How To Suck Honey With Extras [EN]: Chapter 77

Episode 77

85. The more items you can sell for the 8th floor, the better (4)

It was Lox, the workshop manager.

“Aren’t you busy, sir?”

“I happened to hear that Aileen was talking to Meon. Hmm… Anyway, you brought a strange bone. I’m disappointed you didn’t show it to me first.”

“I thought you were busy. I was going to talk to you about it later.”

“So, what is this?”

“…It’s a giant’s bone.”

“The blueprint, too… You’re full of surprises. Don’t tell me you have anything else?”

*Well, what do you think?*

I just shrugged.

“But he said it was possible.”

“Well, if he says it’s possible, it probably is. At least when it comes to handling things like this, there’s no one as talented as him.”

“So, I’d like to ask about what you said earlier. I think you said the price was high?”

I didn’t miss what he said earlier and asked again.

“Fuel. And the time it takes. Even if you add that up, it won’t be cheap.”

“Well, since we know each other, I was hoping you could give me a bit of a discount?”

“No way… Well, we’re not completely unrelated, so I’ll compromise on the fuel cost, but that’s it.”

“Tch. Well, that’s enough.”

*I can’t just stubbornly insist.*

*It wouldn’t look good to be stingy here.*

“So, how much will the estimate be?”

“…It depends on the material. Just a moment. Let me talk to this guy for a bit.”

The workshop manager spoke to him in a low voice for a while.

*If you listen closely to the faint voice, it’s a different language from what we use here.*

*Oh, he’s speaking in his hometown language.*

*That workshop manager is quite something.*

“…Ah, is that what you mean?”

“…”

“Ah~ I see.”

For some reason, a conclusion has been reached, and he glances at me.

*I have a bad feeling about this.*

“So, how much is it?”

“First, this isn’t a joke, so listen carefully. Calm down first.”

*I don’t know why he’s stalling like that.*

*Of course, custom-made is expensive! I know!*

“I’m not going to be petty about the price now, am I?”

I was prepared for it to be expensive.

*So, how much is it? I have money! Name your price! Blacksmith!*

“Well! Hmm! I’d say you’d have to budget around 7,500 gold coins.”

…I’m sorry! I wasn’t really prepared!

That’s a bit too expensive, isn’t it?

I just shut my mouth and froze.

“…”

“Aileen. Aileen!”

“Ah, I almost dozed off for a second.”

“Weren’t you prepared?”

“There are different kinds of preparedness! What is that! Are you planning to slather it with Orichalcum [a mythical metal] or something? Ah! I want that too! If you can get it!”

I compared it to the metal that the protagonist would reproduce in Volume 14 and got angry, and Mr. Lox scratched his cheek awkwardly, as if he had expected this.

“Let’s hear the reason first.”

“Let’s hear it!”

“First of all, this bone. The strength of the material itself is harder than most iron.”

“…Well, I guess so. I’ve tested it myself.”

*It’s already half fossilized, but it’s still this strong.*

“It would be impossible to remove the impurities with ordinary fuel. You could throw it into that furnace and it wouldn’t be damaged at all.”

“Is it that strong…?”

“Want to try it?”

“Ugh… I understand for now.”

It’s not a lie.

My ability is telling me that.

Above all, there’s no benefit to them scamming me, considering our future relationship.

There’s no reason to doubt them.

“Besides, only Meon can process it.”

“His skill is also a factor in the price. I understand that.”

“That’s right! This guy is a half-dwarf, after all.”

*No wonder his language here is clumsy; he must have come from quite far away.*

*In the setting, dwarves only live in the mountain range at the western end of the continent.*

*I don’t know why this young man, who carries that bloodline, is here, but.*

In any case, it’s certain that it would be difficult to find someone other than Meon who can handle it.

In other words, the estimate is the sum of the excellent skill and the cost of the materials.

“And this is a very good price. If someone else had brought it, they would have charged 9,000 gold coins.”

“Wow… What a great discount.”

“Or would you like the regular price?”

“I am extremely grateful for your kindness! This workshop is the best! Damn it…”

Certainly, the rarer the material, the higher the processing cost.

It’s only natural that the price is high.

Then let’s think differently.

*When I think about it, the equipment that Sylvester uses from Volume 13 onwards is also a luxury item, with just one boot costing over 6,000 gold coins, right?*

The protagonist always wears luxury items.

*Thinking about it again, that’s not bad either?*

If I leave it to this place, there’s a possibility that it will become equipment comparable to that.

Isn’t it worth investing in?

It’s like getting equipment of a quality that will be used much later, at the point when the original story is about to enter Volume 4.

“What are you going to do? Even I think this is too much. Maybe later…”

“No. I’ll accept it.”

“Are you serious?”

“I can afford to pay.”

Actually, I have money!

Anyway, I have the gold coins I’ve collected and the dividends I’ve earned from delivering potions.

Let’s spend it generously.

This is a place where my life will be in danger if I’m stingy with money.

I’m going to spend it right here!

Actually, I wanted to buy something else first, but if I can get my hands on expensive equipment, I can change the priority.

Above all, I’ve been getting beaten up in strange places a lot lately, so it’s better to prepare.

Survival is important!

“Then I’d like to ask you to make the equipment.”

When I actively said that I wanted to commission it.

They realized that I wasn’t joking and took it seriously.

“If you say so, we’ll take care of it.”

“…I hope you will.”

Thus, I asked them to make equipment from the giant’s bone that I had obtained.

* * *

After commissioning the development and production of the product and returning to Phelphuk.

After that, while training and doing odd jobs, I heard news.

The 100,000 potions sent to the principality seem to have been safely delivered to the client.

Then there’s nothing more for me to do!

Thanks to receiving dividends from Lowell without any problems and my pockets getting thicker, I’ve been in a very good mood lately.

*I hope things continue to go well like this.*

Lowell seems to be more cooperative with my work, so I want to think about the framework for the next trade item.

While I was pondering that.

Bang!

Cruse burst in, rudely opening the door, full of complaints.

“Aileen! When did you get here? Didn’t you forget our promise?! Aren’t you going to learn magic?”

*Why is Cruse so angry today?*

More importantly, when did she come back from the sea?

Come to think of it, I had asked her to secretly watch over the safety of the ship carrying the potions at my earnest request.

I sincerely grabbed the hem of her robe, begged her, gave her a reward, and sent her away.

“Anyway, you’re back already?”

“…I’ve been back for three days.”

“Ah…”

“Didn’t you know?”

Only then did I realize.

*I’m sorry, but I didn’t know she was back. I was busy.*

I went to Pils to see the workshop, and after that, I was busy giving and taking small consultations, so I didn’t have time even after she came back.

When I was tired, someone seemed to say something, was that Cruse’s story?

“Y-You came back sooner than I thought.”

“Yes. I hurried back with great difficulty. But when I came back, they said you had gone somewhere else again. So I was waiting for you to come back…”

“Ugh.”

“…I was waiting?”

First of all, I asked them to treat her as a guest and take care of her, so the Pilleros Merchant Company would be paying for her stay here.

She wouldn’t have had any inconvenience.

Still, was this too much?

“Aileen, do you have any intention of learning magic?”

“I have more than enough.”

I wanted to learn right away.

But I was pushed back because there were so many annoying things to do.

My motivation is sky-high.

But Cruse looked at me with suspicious eyes, as if she didn’t believe me.

“Aileen? I only came to keep my promise with you. But suddenly you send me out to sea.”

“Um…”

“And even when I come back, you don’t even think about looking for me. I want to complain about this treatment?”

“Ugh, I really have nothing to say. If you want, would you like to have this instead? It’s a new product.”

I held out the bowl of bread on the table.

And I also held out a handmade special jam.

This is all I can give you right now.

I offer this to you, please appease your anger.

Wizard, please appease your anger.

“…It’s ridiculous to offer me food like a child.”

She was dumbfounded, but in the end, she sighed and shook her head, as if she thought that was my personality.

She must think it’s a loss to get angry here.

*I wonder what kind of person she thinks I am, but let’s not ask that now.*

“But why bread all of a sudden? Isn’t that your meal?”

“I happened to suggest it as a product over there, and they gave it to me to try because it became somewhat useful. They said it tastes good.”

“Product?”

She seemed a little confused.

“But it’s just bread?”

“It’s just bread.”

That’s right. Bread that’s still warm.

I poked the bread with my finger.

The soft bread gives way.

“Oh? It’s wheat bread. That’s unexpected. It must be expensive.”

“Seeing you say that, it seems you’ve had this kind of bread before, Cruse.”

As expected, a high-class wizard.

The Magic Tower is not at all unrelated to the aristocratic class.

It’s not strange that Cruse knows what they would eat.

Basically, the rye bread that circulates in the market is hard.

In severe cases, it’s almost like a stone, so you can’t just eat it.

That’s not to say there’s no soft bread at all.

High-quality wheat bread can only be eaten by nobles or wealthy upper classes who have some wealth.

I knew that much, and it’s not that special.

However, I noticed a sense of incongruity after eating the wheat bread that Lowell served at a meal a while ago.

*Even if it’s wheat bread, it’s strangely soft?*

No matter how good the quality of wheat is used, there is a limit to the fermentation technology at this level of civilization.

So it had to be quite different from the bread I was thinking of.

Of course, it wasn’t what I knew.

Still, the quality of the bread was considerable.

I half-heartedly pursued Lowell for the source and soon found out why.

*I can’t believe there are guys who are seriously selling processed yeast.*

I also heard from Lowell that the Alchemist Guild is actually supplying the yeast.

I couldn’t believe it.

The Alchemist Guild is monopolizing the supply of yeast.

They also recently developed a new type of high-quality yeast.

*The world in the novel means the world in the novel… Does that mean there are differences from reality?*

Magic, alchemy, spiritism, and other technologies and abilities that don’t exist in reality.

There is an impact that comes from that.

The sense of incongruity about the fact that yeast, an artificial yeast that could not be reproduced due to lack of technology, is circulating can be explained to some extent.

In addition, the Alchemist Guild is said to have a number of suspicious technologies, so it’s not strange.

The alchemy I know is close to chemistry, but they say they can make real gold.

Well, it’s unexpected that alchemists make bread.

It may be a phenomenon caused by a different technology system from reality.

The reason I didn’t notice it is simply because it wasn’t mentioned in the original story.

There is a description that wheat bread is soft, but the protagonist was not interested in it.

It’s just that it’s not strange for those who live here.

Cruse is surprised, but that’s only because properly fermented bread is a luxury item.

She doesn’t feel a sense of incongruity and doubt about its existence like me.