Tricia's sales pitch was a success. She'd easily secured permission from the Adventurer's Guild to continue her work as a Resident Healer for the next two months.
"Does this mean I have to stay until that boss-slaying quest is over?" Tricia asked, looking for clarification.
"Ahaha… well… yes! That's right!" Gelt offered an awkward, sheepish laugh.
Truthfully, Tricia had planned on staying in this town for quite a long time anyway. She had, after all, purchased a building that doubled as her own home. Still, from the Guild's perspective, getting a formal commitment was essential.
Given Tricia's current popularity, there was a high risk of her being poached by a high-caliber party. And if she chose to dive into a dungeon as an adventurer, she could potentially strike it rich overnight. If she chose that path, the Guild wouldn't stand a chance of keeping her.
"No commission fee." Tricia stated firmly.
"Eh!?" Gelt exclaimed in surprise.
"If you waive the commission for this, I'll take on more of these outbound assignments." Tricia countered.
"U-understood!" Gelt agreed quickly.
Tricia's gambit1 paid off. A flood of people came to her, desperate to have their old wounds treated. Truth be told, there were very few clinics that set fixed prices for treating old injuries. Since they weren't life-threatening, most people didn't openly talk about them. But Tricia knew from experience that there were plenty of adventurers who were secretly dying to have those old scars taken care of.
"If I had the chance, I'd get rid of this scar in a heartbeat!" an adventurer remarked.
"Without a price list, it feels like I'm just waiting to be ripped off, so we never bring it up ourselves, you know?" another added.
Tricia prepared a clear price sheet. She based the cost simply on the size of the wound, setting it at a level that was reachable if someone worked a little harder. Then, she added one final line.
[Limited Time Offer]
This provided just the push those hesitant adventurers needed.
Unexpectedly, a high number of men sought treatment for their old wounds, which was proof that they truly valued Tricia's healing ability. They had come to trust that if they paid, their skin would genuinely be restored to beauty. Healing old wounds was a feat beyond the average healer.
"Some guys say, 'Scars are just medals of honor!' but honestly, most of them are just there because we were too cheap to pay for a real healer when we first started out, aren't they?" one adventurer laughed.
"My scar tissue pulls so much when I move..." another complained.
"I want to keep this one because it makes me look popular, but this one here? It's not doing me any favors—get rid of it." a third requested.
"Whoa! No way, it's like it was never there! Thanks!" a fourth shouted in delight.
During these sessions, she took more time than usual. She carefully treated(Reset) only the area of the old wound. If she performed a broad, sloppy Reset, there was a risk that even the muscles gained through training would be pulled back to the state they were in when the wound was first sustained.
(Be careful… be careful… don't overdo it… narrow the range… okay, good.)
She intentionally took her time with the treatments, using the opportunity to probe for opinions that might be useful for her boarding house project.
"Ehh~ what do I want in a boarding house?" one asked rhetorically.
"Yeah. I'm just asking everyone today." Tricia replied.
No one asked why, just answered her honestly.
"Hmm, let's see~ maybe a big, soft, clean bed? I just really want to sleep well."
Requests for sleeping arrangements were frequent. It seemed adventurers understood that a good sleeping environment was essential for recovering from fatigue.
"By the way, if there were a small kitchen, would you use it?" Tricia asked.
"I'd want one! Sometimes I miss the taste of home. I want to cook for myself."
"A kitchen~? No thanks! Cleaning up is such a pain."
"Does that come with a cooling box, too?"
(That's right! I need a refrigerator!)
Tricia clutched her head as she realized the need for new magic tools.
(Geez… I wonder how much those things cost…)
She felt a renewed motivation for her Resident Healers(work).
"I'd prefer something like a safe deposit box or a storage locker over a boarding house~"
"Eh?" Tricia blinked.
"The Merchant's Guild has safe deposit boxes, right? Well, I don't know if I'd pay that much for one… but it would be great to have a place to leave my luggage while I'm diving into a dungeon~"
"That's a good idea!"
The conversation veered off-topic, but Tricia was also unsure how to utilize her basement and garden.
(I was thinking about a laundry room and a warehouse, but a rental storage space sounds good too~)
Tricia had thought the exact same thing before. If you leave your luggage at an adventurer's inn, theft is practically a given. That's why everyone feels the need to bring everything with them on their adventures.
She had arrived at the "boarding house" concept as a solution, but for some, a small storage space would be more than enough.
For the adventurers who rented her rooms, Tricia was already planning several perks.
First, basic healing would be free. If an adventurer went missing and didn't return to their room, she would keep their personal belongings in a separate storage unit for up to one year.
"How about keeping a shelf's worth of luggage for free for three months after moving out?" Tricia suggested.
"Hmm~ well, if I'm mainly based in Edinbia and traveling around… I guess that's just barely enough."
"Is that so? What about half a year then?"
"Come on, you don't need to go that far for them." Luke dismissed the idea.
Luke didn't seem to understand the perks(services) Tricia was brainstorming.
"You should just charge them properly." Luke advised.
"That defeats the whole purpose of it!" Tricia insisted.
She was building the kind of boarding house she herself would be happy to stay in, so she wanted to include the kind of services she would be happy to receive.
(The kitchen idea really is a split decision~ there are plenty of cheap and delicious dining halls, after all.)
It was late, but she returned to her room and sat at her table, jotting down the magic tools she would need.
(Let's see, first is a light… and there are way too many types of these!)
The only thing in the Adventurer's Guild was a single, small lamp. It provided a surprising amount of light for its size, so it wasn't particularly inconvenient.
(I'll ask where they got that lamp tomorrow.)
Magic tools had developed rapidly over the last twenty years. The magesters who developed them usually each had their own workshops. It fell under the purview of the Artisan's Guild.
In fact, Tricia had searched for one particular magester once before. She had heard that almost everything she had seen in her previous life—from baths and outdoor restrooms to stoves and refrigerators—had been developed by the same person.
That fact had soothed the loneliness Tricia felt as someone who carried the memories of a past life. She wasn't alone. Surely, this person also carried those memories. Surely, they had also reincarnated into this world from the same place.
(I still haven't managed to find them, though~)
That was why Tricia still wrote in Japanese. The person might not necessarily be Japanese, but they might have seen something like this in their past life. She clung to that faint hope.
(Looking forward to the consultation~ even though I have nothing planned!)
Even as she drifted off, her thoughts were consumed by the boarding house. Recently, she hadn't even dreamed of Eagle and the other.
And so, wrapped in a comfortable sense of fatigue, she fell asleep.
Summary:
Tricia successfully negotiates an extended contract as a Resident Healer with the Guild. She uses her healing services to gather market research from adventurers about their needs for a potential boarding house business. Tricia also reflects on her past life and her hope of finding a fellow reincarnator through the use of Japanese text.
Trivia:
Tricia's motivation for treating old wounds stems from her own past experience as an adventurer.
She purposefully restricts her healing "Reset" to avoid accidentally de-leveling a person's physical gains.
The rapid development of magic tools in this world in the last 20 years is a key detail for her potential search for a fellow reincarnator.
Tricia intentionally leaves her notes written in Japanese as a "signal" to others who might share her origin.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ Refers to Tricia's strategic calculation in offering outbound assignment flexibility to secure the Guild's cooperation and increase her client base.
Notes:
• Tricia - A pragmatic, light-haired C-rank adventurer with obsidian eyes and reincarnated past-life memories. Formerly a lonely, abandoned party healer and strategist known for her foresight and ability to heal scars instantly, she hides a rare item-restoring "Reset" skill and basic wind magic. She is now a self-conscious, budding entrepreneur in Edinbia, building a boarding house for low-rank adventurers.
• A - A student from South Middle School described as an idol who has been recruited into R's high school squad.
• R - A first-year student at District 13 High School who has successfully built a squad and added multiple girls, including M and A, into his group.
• S - A first-year student at District 13 High School who has taken B from North Middle into his squad.
• T - A first-year student at District 13 High School who has recruited K and N from East Middle into his group.
• Gelt - An official at the Adventurer’s Guild who manages the Infirmary, overseeing Tricia's resident status and healing contracts. Visibly stressed by the constant influx of patients and the unconventional behavior of adventurers, he struggles to maintain order amidst the chaos.
• N - A student from East Middle with an eccentric personality who entered National High School due to complex family circumstances and used herself as leverage to negotiate a protective agreement for K.
• B - A student originally from North Middle School who was added to S's group.
• M - A first-year student at District 13 High School and the childhood friend of Anonymous Student 0006, described as an atavistic strong-female who looks plain but possesses significant power.
• Luke - A silver-haired, blue-eyed S-rank adventurer, noble Marquis's son, and mercenary captain leading a dungeon expedition. Frequently called to the castle for duties, he acts as Tricia’s wealthy, protective childhood friend and manager. While dryly teasing, curious, and baffled by her entrepreneurial ideas, he devotedly guards her passive income empire with overwhelming combat power and a jealous streak.
• Eagle - A B-rank swordsman and former leader with reddish-brown hair and bright, orange-tinted eyes, he grew up with Tricia in an orphanage. Gentle but easily swayed, he betrayed Tricia—his long-time companion—for Anetta. Now a handsome man bearing significant facial scarring, he is burdened by guilt and a loss of confidence since Tricia left the party, acting stoic despite his visible discomfort.