Chapter 2-26 : Business Competition Ⅲ (part 2)

 

「By the way, Shinjini, you can take these fruits home even without a freezer, right?」(Andre)

「Yeah, I can store them as well.」(Sarasa)

「Aa! That reminds me that our freezer is empty.」(Iris)

「It’s empty most of the time, you know?」(Sarasa)

Iris-san smiled at me who responded to her with a slightly bitter expression. It looks like she wants me to use the freezer to store the frozen fruits.

Lorea-chan manages most of the food-related matters in our home, but she usually stores the food in the refrigerator and doesn’t use the freezer much. She just uses the freezer to make ice cubes.

I remember Lorea-chan said that she didn’t know what to put in the freezer.

「Ordinary people like us have never used a freezer, so we don’t know much about them.」(Andre)

「But they’re convenient, especially for storing meat.」(Sarasa)

「Shinjini, people don’t usually buy a lot of meat, so they don’t really need a freezer.」(Andre)

「Well, yeah, you have a point.」(Sarasa)

From the Hellfire Grizzlies incident, I learned that the villagers could handle a large amount of meat without even using a freezer. At that time, the meat we got from the Hellfire Grizzlies was distributed to all the villagers, so it was quickly consumed without even having time to rot.

Also, the amount of prey Jasper-san usually hunts is not so much that he has to use a freezer.

Because freezers and refrigerators are not that needed in everyday life, especially in a remote village like this, they are completely treated as luxury items.

「Drinking cold water in the summer would be nice, but a refrigerator or a freezer is not something you can easily buy.」(Andre)

「Andre-san, don’t you have many connections with people? I can make a freezer for you. You can find some buyers who want to buy frozen fruits and pay me later after you sell the fruits. How about that?」(Sarasa)

「Hey, do I look like a person who has rich merchant or aristocratic friends? …Iris, Kate, how about you?」(Andre)

「Ahh, we don’t have such friends either…」(Iris)

「Figures. Then, shall we enjoy the fruits for ourselves?」(Andre)

「Andre-san, you sure have the courage to eat these fruits even though they look gross.」(Sarasa)

「You can say that to Gil. I’m also a little hesitant to eat them, you know?」(Andre)

「Hey, cut it out already! They do look gross, but they’re delicious, right? Let’s eat them!」(Gil)

「I’m also interested. We rarely eat something like this after all.」(Gray)

As expected from veteran Collectors. Their mentality is strong.

Even though I know they’re delicious, I still can’t bring myself to eat something from that pile of rotten fruits.

「Alright. Gil, Gray, let’s dig ‘em.」(Andre)

「「Aye, sir!」」

The three men started to dig through the pile of rotten fruits, looking for the edible ones, and as they did that, the sweet scent began to drift and filled the area.

After digging for a while, just as I expected, we found out that only the fruits on the surface were rotten. The fruits inside were still completely frozen and looked fresh.

「Hoo… These ones look good.」(Andre)

「Yeah, I think these are the delicious ones!」(Gil)

The three then started picking up the edible-looking fruits and put them in their leather bags.

There are a lot more edible-fruits than I expected in the pile, but as long as we can carry them, I don’t think it will be a problem.

「Please remember to only pick the ones that look edible. Ah, but don’t worry. If you eat a rotten one, you can always buy potions in my store.」(Sarasa)

If you get an upset stomach, you can just drink potions to feel better, but still, I think eating those fruits takes courage.

「Haha… Imagine if you got a stomach ache here. That would be really bad.」(Andre)

「No, no. This cave is full of turds. No one can tell which ones are the bats’ and which ones are yours, so you can just take a dump here! Gaahahahaha! ……So, sorry…」(Gil)

When Gil-san said something vulgar, us women glared at him. He then immediately apologized.

Certainly, people probably won’t be able to tell the difference, but… Ewww… I don’t wanna think about it…

「Girls, I’m sorry he’s ill-mannered.」(Gray)

「Not only that. I think it’s a matter of his personality. That’s why he will never be popular with women.」(Iris)

Iris-san replied to Gray-san, who apologized in Gil-san’s place, with a harsh reality.

「Iris-chan, that’s not true, right!?」(Gil)

「If you think so, then you should be more careful with your mouth when there are women around.」(Iris)

「Uuu… I’ll be more careful…」(Gil)

「Hahh… Why are male Collectors mostly vulgar…?」(Iris)

「Haha. I can’t deny it.」(Andre)

Andre-san smiled bitterly at Iris-san who sighed while crossing her arms.

「Shinjini, you know what? Because we only have a few female Collectors in this village, beautiful Collectors like Iris and Kate are pretty popular among male Collectors.」(Andre)

「Is that so?」(Sarasa)

「Yeah, perhaps one in three male Collectors in this village have hit on them at least once.」(Andre)

「Heeー Is that so?」(Sarasa)

This time I asked Iris-san.

Honestly, I was a bit surprised that they are very popular. Well, they are cute after all.

After I asked, Iris-san sighed again. She sure sighed a lot today.

「…Unfortunately, it’s true… Refusing those men every time is such a hassle…」(Iris)

「You guys are pretty popular, I see.」(Sarasa)

「We didn’t ask to be popular, okay!」(Iris)

「Yeah, we’re not happy about it at all. How about you? Don’t you feel annoyed when there are male customers hitting on you?」(Kate)

「A, Actually… I have never been hit on by males, so…」(Sarasa)

「What are you guys talking about? In the first place, who dared to hit on an alchemist?」(Andre)

「Yea, Shinjini is an elite, unlike us Collectors. On the other hand, you two are Collectors just like us. People will only hit on girls who are on equal footing with them.」(Gil)

「Ah, now that you mentioned it, you may be right.」(Kate)

I’m not sure if I’m lucky or not, but Iris-san and Kate-san seemed to be annoyed by guys hitting on them, so I guess I can say that I’m lucky.

「Alright, we’ve collected all the fruits in good condition, but there are too many of them for us to enjoy by ourselves. Do we really have no way to sell them?」(Gray)

「Hahh… I wish we had a wealthy merchant friend…」(Gil)

「No, in the first place, we can’t transport them without a freezer.」(Andre)

「Umm… Actually, I know a reliable person who can help.」(Sarasa)

「Really? Shinjini, you said you were from an orphanage, right?」(Andre)

「Yes. What’s wrong with that?」(Sarasa)

「Do you really have a connection with a wealthy person?」(Andre)

「Well, actuallyー」(Sarasa)

「Aa! It must be your master, right!? Certainly, a master-class alchemist might be able to help us sell these fruits.」(Iris)

Iris-san, who just remembered about my master, suddenly interrupted me.

「Yes. There’s nothing I can do about these fruits, but I’m sure my master can do something.」(Sarasa)

Actually, I can also rely on my two seniors from school, but I don’t want to disturb their training.

Besides, it will be more efficient if I rely on Master since I can send her items instantly with the transfer device in my store.

「Ahh, so your master is a master-class alchemist?」(Andre)

「Yes, but I still don’t know if she will help or not, so please don’t expect too much.」(Sarasa)

There’s the possibility that Master would refuse, saying “Nah, it’s too troublesome”. After all, she always refuses troublesome requests even if they came from aristocats.

「I see. Even if these fruits really taste like expensive alcohol, we prefer to drink cheap alcohol and save more money, so I hope your master will help us.」(Andre)

「Don’t worry. I’ll try to negotiate with my master later.」(Sarasa)

Speaking of alcohol, in this village, people can only drink alcohol in Diral-san’s dining hall or buy it at Daruna-san’s general store.

I wonder if Master can send me alcohol that can’t be obtained in this village. Perhaps I should ask her about that too.

 

TOC

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter

4 Comments

  1. andre was kinda rude here like why do you care where she grew up at she’s smarter than most people and worked super hard to get to where she is so of course she’d know people in her profession

    1. Nonsense. You’re just oversensitive. Andre is just confused because he thought she grew came from an orphanage an orphans tend to not have many good connections at first. Use your logic for goodness sake. Not your emotions. That’s why I usually despise most humans. So emotional and illogical.

Leave a Reply to Yil Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *