Chapter 176: Shopkeeper’s girl days ended a veeery long time a……No, it’s nothing!
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Translator: “Pink Tea” Editor: ”Ryunakama”
Day 53 – Morning, White Weirdo Inn.
He got away. As I thought, he was throwing money to the wind again. Even though it is obvious that it will be exposed since Angelica-san is with him. Or rather, we are staying in the same inn, isn’t it obvious that we will instantly learn that he hadn’t paid for the stay?
He found a village, but it seemed like pumpkins were the only thing they had, all other crops died from a disease. And he again bought up everything, including even their future harvests, he reserved and bought it all… Going for forward trading in another world, just what is he thinking! Making deals on trust in a village that he’s visiting for the first time. Using a large amount of wheat, mushrooms for medical use, and various different foodstuffs in addition to all the money he had on hand, he made an advance order for pumpkins for who knows how many years ahead. And that’s why he had nothing to pay for the inn, coming back without a penny again.
How many villages does that make already? It went over a two-digit number a long time ago. He keeps doing absurd things without any thought, but I can’t get angry at him, after all, that village had nothing to eat aside from pumpkins as well. It seems they were as poor as that potato village, lacking even basic remedies. And the same goes for that village with nothing but cabbage, there is no circulation of goods, so many villages end up poor and desolate, then he buys up goods in large quantities, parting with enormous amounts of money each time. And another reason why I can’t get angry with him is that it brings enormous profits. Haruka-kun’s bulk purchases are beginning to create goods circulation centered around the general store. But even that enormous profit all ends up being used as well, just as the local lord worried. He is trying to enrich the frontier on his own. That’s why he remains broke. He again was staying on the tab! He wanted to avoid confiscation, so he tried to keep it a secret, how come he gets millions of ere every day, but can’t find 10,000 ere to pay for the inn? It’s a special price for all 3 of them? And yet the recidivist did it again, that’s why I have to confiscate his money for safekeeping… He works so hard, and yet never has any cash on hand.
At first, I was collecting 20% of everyone’s profits from magic stones selling to cover for living expenses and emergency funds. Then, Vice Pres B-san, Vice Pres C-san, and Haruka-kun went bankrupt. On the very first day.
So for the three of them, it was raised to 30%. Even so, on the next day, Vice Pres B-san and Haruka-kun went bankrupt. They didn’t learn their lesson. So it became 40%.
After that, every single day, without exception, Haruka-kun comes back completely broke. I keep confiscating money from him when I find that he is concealing his income, but he keeps repeating it over and over.
Food expenses are covered for everyone equally, but deserts are sold separately by Haruka-kun, then, he also sells clothes, weapons, and armor, most likely, all of the money earned by the girls flow to Haruka-kun, after all, even the general store is Haruka-kun’s source of income too.
The boys are getting ripped off quite mercilessly as well, according to the information from the Stalker Girl, striped kneesocks were sold to them at 10 times increased price. What are you doing, Oda-kun!
He is receiving a terrific sum every morning. Taking even dungeons alone, since he is faring ahead of everyone, he should be earning several million daily at the very least… And on the days of the auction, it is very possible that another zero is added to the end of that… And yet, he is broke.
He comes back broke every day and pays for the inn either with morning allowance or with confiscated funds. He also seems to pay through barter from time to time. Just what is a 『Bucket Pay』?
Earning big he spends even bigger, a colossal profit is followed by infinite spending.
He probably buys up a lot of other stuff as well. The weapon store must have a similar situation as well. It suddenly became so large after all. But he uses up even that.
After all, the frontier is vast, and until very recently it was also very poor. So even though there is no way it could get rich and wealthy overnight, it became so.
Looking through the account book, one way or another, all of the girls’ earnings are flowing to Haruka-kun. A natural result since he currently holds the monopoly on clothes and good food. To be frank, by now, our earnings are also reaching an enormous sum, after all, we are diving up to the middle floors of the dungeons, which no one else can reach. And yet, even that is not enough, he probably didn’t buy anything for his own sake.
When someone is feeling down, he gets delicious food ready, if there is a village in trouble, he doesn’t mind spending all of the money he has on hand. If someone is sad, brand new clothes will pop out, if the town where he went to buy fabric for that was in trouble, he wouldn’t hesitate to invest his entire fortune again. No matter how much he profits, he remains without a penny. No matter how hard he works, there is no way that will be enough, the frontier is too big and its population is too numerous for that… Although it’s being enriched at an amazing pace, there is no way its effect will instantly reach every corner of the region, but that is not something he should shoulder all on his own! That definitely will crush a person.
The money I confiscated from Haruka-kun is slowly accumulating, but if I were to give it back to him, he’ll spend it all in an instant. Including the funds that should cover his food expenses and the inn.
Well, he probably carries enough foodstuff to last him a lifetime, and if he goes back to the cavern there is no need to pay for the inn. That’s what he’s probably thinking, he doesn’t care about money at all! He simply keeps scattering it. As soon as he sees something he wants he throws it to the wind.
And he doesn’t care no matter how much we scold him.
Were he to find a poor village or someone secretly crying he probably would do the same thing again. He won’t skimp on money or hard effort to fix that. Is he planning to forgo sleep until all of the girls stop crying and the entire frontier becomes wealthy? Is that what he is planning to do? That definitely will ruin his health! There is no way that can be good for him? But no matter how much I tell him off, he just ignores it.
And in the end, he will go『I did nothing wrong?』, refusing to listen. We know that! Everybody knows that! As much as he can keep pretending, saying stuff like『Ripped them off』or『Profits』, everyone knows it anyway? That there is nothing wrong with what he is doing. But why does he keep saving and helping everyone and everything but neglecting himself like that? Why is that?
We are fine, it doesn’t matter if we spend all our money to buy clothes and delicious food from Haruka-kun. We are paying to Haruka-kun after all, and even if we spend all of the money we got from the dungeons, we still gain levels from that. That is the greatest asset of any adventurer. It allows one to earn even more. So that’s fine… it is? Wait, aren’t we spending too much?
But Haruka-kun’s level barely grew at all, he didn’t even become an adventurer. Even after fighting so recklessly he barely reached level 20, so registering as an adventurer is possible. But since he can’t join a party, he won’t be able to take up commissions. In truth, he doesn’t actually even have the permission to enter dungeons.
And yet, he doesn’t have a single coin left from the vast fortune he earned from dungeons and the Evil Forest. Even though he doesn’t enjoy the benefit of raising his level from that.
He is continuing deforestation of the Evil Forest for the sake of the frontier. However, that should also mean destroying his greatest source of income, mushrooms. After that, he really won’t have anything left. And yet, he doesn’t stock up on anything.
In fact, the girls have no goal and no objective. The only reason why we keep diving into dangerous dungeons and earnestly raising levels is to become stronger and make money. Haruka-kun is trying to make everyone raise their levels out of consideration for their safety, but that is nothing but a bonus. Everyone is working hard to get stronger and earn more, because everyone is full of intentions to provide? Nothing has changed since the time in the cave, everyone wants to support him, even if it will end up giving him the title of 『Kept Man』. We want to repay the kindness we received.
But it’s still going to take a while, it’s going to take a very long time to exceed level 100 and get strong enough to protect Haruka-kun. There will be a lot of time needed even until the frontier can become truly wealthy, the lord and his associates are desperately doing their best for that too! Everyone is working hard to not burden Haruka-kun any further, but no matter how much they rush, they can’t catch up. They can’t keep up with his terrific speed, vast budget, and explosive production ability.
After all, internal administration and finance of the entire domain can’t catch up with the home industry and bulk purchases of one person. Even taking the whole revenue of the domain, it still completely loses in the budget by comparison. The financial scale is so different that there is no hope of catching up, and the administration can’t keep up with an abnormal development speed.
Quoting Oda-kun『Haruka-kun is basically a one-man nation? His military power, and production and trading capabilities long since exceeded an individual level?』, like it doesn’t concern him at all, even so, he made a ship and is preparing for something.
And Kakizaki-kun said『Chasing after Haruka-kun is useless, you’ll end up tripping, better just pull him back』, despite spending all his time on combat training.
The girls are attempting crafting via alchemy and sorcery, but for now, a handkerchief is the best they can manage, mass production is a pipe dream. However, lately, a textile workshop, or rather, a factory, seems to have popped up? Who? Who was that person that started an industrial revolution as they pleased?
The general store’s lady and Haruka-kun are way too dangerous of a duo, after all, they are much too similar.
This is the story I heard from the local lord.
「A long time ago, there was a sickly girl in this town, prone to illness and with a poor family she spent most of her time confined to bed.
But she was saved by a band of adventurers that brought mushrooms. The family couldn’t possibly pay them, but the party gave them expensive mushrooms, saying that she can pay back when she gets ahead in life.
And so, the girl recovered and did all sorts of things in order to become able to pay them back.
She performed grueling training, as if to torment her frail body on purpose, and sought knowledge like she was possessed.
And became an adventurer. Saying that she wanted to be of help to the people that saved her, that it’s now her turn to save someone.
Then, the girl joined the party that saved her and quickly began distinguishing herself.
Gathering mushrooms in the dangerous Evil Forest, she handed them out to the poor.
Then, one day, that party was wiped out.
That girl was the only one who survived.
She was only accidentally found and rescued at the edge of the forest by another party of adventurers, unconscious and more dead than alive.
No one else returned.
To save that girl, the people to whom she handed out the mushrooms gathered the little mushrooms that they still had.
And she barely managed to regain consciousness.
By then, the people that brought their last remaining mushrooms to her, were already dead.
Using the last mushrooms the town still had to save the girl, the town was left without any.
She trained as if to torture the body that was yet to fully recover, and like she was crazed, began dangerous peddling.
Selling all of her equipment, she used the money she got to open a small store, starting a business.
And handed out food and medicine to the poor.
And even after becoming impaired, she continued training, as if to be able to go into the Evil Forest again, even with a body that can no longer move freely.
Even though everyone was trying to stop her, she ignored it all and continued with preparations, gathering equipment. By then, she wasn’t a girl anymore.
She couldn’t tolerate getting saved over and over and yet saving no one in turn. She was unable to forgive herself for that.
Then, one day, a black-haired boy visited her store.
The boy with mushrooms appeared in front of her.
She ended up meeting him.
The boy with such a colossal volume of mushrooms she has never seen before in her entire life.
And she bought mushrooms from him, using up all of the money she had. A vast volume of mushrooms, seemingly enough to save all of the townsfolk or even the entire frontier.
And then, that boy apparently said. 『If you hand them out that’s it, you know? But if you can properly bring profit, I can give you even a hundredfold this many shrooms.』
There was no lie to these words. Handing profits to him every day, she received even more mushrooms after that. So many mushrooms, that there was no hope to pay for them all no matter how much she earned.
And, the girl, that long since turned into a woman by now, once again sold her equipment. She no longer had any need for it.
She finally managed to save someone, she finally was able to compensate for the favors she received. She finally didn’t need it anymore.
And that lady is still working like crazy for the sake of profits, and still keeps sharing with the poor.」
That lady is the general store’s shopkeeper.
That’s why the duo of her and Haruka-kun is so dangerous, they have too much in common.
A person that can’t tolerate not saving everyone and the person who can’t calm down unless everyone is smiling have met each other.
That lady must be broke as well. That is obvious without asking. She has become the manager of the biggest trading company in this town, no, possibly, in the entire country.
But she is definitely broke. I mean, she orders food from Haruka-kun on the tab every day. They are way too similar.
And the local lord who is so earnestly worried about them is also suspicious… He is supposed to be the count of the frontier, but there is not a shred of gaudiness about him.
He isn’t just down to earth and sincere, going that far it should be called simple and frugal. And that onslaught of problematic statements like 『Even if it costs my life』or『With my life at stake』, really bothers me. However, he also comes from the noble house that has almost a tradition for the successive heads of the family to be killed by monsters in the evil forest… So he also has too much in common, making it dangerous as well!
But, the people of the count’s household aren’t leaving his side even for a moment, bent on protecting him.
And all of the townsfolk were trying to stop the general store’s shopkeeper.
So today, we are heading off again, to become stronger as well. Strong enough to protect and keep Haruka-kun in check. Strong enough to stay by his side.
We probably will end up getting spoiled by him again, but we certainly will catch up to him. And eventually, overtake him as well.
If we get strong enough to surpass him, we will be able to protect Haruka-kun and provide for him! We made a promise with Angelica-san, and she also promised that she will definitely protect him until then.
So today we are exploring dungeons again. Earn a whole lot and have Haruka-kun make clothes and sweets. And eventually, get him to completely devote himself to the safe role of full-time househusband! If we can gain enough power to protect him and make him happy, there will be no reason for him to fight anymore.
The question is, what will happen first, will we become able to provide for Haruka-kun first, or will we have to sell ourselves to him for our debts… The most dangerous thing is getting Tamed! Everyone is actually checking for it every morning. After all, Angelica-san and Slime-san seem to be very happy, so everyone is a bit envious of that. We have to get stronger to wake up from the dreamlike days and properly face reality. That is my real dream.
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