By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 10 - Chapter 2

Chapter 7 Episode 2: Inspiration and a Meeting with Serge

Leaving Carme in charge of the shop, I headed straight for Serge’s.

When I arrived, I found a vast scorch mark across the exterior of the welcoming wooden storefront. In front of it stood a few men of intimidating stature and wearing similarly intimidating expressions. Over half a year had passed since my arrival in Gimul, but I’d never felt so tense here before. When I first came to the city, it had been such a welcoming place. I felt like I’d lost something, imagining that the current state of Serge’s shop was representative of the entire city.

“Excuse me. Have you any business here?”

I snapped out of my thoughts; evidently, I’d been standing around longer than I realized. “Oh, yes! I’m friends with the president. I was out of town for a bit, and heard about the arson as soon as I returned. I don’t have an appointment, because I came here in a hurry.”

The man who called me gave a look to one of the other men in formation, who went into the shop.

“Please wait here for a moment while we verify that information.”

“Yes, thank you.”

A few minutes later, I found myself in the familiar meeting room. Serge entered after some time, looking tired but in good spirits.

“Master Ryoma. I believe we last saw each other at the duke’s manor.”

“It’s been too long. I’m sorry to hear about the fire, but I’m glad to see you’re unhurt.”

“I apologize for causing undue worry, but as you can see, I am doing fine. I’ve ramped up my security detail quite a bit as well.”

“So I saw. They’re a lot more polite than they look.”

“They’re mercenaries from the capital. You may imagine all mercenaries to be ruffians, but top-class professionals are courteous and well-mannered. Unlike adventurers, who are required to deal with varying enemies from humans to monsters in diverse environments, mercenaries are specialized in dealing with human conflict. They’re expected to not offend their clients, at the very least. Trusted mercenaries even take up negotiating with the enemy, if needed.”

Interesting... I guess higher-level mercs have a more diplomatic side to them.

“And lest we forget, this city is in a state where we need people like them.”

“Unfortunately, yes. Arson, like what happened to my shop, is merely one of the issues; assaults and burglaries seem to be on the rise. Do you have any idea why?”

“I’ve been told it’s something to do with too many workers coming into the city, so the number of people who are employed but homeless has exploded. But has that really driven the crime rate up this much?”

“The local government and guild are trying to mitigate the issue, of course. They’ve tried cutting off calls for workers, for example. But trying to stop the tide has been a losing game. There are even some con artists who pretend to be a hiring manager for the project here; they’ll charge these prospective workers a fee before ditching them right outside the city. This isn’t something I would mention in public, but... This phenomenon seems to have been manufactured by a few different nobles.”

“You mean—?!”

“Sabotage against the duke, surely. I have no clue as to their motive, only that it must be something foolish. I’ve found out through offering my assistance that Duke Reinhart is already moving to get to the bottom of all of this and put an end to it.”

“Really?”

“Crime is up now, but it should settle down in time. Until then, we’re playing the waiting game and keeping ourselves safe.”

“Great idea.”

I guess if they already know that much, they just have to keep their defenses up and just wait out the storm for now...

“I understand you’ve brought me something, Master Ryoma?”

“Oh, that’s right! As you know, I went to Fatoma for an adventurer gig. I happened to get lucky while there, so I decided to play the part of a buyer. I’d like to show you what I bought, and a new kind of product as well.”

“You certainly have my interest. So, what have you brought?”

From my Item Box, I produced each of the pieces of pottery I had bought in Fatoma.

“A bowl, a mug, a cooking pot, a jar, and a plate... These all look great for daily use; the quality seems quite good. How many of these do you have?”

“Here.” I handed him a list I had written up when I purchased them all.

“Hm... In that case, I can offer you about this much. I can’t pay a premium for any of them, but you’ve picked some safe options.”

“I took advice from the seller,” I admitted. Serge had offered me a sum that was about twenty percent more than what I’d paid. Hardly a massive profit, but it was enough to cover my travel expenses and still leave me some spending money; not bad for a side hustle I’d pulled on my way home from another job.

“That price works for me.”

“Terrific.”

Then, I produced the pot Lord Fatoma had given me as a token of his thanks. Judging by how the shopkeeper had acted, and by how carefully it was wrapped, I was planning to display it in my shop, but I wanted to get an accurate estimate of its value first. I explained all of this to Serge, and he started to inspect the item.

“G-Goodness me...”

Serge’s expression turned quite stern when he opened the box the pot was kept in. He quickly produced a pair of white gloves from his pocket and slipped his hands into them, then carefully unwrapped the pot. He gently placed it on the table; the pot had a bluish-white hue with ornate, vibrant patterns. It looked like quite an artisanal piece to me...

“Hrm...”

“Uh, is it an impressive piece?”

“From the blue tint and the vibrant details, this is most likely a find from an ancient ruin.”

“An ancient ruin?”

“A relic of an ancient civilization said to have had advanced technologies. A few of them have been excavated at various locations around the world; I recall that one had been found in Fatoma long ago. This pot is a very valuable art piece, but its method of production was lost to time, so there is no modern equivalent. Pieces that are in such a pristine condition are extremely rare, giving it historical value as well... I don’t think I can accurately appraise this. If that’s what you’re looking for, I suggest taking it to a specialist.”

“Why would Lord Fatoma give such an important piece to me?”

“I wouldn’t know... But if it was given to you as a reward for a quest, I assume he valued your work as much as this piece. What did you do for this lord?”

Well, I didn’t tell Lord Fatoma about the pearls or those shells... I ended up telling Serge about cleaning the hot springs, my modest gyoza proposal, and how to properly prepare poisonous fish.

“I see. Lord Fatoma is famous for his culinary passion, and I hear he has a large circle of like-minded friends. He would be interested in any new intel to do with food, and I suppose he’s confident he can make good use of it. If the economy in Fatoma were to improve thanks to your introduction of the gyoza dish, benefiting his land for decades to come... This pot would be a fitting reward, to say the least.”

Really...? I’ll definitely have to handle this thing delicately. If I were going to display it, I’d need some kind of dedicated, protective case for it.

“Let’s move on to my slime products.”

“A new line of slime products? This does have me interested.”

I displayed the acidic cleaner I had used at the hot spring, with a spool of string next to it. Serge’s interest was clearly more piqued by the string.

“This acidic cleaner is a product of a sticky slime solution and acid slime acid. It has to be handled with caution, but it can be used for certain types of grime; around the bathroom, for example.”

“I expect there would be some demand for this in the household, but especially in the likes of inns. It depends on its method of use and the caution required, I suppose. What is this string? It’s clearly different from the sticky slime string.”

As I figured he would, Serge steered the conversation towards the string. “This was made by a slime that evolved on my way home from Fatoma.”

“What kind of slime is it?”

It was a fiber slime, evolved from a sticky slime that ate the seines in Fatoma. If I had to assume from its name, it could have evolved from any source of fiber. Even before its evolution, this particular sticky slime had a tendency towards spewing string, and I had often asked it to make the string I was selling to the Morgan company; I wondered if that had anything to do with its evolution. The only other change it underwent through evolution was the acquisition of a skill called Fiberfy.

“Apparently, the Fiberfy skill allows it to melt down materials it ingests before reshaping it like string and spewing it out.”

When I first figured out what this skill did, I was reminded of rayon from my previous life. Rayon—also known as artificial silk—was created by melting cellulose, the main component of plant material, with an alkaline solution before spinning it into fibers. While the fiber slime’s fiber skill doesn’t use any chemicals, the process was similar to that of rayon manufacturing. After that discovery, I began feeding the fiber slime cellulose. Eventually, I tried giving it shed skin from fluff slimes, which led to the manufacturing of this particular string composed entirely of slime parts.

“I call it slime reyon! I can’t mass-produce it with just the one fiber slime, but I have more than enough fluff slime sheddings to go around, and I could always feed them more fertilizer if I need more materials. Would you consider putting it on your shelves?”

“This is fantastic! The sheen, the texture... It’s slightly different from silk, but extremely similar. I can only imagine what splendid fabric you can weave with this. Between the ease of ordering and its high quality, this would be quite a boon indeed.”

Organic silk was made out of silkworm cocoons, so there was only so much that could be harvested within the season. Slime reyon, on the other hand, could be produced any time I wished by giving the fiber slime the necessary ingredients. As the fiber slime split and multiplied, productivity would rise too.

“This would allow me to continue to provide traditional silk products to nobles, and faux silk products for other customers.”

“It’s difficult to start fresh in an established market, though.”

“Precisely. And if we can establish that line between real and faux silk products, the nobles will rush to acquire the genuine stuff; we wouldn’t get on the wrong side of silk dealers or producers. We would need more productivity to sell it to the public, but it looks like that will come in due time. Do you mind if I hold onto this spool?”

“Yes, I would love for you to look into its potential.”

“Understood.”

The slime reyon business could very well blow up, big time. I had one more piece to discuss, though. “Oh, Serge...”

“You sound like you’re about to bring out something really impressive.”

“Yes. It’s another product which I’m able to produce now, thanks to one of my slimes having evolved. I was taken completely by surprise, to be honest. This will be more valuable than anything I’ve shown you before.”

“That means a lot coming from you, Master Ryoma... I’m ready,” Serge said, giving me the same look he had when I talked about the blood slime serums.

I placed the small box before him. It was, I dare say, the pièce de résistance of my trip—the small box of pearls. The moment he saw it, Serge slumped into his chair like he was having a heart attack.

“Serge, are you all right?!”

He waved me off, apparently to show that he was okay, but he was muttering something, as if he was performing calculations.

It took several minutes for him to return to normal. “I apologize for that display,” he finally said.

“No, I’m sorry to have surprised you.”

“You certainly did surprise me.” Serge nodded. “These are most definitely pearls. Just one would not have surprised me so, but you said you can produce these?”

“I can. A newly evolved slime of mine has a pearl body, and it learned a skill that produces pearls. I wouldn’t go telling that to everyone, obviously. You’re the first person aside from me to know.”

“That’s a relief...”

“How much do pearls go for, anyway? I only know that they’re extremely expensive since they can’t be found in this country.”

“Even a single pearl like this would cost at least a small platinum coin. Market value, that is.”

If I remember correctly, that’s ridiculously expensive—a million sutes.

“That much?” I asked.

“There are many factors that drive up the price. First, the process of hunting pearls in the ocean is very dangerous because of sea monsters. Another is the low chance of finding a pearl in the harvested shells—about one in tens of thousands. Furthermore, their shape and coloration are completely unpredictable, making only a small portion of them suitable for jewelry, driving the costs up even further... They can still be acquired relatively cheaply in their country of origin, though. We are far from the only country without any access to pearls. Merchants flock to those countries and fight over what little supply there is. Through the process of exporting the pearls, plus paying for taxes, transport, and other costs for the journey, the prices of the pearls skyrocket. The merchants need to make a profit too, after all. The price will fluctuate based on the catch of the season, as well. A small platinum coin per pearl is more of a minimum...”

Serge nattered on with a lot more fire in his voice than I was used to. So basically, they’re super valuable.

“If they’re that valuable, then...”

“Master Ryoma?”

Something came to my mind, like an inspiration. Information lit up my synapses, and even things that seemed unrelated before seemed to all come together.

“Is something the matter, Master Ryoma?”

“Serge.”

“Yes...?”

“Do you remember the discussion we had about processing trash?”

“Processing trash... The one where you proposed using scavenger slimes to take care of the city’s trash? Yes, I do remember that.”

“During my stay at the village in Fatoma, I was given household trash almost every day. In addition to feeding the scavenger slimes, they helped me find different evolutions for other slimes, like the fiber slime, which resulted from trash produced by different lifestyles. When I gathered the trash from all over the village, there was a lot of trash that helped speed up the evolution process. I believe collecting trash would be a very beneficial endeavor for me.”

“R-Right... I suppose that makes sense.”

“It makes a lot of sense. So hear me out: I want to build a trash-processing plant, solely for my own benefit. Though the scavengers can process all of the trash, I need a lot more hands for a project like this. People to collect the trash, people to sort out the materials necessary for evolutions and experiments, people to manage those people... Most positions would require manual labor, so I always thought it would be a challenge to find employees... But now—”

“The streets are full of people looking for work...!”

“Exactly. Couldn’t I hire as many people as I wanted, and be as picky as I liked in the selection process? I don’t know what those nobles behind these incidents are thinking, but I’m sure there are a good number of people who came to Gimul looking for work in good faith; there’s got to be a few skilled workers around. Moreover, people desperate for a job are willing to accept less from their employers. I wouldn’t want to criminally underpay them or give them a poor work environment... But if you’re an employer, this town is your oyster right now.”

“There are definitely some people who place too much value in their abilities... I see what you’re getting at.”

“And of course, there’s the matter of this.” I indicated the box on the table. “I would need funds to start a new business and to hire staff for it. Of course, it would be ideal to cover those costs through the business itself.”

“Even if you don’t make a profit right away, selling these pearls would certainly hold you over for a while.”

“My thoughts exactly. There are a lot of things that I’d like to...no, that I need to do.” For a start, I had to protect the shop from the current state of the city. At the same time, I had to continue preparing for my journey into the Sea of Trees of Syrus; specifically, I needed to train myself and study medicine and healing in case push came to shove. I’d also probably want to study tools and preserved food to make my life easier, not to mention study slimes, of course.

With my ever-increasing slime population, I wanted to utilize the monster used as feed for other monsters, the ones I was told about at Reinhart’s, but I apparently had to take an exam at the tamers’ guild in order to earn a permit to possess them.

There were already so many things on my plate that I was barely getting enough time to keep up with my slime studies. If I were to add any more, I wouldn’t get anything done. And who knew how long it would take me if I waited until I’d finished everything to go to the Sea of Trees? I’d considered just going there, but I didn’t want to be caught unprepared.

“But you and the team have always told me that I don’t need to do it all alone.”

“Indeed we have. Quite often, at that.”

“Well, you definitely have a point. I want to research slimes on my own, but I can look for people to delegate studying preserved food and tool crafting to. Right?”

“I trust you, Master Ryoma... But aren’t you simply trying to provide those workers with jobs?”

“What do you mean? That would be a task for the government or the nobles, or whoever. I can’t do something like that on my own; it’s a mug’s game. I’m just trying to use this fortune that fell into my lap for my own benefit, to further my hobby and block out more time in my life for it. It’s all very self-serving, I promise. Of course, I do think there will be more jobs to go around as a result.”

“Now I’m not so sure I trust you.”

Serge stared at me. I had no idea why I was being placed under such scrutiny.

Soon, Serge let out a sigh, seeming convinced. “Very well. There’s some groundwork to lay out, as with any new business, but especially with something like trash processing. Let’s discuss the details at the Merchant’s Guild with the guildmaster in attendance. What do you say?”

“Thank you! Yes, I think that would be for the best!”

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! With a new perspective on a tough situation, I could change it into an opportunity!