3 bar menu

Chapter 328

Chapter 328: Mushroom lunch boxes for mushroom addicts had mushrooms in them, so in the end, they couldn’t help the addicts.

Day 78 – Daytime, Omui Town, Adventurers’ Guild

I finally made it this far. It was an endlessly long journey, and what awaited me at the end was exactly what I expected. So I have to say it!

「Well, I was absolutely sure, without any shadow of a doubt, that no matter what happens, this is going to be an unshaking certain inevitability, but just as I expected, there aren’t any new quest on the bulletin board, so what even is going on with this permanent and unchanging existence of this bulletin board-like entity which isn’t serving its bulletin board purpose at all? It has no intention of introducing new work, right? This is such a complete and total denial of its raison d’etre as a bulletin board that it might require legal intervention to prevent adventurers from rising in revolt over such abandonment of its duty as a bulletin board. Just what is the reason that is making the person in charge of the board boycott duty to such an extent? It might be time to post a new notice on this board, announcing recruitment of a new person to take care of this board? Not happening since the person in charge of the board isn’t going to update it, huh? Conflict of interests? Kind of?」(*pant-pant-pant*)

「Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh? You have returned? And the first thing you do is go straight to the Adventurers’ Guild, despite not even being an adventurer, and complain about the bulletin board? I’ve been waiting expectantly for the day when you would finally start acting with discretion, as not to attract attention, but I can see that it was in vain, could you please stop constantly coming to openly and loudly complain about the board? This is the bulletin board for A・D・V・E・N・T・U・R・E・R・S!」　(*pant-pant-pant-pant*)

「「(*PANT-PANT-PANT*)」」　

Enjoying with great delight my first fill of the Clerk Pres-san’s Flat Gaze in a while I felt a sense of deep satisfaction, but her retorts have gotten even longer and sharper! Looks like the limits of our lung capacity are being put to a test, but even so, there is not a single new post on the board. That’s actually impressive!

Well then, going to the General Store right now I will surely get a mountain of new orders forced on me, so I thought I’d first drop by the Weapon Store, but the moment I stepped outside I was immediately grabbed by the General Store’s Lady, who was already waiting for me there, and dragged into the General Store… Is she getting withdrawal symptoms since she ran out of mushrooms? But the fingers digging into my skull actually hurt a bit, you know? Judging by this grip strength, it looks like her old wounds have fully healed.

「You are late! Way too late! You should’ve just wrapped this stupid war ASAP and went back. We got a huge backlog of orders! Good grief, I thought you’d be back in two or three days.」

「Two or three days? There is no chance of ending things that quickly without indiscriminately incinerating both friends and foes… Wait, since there were nothing but middle-aged men, that was a viable option!」

Well, it would’ve been possible if we stuck to the defensive without going to the Capital, but sitting on defense will only increase expenses without any profit?

「Or rather, are there more salesgirls? Did they go through shop-assitant-division or something?」

「I hired them! What makes you think that salesgirls can split? Just what do you think salesgirls are?!」

I thought she’d be short on staff since she sent salesgirls to the Capital, but there are even more employees than before. Apparently, she was going on a mushroom-giving spree, and some of the girls that recovered with their help came to work here to repay the favor. But even with 7-8 people the business is thriving so much that it’s nowhere near enough.

「Anyway, clothes! Give me women’s clothing! Make it! Make it now! We’ve been awaiting new arrivals since forever. The workshop alone can’t satisfy the demand for high-class items. So hurry!」

Her eyes are scary. The aunties must be badly pestering her with this. Those aunties are the champions of the town of invincible demons that can crush even incoming dungeon stampedes. She can’t possibly defy them. Well, I can’t either, so I’ll just make it without talking back.

Sitting inside an available room I’m processing all of the available fabric stockpile. Grasping fabric with 『Holding』 I blend in mana, and treat fabric and threads. This single step greatly changes the quality of the fabric, and also makes it more difficult for wrinkles to form.

Then I proceed to cutting and sewing it. Thanks to『Wisdom』-san’s control 『Evil Hands』’s accuracy and speed have greatly increased, so producing a large quantity of clothes takes only an instant. But since if I don’t make a bit extra I’ll be immediately flooded with orders again, let’s make five times what was originally requested. New clothes pile up into a small mountain as I keep working, adding various tweaks to designs and sizes in the process. Let’s not forget about top-selling shoes and bags as well.

「You’ve gotten even faster. …Your pay has piled up quite a bit by now. I’ll leave it here.」

「Eh? But I got royal coin in the Capital?」

Yeah, one of those annoying coins that no store or stall would accept. A single piece is worth 100,000,000 Ere.

「It’s for the last mushroom lunch box that you made in advance. The one that thoroughly even had a note with my name on it. Mushrooms in it weren’t normal! They were amazingly delicious, but more importantly, they cured the injuries that were too old to heal! These were mushrooms of the highest grade, right?! I won’t be able to pay you back even if I spend my entire life on it… Thank you, lad.」

This lady was pretty strong despite her injuries. But she wouldn’t be able to endure combat with the body impaired by those old wounds. But were Murimuri Castle to fall, she definitely would’ve gone to the frontlines. Even if she wouldn’t have been able to fight with that body, she would’ve jumped into the fight without a moment of hesitation. That’s why I fixed it. I mean, she refused to purchase them from me, claiming that they are too expensive, so they were kind of just left over, piling up without any purpose? Like, they are just growing like mushrooms? Well, they are?

And in that short while that we were gone, the Evil Forest ended up spreading again, what a dreadful vitality! But it also means an open season for mushrooms, goblins, and kobold hunting, which also means a great chance to make a profit.

「Aaah. Wait? I made it to cure addiction of mushroom addicts, but since all it did was heal some old wouldn’t it wasn’t all that effective in the end? So the regular prince of 880 Ere is fine. I mean, everything at the top of the order list is mushroom lunch boxes, moreover, for all the urgency, only mushroom lunch boxes are getting the ASAP mark. Clearly, mushrooms were powerless to cure your acute mushroom addiction! In other words, ineffective mushrooms are just mushrooms? Well, they are literally mushrooms though? I guess?」

「*Siiiiigh* Just how much do you think those mushrooms cost? And you also gave those lunch boxes to Murimur-sama, didn’t you? Murimur-sama hasn’t touched the sword since giving birth to the young lady, but she was leading adventurers in the defense of the Frontier. That must’ve been your doing.」

Even though it’s just mushrooms, she kept insisting that they are too expensive and refused to accept any, I mean, they are literally free? They are just growing all over the place? I just went and picked them.

So I went with lunchboxes. Moreover, I handed them with a hidden trap of the expiration date being that very same day. If it were simply mushrooms, she would’ve just given them back without eating, but if it’s a lunchbox, by the time she notices the issue, it would be already partially eaten! Moreover, even if she tried to return it anyway, it would already be past the expiration date. A perfect expiration date psychological trap that took advantage of the feeling of wastefulness about eating it flipped it upside down, making her think that not eating it would be more wasteful. But that expiration date stuff is actually all made up? I just don’t want to write the manufacture date.

I mean, it’s better to have more combat forces than less when push comes to shove. And Murimuri-san is over level 100. And the same goes for this lady. So in order to prepare for the worst case scenario I fed those mushrooms to both of them, but I didn’t think she would come all the way out to Murimuri Castle.

And be the Frontier’s army or adventurers at Murimuri Castle, they all were properly supplied. Provisions, medical supplies, spare weapons, armor, and even items for a large number of people were transported over that distance. The only person in the Frontier capable of distributing such a large volume of goods is the general store’s shopkeeper, and that is worth way more than those mushrooms.

That’s why the Frontier was saved despite my blunder. Because the Frontier saved itself. However… The aunties of this town went up in levels after that battle! This town is beyond helping. I mean, it’s a town of demons by now, where stampedes can only hope to be crushed. The aunties are really scary here.

「Having so much really helps. I’d like to have stores for those girls and their families too. Since they can finally work normally.」

It’s probably a disease caused by the dense Magical Essence of the Frontier. The question is why Elven Little Sister Girl had it too, but I guess it can be considered the Frontier’s local disease. But dense Magical Essence also causes mushrooms to grow, treatment with which can be used to curb decline of the population. And sufficient weaponry and protection will decrease damage from monsters. Moreover, now, with food issues resolved, the Frontier should experience a proportional growth in population.

In other words, the return on all of the investments is going to be further multiplied by population explosion so much that even thinking about it is scary. Here it comes, growing from just a magnate into the perpetual Uber Magnate. Well, the mysterious phenomenon of money vanishing regardless of how much I earn keeps diminishing my funds, so by now even the money that I plundered from the Confederation, the Theocracy, and the Kingdom’s nobles are about to run out. Yup, coming back to the Frontier I found quite a few nice items? So even though I thought I still had some surplus, I immediately ran out of money I had on hand after some bulk purchases.

Actually, my largest sources of income are looting dungeons myself and ripping off the pres and others.Those are the two pillars of my magnate life. Going on a spending spree in the Capital with both of them shattered, following with making massive investments that promised future profits have greatly undermined my finances, which then received a finishing blow through pocket money rush back at the Frontier. The confections workshop began operation, and many new shops can be seen. The orphans spent all of the pocket money in a flash, and as expected, when they came for more, the classmates were lining up with them. Looks like ONE MORE SET is coming back.

Both the orphans and the Girls are crying while sinking their teeth into cotton candy. Was it enough to make them happy? This is kind of the limit right now? Sort of?

The weapon store seems vacant though. Well, it makes sense that there won’t be many customers after giving out so many weapons. As I thought, that old man is not suited for business!

「Long time no see~, even though I didn’t see you for a long time, you are just as bald, as beardy, and as old man as before… Did you bald head get even shinier?」

「It was never shiny in the first place! Finally back, huh, good job. We got through just fine here. Thanks to you.」

The adventurers that defended Murimuri Castle, village militia, the town’s guards, all were provided with fine equipment. Which must mean that it was this old man that made it. That’s why everything ended without anyone dying. As powerful as healing mushrooms may be, they can’t bring one back to life. It was that armor that protected them and those swords and spears and saved them. That’s how the Frontier saved itself. …And that’s why he has no customers. Yeah, everyone has a full set of equipment.

For starters, I sell him numerous weapons and armor with dubious effects that were dropped around the Noble District. The colossal volume of precious metal trinkets from there was already sold to the General Store. As the saying goes – one trash’s treasure is some magnate’s profit. In total it became quite nice pocket money. If there is stuff to sell, customers will appear eventually. If everyone is fully equipped, then there is no choice but aim to provide upgrades or replacements. Be it the general store or the weapon store, it’s all because they like to scatter their merchandise all over the place that they go out of stock. How troublesome.

Then, I borrow the forge for testing. Previously, I succeeded at mass production, but the quality wasn’t up to par. That’s why this time I’m putting full power in every swing, transmuting, forging, tempering, and hammering. Just focusing my all of observing with 『Rajingan』, feeling with『Holding』, understanding with『Wisdom』, and forging together with『Evil Hands』. I simply keep hammering, putting faith in my instincts, and the moment I finish, shivers run down my spine. It’s done.

This is the best I can do at the moment.『Sword of Severance – PoW SpE DeX 40% Up, Sword Technique Bonus (Great), Physical Defense Nullification, Severing, +ATT』, let’s try spears and shields next. The level of equipment will jump up at once if I’m able to mass produce this through Alchemy and then mithrilify it. I guess 100 of each will do for starters. At this level, selling it to the general population becomes dangerous. It can get very bothersome if it falls into an enemy’s hands.

「You made something crazy again. If you can forge such items then you can freely call yourself a first-rate blacksmith. As the word among blacksmiths would have it『Even the greatest technique won’t produce enchantments if there are no feelings behind it』. If you can forge such a thing without magic stones then you are a true blacksmith.」

Looks like it got a seal of approval. He might be bald, beardy, and old man, but he is still the greatest smith in the Kingdom, and he gave a passing mark. But the quality of the end result will be decided by how much this can be improved with magic stones’ effects and mithrilification. This time, luckily, no one died, we luckily managed to protect, and luckily, everything ended well. In such a case, preparations are required to allow luck to be of any help. Because if things get so bad that even luck wouldn’t be able to change the outcome, then the only thing left will be despair.

I have to make something that will allow to grasp that hope, something to boost the chances, even if only so slightly, something stronger than the doom this world is so happy to bestow in its inhabitants. After all, I’ve already passed my growth limit. From now on, getting stronger will be accompanied with getting more fragile. I’m way too far past the limitations of my Stats.

Well, I keep finding, exposing, and then forcibly using hidden skills that were hidden because using them might kill me, mixing them together with other skills that might kill me, so it’s not surprising. I knew that unless my level manages to catch up I’m going to break down eventually… But it seems I went past that threshold way quicker than I expected. The puzzling thing is that 『Sex King』for some reason is still completely fine? Yeah, I still can keep going? Yeah, the limit is nowhere in sight. Let’s work hard tonight.