“I think it’s time we chose a name for our trading company.”
Neon broached the subject the next morning while we ate bread for breakfast.
“A company name…? Sure, why not?”
“What kind of lukewarm answer is that? Well, it doesn’t matter, because I’ve already decided! Our company will be called the Neonbil Trading Company!”
Was my contribution the “bil” at the end? From Sibyl? The name was almost entirely Neon. Well, I didn’t mind.
“That works. Do we have enough money to open a shop now?”
I dipped my bread into the soup before bringing it to my mouth. It was too hard to eat otherwise. Only now did I appreciate how good the food had been when I was a noble.
“Not a proper shop. Opening one requires more money and connections. But with this, we should be able to set up a small stall on the market street.”
“Oh! That’s a big step!”
Even if it was only a small stall, the idea of owning a shop thrilled me. It was the joy of moving forward. When all you did was earn enough each day to survive, you couldn’t even look toward the future.
“We’ll use this money as capital, search for bargains in the adventurer town, and sell them here. With you around, Sibyl, we can buy only genuine valuables. Our odds of success are excellent.”
“The adventurer town?”
Was there a nearby town with a large adventurer population?
“Oh, right. You came from the kingdom. Next to Delcour is the dungeon city of Hennig. Its dungeon is small by imperial standards, so the city isn’t tremendously prosperous, but many adventurers and merchants gather there in search of items brought out of it.”
“I see.”
With my skill, we could indeed buy only valuable items.
“The round trip takes four days. Should we hire escorts? I know someone I can contact.”
“Hmm. That depends on how dangerous the journey is.”
“Monsters and bandits appear occasionally.”
‘Metis, should we hire escorts?’
‘No.’
If Metis said that, the trip probably wouldn’t be too dangerous this time. In the end, we packed the minimum amount of food and set off for Hennig.
By consulting Metis at every step, we reached Hennig without suffering any attacks.
The name “dungeon city” was no exaggeration. The entire city had genuinely been constructed around the dungeon. The dungeon itself was apparently managed by the state, and anyone could enter by paying an admission fee to the guards.
Items found inside could be sold to the guild or shops, or taken home. However, items sold to shops or carried away were subject to tax. The state never missed an opportunity to profit.
The area in front of the dungeon was the liveliest part of the city. Numerous food stands and stalls catered to adventurers, while merchants seeking the items those adventurers brought out bustled around them.
“Fresh magic tools from today’s expedition!”
“An elemental dagger at this price!”
“Grilled golboar skewers! Hot and delicious!”
The chaotic, energetic atmosphere made my cheeks lift. I could smell profit in the air.
“Excited?”
Neon saw my expression and grinned too.
“Of course I am! Boys love adventures!”
“You’re not planning to enter the dungeon, are you?”
“I’d like to see it, but I have no desire to kill myself. Let’s hunt for treasure!”
“All right! Let’s find some bargains!”
We went from shop to shop, checking the merchandise. The goods were of higher quality than those at Delcour’s stalls. We focused on anything worth more than twice its asking price and purchased one item after another.
Haggling was Neon’s job. She used every tactic she could think of to lower the prices. The shopkeepers naturally treated the beautiful young Neon more favorably than they would a man like me.
“How was that?”
After driving the price down by more than thirty percent, Neon gave me a smug look.
“That was impressive. Even after he said, ‘I can’t go any lower,’ you still made him drop the price again.”
“That’s when a professional’s work truly begins.”
She laughed. We intended to spend more than half our total funds purchasing merchandise here, so we needed to keep buying.
As we toured the stalls, Lady Metis uncovered another bargain: a ring. I signaled to Neon with my eyes.
“Hm? You’ve got a good eye, kid. An adventurer found this ring in the dungeon. Pretty, isn’t it? Why not buy it for the young lady beside you?”
According to the shopkeeper, it had likely belonged to a dead adventurer. Apparently, taking items from an adventurer’s corpse was not prohibited.
“It is pretty. How much?”
“It has a nice gemstone set in it, so I’ll let it go for 60,000 G.”
“This probably isn’t even a valuable gem, is it? Twenty thousand G is the most it’s worth!”
“That’s far too low, young lady. How about 40,000 G?”
“Oh, come now. You probably bought it from a beginner for much less.”
A heated negotiation followed, and they finally settled on 30,000 G.
“I trusted you, Sibyl, but is this actually valuable?”
Neon eyed the ring she had purchased suspiciously.
“According to Lady Metis, it’s worth 200,000 G.”
I honestly wouldn’t know why without asking more detailed questions. Judging by the price, however, the gemstone was probably genuine.
“Then we’ll sell it for 200,000 G.”
Neon smiled and slipped it into her pocket.
I spent the rest of the day watching her throw herself into negotiation after negotiation.