Redo Of Healer Volume 1 Chapter 16 – The Healer Does Business
Part 1
We enter the poor section. The streets have changed drastically and even the smell of something rotting hits my nose.
Our goal is the shop that sells illegal goods. Illegal goods are dealt with in the poor section. Even here in the poor section, we can find people with money and the intermediaries used to deliver the illegal goods to the rich.
“Freia, be careful, you never know when you might get attacked here. Here you’re just an attractive commodity. Human slavery may be illegal, but the people here don’t exactly care.”
Freia is an exceptionally beautiful girl. Even if she’s wearing a traveling outfit designed for practicality only, there’s no hiding her beauty. I’ve been putting my attention to the sword hanging from my waist since earlier. It’s good manners when walking around here.
“Yes, Keyaruga-sama. I, Freia, won’t let myself fall behind just any random person.”
Freia proudly hits her chest with full confidence. At her level, she shouldn’t have any problem unless it’s an exceptionally strong opponent. But that’s only if she can face them head-on.
With my advice over, we continued walking toward our destination.
But I immediately stopped. I pulled out my sword, still on its sheath, from the latch. From its position from my waist, I thrusted my sheathed sword at Freia’s face.
“Hii!”
Freia screams as she sees the sheathed sword approaching. It passed right beside her face and hit some skinny guy right between the brows.
“Gyaaa! Ouch, it hurts!”
He had a cloth on his hand that reeked of drugs. It was clear what he planned to do.
“Freia, be more careful next time. I’ll train you in close-quarters combat. You won’t be able to get skills since you’re a Magician, but you should still know minimum self-defense. At least enough to buy time until the vanguard can save you.”
“… I understand. To think someone could get behind me so easily. Please teach me close-quarters combat, Keyaruga-sama.”
This time’s opponent was a professional and he seemed quite used to it, so it couldn’t be helped that Freia didn’t notice him, even more so considering she’s a novice at everything that’s not magic. I’m sure he’s one of the guys who kidnap rich people who came to buy slaves.
Freia got scared and held onto my sleeve. It’s a bit of a nuisance, but it should be fine if it’s just for today. I continue walking while smiling at her.
Part 2
Freia and I reached our destination, but we just kept watching the people moving about.
I’m using my Jade Eye to try and find the right guy since a while ago. At the same time as I did that, I kept my ears peeled and shooed away people who were making passes at Freia.
Apparently, the strange disease is a hot topic for conversation here in the poor section. This makes it easier to do business. Finally, I found the people I’ve been looking for.
The guy enters a store that deals with illegal goods right in front of me. He has an escort and it looks like he has quite a lot of influence.
That merchant has a distinctive air around him, so I can tell what kind of person he is right away.
Also, he’s wearing a certain perfume that’s popular among the wealthy. He shouldn’t have such a thing on him if he didn’t deal with rich people. Since he came to buy illegal goods, I can assume he is an intermediary who sells his stuff to the wealthy.
And both him and his escort are mildly ill. I didn’t think I’d find such a perfect target so quickly.
My luck is good. Must be because of my constant good actions.
Part 3
Around the time I finished discussing the business plan with Freia, the merchant and his escort came out of the store. Freia appeared in front of them and told them what I taught her before.
“Fine looking uncle over there, I have a good story for you.”
The merchant’s escort stopped for a second. He was admiring Freia’s beauty.
That’s the reason why I had Freia go out and talk to them. If it was me, they would have just ignored me and continued walking and I would have lost my chance to discuss business. But if it’s a beautiful girl like Freia, they’ll stop and listen.
“What a beautiful girl. Your skin is glossy and your manners are elegant. Could you be the daughter of some noble?”
I’m surprised. He must be a good merchant. Even though she’s dressed like that, he was able to see right through her.
Freia smiled, neither confirming nor denying what he said.
“I’ve come to bring you a get-rich-quick-scheme.”
“That’s interesting. I thought you were just a child that decided to come play with fire and wanted to ask me for money, but… I didn’t realize it was a business deal. What’s your story?”
The merchant looks at Freia and I with warm eyes. He probably thinks we’re just children playing about, but because the possibility of her being a noble’s daughter seems high, he can’t simply reject us. That’s probably what he’s thinking.
“Let’s move somewhere else, since we’re standing out here.”
“Haha, you’re quite earnest. But that’s fine. Let’s go to my favorite shop. I’ll hear you out there.”
And so the four of us moved. The merchant showed us to a store that looked like it belonged to the poor section, but the interior was well cleaned. He ordered tea for all of us, saying it was his treat.
Freia was looking at me. Thanks to her, we were able to start the negotiations. Now it’s my turn, so I’ll nail him hard from the start.
“Our offer is to sell you, and only to you, a potion that can cure the strange illness that’s spreading throughout the city. A merchant of your caliber surely understands what that means.”
The moment he hears this, the merchant’s color changes. But then he immediately bursts out laughing.
“Oh that’s just great. So a child like you has the cure even all the best doctors and Healers in the town can’t find. It’s like a bad joke.”
Freia and I have only just turned 14, so we probably look like children in his eyes. But that’s still within expectations.
“It’s understandable that you don’t believe us, but it’s the truth. We are from the west, and over there, we have taken a different approach to pharmacy compared to here. Because of that, I was able to make the medicine for this illness.”
Then, I lined up a small batch of potions I had in my pocket.
“Fumu, so that’s the medicine. But how do I know it’s real?”
“Why not try it yourself? You and your escort are going through the first symptoms of the illness, right? In the near future, you’ll collapse with a high fever and groan with pain all over your body.”
I say that like it’s nothing while smiling at him. The merchant seems frightened.
“I’m… not ill.”
“You are, and you know it. Your body feels strangely sluggish. You occasionally feel pain on your feet’s pinky. Only the right side of your body is cold. These are all the symptoms of the strange disease. Everyone had it before they collapsed. Surely a merchant with good ears such as yourself knows this.”
He was at a loss for words. It’s not that he wasn’t aware of it, it’s that he didn’t want to admit it.
“If your medicine is real, I’d pay any amount of money for it. I’ll ask just for reference, how much do you want?”
He didn’t exactly believe me, but he must be grasping at straws. The terminal symptoms of this disease are disastrous. Once you see it, you know you don’t want to end up like that.
“You’re quick, but let’s leave the price negotiation for after. First, I’ll give you these two bottles as a sign of trust. Go on, try them.”
I gave two bottles to the merchant, who swallowed his saliva in anticipation.
The reason why I gave him two bottles is so that he can have the escort drink it first. There’s no way you just swallow a medicine given by some random person. He can make sure the potion works by giving it to his escort.
Realizing my intentions, the merchant gives a bottle to his escort. His face that was losing its color regained its vitality. He looks absent-minded for a few seconds, until he finally raises a surprised voice.
“My body feels light and my sluggishness is gone. When did I last feel as good as this?!”
The potion is quite fast acting. I also added this dramatic effect to make the person suddenly feel energetic. It gave the illusion of sudden improvement.
The merchant, seeing his escort much better, drinks his own potion. He looks up at the ceiling and closes his eyes. When the potion took effect, he suddenly opened his eyes and mouth.
“Hou, I understand. This medicine certainly is the real deal. We were in the early stages of the disease, but does it also work on those who are completely ill?”
“Yes, I guarantee it. … Now then, since you’ve confirmed the effects of the medicine, let’s go back to the beginning. I plan to sell this medicine only to you.”
I put an emphasis on the “only to you” part. The merchant gulps down his saliva. By now, he’s probably of all the money he can get as well as all the power he’ll have depending on who he sells this to and how he negotiates it.
“The potion is good, but are you willing to sell the recipe as well?”
I expected that. Having the means to make the product is better than just having the finished product.
“I can’t do that, it’s a family secret. It also requires high-level and specialized skills and magic in order to produce it, and the ingredients aren’t available in this country. Even if you got the recipe, you wouldn’t be able to reproduce it.”
The first half is a complete lie, but the second half is true. I made the potions with my antibodies, but ordinary people can’t make antibodies capable of fighting off monster poison. And it’s impossible to make the potion without the use of alchemy, which only people with the Alchemist class can use.
The merchant looks to his escort. I expected that to happen, so let’s nail him down first.
“You shouldn’t do that, I’m stronger than him. You’ll just end up ruining our business meeting. Besides, I can’t make the medicine if I don’t go out to get the ingredients.”
“Hahaha, what do you mean by ‘that’?”
The merchant gives me a forced smile along with a barefaced lie.
“May I ask how much would they cost?”
“One gold coin each.”
A gold coin is the amount someone who works the whole day makes in a month. It’s expensive for a single potion, but…
The merchant smiles as if he’s ridiculing me. Well, it’s only normal. It’s too little for such a good potion. If you negotiate it right, you can get a digit or two more out of each one.
“Fine, I’ll buy it all. But this much is not enough. Can you make more? I’ll take the ones you have right now, but how long would it take to make more?”
“2 days. Give me 2 days and I’ll prepare more. How about we meet here again in the evening in 2 days?”
“I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be sure to bring a bag filled with gold coins.”
The merchant smiles happily. Let me tell him one last important thing.
“By the way, this time, I accepted a single gold coin for each, but next time it won’t be the same price. This was just an investment to build a relationship of trust.”
The merchant’s smile disappears. He probably thought he was going to buy it from me for a gold coin each the second time as well.
“How much would it be then?”
“I’ll let you decide. But make sure to give me half of the profit you gain from selling it. If you lie to me, I’ll never sell it to you again and I’ll just pick someone else to do business with.”
The merchant likely has a lot of conflict going on in his mind.
On one hand, it’s easy to fake the amount of profit, but if he’s found out, this method of surely making a lot of money will vanish from his sight. To tell the truth, he can still make a huge amount of money even if his profit is halved.
He’s also probably wondering if I really would sell it to some other merchant, or if he could just capture me at the next meeting. His worries are endless.
“Well then, I look forward to seeing you again.”
I stand up to leave. I have nothing more to say.
The merchant gives us his parting words with still a lot of thoughts in his head.
Part 4
After parting with the merchant, I started heading towards the shop from before.
“Keyaruga-sama, why did you leave your potions to that man instead of selling them yourself? Wouldn’t you make a higher profit if you sold it yourself?”
Freia asked with a curious look on her face.
“We are on a journey to save the world, so we don’t have time to tend to a shop. It’s better to leave these things to a professional merchant.”
“I see. As expected of Keyaruga-sama. You really don’t have any greed, do you?”
I told her a reason that seemed good, but the number one reason is for safety. The more people know I can make potions, the more dangerous it becomes. I prefer the current situation where only one person knows I can make potions. The merchant will try to hide my existence so he can monopolize the medicine.
Besides, I don’t have connections to sell the medicine safely. I need contacts in order to sell a small amount of potions for a high price. This merchant even has connections to people who deal with illegal goods. He’ll sell it to the right people for the right price, and he’ll do so with secrecy and security.
It’s something I’d never be able to do. Considering all the trouble, it’s best to just leave it to the merchant.
There’s also the possibility that the merchant will get greedy and try to capture me. But, even if that happens, a merchant can only gather so many soldiers. It’s much easier than dealing with every single person in town.
But, since I want to avoid any sort of trouble, I’ll skip our second meeting if I sense anything wrong with the meeting place.
“Now then, we’re finally at the shop from before.”
“Ah, now that you mention it, I forgot to ask what we’re going to buy. What are we buying?”
“A slave.”
I answer with a smile. I have on my hands the gold coins I earned just a few minutes ago. This is more than what a normal worker would get in two years. It’s a fair price for a slave.
Now then, let’s use the Jade Eye in order to find the best slave in the store and buy her. I’ll buy a woman with high talent values. As long as it’s a woman, the level cap is no problem.
I entered the store with high expectations.