Management of a Novice Alchemist: Volume 4 E-Book

Mizuho Itsuki

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Management of a Novice Alchemistanageme
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 341

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Monster researcher Nordrad Evans arrives at Sarasa’s shop with a letter of introduction that is less than glowing. Asked to assist in his scientific investigation of the salamander’s den, she comes up with the idea of using a remote-controlled homunculus. Iris and Kate go along in person, but...Nord’s obsessive behavior causes another salamander to attack?! In the collapsed cave, all they can rely on is Sarasa’s homunculus to provide direction. Will the three make it back alive?!

Leseprobe

Prologue

Some time after the trouble with the House of Lotze’s debts, we had gone through the arbitration process and sent our thanks to everyone who helped out. With all of that sorted, we were able to get back to our peaceful lives.

The slaying of the salamander had made my heart race a little, but at the end of the day, I had a little cash and some rare materials left over, so maybe it was a positive in the end?

We did succeed in our primary goal of saving Iris-san, after all.

And no longer burdened with repaying the family debt, Iris-san and Kate-san...

“Sarasa, we’re back.”

“We’re home now, Shopkeeper-san.”

“Welcome home, both of you. I’m glad to see you’re all right.”

...were living in my house, as before, and continuing their activities as gatherers.

I had told them they could pay me back over time from the domain’s tax revenues, but according to Iris-san, “repaying the debt of gratitude we owe you is separate from paying you back the money.”

In all honesty, I’d have felt lonely if Iris-san left, so I had been kind of thrilled to hear her say that.

Apparently, even Adelbert-sama had started saying things like, “I’ll become a gatherer too, and repay the debt...” But obviously his wife had stopped him, and he’d reluctantly given up.

He probably had the skills for it, but it was pretty obvious he couldn’t be allowed to. He was the lord of a domain, even if it was just a small one. He might be useless at his duties (as Iris-san attested), but that didn’t mean he could spend all his time away from home.

If there was one thing that caught my attention, though...

“Iris-san, are you going to go on calling me by name like that?” I asked.

There was a pause before she replied, “Can I not?”

“Well, it’s not that you can’t, but...”

I didn’t know if it was all in jest, but the other day, they had brought up the idea of Iris-san marrying me, and she’d addressed me this way since then. If it was tied to the marriage thing, I wanted to put my foot down and say no, but when Iris-san looked at me with those sad eyes...

“I don’t object to you calling me ‘Sarasa,’ but I have no intention of marrying you, okay? And it’s not that you hate men, or prefer to be with a woman either, right?”

“Well, no. But when I think about that scumbag, maybe I have started to hate men a little.”

Iris-san shook her head as she let out a deep sigh.

I never asked her for details, but she’d apparently had a really bad time when she went back to the family home. There hadn’t even been a hint of levity on Kate-san’s face when she’d said, “If it weren’t for the money, we wouldn’t have let him walk out of there alive,” so even if she was just saying that, it still must have been pretty bad.

“If that’s the alternative, marrying you would be a hundred times less awful— No, it’s rude to say it that way. I’d be a hundred times happier... I guess that’s not right either. One hundred times a negative is still a negative. Hrmmm.”

Having dwelt on it for a while, Iris clapped her hands and looked straight at me.

“Yeah, I want to marry Sarasa. Let’s go with that!”

“Wh-When you’re so direct like that, it gets me all flustered...”

The way Iris-san looked at me, completely serious—damn, was she handsome.

Thank goodness she was a woman.

If she had been a man, I’d have fallen for her right there. Yep.

“I-Iris-san, it’s not that I hate you or anything, but listen, I’m just an innocent maiden hoping that a wonderful man will appear for me one day.”

I won’t get greedy and wish for a cool prince or anything.

“Murgh. Do you suppose you could compromise, and settle for a ‘wonderful individual’ instead?”

“Even if I did, Iris-san...you come up short! Just a little!”

“How so?!”

“Uh, well, normally, you are a wonderful individual, but...”

Her appearance...was good. She was cute, and at times could be cool in a masculine way.

But her weaknesses showed occasionally, and when you averaged all the positives and negatives out, she landed at slightly positive. That was not exactly the stuff dreams were made of.

In terms of her social status, she was of noble lineage, no matter how minor. The fact that, if I married her, I would get that as part of the bargain did make it a significant perk for me as a merchant.

As for my relationship with the parents... Adelbert-sama was an earnest knight, and seemed easy to get along with, and I heard it was her mother who’d dropped the hint about “if she married me,” so I wasn’t likely to see any opposition from her either.

Yeah, she’s a winner all right. If I just ignore her sex, that is.

If I just ignore her sex, that is!

That was the most important thing, though.

The annoying complication was that I had ways of doing something about it.

“Well, setting aside the issue of gender, I could accept a woman as my partner, assuming there was no marriage involved, but then I’d want someone who could support me both in my public and private life.”

In my line of work, there were a lot of women who never married. You could make a lot of money as an alchemist, even as a woman, and it was common to spend all of your marriageable years slaving away in someone else’s shop, so they often missed their chance—or so I had heard. It was sad, really.

“What sort of support would it take for you to accept me?” Iris-san asked hesitantly. “I think I could handle gathering materials.”

“It’s not a bad offer, but if I’m going to all the trouble, I’d want someone who complements the areas I’m weak at.”

I could gather materials myself if I felt like it, so that wasn’t a weakness of mine. The time it would take was an issue, yes, but I could also just buy them—actually, for ordinary alchemists, that was the main way they got their materials. If there was something I wanted in a partner...

“Someone who can make delicious food, maybe...? And if they did the cleaning, laundry, and other household chores as well, even better. That would let me focus on my alchemy.”

“C-Cooking, huh? I’m not so good at that.” Iris-san’s eyes wandered as she considered my request, then, putting a hand on Kate-san’s shoulder, she pushed her forward. “Could we perhaps leave that to Kate, who’d be part of the package? Kate could handle the household chores too, you know?”

Kate-san blinked, unsure how to react, then turned to look at Iris-san.

“Huh? You were serious about that, Iris?”

“Kate-san, huh? She’s not bad, but Lorea-chan doesn’t just cook; she also minds the shop, so she’s sort of a two-for-one there.”

Iris-san and I carried on with this silly argument, ignoring both of the other people involved.

“M-Me?” Lorea-chan recoiled slightly. “Um, Sarasa-san. I appreciate your feelings, but I don’t swing that way either...”

“I-I’m just kidding, of course? I’m strictly talking about you as a partner. It’s true that you’re a big help, though,” I hurriedly explained.

Things had gotten so much easier since Lorea-chan turned up, so while I wasn’t running the risk as badly as Leonora-san, I needed to be careful, or I was scared I really would miss out on my chance to get married.

“Iris, if you did marry Shopkeeper-san, that would make her a member of the house, so I would obviously do all I could to support her both in public and in private. But maybe I’m not so happy that I’m being treated like just an added bonus,” Kate-san objected with a slightly troubled look on her face.

Hearing this, Iris-san thought for a moment, then nodded with understanding. “Then let me be the added bonus. Although, in light of my position, I cannot give up on the position of head wife.”

“That is not the problem! Oh, for goodness’ sake. Shopkeeper-san isn’t even interested.”

Yeah, you tell her, Kate-san.

“First, you need to get her in the mood, don’t you?” she went on.

Oh...? I’m not liking where this is going.

“Hmm. That’s a sound argument. I suppose it was presumptuous, trying to sway her with talk of an added bonus.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Kate-san agreed. “First, you need to improve your own appeal.”

“N-No, that’s not the issue...” I protested.

You sound like you’re encouraging her, but are you serious, Kate-san? Isn’t it your duty as a retainer to discourage her here?

Though, maybe her being in debt to me makes it so it’s not that simple.

“Hmm...” Iris-san murmured. “It seems I’ve hurried this a little too much. For now, I will go back to addressing you as I did before, Shopkeeper-dono.”

“Uh, no, that’s not the core of the—”

“I will better myself as a potential bride, so that you might choose me, Shopkeeper-dono. Please, look forward to it!” Iris-san said.

“E-Erm... G-Good luck...?”

Even though it felt weird to me, the firmness of Iris-san’s declaration made me encourage her despite myself.

I can’t tell her, “You don’t have to try!” when she looks at me with those sparkling eyes!

“Mm-hmm! Ah, but in this case, perhaps I should be training to become a better potential groom? What do you think, Kate?” Iris-san asked.

“Well, while I think you’d make a lovely bride, I feel like Shopkeeper-dono being the groom feels a little off.”

“But surely Shopkeeper-dono will have the higher income, right? It’s not as though our domain brings in much revenue.”

“You have a point. Why don’t we have both of you be the groom?”

“I see. That is an option. And then we’ll have you join us, Kate!”

“Let’s leave that to future discussions...”

“Hm? What? Would you like to be a groom as well, Kate?”

“That’s not it...”

The two of them had started discussing plans. If they just decided all this stuff, I wasn’t sure what to tell them.

While I was still confused, someone clapped their hands. I turned to see Lorea-chan with a gentle smile on her face.

“It must be hard, being so popular, Sarasa-san,” she said.

“You say that as though it has nothing to do with you, Lorea-chan.” I shot her a slightly annoyed look, but Lorea-chan smiled and shrugged.

“Because it doesn’t. I wish you all the best, Sarasa-san. It sounds like you’ll have your hands full.”

But she wasn’t able to stay uninvolved for long.

“Oh, what’s the matter, Lorea?” Iris-san asked. “Why do you seem so— Ohh, I see how it is. How thoughtless of me.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Of course you’d feel lonely, being the only one left out. It’s okay. I don’t see any problem with us bringing in one more person.”

“N-No, I plan on having a normal marriage—”

“You don’t need to hold back on my account, you know? Our house doesn’t fret the small details. Although, if possible, I’d like for Kate to be the second wife...”

“Oh? I wouldn’t mind, you know?” Kate-san interjected. “Lorea-chan can be the second wife.”

“I-I would mind!” Lorea-chan objected.

“I can see why you would. If Kate, a retainer of the house, were ranked higher than you—”

“That’s not the problem!”

As Lorea-chan got increasingly flustered, I quietly stood up and then silently faded out of the scene.

Cheering “Fight on, Lorea-chan!” as I left...

Episode 1: The Researcher’s Visit

Setting aside that sort of silliness, we were more or less back to business as usual. The whole bride discussion was shelved due to Lorea-chan’s efforts, allowing me to seclude myself in the workshop once more, obsessively pursuing my alchemy.

As I was doing that, Lorea-chan poked her head in with her brow furrowed. “Sarasa-san, could I have a moment?”

“Hm...? Sure, what is it?”

Having gotten used to the job, Lorea-chan could now assess the purchase price of most ordinary materials, so she didn’t need to call on me as often anymore... Is it an order for an artifact?

“There’s a customer with a letter of introduction from Leonora-san...”

“Leonora-san? I’ll have to meet with them, in that case. I’ll be right there.”

Leonora-san scratched my back, and I scratched hers. That was the kind of relationship we had... Well, maybe she scratched my back a little more often? Either way, if this person had an introduction from her, they needed to be shown some consideration.

I tidied up as quickly as I could, then headed over to the shop area. There I found a man in his mid-twenties with a scar over his left eye waiting for me. He was slender but strong, and his face was nicely symmetrical.

Not a bad start, but his ashen red hair was messy despite how short he cut it, and the clothes he wore—which were of the practical, durable variety—seemed a bit worn out. He didn’t look like a gatherer to me.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” I greeted.

“No, no, I apologize for the sudden imposition.” He smiled, not offended by the slight delay.

“Thank you for your understanding. So, what can I do for you today? I’m told you have a letter of introduction.”

“I do, yes. Maybe it’s fastest to have you read that first.”

“I’ll take a look.”

I read through the letter he handed me. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm...

“It says you’re a researcher of monsters? And you want assistance with your field research?”

“Yes. I’m Nordrad Evans—call me Nord. Can you help?”

Hmm, this could be a little bit troublesome. Since he has an introduction from Leonora-san, I’m not against offering him some assistance, but it does bug me that the letter says, “If he asks for anything unreasonable, you don’t have to listen.”

“Wow, I never knew there were people who studied monsters,” Lorea-chan marveled.

“There aren’t many of us,” Nord-san explained, nodding. “And that I study their ecology makes me an even greater rarity.”

In general, the study of monsters was primarily focused on which of their materials could be used and in what way.

That being the case, it was often pursued by alchemists who had reached the intermediate level and had a little extra room in their finances.

It was rare that they had anything to show for their work, but if they found a use for some material that was previously just thrown away, they stood to make a massive profit and also a name for themselves.

Nord-san’s study of monster ecology, on the other hand, didn’t have much potential for profit in it, so hardly anyone chose it as a topic of research.

“That’s why most researchers are nobles, doing it for their own amusement, huh?” Nord-san mused.

“Does that mean you’re also a noble, Nord-san...?” I asked.

“No, no, I’m one of the few exceptions, because I also get results. I’ve written a number of books. Maybe you know them?” The corners of his lips turned upward with pride.

“Sorry, I don’t...” I said, averting my eyes.

“O-Oh.” His shoulders slumped a little, but he quickly recovered. “Well, it looks like I still have a long way to go. I’ll have to try even harder,” he said with a smile.

I really wasn’t the one to ask when it came to expensive things like books. Because, living as frugally as I had, I couldn’t possibly have bought any.

That said, I was still an alchemist. I’d done more research on monsters than your average person, but it was all weighted toward how they could be used—that is to say, what materials they had.

The books in the academy’s library were largely of that disposition as well, and if they didn’t have Nord-san’s book there, then no matter how well it sold, I’d never have seen it.

Not that I could see a book like that ever having mass-market appeal.

It seemed Lorea-chan easily came to a similar conclusion. “Erm, did you sell that many copies?”

“Of course! My recent publication, The Ecology of Grimeteeth and Their Secrets, sold a whole twenty-eight copies! It’s the talk of the industry!”

Nord-san clapped his hands together gleefully, then spread his arms wide. Lorea-chan shot me a troubled glance, but I just gave her a slight shake of my head in response.

There were many different forms that publishing could take, but I couldn’t see how twenty-eight copies could be a large number for a book being sold for profit. Furthermore, that he was able to keep track of the number of copies sold down to the last digit was a little painful.

Even if it was as expensive as the Complete Alchemy Works, he must have been taking a loss once you factored in his research expenses.

“Oh, even with as many sales as my books get, it’s still not enough to provide research funding. The main source for that is something else. There are research grants for those studying monsters, did you know that?”

“I was aware, yes...”

Monsters lived right next to us, but we knew so little about their ecology. One policy the kingdom had undertaken to gather more information was a system of research grants.

But it wasn’t that convenient of a system to use. The money was paid out in the form of a reward, but only after the results had been presented as a research paper.

You couldn’t apply for funding in advance, and the amount paid out depended on the content of your paper, with no consideration given to the cost of doing the research. In short, without some initial funds, you couldn’t get started as a researcher, and if your research was poorly received, you might not even make your money back.

It was such a gamble that people couldn’t make a living off of it. The only thing that it had accomplished was to persuade the nobles who had been researching things for their own amusement to publish their results rather than hoard them.

“So, are you wealthy too, Nord-san?”

“No, I’m an exception there too. Because I’ve never once ended up in the red!”

According to Nord-san, who puffed up his chest with pride, he had started with inexpensive research, and always received more in reward money than he spent.

“You might not think it, but the thing is, I’m actually quite famous in the world of monster ecology researchers,” he boasted.

“That sounds like an incredibly narrow world,” Lorea-chan replied, not mincing words.

Nord-san fell silent for a moment before acknowledging, “Well, yes. Since ordinary folks know nothing about it,” with a reluctant nod.

“Not even a specialist, like Sarasa-san, seems to know about it, though?”

“Well, yes... I wouldn’t expect anyone but a fellow researcher to.”

“And just how many researchers are—”

“I-It sure is amazing that you’re able to make a profit on research! Normally, it’s assumed that you’re going to take a loss!”

Even without knowing much about the subject, I could tell that the number of researchers wasn’t that large. But he was still a customer. When I cut off Lorea-chan’s relentless interrogation and changed the topic, Nord-san looked at me like I had just saved him.

“I-I know, right?! There are many subjects where, even if you present your findings, they won’t be worth a single copper, you know?”

“I’ll bet. But why choose a super minor monster like the grimetooth?”

The average person had never even heard the name, and even those who had didn’t take much interest in them. They were of such minimal importance that even alchemists would take some time to remember whether any of their parts could be turned into useful materials.

If he was making money from that kind of research, then either the screening process for research grants was fairly loose, or his research paper had been incredible enough to make up for that.

But shouldn’t he study something a little more common, at least? Like, a monster that people have heard the name of, but isn’t well understood?

“Yeah. The screening committee pointed that out. Which is why, this time, I’m focusing on a well-known monster.”

I’ll bet! If no one on the committee had pointed it out, I’d think they all ought to be fired.

Receiving a report on new ways to use grimeteeth would be one thing, but a report on their ecology must have bewildered the people who had to check over it. They’re the sort of monster that’s easy to catch if you just go where they live.

“That’s probably for the best. So, what have you chosen?”

Nord-san grinned at my question, then calmly said the name. “The salamander. That is the topic of my current research.”

“Um, okay? You’re studying salamanders?”

“Yeah. There’s an area nearby, right? A habitat.”

“There was. But the salamander’s gone now, you realize? Because I killed it and turned it into materials.”

It was inevitable that the information would get out now that I had sold the materials, but conversely that should have also meant that people knew it was already dead. There was no way to investigate its ecology at this point.

Or was he looking for me to give him some of the parts?

As I raised a suspicious eyebrow, Nord-san wildly gesticulated. “Oh, that’s fine. I’ve already finished part of my research in other areas where they live. I want to investigate the cave where the salamander lived as a sort of supplementary source of information.”

“Oh, is that right?” I asked. “In that case, I think you could have continued your research wherever you were doing it before...”

Nord-san scratched his head and smiled awkwardly at the unspoken question, Why would you change locations?

“Well, the bodyguard I hired got injured, you see. I looked for a replacement, but no one in those parts would take the job.”

Doesn’t that mean he had trouble of some sort...?

If the job had been a tempting offer, there should have been takers.

The words from the letter—If he asks for anything unreasonable, you don’t have to listen—flashed through my mind.

“I was offering proper compensation, of course, and I think at an appropriate rate? But going into the nest of a salamander requires specialized equipment, right? And I’m obviously not wealthy enough to cover the cost for all of it.”

“Yes... I suppose that’s true.”

It was impossible to even approach the place where a salamander lived without artifacts to protect against the heat. It was a bit much to expect people to assemble a full set of equipment when all he was offering was a somewhat good daily wage.

“Besides, if I want to do a thorough investigation of a salamander’s habitat, it’s more convenient to do it when the salamander is no longer around. But they’re not simple opponents to defeat...”

“And that’s what brings you to my place, huh? We’ve already defeated our salamander, and because that’s true, you can infer we already have the necessary equipment.”

“Right. That said, Sarasa-kun, I understand it won’t be easy to rope you into this, as you have your own shop to attend to. As such, I was hoping you might introduce me to some collaborators. You have people like that here, right? Gatherers, I mean.”

I never gave Leonora-san the finer details about how we had slain the salamander, but it was natural for her to have assumed I didn’t do it alone and had outside help.

It was also reasonable for her to have inferred that those helpers had been gatherers from the village.

After pausing to consider, I said, “Understood. I will set up a meeting for you, but that’s it. Whether they take the job is up to them, and I will not be pushing for them to do so. Is that all right?”

Even now that the salamander was gone, that area still wasn’t safe by any stretch of the imagination. The lava lizards were one thing, but it wasn’t impossible that the hellflame grizzlies had returned, so I didn’t really want Iris-san and the others going there.

But even if I refused, he could find out who had gone with me if he looked into it. That being the case, it was better that I be there to hear his offer along with them.

“I don’t mind that at all. It’s only natural that I, as a researcher, be willing to negotiate on the details.”

Seeing Nord-san’s confidence as he nodded, I felt just a little worried.

Once he left, I got in touch with Leonora-san using the Shared Sound Box. Not only did she repeat that “I only ask you to help him as far as it’s reasonable for you to,” she also said, “He’s the sort who can be blind to his surroundings when research is involved, so if he’s being unreasonable, you can firmly reject him, and if he does something strange, I won’t mind if you punish him for it.”

Well, that’s...not reassuring at all!

This only reinforced my sense of uneasiness, and I couldn’t see the whole thing as anything other than smelling of trouble.

I’d gotten that sense from him even without Leonora-san saying so, but even if I had her permission, how was I supposed to go about punishing him...? With my fists? Was I supposed to do it with my fists?

Once Iris-san and Kate-san got home, I told them all about what had happened and then asked for their input.

“Monster ecology, huh?” Iris-san murmured. “I never knew there were people who studied that.”

“It’s the first I’m hearing of it too,” Kate-san agreed. “What was your impression of him, Shopkeeper-san?”

“Let me see... He was a stereotypical researcher, in a way.”

He put his research first, and had great passion for it, but was unconcerned when it came to anything else. He paid no attention to his hair and clothes, not caring at all how shabby he looked.

There’d been a number of professors and instructors at the academy who were of a similar variety.

Though, since it was a school, none had been quite so unclean.

Hmm? I’m one to talk, you say?

Now, come on, even I put some thought into my appearance when I’m going out at least—or I like to think I do.

Although, I was just wearing the outfits that my seniors had picked out for me... Because I didn’t have the fashion sense to mix and match the clothes I had!

“I suppose we’ll have to meet with him,” Iris-san concluded. “We’re free to refuse, right?”

“Of course you are. And if you think it’s too much for you, please do so without a second thought.”

I felt obliged to help Leonora-san, but Iris-san and Kate-san were more important.

◇ ◇ ◇

I had recently put in a reception room at the shop. That said, though, all I had really done was remodel the warehouse behind the shop, so it wasn’t like I had added on an expansion.

For the vast majority of customers, just sitting down at the table in front of the front counter was enough. Because of how rarely I had an occasion to use a full reception room, I couldn’t justify spending much on creating it. All that being the case, Nord-san was the first guest to ever use the room.

“Hello, I’m Nord. Are you the ones who took part in slaying the salamander?”

Nord-san didn’t look much different from the day before. He wasn’t unclean, but his unkempt hair and unrefined clothes were the same as ever.

“I’m Iris. Let me start by saying that we were just tagging along with Shopkeeper-dono.”

“I’m Kate. We barely contributed anything to slaying the salamander, so don’t be under any illusion that we did.”

They both wanted to disabuse him of the notion that he could expect too much from them, but Nord-san shook his head to say that it wasn’t a problem.

“I want to ask you to keep watch during my investigation,” he said. “I’ll have you know, I actually keep in quite good shape myself. If you can’t even beat the monsters along the way there, that would be an issue, but you can handle that much just fine, right?”

“I would think so, provided they don’t swarm us,” murmured Iris-san. “But do you even need protection to begin with? You look like you work out?”

“Oh, you can tell?” Nord-san smiled, noticing her eyes on him. He put his hands together, and flexed his muscles with an audible “Hungh!”

That’s pretty impressive, but please, stop, it’s too much for me to take. I’m not some kind of muscle fetishist.

I didn’t know if he heard my plea, or simply recovered his common sense, but Nord-san quickly relaxed his muscles and shook his head.

“But combat techniques are another matter,” he stated. “I do have confidence in my stamina, and my ability to run away, though I can’t do detailed examinations while also remaining alert to my surroundings.”

“I see,” Iris-san replied. “That all makes a lot of sense.”

If he was focused on his investigation, that would inevitably distract him from his surroundings. Even if he had the ability to run, it would do him no good if he didn’t notice until he was attacked. Looking at it that way, just having someone around to keep an eye out for him must have made a huge difference in how safe he felt.

“Hmm, if it’s just a matter of standing watch...then whether it’s profitable for us will come down to the compensation,” Iris-san noted.

“Yes, that’s true.” Nord-san stroked his chin as he thought about it. “I can’t offer you much, but since there are two of you...”

Unlike if they were going out to slay monsters, there weren’t going to be any materials to be had in a simple survey of the area, so Nord-san’s ability to pay was going to depend on his own pocketbook.

“Hmm, all right. As payment for your time from when we leave the village until our return, how would you feel about twenty gold a day each?”

“Done!”

“Whoa, Iris?!” Kate-san’s eyes widened at her partner’s instant response.

But the amount that Nord-san was offering was so generous that I could understand why she’d snap at it so quickly.

Forget the countryside or far-flung cities; even in the capital twenty gold was more than the common person could expect to make in an entire month. By comparison, gatherers made a lot of money, but only a select few could consistently bring in twenty gold every single day. I daresay that Iris-san and Kate-san were doing those kinds of numbers back when we were overhunting the frostbite bats, but that had been an exceptional circumstance.

The bats had bred to excess because they weren’t being hunted, and they’d had my magic, as well as a higher purchase price than normal, working in their favor too. That was just how unusual the situation had been.

In other words, the pay he was offering was high. More than you would usually expect for bodyguards. If he weren’t here with an introduction from Leonora-san, I’d have run him out of the shop at this point for being way too suspicious.

“Erm, Nord-san, are you sure that’s all right?” I asked.

“Well, I think I can manage it? It’s a rather dangerous place I’m asking them to go to, so I feel I need to offer at least this much. The trade-off is that I expect them to provide all of the necessary equipment.”

That made more sense. If I factored in the cost of the heat-resistant equipment, maybe it was a fair wage?

“Although, it does mean that if my current paper isn’t approved, I’ll need to save up by doing other work for a while before I can move on to my next study. Ha ha ha!”

From the sound of it, he was using all of his earnings from research grants, as well as the sales of his books (though that didn’t amount to much), to fund his current research. But he must have been paying similar compensation at his last research site, so...

“You must receive an awful lot of grant money, huh?” I remarked.

“When my research is recognized, yes. But if I go in expecting that to happen and take on debt to fund my research, then my life will be over if it doesn’t work out, so it’s pretty tough.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured...”

This kingdom didn’t allow slavery, but it wasn’t so soft on people that they could escape their debts. It was commonplace for people to be essentially forced to work.

So long as the work itself wasn’t illegal, they weren’t in a position to refuse it, so many young women were forced into brothels, and men could be too if the demand was there. I’d heard rumors that, if the debt was large enough, people were sent to places that really skirted the edges of the law. There were no small number of kids who left the orphanage only to be unable to support themselves.

Debt’s scary!

“By the way, do you have any debts, Nord-san?”

“I’m fine there. I have the restraint to keep it so that if I fail, I’ll be left penniless, but nothing worse than that.”

Can you really call that “restraint”?

“So, what do you say?” Nord-san asked. “Will you take the job?”

“As I’ve already said, I’d like to,” Iris-san answered. “What do you think, Kate?”

“Well... Shopkeeper-san, how risky do you think it is?”

“I think the level of risk is low. Based on our previous experience, there likely aren’t any hellflame grizzlies, and I wouldn’t expect you to encounter any dangerous monsters on the way there or back.”

Hearing my response, Kate-san crossed her arms and considered it. After some time, she slowly nodded. “Then I approve too, I suppose. I’d like to pay off our debt quickly, after all.”

“I don’t want to rush you, but...I would appreciate it,” I replied.

Lords who ruled over farming villages, like the House of Lotze, paid their taxes after the fall harvest. These were mostly collected in the form of produce, which went directly into storage, or was sold at market to turn it into cash.

However, just after the harvest was also when market prices were at their lowest. Previously, they had been forced to sell immediately in order to make their debt payments, but that had changed now that I was their creditor.

I had told them, “Wait for the right time to sell, then repay me,” so I hadn’t been paid yet. But I wasn’t really having any troubles...aside from Iris-san’s awkward romantic advances.

“Well then, Nord,” Iris-san said, turning to our guest. “We formally accept your offer.”

“Thanks! Whew, it’s a big help,” he said, relieved. “At the last place, they wouldn’t take the job even with me offering so much for it.”

“Hmm...?”

As Nord-san smiled and extended his hand to shake on the deal, he let slip a comment that was kind of worrying.

But before I could press him on it, he got to his feet. “Well then, let’s be off!”

“Huh?” Iris-san was nonplussed for a moment. “No, no, we have to prepare before that, you know? And you do too, don’t you, Nord?”

Nord-san gave a self-satisfied smirk. “Heh! Any researcher worth his salt is ready to delve into his studies at a moment’s notice, and to that end I already have a supply of trail rations on me! Oh... But I guess I do need to prepare a tent? Because, surely, you don’t want me joining you in yours.”

When Kate-san shook her head, Nord-san turned to look at me. “My previous bodyguard was a man, so I was able to use his, but... Sarasa-kun, you sell tents, right? Since this is an alchemist’s shop.”

“Yes, I do have floating tents. They’re made to order, so it will take some time. But if you want to pay extra, it can be made faster.”

Most of the time that went into making tents was spent stitching the leather. I had some of the older women in the village handling that part now, which was faster than me handling it all myself, but it still took more than a few days. The women had their own plans, and I wasn’t so unoccupied that I could just spend all my time stitching away, focusing on nothing but tentmaking.

But I had the perfect item to solve that issue all at once! The leather adhesive “Leatherick”!!!

Yeah, weird name. I know. But it was wonderfully good at what it did. Put on a little dab of the stuff, press two pieces of leather together, and once it dried, they’d have merged into one. And I meant that literally, not just figuratively—it left no gaps, and there was no pulling them apart.

If you put them together right, it would look like it was one piece of leather all along, allowing you to make complicated shapes out of leather without any stitching whatsoever.

If there was one weakness, it was the price, I guess? If you used it when trying to make cheap, practical items, the Leatherick alone would raise the cost many times over.

With something like a floating tent, where the base price was high, and there was a lot of sewing involved, it had the effect of lowering the relative cost, but it still wasn’t cheap. It cost enough that the gatherers in this village would choose the traditional sewing method instead.

“How much would it cost to make a tent for one as quickly as possible? Oh, and how many days would the work take to complete?”

I named my price, wondering whether he could even afford it, but Nord-san nodded without seeming to struggle with the decision.

I was a little surprised, but started to mentally rearrange my schedule. If I set everything else aside, and focused solely on the tent, it’d be less than three days, but...

“Five days, I suppose. That would be a reasonable expectation.”

I had some reservations about doing that, so I gave a response that left me some leeway, and this time Nord-san nodded immediately.

“I don’t think that presents an issue. Although, I do want to get to my field work quickly.”

“So it’s all right?” I checked.

“Yeah. The truth is, this is my first time coming to the great forest. I’ll try walking around near the village until things are ready. Maybe I’ll find a subject for my next research!”

That’s a researcher for you: greedy for knowledge.

Maybe it was the key to his success, but it was probably rough on those around him.

“Well then, I expect I’ll be at the inn most of the time, so if you need anything, just come calling. Ah, I mean the new inn. It’s a good place, you know. It almost seems out of place, here in a rural village.”

We all forced ourselves to smile at Nord-san’s rude remarks.

“Ha ha ha... It was just built, after all,” I said.

“You timed your visit well,” Iris-san added. “If you’d come a little earlier, it would have been hell, you know?”

“Or you’d have had to camp out,” Kate-san noted.

“I’d rather not have to rough it,” he replied. “I don’t mind at all when I’m doing it as part of my field work, but I’d like to be able to take it easy and rest when I’m back in the village, at least.”

For all the excitement there was before, ever since the frostbite bat fang bubble burst, the village had seen a dip in the number of gatherers.

However, rather unexpectedly, there weren’t that many leaving, and the new building at the inn was seeing enough use that Delal-san hadn’t fallen behind on her payments. According to Andre-san, it was apparently because “This was always a good spot for gatherers to base themselves out of, plus they now know that there’s a trustworthy alchemist’s shop here.”

If they could make enough money, and there were no issues with their quality of life, maybe it was only natural they would choose to remain in the village?

The one drawback to the village was that there was no entertainment, but I couldn’t do anything about that. I couldn’t exactly set up a pleasure quarter, so they’d have to go play in South Strag when they had time.

Besides, if there was something like that in the village, it would be a bad influence on Lorea-chan’s education, you know?

◇ ◇ ◇

“Now then, we’ve taken the bodyguard job... It’s going to be okay, right, Shopkeeper-san?” Kate-san asked me.

“Yes, I think so—if everything goes normally.”

From what they’d told me, this was apparently the first time they had taken a job as bodyguards. But that was only to be expected, because it was exceedingly rare for anyone to have the occasion to hire gatherers to guard them.

If they were just traveling the roads, there was no need to choose a gatherer, so the only time someone would deliberately make that decision was when they were going somewhere like the great forest, where gatherers were the only option. After all, ordinary people had no business there.

Come to think of it, there had been gatherers who had accompanied us on our practical lessons at the academy, but that job was only available to a very select few working in the area immediately surrounding the capital.

“If everything goes normally?” Lorea-chan echoed. “Sarasa-san, is there a problem?”

“I mean, we’re dealing with a nutty researcher, right? We need to be careful.”