Year 7443, Month 8, Day 21
Today is Wednesday so it's the day we have off. Normally I'd take Zulu along as escort while practicing magic on the 1st floor or earning some experience points but it seems my plans for today are going to change a bit. After eating breakfast and just as I was about to head out to my usual stuff fully equipped at Boil Manor. There was a knock on the door and after looking outside the apprentice of Boil Manor informs me of a visitor.
I don't have any ideas as to who it is but it might be another person who wants to join my party that's increased in number recently. Nevertheless, it might be a member of the first knight group who needs some urgent maintenance to their armor as well. I wonder if the latex in sister's repair kit has run out?
Last month brother and the others brought me quite a bit of it when they came for deliveries so I have quite a bit of surplus, it might be good to quickly do some repairs and earn some small change, thinking that I went to the front and there was a middle-aged dwarf I don't remember seeing before accompanied by a young Laios man who is probably a servant waiting for me. Judging from his appearance and physique I doubt he's related to the knight group or an adventurer that wants to join my part. I wonder if he's a person related to the finances of the knight group? Even then he doesn't seem like he's related to the army.
"I'm Greed but.."
I called out to him like to catch his attention.
The man turned around to face me and politely lowered his head to greet me.
"It's nice to meet you, my name is Yohen Logflat. I run a certain store in the capital. I would like to talk with you for a bit but is it convenient for you right now?"
and said that confirming my situation.
Is this man, that I guess? Did he come to directly negotiate with me in regards to the matter of a headquarters for Greed Company? I tried Identifying him and he's the head of Sub-Baron Logflat family. His level is 10 which is decently high but he's already 45 years old. I guess he misunderstood I was looking at the Laios man next to him when I glanced to his side to check the identify window but Sub-Baron Logflat opened his mouth again.
"Ah, this person is my guard and slave. Please don't mind them."
I see, so he's bringing around a combat slave as a guard? I thought the capital and it's surroundings were safe but since I've never seen the head of a noble family walking around in the middle of town so I wonder if this is normal? or at least I decided to think that and not worry about it. But, as expected it's hard to think that the head of a noble family would come all the way here from the capital without an escort, so I guess it's only obvious.
"Yes. There's no problem with time but what is the reason for your business?"
If he has a building in a good location that he'll offer to me I definitely want to jump at that but I don't want him to hike up the price either. Well if it's some plus-alpha that remains within common sense then it's fine so I don't mind if he hikes it up a but this Sub-Baron Logflat has a refined smile on his face and I can't read his intentions. Among the many one-track minded people of Orth you could say he has quite the good business sense.
"Dealing with the Greed Company"
In the next moment, a voice called out from above the stairs.
"Isn't that Sub-Baron Logflat!? Why are you in a place like this?"
It was Zenom. It seems he's an acquaintance of this Sub-Baron Logflat. He quickly descended the stairs and opened his mouth again.
"What the, Al? Were you acquaintances with the Sub-Baron?"
"No, just now, he came asking for me. We've only just greeted each other."
"Firefreed! So you were acquaintances with Greed-san?"
If he's an acquaintance of Zenom then I doubt he'll say anything too unreasonable. I was almost about to chuckle. Huh? Zenom's acquaintance? Zenom's acquaintance in the vicinity of the capital indeed.
"Let alone acquaintances, right now I'm being hired by Greed. I think I mentioned it at the start of the year but this Greed is hiring me as an adventurer."
Zenom explains his relationship with me to the Sub-Baron and he was surprised as he says to Zenom.
"So that's how it was! Then you, were a member of the {Slaughterers}!"
Ooh~ it seems that our name has spread around quite a bit. Recently young new adventurers come about once a week to ask to let them into my part. Though I won't let them in.
It's digressing a bit but when we came to Baldukk last year it's obvious but there 5 top teams but recently I've heard it's become common for us {Slaughterers} to be included as a top team as well. Though the real top teams usually find at least one low value (even then it's over several hundred million Z) magic item per year so I think they're a special case but while the amount us Slaughterers are making might not reach that we're earning a stable and high amount from the magic stones we sell.
In terms of earnings from magic stones even if you added all of the top teams together it wouldn't reach anywhere close to the slaughterers. Particularly this past half a year, there's even more parties that look up to us, end up overdoing it, and getting wiped out so we're profiting even more on recovering their equipment. Honestly speaking, since we're providing this many magic stones I was worried that the market price would drop but it seems that originally the demand for magic stones was high so there was no change at all in the market price. Well even if we're gathering a lot of magic stones, in the end we're just eight people, I think there's a limit to how much we're really adding to the whole.
For a period, I was interested so I tried talking to the shopkeeper of the magic tool store about it. The change in quantity of magic stones that we've been carrying in compared to those produced (?) in Baldukk until now. It seems that if you were to say the number until we came was 10 then right now it's 13. In other words we've increased the amount of supply be 30%. If the consumption rate doesn't change then it wouldn't be unusual for the sale price to decline by about 20%. However, it seems the demand for magic stones was originally high, so the sale price remains high and stable.
The magic tool shop that I'm intimate with is right on the side of the dungeon and it's a considerably large company in Baldukk. It seems he has a route for wholesale with magic tool shops in the capital as well so he makes use of the fact that there's no tax in the noble ranking and takes a bit of a margin while lowering it there but since there's no dungeon in the capital and even more so there's no monsters nearby that would provide a source of magic stones. That's why adventurers almost never bring them in.
Almost all of the magic stones that are consumed in the capital are supplied by Baldukk. Since it's a large city with a population of over 200,000 I'm sure the demand was originally high. Until now it's not that even if they wanted to use magic stones they were too expensive and they couldn't buy them, simply that the supply was too low and the places they were being sold to were already decided. In that case it seems they could be sold at an even higher price but let alone if it were a store that is doing business in them, individuals almost never use magic stones.
In other words, in most houses there's no lighting and starting fires is done by bringing a source fire from somewhere. Of course there's nothing like heating and cooling. You only use it when you absolutely need lightning and if it's a clock magic tool if you use three times in a day then a low value goblin's magic stone will last you for a bout a year.
Things in that regard Gwine was knowledgeable about. It's not because she was born in a family of merchants, just simply because she was raised in a normal family in the capital so she understood the normal sense of values in regards to magic stones and it's also the reasoning she was lead to by her knowledge as a former Japanese but putting in terms of the sensitivity of a Japanese person they're bought and used almost like special cooking tools, the specialty delicacies of a region, imported food, and large devices like televisions, washers, air-conditioning, and such it seems.
If you have them it's something to be happy about and it's not that you can't buy them. However you can make do with the substitutes and cheaper versions. It's not unusual or unnatural for them to be in each household but you can't afford to waste them and you do not. She said it felt kind of like that.
Magic stones are almost like delicacies foodstuff and electricity something is consumed but the devices that use those as fuel (?) are reasonably expensive in the first place. Unless they're a considerably wealthy person, shop, or corporation it seems it's hard to resolve to buying them. There's also something you could consider the simplified or cheaper versions with lower specs but since the fuel (?) isn't that much in circulation as well in the end you restrain from using them unless really needed. Kind of like that. I don't know if that's accurate but going off of Gwine's explanation, I'm a bit discontent but it's acceptable.
Returning the conversation.
Zenom says to the Sub-Baron who was a bit surprised after being called out to by Zenom.
"Yeah, that's right. Although we aren't calling ourselves that so Slaughterers is something like a nickname."
After hearing Zenom's words the Sub-Baron,
"I see. Firefreed. Would you make a request from Greed-san for me? As a matter of fact I came to request some dealings with Greed Company."
said that. After hearing the Sub-Baron's words Zenom said while slightly surprised.
"I don't mind that but Al isn't dealing in slaves."
Yeah, in regards to slaves buying is my specialty. Though I said that I've still only bought two. However, I can already imagine the situation. I'm sure this Sub-Baron Logflat is the owner of "Emerald Duke Crab Reception Hall" and he's finally come to try and negotiate stocking "Saya". No, there's doubt that's the case!
Since he seems to be an acquaintance of Zenom, I'm sure the slaves that Zenom is talking about is sex slaves. Since then I've brought samples of "Saya" to the "Emerald Duke Crab Reception Hall" countless times. Since I've always been blocked by that gentleman I wasn't able to meet the owner. Since the quantity is minuscule I'm sure it didn't have much of a reputation right away. I guess I'd say it took a few months to finally enter the ears of the owner.
"Sub-Baron Logflat. It's about discussing stocking up on rubber products our company deals in right?"
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