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Volume 2 Chapter 2-2: Base Company

「Now then, what brought you to our shop today?」

Will-san inquired after a smiling receptionist brought us cold water.

「Well first of all I wanted to thank you for the trouble you went to the other day. Thank you very much.」

「Ahh! Don’t go so far Fujinomiya-sama. Raise your head! I should rather thank you since I’m also a person who does business in the Tower.」

「That’s not true. If you done anything then Sistina may have passed out from her wounds and been unable to carry me. I won’t say that it would be impossible for her to bring me back to a safe place to heal, but I think it would have been extremely troublesome.」

「That’s right Will-dono. If I had to treat myself until I was strong enough to carry Soujirou-sama then I may not have had enough magic power left to heal Soujirou-sama. If the treatment occurred too late he may have died.」

Huh? Was I really in that bad of a state? If I think back then I do remember Sistina having an exaggerated reaction when I woke up…

「No but…!」

「Will-san. It’s fine. We’re just expressing our thanks. This is simply a statement of the facts so just accept it.」

「…well I suppose. But for this matter I did not do it with any calculated ideas in mind. I did it on the spur of the moment from my own willful feelings.」

「Without calculation…huh…I’m sorry to doubt, but you are a merchant correct? Wouldn’t it be fine even if you did it with some benefit in mind?」

「Of course that’s true, but I…I was moved.」

Moved? We moved you? Rather than moving, I would say that us leaping into the Tower without knowing our place was reckless.

He may be saying this so as not to be rude…but Will-san continued to explain.

「This event could have had great consequences for the City of Reitoku. Are you aware?」

Well, the Lord had just told us the same earlier today. I nodded.

「In this abnormal situation a group that had just begun entering the Tower, a party of just 3 new adventurers entered to save the stranded adventurers, defeated monsters that fell from upper floors, and on top of all that defeated a Floor Boss that had fallen from a much higher floor.」

Will-san’s eyes glittered with the energy of a young boy as he looked at us.

「That party was one I found before anyone else and expected great things of before anyone else! Thinking of that I just can’t help but feel joy…」

To have a 34 year old man acting so bashfully with us should have been embarrassing, but it didn’t feel too bad.

「I guess so. In that case it’s almost like you were our first fan.」

「Fan…?」

「Ah, I mean…a concerned person who supports and cheers for a group. That’s what we called ‘fans’ in my old town.」

「Ahh, I see! In that case then I suppose that would make me your first Fan!」

No wonder he ran out in such high tension when he heard we were here. I’m grateful that we’ve gotten a fan, but it’d be troublesome if Sistina, Hotaru-san, or Sakura-chan got a stalker…

If we found someone taking strange actions then we should deal with them promptly and efficiently.

「We may not be doing jobs for Will-san in the future, but we won’t forget we have people who would cheer for us.」

「No no! I just became a fan on my own, so please do as you please from now on as well.」

「Thank you very much. By the way Will-san, we have a few items we need to settle today.」

「Alright, please state whatever you need. The Base Company will fulfill your every need.」

Will-san said as he thrust out his chest proudly. I was at a bit of a loss, but I suppose since he said it, firstly I should settle our debt. I took the pouch off my waist and placed it down.

「First I will be repaying our debt for the rings.」

「Really? Is this the entire amount?」

I nodded and Will-san looked shocked for a moment before his eyes glittered once more.

「As expected of Fujinomiya-dono. It’s only been 5 days since I sold you those rings, but you’ve already made enough to pay it off…ah, excuse me. I have certainly accepted full payment.」

Will-san said as he grabbed the bag and a faint light shone from his and Sistina’s bodies.

「The contract has been fulfilled and as such is no longer in effect.」

I was a bit surprised but Sistina simply smiled and explained. Seems like the contract would have no power to punish Sistina any longer.

「Now I would like to buy party rings for a 4 person party….Of course we will prepare the supplemental payment.」

I took off the ring from my arm while the others did the same and placed them on the table.

Will-san glanced at Sakura who was spacing out next to Sistina and nodded.

「It seems your allies have increased. I understand. Luckily we have some inventory so I can have it brought immediately. I’d like to say that I’m alright without the extra fees but…」

「I’m happy with just the sentiment, I would feel bad if I took advantage of Will-san’s good feelings for us.」

Will-san may be our fan and that is welcome as he is our trading partner, but we haven’t known each other long so it wouldn’t be good to run up debts with each other.

If we were in an equal relationship it may be fine to accept things once or twice as a gift, but before that I wanted to become a party that could actually bring Will-san a profit before deepening our relationship.

「If you insist then I won’t say any further. Then let us say that increasing the party ring by one is around 100,000 mars. So this time you only need to pay 100,000 mars and I will count it as even.」

Will-san said with a smile as he rang a bell which called over a smiling receptionist.

Certainly a set of 3 rings was around 300,000 mars, but if I remembered correctly for each number more a larger magic stone had to be used so the price exponentially increased.

There’s no way a set of 4 party rings only cost 400,000 mars.

Most likely the price for that set would be at least 500,000…but it would be narrow-minded of me to refuse even this price reduction.

「Thank you very much… Sistina.」

「Yes」

Sistina nodded and took out 10 gold pieces and placed them on the table.

Will-san took the money with a smile and handed over a case with the party rings.

「Then please check the product.」

I took the case from Will-san and opened it up. There were certainly 4 rings inlayed with pieces of the same master stone.

「Yes, I see this is correct.」

I took the rings out and handed them out to my party.

Un, having experienced the live-saving potential of these rings it was very heartening to feel their presence through the power of the rings.

「I’m happy they are of use to you.」

Will-san said happily upon seeing the satisfied smile on my face. With this kind of mood it would be easier to bring up the other issue concerning the main office.

「Will-san, we have one more request of you.」

「Yes, what is it?」

「We are still in training so I hadn’t wanted to stand out too much, but because of the matter this time we were thinking it might be a good time to switch locations.」

Once he heard that we planned on moving away, Will-san’s face darkened with sadness. I’m happy that he cared, but it seemed a bit too much so on the other hand it was a bit scary.

「Is that so….that’s truly a shame. I had wanted to do business close to you.」

「Well once we change locations we plan to live in that town.」

「Oh then that’s good! In that case as long as I know where you live I can come visit. If that town has a Base Company office then please don’t hesitate to call for me. I’ll definitely be able to introduce goods that will fit your preferences.」

「Yes, that has something to do with our request Will-san. Could you please introduce us to the Main Office of the Base Company?」

「That’s…you plan to take up residence in Fresberg you mean?」

Will-san asked and I nodded. He confirmed and squinted a bit as he thought of something.

「Is that so…certainly the best city for Explorers to live in would be Fresberg. However, because it is the most optimal many people think of the same thing and move there. Most of the good places to live have already been taken. Any rental must be for 100 days minimum as well.」

It appears he had been recalling the living situation in Fresberg.

「It seems to be the case.」

I had expected that to some degree.

「That’s why…Sistina」

「Yes Soujirou-sama.」

Will-san’s face was a sight to see when he saw what Sistina took out of the bag and placed down. I won’t describe it too much to preserve his honor.

Will-san froze for about 2 minutes before he slowly opened his mouth and smiled.

「Please leave everything to our Base Company. I will find you the best place to stay possible in Fresberg!」