Gathering Materials

"So, what do you need?"

Ramiza-san asked while stifling a yawn.

She was clearly fighting off drowsiness.

"The fragrances you've been supplying to my shop… I need a bulk order."

"Ugh… how many?"

I held up two fingers.

"Hmm, twenty? I heard you were increasing orders, so I should have the stock to—"

"Two hundred."

"Excuse me?"

"Two hundred."

"You can't be serious…"

Ramiza-san's eyes went blank.

"What are you going to do with that many? That's way too much."

"Apparently a noble in the Empire took a liking to them. I need to deliver a large shipment."

"A noble, huh. Well, it's not like I'm dealing with them directly, so whatever. When do you need them?"

"As soon as possible. Factoring in travel time, I need them within ten days."

"Th-that's impossiiiible."

She slumped face-first onto her desk. She was supposed to be older than me. Maybe it was because she'd never had to worry about putting food on the table, but she had no sense of urgency.

"No, you're doing it."

"Haah… stubborn as ever. You haven't changed, have you. Fine, fine. You're a good customer, so I'll do it. But there's absolutely no way I can handle this alone."

"Now we're talking. So, what's the bottleneck?"

"Everything. Everything's the bottleneck. First off, I don't have enough raw materials. Then there's the manpower for compounding. Even if I handle the finishing work myself, I just don't have enough hands."

"Understood. I'll help out, so let's get the numbers together."

Right. We were asking her to do the impossible, so the least we could do was pitch in.

For now, she'd start compounding with whatever materials she had on hand.

Three varieties of fragrance would be plenty.

"Here's the list of what I need. And just so we're clear, if the materials aren't in good condition, it'll affect the quality."

Ramiza-san handed me a sheet of paper.

A list of the monster parts and herbs needed as raw materials.

Butterfly Monster scale dust, Giant Bee honey, a flower that only grew in a specific location, common herbs in circulation, an oil pressed from a rare plant, and tea leaves.

And the key ingredient was a fruit called silver peach.

She'd extract the juice and dilute it to the right concentration, but her current stock wouldn't cover two hundred units.

Apparently one fruit was enough for each bottle, though.

"I don't normally share my recipes, you know. Well, not like you could compound them anyway."

"Wouldn't have time for it even if I could. Alright, Ramiza-san, start working on what you can. I'll get the materials together as fast as possible."

"Yeah, yeah. Good luck. Oh, and since this is a rush job, no bulk discount."

"Naturally."

Normally, ordering this much at once would have given me room to negotiate a discount. But not this time. Can't be helped.

"Shouldn't be a problem. But if we need large quantities, we'll have to hurry," Azu said.

"By the way, who is she? You didn't have a little sister, did you?"

"She's an adventurer who works exclusively for my shop."

I said it as I steered Azu out the door by the shoulders. No time for idle chatter.

We headed back to my shop first to go over the materials list.

"I'll buy whatever's available on the market. Same goes for monster parts if they're in circulation."

"In that case, the problem would be this flower and the plant for the oil."

"Should we split up?"

"Yeah. Either one only needs a full basket's worth, but… I can't leave the market."

I looked at Azu. She was the leader of the adventurer squad. She could make sharp calls on the fly.

"Neither location seems to have dangerous monsters. I'll take Alexia-san to gather the flowers, and Elza-san and Orleans-chan can collect the plants."

Everyone nodded at her words.

"As for the silver peach, whether it shows up on the market is a matter of luck. Worst case, we'll have to go pick it ourselves. We'll decide after everything else is gathered."

"Understood. We've had a rest from the carriage ride, so let's head out right away."

And so we split up to scramble for materials.

After parting with Azu and the others, I set out.

Feels like proper merchant's work for once, I thought as I ran toward the market.

Not long ago, the plaza where the market was held had been deserted. Now it was more than thriving.

First, I hit the shop dealing in monster parts and bought Giant Bee honey, then had it delivered to Ramiza-san's shop. The stuff was used in cooking and sweets, and Giant Bees weren't exactly rare, so getting hold of it was easy. The price was another story, though.

I smiled and paid in silver. Cash on the spot got it delivered immediately.

Next, Butterfly Monster scale dust. The first shop didn't carry it, so I moved on.

Scale dust was primarily used as a colorant, so you didn't need much of it, but supply was limited as well.

I made the rounds of several shops and gathered what was needed. So far, roughly on track.

I dropped the bag off at Ramiza-san's shop. I thought I heard a scream, but it was probably my imagination.

The herbs and tea leaves were the core of the fragrance. The fragrances she'd been supplying to my shop already used fairly decent ingredients. What you found at the market was the cheap stuff.

I drank the market's tea regularly and used the herbs for cooking, but those were the budget variety.

I'd need to visit a proper establishment.

If I was spending money anyway, I'd rather patronize someone I knew. I stepped into a shopfront on the prime real estate of the busiest street, and from the back emerged a young man more put-together than my own employee. The second son of this shop's family.

"Yohane-san, what brings you in?"

He relaxed his posture a bit once he noticed it was me. The man had the looks to pull off casual just as well as formal.

"I need these. Got them in stock?"

"Hmm… hang on a sec."

He checked the items I'd pointed out and disappeared into the back. This shop was twice the size of mine. And it moved product, too. On top of that, the real money came not from this store but from the family's main business: currency exchange. Enviable, truly.

The second son was set to inherit this shop, while the eldest would take over the exchange. If I could get into finance, the money would follow. But my current capital was nowhere near enough. Nothing for it but to keep grinding.

The second son returned with the inventory check, and we got straight to negotiations.

Unfortunately, the silver peach was sold out.