Volume 5 Chapter 8 Big Cleaning
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
300,000 common gold coins, huh? I froze for a moment at Ms. Mahal’s words but if it’s needed, I guess I have to earn it. Luckily, Ms. Nina can stay asleep for a few years, so that’s not a problem.
The value of 300,000 common gold coins in this world… If I force a Japanese yen equivalent, a common gold coin worth ten gold is about 10 to 30 billion yen. For simplicity, let’s say ten thousand yen, which still adds up to around 30 billion yen. What would you do if someone told you to pay 30 billion yen in Japan? It’s impossible for a single person to handle that money.
But in this world, the gap is much bigger than in Japan. Even among big merchants and noble families, it’s common to see millionaires with over a hundred thousand gold coins in assets.
For a Hero with cheat abilities, grinding high-paying quests that give over ten thousand gold coins might get close? Still, pulling it off 30 times isn’t easy.
If this were a game, I’d just keep doing quests that pay well per hour, but the real otherworld isn’t so simple.
Unlike a game, fatigue really stacks up, so resting is necessary. High-paying quests don’t just appear at perfect times either.
Since I have to supply my own gear and potions, failing means a loss, and even succeeding might be a loss ── it’s too much of a gamble.
But if I do business, securing reliable products means unlimited profit. I used to enjoy craftsmanship in the game, but if I just want quick cash, being a producer isn’t the best. Reselling repeatedly earns way more per hour. Shaping things with care or just flipping goods quickly ── businesspeople make more money than craftsmen, whether in a game or elsewhere.
That said, the Merchant Guild is a problem in this world. Even if you find a good deal, it’s hard to get a monopoly. Even big merchants have most of their profits drained by the guild, so newcomers can’t easily take a cut.
If you become an executive in the Merchant Guild, you can do exclusive deals, but it’s mostly a family affair. Some manage to quickly climb the ranks from the bottom, but even then, it takes a lifetime for most to reach the top.
I want to talk to Ms. Nina right away, but I can’t afford to take my time climbing the ranks within the organization.
* * *
By the way, it’s the high nobles who keep siphoning off the money collected by the Merchant Guild. Territory-holding nobles can set taxes as they please, but if they overdo it, their subjects and merchants will just flee.
If I had an administrative cheat ability to successfully boost industry and economic policy, I’d be fine serving some lord and excelling at internal affairs. Once specialty goods production gets on track, profits will steadily rise, and if commerce picks up, tax revenue will balloon in no time.
But I don’t think I have that admin cheat ability. It takes years to see results, and even if I did become a master of internal affairs, would the lord really reward me that much? At best, I might get some words of praise.
For making a big pile of cash quickly… you’d have to be someone who’s taken a position where they can take bribes. Some posts can make you richer than a territory-holding noble in just a year.
Diplomats are said to be the most lucrative. Inter-state diplomacy has a sky-high budget, and expenses related to secrets don’t even need to be reported. Their mansions are supposed to be far more luxurious than the royal palace.
The enormous funds of the Hero Management Bureau are also being bribed by the national alliance, so they must be ending up in the diplomats’ pockets too. It’s a common story that the budget for summoning Heroes is insufficient, but that’s only because most of it is being pocketed.
Of course, there’s no way I could become a diplomat, but there’s a method to get a cut of what they’re hiding. It’s already ill-gotten wealth, and if thieves like me steal it, they can’t exactly make a big fuss. They’re like the Edo period’s “Nezumi Kozo,” causing trouble in the capital and calling themselves “righteous thieves.”
Of course, using private troops for security isn’t weak, and most thieves who break in seem to get eliminated, but there’s no end to the breed of thieves in this world.
There are several diplomats’ mansions nearby. A Radar Scan reveals, as expected, piles of gold coins stashed in the basements. Among them must be funds that were supposed to be used for Heroes. How about I recover about 3 hundred thousand coins for them?
I have a cheat stealth skill, so sneaking in without being seen isn’t hard.
But even if the money is stolen from bad guys illegally, I still wonder if it’s right for me to take it. Ms. Nina wouldn’t be happy if she came back with that kind of money.
”Huh, you don’t have any money on you?”
Ms. Mahal asks worriedly as I get lost in thought. Usually, no one carries 300,000 common gold coins──do I look that rich? Well, the shining armor Ms. Nina wore did look pretty expensive, but unfortunately, it’s a special piece I can’t sell.
”At most, I can move around about a thousand coins right now.”
If I sell the village head’s estate and all that, I might get about 20 thousand coins, but I can’t access that immediately. I have a rent contract with Mr. Laken too, and real estate is tricky──if I rush to cash it out, I’ll get cheated.
”Gee, just a thousand coins and you can’t even buy one magic crystal. Want to start by gathering materials first?”
It’s about whether I raise money to buy materials or gather them myself. When I played as a craftsman in online games, I preferred gathering myself, but for efficiency, buying was often better──time-wise.
But this world isn’t a game, so with limited ways to earn money, gathering might actually be easier.
For now, I need to know what materials are needed before I can decide.
”What do I need to gather?”
”First, we’ll need plenty of distilled water.”
Ms. Mahal points to a cylindrical glass tank──just the right size for a person. Probably to fill it with distilled water and raise a homunculus.
The thick, bluish glass feels cheap with bubbles and impurities mixed in. The glass is unevenly thick, and the other side looks heavily distorted──somewhat retro, but it shows how far behind Earth’s glassmaking tech seems.
I bet I could manage to make distilled water if I had to. It’s mostly water, after all, and I’ve got a rough idea of the process. First things first, though, I need to make a still. What materials do I need? I’ve seen Mr. Zenom make one out of copper before, but doesn’t copper leach metal ions into the water?
Crafting just one batch of distilled water might be more trouble than it’s worth.
”I’ve got a decent still, but you need a magic stone or a magic crystal to power it.”
There was a large still in the room next door. Considering that distilled water is a basic alchemy ingredient, it makes sense that it would be there.
The cooling parts were mostly made of quartz glass, which looked old but was well-constructed. The quality of the quartz glass and the precision of the craftsmanship were impressive enough to pass for an Earth-made device.
This still seems top-notch; it’s fully automated once you set the magic stone. It looks like it handles heating and cooling with a single magic array, probably some kind of heat transfer magic. It boils the water and cools the steam simultaneously to make distilled water.
”I’ve got a magic stone right here.”
I pulls out a magic stone and its charger from me bag, items I brought to trade for Ms. Nina’s magic stone.
”Ah, if you have a charger, go ahead and fill up the magic stones lying around. Saving on buying magic crystals should save you about 50 thousand common coins.”
Suddenly, the conversation takes a profitable turn, cutting our remaining costs down to 2 hundred and 50 thousand common coins.
Come to think of it, magic crystals cost ten thousand coins each. For the same price, it’s better to reuse magic stones instead of using disposable, large-capacity magic crystals.
I’ve got a charger. My meditation skill is maxed out, so I’ve got plenty of mana. If you have any empty magic stones, I can fill them up as much as you like.
* * *
If you look closely at the pile of junk carelessly stacked in the corner of the room, you’ll see quite a few magic stones rolling around. Magic stones are much cheaper than magic crystals, but they still cost about a coin each. It’s a treasure hoard.
Since they can be reused, it would be better to gather them when finished, but does Ms. Mahal struggle with tidying up? If this dump was cleaned properly, it might be filled with valuable treasures.
”I can’t let anyone trustworthy into this room to do the cleaning. If you’re Zenom’s disciple, then you’re my disciple, too. I trust you with it.”
Well, just thinking about earning 50,000 gold coins makes me motivated. Maybe we’ll find other rare treasures besides magic stones.
* * *
So, the big cleaning began.
I summoned Ms. Lime to do a thorough job, but it turns out that purifying heavy metals like mercury and arsenic used in alchemy is difficult. Even Ms. Lime isn’t perfect.
”Isn’t this a rare Mandalag root? And over here, gold-winged bat wings.”
Ms. Mahal keeps picking up things from the pile I made and blocks me. If she’s so curious, she should clean herself more often.
”You can’t use stuff in such bad condition, you know?”
”Even if its effects are gone, it’s still a rare item you don’t see often nowadays.”
”That’s what you call trash. If you don’t throw it out, you’ll never clean up.”
”It might be useful someday──like a sample when I teach my disciple, or something.”
Looks like Ms. Mahal can’t throw things away. Items that might be useful someday probably never see the light of day if kept. That’s why clutter builds up and the house becomes a dump.
”Understood. So, don’t throw it away. Just keep sorting everything.”
Dividing things into categories is the basics of tidying up. Since the house is big and there are plenty of rooms that could be used as storage, sorting and reorganizing should make it much clearer.
However, most rooms are currently overflowing with trash. It seems that not just Ms. Mahal, but the previous master of this mansion was also someone who couldn’t clean. First, we need to secure a temporary area for sorting.
* * *
We’ll set up a spacious work area in the entrance and start sorting bit by bit.
Separating usable machinery and broken parts, animal and plant specimens and something rotten, old books and unfinished experiment notes, etc., by category, and then further dividing them into useful and unnecessary items.
There might be some merit to Ms. Mahal not trying to clean; the rooms left as they were in the middle of research seem to hold some important secrets.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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