Chapter 1-10 : Opening The Store (part 3)

Two weeks had passed since I opened my store.

The sales kept increasing moderately, and I became acquainted with most of the Collectors in this village.

The discount service was very popular among them.
Every time they returned the bottles, with joyful voices they said, “I’m not worried about injury anymore!” or “I made more money thanks to you!”
It made me happy.

If you get injured, you won’t be able to work until you’re healed, so it’s better to buy some potions than save your money, right?
However, depending on how much you earn, potions might not be cheap items.
But thanks to the discount service, they can carefreely buy them.

Moreover, since I opened an alchemy store in this village, they can collect materials that don’t last long now.
Because if you go to another town to sell such materials, they will get rot before you even reach the town.
But now, they can collect them and sell them to me.
As a result, their incomes have increased.

And by the way, I made several artifacts and lined them up on a shelf with a『Useful For Collectors』sign.
The best selling item was the insect-repellent artifact.

There must be millions of insects in the Great Sea of Trees.
Well, I can understand.

When I was at school, there was a curriculum called ‘Collection Training’ to learn the basic knowledge of collecting materials.

In other words, I also went to a forest and collected materials.

And to be honest… it was tough…

Although at that time we used a relatively safe forest near the royal capital to practice, we were still troubled by beasts, insects, and also heat.

The risk was low because there was an instructor who acted as the leader, but still, it was like a “surviving in a jungle” thing.

Remembering that time, I can understand why the insect-repellent artifact was so popular among the Collectors.

On the contrary, the torch light artifact didn’t sell at all.

I made it because I thought it would be useful, but the Collectors in this village basically went out early in the morning and returned before dark.
Therefore, they didn’t need light.

It seemed that it was because they could earn enough money even without going deep into the forest, so they didn’t have to spend the night there.
As an alchemist, it’s kind of disappointing, because there are a lot of rare materials deep in the forest…

It would be difficult to obtain rare materials to send to Master…

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「Oーi, Sarasa-chaーn, do you have a minute?」

「Yeーs, comiーng!」(Sarasa)

When I was doing simple alchemy work at the counter while waiting for customers, I heard the voice of a familiar person from the front of the store.

I stopped working, went out of the store, and… saw a bear…

Next to the bear was a veteran collector in this village, Andre.
He stood while making a proud expression.

「Welcome back, Andre-san. Wow, that’s a huge “Anger Bear”!」(Sarasa)

「Right? I found it relatively close to this village, so I shot it and we dragged it here without resting. You want to buy it?」(Andre)

Without resting, huh…
The other two party members, Gil-san and Gray-san, let go of the rope they were using to drag the bear, and sat on the ground while breathing hard.

「Let’s see… the damaged part is only the head. One eyeball is crushed, but the internal organs seem to be fine. The freshness is still good. The fur is a little damaged. So… how about 43,000 reas?」(Sarasa)

「That much!? Are you sure!?」(Andre)

Andre-san was surprised with the price I offered.
The other two were also smiling with their eyes shining while still sitting on the ground.

「Yes. It’s still fresh so I can process it easily.」(Sarasa)

「Uwoo~ Until now, we can only use the meat even though it was hard to hunt.」(Andre)

「Actually, this is a difficult material to handle, you know? Because it can be useless if we dismantle it carelessly.」(Sarasa)

The most precious parts of Anger Bears are the heart, liver, and eyeballs.

However, if you take them out poorly, you won’t be able to use them.

If you bring the entire body like Andre-san and his party did, the alchemist can process it more easily.
But, there’s no Collectors who can bring a big bear to the village in a short time unless they find it near the village and immediately bring it to an alchemist store like Andre-san did.

The best way to collect fresh materials from the bear was if the alchemist also went to the forest together with the Collectors.
But, there were only a few alchemists who wanted to take the trouble doing that because basically, most alchemists were brain workers who had little stamina.

「43,000 reas…… Sarasa-chan, really…. Thank you so much for coming to this village!」(Andre)

「Un! I can also make profit in this village now, so, you’re welcome!」(Sarasa)

While thanking me, Andre-san shook my hand.
Gil-san and Gray-san stood up and also shook my hand.

Well, I understand that they are happy, but because they are strong Collectors, they unconsciously gripped my hand a little too hard.
I used body strengthening to endure it and smiled at them.

「Alright, wait a minute. I’ll go get the money.」(Sarasa)

I went inside the store to get the money and handed it to Andre-san.

He received it with a big smile and then raised his voice.

「Hell yeahー! Let’s go drinking, boys!!!」(Andre)

「「Oouuー!」」(Gil & Gray)

「Sarasa-chan, we’ll come again!」(Andre)

「Okay~ Have fun~」(Sarasa)

Drinking alcohol, huh… It’s still daytime time, though…

Well, since it’s a celebration, I think it’s fine.

Alright. Now I have to process the bear quickly.