Chapter 177 – Sellin’ Meat!
Chapter 177 – Sellin’ Meat!
We went to the capital through the transfer circle.
We arrived at Cruz’ palace, just as usual.
Cruz’ maid approached us as we left the room.
「Ah, good morning!」
「Good morning.」
The maid was used to seeing us. She didn’t say anything special.
「Figures that would be Cruz’ maid. Not surprised by anything.」
Timi, with that wolf mask on, was pretty impressed at how calm the maid was.
There was no reason for her to wear it, either.
But she wore it because it made Shiggy so happy.
「Yeah, you’re going to be busy with negotiations, right, Alra? You want me to hold Sighisoara?」
「Ok, here.」
「ryaa」
Timi held on to Shiggy after I handed her over.
「Sighisoara, you’ve become so mature!」
「ryaa ryaa!」
Timi took my pouch and put it on, with Shiggy inside.
I couldn’t tell what she looked like from the mask, but I think she was probably happy.
As we left Cruz’ palace, we went to the meat seller.
I had asked Luka again where a reliable meat seller was.
The meat seller’s building was in the capital market. It was a little ways walk from Cruz’ palace.
「Alra! They’re selling something!」
「It’s a stall. They have prepared food they sell.」
「I see. What is it? Sighisoara? You want some?」
「ryaa」
I heard Shiggy’s voice from her pouch.
「Alra! I think Shiggy wants some.」
「After we’re done with this transaction.」
「Hmph...」
「ryaa」
「Listen to me. We’re here to sell meat!」
I told this to both the wolf-faced Timi and the cow-faced Vi-Vi.
It was a strange sight. People were staring at us.
Millet looked around and whispered to me, 「We stand out too much...are we okay, Mister Al?」
「I have no idea...」
Now that I thought about it, Luka and Cruz were usually always with us in the city.
And Luka and Cruz were depended on to take care of trouble. That’s why no one said anything when they were with us.
But today, they weren’t here.
If there was a problem with soldiers or people, than I would have to speak to someone.
And I wanted to avoid that.
「Let’s go.」
「Ah, okay.」
After feeling in danger a bit, we rushed into the meat seller’s place.
The store was called Tolf’s Store.
It seemed that it wasn’t just a place for selling meat. There were a lot of things he sold.
As soon as we were in Tolf’s Store, we ran to the counter. The worker there screamed.
「EeeeeeEEEEK!」
「Calm down! We’re not anyone strange!」
「You ARE SOMEONE STRANGE!」
I guess I couldn’t complain. A wolf and cow mask....and me.
「We’re working with Marquise Cruz Conradine...」
「Ah...well that makes sense. Take your time.」
For some reason it was all okay now. I guess Cruz was always doing things like this.
The worker whispered to a clerk next to her. She probably wanted to see if we were really with Cruz.
It seemed they all accepted us now, but they were still suspicious.
They looked at Vi-Vi and Timi with some fear.
「Vi-Vi, Timi, take off your masks.」
「Huh? Why?」
「Why do I have to do that?!」
Timi and Vi-Vi looked upset. But, they still had to take those damn masks off.
The only one that had to hide an identity was me.
Vi-Vi just always had a thing for wearing masks.
「These workers are getting scared.」
「But these masks are so cool!」
「Okay...」
The girls took the masks off.
Two cute girls’ faces emerged from them. The store clerks seemed relieved.
「What can I get for you today?」
「We’ve come to sell some meat.」
Millet started to negotiate with them.
First she checked how much volume she could sell. There was no reason to pull out all the meat here.
And once you do, the meat starts to lose quality.
The reason is that the meat is being preserved inside the bag with a preservation spell.
After the clerk heard how much we had, her appearance changed. She then whispered something to the other clerk.
She probably was preparing storage of the meat.
「However, what...is the quality of the meat?」
「What do you mean?」
「I mean, it must have been hard for your to put that volume of meat under a preservation spell...」
The clerk was quite concerned. It was a lot of meat.
It would be hard to preserve that much meat, unless you were an expert magician.
It came time for me to show my adventurer card. It was my job, as I had to prove the quality of my magic.
「Um, well, this is who I am...」
I took out my card, and a voice sounded out from inside the store.
「Is that you, Alfred?!」
「Ah, uh...it’s been a while.」
The fellow there was the one that I had sold to in the town previously.
It wasn’t in the city back then, just a town near Mulg.
「I couldn’t tell by the beard at first!」
「Well, you know I have a lot of things going right now...」
「I understand.」
The store owner explained that I was an S-Rank magician in a top-ranked party.
And he told them all to hide who I was.
「Why are you in the capital?」
「I guess you could say this is my real place of business?」
「Is that so?」
「The other place was a Tolf Store branch. Sometimes I make deliveries there from this main store.」
Since he was here now, I guess that meant that business was doing well.
I didn’t remember the name of the branch store, but it had to be the Tolf business’.
The boss told the clerks what to do.
Since I was with the marquise, there was no problem with the meat.
「Is this the same as last time?」
「I think so.」
「The bring it over here.」
Since the boss was going to do the transaction, the clerks were scrambling a bit.
「Since this is the friends of the marquise, it would be rude not to buy the meat myself.」
He explained.
After a while, and a bit of walking, we came to the main storage. It was well covered with preservation magic.
When we arrived, he introduced himself again.
「That reminds me, I never introduced myself. I am the owner of these stores, Toril Torf.」
「I’m Millet...from Mulg.」
After they introduced themselves, I took the meat from my magic bag.
「Hm. Very good quality, as usual.」
「Thank you very much.」
And so the negotiations began.
And they were over quite quickly. Seemed that Millet had gotten quite a good price.
「I just hope to be good friends with the marquise...and you, Alfred.」
I introduced Tolf to Timi as well.
Timi was a viscount of the ancient dragons. The aunt of a duchess. The owner was quite proud.
Then Timi said, 「If you need anything, just ask!」
「Hah hah, well, I may take you up on that.」
It seemed like a good transaction for both parties.