I’ve Been Reincarnated as a Tentacle Slime~ I Want to Live a Comfortable, Secure Life and Do Whatever I Want~ - Chapter 80

[Cruz POV]

The items available for sale are 100 wolf pelts, 10 barrels of mead made from honey collected from the dungeon bees, and a total of 10 boxes of assorted fruits hunted from the treants.

Since food generally spoils fast, it’s better not to bring meat or fish. However, for some reason, fruits from treants last about a month. It’s strange.

(With this amount, it should fetch about five silver coins, I think. Although I’m not sure about the value of silver coins… For now, I’ll offer half and see how it goes, then offer the rest if needed.)

Ann, my fourth daughter, returned carrying the honey mead and the sliced fruit.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Here you go.”

Ann placed a plate piled with fruit and a cup filled with honey mead in front of me, Alfred, and Legos.

“Well, it’s just regular fruit that lasts a long time and plain old mead, but the taste shouldn’t be bad. Give it a try.”

Since they might be concerned about poison, I tasted it before anyone else.

◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

[Alfred POV]

(Mead? Are there bees living around here? And he’s really emphasizing that it’s “just” ordinary… don’t tell me!?)

I take a sip of the honey mead.

(Just as I thought! This is made from the honey of wind bees that live in the wind zone! And it’s a high-grade product, not even diluted with water!?)

In the city taverns, a glass of honey mead diluted more than three times with water goes for five copper coins.

In expensive shops, undiluted honey mead sells for about 20 copper coins. I was taken to one once by a senior merchant. This tastes exactly the same.

(Wait, he said the fruit lasts long… That means it must be from a treant.)

For some reason, treant fruits last a long time. When dried, they’re light, tasty, and long-lasting, making them excellent rations. Naturally, they sell well.

“This apple… could it be from a trea—?”

“It’s an ordinary apple, you know?”

As expected, General Cruz doesn’t seem willing to acknowledge that it’s from a dungeon.

“Yes, of course, it was just an apple. My apologies.”

“Good. As long as you understand.”

Why is he unwilling to acknowledge it’s dungeon-made…? Maybe he doesn’t want any hint of Lord Spada’s involvement to come to light…?

No, I’d better stop speculating. Unless you’re a powerful upper-class merchant, getting involved in this kind of trouble only leads to loss.

Just getting my hands on honey mead from wind bees and fruit from treants is more than enough profit.

“This is excellent. I would very much like to purchase it. At what price would you be willing to sell?”

“Let’s see… five barrels of honey mead, and five boxes of fruit, each one meter square.”

(Wh-… What…?)

“How much would one barrel of mead and one box of fruit cost?”

◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

[Cruz POV]

(He’s… asking me to name the price…? Do people usually do that?)

[Mika, how much should it be?]

[Let him set the price. Judging from his expression, he looks like someone who’s handled dungeon materials before.]

[I see. But, won’t he try to undercut us?]

[If he intends to keep trading with us, he wouldn’t do something that foolish.]

Can’t argue with that.

“How much do you think it’s worth, Alfred?”

“You’re asking what I’d pay?”

“That’s right. I’ll sell it at your price.”

◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

[Alfred POV]

(My… own price? What does that mean? He’s not talking about a normal amount?)

No—that’s because they’re maintaining the pretense that this isn’t dungeon material.

If we traded normally, it’d be the same as admitting it’s dungeon material. So I need to act like I’d pay more even for “simple” honey mead.

“Well, let’s see. If it were me, I’d pay 8 silver coins per barrel of mead and 10 silver per fruit box.”

General Cruz pretended to think for a moment, then paused briefly before speaking.

“I see… Then how about 90 silver coins for 5 barrels and 5 boxes? I’ll throw in a box as a bonus, making it 80 silver?”

(No no no, a 10-silver discount is way too generous!!! That’s twice the price of the seeds! What’s he aiming for? Hush money?)

It’s true, I wasn’t planning to reveal this place’s existence. And I should keep the mead’s origin secret too. If that’s what this hush money is for, then――

Still, it’s way more than fair. He’s probably implying I should keep the guild from investigating, too.

(It’s a dangerous gamble, but I’m going all in. If I can secure this quantity regularly, the profits will be massive.)

If he wants to keep the origin secret, would he avoid written contracts? But who carries around 80 silver coins…?

“If Lord Cruz is willing to go that far, I won’t accept any payment for the seeds. However, since I don’t carry 80 silver coins on me… unless we use a certificate, I’d have to cash it at the Kingdom Merchants’ Guild in town. Would using a certificate be acceptable? If you can wait a few days, I’ll return from the city with the silver.”

There’s no way I’ll let this deal collapse! I’ll make sure it goes through, no matter what it takes.

If I rent a fast horse from the guild and ride hard, I should be able to cut down the danger considerably.

◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

[Cruz POV]

(90 silver coins!? Isn’t that way too much!?)

[Do you think this is the proper market price?]

[I’m sorry, Father. I’m not sure.]

[Yeah, right… Should I knock off about 10 coins? He might be offering more than the going rate.]

[I’ll leave it to you. No merchant dislikes a discount.]

Alright, let’s discount it. 80 silvers for half a day’s worth of wind bees and treants… If I oversell, it might crash the market.

When I discounted it, Alfred got a bit flustered. Somehow, I ended up getting the seeds for free, but hey, I’ll take the goodwill.

Apparently, without a formal certificate, he doesn’t have enough silver coins on hand.

[Seems like 80 silver is a lot. If we can make several certificates for varying amounts, maybe redeeming them on different days and places would avoid suspicion?]

[Yes, if someone unknown brings in a large sum, it would definitely raise suspicions.]

[Alright then, let’s make the suggestion.]

“It may be inconvenient, but would it be possible to divide the certificate into several smaller ones?”

“Is that alright with you? Redeeming them will be more trouble for you as well, Lord Cruz…”

“Yeah, that much is acceptable.”

Looks like this might actually work. Alfred wrote up a few certificates worth about 10 silver coins each and used the guild’s contract magic to make them official.

“If you take these to any Kingdom Merchant Guild in the cities, you can exchange them for silver. You may already know, but they can also be used directly with our guild members at face value.”

He’s taking care of the complicated parts too. Solid guy. Wouldn’t mind doing business with him again.

“Alright, I guess that wraps up our deal?”

“Yes. I’d be delighted to continue doing business with you in the future.”

Ten silvers were paid on the spot, and the remaining seventy were covered with certificates to complete the deal.

Alfred’s expression is composed, but with [Heat Detection], I can tell his body temperature is rising.

He’s probably thrilled on the inside. Though honestly, so am I.

“Good. I look forward to doing business with you again.”

◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

[Alfred POV]

(Yes!!! Total victory!! I managed to fulfill all three of my win conditions!)

① Make it back alive.

② Sell my name to the people behind the scenes.

③ Avoid taking a loss in this deal.

Plus, General Cruz gave me words that hint at future business. Let’s test the waters for the next step.

“When would be a good time for my next visit?”

General Cruz paused to think for a moment.

“After you’ve sold today’s goods, what’s the soonest you could return?”

“Once they’re all sold… I’d say about half a month.”

Six days for travel, eight days to discreetly sell the goods, and one buffer day, that makes fifteen days minimum.

“Hmm… If you sell today’s quantity or double the amount every half month, do you think the market will crash?”

“No, it shouldn’t be a problem. Supplies are low right now, so I don’t believe we’ll see the kind of price drop you’re concerned about, at least not for a few years, Lord Cruz.”

Worried about a price crash too? Well, I suppose it wouldn’t be ideal for prices to collapse within your own domain, but you could always sell it in another region.

Wait, we can trade up to double the amount!?

“I see. That’s good to hear.”

“Indeed. Also, does this village have an inn? Even with a horse, I won’t make it to the next village today.”

“There’s no inn, but you can spend the night in this fort. No fee. As for food, head to the dining area in the eastern side.”

“Thank you. I’ll gratefully accept your offer.”

–

Even the village meals had honey mead, fruit, and dungeon-sourced meat. They were delicious, but…

(Do they even care about keeping this secret…?)

・One barrel is much smaller than a wine barrel. A wine barrel holds about 1,200 glasses, apparently.

If the honey mead came in that size, we’d be dealing in gold coins right off the bat, no fun in that.

・1 gold coin = 100 silver coins = 10,000 copper coins.

Chapter length 3767 characters.