Chapter 1-7 : I’m Getting Rich! (part 1)
「Miss Kako Mayama, all the herbs you sell to us are the best quality herbs, and they’re worth a hundred and twenty gold coins! Congratulations!」(female employee)
「…A hundred…What…?」(Kako)
The leather pouch was filled with coins made of gold, and the receptionist lady said that there were a hundred and twenty of them.
120 gold coins, huh…? That sounds like a lot of money…
In most RPGs gold is the type of coin with the highest value, but I still don’t know the value of gold coins in this world.
Perhaps they’re the least valuable type of coin here. If so, then the most valuable will be… Platinum?
But… in my previous world, platinum used to have a higher price than gold, but now it’s the opposite.
Ugh… thinking about it only makes my head hurt. I should ask this receptionist lady.
「Umm, excuse me. What can I buy with one gold coin?」(Kako)
「What you can buy? Well, a lot of things. Could it be, you don’t know its value?」(female employee)
「A, Actually, my parents never taught me about money, so…」(Kako)
「I see. Hmm… Let’s see… With one gold coin, you can stay in a decent inn for a month or half a month if you stay in a luxury inn.」(female employee)
Thirty days staying in a decent inn, huh?
In my previous life, I played a lot of MMORPGs and made a lot of online friends. One of them was a businesswoman who usually stayed in a business-class hotel in Tokyo every year.
I remember she told me it cost around five thousand yen per night without meals.
If business-class hotels in Tokyo equal decent inns in this world, that means one gold coin equals a hundred and fifty thousand yen, right?
*5,000 yen/day X 30 days = 150,000 yen
I have a hundred and twenty gold coins in this pouch… That means the total money I have is…
「E… Eighteen million yen!?」(Kako)
*150,000 yen X 120 gold coins = 18,000,000 yen (about 120,000 USD)
「…”Yen”?」(female employee)
「Aa! D, Don’t mind me. I’m just talking to myself. Haha!」(Kako)
Is it okay…? Is it really okay to get such a huge amount of money so easily!?
Eighteen million yen!? Just from collecting random herbs in the forest!?
I was overwhelmed by the huge amount of money I got. I couldn’t help but tremble.
「Miss Kako Mayama, are you okay?」(female employee)
「Y, Yass! I’m okay! I’m fine! Ahaha!」(Kako)
Uwooogh!! Mom, Dad, your daughter has just become a millionaire in another world!!
This is bad. I’m too excited. I need to calm down…
ーSuuu… haaa… suuu… haaa…
I took a deep breath a few times to calm myself down and asked more about the currency in this country.
「Can you tell me the value of the other coins?」(Kako)
「Do you mean the silver ones and the copper ones? Well, a hundred silver coins equals one gold coin, and a hundred copper coins equals one silver coin. The other countries also use these three types of coins, so we can trade between countries easily without worrying about the differences in currencies.」(female employee)
I see. So there’s no such thing as currency exchange rates in this world.
That’s cool. I don’t have to worry about exchange rates if I want to go to another country in the future.
「Now, do you want to take all these gold coins home or do you want to deposit some of them in the bank?」(female employee)
「You have a bank here?」(Kako)
「Yes. You can withdraw your money in any merchant guild around the world by showing your guild member card. However, you can’t withdraw a huge amount of money at once in some towns, especially in less prosperous ones because they don’t have much money.」(female employee)
Makes sense. After all, the amount of money circulating in small towns is much less than in big cities.
Therefore, you can only withdraw a limited amount of money in such places.
「I recommend you save your money in the bank. However, in order to use the bank, you have to become a Blue Merchant first by paying ten gold coins to the guild.」(female employee)
「Blue Merchant…?」(Kako)
Is that something like ranks among merchants?
I wonder if there’s also Red Merchant, Black Merchant, Yellow Merchans, and Pink Merchant, and when they gather together, they will become Power Merchants or something.
「Can you tell me what the color means?」(Kako)
「The colors indicate your rank as a merchant. The moment you join the merchant guild by paying fifty silver coins, you are registered as a White Merchant, which is the lowest rank among merchants. White Merchants are allowed to sell their products to the people in town and are eligible to sell them to the guild as well. You can become a Blue Merchant or even a higher-ranked merchant by paying a certain amount of money to the guild. The higher your rank is the more benefit you will get from the guild.」(female employee)
I see… So White Merchants are like the lowest tier of membership, and Blue Merchants and higher ranks are like VIP membership, huh?
「Blue Merchants have permission to use the bank, Green Merchants can borrow money from the guild, Red merchants have the privilege of having priority in the trade of rare and high-value items, Golden Merchants, which are the highest-ranked merchants, can sell their products in auctions and also have the right to participate in any auctions as buyers.」(female employee)
Auctions!?
I’ve seen it once on TV. That’s the place where rich people in expensive suits and dresses bid for valuable vases, jewelry, and other stuff, right?
They would shout, “A hundred million yen!” or something like that as they bid for the items.
I wonder if I will be rich enough to participate in an auction…
Well, leave that aside for now, there are some points I still don’t understand. I should ask this lady.
「I still don’t understand the benefit of becoming a Red Merchant. What does it mean to have priority in the trade of rare and high-value items?」(Kako)
「If you want to sell precious items to rich customers through the guild, we will prioritize selling your items first before the other merchants’.」(female employee)
「I see. But what if you compete against fellow Red Merchants?」(Kako)
「In such cases, we will be prioritizing the ones who have better track records.」(female employee)
「So that’s how it works. I see.」(Kako)
「So, Miss Kako Mayama, would you like to register and upgrade your rank?」(female employee)
Hmm… I think I will need to save my money in the bank. Having so many gold coins in my pocket is too risky after all.
That means I should register as a Blue Merchant for now.
I will save most of my money in the bank and take some just enough to pay for accommodation and meals for a few days. I think one gold coin, fifty silver coins, and fifty copper coins will be enough.
「Alright. I will pay fifty silver coins for the guild membership and ten gold coins for the Blue Merchant registration fee, then I will take one gold coin, fifty silver coins, and fifty copper coins and save the remaining money in the bank.」(Kako)
「Understood.」(female employee)
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