only after you buy a lot, though.”
Oh, so the more you buy, the bigger discount you get? Well, I have a space of holding that allows me to freeze time, so none of the groceries I buy will ever go bad. That’s an advantage in itself.
“That’d be just perfect for you, Karina!” Blade said. “You said you wanted to become a merchant, after all!”
“Well, that’s true.” And the reason I’d refrained from duplicating my money in the first place was so I could live an honest life as a merchant. At least, I thought that was the reason. My memory’s a little hazy on that, though.
“Then I guess I’ll try my hand as a merchant for a little while. Oh, right—how much was the guild entrance fee again? It’ll cost money to register.”
“Actually, the Trader’s Guild and Adventurer’s Guild are partners, so just showing your adventurer’s license will suffice.”
Apparently many adventurers were also merchants, so the two guilds allowed them to access their bank accounts from either one. That was pretty convenient.
If memory served, it was twenty-five silvers to register at the Trader’s Guild. That would delay my purchase of the slave girl a little more, but at this point there was no helping it. If I went two steps back but three steps forward, it was still progress!
Oh, right. If I’m going to be making all this money back anyway, I might as well take an additional step back and go see Harumikazuchi again!
“Hey, Blade. How many silvers does it cost for a drink at Shunrai?”
“Shunrai? What, gonna go see Haru again? Take care not to get stripped of everything you own again, then.”
“I will. Want me to treat you, as thanks for helping me?”
“Idiot, don’t waste that money on me. You’ll need to save for some starting capital if you plan to be a merchant. And did we really do anything worthy of thanks? Based on how much we earned from your efforts, we ought to thank you.”
“Agreed,” Shildon said. “If anything, just ask for us by name when you need a bodyguard. That’d be thanks enough.”
“Not that we think someone as skilled as you will need it,” Sekko added.
Wow! Blade and the others were so gallant!
“Well, according to what I’ve heard, the merchant world isn’t so kind as we are. Try your best not to get involved with any shady characters. Though I think you of all people will be fine, Karina.”
“Gotcha. By the way, Blade, did you know that what you just said is called a ‘flag’?”
“A flag? No, I’ve never heard of that.”
That was most definitely a flag telling me I was guaranteed to run into some swindler once I became a merchant! I mean, that slave trader I met was already plenty suspicious! I’ve got to watch out!
That said, even if some swindler did fool me and take my money, I was sure I could manage with spatial magic somehow. So no worries!
“Oh, right,” Blade said. “If you do run into trouble, you can always ask Haru for advice. As Shunrai’s proprietor, she probably knows a thing or two about business herself. I bet she’s also registered with the Trader’s Guild.”
“What an excellent suggestion!” Now I have even more of a reason to visit my favorite fox lady! I waved goodbye to Blade and the others and, in high spirits, headed over to Shunrai.