Orchard Survey

Hmm. The power of money really was amazing.

"Oh, so this is the insect and bird repellent magic tool. Can it cover the entire orchard just by itself?"

"Yes. It's adjusted to work that way. Of course, it's an excellent magic tool created by human hands."

And so, RokufaRokuko and I were guided to the center of the orchard toward the magic tool management room.

… Man, yeah, it was totally true that you could do anything with money. Money was like an all-powerful talisman. It could even casually get you permission to tour the place by giving five silver coins to someone with a position like [Farmer Supervisor].

I wonder if it was because the Holy Kingdom was full of gaps or if it was due to human desires? Well, either way. More for me.

By the way, even with magic sight, I couldn't tell whether this place or the area around it was a dungeon. Probably because the area was affected by the insect and bird repellent magic tool.

"This is a magic tool that keeps the temperature within a specific range constant."

"… I see."

And there it was, a magic tool with the same effect as a greenhouse!

Well, yeah. The concept of a greenhouse was quite simple, after all. Even in a world where glass was a luxury item, it wasn't impossible to grow off-season fruits.

Could it be that this really was just an ordinary orchard and this whole thing was a misunderstanding and a waste of money?

Although that's where my mind was wandering—

"So, how much and what do you want to purchase?"

"Hmm, let me think… Hey, how much of which do you want?"

As I sat at the table in the reception room, I gave RokufaRokuko telepathic instructions.

"Five hundred melons! I want to eat melons until I throw up, dear. Would you buy them for me?"

"That's what she wants. We'll place an order through the Commerce Guild later, but can you prepare five hundred melons right away?"

"… Uh, well, melons are not in season at the moment, so they'll be quite expensive, and that quantity is certainly…"

"How many gold coins? Will twenty be enough? If not, let me know."

"!! … Please wait a moment. Uh, yes, well, maybe we can manage to prepare them somehow. Yes, yes."

——I tried ordering a large enough amount of melons that the melons from the greenhouse field we were shown would be clearly insufficient, but they seemed to be able to prepare them somehow. Interesting.

… Honestly, I didn't feel like I could ever finish eating the two million yen worth of melons. It felt like a huge waste.

"As for the price, you'll need to confirm it with the Commerce Guild, but about fifteen gold should be more than enough, yes, yes."

"That's what he said. You in luck, Rokufa."

"Yay! Thank you, dear!"

And with that, RokufaRokuko kissed Narikin'smy cheek. I didn't instruct you to do that though!?

"Oh? Dear, your face is all red."

"H-hey, hahaha. Mmph… I mean, what can I say? It's great that she's happy, right?"

"Yes, indeed. As expected of a second-class citizen. You know how to use money for your wife's sake."

Although it was blatant lip service, I guess that's how things go when dealing with a big-spending customer.

"I'll leave the arrangements to you."

"Since it's a large quantity, we'll need to wait to harvest until after we receive the order…"

"In that case, I'd like to settle the order and payment here. Can you handle the order for me? I'd like to receive it as soon as possible for my wife's sake."

"Hahaha, that's no problem. If you can guarantee payment, we'll arrange it right away."

"… Just to be sure, you'll provide us with something edible, right? It would be a problem if you sold us trash."

"Please rest assured. You've seen our orchard's facilities, haven't you? We'll deliver the finest melons that meet your requirements."

I'd continued handing over silver coins as tips throughout this entire exchange, of course. A lavish use of money that wouldn't disappoint the name of NarikinNouveau Riche. It was the equivalent of lighting a stack of bills on fire and saying [See? It's brighter now].

"How about this? If we can take it home right away, I'll give one gold coin as a tip. Any problem with that?"

I placed a full sixteen gold coins on the table. Wow, it felt like I really was throwing money around. It made my stomach hurt as a puny citizen myself, but in for a penny, in for a pound…

Ah well. But seriously, why am I spending so much money…? It'd be unbearable if this turned out to be a bust.

"… Yes, there may be some slight discrepancies, but considering our contract with the guild, there should be no problem at all! We'll arrange everything immediately with all our efforts!!"

… Ah, so they can actually prepare it today, huh? Five hundred of the finest melons, they say. Heeh.

When I saw the melons earlier, there were only about five that seemed to be good enough to sell. Heeeeeh.

When RokufaRokuko discreetly displayed the map, it became clear that the farmers were gathered in one spot.

… At a different spot from the melon field we saw earlier. Yeah, there must be [Something] here for sure. Like a dungeon where you can create as many melons as you want using DP, for example.

I wonder if I could make back the sixteen gold coins if I sold this information to Haku-san? Well, not like it'd matter even if I don't. I'm not exactly short on money.

"By the way, what are you going to do with five hundred melons? You could make a lot of melon bread."

At this point, RokufaRokuko pretended to flirt with me and asked.

"… Melon bread doesn't actually have melon in it."

"Eh? It doesn't contain melon juice or anything?"

Well, there were some with melon in them, but… now that I think about it, melon cream soda does. Maybe I should send some to Haku-san? In fact, I got the feeling that alone would bring back the money I invested.

"It's going to be tough to eat them all. Should we distribute them to everyone?"

"Yeah. We can preserve them using [Storage]. We can carry more than enough back—"

… Woops. It's better not to say too much. Even though there weren't any people around, we didn't know where eyes and ears might be.

The Japanese proverb [walls have ears, sliding doors have eyes] came to mind. If this place really was a dungeon, it would have unlimited surveillance capabilities through monitoring functions. That's what I'd do, at least.

"For now, we can ask adventurers who can use [Storage] to send the excess to our home. Our servants will eat them."

"Servants, ah, yes. That's right. That's a good idea. There are many kids at our place who love to eat. Our neighbors, too."

"Yeah. It'd be nice to give them as souvenirs."

By [Servants], I meant Ichika and the others. It seemed RokufaRokuko understood my phrasing correctly.

Transportation and storage were both possible via Soto's dungeon. If there wasn't enough space, we could use DP to add rooms. Soto's [Storage] dungeon really was a cheat-like ability.