Novice Alchemist 5-37 part 2

 

Chapter 5-37 : Epilogue Ⅱ (part 2)

 

「Store Owner-dono, now it’s your turn to tell us what happened here while we were in my parents’ territory. I heard that Baronet Kirk came here to mess with you again.」(Iris)

「Yeah, he did. He came when Prince Ferik was here to collect his Hair Growth Agent.」(Sarasa)

「I see. What a coincidence.」(Iris)

「Coincidence? No. It was actually a part of Prince Ferik’s plan to take Baronet Kirk down.」(Sarasa)

「Eh? What do you mean?」(Iris)

I told Iris-san and Kate-san about Prince Ferik’s motive to capture Baronet Kirk and his plan to do it.

I also told them that we were also involved in his plan without us knowing.

I felt like we were being used by a crafty man but for a good purpose.

「I see… I don’t know what I should say about that…」(Iris)

「So we had been dancing on His Highness’ palm all along, huh?」(Kate)

「Yeah, but thanks to that, he was able to capture Baronet Kirk, and since the situation in South Strugg has become more peaceful, it seemed that he was also able to handle things well there.」(Sarasa)

「I see.」(Iris)

「I don’t like that person, but I’m glad that we have a prince who fights against evil lords and knows how to apologize.」(Sarasa)

「Know how to apologize? What do you mean?」(Iris)

「Hehe~ Actually, he gave me a large amount of money as compensation for dragging us into his plan!」(Sarasa)

I grinned at the three of them and continued talking.

「Thanks to him, I have a surplus this month! Aah~ I feel like I finally make a profit after quite a while.」(Sarasa)

「That’s great! Congrats, Sarasa-san!」(Lorea)

「Hee…」(Iris)

「Hoo…」(Kate)

「Uhh, I thought you guys would be more excited.」(Sarasa)

Unlike Lorea-chan, who was smiling and clapping her hands, Iris-san and Kate-san were just looking at me with straight faces.

「Come one, guys! It’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it? Let’s celebrate together, shall we? You can even lift me up and “Banzai! Banzai” me , you know?」(Sarasa)

Iris-san and Kate-san looked at each other and smiled awkwardly at me.

「Uhh… I’m sorry, Store Owner-dono. You might not realize it, but somehow, you always use a great deal amount of money after solving a problem or doing a big job.」(Iris)

「Yeah. Just like us whose debt increases every time that happens.」(Kate)

「Th, That’s not true! …No, hold on… You may be right…」(Sarasa)

I was arguing at first, but then the incidents that we had been through popped into my head.

The first one was the big incident of Hellfire Grizzlies attacking this village not long after I came to this village.

I didn’t have much money when I moved to this village, but after that incident, I made quite a lot of money from selling Hellfire Grizzly materials.

However, I can’t say that I made a profit back then because I had to use a super-expensive potion to heal Iris-san’s wound.

After that… Oh, right. The hoarding incident of Ice Fang Bats fangs by Yok Baal.

I remember that Baronet Kirk was involved in that as well, so it can be said that it was a troublesome incident that resulted in a connection between me and Baronet Kirk.

I made quite a lot of money after I beat that sly merchant on his own game, but I used it to rescue the novice alchemists who became his victims from their debts. After that, I used the remaining money to expand Diral-san’s inn as an investment.

Because of that, I didn’t have much money back then.

Next is the crisis of the Lotze Family.

I still remember the first time Iris-san’s father, Adelbert-san, and Kate-san’s mother, Katerina-san came to my house.

At first, they came to take Iris-san back home because Adelbert-san wanted to marry her to a rich merchant, Hou Baal, Yok Baal’s son.

He was willing to lend Adelbert-san money to pay off his debt to Baronet Kirk with a condition, which was Iris-san had to marry him.

However, after discussing with Adelbert-san and Katerina-san, we found another way to solve the problem.

We ended up going to a volcano in the Great Sea of Trees to hunt a salamander in order to free Adelbert-san from his debt to Baronet Kirk.

I used most of the money I got from selling salamander materials to pay off Adelbert-san’s debt, so I didn’t make much money back then.

Not long after that, Nord-san came to my store to hire Iris-san and Kate-san as his bodyguards while he was researching salamanders in a cave.

Because of Nord-san’s stupid experiment, a salamander spawned from the river of lava in the cave they were in. When they tried to escape from it, they ended up being trapped in the cave.

I spent a lot of money to make prototypes of the artifacts that might be able to save them. I even borrowed some money from Master for that.

Other than that, I also spent some money to hire Andre-san and his party members to accompany me in rescuing Iris-san and the others.

Hmm… Now I start to think that I’m probably not very good at financial management…

I got a lot of money from Prince Ferik, but…

Ugh… I hope I don’t need to spend all of it in the near future…

「Speaking about money, Store Owner-dono, I have to apologize to you because my father can’t pay his debt to you yet.」(Iris)

「He still has to sell this fall’s harvest and it will take some time. Well, if you don’t want to wait, he can pay you with crops if you want.」(Kate)

「No, no. I can wait. I can’t receive a large amount of wheat and vegetables, right?」(Sarasa)

I shook my head at Iris-san and Kate-san who looked somewhat apologetic.

By the way, Adelbert-san owes a huge amount of money to me because I paid off his debt to Baronet Kirk. He promised to pay the money back by selling some of the crops produced in his territory.

However, since I still have money from Prince Ferik, I don’t think Adebert-san has to rush to pay off his debt to me.

「Anyway, if nothing happens in the near future, I don’t think I will have financial problems until I pay my taxes in the spring.」(Sarasa)

Alchemists have to report their taxes on their own.

You must declare your sales and pay the taxes according to your sales every year.

I opened this shop in the early spring, so the deadline is around the corner.

I feel like I didn’t make a lot of money this year because I always spend it, but it doesn’t deny the fact that I made a lot of sales, so I think the tax I have to pay will be quite high.

Well, I haven’t done the calculation yet, but if Prince Ferik didn’t give me money for compensation, I would probably have a hard time paying the taxes.

I hate him but I should honestly thank him the next time he visits.

Of course, it would be better if he never visit my store again.

 

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