Volume 16 Side Story (1-4)

Side Story 1, Pressing Issues 2 (Part 1)

Peach was visiting Schmidt.

Normally, a person of Peach's beauty walking alone would receive a fair amount of attention, but she didn't receive much attention at all.

Of all the members of the Tower, Peach was the best at concealing her presence.

It was because she didn't want to make too much of a public appearance that Peach decided to come along this time.

"Oh, it's you, Peach. That's unusual."

Schmidt, who wasn't aware of the situation, said that when he saw Peach.

He contacted her because he received the order for certain items, but he didn't ask who was expected to receive them at that time.

"That's right~. Well, there are various circumstances on our side as well."

"I see. So, here's what you ordered."

Schmidt showed her a pile of more than twenty books.

"That's a large number again~"

They were definitely some of the best books published by a single person on a single subject.

"I was surprised when it arrived, too. So, may I ask why you ordered this?"

"I'm sure you can guess without me telling you~?"

"… I see. That's a lot of work."

"It's fine for now, but when you think about what will happen in the future, you know~"

"Well, I guess so… Are you okay? It's going to be quite heavy."

Schmidt panicked as Peach tried to carry the books in front of her.

It would not be impossible to carry, but it would be very dangerous since she would be completely unable to see what was in front of her.

With that in mind, he called out to her, but when he saw the pile of books in front of them disappear just as he thought Peach was about to lift them, he immediately understood what was going on.

"Were you able to use the item box spell?"

"I can't use it~. What I can use is this."

Peach said, pointing at her bracelet.

"Don't tell me, is this an Item Box magic tool?"

"That's right~. Isnani made it for me."

Hearing this, Schmidt gulped and cleared his throat.

"Can it be mass-produced or…"

"Impossible, I'm told~. They're using dragon skin as a material."

Schmidt's expression changed from anticipation to despair.

Dragon materials were not so easy to come by.

In the past, when Crown had just been founded, they had produced a few of them, but he knew that those were the exception to the rule.

Of course, Schmidt knew that Kousuke could easily collect dragon materials if he wanted to, but he did not wish to request that of him.

Even if he could have it made, having such a rare item would only invite conflict.

"I see. That's too bad."

As a merchant, Schmidt would very much like to see this item mass-produced, but it couldn't be helped if it was impossible.

"Ah, but I heard that they were considering whether they could use a substitute for something else~"

"I'd really like them to try their best at that."

"Well, for what it's worth, Isnani's busy too, so it'll probably be awhile~"

"I'll wait patiently… I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

"No, no~. Thank you for having time to meet me as well."

They bowed their heads as they greeted each other.

As soon as Peach was able to collect the books, the purpose of her trip here was accomplished.

The reason why she went to the trouble of telling him about the bracelet was to thank him for the books.

Unfortunately, it was not something that she could offer to him, but she thought it would be worth mentioning, so she decided to show it to him.

The books would be bulky and heavy, of course, so she thought it would be a good idea to bring her bracelet along.

With the books in hand, Peach hurried to her friends, who were waiting for the books to arrive.

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It had been a few days since Peach had received the books from Schmidt.

Kousuke was not aware that the girls had obtained the books.

Naturally, the girls had their own private rooms on the Administration Floor, and the books were distributed to each of them.

Kousuke wouldn't go out of his way to raid their private rooms, so the existence of the books would never be discovered.

If Kousuke were to find out, it would probably be through Schmidt. Since Schmidt knew the girls wanted to keep this private, he wouldn't bother to tell Kousuke on his own accord.

Kouhi and Mitsuki seemed to have some idea of what they were doing, but they didn't seem to have any intention of telling Kousuke either.

So, Kousuke was left out of the loop on this matter.

It would probably continue like this for a while until they could find a definitive answer.

At the moment, they were looking for clues from the books.

Sylvia was reading the books intently, especially since they were related to mythology.

Collete came to visit Sylvia in her private room.

"How are you doing?"

"Well, I don't know. It's quite interesting to read. Some stories don't seem possible in the myths we get from the temple. I'd like to read through all of them at some point."

Collete chuckled at Sylvia's completely gleaming eyes.

"It's nice to study them as myths, but don't forget our original purpose."

"Of course… Unfortunately, it's not looking too good so far."

"Oh, I thought so, too."

"So, Collete too?"

"Yes. I've asked around, but it doesn't look good either."

"I think it might be a good idea to get everyone together to discuss it."

"I agree with that… But where do we meet?"

As they didn't want Kousuke to know, they couldn't act too conspicuously.

"I think someone's room will be fine. If we say something else in advance, Kousuke-sama won't think it's strange."

"Well, I guess that would be safer?"

This talk between the two led to a gathering.

"So? What do you think?"

Shrein asked after seeing that everyone was here.

"We're all so different in race and everything else. Even when things do match up, it's more by chance than anything else."

"Same with me."

"Likewise for me~"

"I'd say the lack of common ground is a distinguishing feature."

As they all commented, those who were able to have a child with a Goddess had very little in common.

Of course, since the stories were compiled in more than twenty books, there were some similarities, but when asked if that was the common denominator, they had to shake their heads and wonder.

"In the first place, though, since all the partners were Goddesses, it's the opposite of our current situation."

As Shrein said that, they had no idea how the fact that gender differences would affect them.

"Yes, but if that was an issue, I don't think they would have given us an oracle like that."

Sylvia, who had exchanged oracles with Eris, assured them.

"Um~. I was wondering about one thing…"

"What? Since we don't have any clues at the moment, we should talk about what's bothering us."

At Floria's words, everyone but Peach nodded.

"There are a lot of stories about the children of Goddesses being active in various ways, but don't you think there are barely any stories about the person who gave birth to the child~?"

At these words, everyone except Peach looked as if they had been caught off guard.

"Indeed. For someone who's been researching all these stories, there's not enough information about the important parts."

"Either the story wasn't originally communicated, or it's been intentionally blocked?"

"I would consider it to be intentional."

All eyes were on Sylvia as she answered assertively.

"Why?"

"Because if the Temple is involved in the birth of a child of a Goddess, it would have remained as a myth."

Sylvia thought that because such a birth was not related to the Temple, such information of said person and said process would not remain in the mythology. At the same time, the child's existence would have been concealed by the Temple.

And at Sylvia's statement, they all looked at each other.

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Side Story 2, Pressing Issues 2 (Part 2)

"Did the church erase the records?"

Sylvia said, and Collete guessed as much.

"No. These books were originally records of hearsay, or lore, to begin with. It's hard to imagine the temple being involved in everything."

It would take an unbelievable amount of effort to intervene and correct each and every story that was passed down verbally.

"I'm more comfortable with the idea that the story was left behind in a state safe for it to be known to the church."

They all nodded their heads as if Shrein's words made sense to them.

"So there are a lot of stories about the children of Goddesses that remain unaltered by the church, and as for their parents, they weren't written down because of the possibility of the church getting their hands on them."

"Or it could be that they were passed down at first, but that part of the story was cut out and handed down so that the church wouldn't find out."

As they all talked, it seemed more and more likely that this was the correct answer.

In reality, based on the stories compiled in the books, the current account seemed to fit best.

And indeed, their guess was right on target.

There were cases where those who were children of Goddesses were forced to be part of the church.

For this reason, the parents acted discreetly.

It was easy for them to avoid the notice of the church since they were so favored by the Goddesses.

The children, on the other hand, used their position as children of Goddesses to the fullest and acted in a way that did not allow the church to interfere in their lives.

Of course, their parents had raised them to act in such a manner.

The result was that no folklore about the parents was left behind.

"Whether it's the church's doing or not, if there's no lore left about the parents, then what's the point?"

What the girls wanted to know was how the Goddesses were able to have children, not what their children could do.

Collete nodded in agreement with Shrein.

"That's right. We want to know how the parents had children, so if we don't know anything about them, it's not going to help."

Collete let out a sigh.

"Really~?"

It was Peach who objected to Shrein and Collete.

"Is there something to it?"

"It certainly doesn't mention anything about the parents of the one who aren't Goddesses, but it does mention children and Goddesses~"

At Peach's words, Sylvia looked up as though she had just been startled.

"You mean we can find out a lot from the relationship between a Goddess and the child?"

"I don't know, but~"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not following your story…"

Peach and Sylvia's talk made the others look puzzled.

"These are books with numerous stories compiled in it. Perhaps some of them are of the same story."

"It's worth it just to find out at what point in time did those Goddesses bore a child~"

"Well, at least, we can find out what's going on on the Goddess's side."

"Besides, it's not entirely impossible to find out about Father, so it's also significant to check that out~"

It was possible that important parts of the stories were being deliberately hidden, but even if they weren't important, there could still be hints of what the girls wanted to know out there.

"I know what you mean, but… It's going to take a lot of work just to make sure the stories are referring to the same Goddess, you know?"

"That's exactly where I come in. Just pull out the name of the Goddess in each book, and I'll try to identify the rest."

Even the same Goddess may have taken on a completely different name at different times.

To put it bluntly, aside from expert clerics, few would understand Goddesses apart from the one they believe in.

That's where Sylvia came in.

"So, you're saying we should first investigate the story of the parents, and then try to find out the name of the Goddess?"

"And then we'll also investigate the child~"

"What exactly should I investigate about the child?"

"What kind of power did they have, I guess~. Because if you had powers that your Goddess Mother didn't have, it could be that Father's power."

"Oh, I see. So that's the case."

Even if there was no concrete description, it meant that some things could be guessed.

There were things that they couldn't figure out just by reading a few books, but if they investigated with a purpose, they could see things differently.

It was decided that from this point on that they would continue to investigate the books with that in mind.

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[You seem to be having some difficulty.]

One day, a few days after the women's gathering, Eris brought up the subject, which was unusual.

Sylvia, who thought it would be the usual short exchange, was unable to reply immediately.

"What the…! Ha, yes. It's just that it's too vague, and I can't find anything specific about it."

[Well, I'll give you one hint. How do you think Humans, Sub-Humans and Gods procreate in the first place?]

Sylvia thought for a moment that she was looking into it because she didn't understand it, but then she reminded herself that there was no way Eris would say something so nonsensical.

Then, she realized with a start.

"Eh…? What?"

[It seems like you've noticed. Now, you'll have to work hard to find the answer yourselves.]

Eris said, and ended the conversation.

Sylvia, however, could no longer keep her calm.

Her mind was occupied with the fact that she had to tell everyone about what she had just heard from Eris.

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"Did you hear anything from the Goddess Elisa Meir?"

"Yes, we did. And she was able to give us advice in areas that we hadn't paid any attention to before."

"Oh, yeah. What kind of advice?"

"What do you think it was like for a Goddess to have a child with a Human or Sub-Human?"

Sylvia's words made everyone nod their heads at first.

At first, everyone tilted their heads, but then Peach seemed to notice and said, "Ah!"

"The Goddess of Earth and the Goddess of Heaven?"

"That's exactly it."

Sylvia and Peach were the only two who understood, leaving the others behind.

"I'm sorry. I have no idea what you're talking about."

Shrein asked them, tilting her head.

"Well, to begin with, aside from the way Goddesses are now, it is said that Goddesses existed on the ground in the time of Gods."

Nowadays, the only way for Goddesses to show themselves was through descent or summoning, but in the days of the Goddess Era, it was said that Goddesses were usually present on the ground and wielded their power.

It was rare to find a region without such stories.

"That's right. I'm sure you've heard of it."

"Don't you think that the goddesses that existed on the ground could be a hint?"

"""Ah…?"""

At Peach's words, the three of them, excluding Sylvia, looked at each other.

"Of course, it's not necessarily true that only the Goddesses that were on the ground had children, but don't you think it would be a shortcut to find out more about them, at least when it comes to Kousuke-sama?"

In a way, Kousuke could be said to be a God that exists on the ground.

The question was whether they could get a clue from the story of an existence closer to his.

"More to the point, since the Goddesses in Heaven also had children, it might be a good idea to compare the differences between the two types of Goddesses~"

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As a result, they found out that most of the children in the books that were compiled were of Goddesses that lived on land.

Just the fact that the Goddesses on the ground were more likely to leave children behind was a big step forward for the girls.

Kousuke, the incarnation of God, was indeed a deity that existed on the ground.

This gave the girls hope that their dreams could be fulfilled. It showed that there was at least a possibility.

With this hope in their hearts, they proceeded with their investigation even more vigorously.

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Side Story 3, Rank-up Test

Cecil and Arisa were visiting the Crown Headquarters on the Fifth Floor.

They had come to report to the counter to complete an ordinary request they had received.

Recently, the two of them had registered with Crown's adventurer department to take on requests so that they could use the spiritual arts they had learned in practice.

However, they weren't taking on requests all the time, but rather, half of their time was spent working with the Shrine Administration instead.

As shrine administrators, Cecil and Arisa don't have to do much since Saki, Miki, and Eri were doing their best.

However, they have been receiving requests from Crown.

The requests that they received were for Cecil and Arisa to handle things on the Administration Floor.

This was not the case in the past, but recently, requests for urgent items had been coming in regularly. Thus, for them, adventurer activities and shrine administration had taken a 50/50 split.

Though, the things Kousuke and the others were requesting, were not urgent.

Kouhi and Mitsuki quickly collected the urgently needed items.

They sent out requests to develop tools and research materials that could be collected via normal means.

Incidentally, Kousuke and the others were not the ones making the requests directly.

Kousuke and the others send their requests to Schmidt, who in turn sends them to the adventurer division, or rather, Gazeran.

Gazeran in turn issued nomination requests to Cecil and Arisa.

Of course, Cecil and Arisa were not always called. So, they did not handle all the requests that came in from the Administration Floor.

Only when the time was right, would they receive such nomination requests.

***

They placed the collected materials and the request list on the counter.

The receptionist took them and started to check.

The receptionist came back soon after, with the results.

"I've confirmed that your request has been fulfilled… great."

The woman at the reception desk this time was the one who had been around when Cecil and Arisa had been working at headquarters.

Since they were in different departments, they did not have long conversations, but they recognized each other.

It was the receptionist who noticed them first.

Cecil and Arisa didn't notice her at all, but remembered her when she spoke to them after they had received several requests.

To begin with, Cecil and Arisa didn't have a very long history of working at headquarters.

Not long after they started their work, they had been transferred to Temple Management.

Cecil was surprised that the receptionist remembered them even though they had only been there for a short time and asked her about it, but she simply stated, "It's my job to remember faces.

Since then, whenever the two of them received a request, they would try to go to this receptionist, as much as possible.

It was not like there was a quota for the receptionist to fulfill. It was just a matter of mood.

"This time, I was able to meet the target right by the transfer gate. We were lucky."

"I see… By the way, you can now take the rank up test after completing this request. What do you want to do?"

The receptionist's words caused a buzz around them.

Cecil and Arisa had become the focus of a lot of attention.

As soon as they suddenly arrived one day and started doing requests, they succeeded in almost all of them, one after another, raising their ranks.

This time, their rank was raised to C rank.

In Crown, a C rank would place them among the top ranks, if not the top class.

While most adventurers are stuck at D rank, ranking up to C rank was a barrier.

"Rank up… What do we do now?"

Cecil asked, looking at Arisa.

"Hmm. If it doesn't take too long, I guess we can take it?"

The truth was that neither Cecil nor Arisa were very particular about their rank.

The reason they started taking requests in the first place was to get some practice, and they started taking them because Collete recommended it.

"Right, well… How long does the exam take?"

"Well, to rank up to C, you will need to take a competency test and an interview. There are others who will be taking it as well, so it will take about a day each."

"Does it take up two full days?"

"Oh, no. We'll let you know the scheduled time, so you just need to show up at that time."

Cecil and Arisa looked at each other and nodded at the receptionist's explanation.

""We will take the test.""

If this had been a test that would have kept them busy for a few days or so, like a normal request, they might have refused. However, they figured that they could take it if it was going to keep them busy for up to two days, with a few hours in between each test.

Of course, they were going to spend the rest of the time on managing the Shrine.

"Okay, I understand. Then, let me inform you about the test."

The receptionist said and began to explain about the rank up exam.

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The day of the rank up exam.

Cecil and Arisa had visited the headquarters at the time they were called.

The exam was to be held in a different location. Somewhere other than the counter where they usually received requests was located.

It was one of the training grounds.

It was not the kind of place that was often open to adventurers, but one that was used for rank-up examinations.

When the two of them arrived, others were already taking their ability tests.

Since the rank up test to C rank was being held for the whole day, the examinees came and went as they pleased.

Naturally, the examinees also took turns.

The moment Cecil and Arisa entered the exam room, those who were waiting for their turn to take the exam, started buzzing.

Most of them had come for a C-rank re-test, so they had mixed feelings about the two who had managed to take the exam so quickly.

Also, in the C rank ability test, the examinees would fight each other.

It didn't matter if they won or lost, the purpose of the test was to see their skills.

For those who were healers like Sylvia, their abilities as healers would be tested instead of a battle.

***

While the examinations of the others were going on, it was finally Cecil and Arisa's turn.

The test was done one person at a time, so it was Cecil's turn first.

Her opponent was…

"Yo!"

For some reason, Gazeran raised his hand in front of Cecil.

When Cecil saw him, she pressed her hand on her forehead.

"Why is the department head here?"

"As your test partner, I guess. If you leave it to someone who isn't good at it, it could result in death, right?"

Gazeran's words caused the people around them to become noisy again.

Some of them said that he was exaggerating and that he should not be lambasted. However, Gazeran brushed them aside.

"Well, the proof is in the details, right? Let's get on with it."

At Gazeran's words, the examiner gave the signal.

***

After the battle with Gazeran was over, there was no more complaining from the examinees who had seen Cecil fight.

Arisa's test, held shortly after, had the same result.

It showed that both of them were more than competent enough.

To put it bluntly, there would be no one who could beat the two of them in the current exam.

That's how overwhelmingly strong they were.

"Well, I guess there won't be anyone who will complain about this."

It was Gazeran who said that after looking at the surroundings.

The reason why Gazeran had come all the way out here was to show off this battle.

As it turned out, his plan had worked.

At the very least, no one who saw this battle up close today would complain about their fighting prowess in the future.

That was the extent of the battle that took place during the test.

***

The next day, the two of them had their interviews and returned to the shrine without hearing the results.

After all, it would take some time before they would hear the results of the exam.

Author's notes:

And so, that was what happened to Cecil and Arisa.

These two had learned Spiritual Arts, and I wanted to write about what they usually do. So, I made this chapter.

Do note that, when Collete joined the tower, she was C rank.

She and Sylvia were in a two-person party, and since there was only one person who could fight, it was hard to meet the requirements. Thus, they had to work their way slowly up the ranks.

The reason why they didn't join other parties was because they were expecting people competent enough to match them, and beautiful enough to match them. Naturally, they couldn't find any decent parties with their expectations…

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Side Story 4, Major Transport Operation

Rick was now a member of the merchant department of Crown, 'Lila Amamiya'.

He had turned over all of his previous peddling tasks to someone he trusted.

It was a big decision for Rick, but he did not regret it.

One of the main reasons was that the person in charge of the merchant department was Schmidt, whom he knew through his peddling connections.

Schmidt had personally asked him to join.

Before, Rick had been on the verge of losing his job.

To be more precise, the food department that he had been in charge of was going to get merged with Kennelsen's six princes when they joined the company.

Rick had thought that the entire department would be transferred to them, but that didn't seem to be the case.

While others were being assigned to the new location one after another, he hadn't received any orders for a long time.

He had no choice but to go to the purchase counter and guess what products were needed.

Of course, it was to keep him from rotting away, doing nothing each day.

While working one day, Rick was finally asked to join the project.

He went to the designated location to confirm his participation.

It was Schmidt's office.

The merchant department was now much more organized than it had been since its inception, and Rick, who was close to the bottom, rarely saw Schmidt during business hours.

There were only a few times when he was invited to Schmidt's office.

Of course, their daily interactions were different.

When he entered the office, he saw two other people besides Schmidt.

One of them was Gazeran, the head of Crown's adventurer division.

The other was Zasan, an adventurer that Rick had become acquainted with since he had started working under Crown.

Aside from Gazeran, Zasan was an active adventurer.

Moreover, he was supposed to be one of the best in the world at conquering Tower Floors.

Rick could not understand why he was here, let alone if he was just wandering around town on vacation.

"Hey Rick, glad you could make it. There's a job I'd really like you to do for me."

"A job, huh? It has something to do with the fact that Zasan-san is here, right?"

This was not a question, but rather a confirmation.

If it wasn't related, there was no need for him to be there after all.

"You can't ask me that, okay? I don't really know what's going on. I'm only here because Gazeran dragged me here, too."

Gazeran seemed to be unaffected by the way Zasan spoke, and Schmidt chuckled.

From the way Schmidt was looking at him, it must be true.

"Yep. It's a job offer. As for the content, rather than explaining it verbally, I have a document that summarizes it, so please read it first."

Schmidt handed a sheet of paper. One each to Rick and Zasan.

It was not uncommon in this world for people to be illiterate, but both Rick and Zasan were literate.

As they read the document, Rick's face grew serious and Zasan's expression turned pale.

The content of the document was about peddling from one city to another.

It was a peddling operation, but the scale of the operation was completely beyond peddling. It was more like establishing a peddling group.

As far as Rick knew, he had never heard of a peddling group of this scale being formed.

"Well… You're not calling this a merchant corps?"

"I guess we can call it that. I'd like you to lead it, Rick-san."

Rick almost reflexively said that it was impossible, but he swallowed his words mid-sentence.

He looked over the document again and started checking. This time, with eyes of a merchant to see if it was really impossible.

Beside him, Zasan was asking Gazeran the same question.

"Hey. I don't suppose you're saying I've been called to…?"

"Oh. I was hoping you could be the leader of the escort group for this merchant corps."

Gazeran stated to Zasan with a look that made it seem obvious.

When Zasan caught sight of his expression, he looked as if he had just chewed a bitter bug.

Zasan and Rick had an expression that reflected the insane size of this merchant corps.

First, the number of wagons used to carry the cargo was unbelievable.

There were more than twenty of them.

Not only in the Central Continent, where there was always the danger of monster attacks, but also in other continents, there was no merchant corps on such a scale.

At least, Rick had never heard of such a thing.

If there were many wagons, then naturally, there would be many goods they would be carrying.

In other words, it would make it easier to be attacked.

The size of the escorting adventurers was also unheard of.

The route took them from Kennelsen in the northwest of the continent to the towns to the north.

Some baggage would be separated from the wagons in the towns along the way.

After properly scrutinizing the contents, Rick turned to Schmidt again.

"I'm not saying it's absolutely impossible, but isn't it still a bit of a challenge?"

At Rick's words, Schmidt's smile deepened.

As he had expected, [Rick is a peddler by trade after all.]

"If you think about it normally. Well, if under normal circumstances, even I wouldn't think of trying this."

Rick and Zasan nodded their heads at Schmidt's answer.

Seeing the two of them, Schmidt took out an object from his office desk.

Rick could tell at first glance that it was a magic tool, but he couldn't tell what kind of magic tool it was.

"What's that?"

"A grimoire that increases the speed of a wagon, so they say. In terms of the speed of the wagons, they say that, on average, they can make it twice as fast."

Rick's eyes widened at Schmidt's answer.

If that was true, it would be something to drool over if one was a peddler.

Before Rick could ask a question, Schmidt spoke up. He already knew what Rick was pondering over.

"You can't use this for personal peddling. To put it bluntly, it's not profitable."

From that statement alone, Rick knew what Schmidt meant.

In other words, the size of this merchant corps was chosen as the only means to make it profitable.

"So that's what you're saying."

"Of course, it's not only that, it's also to advertise Crown, but I don't have to tell you about that, do I?"

"Well, I understand, but… By the way, have you tried to use that magic tool?"

If he was given something that was in the experimental stage, and it turned out to be a failure, he wouldn't dare touch it.

"Ah. No need to worry about that."

"The wagons are fine, but what about us?"

Zasan, seeing that Rick's questions had been answered, looked at Gazeran.

"Don't worry. Of course, we'll have a few people ferrying you. We're also going to have a few carriages available entirely for the escorts. It's a bit like an army."

Rick's eyes widened at Gazeran's words.

Zasan asked. "Hey, hey, does the cost even match?"

"Don't you worry. That part has been properly calculated."

Rick was the one who answered.

He knew exactly what was going on based on what he read in the document.

He had even calculated how many days of delay would make it unprofitable.

And it was calculated with a lot more leeway than normal plans.

"But if the speed is doubled, won't the monster raids be less likely to occur?"

Zasan poked a nail into Rick's naïve thoughts.

"That's naïve. Even a fast horse can be attacked. Even if you doubled the speed, the peddlers would still be perfect bait for monsters."

At Zasan's words, Rick lowered his head.

"My apologies for this."

Zasan took a liking to Rick's attitude.

Many peddlers were too concerned with profit to listen to advice from adventurers, who were professionals in dealing with monsters, not money.

In that sense, he judged Rick to be a good potential partner.

"So? Will you take care of this business?"

"Of course."

"Oh. It's going to be interesting."

Schmidt looked relieved at Rick and Zasan's answer.

"If this succeeds, we'll have merchant corps as large as this move in all eight different directions. I'd really like to see it succeed."

"When you say eight directions, you don't mean…"

At Schmidt's words, Rick immediately thought of the routes.

If they centered on the city, where the transfer gate was located, and proceeded in different directions, they would cross paths with merchant troops coming from different cities in the east, west, south, and north.

If all those routes succeed, they could expect to make quite a profit.

"I think it's just as you imagined. I'd like to see it succeed if possible. If the merchant corps is successful, I'm going to put Rick in a position to lead those merchant corps."

Schmidt's words made Rick feel even more enthusiastic.

This merchant fleet was expected to be extremely profitable.

If it was enough to cover eight cardinal directions, it would bring in profits that he couldn't even imagine when he was peddling alone.

Being able to lead such a team was one of his dreams when he was a peddler.

In the end, both Rick and Zasan decided to accept the request.

The result was a great success.

Although they were attacked by monsters several times, they were still able to deliver their respective packages to their target cities without losing most of them.

Upon this success, Crown began transporting a large merchant fleet from the city with the transfer gate to the eight directions as planned.

Rick, as Schmidt had declared, was made in charge of the large merchant fleet, fulfilling one of his dreams.

Zasan was also involved in training adventurers, who specialize in guarding those from Crown.