Episode 25

After finishing sales at the market, I went to see Lord Goral to report the earnings.

“Lord Goral.”

Having received permission to enter, I went into the room and called his name. Lord Goral glanced over at me.

“So you went to the market to sell goods today, it seems.”

“Yes. This time, the sales totalled 10,000 gold. Since you provided materials and the workshop, I’d like to give it to you.”

I hesitated over handing over 10,000 gold in cash, but when I held it out, Lord Goral shook his head.

“No, I don’t need it right now. Besides, Magic Ore of Irea quality or below is basically clearance stock.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yeah. So keep the money for yourself. Though with that amount, you probably only sold at most one or two, right?”

“It was one.”

“I see. Still a long way to go. I can’t give my daughter to someone like that.”

“Of course. I intend to increase the number of sales from now on.”

“If you can, then show me that you can.”

“I will…. As Alicia’s fiance.”

That ended the conversation. I bowed to Lord Goral and left.

Irea-quality and lower Magic Ore is clearance stock, huh.

Indeed, they’re not that great even as fuel. When used as the core of magical tools, Irea-grade ore or lower is hard to work with.

What I need to sell more is market research.

…What kinds of things would sell better? What demand is rising in this town right now?

For now, I’ll go see for myself tomorrow.

I returned to my room, lay down on the bed, and closed my eyes.

The next day. I had come to town to look around the forges and the market.

Beside me stood Alicia, wearing her hooded outfit like before.

When I said I was going to look around the shops, she said she wanted to come along, and so here we are.

I’m holding Alicia’s hand again today. I’ve grown somewhat used to this relationship.

“So, where should we go first?”

“I think we should go to Adventurer Street. There were a lot of weapon shops there, right?”

“Yeah.”

I headed to Adventurer Street with Alicia.

There are two types of shops: standalone stores that just sell weapons, and shops attached to a blacksmith’s workshop.

In the case of a store, the maker and the seller aren’t necessarily the same person. Merchants sometimes commission various smiths to make weapons and then place them in their shops.

I looked around various shops. Adventurers were browsing inside the stores looking to buy weapons, and as expected the greatest demand was for longswords.

Watching them, I noticed some care about a weapon’s appearance. Even if performance is the same in use, ones that look cool or have elaborate hilts and decorations are more likely to be chosen.

I thought, I see. It’s not only practicality that’s being sought.

Knives are about as popular as longswords. Indeed, knives have many uses.

In combat they can be used like throwing knives, and there’s likely demand for them as knives for butchering monsters.

Those who come to look at knives aren’t just adventurers; housewives and the like come as well. For them, it’s more of a demand for kitchen knives than for knives as weapons. It’s not so large a market though, so making and selling kitchen knives specifically would be a different matter.

For now, let’s make knives, I thought—and then I saw the Adventurers’ Guild.

“Can we go to the Adventurers’ Guild too?”

“By the way, you haven’t registered yet, right? Want to do it while we’re here?”

“…Ah, yeah.”

There might be occasions when we’d need it.

If we ever run short on money, there’s the option of earning at the Adventurers’ Guild.

At present, all our food, clothing, and shelter are being provided, so running out of money seems unlikely.