◇

"Anti-poison magic potion is out of stock?　Wait a minute, haven"t some alchemy materials just arrived from the royal capital last week?"
"Yes, the guild exclusive alchemists had done their best to compound them, but the 『Fang of Conflagaration』 bought them all, saying that they were going to subdue the c.o.c.katrice."
"Ceh, those Red Iron Plate guys huh."

Real life c.o.c.katrice huh. I might want to see it for a bit.
However, people usually imagine c.o.c.katrice for its petrification, but it can use poison too huh.

"Therefore, I recommend going to the pharmacy or alchemist stores in the city..."
"Those stores are under the backing of the viceroy so they"re twice as expensive as the guild store y"know. Hey, isn"t there one left at least?"

The man still hara.s.ses her. The employee onee-san looks troubled.

"We have magic potions for spider poison or ant poison, but there is no general one left."
"I don"t have the money to buy several kinds. Can"t be helped, give me two spider poison magic potion, and also three low-rank healing potion."
"Yes, one low-rank antidote is two silver coins, and one low-rank healing potion is one silver coin."

It"s quite cheap.
The male explorer pays it by lining up coins on the counter. Looks like he"s not good with calculation.

"Next one please."
"Ah, excuse me. I wasn"t actually queuing."

I lightly apologize for standing in a misleading place.

I asked if they would purchase medicines, but since they had exclusive pharmacists and alchemists already, they would only buy items that were in shortage.

"However, most of the items are in shortage. Medicinal plants won"t grow on the outskirts of this city, and although we have alchemists and materials gathered from the labyrinth by the explorers, the consumption is too intense we"re having chronic shortage."

Looks like the plentiful ones are only the ointment for stopping bleeding, and alcohol for disinfecting wounds. It seems that if you have magic potions that are in shortage with quality that"s higher than a certain level, they would buy it at eight times the price the guild is selling.
When I took out the diluted magic potion for her to judge, it was worth four big copper coins.

"Even though the healing quant.i.ty barely qualifies, the stability is wonderful. This shouldn"t go bad or deteriorate even while it"s taken into the labyrinth."

Magic potions can spoil huh.
I have to check the magic potions in Arisa"s Item Box, and everyone"s Fairy Pouch (Magic Pouch) later.

That reminded me about the Dragon White Stones which I had brought a lot from Seryuu city, when I checked to her if I could sell it, she asked if they could buy it all instead.

When I was sending letters to Seryuu City the other day, I heard from some merchant that the shortest route, the northern route had been blocked, so they were going to the southern roundabout route which would take some time, that was probably the cause.
Apparently, one of the city in Lesseu Earldom was destroyed by a rampaging mid-cla.s.s demon, so it can"t be helped that circulation of goods has been stopped.

"No that story is already settled since hero-sama has exterminated the demon, but--"
"Dragon?"

According to her, it seems that a dragon has nested in the mountain pa.s.s that"s located in the Zetsu Earldom that"s between Lesseu Earldom and the Royal Capital. As the result, the northern highway of the kingdom has been completely blocked, and the circulation of goods stops. That"s bothersome.

"Since the Kingdom Conference will be held next month, the kingdom knights and even the Eight s.h.i.+ga Swords-sama have been deployed to subjugate the dragon, so please bear with it for a while."

If I compare the two s.h.i.+ga Eight Swords I"ve met in the duchy capital and Heiron the black dragon, I"m confident that the blockade will continue for a long while.

Well then, putting aside that situation, let"s go back to the trade.

I took out a small bottle out of the magic bag, and put it on the counter. There are 300 grams fine powder of dragon white stone inside. This small bottle can become material for making 30 antidotes.

She told me that they"re buying it for 30 silver coins.
I bought 18 kilograms of small barrel for 10 gold coins back then. It has decreased to only 10 kilograms after I removed impurities and made it into fine powder, yet it can be sold for 20 times the initial cost.

The pharmacy onee-san seemed to misunderstand me who was slightly taken back from the excessive profit.

"I understand that it"s impolite for an alchemist to only sell raw materials, but since the all-purpose antidotes are quick to be spoiled, we can"t handle it if you bring a lot of the finished goods."

Thus, when someone want to buy the all-purpose antidote, the guild exclusive alchemist will compound it for them.

I decided to sell two small bottles of the dragon white stone fine powder, and five diluted magic potions. I should tell the explorer from a while ago that the antidote might be back in stock if I meet him again.

◇

"These are the three mansions that meet Chevalier-sama"s request."

The male guild staff that handles real estate points at the labyrinth city map to present them.

They are a workshop in the craftsman district, a mansion in the wealthy area, and a mansion with a ranch and a farm nearby. He told me that the mansion with the ranch nearby had been vacant for nearly 10 years, so it would need some repair.

After thinking about it for a bit, I chose the mansion near the ranch since it would be easy to stock vegetables and dairy products then.

Arisa harshly said, "I can"t believe you bought a house without even seeing it." but it was meaningless to worry about the condition of a dummy house anyway, so I decided to quickly buy it. I can just buy a replacement if I don"t like it.

It was reasonably priced at half the market price, 150 gold coins, but due to the intervention of the guildmaster who appeared out of nowhere, it was became further half of that.
The reason that this mansion is relatively expensive for its location is because it"s constructed with woods architecture which is rare in this labyrinth city. A collector would have jumped on this, but since the repair cost was high, there was no buyer.

The annual tax is 15 gold coins considering the structure and the location of the mansion. I"m told that Red Iron Plate possessor can also pay half the price of the tax. Since the discount only applies to one house, there doesn"t seem to be any explorer who owns multiple houses.

In exchange for the gold coins I"ve taken out of the magic bag, I receive the registration doc.u.ments for the mansion, and a bunch of keys. A person who had Contract skill came for the registration process.

◇

We go out of the guild building since I"ve finished my business in the guild.
There, eyes full of expectation from the children are looking at us.

It"s a bit scary.

Lead by the little girls baggage carrier from before, there are 30-40 children looking at us in the surrounding. Beyond them, the stalls owners seem to be also watching here. I see, so they clogged the guild entrance to the point of getting kicked by the explorer from before because they gathered for the possibility of being treated to meal huh.

No one is saying anything, but the sound of the growling stomaches of the children fill the tense atmosphere.
It"ll be annoying if they keep like this so I guess I"ll treat them.

I give some small changes to Arisa and the others, and ask them to treat the children with some meals.

"Now then, little girls! Chevalier Pendragon will treat you to a meal. Everyone thank him!"
"""Thank you, Chevalier-sama."""

I wave my hand to reply the grat.i.tude of the great number of little girls, and the few boys.

"Meat~?"
"Arisa, meat are nice nodesu!"
"The nutrition will be imbalanced like that, so no. Let"s make it something like stir-fried vegetables that"s filling for the stomach."

The middle-aged men of the stalls raise their sales voices toward Arisa and the others who are discussing which dishes.

"Li"l lady-chan, our porridge has vegetables and meat inside, so it"s filling for ta" stomach y"know?"
"What"re you saying, our dumpling soup is the best. There"s vegetables inside too, and our meat dumplings "ere the most filling~"
"Awright, let"s go with both!　Everyone, line up on the one you like!　You"ll only be treated to one of them."

From the word of Arisa who feels too bothersome to choose, the children"s eyes are wandering between the two stalls. In the end, they seemed to think that they will miss the meal if they were late, so when one of the children queued, two lines were immediately formed. Pochi and Tama are standing in a row to prevent the chaotic children blocking the traffic.

After saying good bye to the children who had become full, we went to the house I had just purchased.

◇

"Ugeh, it"s weed everywhere."
"Leave it to me~?"
"Equipping mowing equipment nanodesu!"

Arisa leaks out her complaint in front of the mansion that"s overgrown with weed. Tama and Pochi are posing with the sickles they"ve taken from the pouches, on their hands. Nana also takes out a long sickle. They"ve also been like this on the highway before, these three really like mowing huh.

I insert a key to the big padlock on the mansion gate. It"s slightly rusted, but it can be opened with force.

Now then, there are about five children in the mansion, or to be exact, behind the private stable on the mansion plot. They"re most likely orphans who are staying in the vacant house illegally. Their levels are low, I"ll instruct Nana and the others to look at them while they"re mowing.

"Nana, take Pochi and Tama to investigate the stable."
"Yes, master."
"Roger~"
"Nanodesu!"

The three make their way through the weed to the stable while making a path.
The remaining ones, that were us, decided check the water well. Arisa skillfully mowed the weed along the way with s.p.a.ce magic.

The block for hanging the well bucket has rotted, its wreckage is lying on the floor. There is a bucket with rope beside the lid that covers the well to prevent trash from entering it. That bucket is slightly wet. The orphans just now are probably using it.

"This"s baad"
"It"s bad nanodesu!"
"Emergency, so I report!　A life is in peril. I wish urgent relief as soon as possible."

The three who"ve gone to the stable rush back here.
Apparently, the orphans are not merely illegal residents, it seems.