Translator: Adam Seacord

「It's much homier than I thought…」

「I mean, they don't really need much retail s.p.a.ce.」

A forty minute walk from Black Cat's Eye. Randy entered the building with familiarity, as he chuckled at Hiros.h.i.+'s first impression. While Hiros.h.i.+ called homey, there were several facilities (including the shop) integrated, which meant that the building boasted a considerable size and height. While its size wasn't comparable to a castle or fort, it was large enough to fit a few houses or flats.

This facility in particular was much larger than other locations of the a.s.sociation, since it was the headquarters for all locations in Farlane. Wulls was also home to three smaller locations of the a.s.sociation, scattered around the city.

「Oh, Randy-san. Kurt-san. I thought you were off to Merije on guard duty.」

「Something's come up. The client sent us back out of the group, so we can deliver a message, too.」

「There's a horde of Venomous Wolves near the village of Leit. To be honest, we couldn't get through while keeping our objective safe. We had the objective stay back at the village while we took down the horde.」

「…Is that true?」

「Yes. It's processed as an official request. Here's the form.」

The receptionist checked the request form Randy provided, and nodded.

「Any casualties?」

「Two trying to get the objective to Leit, and three more when we broke through the horde. The village is safe, protected by a monster-deterring barrier, but we can't leave them alone for long. There's not enough food, for one thing. So, the village elder and those trapped there are going to submit a request for us to kill or chase away all the Venomous Wolves in the area.」

「They can't pay until after the fact, because, you know. But here's the request form from the village elder. Could you process this, please?」

「Sure thing.」

Hiros.h.i.+ and Haruna could only watch idly as the conversation implied a rather serious situation. Venomous Wolves are monsters that were originally wolves that have been afflicted. A single Venomous Wolf was much weaker than a Berserker Bear, for example, but, like any wolf, they almost always appeared in packs. Add to it that they had an, albeit slow-acting, fatal venom.

The Venomous Wolf had become infamous as a newbie-killer monster in the early stages of the game, in a different sense than a Berserker Bear. The worst part was that the venom could enter from both their claws and fangs, and especially when bitten, the dose of venom would be fatal.

The thing was, a slowly-acting poison like that of a Venomous Wolf was perfect for building resistance on. Most players had hunted them as long as they could with an antidote ready to use at the brink of death in order to gain enough resistance rather quickly. They were only a real threat in the very beginning stages of the game.

That was why Haruna didn't know an Antidote spell for the strand of venom found in Venomous Wolves. In addition, a player like Hiros.h.i.+ who had an almost inhumane Armor rating was barely affected by status conditions, even with no resistance. In other words, a poison that players of their caliber couldn't resist would easily kill any newbie or civilian without resistance, even just by inhaling it from afar, let alone come in contact with it.

「Hey, Randy-san. Kurt-san.」

「What's up?」

「It sounds like you guys are in quite a pickle. You sure we had time to be eatin' lunch all leisurely?」

「It crossed my mind, but it was nothing compared to how long it would have taken to carry Kurt to a doctor and get him fixed up.」

「Besides, we also wanted you guys in a good mood before…」

They inferred from what Kurt had said. Taking care of a horde of Venomous Wolves would cost a considerable amount of Antidotes. They must have been itching for fast-acting Antidotes like the ones Hiros.h.i.+ had, which acted almost like a spell.

「And they are…?」

「Oh, they saved Kurt's life. It seems they have been transported here with some weird magic.」

「Ah, guests from the unknown continent. Saved his life?」

「They gave us an incredibly potent Antidote. Without it, I don't even know if Kurt would have made it back here. He already couldn't walk by the time we came across to them. Do you have any more?」

「Nine more. I could make as many as you want as long as I got the ingredients, but it'll take some time.」

The receptionist looked dubious of this claim. It wasn't easy to believe that this teenager, barely an adult, could craft an Antidote potent enough to counteract the venom of a Venomous Wolf that had circulated enough to render Kurt immobile, enough to the point where he seemed unaffected, not a day later.

「Come on, don't give him that look. It doesn't matter if he's really the one who made them. Focus on the fact that he had an Antidote of that caliber, and he didn't hesitate to give it to us.」

「…Excuse me. May I take a look at one?」

「'Course. I wanted to get 'em sold anyway. You want the recipe, too?」

「No, thank you. No one available in the guild right now could verify the recipe, anyway.」

Chuckling at the receptionist's overtly on-alert tone, Hiros.h.i.+ took out an Antidote, with a reddish green hue to it. Now that there was more people involved, his hand was slightly shaking as he handed it over.

They took it and placed it onto a funny-looking equipment on the counter, and maneuvered it this way and that. Seeing the result, the receptionist and the woman in charge of buy-outs were both dumbfounded.

「I very sorry. Please allow me to apologize for my tone, earlier. You can really make an infinite amount of these?」

「If I got the ingredients. Oh, right. I was hopin' you would buy these, too.」

「…Are those cla.s.s 7 potions?」

「I whipped 'em while I was at it. I thought it might cause a ruckus, so I wasn't sure about sellin' 'em, but if we're gettin' into all this with the Antidote, I might as well.」

With that, he lined up thirty or so of them on the counter. A rookie adventurer would consider this a small fortune.

「I get that you didn't know how much cla.s.s 7 potions go for… But did you have to make so many?」

「Toudou-san wanted to see me make the bottles, so I got carried away. I could have made a hundred or two, but we couldn't carry all that, so here we are.」

「Well, I did want to see it…」

They chuckled at Haruna's embarra.s.sment, and decided to end the subject. Hiros.h.i.+ had already made them, and it would be a waste to throw them away.

「Jeez. Cla.s.s 7 potions are mighty expensive, huh?」

「Sure. One of these could complete heal a cla.s.s 9 or so adventurer from the brink of death.」

「A three of these would completely heal one of us from pretty much anything, too. Unless we're dead, of course. They're worth their price.」

Hiros.h.i.+ was trying to imagine what kind of potion would be worth 5,000 dollars a pop, but their a.s.sessment seemed to justify it. In-game, a Level 1 character (with no skill except basic Attack) would have an HP of 50 or so. The base healing amount of a Level 1 potion was 100, and a Level 2 potion healed 500.

In addition, there were modifiers put on to that amount based on Armor, the skills of the maker, and the tweaks in the compound. Randy and Kurt were being completely honest. Considering that in-game, most civilians (NPC who weren't adventurers or soldiers) were Level 5 at best, no household would need anything more than a Level 1 potion, and considering that they can heal someone back from the brink of death for 500 dollars… 50 Chrones for a bottle of Level 1 potion was hardly overpriced.

While these potions are unbelievably potent by the standards of the real world, no magic is added to Level 1 and 2 potions. Novice potion making is the process of multiplying the natural magic and vitality of the ingredients to a new level. Potions are often drinkable simply because they produce more effect when consumed rather than applied.

「That being said, any adventurer over cla.s.s 5 seem to need these to keep them well.」

「So that's why these ridiculously expensive potions are bein' sold here in the open.」

「The a.s.sociation is working to make them a little cheaper, but…」

Hearing the woman in charge of buy-outs say this with a sigh, Hiros.h.i.+ and Haruna gave each other a look. So, Haruna asked why they couldn't. On a side note, this woman seemed to be in charge of selling their items as well.

「Why can't they?」

「The demand is high, of course. But worse yet, there are barely any potion makers who can make cla.s.s 7 potions. If that weren't enough, they apparently need special ingredients and can only make so many in a day.」

「Ah-huh. I think I understand…」

All she could was sigh to the expected answer. According to Hiros.h.i.+, he couldn't make level 2 potions reliably until he practically mastered the Novice skills. Haruna knew how much work that entailed. She could understand that the vast majority of people would never make it to that point.

「By the way, Azumkun. Didn't you make those with gra.s.s around here… Around where we took down the Berserker Bear, at least?」

「Right. It's a complex recipe, so I could manage with ingredients for cla.s.s 8 potions.」

「If you gave them that recipe…」

「I doubt it would help.」

After questioning his response for a moment, Haruna remembered their conversation from the previous day.

「You told me…」

「Right. They'll need some skills in Metalworkin' and Enchantin' in addition to Compoundin'. Although, for Enchantin' they just gotta pull off the easiest skill without fail.」

「That sounds really hard, coming from you…」

「With no prior knowledge, it would take 'em at least a month to get a hang of it…」

「Right.」

Hiros.h.i.+'s a.n.a.lysis, coming from his own experience, inadvertently dashed the hopes of everyone there.

「Then, could you contract with us and provide the a.s.sociation with the product regularly?」

「I'd prefer not to.」

「Why not?」

「It might just be me over-a.n.a.lysin', but my potions may be a lot more effective than your normal ones. If they are, I could hurt the livelihood of the people makin' the potions, now.」

The woman fell silent. As Hiros.h.i.+ pointed out, his potion was shown to be nearly double as effective as an ordinary bottle. If this became the standard, any potion created by another potion maker wouldn't sell.

「Putting a pin in the in-depth business talk… Ann, could you register these two, please?」

「…Yes. Please fill these out.」

They filled in what they could in the paperwork provided. Both Hiros.h.i.+ and Haruna could read and write the language of this world with ease, but they had decided not to dwell on it.

「Right, I'd been meanin' to ask…」

「Yes?」

「About how much of the population here's literate?」

「Let's see… In Farlane, nine out of ten can people in the city are, but the majority of people out in the country can only read numbers, I believe. Recently, we have been getting more schools out in the farming villages, but nationwide, less than half of us are literate.」

They nodded to Ann (the receptionist)'s explanation. While they weren't sure if they were surprised by how low or high the rate of literacy was, it was at a line where neither being nor not being able to read and write would stand out.

「What do you do when someone illiterate comes to register?」

「We fill out the paperwork for them, and teach them basic reading and writing during orientation. Until they can read them, we would read the request form out loud, as well.」

「I see…」

「So then, a reckless boy who ran from his farm won't be lost on the streets without a chance 'cause he can't even register?」

「Not always. Most people who work while receiving combat training and literacy cla.s.ses give up halfway through.」

She responded thoroughly while taking the mostly empty batches of paperwork. After a quick interview, she writes more on the paperwork. She had gotten a sense of their character from their exchange earlier, but rules were rules, and most importantly, these two didn't know much about the laws of Farlane.

Some misdemeanors that they could get away with aside, it was too dangerous to run the risk of having either one of them break a serious law because they were unfamiliar with the body of law or culture of a particular location. She had to determine that they wouldn't end up costing the a.s.sociation that way.

「All right. Let's move to the field test. Permissions to enter dungeons are granted once you reach level 8, or by accompanying someone who has permission. Today, I'll only be looking at your combat capabilities.」