Sozai Saishu 6

Chapter 6: Turning Collected Materials into Cash

For the next hour or so, I rolled around on the bed, gazed at the scenery outside, and completely rested up. I then left my room to go fetch Nico as promised.

Climbing down the stairs onto the ground floor, I saw the figures of Nico and Anna-san earnestly cleaning and scrubbing the dining hall.

Won’t it be bad if I take Nico with me since she’s still working? As I was worrying about that, Nico, who noticed me, was bombarding me with frequent glances.

Guess it means that I should call out to her.

“Nico, as promised, can you bring me to the general store?”

“Yup, leave it to me! And that’s the case, Mom. I will go guide Shuu-san!”

“Haa, can’t help it then. Off you go.”

Anna-san seems to be able to guess the situation as she saw Nico’s happy smile in contrast to my own wry smile. Even though she’s sighing and saying ‘can’t be help’, she’s sending Nico off with a smile.

Strict when she needs to be, and gives slack when suitable. She’s a good mother.

“Well then, I will take you there so let’s go!”

Having been released from her chores, Nico wants to set out immediately.

“Somehow, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. Getting to talk with travellers will be a good experience for that girl as well.”

Bowing my head to Anna-san quickly, I followed Nico outside.

After Nico confirmed that I came out, she departed while humming joyfully.

“You look happy.”

“‘Cause, I get to come out even in the middle of work, thanks to you, Shuu-san!”

At Nico’s honest answer, I reflexively laughed.

I totally understand the feeling.

Since my company had a lot of desk work, when I could go to on-site inspections or some kind of event that would allow me to go home directly afterwards, I would be extremely glad.

During normal hours, you’re not supposed to leave your desk, so to be able to confidently walk out of the company left me with such an acute sense of freedom. It’s perfectly normal to want to voice out that feeling.

“So, I’m kinda interested in what kind of materials you brought, Shuu-san.”

“Since I picked them up in the nearby forest, I don’t think there will be anything rare.”

The dragon scale is rare though. I’ll probably earn lots if I sell it too, but I’m not planning to sell it anytime soon.

I have no idea when the next time I’ll come across another dragon scale will be, and it’s really beautiful too. As a Material Collector, I don’t want to part ways with it.

I’ll only sell it when I have serious worries over money.

“Now that you mention it, which forest did you travel through?”

“If you look from the village entrance, it is the forest with the river on your left flowing through.”

“Eh?! You came through Lakia Forest!? Even though it’s crawling with dangerous monsters like Wagners and Blue Bears!”

It seems like the location I was transferred to was a place called ‘Lakia Forest’. There also seemed to be a lot of dangerous monsters.

Dear God, why in the world did you send me there? It would have been better if I was transferred to a more peaceful forest.

“T-that’s right. I didn’t know. I was probably lucky since I didn’t encounter any monsters.”

In reality, I used Detection to locate them beforehand and chose a safe route to evade them all.

If I had not wished for a power to collect materials, I probably would have spent all of my energy within that forest.

“We’ve arrived! This is the general store.”

Around five minutes passed as I talked to Nico about the forest and the village, and we arrived at the general store.

A single house stood here. Quite a bit of a distance away from the inn.

Urged by Nico, I entered the store. What greeted me was the sight of miscellaneous goods placed around the space.

There were tools like frying pans and pots to daily necessities like preserved foods, ropes, and etc. Lots and lots of varied products were crammed together.

This is great. Even though I received some tools from God, I can’t deny that they are really minimal.

Since I have the convenient tool that is the Magic Bag, I shouldn’t skimp. Let’s bring along cooking tools like frying pans and pots with me when I go out. I want to try cooking outdoors.

Collect materials, cook them, then eat. Great, that sounds awesome.

“Welcome, Nico-chan. Did you come to buy cooking supplies?”

As I was gazing dreamily at the rows of products in the store, a well-built man wearing glasses came out from the inner room.

“You’re wrong. Today I’m guiding a customer. He wants to sell materials to you.”

“Nice to meet you, I am Shuu. I came here to sell materials and I plan to buy some miscellaneous goods as well.”

“Oh, so you’re the traveller who just arrived! I am the owner of this general store and I am called Podan. Please, feel free to show me the materials that you have harvested.”

Seems like the rumour about there being a traveller who came inside the village has already made its rounds.

Prompted by Podan-san, I thrusted my hands into the Magic Bag and brought out the materials I collected in the forest onto the counter.

Azami Herbs, Black Mushrooms, Mint Leaves, Komogi Grass, Exploding Nuts, Horn Rabbit’s Horns, Wagner’s Fangs. Also, the White Snake’s Skin, Elroo Fruits, Antidote Grass, Moonlight Grass and etc. were also brought out; I picked these up along the way to this village.

“Wow, a lot of stuff came out of the bag!”

Nico raised her voice in wonder after seeing the heap of materials on the counter.

“That’s a Magic Bag! You possess quite a rare item.”

“What kind of bag is a ‘Magic Bag’? Is it that rare?”

Wondering the same thing as me, Nico asked Podan-san.

I thought that this bag I received from God is merely a convenient bag….which doesn’t seem to be the case.

“It is a product invented by a high-ranked space magician who spent years and years researching. The technology behind its craft has been lost through time, and it almost never appears on the market. This is the first time I’ve seen the real thing.”

Listening to Podan-san’s explanation, it seems like this bag is sold only at designated locations. The price seems to be so exorbitant that it is enough to live your entire life freely playing around.

By no means did I expect it to be that amazing of an item. Let’s be careful it doesn’t get stolen or get lost accidentally.

“So, how much are these materials?”

I don’t want him to look too much into my Magic Bag, so I changed the topic.

“Let’s see, since they are quite varied, I’ll start with the most valuable items.”

Having said that, Podan-san categorized the materials I left on the table into batches.

The result was that the items were lined up by their prices – corresponding to the same colours as displayed with Detection. Starting from my left: orange, red, blue and purple.

A professional trader seems to have the same diagnosis skills as Detection.

“Well then, first is the skin of the White Snake! Since its condition was preserved excellently immediately after shedding, I’ll offer you 4 gold coins for it. What do you think?”

“Ha? 4 gold coins?”

Since Podan-san gave me an unexpectedly high amount, I couldn’t help but question it in a silly voice.

The skin of a White Snake I found thanks to Detection. Certainly, it was shining in orange when I used the skill. However, I didn’t think that it would be worth as high as 4 gold coins.

“Pardon me. A complete skin with zero scratches is seldomly obtained, then the price should be even higher. Then, what do you say for 5, no 6 gold coins!”

While I was still reeling over the excessive offer, suddenly the sum increased on its own.

“Ehh!? 6 gold coins? Just for the skin of a white snake?”

After hearing Podan-san’s assessment, Nico looked as if she wanted to devour the materials on the counter.

Those eyes seemed to be shouting, “Cash!”

“White Snakes are also widely known as the ‘Phantom Snake’ due to its absurdly high difficulty of discovery. Its pure white skin, once rid of any filth, sparkles. Bags made out of this skin are used as a status symbol amongst the wives of noblemen, you know?”

He said it’s hard to discover, but for me, I only need to designate it as a keyword for Detection and I can find it immediately if it’s within range.

So it’s a material greatly coveted after from the higher-ups in society, huh? If that’s the case, I can now comprehend why the price jumped up so fast.

Maybe I should aim for it the next time I enter the forest.

“So is it okay for me to buy this at 6 gold coins? If you go to the capital, you may receive a better price though…”

Despite being a merchant himself, he’s saying something like that now. I can feel that he’s a good person.

“No, I’ll sell it right here. Please.”

“Thank you very much!”

After saying so happily, Podan-san handed me a leather pouch filled with 6 gold coins.

Then, Podan-san delicately took the skin of the White Snake into his hands and placed it reverently on the shelf.

“Now then, next is the Moonlight Grass! This is also a highly valuable item. How about 3 gold coins?”

“Ehhhh! This weird-looking grass is that expensive!?”

Nico was astonished, once again, over the assessment of the Moonlight Grass.

“Moonlight Grass is a type of flower that blooms after absorbing light from the moon. With only one lick of its nectar, your magic power and stamina will recover. You can crush and use it as a salve. It is also an ingredient of High Potions. It is an awesome all-purpose material.”

“Wow, so it’s an amazing medicinal plant!”

“As expected of Shuu-san. You are knowledgeable.”

I just summed up what Appraisal-sensei told me though. I’m glad I looked it up beforehand.

Anyhow, with this explanation, I seem to be able to convincingly back up my claim as a traveller who collects materials.

“I’ll sell these for 3 gold coins then.”

“Thank you very much!”

Since I haven’t had the chance to visit any marketplaces so I don’t know the market prices, but I think I can at least trust Podan-san.

In any case, I need some initial money to survive on.

After passing Podan-san one stalk of Moonlight Grass, I received 3 gold coins.

With this, I now have 9 gold coins, 1 silver coin, and 5 bronze coins on my person.

Selling the rest of the materials afterwards, that sum increased to around 10 gold coins and 2 silver coins.

I earned over 10,000 yen in a day, huh? I can’t stop grinning.

“C-collecting materials is so lucrative, Shuu-san!”

How curious. I feel like the level of respect Nico gives me is rising all of a sudden.

“Material collection will not always be profitable, you know? This is the result of Shuu-san’s talent.”

Well since I have an Unique Skill, I can freely collect materials all I want though.

At any rate, I won’t have to worry about making a living if I collect materials with this power and sell them off.

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